Page - 58 - in The Power of Urban Water - Studies in premodern urbanism

58 NicolaChiarenza Social space: thearea to theeast of TempleC During theArchaicperiodanother entrance led to theeastpart of the sanctuary fromthesouth side. Itwas locatednext to theArchaic oikoi34 and leddirectly to the space betweenTemple C and its altar, both built around themiddle of the 6th century BC35 and likely consecrated to ApolloPaian, according to a later inscription.36 It isnotbyaccident that themain templeofSelinous– located in theurbansanctuaryover anarearich inundergroundwaterandnext toamalarialandmarshy lagoon–wasconsecrated toApollo thehealer, a godwhowas the sender andcurer of disease.37 In front of the sacrificial area, a long two-winged hall38 rose up on the east edge of the terrace togetherwith the constructionof the retainingwall.39 The eastwingwasprovidedwith threeor fourentrances40givingaccess to thehallwhichwaspavedwith terracotta tiles. In front of the corner between the two wings, a circular well drew water from the aquifer under the artificial fillingof the terrace.41 The tiled floor suggests that thehallwas likelyabanquetbuild- ing where communalmeals after the sacrifices and during religious ceremonies took place.42 The locationof thewell in front of theArchaic hall strengthens this hypothesis.Water sources were indeed inevitabilities for halls, stoai and other kinds of buildings or spaceswhere ritual feasting took place.Waterwas necessary for the cleansing ofworshippers before themeal, as well as cooking, diluting thewineandwashing the floor after themeal.43 For the latter, a floor 34 Marconi 2007, 73 (withprevious references). 35 Østby 1995, 87–92; Mertens 2006, 118–125; Marconi 2007, 127–184; Voigts 2017, 25–41. A second, smaller altar wasbuilt during the secondhalf of the6th century to thenorthof the first one (Voigts 2017, 46–48). 36 Marconi 1999;Marconi 2007, 132f. See alson.66. 37 On the possible connections between healing cults of Apollo and sacredwater springs, see Parker 1983, 213 (with other references). On the cathartic and healing aspects of Apollo, see Parker 1983, 331–344. 392. On the connectionbetween themalarious landscapeand thecultofApolloPaian inTempleC:Marconi 1994,302;Greco– Tardo2012, 193f.;Muccioli 2015,264f.Thehealingaspectswere,ofcourse,not theonlyreasonfor theconsecration of Temple C to Apollo, whowas themost prominent god also in Megara (Selinous’ mother-city). Regarding the similarities ofApollo’s features betweenSelinous andMegara, seeMarconi 2007, 196–199. 38 I prefer to use this definition instead of themost common stoa, because the portico was added later to the building.This is confirmedby twomainobservations: 1) the stratigraphic relationbetween theportico’santaeand the outerwall of the northwing; 2) the position of the north anta (slightly further south than thenorth corner of the hall), showing that the portico was built after the L-shaped building to the north of the hall. On the later constructionof theportico, see: Coulton 1976, 32. 95. 281. 283;Kuhn 1985, 262f.;Mertens 2003, 240n.833. 39 DiVita 1967;DiVita 1984, 21 (n. 17). 34;Mertens 2003, 239f. 40 A rectangular structure (ca. 7.40×2.15m), east-west oriented, was next to the south entrance. It consisted of three or four squaredopenings and today is partially coveredby theportico. The rectangular structurewas there- forebuilt togetherwith the two-wingedhall (before theportico)andmighthavebeenusedforcultactivities related to ceremoniesperformed in front ofAltar C. 41 Thiswasprobably the sameaquifer thatmade it necessary to build thedrain channel along the southwall of the terraceduring thepreviousbuildingphase. 42 For this interpretationof thehall, see:Kuhn1985, 264;Bergquist 1992, 144.Both scholars suggested this inter- pretationalso in light of adrainage close to the south-west sector of thehall, possibly linked to thedrain channel along the southwall of the terrace (see thepreviousnote). ThedrainagewasdiscoveredbyA.DiVita in 1953, but wasno longer visible already in 1967 (DiVita 1967, 7n. 10). The scholar thought that thedrainage flushedout the rainwater from thehall’s roof down to the channel. Later,DiVita suggested that the channel along the southwall drainedwater under the terraceduring the first half of the 6th centuryBCandno longermentionedany linkwith thedrainage in the south-west sector of thehall (DiVita 1984, 21–23). Therefore, the existence of a drainage from the hall south corner to the channel at the base of the terrace is questionable. Moreover, only one drainage for such an extendedhall does not seemenough to flush out the supposed cleaningwater, especially if we consider that the slope in the hall’s floor went fromwest to east (the supposed drainagewould have been located at the highest point andnot at the lowest one). 43 On thenecessity ofwater for feasting activities, see the remarks of R. Tomlinsonon theHeraion at Perachora and other Archaic andClassical sanctuaries in Greece (Tomlinson 1988, 170f.). Other examples ofwater installa- tions in stoaianddining roomswithinGreek sanctuaries are inGuettel Cole 1988, 164f.