Rock Sanctuaries of Apollo in Southern Pisidia: Traditional and “Author’s”

Abstract

Most rock sanctuaries founded in the mountains of Taurus in the 1^st – 3^rd century AD had a votive character. These sanctuaries belonged to different deities. In southern Pisidia, three traditional rock sanctuaries of Apollo are known: in Perminus, near the city of Pednelissos, and near the ancient city, whose ruins are located near Kocaaliler. The iconography of Apollo in these sanctuaries differs from the image of a naked god familiar to the Greeks. On the votive stelae from Perminus, Apollo is represented as a rider-god, and in two other sanctuaries the image of the god reproduces the basic principles of the idea of the local god of the Pamphylian city of Side, the so-called Apollo Sidetes. But in the 2^nd half of the 2^nd century AD, a resident of the city of Adada named Leontianos founded near the road in Yazılı kanyon his “author’s” sanctuary. Based on the traditional votive principle, Leontianos carved on the rock his own verses containing hortations in Stoic philosophy and presented his walking stick as a gift to Apollo. This walking stick symbolized the rejection of reliance on everything material and the achievement of inner freedom, which was taught by Epictetus. The author provides a comparative description of these sanctuaries and points out how the idea of erecting an “author’s” sanctuary arose from the tradition of founding votive sanctuaries and how this new sanctuary differed from the traditional ones.