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| During the Geometric period, a new form of cult developed, usually called the
tomb, or hero, cult. The older tholos, or chambered, Mycenaean tombs were places of
cult and ritual activity usually in the form of offerings and funerary gifts.
The oldest indications of such a cult date to the second half of the
8th century BC and originate from different areas of Greece with the exception
of Crete, Thessaly and northwestern Peloponnese. It is no coincidence that in
these areas the Mycenaean tradition had survived. |
 Of course
apart from the tombs there were other places where the heroes of the Mycenaean Age
were worshipped, such as the Menelaion in Sparta. Most finds come from Argos,
Mycenae and Messenia. In certain cases, as in Attica, the tomb cult was either
a local affair (Thoricos) or concerned a small elite (Acharnae).
Elsewhere, as at Medeon in Phocis, this cult had survived as late as the Archaic era.
In addition, there are references by ancient authors to heroa (tombs of heroes
from the time of the Trojan campaign or earlier) still popular in Roman
times. |
| On the basis of this fact, the view has been held that hero and tomb cults
had been affected by the dissemination of the Homeric poems. Nevertheless, we possess
no indication about the spread of these poems in mainland
Greece during the 8th century BC. On the other hand, in Ionia -where the Homeric poems were known-
no traces of such a cult have been found so far. These remarks probably render groundless
the relation of hero cult to epic poetry. |