Politiki Propaganda kata tous Proimous Istorikous Chronous sta Iera tis Olympias kai ton Delfon

The purpose of this paper was to study the relationship between religion and politics during the Geometric Era in ancient Greece and, specifically, a) why certain sanctuaries evolved into Pan-Hellenic ones and b) the political propaganda practiced in these sanctuaries.A sanctuary might evolve into a Pan-Hellenic one a) if it lay in an advantageous geo-political location, out of the immediate control of the great contemporary political powers b) if local mythology was attractive enough to charm pilgrims of different backgrounds and, most importantly, c) if it received the support of political powers; these would intend to fashion a prestigious religious center, which would legitimize their policies and allow their propaganda to reach a wider audience. During the Early Iron Age, sanctuary propaganda was focused on the promotion of the hippeis (warrior-knights) social group. This was accomplished by intensive repetition of motifs characteristic to this social group that underlined its superiority (such as the ability to raise horses, or the attempt of these hippeis to identify with mythical and/or Homeric heroes. The propaganda was executed mostly by offerings, like bronze tripods, whose great value and decoration (withhorse and warrior statuettes) bore a direct allusion to the high social status and wealth of the offering pilgrim. Other freestanding statuettes, of riders or charioteers, served a similar function. The end of the period is marked by the appearance of the first collective offerings to Pan-Hellenic Sanctuaries, coinciding with the ascendancy of the polis (city-state) as the predominant social system in the Aegean. Nevertheless, the need of powerful political patrons for personal promotion through religious offerings survives until the Hellenistic and Roman Ages (e.g. the offerings of the tyrants or the Hellenistic kings).