Dimitra Rousioti’s monograph presents a comprehensive review and analysis of Mycenaean urban sanctuaries from the Palatial and Postpalatial periods (fourteenth to the twelfth century BC). This is the time period in which most of the sanctuaries that have been identified were built and used and it can therefore be considered as a distinct phase in the history of Mycenaean religion. Rousioti’s main intention is to contribute to our understanding of the relationship between sanctuaries and cultural, social, economic, and political circumstances over time. This is a new approach since previous studies on Mycenaean sanctuaries have mostly been concerned with investigating the architecture and moveable finds in order to reconstruct the nature or of ritual activities and religious beliefs.
Rousioti’s aim is to be as comprehensive as the extant evidence at the individual sites allows. All sanctuaries that have been identified on the Greek mainland and in the Cyclades that can be classified as independent and urban are discussed. A further criterion is that there is sufficient evidence for a meaningful analysis of the architecture and moveable finds. Rousioti argues that although there are differences in layout, architectural form, and location, Mycenaean sanctuaries have common features to the extent that they can be regarded as belonging to the same ritual tradition. Rural sanctuaries are not included because the cultic nature of the remains may be uncertain and there may also be doubts about whether the evidence for cult activities goes back to the Bronze Age or represents later periods. Although Crete can be considered part of the Mycenaean world in this period, Cretan urban sanctuaries are not included because they represent a different tradition of religious expression.
The book is divided into six parts with a varying number of chapters and sub-chapters. Rousioti’s main research questions are briefly laid out in the Introduction: what were the religious events that took place in sanctuaries in the Palatial and Postpalatial periods? To what extent were there common forms of worship across the Mycenaean world? How did the collapse of the palatial system affect the character of cult buildings and the ritual practices associated with them? Did the changes to sanctuaries in the Postpalatial period coincide with changes in internal and external relations? Rousioti describes and analyses the architectural layout and moveable finds in detail for each sanctuary with a particular emphasis on social and political context.
In Part One Rousioti provides a comprehensive and balanced review of previous research, from Martin P. Nilsson to the present. Her main interest is in the development of new research questions and approaches to the study and interpretation of the material evidence for Mycenaean religious expression. Important landmarks are the realisation that Mycenaean and Minoan religion represent separate traditions and the consequent development of Mycenaean religion as its own field of study. She provides good overviews of how the remains of cult buildings and cult practices have been categorised and discussed in previous research and elucidates how various theoretical and methodological approaches to the textual and archaeological evidence have influenced our understanding of the function of Mycenaean sanctuaries. Rousioti emphasises the influence of Colin Renfrew and his excavation of the sanctuary at Phylakopi to the development of a more methodologically sound approach to research on Mycenaean sanctuaries and religious practice. Part 2 provides an overview of the historical framework and the main characteristics of Mycenaean cult buildings in the Palatial and Postpalatial periods.
Part 3 consists of a systematic and detailed description of the archaeological remains of the architecture and associated finds of the sanctuaries that have been identified across the Mycenaean area in the Palatial and Postpalatial periods at Mycenae, Midea, Methana, Dhimini, Tiryns, and Asine on the Greek mainland and at Phylakopi and Ayia Irini in the Cyclades. Rousioti analyses in as much detail as possible the remains of Mycenaean sanctuaries and the evidence for ritual activities at each site on its own terms regarding location, topography, moveable finds, architectural expression and relationship to other structures at the site. The nature and characteristics of ritual activity at each sanctuary site are discussed in Part 4. The remains of architecture from the Palatial and Postpalatial periods are discussed in separate sections as is the evidence for ritual activities. Although the framework for the presentation of the evidence has the advantage of chronological clarity, those who are interested in a particular site may have to do some flipping back and forth between the different sections in order to acquire a full picture of its history of use. The evidence for cult activities at sites where there are no clear architectural remains – at Kalapodi, Tsoungiza, Maleatas, Arachneion, Amyklaion, Delphi, and Olympia – is discussed in Part 5.
Rousioti presents her conclusions in Part 6. She argues that in the Mycenaean period ritual activities seem mainly to have taken place in independent buildings and constituted an important part of public life in both the Palatial and Postpalatial periods, indicating a considerable degree of ritual continuity. Her review and evaluation of the evidence for the location and use of Mycenaean sanctuaries indicate that the changes that took place over time can be understood as related to contemporaneous social and political processes. Although Mycenaean sanctuaries have been found at several palatial sites, the occurrence of cult buildings at non-Palatial sites, notably at Phylakopi and Ayia Irini, indicate that they were not necessarily dependent on palatial involvement. Ritual continuity between the Palatial and Postpalatial periods is further indicated by the fact that some existing sanctuaries continued in use and new sanctuary buildings were constructed in the Postpalatial period, indicating that the Palatial sanctuary tradition continued to be important to communication between individuals and social groups, to maintaining communal relations, and probably also to dealing with the rapidly changing social and political environment.
Supplementary chapters include a presentation and commentary of the Linear B tablets which were found in the area of the Cult Centre at Mycenae, a summary of the main conclusions and a five-page abstract in English. The fifty-six illustrations consist of maps and plans which show the location and layout of the sanctuaries that are discussed in the text and significant finds. Seven tables provide overviews of how sanctuaries have been classified by previous researchers, of Minoan, Cycladic, Mycenaean, and Egyptian chronology, of the dating of Mycenaean sanctuaries at key sites, of the architecture and finds associated with sanctuary buildings in the Palatial and Postpalatial periods, of the distribution of moveable finds in the sanctuary at Phylakopi in relation to its separate phases, of other sites with convincing evidence for cult activities, and of the chronological extent of use at each sanctuary.
This is in many ways a very impressive monograph. The careful and systematic approach and the comprehensiveness of the material that Rousioti takes into account are major strengths of her research. She is concerned with establishing a firm evidential basis for the identification of Mycenaean sanctuaries as well as for elucidating their societal significance. She concentrates her analysis on a securely identified sanctuaries and stays very close to the evidence in her discussions and interpretations. Her emphasis on the generally communal nature of Mycenaean sanctuaries is well-motivated. Her arguments that similar cult assemblages indicate some form of organized cult practice across the Mycenaean world in the Palatial and Postpalatial periods, which can be seen in relation to social and political development, is convincing. However, although the sanctuaries have common features and can be therefore considered as a group, she emphasizes individual features regarding architecture and finds which indicates the continuing importance of local traditions throughout the Mycenaean period.
Rousioti stresses that although most of the Mycenaean sanctuaries date to the Late Helladic IIIB and C periods, the urban sanctuary tradition goes further back in time as the Late Helladic IIIA1 remodelling of the sanctuary at Ayia Irene shows. On the Mycenaean mainland, the origins of the earliest known sanctuaries at Methana, Tsoungiza, Maleatas, Arachneio, and Kalapodi, go back to the Late Helladic IIIA period and were identified at non-palatial sites. She argues that the origin and development of Mycenaean sanctuaries were associated with local elites, the existence of which from the beginning of the Late Bronze Age is indicated by chamber tombs and tholoi. Rousioti identifies but downplays palatial involvement and argues that they were communal and urban in origin as well as in use. She does not entirely deny Palatial involvement in the sanctuaries that have been identified at palatial sites, most notably at Mycenae. The significance and extent of palatial involvement in relation to the public urban function of Mycenae could perhaps have been further developed.
All in all, Ιερά και θρεσκέυτικες τελετόυργιες στην ανακτορική και μετανακτορική μυκηναική περίοδο is a welcome addition to our understanding of the role of sanctuaries and more generally of Mycenaean religion.