from the animal he offers.’’ This fashion of killing the victims recalls thediasparagmos
in the orgiastic cult of Dionysus.
In sum, the mysteries of the Megaron probably had almost no point of contact with
those of Eleusis. The goddess-daughter, Despoina, is here much more important
than Demeter; the sacrifice in which one strikes the animals at random and the
masked dances to the sound of flutes or thekitharaare suggestive of a much more
‘‘inspired’’ or ‘‘enthusiastic’’ environment, which betokens the distinctive nature of
the Lykosoura cult and its goddess Despoina.
The existence of pan-Arcadian deities does not license us, even so, to speak of a
unique Arcadian pantheon. There was nosingle way of assembling the gods in
Arcadia. One must also resist the temptation to think in terms of a local groupings
of cities. Each city had its pantheon, and there were as many pantheons as cities.
Local Pantheons and Distinctive Cults
Commonplace deities were given the functions with which they were associated
throughout Greece: the principal phenomenon is the lack of Arcadian distinctiveness
is in this respect. Let us take the example of Megalopolis (Pausanias 8.30.2–8.32.5).
The functions relating to the defense of the city and its territory were undertaken by
Athena Polias and those relating to earthquakes by Poseidon Asphaleios. The urban
area was placed under the aegis of the deities one would expect, those who protect
politics (Zeus Soter and Tyche); human groups (Hera Teleia for marriage, Apollo
Epikourios for young men); those who protect health (Asclepius and Hygieia) and
the individuals’ physical development (Heracles and Hermes, near the stadium);
and the gods protecting the arts and crafts (Muses, Apollo and Hermes, Aphrodite
Machanitis, Ergatai gods). The protection of the sphere of fertility/fecundity and the
protection of the pastoral life were assured by Demeter and the Great Goddesses,
Dionysus, Artemis, and Pan. Two names here are distinctive: Epikourios (‘‘Helper’’),
the epithet for Apollo (Pausanias 8.41.7), of military origin and Ergatai gods (‘‘Work-
ers’’), a collective name for several gods associated with a citizen’s daily life. But, for
day-to-day functions, the Arcadians more usually contented themselves with divine
names commonplace in Greece. Thus, Zeus is Soter in Megalopolis (Pausanias
8.30.10) and at Mantinea (Pausanias 8.9.1), in connection with the protection
required by a city’s foundation. When associated with the family, he is Zeus Teleios
at Megalopolis (8.48.6), Zeus Patro ̄os at Tegea (IGv.2 63) and Zeus Epido ̄te ̄sat
Mantinea (Pausanias 8.9.2). Likewise Athena, in her role as protectress of the
city, is called Polias or Poliatis, Apollo is Agyieus, and Poseidon is Hippios (Jost
1985: index).
However, even if these epithets were apparently banal, their content could be
rather less so. Athena Poliatis protected the city of Tegea and her iconography
draws upon Athena’s usual repertoire (Jost 1985:364–8). However, the legend
attached to her sanctuary evinces a distinctive conception of her protective power.
Athena Poliatis had made a gift to the city of a lock of hair of the Gorgon Medusa,
which one only had to brandish above the ramparts for the enemy to take off in
disarray (Pausanias 8.47.5; other sources contain the same report). Thus the goddess
assured the city protection of a magical kind by means of this talisman. Another
The Religious System in Arcadia 269