Templum Apollinis Daphnaei

About

Famous oracular sanctuary and sacred grove of Apollo and Artemis at Daphne, a suburb roughly 8km southwest of Antioch, established alongside the city's founding tradition under Seleucus I (c. 300 BCE) and described by Strabo as one of the most celebrated sanctuaries of the ancient world. A major pilgrimage and recreational site throughout the Roman period, including 117 CE. Point uses the same Harbiye/Daphne location already present in this repo's places_medium.geojson gazetteer for consistency.

What happened here

The building itself is a house for the god, and most people never go inside. Everything public happens on the steps and at the altar in front: an animal led up, examined, killed cleanly, its organs read, the meat divided and eaten. The priest covers his head and a flute player keeps up a noise so no ill-omened word is heard. Worshippers leave what they can afford — a terracotta figure, a coin, a model of the body part they want healed — and the accumulated clutter is periodically cleared and buried on site. On festival days the doors are opened and the cult statue is dressed, garlanded, and sometimes carried out through the streets. The temple also holds money, which is why towns keep their treasury in one.

Sources

• Strabo Geography 16.2.6
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daphne_(Antioch)