DAPHNE
Attica, Greece.
Separating the
Athenian and Thriasian plains is Mt. Aigaleos, which
the Sacred Way crosses by the same pass used by the
main motor road. To the W of the watershed stands the
famous Byzantine monastery. In the exonarthex can be
seen a marble Ionic column and capital, probably of
Hadrianic date, and in the cloister Doric capitals from
Classical times. Because of the association of the name
Daphne with Apollo, and because Pausanias saw a
Sanctuary of Apollo at about this location (1.37.6-7),
there is a strong assumption that these and other reported ancient remains should be thought of as coming from that sanctuary.
On the heights to the SW of the monastery, 10 minutes' walk away, is a cave in which Pan and the nymphs were worshiped from the 5th c. B.C. Almost 2 km W of the monastery, immediately N of the highway, is a
Classical Sanctuary of Aphrodite, which Pausanias described as having before it “a wall of rough stones worth
seeing” (1.37.7). Today the most prominent remain is a
vertical scarp of rock pockmarked with niches for votive
reliefs, part of a walled temenos that also included a
shrine, stoa, and propylon. A priest's house lies to the N
of the Sacred Way, at this point well preserved, while
to the S is a rectangular foundation of unknown purpose,
whose extremely heavy walls may fit Pausanias' description.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
J. Travlos,
Σπήλαιον τοῦ πανὸς παρὰ τὸ Δαφνί,
ArchEph (1937) A 391-408
PI; id.,
Ἀνασκαφαὶ Ἱερᾶς ῾οδοῦ,
Praktika (1937) 25-37
PI; Travlos & K. Kourouniotes,
Praktika (1938) 26-34
PI; (1939) 39-41
PI;
A. Orlandos,
Ergon (1960) 230-32.
C.W.J. ELIOT
