ABSTRACT
The eighth century saw the beginning of a long process of state formation in many areas of the Greek world, with changes evident in most areas of cultural and political life, including religious activity. During this period a qualitative and quantitative increase in dedications at a wide range of different kinds of sanctuary suggests that an ever greater proportion of personal wealth was being invested by individuals from a wider range of social groups.5 Equally, the appearance of temples at a number of widely separated sites, from Perachora to Samos, and Eretria to Ephesos or Aegira (with many more following during the seventh century, including Isthmia, Corinth, Thermon and Delphi), is not only indicative of a growing consensus of opinion on the appropriate monumental development of major community cult places, but also of community investment.6 From Archaic times at least, the right of temple commission was a prerogative of the state (although individuals, such as the Alkmaionidai at Delphi, often contributed money or materials),7 and this remained the rule outside the east Greek world until changing concepts of kingship and personal rule during the Hellenistic period encouraged the kind of personal investment evident in, for example, the Phiiippeion at Olympia (c. 335 BC).8
