Nemea
Frieze-Dennison Vergil
- a city in Argolis, near which Hercules slew the Nemean lion and founded the Nemean games: nec Nemeae nec Olympiae nec usquam, Plaut. Cas. 4, 1, 1 (759); Cic. Fat. 4, 7: Nemeae sub rupe, Verg. A. 8, 295: Nemee frondosa, Mart. Spect. 27: pulvereā Nemeen effervere nube, Stat. Th. 4, 664; id. S. 1, 3, 6.—
- B Hence,
- 1 Nĕmaeus, a, um, adj., Nemean, Hier. in Vigil. 1.—
- 2 Nĕmĕaeus, a, um, adj., Nemean: rura, Stat. Th. 3, 421: leo, Cic. Tusc. 2, 9, 22; 4, 22, 50: moles, Ov. M. 9, 197: pestis, id. H. 9, 61: vellus, id. M. 9, 235: arma, Stat. S. 5, 2, 48; id. Th. 3, 421.—Of the constellation Leo: monstrum, Mart. 4, 57, 5; Luc. 1, 655. —
- 3 Nĕmē̆us, a, um, adj., Nemean.— Subst.: Nĕmē̆a, ōrum, n., = Νέμεα or Νέμεια, the Nemean games, Liv. 27, 30 sq.; 34, 41; Hyg. Fab. 273.
- a river flowing between the territories of Corinth and Sicyon, Liv. 33, 15.
(Νεμέα), a daughter of Asopus, from whom the district of Nemea between Cleonae and Phlius in Argolis was said to have received its name. (Paus. 2.15.3, 5.22.5.) [L.S]
NE´MEA(Νεμέα) was a valley in Argolis, between Kleonae and Phlius. It was the reputed scene of many famous mythical events. Here (it was said) Argos had watched Io: and here Herakleês slew the lion. Pausanias (Paus. 2.15, 2) relates that in his time the den of the Nemean lion was pointed out in a mountain range, a little less than two miles from Nemea. And here too, in historic times, stood a splendid temple of Nemean Zeus, with a sacred enclosure (ἄλσος, not to be rendered grove), in which the Nemean games (Νέμεα or Νέμεια) were held (Strab. 8. p. 377). Pindar describes the locality of these games by a variety of imaginative expressions: e. g. Νεμεαίου ἐν πολυυμνήτῳ Διὸς ἄλσει (Nem. 2.4, 5); ἀσκίοις Φλιοῦντος ὑπ' ὠγυγίοις ὄρεσιν (Nem. 6.45, 46); χόρτοις ἐν λέοντος (Olymp. 13.44). The valley of Nemea from its situation belonged naturally to the people of Kleonae, who for a long time were presidents of the games (ἀγωνοθέται). But, before Olymp. 53, 1, the Argives obtained possession of the temple and the presidency at the games. At a later time the Kleonaeans recovered the right of presiding, but did not retain it (Pind. Nem. x.; Paus. 2.15, 3).
In prehistoric times we find the institution of the Nemean festival connected with the expedition of the Seven against Thebes (Apollodor. 3.6, 4), or with the slaying of the Nemean lion by Heraklês (Schol. Pind. Nem.). Writers who held the former opinion uniformly describe the festival as an ἀγὼν ἐπιτάφιος, established to commemorate the youth Archemoros, who was killed by a serpent (Apollodor. l. c.), but differ as to the particular Archemoros whose death was thus honoured. Some represented him to have been the son of Lycurgus, king of Nemea, while others (among whom was Aeschylus) related that he was the son of Nemea, daughter of Asopus (Schol. Pind. Nem.). Apollodorus in the passage referred to gives the names of the victors, together with the contests, in which they were victorious at the first Nemean games. The second celebration of these games is attributed by Pausanias (Paus. 10.25, 2, 3) to the Epigoni.
As regards the first historic occurrence of the festival, we have but scanty evidence. In its local character it had no doubt been in existence from immemorial antiquity; but not until long after the Olympic games had become famous did those of Nemea rise to the rank of a Pan-Hellenic festival. Eusebius dates the first Nemead from Olymp. 53, 2: but it is probable from the dissertation of G. Hermann, whose conclusions are supported by Boeckh, that the series of historical Nemeads began in the winter of Olymp. 51 (Boeckh, C. I. i. n. 34, p. 53). The Nemean games, like the Isthmian, in this respect were biennial (ἀγὼν τριετηρικός), i. e. two complete years elapsed between each festival. Accordingly they fell twice within the Olympic period, occurring alternately in winter and summer in the second and fourth years respectively of each Olympic πεντετηρίς. We read in the Schol. to Pindar's Nemean odes that they took place on the 12th of the month Pan[ecedil]mos (μηνὶ πανέμῳ δωδεκάτῃ), but such authority helps us but little in settling the matter.
The games comprised musical, gymnic, and equestrian contests (ἀγὼν μουσικός, γυμνικός, ἱππιλός). (Plut. Phil. 11; Paus. 8.50, 3; Schol. Pind. Nem.) The gymnic contests at Nemea, as regards the subjects of competition, corresponded closely with those at Olympia. The following are expressly mentioned:--The simple foot-race (γυμνὸν στάδιον) for men and boys; the wrestling bout (πάλη) for men and boys; the πένταθλον for men and boys; the παγικράτιον for men and boys (Pind. Nem. passim; Hdt. 6.92, 9.75-Z2). That boxing (πυγμαχία) was a subject of competition may be inferred from Paus. 8.40, 3. We learn further from Pausanias (Paus. 2.15, 2) and Pindar that, besides the simple foot-race, the Nemean games included the armour-race (ὁπλίτης δρόμος) and the long race (ὁ δόλιχος --notice accent). In the equestrian contests we know that Alcibiades, Chromios of Aetna, and Polyklês of Sparta (Paus. 1.22, 6) were victorious.
That the games occupied more than one day may be inferred from Liv. 27.31, where he uses the words per dies festos in reference to them.
The Argives, as has been said above, ultimately supplanted the Kleonaeans as presidents of the Nemean festival, but they occasionally delegated this function to military chieftains, like Philip of Macedon or Titus Quintius Flamininus (Liv. 27.30, 34.41-Z2). In a late. inscription the officers who actually presided are referred to as Hellanodikae (Ἑλλανοδίκαι). Boeckh conjectured that these were twelve in number, while those who discharged the like duty at Olympia, and bore the same title, numbered only ten (Boeckh, C. I 1126, p. 581).
Like the other great Pan-Hellenic festivals, the Nemean was an ἀγὼν στεφανίτης, i. e. one in which the victor obtained a wreath in token of his victory. The Nemean wreath was, according to some accounts, at first woven of olive-sprays (ἐλαία), the garland of green parsley (χλωρὰ σέλινα) having replaced it afterwards; according to others, the parsley wreath, was the original prize (as it continued to be throughout historical times) on account of its special fitness, as an emblem of mourning, to be associated with the memory of Archemoros. But a different myth, already alluded to, represents Heraklês, when he instituted the games after overcoming the lion, as having also appointed the parsleywreath to be the victor's reward. And this latter account seems to have been present to the mind of Pindar, for he speaks of the wreath as βοτάνα λέοντος (Nem. 6.71, 72).
During the celebration of each Nemean festival a cessation of hostilities (ἐκεχειρία, σπονδαί) between belligerents was an imperative duty (cf. ἐν ἱερομηνίᾳ Νεμεάδι, Pind. N. 3.2, with schol.). A sacred embassy, too, was on these occasions sent by each of the several Hellenic states to Nemea, with offerings to Nemean Zeus (Demosth. Meid. p. 552.115).
Historians, as well as late coins and inscriptions, testify that the (still so called) Nemean games came to be regularly held in Argos (Plb. 5.101, 5; Diod. 19.64; Liv. 30.1; Boeckh, C. I. 234, p. 356). On a comparatively early occasion, indeed, Argos had been the scene of the festival. For the circumstances, vid. Plut. Arat. 28. Local festivals, named after the great Nemean, were established in many places, e. g. at Aetna in Sicily (Schol. Pind. O. 13.158) and at Megara (Schol. Pind. O. 7.157). That Nemea were also instituted at Anchialos in Thrace may be inferred from a medal stamped under Caracalla, bearing the name ΝΕΜΑΙΑ (instead of the usual ΝΕΜΕΙΑ); and, from the fact of its bearing also the word ΞΕΟΨΗΠΙΑ, the further inference has been drawn that the Thracian Nemea were founded in honour of Sept. Severus. (For more detailed information respecting Nemea, see Krause, Pythien, Nemeen, u. Isthmien, whose guidance has been mainly followed in the present article.)
[J.I.B]NE´MEA (ἡ Νεμέα, Ion. Νεμέη: Adj. Νέμειος, Νεμεαῖος, Nemeaeus), the name of a valley in the territory of Cleonae, where Hercules slew the Nemean lion, and where the Nemean games were celebrated every other year. It is described by Strabo as situated between Cleonae and Phlius (8. p. 377). The valley lies in a direction nearly north and south, and is about two or three miles long, and from half to three quarters of a mile in breadth. It is shut in on every side by mountains, and is hence called by Pindar a deep vale (βαθύπεδος, Nem. 3.18.) There is a remarkable mountain on the NE., called in ancient times APESAS(Ἀπέσας), now Fuka, nearly 3000 feet high, with a flat summit, which is visible from Argos and Corinth. On this mountain Perseus is said to have first sacrificed to Zeus Apesantius. (Paus. 2.15.3; Steph. B. s. v. Ἀπέσας; Stat. Theb. 3.460, seq.) Theocritus gives Nemea the epithet of well-watered( εὐΰδρου Νεμέης χῶρος, , Theocr. 25.182). Several rivulets descend from the surrounding mountains, which collect in the plain, and form a river, which flows northward through the ridges of Apesas, and falls into the Corinthian gulf, forming in the lower part of its source the boundary between the territories of Sicyon and Corinth. This river also bore the name of Nemea (Strab. 8. p. 382; Diod. 14.83; Liv. 33.15); but as it was dependent for its supply of water upon the season of the year, it was sometimes called the Nemean Charadra. (Aesch. de Fals. Leg. § 168, ed. Bekker; ἡ Χαράδρα, Xen. Hell. 4.2. 15) The mountains, which enclose the valley, have several natural caverns, one of which, at the distance of 15 stadia from the sacred grove of Nemea, and on the road named Tretus, from the latter place to Mycenae, was pointed out as the cave of the Nemean lion. (Paus. 2.15.2.)
The name of Nemea was strictly applied to the sacred grove in which the games were celebrated. Like Olympia and the sanctuary at the Corinthian Isthmus, it was not a town. The sacred grove contained only the temple, theatre, stadium, and other monuments. There was a village in the neighbourhood called BEMBINA(Βέμβινα), of which, however, the exact site is unknown. (Strab. 8. p. 377; Steph. B. s. v.) The haunts of the Nemean lion are said to have been near Bembina. (Theocr. 25.202.)
The chief building in the sacred grove was the temple of Zeus Nemeius. the patron god of the place. When visited by Pausanias the roof had fallen, and the statue no longer remained (2.15.2). Three columns of the temple are still standing, amidst a vast heap of ruins. Two of these columns belonged to the pronaos, and were placed as usual between antae; they are 4 feet 7 inches in diameter at the base, and still support their architrave. The third column, which belonged to the outer range, is 5 feet 3 inches in diameter at the base, and about 34 feet high, including a capital of 2 feet. Its distance from the corresponding column of the pronaos is 18 feet. The total height of the three members of the entablature was 8 feet 2 inches. The general intercolumination of the peristyle was 7 feet; at the angles, 5 feet 10 inches. From the front of the pronaos to the extremity of the cell within, the length was 95 feet; the breadth of the cell within, 31 feet; the thickness of the walls, 3 feet. The temple was a hexastyle, of about 65 feet in breadth on the upper step of the stylobate, which consisted of three steps: the number of columns on the sides, and consequently the length of the temple, I could not ascertain.( Leake.) Though of the Doric order, the columns are as slender as some of the specimens of the Ionic, and are so different from the older Doric examples, that we ought probably to ascribe to the temple a date subsequent to the Persian wars.
Among the other monuments in the sacred grove were the tombs of Opheltes, and of his father Lycurgus. The former was surrounded with a stone enclosure, and contained certain altars; the latter was a mound of earth. (Paus. 2.15.3.) Pausanias also mentions a fountain called Adrasteia. The latter is, doubtless, the source of water near the Turkish fountain, which is now without water. At the foot of the mountain, to the left of this spot, are the remains of the stadium. Between the stadium and the temple of Zeus, on the left of the path, are some Hellenic foundations, and two. fragments of Doric columns. Near the temple are the ruins of a small church, which contains some Doric fragments. (Leake, Morea, vol. 3. p. 327, seq.; Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. 2. p. 505, seq.)
For an account of the Nemean festival, see Dict. of Antiq. s. v.
(Νεμέα) or Nemeë (Νεμέη). A valley in Argolis between Cleonae and Phlius, celebrated in mythical story as the place where Heracles slew the Nemean lion. (See Heracles.) In this valley there was a splendid temple of Zeus Nemeus surrounded by a sacred grove, in which the Nemean Games were celebrated every other year. See Nemea.
(τὰ Νέμεα or Νέμεια). The Nemean Games; one of the four Greek national festivals, which was celebrated in the valley of Nemea in the territory of the Argive town Cleonae. In historic times the festival was held in honour of Zeus, who had here a temple with a sacred grove. Originally it is said to have consisted of funeral games, instituted by the Seven during their expedition against Thebes (Apollod.iii.6.4), in memory of the boy Archemorus as an ἀγὼν ἐπιτάφιος. (See Seven against Thebes.) Heracles afterwards changed it into a festival in honour of Zeus. From about B.C. 575 on wards, athletic competitions were added to the festival, after the model of those at Olympia; and, like the latter, it was only gradually that it developed into a general Hellenic celebration. It was held twice in a period of four years—once in August, every fourth year; once in winter, every second or first Olympic year. It is more probable, however, that the so-called “Winter Nemea” were only local games held in Argos, and that the Panhellenic Nemea were celebrated in alternate years at the end of every first and third Olympic year, at a time corresponding to our July. The question is discussed by Unger in the Philologus (xxxiv. 50), but Droysen, in Hermes (xiv. 1), considers it still unsettled. The management of the festival was originally possessed by the Cleonaeans, but soon passed, together with the possession of the sanctuary, into the hands of the Argives. The games, which lasted more than one day (Livy, xxvii. 31), consisted of gymnastic, equestrian, and musical contests (for the two former, see Olympia); the prize was a palm-branch and a garland of fresh σέλινον, often rendered “parsley,” but more probably identical with the “wild celery.” See Krause, Pythien, Nemeen, und Isthmien, and the scholiasts on Pindar.
The site of the Panhellenic Games, of which the Sanctuary of Nemean Zeus formed the dominant element, lies at the head of the valley of the Nemea river, ca. 19 km N of Argos and 18 km from the Gulf of Corinth. Originally the games were local and under the control of Kleonai. In 573 B.C. the games were incorporated into the Panhellenic schedule and held every other year. By the middle of the 5th c. the games were presided over by Argos. In the first half of the 4th c. the games appear to have been transferred to Argos itself. Aratos of Sikyon tried to restore the games to their original site on the Nemea river in 235 B.C., but without success (Plut. Arat. 28). In 145 B.C. Mummius appears to have revived the games on their original site; Argos succeeded in becoming, however, the home of the games during the Roman period. There is no archaeological evidence that winter games were held within the limits of the ancient Nemean sanctuary during the Hadrianic period. The site of Nemea was reoccupied in the 4th and 5th c. A.D. by the Christians, when a basilica and baptistery were erected there, largely with blocks from the Temple of Zeus.
The site has been excavated intermittently since 1884. The pottery and small finds are stored in the archaeological museum in ancient Corinth; coins from the early American excavations are in the National Museum of Athens.
The 4th c. Temple of Zeus lies on the E bank of the Nemea river. It is built of limestone, on the foundations of the S side of an earlier temple, probably erected in the archaic period. The later temple, of which three columns still stand, was completed in the twenties of the 4th c. It is peripteral, with 6 columns across the ends, 12 along the flanks. The columns are extremely attenuated, with a height 7.34 times their lower diameter. The temple had no opisthodomus. Inside, the cella had freestanding Corinthian columns along both side walls and across its W end. These were surmounted by Ionic half-columns applied to piers. The cella had a reserved area or adyton at its W end, in which stairs led down into a crypt. The floor of the crypt appears to have been the ground level of the earlier temple. The only marble used in the temple was the sima, in design slightly resembling that of the Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea. There are other stylistic resemblances between the two temples; these are not strong enough, however, to demand the conclusion that a single architect designed both buildings.
To the E of the temple lies the foundation of an altar 41 m long, which extends N beyond the limits of the N side of the 4th c. temple. The altar appears to have been built in two phases; apparently the early altar was centered on the long axis of the earlier temple and then extended S to go with the later temple.
Between 33 and 42 m S of the temple is a line of three buildings; the one farthest E has not been completely excavated. Only foundations of these structures are preserved. The building farthest W, a large rectangular structure with two interior columns, may have been a lesche. The two buildings at its E have wide foundations on their N ends, designed to carry columned facades. The two buildings may have been treasuries facing the temple.
Farther to the S, about 72 m from the temple, is a building 86 m long, separated by a space of about 9 m from a rectangular building at its W. The W structure is a three-roomed bath. The SW corner room still has its basins and plunge preserved. The room has been roofed and now serves as an archaeological storeroom for the site. The long building at the E appears to have been divided into five units which opened onto a roadway running along the S. Each of these units held facilities for drinking and eating; the building probably served as a xenon. Both bath and xenon were built in the second half of the 4th c., immediately after the construction of the later Temple of Zeus. (The xenon was built over a kiln that made the roof tiles for the temple.) Both xenon and bath were aligned with the roadway rather than with the temple.
A Christian basilica was erected over the remains of the W end of the xenon. In form the church is a nave with both N and S side aisles, apse at the E, and narthex with subsidiary rooms at the W. The baptistery lies against the N wall of the basilica and has a circular baptismal basin in the center of the floor.
The roadway at the S of the xenon led to the E slope of the valley on which today stands the ruin of a Turkish fountain-house. Slightly farther up the E slope is the water source that once fed it and which is identified as the Fountain of Adrastos. Here, according to legend, Opheltes, a babe yet unable to walk, was left by his nurse so that she could draw water for the Seven Warriors on their way to Thebes. The child was killed by a marauding serpent; the Nemean Games were then initiated in honor of the dead child. Pausanias (2.15.2-3) mentions a Temenos of Opheltes in which were altars to the hero, close by which was a tumulus for Lykourgos, his father. These probably stood close to the fountain. No physical remains, however, have been identified. A pit filled with votive pottery and terracotta figurines of the archaic period, apparently dedications to Demeter, was found on the slope farther to the S.
The stadium for the games was built in a hollow in the E slope of the Nemean valley, SW of the fountain-house and about 500 m SE of the temple. This is now partially excavated. The long axis of the stadium is N-S, with the S end of the track dug into the hillside, the N end built out on an artificial terrace. The course was lined with water channels and settling basins. Seats for the spectators appear, however, never to have been built.
BIBLIOGRAPHYG. Cousin & F. Dürrbach, “Inscriptions de Némée,” BCH 9 (1885) 349-56; C. W. Blegen, “The American Excavation at Nemea, Season of 1924,” Art and Archaeology 19 (1925) 175-84; id., “The December Excavations at Nemea,” ibid. 22 (1926) 127-34; id., “Excavations at Nemea, 1926,” AJA 31 (1927) 427-40; M. Clemmensen & R. Vallois, “Le temple de Zeus à Némée,” BCH 49 (1925) 1-20, pls. I-IV; C. K. Williams, Deltion 18 (1963) 81-82, pl. 94; 20 (1965) 154-56, pl. 138; G. Daux, “Chronique des fouilles en 1964,” BCH 89 (1965) 703-7; D. W. Bradeen, “Inscriptions from Nemea,” Hesperia 35 (1966) 320-30; B. W. Hill, L. T. Lands, & C. K. Williams, The Temple of Zeus at Nemea (1966).
C. K. WILLIAMS- Paus. 2.15.3
- her image: Paus. 5.22.6
- Paus. 1.29.5, Paus. 2.15.2ff., Paus. 2.19.5, Paus. 8.48.2
- Lycurgus at: Apollod. 1.9.13
- Herakles cuts himself a club at: Apollod. 2.4.11
- the lion at, killed by Herakles: Apollod. 2.5.1
- the Seven against Thebes at: Apollod. 3.6.3, Apollod. 3.6.4