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LAGINA (Ancient city) TURKEY
Lagina (ta Lagina), a place in the territory of Stratoniceia, in Caria,
contained a most splendid temple of Hecate, at which every year great festivals
were celebrated. (Strab. xiv. p. 660.) Tacitus (Ann. iii. 62), when speaking of
the worship of Trivia among the Stratoniceians, evidently means Hecate. The name
of Lagina is still preserved in the village of Lakena, not far from the sources
of the Tshina. Laginia, mentioned by Steph. B. as a polichnion Karias, seems to
be the same as the Lagina of Strabo.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Site, in Caria, of the famous temple of Hecate. Near Turgut (formerly
Leyne), 15 km NW of Yatagan. Lagina was a village in the territory of Stratonikeia,
but the name is not used in the inscriptions, and the village appears to have
been called Hierakome. The cult is not attested before the period of Rhodian domination
in 189-167 B.C., but was no doubt much older. The sanctuary was joined to Stratonikeia
by a sacred way, of which virtually nothing is now to be seen. Numerous festivals
were celebrated at the site, notably the annual Hekatesia, to which a quadrennial
Hekatesia-Romaia was added after the Mithridatic war, also the annual Bearing
of the Key, and the Birthday Festival. Personnel included the priest (a priestess
not before the 3d c. A.D.), the Key Bearer (a young girl), the neokoros, the president
of the mysteries, and the eunuchs.
In 88 B.C. Stratonikeia resisted Mithridates but was taken by force;
it was rewarded by Sulla with an alliance of friendship with Rome and confirmation
of the inviolability of the sanctuary at Lagina; this was inscribed on the temple
itself. In 40 B.C. Labienus revenged himself for his failure to take Stratonikeia
by sacking the temples, including that of Hekate; the damage was repaired with
the help of Augustus, as is acknowledged in an inscription on the lintel of the
propylon.
The temple lies at present in a flat heap heavily overgrown, but its
plan is clear and many of the architectural features remain. It was pseudodipteral,
in the Corinthian order, with a peristyle of 11 columns by 8; the pronaos and
cella were of almost equal dimensions, and there was no opisthodomos. The building
faced E. Elements still in position include the steps on the E front, the antae
of the pronaos, some of the orthostats of the cella wall, three column bases at
the rear, and part of the paving of the peristyle. Much of the frieze and numerous
inscriptions were removed by 19th c. excavators. The frieze covered all four sides
of the building, with scenes representing the birth of Zeus, a battle of gods
and giants, and a scene of reconciliation between Greeks and Amazons; Hekate features
in all of these. On the S side was a series of figures which seem to have represented
Carian cities and deities. Estimates of the date vary from ca. 125 B.C. to the
end of the 1st c.
The precinct surrounding the temple was ca. 150 by 135 m. It was enclosed
by a stoa in the Doric order, the S side of which was raised on a flight of 11
steps, with a staircase at the W end; but little of this can now be made out.
At the E end of the S stoa was a propylon; the gate still stands, with jambs and
inscribed lintel complete.
The inscriptions indicate that there was much else in the precinct:
"three stoas in the sacred house" (presumably living quarters for the
clergy), a provision market, and a sacred grove of trees maintained by the eunuchs.
One inscription forbids flocks to be pastured in the sanctuary.
G. E. Bean, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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