Monastery

Monastery built on the foundation of a tempel

In the past it was quite a common practice to build churches and monasteries smack bang on top of the sacred places of cults or religions that were being repressed. Could this monastery have been built upon the remains of Eumaios' hut? Was there once a Eumaios, Odysseus or Athena worshipping religion or cult?

Let's take a closer look at Rodaki to see if we can uncover any of the features Homer describes and make some comparisons.

An excavation might tell us more and, fortunately for us, was already done by the obliging German archeologist Wilhelm Dörpfeld in 1905. He didn't dig up Eumaios' hut, but he did find a temple!

Since two iron ploughs were also unearthed, the temple must have been dedicated to a female goddess of vertility, for which there are two unofficial candidates, Demeter, goddess of agriculture and vertility, and Artemis, twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the moon, the hunt and childbirth.

I will discuss the twin gods Artemis and Apollo, gods of sun and moon, in more detail in later scrolls, but for now suffice to say that Artemis seems like the ideal candidate to me.