LANDSCAPE MEMORY IN ARCADIA: THE INTERACTION OF RELIGIOUS MYTHOLOGY, SANCTUARIES, AND THE SETTLEMENT OF PEOPLE IN THE LANDSCAPE OF ANCIENT ARCADIA

This thesis examines the topographical relationship between religious sites and sanctuaries in rural areas of Arcadia following the bronze-age collapse, and their associated mythology, to ascertain if there is any possible evidence of why population settlement in the later geometric, archaic, and classical periods favoured more urban settlement away from the rural places mentioned in the mythology of Arcadia. It relies on the assumption commonly made that since ritual practice was of paramount importance for the Greeks, that sanctuaries in rural Arcadia must have a connection to the mythology of such characters as Herakles and Artemis, as these were among the characters of mythology written about in Classical period plays; and in descriptions of the landscape by ancient writers such as Pausanias.