1. Testimonies and sources

We are especially well supplied with literary evidence for cults in Boeotia, thanks to Pausanias and to the Boeotians Pindar, Plutarch and Hesiod in particular, but the archaeological evidence is disappointing. Comparatively few sites have been fully excavated, and even fewer have been adequately published. The Valley of the Muses, for example, was excavated over a century ago and the findings of the excavators never made it to print.

2. Oracular shrines

Enough has been recovered, however, to assure us that Boeotia was extraordinarily rich in cults, both ordinary sanctuaries and especially oracular shrines. Everyone believed that the gods were willing and anxious to communicate with people and did so in a variety of ways, including sending flights of various birds in various directions, sending down thunder-claps and lightning bolts in various parts of the sky, putting significant marks on the livers of sacrificed animals and sending down messages in answer to enquiries made at particularly sacred spots, oracular shrines. Boeotia had an extraordinarily large number of these, over six major and more than a dozen minor ones. You paid your fee, you normally asked the medium, usually a woman, but not always, and got your answer, one often needing interpretation by the attending priests.

There were variations from this: where you, the consultant, performed the act of divination yourself during the night, underground. These were a Boeotian specialty. There were two famous sanctuaries of this type, situated at opposite ends of Boeotia, that of Amphiaraus in the east, at Oropus, very popular with the neighbouring Athenians, and that of Trophonius in the west, at Lebadea, the really terrifying one.

2.1. Oracle of Amphiaraus

At Amphiaraus the consultation was often about health, iatromantic, as it is termed, as well as a multitude of other matters. A sheep was sacrificed by the consultant; its hide was used as the coverlet in an underground chamber, where the consultant lay down and slept. The next morning the consultant described his dreams to the officiant. The latter in the manner of Freud explained what the dream or dreams signified — doubtless lying under a freshly killed sheepskin encouraged all sorts of interesting dreams. The sanctuary lasted until well on into the fourth century AD.

2.2. Oracle of Trophonius

At Trophonius the consultant, always male, was physically hauled into an underground chamber, where he consulted the god at night in a terrifying scene, not described in any detail, unfortunately. He had to take down with him honey cakes to placate the serpents waiting below, too. After climbing down the Chasm on a ladder, he lay down at the bottom and was “sucked” through a narrow slit into the divine chamber, where he had his interview with the god. On his return to the surface he was seated by the priests on the throne of Mnemosyne and interviewed. From this a report was delivered to the consultant. It too lasted until the fourth century AD, and it ultimately became a chapel of St. Christopher.

3. Sanctuaries

3.1. Sanctuary of Athena Itonia

There were many other important sacred precincts, of varying popularity at different stages of Boeotian history. That of Athena Itonia near Coronea was established at the time of the Boeotian invasion and was also the site of the Pamboeotia, the all-Boeotian games. The cult and games were especially popular when federalism was strong or when, as in Roman times, romantic archaism held sway. The site has not been excavated except for a trial dig.

3.2. Sanctuary of Apollo Ptoios

The sanctuary of Apollo Ptoios at Perdikovrysi near Acraephia was especially popular in the Archaic period, to judge by the number of statues of young victors in various games dedicated here. It also had an oracle, quite popular at the same time. It is not to be confused with the cult of the Hero Ptoios at Kastraki on a nearby ridge. The relationship between the two cults is a matter of lively debate and little evidence.

3.3. Sanctuary of Poseidon at Onchestos

At Onchestos, near Haliartus on the route from Thebes to Lebadea, close to the middle of Boeotia, was a sanctuary of Poseidon with a chariot race-course. Several administrative buildings shared the precinct with sacred structures, all in a large sacred grove. At various times this was the federal capital of Boeotia, as numerous inscriptions dated by “So-and-So, the Archon at Onchestos” make clear. It is in the process of extensive excavation at the present.

3.4. The Valley of the Muses

The Valley of the Muses separates the north and south parts of Helicon, and the Sanctuary of the Muses lies in its easterly part, about six kilometres west of Thespiae and two kilometres southwest of Ascra. The visible remains are dated ca. 200 BC and consist of a couple of stoas and a large altar, but fragments and sherds can be dated as early as the Archaic period. Hesiod introduced the Olympian Muses (Works and Days, 653–659) and their cult to the site, and the Mouseia were inaugurated later. They were primarily for music and poetry, with drama added by the fourth century BC. They underwent several modifications over the centuries, being subsumed to the Great Caesareia eventually. They disappeared in the third century AD, long after the cult had faded.

3.5. The Kabeirion

The Sanctuary of the Kabeiroi, the Kabeirion, is in the row of low hills south of the highway between Thebes and Livadeia, some five and a half kilometers west of Thebes. It is an extensive site, with votive remains as early as the early phases of the Geometric, and pottery sherds from the Neolithic on until the 5th century AD. It has been under excavation by the German Archaeological Institute since the late 19th century.

The worship, from at least the time of the extant records here, was of a mystery cult centred on three divinities, the Mother and two Kabeiroi, Kabeiros and Pais, obviously father and son. It was popular, and consequently its buildings underwent several reconstructions in its long span of activity, some ten different building periods being distinguished. Some structures seem always to have been required: an amphitheatre, orientation and seating changed from time to time; a terrace, untouched; several circular buildings, tholoi, as they are termed, locations shifted frequently. Other buildings and pottery were introduced as modes of worship were modified: in the 5th century BC much pottery seems to indicate some banqueting, as does the rectangular hall and a large tholos. This was continued in subsequent phases until the sanctuary was closed about 400 AD.

3.6. Sanctuary of the Charites at Orchomenos

At Orchomenos was the very popular Sanctuary of the Charites, better known in English as the Graces, with their equally popular competitions, the Charetesia, primarily musical and dancing. Excavation has revealed what are thought to be the foundations of their temple. Unwrought stones, apparently meteorites, were venerated as cult images, a practice known also for Eros in Thespiae and Heracles in Hyettos as well.

3.7. The cult of the spear at Chaeroneia

At Chaironeia a spear or sceptre (δόρυ) was one of the most revered divinities. It was believed to have been the property of Agamemnon, and Pausanias (9.41) was convinced it was genuine. “There is no temple for the sceptre made by the state, but the man who acts as priest keeps it in his house for a year. Sacrifices are made to it every day, and a table is set beside it, covered with all sorts of meat and cakes.”

3.8. Other cults and deities

Many other great divinities had sanctuaries in nearly every Boeotian town: Demeter the goddess of agriculture; Hera, the great goddess; Apollo; Hermes; Artemis; Athena; Dionysos; Heracles, especially at Thebes; Poseidon; and of course Zeus everywhere. Zeus Acraeus was one of the two great gods of the Boeotian people (the other was Athena Itonia), and the focal point of the worship of Zeus in Boeotia was the sanctuary on Mount Laphystium, originally Orchomenian, later belonging to Lebedea and Coronea. The cult was doubtless given even greater prestige in the fifth century when Sophocles presented a tragedy on the abortive sacrifice of Phrixus and Helle by their father, apparently set here, not in Halos. Thebes was a claimant for being the birthplace of Zeus, though when the claim was made is unclear.

Some of the other great divinities seem to have a surprisingly few cults: Aphrodite; Ares; Hades; Helios; Hestia; Asklepios; Hygieia. No doubt domestic cults filled the void for such divinities as Aphrodite and Hestia, and specialized centres acted for the health gods. Cults of Hades are extremely uncommon throughout Greece, while Ares normally has his rites on the battlefield, just before battle is joined. Other figures prominent in mythology have no cults at all, like Cadmus, or just one or two, like Oedipus.

4. Cults at Eastern Phocis

For Eastern Phocis Pausanias mentions twelve sanctuaries, for most of which there are few if any remains extant. The district is on the main route between the north and the south and so is the main route for invasion as well as trade. Consequently the towns and their shrines were all hard hit many times, from the Persian Wars of 480 BC to the German invasion of 1941 AD. The sites destroyed, often several times, include the Phokikon, the federal assembly building, now just a few scattered blocks. These may be the remains of a later building that replaced one destroyed by the Persians in 480 BC.

The most prestigious sanctuary in this area was the Oracle of Apollo at Abae, one of those consulted by Croesus, where recent excavations by the German School identified the sanctuary site near the modern village of Kalapodi and showed that it was in constant use for cult practices from early Mycenaean times to the Roman period. It is thus the first site where archaeology confirms the continuity of Mycenaean and Classical Greek religion, which has been inferred from the presence of the names of Classical Greek divinities on Linear B texts.

Elateia (Paus. 10.34.6), the largest city after Delphi, had a temple of Asklepios and nearby a sanctuary of Athena Kranaia. The ancient city has been repeatedly sacked and destroyed in its history, and also subjected to several earthquakes. For these reasons the one modern excavation of the classical site was not been particularly successful, except for the Temple of Athena Kranaia. What has been attested is continuous occupation of the valley going back to as far as 6000 BC.

At Daulis (Paus. 10.4.9) there is a sanctuary of Athena and an archaic statue. The wooden image which is even older is said to have been brought by Procne from Athens. None of this remains.

In Antikyra there are visible remains of a temple of Artemis Eileithyia , once housing a statue made by Praxiteles, and of another Archaic temple, of Athena, destroyed in the 4th century BC.

Pausanias notes sanctuaries with interesting statues and other sights at Tithorea (10.23.8–10), Ledon (10.33.1), Lilaia (10.33.3), Drymaia (10.33.12), Amphikleia (10.33.9), Hyampolis (10.35.5), Stiris (10.35.9) and Ambrosus (10.36.3). None of these remain, except perhaps for circuit walls, and the sites have not been the subject of anything beyond trial excavations, if that. Stiris was largely demolished in Mediaeval times in providing building material for the Monastery of Hosios Loukas. This is probably the sort of fate that came upon all the Phocian towns.