Wadi Bel Gadir Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone, Cyrene

Abstract

Systematic excavation in the grounds of Cyrene's extramural Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone has taken place on a syncopated annual basis since 1969 (non-seasons in '70, '72, and '75), and while this activity has not been conducted under the auspices of the Society for Libyan Studies, the original idea to clear the site owes much of its inspiration to the encouragement of Richard Goodchild, who had generously agreed to share in its responsibility before his death in 1968 brought about the postponement of its pilot season scheduled for later in that same year. Moreover, the University Museum Expedition was fortunate to obtain a research grant from the Society in 1976 for one of its staff. For these reasons I am happy to contribute the following what otherwise might appear exogenous remarks. While the site athwart the south slope of Wadi Bel Gadir (pl. 1, fig. 1) appears to have been scarcely noticed by the early travelers, R. Norton (1910–11) followed by E. Ghislanzoni (1915) are known to have retrieved a number of sculptures and terracottas from its soil. In fact, some of the more burdensome of the marbles first discovered and then abandoned by the former were subsequently recovered by the latter, only to turn up in the same locus more than half a century later, re-buried in shallow fill containing broken wine (?) bottles and spent cartridges. Some time between 1915 and 1929 the Italian authorities were motivated to lay railway track along the wadi drain and to carry out an extensive clearance of the sanctuary's lower two terraces, leaving a gaping hole in its NW corner still visible today. Nothing is known of what prompted this considerable effort, which was never published, but already by the time of Anti's article the area is referred to as a Demeter sanctuary mainly on the basis of random discoveries of fragmentary inscriptions eventually published by Oliverio. By 1969 the site exhibited only the bare outlines of its main wall features and betrayed few outward signs of previous digging.