Valley of the Muses
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The history of the famous Valley of the Muses on the eastern slopes of Mount Helicon began in the 6th century B.C. Its greatest period began from the 3rd century B.C. onwards because of the "Mouseia", festivals established and organised every 5 years by the Thespians. Poets and musicians from all over Greece participated in various games. In the 2nd and 1st centuries B.C., games in honor of the Roman emperor were added, and from that time he sponsored the whole organisation. The festivals were then called "Great Kaisareia" because the emperor was honored over the Muses. The winners dedicated their tripods to a sanctuary. Many statues depicting the Muses, famous poets, and musicians stood in the open-air space of the Valley.
With the rise of monotheism, the festivals and the Valley were abandoned. In 1882, Stamatakis made the first test trench in the little church of Ayia Triada and noted the rectangular foundation of a small temple of the Muses. He also indicated the remains of the theatre on the mountain slope. The French Archaeological School under Jamot excavated systematically in 1888, 1889 and 1890, and discovered all the antiquities (G. Roux, Le Val des Muses et les Musees chez les auteurs anciens, in Bulletin de Correspondance Hellenique, 1954, 1, pp. 22-48).
The Sanctuary consisted of :
- Theatre : It is dated to the end of the 3rd century B.C. or the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. and was built for the musical and theatrical games which were held in the Valley during the festival of the "Mouseia". Spectators sat on seats cut in the mountain slope. Only the first row - the prohedria - was marble.
- Long ionic stoa (length 96,70 m.) on the west of the small temple: This housed the votive offerings to the Muses. It is dated in the 3rd century B.C. Originally it had an internal wall and rooms; these were replaced later by a colonnade in the Corinthian order.
- Small temple, or altar, of the Muses: a small rectangular building dated in the 3rd century B.C. It was revealed after the demolition of the church of Ayia Triada which had been built upon the ancient foundations.
- Bases of the statues of the Muses: During the excavations there were found 9 bases of the statues which originally stood in a single group. On 5 of them - the most well preserved - were inscribed names of Muses and epigrams. These were works of the poet and sculptor Onestos.
- The square tower of Askra: dated to the 4th c. B.C. the tower crowned the hill Pyrgaki and dominated the Valley from the north. It had three storerooms on the ground floor. An earlier circuit wall, now ruined, enclosed the tower. It was probably built by the Thespians a little before 371 B.C, the time of the battle of Leuktra, to control the movements of the Thebans.
The Valley of the Muses is at Thespies in the Greek prefecture of Boeotia. It is an open-air historical site open permanently open to the public.
