The Diopet of Ephesus

IN the Aegean world in the days of classical antiquity there were numerous holy stones known as baetyli, each of which was attached to the cult of a god, most commonly Zeus. In some cases the baetylus was regarded as the abiding place of the god or, as one might say, it was an aspect of the god. The most renowned example is the holy stone known as the omphalus in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the centre of the universe. The original stone or group of stones there has probably been replaced, because the omphalus is now represented by an ornate domed pillar carved out of marble. Another holy stone at Delphi, near the sanctuary of Neoptolemus, was regarded in earlier times as Zeus himself in baetylic form. It is widely believed by classical scholars that baetyli were sometimes meteorites, but so far as I am aware in no instance has this ever been proved. Therefore when I heard that one of the famous baetyli, the Diopet of Ephesus, was in the possession of the City of Liverpool Museums I asked the Director, Mr T. A. Hume, if his Museums' Committee would care to lend it to the British Museum (Natural History) so that its nature might be investigated, and this was done in January 1960. Dr G. F. Claringbull, at that time Keeper of Mineralogy, was able to confirm immediately that the Diopet was not a meteorite but a terrestrial rock. He reported on it to Mr Hume as follows: 'The body of the object is a metamorphic rock containing amphibole and chlorite, and without a section it is difficult to give a precise name to the rock. I am sure, on the other hand, that a section would not be likely to enable us to localise the material.' Subsequently it came to light that Professor F. C. Phillips had examined the Diopet petrologically while it was in the Department of Classics in Cambridge, and provisionally he indentified it as a form of chloritic schist

Ancient history · Apollo · Archaeology · Art · Astrobiology · Cult · Greeks · Meteorite · Pillar · Possession (linguistics · ZEUS (particle detector · Ancient Near East History · Classics · Historical and Architectural Studies · Historical Astronomy and Related Studies · History · Philosophy