Claros

The Temple Apollo at Claros

The Sacred Way at Claros

A turtle's paradise

Inscriptions Adjacent to the Alter of Apollo at Claros

The Holy Family of Leto, Apollo & Artemis

The Katagogeion at Claros

Forked cross motifs reveal that
Claros continued to serve after Christianity

Claros was one of the sacred oracle sites near Ephesus, where people from all over Greece came to receive messages and guidance, beautifully nestled in nature.

Notion was located on a hill from which the sea was visible; it served as a port for nearby Colophon and Claros (connected by a sacred way).

Claros is a prophecy center of Colophon, one of the twelve Ionic cities. Claros is built between two cities; it is 13 kilometers south of Colophon and two kilometers north of Notion.

The Temple of Apollo here was a very important center of prophecy as in Delphi and Didim. The oldest information about this sacred site goes back to the sixth and seventh centuries B.C. through the Homeric Hymns.

A sacred cave near the Claros Temple of Apollo, which was an important place both in the Hellenistic and Roman eras, points to the existence of a Cybele cult in earlier periods here.

Terracotta figurines representing different goddesses were found in the sanctuary of the sector of Artemis: they indicate various cults related to the main worship of Apollo. The most popular of the female divinities is Aphrodite, represented in different iconographic types. An additional major group consists of kourotrophoi (Κουροτρόφος), who recalls the role of Artemis as protector of childhood. A Kybele is probably linked with the cave where the goddess was worshipped near the sanctuary.

During recent excavation seasons (2015) at the Apollo sanctuary at Claros approximately fragments of votive terracotta fgurines have been found. Some of them represent female deities: among them, Aphrodite (1-4), Cybele (7) and kourotrophoi (5-6) that possibly represent Artemis and the Nymphe Nysa (?) could be indentified.

Literature

Visiting Goddesses? Female Deities in the Sanctuary of Apollo at Claros, Elçin Doğan Gürbüzer

Terracotta figurines representing different goddesses were found in the sanctuary ofthe sector of Artemis: they indicate various cults related to the main worship of Apollo.

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An Archaic Marble Block with an Artemis Relief Found in the Vicinity of Notion, Özden ÜRKMEZ

A marble architectural block was discovered in 2011 next to Ales River.

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THE SANCTUARY AND ORACLE OF CLAROS, DUYGU SEVİL AKAR TANRIVER

The sanctuary of Claros, located south of Ahmetbeyli in the Özdere district of Izmir Province

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Towards a Typology of Sanctuary Networks: The Case of Roman Claros , Ian Rutherford

The Claros dossier is unique in the Roman Empire. Sending delegations or theoriai to sanctuaries is characteristic of the Classical and Hellenistic period.

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The Officials of Oracular Sanctuaries in Roman Asia Minor, Aude BUSINE

Who were those who worked in the oracidar sanctuaries in the Roman East äs interpreters of the god's will? What were their functions? What part did they act in society?

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Kybele in Griechenland

Kybele in Griechenland, Sabine Viktoria Kofler

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Der Kult der Meter /Kybele in Westanatolien und in der Ägäis

Symposions an der Österreichischen Akademie

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The Goddess Cybele by Nicholas Adontz

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Cybele and the Waterside Shrines. Some Observations on the Phrygian Spring Cult and Its Origin, Vecihi Özkaya