Zeus Olbios and the Priest-Kingdom of OlbaQuite a long time I was interested in the names Aias and Teukros on the coins of
Olba. Now I went further in this matter and here are the results of my investigation!
The coin: Cilicia,
Olba,
quasi-autonomous, 11-12 BC
AE 16, 4.52g
struck under Aias, son of Teukros,
archiereus and toparch of Kennatis and Lalassis (year 2)
obv. TOPARX / KENNAT / [L]ALAS / ET B
in dotted
circlerev. Thunderbolt above ARXIER / AIANTOS
beneath TEVKROV
SNG BN Paris 807;
RPC 3729; Staffierie,
Olba 15, 14
Ver rare, about EF, glossy dark-green
patinaPedigree:
ex
auction F. Sternberg Zürich
XXV, 1991, lot 160
ex
auction M&M XVII, 2005, lot 965
Expansion of the legends:
[1] TOPARXOV KENNATWN KAI LALASSEWN ETOVS B, (on order) of the toparch of the people of Kennatis and Lalassis, year 2
[2] ARXIEREWS AIANTOS TEVKROV, (on order) of the
archiereus Ajas, son of Teukros
[3] The
thunderbolt is the symbol for
Zeus Olbios, the Olbian main god.
I have added the pic of another coin (
RPC 3725) from
CoinArchives. It shows the Priestking Aias as
Hermes wearing a
cap. The
rev. shows the sign of the Teukri, the triskeles.
History:North of Silifke in the so-called Rough
Cilicia, near the village of Uzuncabur, we find the old cult-place
Olba with the temple of
Zeus Olbios. This temple of
Zeus was the center of power of the priest dynasty of the Teukri. Their symbol was the triskeles. The priest dynasty of the Olbian temple state has controlled an
area which was circumscribed by the rivers Kalykadnos and Lamos. The center of their power was the
Zeus Olbios sanctuary built by Seleukos I Nikator, the founder of the
Seleukid Empire around 300 BC. In Hellenistic times (3rd - 1st century BC) it
had been extended monumentally to become one of the biggest sanctuaries in
Asia Minor. This temple and a huge army tower with a height of more than 20 m and a elaborately decorated tomb tower demonstrate the connection of religious and political power.
About 45 BC Olba's Priest Kingdom
had been weakened and Tyrants began capturing the country. At this time, one of the King's relative's, Zenophanes, cooperated with the Tyrants and seized the whole country. The
Roman Administration preferred to control
Olba with the
help of a local priest
king instead of a garrison, because of the unsuitable physical features of the region. When Zenophanes came to power,
Rome started to lose control. Octavianus, Antonius and
Lepidus established the Triumvirate Empire in
Rome and shared the management. Antonius
had the east lands. Octavianus and Antonius travelled to straighten out the east and killed Zenophanes and gained control over the priest kings again.
Zenophanes's daughter, Aba, married the Priest
King, and joined the
Olba Kingdom family. The
king died from the plague and the administration passed to their mother Aba as her sons were too young to come to power. There was a disagreement between
Lepidus and Octavianus in 33 BC, as a result of this
Lepidus accepted the superiority of Octavianus, and retreated from Triumvirate. So Octavianus and Antonius became secret rivals in order to dominate
Rome. During Antonius's journey to
Persia he fell in love with
Cleopatra, so
his relationship with
Rome got worse. However,
Cleopatra wanted to regain the old lands and own Ptolemaios's splendor. She succeeded in benefiting from Antonius's passion for her, and beat
Rome with the
help of the
Romans. Antonius married
Cleopatra and gave some land to her.
Cleopatra owned the
Olba Kingdom, which
had many cedar trees used to make
ships.
Triumvirate ended formally in 32 BC by Octavianus, after Antonius gave the land to
Cleopatra, and Octavianus went to war against them.
Cleopatra donated the
Olba to Aba because of her
help. Aba was killed, but the
Olba Kingdom continued up until 20 BC by her occupants. After this date
Rome took responsibility of the administration of the
area.
The Olbian Priest dynasty which could be proud for
good relations to
Augustus didn't succeed in outlasting the fundamental changes in the course of the
Roman engagement in
Asia Minor. At least when the province
Cilicia was established (1st century AD) the Priest reign changed to an urban administration. This fundamental change took place probably under
Vespasian when he founded Diocaisarea which soon incorporated the temple. With it the sanctuary no more was the indisputable center of the whole region but primarly only an usual city sanctuary.
Mythology:The Priestkings of
Olba ascribed their dynasty to Teukros, heroe of the Troyan War (Strabo 14, 5, 10). The Hellenistic inscriptions show a big number of theophoric names of typical Luwian origin. Especially frequent are names with the component 'tarki', 'tarko-', 'tarky-' and 'troko-'. These names refer to the Luwian weather god Tarhu(nt), the main god of the Luwian
pantheon. Naturally Tarhu(nt) in Hellenistic times was equated with
Zeus. Significantly under the names of the
Zeus priests of
Olba besides Teukros, Zenas and Zenophanes (these too theophoric names related to
Zeus) Takyaris occurs too. So the assumption is close that the cult of
Zeus Olbios was a Hellenized Tarhu(nt) cult (Trampedach).
But what is the origin of the claimed ancestry from Teukros? The problem is that there are two different groups of myths containing Teukros and both are not compatible:
[1] The Teukros of the
Apollo Smintheus myth of
Troas[2] The Teukros of the Troyan War of
HomerThe
Apollo Smintheus cult is said to be founded by Cretian Teukri near the Troyan Chryse when they settled there. So the identity of the names of the two mountains of Ida could be explained. Over the years the Troyans developed from the Teukri (Aischylos, Agamemnon 112). This Teukros then - as father of Tros - became the ancestor of the Troyan kings. To strengthen the connection with
Troas he got as parents Skamandros and a Troic mountain nymph.
Teukros too occurs in Vergil's Aeneis. Dido told
Aeneas about Teukros who came as refugee to her father Belus who ruled in
Sidon. He gave him the reign over
Cyprus. Teukros claimed that he was related to the Troyan
king dynasty by
his mother Hesione, daughter of Laomedon, who
had to follow Telamon as prisoner of war to Salamis. Vergil here skilfully connects both Teukros epics but doesn't mix up the genealogies.
At
Homer Teukros was the son of Telamon and half brother of Aias the Great. About the genealogic origin
Homer reports nothing. This reconstruction is from Prinz: "
Zeus created Aiakos with Aigina. Aiakos married Endeis and created with her Peleus and Telamon. They killed their half brother Phokos. After that murder Peleus and Telamon
had to flee from Aigina because of the anger of Aiakos. Peleus came to Phthia and Telamon to Salamis." This genealogy leads from Teukros over Telamon and Aiakos to
Zeus himself and got 'quasi canonic character'. This genealogy f.i. was adopted by
Pindar (4th Nemean Ode).
But how Teukros came to
Cyprus? In Aischylos' 'The Persians' the chorus - describing the
Persian Empire - lists the cities of
Cyprus. And here appears - beside Paphos and Soloi - Salamis too! And now we have the missing link between Teukros and
Cyprus. Teukros founded a city on
Cyprus and named it Salamis referring to
his hometown. Details could be found at Sophokles (Aias 1008-1021) and Euripides (
Helena 87-104, 143-150). This founder myth was known already in the first third of the 5th century BC. But
Athens too was interested in a myth which could legitimate its
military intervention on
Cyprus. For that purpose
Athens had first mythologically to take in Salamis. This was done - according to Plutarch - by an arbitration between Spartians and Athenians by which Salamis was granted to
Athens. A main argument of Solon, the leader of the Athenian delegation, was the hint that Salamis once was dedicated to
Athens by the sons of Aias.
But probably the Cyprian founder myth is originated from Salamis itself. The initial point according to Prinz was the homonymy of the island of Salamis and the city of Salamis on
Cyprus. The descendants of Teukros, the Teukri, kept the power on
Cyprus until c.310 BC when Ptolemaios I removed their reign.
The suggested connection of
Olba to the Greek myth is represented in this way:
There is no convincing relation to the Troic Teukros. The founder myth of the
Zeus Olbios temple by Strabon refers clearly to the heroe of Homer's Ilias. Additionally the name Telamon occurs in the region of
Olba not scarcely and the geographical proximity of
Cyprus is another evidence. And Teukros is not seen only as founder of the city but as founder of the important
Zeus Salaminios temple too. This could be the reason for the Olbian priests to go back to Teukros. And Teukros was suggested as descendant of
Zeus too which was stressed especially by Isokrates.
The paradigm of Mallos has demonstrated for the first time that mythological founded Hellenism could bring concrete advantages - in financial aspects too. The consequence was a race of cities and sanctuaries for a noble ancestry. Even the old
metropolis of Tarsus has participated with an 'Argivian' founder myth. This has been stressed after the appearence of
Alexander the Great. He who searched for prestige needed a Greek myth. In the course of this development the Olbian priestkings too searched for a mythological connection to the Greek 'history'.
Amphilochos and Mopsos were inappropriate because they were related to Apollon. The cult of the Anatolian weather god - who could only be identified with
Zeus - needed another founder figure. Teukros was appropiate because of several reasons:
[1] He was a descendant of
Zeus [2] He was founder of a famous and not so far Zes sanctuary
[3] He was the ancestor of a famous dynasty of rulers.
After founding Seleukeia ad Kalykadnum Seleukos I did reference to the nearby
Zeus Olbios. The Olbian priests told Seleukos the founder myth of their sanctuary with the (now) noble Greek ancestry and as gratification they have been confirmed or introduced as regional kings by Seleukos (Trampedach).
History of art:Of the temple of
Zeus Olbios remained 30 high columns. They are of Corinthian order and were the oldest of this kind in
Asia Minor. In the middle of an impressive mountain landscape these 2300 years old columns rise to heaven. I have added a pic. Recently the Universities of
Rostock and Konstanz undertake archaeological excavations.
Sources:
[1] Kai Trampedach, Teukros und Teukriden. Zur Gründungslegende
des Zeus Olbios-Heiligtums in Kilikien, in:
Olba II, Mersin 1999, S. 94-110
[2] Pilhofer/Börstingshaus, Olba/Diokaisarea - Priesterstaat und Doppelstadt -, Vorbereitungsübung zur Kilikienexkursion 2006
[3] Friedrich Prinz, Gründungsmythen und Sagenchronologie,
Beck 1979
[4]
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/archives.php?id=24078Best regards