View source for Anytos

{{Short description|One of the Titans of Greek mythology}}
{{about|the Greek mythological figure|the prosecutor of Socrates|Anytus}}

[[File:Head of titan Anytus.jpg|thumb|200px|Head of titan Anytus, from the temple of [[Despoina]] at [[Lykosoura]] in [[Arkadia]]. [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]]]]

'''Anytos''' or '''Anytus''' ({{langx|grc|Ἄνυτος|Ánytos}}) was one of the [[Titan (mythology)|Titans]] of [[Greek mythology]].<ref>Smith, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Danytus-bio-1 s.v. Anytus]; Pausanias [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text;jsessionid=3503A1B6D4134062D00965BD225DDB77?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D8%3Achapter%3D37%3Asection%3D5 8.37.5].</ref> He was supposed to have raised [[Despoina]], and in Arcadia during Pausanias' time the two were represented by statues in a temple near [[Acacesium]].

== The Lycosoura Anytos (NAMA 1736) ==
The cult of Anytos is prominent in the city of [[Lycosura]], home to the Temple of Despoina, a temple dedicated to the [[Chthonic]] pantheon consisting of [[Artemis]], [[Demeter]], and Despoina.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, LYKOSOURA Arkadia, Greece. |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0006:entry=lykosoura |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

Currently housed in the [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens|National Archaeological Museum of Athens]], the bust of Anytos was discovered in excavations during the Summer of 1889.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hellenistic Period |url=https://www.namuseum.gr/en/collection/ellinistiki-periodos-2/ |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=National Archaeological Museum |language=en-US}}</ref>

Measuring 74 cm, the bust alongside the bust of [[Lycosoura Artemis|Artemis]] and [[Lycosoura Demeter|Demeter]], was carved by the artist [[Damophon]] in 180 BC, is also considered an acrolith, a composite of many different materials with the head and limbs made of local marble, while the body portion made of wood.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pausanias, Description of Greece, Achaia, chapter 23, section 5 |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.%207.23.5&lang=original |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

Based upon the descriptions of the historian [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] in his text ''[[Description of Greece]]'', written in the 2nd century, the statue of Artemis would stand alongside the statue of Demeter, while Anytos would stand right beside that of Despoina, dressed in warriors garb. The statue is the most fragmented out of those who exist on the pantheon but fragments of the god's garb were found in addition to fragments of his limbs. The remnants has since then been part of the display at the National Archaeological Museum, under the designation '''NAMA 1736'''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Dickins |first=Guy |date=1907 |title=Damophon of Messene.—II |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0068245400002999/type/journal_article |journal=The Annual of the British School at Athens |language=en |volume=13 |pages=357–404 |doi=10.1017/S0068245400002999 |issn=0068-2454|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
[[File:CULT STATUES IN THE TEMPLE OF DESPOINA AT LYKOSOURA (2nd cent. B.C.) in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens on 27 March 2018.jpg|thumb|395x395px|The pantheon as displayed in Athens in 2018.]]

==Notes==
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==References==
* [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], ''Pausanias Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes.'' Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+1.1.1 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library].
* [[William Smith (lexicographer)|Smith, William]]; ''[[Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology]]'', London (1873). [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3atext%3a1999.04.0104 Online version at the Perseus Digital Library]

[[Category:Titans (mythology)]]
[[Category:Greek gods]]
[[Category:Mythological Greek tutors of gods]]
[[Category:Marble sculptures in Greece]]
[[Category:Sculptures of men in Greece]]
[[Category:Sculptures in Athens]]
[[Category:National Archaeological Museum, Athens]]
[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in the Peloponnese]]