Commito to lecture on Labraunda's fountain
Angela Commito
Angela R. Commito, a classics and anthropology scholar who teaches at the University at Albany and Union College, will discuss the ancient sanctuary of Labraunda in a Skidmore talk scheduled at 5:30 pm Monday, Nov. 10.
Free and open to the public, the talk is titled “Digging up Divine Waters: The Hypostyle Fountain Excavations at Labraunda in Anatolia.”
The family of Mausolus turned a shrine into a sanctuary where pilgrims feasted, athletes
competed, and priests sacrificed to Zeus of the Double-Axe. According to Commito,
“You may not have heard of Labraunda, but you probably know the name of its most famous
patron, Mausolus, whose tomb—the Mausoleum—was one of the seven wonders of the ancient
world.”
She continued, “During the fourth century BCE, Mausolus and his family transformed
Labraunda from a rustic shrine in the mountains of western Anatolia (modern Turkey)
into an elaborate sanctuary. New excavations of a monumental fountain at the sanctuary
are revealing details about the peculiar vernacular architecture of the site and the
experience of worshipping at this unique place in antiquity.”
She will present preliminary results of these excavations and explore how water nurtured the sanctuary’s growth into a major focus of regional religious activity and political power.
In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Commito is also the assistant director of the Brown University Excavations at Labraunda. As a result of her work she has contributed to the Vani Regional Survey, one of the principal archaeological sites of Colchis, an ancient Greek colony in modern Georgia near the Black Sea. One of her contributions is on a monumental Hellenistic fountain housed at Labraunda, which is the focus of her Nov. 10 lecture.
Commito holds a B.A. degree in classics and archaeology from Bowdoin College and earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in classical art and archaeology at the University of Michigan.
Her talk is co-sponsored by the departments of Classics, Anthropology, and Art History.
