Pasikrata

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Pasikrata was the name of a goddess worshiped as a local cult in certain places of Greece in classical and Hellenistic period. It has been assumed that it was a cult of a chthonic Aphrodite or Artemis. Sanctuaries of Pasikrata have been found in Demetrias (Thessaly) (from the 3rd century BC until at least the 2nd century AD), Ambrakia (Epirus) and in Heracleia (Macedonia). The latter had slaves and hierodouloi (sacred prostitutes) at its disposition.

The name is considered the female equivalent of Pankrates (omnipotent), attributed to Hercules. [1] [2] [3]

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References

  1. Pleket H.W. (1981) Religious history as the history of mentality: the "believer" as servant of the deity in the Greek world, in Versnel H.S (ed.). Faith, Hope and Worship: Aspects of Religious Mentality in the Ancient World, E.J. Brill, 1981, Leiden, Netherlands, p. 182.
  2. N.D. Papahadjis (1958) The Pasikrata of Demetrias. Θεσσαλικά (Thessalika), vol. 1, in Greek, english abstract on p. 65.
  3. Stamatopoulou Maria (2007) The Terracottas from the Pasikrata Sanctuary at Demetrias, Thessaly. Abstract, International Conference "Terracota figurines in the Greek and Roman Eastern Mediterranean", Izmir, Turkey, 2007.