purified of her anger (Lousia), she is – explicitly at Phigalia at any rate – the goddess of
grain and the life of cultivation, who presides over the vegetation and the fertility of
the land. At Thelpusa the ambivalence of Demeter, angered then reconciled, hostile
then beneficent in turn, is underlined by the splitting of the goddess into two, with
her two epithets, Erinys and Lousia.
Conclusion
Let us conclude. The elements of an Arcadian religious system manifest themselves at
two levels, the pan-Arcadian level and that of local pantheons. Three deities are
worshiped by all the Arcadians in common and these structure Arcadian religion:
Pan and Zeus Lykaios, whom the coinage of Megalopolis took as symbols of the
Arcadian League, are two. To them we must certainly add Despoina, endowed by her
sanctuary and her monuments with an importance out of all proportion to that of the
city of Lykosoura. These deities sometimes have an archaic and wild aspect (Zeus
Lykaios), and sometimes they are directly linked to the animal world, like Pan or
Despoina. Otherwise, the Arcadian religious system is the sum of the local pantheons
which had specific traits in common. One often finds here the same deities as
elsewhere in Greece, but the epithets that are ostensibly the most banal sometimes
cover a distinctively Arcadian treatment (Athena Poliatis, Apollo Agyieus, Poseidon
Hippios). Other, more distinctive epithets preserve the memory of old local deities
(Athena Alea, Demeter Erinys). Others again are to be related to the Arcadians’
principal preoccupations: agricultural and pastoral activities (and hence the weather
and the mechanisms of fertility and fecundity); religious life (Polybius reminds us of
the Arcadians’ reputation for piety, 4.20.1); and the political history of the region,
which gave rise to some new creations (Megalai Theai, Zeus Philios).
The Arcadian mythical universe offers the same impression: an affirmation of a
strong religious identity contrasts with the commonplace nature of some themes.
This is conveyed by the tales of divine births that attach to the great gods in Arcadia.
It flourishes in the myths of transformation into animals: Zeus transforms Lykaon
into a wolf, Poseidon and Demeter change themselves into horses. These tales in no
way suggest that there had been an animal-god phase in Arcadian religion. For the
sacrilegious hero, metamorphosis represents a regression into an animal state. This is
the regression with which the inhabitants of Kynaitha were threatened, according to
Polybius (4.21.6) when they renounced the institutions that had been put in place in
order to ‘‘civilize and soften... the harsh side of their character’’ and they ‘‘sank into
bestiality.’’ The theme goes hand in hand with Arcadia’s reputation for harshness.
Among the gods of the country, metamorphosis demonstrates a very strong bond and
affinity with the animal world. There is no other part of Greece where the relationship
of the divine with animals expresses itself so spontaneously in myth, not to mention
cult image.
However, the Arcadian religious system did not develop in a vacuum, and
the goddesses of Eleusis, for example, found their place in the cities’ pantheons.
But the Despoina of Lykosoura, who holds Eleusinian objects in her hands, was
worshiped in orgiastic rites with animal costumes. In this regard, she is particularly
representative of the distinctive face of Arcadian religion.
278 Madeleine Jost