Re: Alexander The Great........

From: Jona (adsl294196_at_tiscali.nl)
Date: 08/09/04 

Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2004 14:58:38 +0200

JustInterested wrote:

> I was just wondering if anyone could tell me if Alexander The Great
> built (or used) a temple called the Luna Temple? Thank you.

Luna is the Latin name of the moon, and the word can be used as a
translation of Selene (the Greek moon goddess). Alexander sacrificed to
her after a lunar eclipse of 20 September 331, shortly before the battle
of Gaugamela. She had to share her sacrifice with Gê (Earth) and Helios
(Sun), which shows that Alexander knew what an eclipse was.

Alternatively, Luna might stand for Sin, the Babylon Moon god. He was
venerated at Harran, and although our sources do not mention that
Alexander visited the city, he passed through it when he went from the
Euphrates to the Tigris.
See http://www.livius.org/ha-hd/harran/harran.html
and http://www.livius.org/a/turkey/harran/harran.html

Finally, at the end of his life, Alexander ordered the construction of
an expensive temple of Artemis Tauropolus at Amphipolis
(http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t27.html). Artemis was
sometimes venerated as the Moon goddess, but Artemis Tauropolus was, as
far as I know, especially the goddess of friendship among soldiers.

[I took the liberty to crosspost this message from sci.archaeology to
soc.history.ancient; there are some people there who know a lot about
Greek religion.]

Jona 

-- 
Jona Lendering
http://www.livius.org

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