1
Springs, Sacred
IOANNIS MYLONOPOULOS
Springs in ancient Greece were often personified and even worshipped as cult figures. Natural sources of water possessed an ambivalent
numinous aura; they were places where one
could approach the divine for malevolent but
also benevolent purposes. Both Greeks and
Romans regarded springs and fountains as liminal, since they originated in the depths of the
earth and were thus associated with the underworld. Their chthonic character is revealed in
their frequent (ab)use as sites for the deposition
of curse tablets. According to ancient belief,
a malicious wish to harm an enemy could
reach the powers of the underworld more easily
and directly if placed in or near a fountain. In
this respect, sacred springs were comparable to
graves, which too were common sites for the
deposition of curse tablets.
In a religious context, water was used
for purification before entering a sanctuary.
For this reason cult sites were often founded
near rivers or far more frequently near springs.
Specific cults, such as those associated with
oracles, required a more extensive use of
water from sacred springs. Indeed, oracle sanctuaries incorporated springs and fountains
into ritual activities and sacred topography in
highly imaginative ways. The oracle sanctuary
of Apollo in Klaros, for example, contained a
cave with a sacred spring directly beneath its
temple. The seer could make predictions only
after descending into the cave and drinking
from the spring, since his prophetic powers
were granted temporarily through the medium
of the sacred water. Springs were also integrated – albeit differently – into rituals at the
oracle sanctuary of Trophonios in Lebadeia;
visitors to the site had to drink the waters of
oblivion and memory drawn from the
sanctuary’s sacred founts before they could
experience the epiphany of the hero. With
regard to Delphi, the most famous oracular
sanctuary in the ancient world, sources mention two sacred springs, the water of which
played an important role in prophetic rituals:
the fountains of Kastalia (Pind. Pyth. 4.163-4)
and Kassotis (Paus. 10.24.7).
The purificatory and curative powers of
water made springs ideal sacred places near
which sanctuaries for healing deities were
founded. Sanctuaries of Asklepios always
contained water facilities linked to a sacred
spring. In Epidauros, a bath was situated near
the incubation building, and at least six fountains were scattered around the entire sanctuary. After the foundation of the Asklepieion in
Athens, the old and venerated Hallirhotis
fountain was integrated into the new sanctuary. In Oropos, a sacred spring marked the spot
of Amphiaraos’ first epiphany as an oracular
and healing god. Besides their presence in
healing and oracular sites, springs could be
linked to unusual rituals. In the spring Dine
situated in the sea near the coastal settlement
of Genesion in the Argolid, horses were
drowned in honor of Poseidon (Paus. 8.7.2).
An extraordinary natural phenomenon – a
spring in the sea – was apparently interpreted
as an epiphanic manifestation of divine power
and used as a sacrificial site.
SEE ALSO: Amphiareion sanctuary; Asklepieion
sanctuary; Asklepios; Curses, Greece and Rome;
Delphi; Oracles, Greece and Rome; Trophonios.
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Amandry, P. (1977) “Notes de topographie et
d’architecture delphiques. VI. La fontaine
Castalie.” In Études Delphiques: 179–228. Athens.
Ginouvès, R., ed. (1994) L’eau, la santé et la
maladie dans le monde grec. Paris.
Hill, B. H. (1964) Corinth I 6. The springs: Peirene,
sacred spring, Glauke. Princeton.
Parke, H. W. (1978) “Castalia.” Bulletin de
Correspondance Hellénique 102: 199–219.
The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,
and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 6367–6368.
© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah17426
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Brent Shaw
Princeton University
Alexander Fantalkin
Tel Aviv University
Frédéric Hurlet
Université Paris Nanterre
Maria Stamatopoulou
University of Oxford
