Kalymnos
“It’s Raining Statues” - A Temple of Apollo Resurfaces
It’s raining statues on Kalymnos. In the last six months more and more statues have been found on the island of Kalymnos, Greece. The statues, which date from the 6th century BCE to the 1st century CE, were found around a Christian church where the ancient temple of Delian Apollo once stood. Anistoriton, 9 September 2001
A goatherd’s cistern
In February 2002, the Athens daily I Kathimerini reported that a Kalymnos goatherd’s family and three of his neighbours were to share a 100-million-drachma (294,000-euro) reward for turning in more than three dozen ancient sculptures found in a local field:
“Michalis Halkitis discovered 37 marble statues and fragments of statues last March while digging a cistern in his fields near the early Christian basilica of the Jerusalem Christ. ‘I found the first statue and went on digging, finding more,’ he told the ministry’s Central Archaeological Council. ‘But seeing that there was no end to them, I contacted the archaeological service.’ The council set a value of 398 million drachmas (1.17 million euros) on the group, most of which were made between the 3rd and 1st centuries BC. Archaeologists believe the statues were connected with a nearby temple of Apollo, and may have been buried at the time of the islanders’ conversion to Christianity.”
Why were they buried?
The finds - closely guarded ever since - are among the most spectacular made in Greece in recent decades, and include a great statue of Asclepius. That they were carefully buried, rather than smashed, hints at how the transition from pagan cult to Christianity was managed on a small island: the old gods were put away in the earth, not simply destroyed.
Links
- Kalymnos Island news archive
- John Ezard’s report (The Guardian, 16 June 2001) - the new Apollo of Kalymnos and the 42 other statues.
- The Kalymnos Museum
- History of Kalymnos - a well-illustrated survey.