I templi a focolare centrale cretesi alto-arcaici ed arcaici: rituali sacrificali e simbolismo politico

This paper deals with the functions and socio-political meanings of the Geometric and early Archaic central-hearth temples in Crete: the Delphinion (ca. end of the 8th cent. BC) and the West acropolis temple in Dreros; the temple A in Prinias (ca. 650-640 BC); the temple B in Kommos (800-600 BC). These temples show several differences in their plan and location of the god and of the sacrificial structures. Their ritual focus is the central eschara – altar which establishes an inner space for the civic sacrifice together with the outer open space. The relationship between the sacrifice participants and the presence of the god – e.g. in the Dreros Delphinion the well-known cult images of the Apollinian triad – implies a socio-political symbolism involving the members of an aristocratic city. The case of Kommos is made different by the extra-urban function of the sanctuary, which focuses during phases B1-2 on the “Phoenician” tripillar shrine