Editing Melicertes (section)

==Cult==

In the late 2nd century CE, within the sanctuary of Poseidon at Isthmia, [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] saw a temple of Palaemon:{{blockquote|... with images in it of Poseidon, Leucothea, and Palaemon himself. There is also what is called his Holy of Holies, and an underground descent to it, where they say that Palaemon is concealed. Whosoever, whether Corinthian or stranger, swears falsely here, can by no means escape from his oath. There is also an ancient sanctuary called the altar of the Cyclopes, and they sacrifice to the Cyclopes upon it.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] |title=Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις |trans-title=''Hellados Periegesis'' {{=}} Description of Greece |at=2.2.1}}</ref>}}

In company with Leucothea, Melicertes/Palaemon was widely invoked for protection from dangers at sea.{{refn|several prayers of this type are contained in {{cite book |title=The [[Greek Anthology]] |series=[[Loeb Classical Library]] |volume=I |chapter=book&nbsp;6 |at=nr.&nbsp;164, 223, 348 |postscript=;}} {{cite book |author=[[Aelius Aristides]] |title=Isthm. in Pos. |at=49 |postscript=;}} {{cite book |author=Nonnus |title=Dionysiaca |at=47.354 |postscript=;}} {{cite book |title=[[Orphic Hymns]] |at=nr.&nbsp;74, 75 |postscript=;}} all are all noted by Hawthorne (1958)<ref name=Hawthorne-1958/>{{rp|page=&nbsp;92, note&nbsp;3}} }}

There seems considerable doubt whether or not the cult of Melicertes was of foreign, probably [[Phoenician languages|Phoenician]], origin, and introduced by Phoenician navigators on the coasts and islands of the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] and [[Mediterranean]].{{efn|Will (1955) concluded  that Melicertes was wholly Greek in his summary of the debate.<ref name=Will-1955/>{{rp|page=169 note&nbsp;3}} }} For the Hellenes he is a native of Boeotia.

In 1956, excavations at Isthmia under the direction of Broneer<ref name=Broneer-1958/> uncovered the small sanctuary of Palaemon, which eventually had a tiny Roman round temple in the [[Corinthian order]], which appeared on coins of Corinth in the 2nd century CE; it was the successor to two previous more modest architectural phases of the sanctuary. The foundations of the temple were found to lie over the starting-line of a late-5th- or early-4th century BCE stadium. Worship was characterized by the dedication of hundreds of wheelmade oil lamps of a distinct type.<ref name=Broneer-1958>The completed 1956 Isthmian excavation by the [[University of Chicago]] was published in {{cite journal |last=Broneer |first=Oscar |year=1958 |title=Excavations at Isthmia: Third Campaign, 1955-1956 |journal=Hesperia |volume=27|issue=1|doi=10.2307/147110  |pages=1–37|jstor=147110 }}</ref> A cult of Melicertes of great antiquity, possibly based on pre-Hellenic figures of Ino and Melicertes, was posited by Will, just previous to the site's discovery<ref name=Will-1955>{{cite book |first=Edouard |last=Will |title=Korinthiaka |year=1955}}</ref>{{rp|pages=168–180, 210–212}} and refuted by Hawthorne in 1958.<ref name=Hawthorne-1958>{{cite journal |last=Hawthorne |first=John |year=1958 |title=The myth of Palaemon |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |volume=89 |pages=92–98|doi=10.2307/283668 |jstor=283668 }}</ref>{{efn|The archaeologists found evidence of bull sacrifice and a tub which may have been filled with water in an initiation rite for members. This further cements the connection of Melicertes with the [[Corinthian Games]], one of the four major athletic festivals in Greece, the most famous of which is the [[Olympian Games]].}}