, Birgit Öhlinger, Marion Steger
Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien, Band 82/2013, pp. 227-258, 2024/10/15
Around 500 B.C., a large, two-storey house was constructed on Monte Iato. This building is oriented along
a sacral axis, which formed the foundation of the Aphrodite Temple, constructed 550 B.C. The upper level
of this late archaic building housed decorated banqueting rooms that were accessible from ground level
on the much higher hillside in the north, through an open place in front of the house. Despite this obvious
integration of the upper level into the cult activities around the Aphrodite Temple, the rooms at ground
level are still to be considered part of the area used for representative living. Therefore, its residents held
›trusteeship‹ of the upper-level banqueting rooms as well as the sacrifice and commensal politics at the Aphrodite Temple. A detailed study of this causal link of religion, power formation and colonial contact
will be based on the results of fine-tuned archaeological investigations between the Aphrodite Temple
and the Late Archaic House.
