Lagina

Just a few kilometres away from Stratonicea was the ancient cult site of Lagina, one of the most important Carian sanctuaries. The establishment of the sanctuary at Lagina as a religious centre dates back to the Seleucids, but evidence from the necropolis implies that the origins of the settlement go back to the 7th century BC. An 11 km long road called the Sacred Way (ceremonial road) connected the two sites.

Coordinates: 37° 22′ 42.83″ N, 28° 2′ 21.94″ E

The deity worshipped at the sanctuary was the goddess Hecate. She was the goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, the moon, ghosts and necromancy. In statuary, Hecate was often depicted in triple form, with three bodies or three heads. She was also associated with crossroads and entranceways. Numerous festivals were celebrated at the site, during which a procession delivered the temple’s key from Lagina to the bouleuterion in Stratonicea, on which the rules of the religious celebrations of Hecate were written.

The sculptural decorations that once adorned the temple are now on display in the Archaeology Museum in Istanbul. They covered all four sides of the building, with scenes representing the episodes from Zeus’ life circle, the battle of gods and giants (Gigantomachy), the mythical battle between the Ancient Greeks and the Amazons (Amazonomachy), as well as scenes from Carian mythology.

PORTFOLIO

The Sanctuary of Hecate in Lagina, dated to the last quarter of the 2nd century BC, Caria, Turkey
The temple of Hecate stood in the centre of the sacred precinct. It was constructed in the 2nd century BC.
The architectural type of the Temple was pseudodipteral, in the Corinthian order, with a peristyle of 11 columns by 8.
The Corinthian columns of the Temple of Hecate.
The Sanctuary of Hecate in Lagina, dated to the last quarter of the 2nd century BC, Caria, Turkey
The paving of the peristyle in front of the Temple.
Corinthian column from the Temple of Hecate.
Corinthian column from the Temple of Hecate.
The Sanctuary of Hecate in Lagina, dated to the last quarter of the 2nd century BC, Caria, Turkey
The Sanctuary of Hecate.
The propylaea (monumental gateway) with a semicircular colonnade at the front, Sanctuary of Hecate in Lagina, Caria, Turkey
The propylaea (monumental gateway) with a semicircular colonnade at the front.
The propylaea (monumental gateway) with a semicircular colonnade at the front, Sanctuary of Hecate in Lagina, Caria, Turkey
A stairway with ten steps led from the propylaea to a paved way and then to the altar.
The stairway with ten steps leading from the propylaea to the Temple.
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
The precinct surrounding the temple was ca. 150 by 135 m. It was enclosed by a stoa in the Doric order.
The south side of the Stoa was raised on a flight of 11 steps, with a staircase at the west end.
The south side of the Stoa was raised on a flight of 11 steps, with a staircase at the west end.
The temple of Hecate.
The temple of Hecate.

Links:

3 thoughts on “Lagina

  1. Pingback: Stratonicea (Caria) – following hadrian photography

  2. Pingback: Invocation d’Hécate – harpakheredblog

  3. Pingback: Hekate and Crossed Keys | Knot Magick

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.