Site details
Delos: Sema of the Hyperborean Maidens
| PK | C1169 |
| TITLE | Delos: Sema of the Hyperborean Maidens |
| WGS84 | 37.400735° N, 25.266264° E |
| Accuracy | Exact |
| LAT/LON | 37.400735, 25.266264 |
| LON/LAT | 25.266264, 37.400735 |
| DMS | 37° 24' 2.646" N | , | 25° 15' 58.5504" E |
| W3W | hurled, oppress, grit |
| UTM | 35 S, 346546, 4140739 |
| EGSA87 | 611927, 4139793 |
| Elevation m | 0 |
| Elevation feet | 0 |
| Region | Cyclades |
| Subregion | Delos |
GENERAL SITE TYPE Tomb
TYPE
1. Artifacts. Schallin [1993], 13 'It is mainly the deposit found beneath the Artemision which has produced LBA material: ... '2. Cem. Simpson [1981], 187 'The Sema may possibly have been a tomb also.'
PERIOD (High Chronology)
1. Late Minoan I: (1675 BC - 1470 BC)
a. Simpson [1981]: 187, ' ..., including a probably LM I hole-mouth jar.'
2. Late Bronze Age: (1570 BC - 1200 BC)
a. Simpson [1981]: 187, 'The Theke, or "Tomb of the Hyperborean Maidens" appears to have been a LB tomb, ... '
b. Schallin [1993]: 13, ' ... LBA material: ... '
NOTES
1. For more on this tomb see Sale, William 'The Hyperborean Maidens on Delos', The Harvard Theological Review (54:2), 75-89, 1961 which is online here.
2. In the following description I have used (among others) information from the website of the École Française d'Athènes (EFA) on this page.
- Herodotus tells us that there were two pairs of Hyperborean Maidens (iv.34). The first to come to Delos, at the time of the Gods, were Arge and Opis. Herodotus says that their tomb lies behind the temple of Artemis, facing east, near the banqueting hall of the Ceians. This is the so-called 'Theke' (C1168, 37.401005° N, 25.267471° E). The EFA says of this: ' ... and the Theke is, in any case 'a Mycenaean tombstone'. Indeed, Antonaccio [1995] 184 says flatly that ' ... the theke, located by the French before the Stoa of Antigonos, is in fact a built chamber tomb.'
- The other pair who are credited with bringing the first Hyperborean offerings to Apollo are Hyperoche and Laodike. Their grave (C1169, 37.400670° N, 25.266384° E) is part of the Artemision complex; 'on the left as one enters the precinct of Diana, and has an olive tree growing on it.' as Herodotus puts it. This tomb is often referred to as the 'Sema' or 'Tomb of the Hyperborean Maidens'. Whether it really was a tomb is, according to EFA, 'not completely certain'.
- Separate from these two is the well-known hoard (separate from the Sema but close by) of ivories and other artifacts found beneath the Artemision - presumably a foundation deposit. Although it included objects from the MB and LH (SImpson, loc. cit.) it would be a mistake to think that these things had been on the island since those times. We simply cannot know.
The EFA stresses that there was some occupation of this area during the LH III but both they and other authors stress a lack of information about this period. Simpson [1981] 187 emphasizes the LB settlement here. At any rate the cults are carefully discussed in Sale, op. cit.
Additional- William Sale, 'The Hyperborean Maidens on Delos', The Harvard and Theological Review (54:2) 75-89, 1961, which is online here.
- Hubert Gallet de Santerre, Délos Primitive et Archaïque, 1958
- Antonaccio, Carla Maria, An Archaeology of Ancestors, 1995, esp. pp. 183-185 which can be read here.
- Bruneau, Philippe. 'Deliaca', Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique (99:1), 267-311, 1975, esp. 268-271, '1. Sur l'emplacement de la Théké des Vierges hyperboréennes' which is online here.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Schallin [1993]: Schallin, Ann-Louise. Islands under Influence: The Cyclades in the Late Bronze Age and the Nature of Mycenaean Presence.. Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology, no. 111. Jonsered 1993, '9. Temenos', pg. 13.
2. Simpson [1981]: Simpson, Richard Hope. Mycenaean Greece. Park Ridge, New Jersey: Noyes Press, 1981., 'Delos: The Temenos', pg. 187.
Online here.