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14 April 2022

The sanctuary of Demeter on Cape Hippolaus mentioned by Herodotus (based on exploration and cartography materials)

Antiquities of Lukomorie
The sanctuary of Demeter on Cape Hippolaus mentioned by Herodotus (based on exploration and cartography materials)

The article is devoted to the consideration and analysis of the problems of existence and location of the sanctuary (temple) of Demeter on Cape Hippolaus, on the right bank of the Dnieper estuary, which «father of history» Herodotus described being in Olbia in the middle of the V cen. B.C. Particular attention is paid to eyewitness descriptions, intelligence materials and cartographic materials of the late ХVІІІ — early XX cen. The earliest archaeological survey of the area in 1819 was carried out by P.I. Keppen, who discovered an ancient settlement and described two significant mounds. One of them — the Rozrytа Mohyla (Dug Tomb) — was surrounded by a ring moat with an earthen rampart, and in the middle of the protected space the remains of some pentagonal or hexagonal (?) In the plan of the building were traced. Research in 1848 by O.S. Uvarov, 1862 by F.K. Brun together with A.P. Chirkov and V.I. Goshkevych in 1909, as well as excavations of the second half of the twentieth century. found the remains of the temple on the site of Stanislaw I. Therefore, carefully, following P.I. Keppen, the author suggested that it was on the rebuilt Rozrytа Mohyla (Dug Tomb) could exist ancient Greek sanctuary Demeter, which can be verified by excavations of the remains of the mound, preserved on the northern outskirts of Stanislaw village area. Regarding the «mosque in the form of a rotunda without a minaret», which military engineer A.Zh. de Lafitte-Clave saw on the left bank of the Bug estuary in 1784, we do not yet have data to reliably link it to the object at the Rozrytа Mohyla.

Source: Sapozhnykov I. (2021) The sanctuary of Demeter on Cape Hippolaus mentioned by Herodotus (based on exploration and cartography materials). Antiquities of Lukomorie. №2: 7-23

Source web-site: http://www.lukomor.mosk.mksat.net/index.php/lukomor/article/view/55/50

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