Xenophon's Sanctuary

In 402 Xenophon, a rich young man and former student of Socrates, left the contemporary political turmoil in Athens to seek fame and fortune in the East fighting as a mercenary for the Persian pretender Cyrus the Younger in his ultimately unsuccessful bid to seize the throne. Eventually he joined forces with the Spartan effort to "liberate" the Greek cities in Asia Minor and then fought on the Spartan side back on the Greek mainland. No longer quite as welcome in his home town of Athens, Xenophon settled at Skillous near Olympia on an estate provided for him by King Agesilaos II and the Spartans, where he devoted some of the profits made on campaign to pious ends. He also took up literature, much of which survives, including the following, taken from his narrative about his experiences with Cyrus and the Greek struggle to get back home after the campaign collapsed.

Consider: what kinds of obligations are involved in this private cult?

He bought some land as an offering to the goddess in a place where Apollo [via his oracle at Delphi] had instructed him. A river called the Selinous ran through the land, and in Ephesos too there is a river of the same name flowing past the temple of Artemis. There are fish and shellfish in both rivers, but at Skillous there is game-hunting country too. Xenophon also used the sacred money for building an altar and a sanctuary, and thenceforth he always dedicated a tithe of the season's produce in order to celebrate a sacrifice in honour of the goddess. All the inhabitants of Skillous and the surrounding area, men and women, used to take part in the festival. The goddess [sc. Artemis] provided those who joined in the feast with barley-flour, bread, wine, dried fruits, and a portion both of the domesticated animals sacrificed from the sacred herds and of the wild game. The latter abounded, since Xenophon's sons and the sons of other local people went hunting specially, and anyone who wished could join in. Wild boar, antelope and stags were caught, partly on the sacred land itself, partly on Mount Pholoe. The land lies on the road from Sparta to Olympia, about twenty stades [4 km] from the temple of Zeus. In the sacred enclosure there are meadows and thickly wooded hills, good terrain for raising pigs, cattle and also horses; plenty of fodder is available for the animals of visiting celebrants too. The sanctuary is surrounded by a grove of fruit trees providing excellent fruit in all the appropriate seasons. The temple is a small-scale reproduction of the great temple of Artemis at Ephesos, and the cult-statue is as near a likeness to the golden Ephesian original as a cypress-wood image can be. A stele stands by the temple, bearing the following inscription: `This ground is sacred to Artemis. Let him who owns it and takes its produce make a tithe-offering every year. With the surplus let him maintain the temple. Whosoever fails in this duty shall not escape the goddess's notice'.

(Anabasis v.3.7-23)