ABSTRACT
The “latecomers” of this chapter were adopted by Greeks only after the polis system, which implied regulation of the civic pantheon, was established in the eighth century. Therefore these deities faced a more challenging path to local, regional, and (in some cases) Panhellenic acceptance. Native to Phrygia, Thrace, Lydia, and elsewhere in the Aegean, they illustrate the fluidity of culture in the ancient world, and show that Greek pantheons were open to change well before the revolutionary developments of the Hellenistic period. On the other hand, the cults of “regional” deities such as Themis, Diktynna, Damia, and Auxesia were ancient but remained geographically restricted. They exemplify the resistance of local pantheons to the homogenizing pressures of Panhellenism, and – in the case of Aphaia/Athena – show how anomalous deities might eventually succumb.
