Athena in Anatolia

Abstract

This article investigates the penetration of the cult of Athena into Anatolia beyond the old-established Greek cities of the coastline. A major problem is how to treat numismatic evidence; whereas in inscriptions in many regions, Phrygia above all, Athena is almost unattested as a recipient of cult, she appears on the coinage of many cities. I argue for a differentiated approach which will allow coin depictions to be taken as evidence for cult only under specific conditions. If that restriction is accepted, the presence of Athena in Anatolia emerges as very uneven. Where she is most prominent, as Athena Oreia in Cilicia, her cult has assumed unusual characteristics which are perhaps to be explained by a substrate.