Small altar (arula) of Sôphantos
The small altar (arula), which dates from the Roman times, was dedicated, based on its engraved inscription, by Sôphantos Molliοs to the Mother of the Gods. It was unearthed together with a large inscribed basin, made of white marble, that also served as a votive offering to the Mother of the Gods, and an inscribed stele that marked the sanctuary of the Mother of the Gods, Agathē Tychē and Agathos Daimon.
The Great Mother or Mother of the Gods, also known simply as Mother or Cybele, whose cult was transplanted to the Greeks already since the Archaic period from the peoples of Asia Minor and particularly the Phrygians, was the primordial mother figure, patroness of maternity, fertility, vegetation and fruition, but also of houses, cities and social institutions.
The relatively frequent presence of small inscribed altars (arulae) in houses of the ancient city dedicated to Agathos Daimon and Agathē Tychē manifests the importance which the Therans attached, since the Hellenistic period, to deities jointly worshipped with the Mother of the Gods in the rural sanctuary, hoping for the protection and prosperity of their homes and their residents.
