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Trümpy, 2006). Low-angle regional thrust
faulting places older, deeper rock forma-
tions on top of younger, shallower ones,
and it is this inverted stratigraphic succes-
sion that is an essential “smoking gun” for
recognizing thrust klippen.
Many large, expansive klippen have
attracted historical and cultural attention,
in part because they can be strikingly
anomalous in topography, landscape, and
aesthetics compared to their surroundings.
A klippe that particularly stands out is the
Mythen klippe, which overlooks Lake
Lucerne (Central Switzerland) (Wissing
and Pfiffner, 2002) (Fig. 3A). The bedrock
of Mythen is mainly Upper Jurassic strata,
which rest in low-angle thrust contact upon
dominantly Cretaceous strata (Bertrand,
1887). As early as the eighteenth century
the Mythen seized the philosophical, artistic, and earthquakes is revealed first in the
poetic, and scientific attention of Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe’s passion
for the Mythen influenced his friend
Friedrich Schiller to use the Mythen as the
backdrop of Schiller’s drama, William Tell
(1804).
Yet another example of klippen influenc-
ing history and culture is Chief Mountain,
which is located along the eastern border
of Glacier National Park, Montana, USA
(Mudge and Earhart, 1980) (Fig. 3B). Chief
Mountain is known as Ninaistako to the
Blackfoot people. Bailey Willis (1902)
identified Chief Mountain as a thrust
klippe, recognizing that Precambrian base-
ment rocks were faulted up and over
Cretaceous strata along the Lewis over-
thrust. According to Blackfoot tradition,
Thunder resides there, and Thunder is con-
sidered to be an agent of renewal to the
Blackfoot people (National Park Service,
2006).
AGIOS ELIAS KLIPPE: HOW IT
MAY HAVE LOOKED TO THE ZEUS
CULT
Whereas Ninaistako is home to
Thunder, Agios Elias (St. Elijah), the
klippe hosting the Sanctuary of Zeus, is
home to Lightning. Epithets for Zeus in the
ancient literature include Lightning
Wielder and Shepherd of the Clouds. Agios
Elias (elevation 1381 m) is technically the
second-highest summit of Mount Lyakion
proper (elevation 1421 m) (Fig. 3C). The
assets of its natural setting must have been
particularly obvious to the ancient peoples
who frequented the site. Pausanias (8.38.7;
see Habicht, 1999) recorded that on a clear
Figure 2. Geoarchaeological map of the Sanctuary of Zeus, Mount Lykaion. Archaeological
features: aa—ash altar; ad—administration building; af—Agnos fountain; b—bath; fh—fountain
house; h—hippodrome; hp—horse pasture; js—j-seats; pw—processional way; st—proto-stadium;
q—quarry; s—stoa; t—temenos; CSB—Chert Series Beds Formation; FFB—First Flysch Beds Forma-
tion; TPLB—Thin Platy Limestone Beds Formation; TWLB—Thick White Limestone Beds Formation;
FTB—Flysch Transition Beds Formation.
day most of the entire vast expanse of the seventh century BC and first century BC
Peloponnese could be seen from the very (Romano and Voyatzis, 2014, 2015). The
top of the sanctuary. Moreover, Mount main archaeological features in the upper
Lykaion and environs reside within a level include the open-air mountaintop ash
dynamic setting marked by rock falls, altar, where animals were sacrificed and
landslides, fissuring, and earthquakes dedicatory objects offered to Zeus; a teme-
(Ambraseys and Jackson, 1990, 1998; nos, i.e., religious precinct where no one
Jackson, 1994). The ancient connection of except priests could enter without meeting
earthquake-related phenomena to the their death within a year (Pausanias,
action of gods is clear in the Late Bronze 8.38.6; see Habicht, 1999); and possibly a
Age archaeological record, from which proto-stadium, where the earliest athletic
period onward Poseidon was known as the races are thought to have been held
Earth Shaker. The association of Poseidon (Romano and Voyatzis, 2015). The main
archaeological elements of the lower sanc-
Linear B clay tablets preserved at Pylos tuary include the Agno fountain (a notable
(Budin, 2004). ancient spring), stoa (covered, detached
portico with stalls), fountain house, admin-
When Agios Elias began to be consid- istrative building, corridor, seats, hippo-
ered and/or used as a cult place in honor of drome, stadium, baths, and a processional
Zeus, it would have appeared as a steep- way (Romano and Voyatzis, 2015) (see
sloped, smooth, 200-m-high conical moun- Figs. 2 and 4B).
taintop summit that gives way below to an
encircling bench-like bedrock apron of AGIOS ELIAS KLIPPE: HOW IT
more modest topographic relief (~40 m) LOOKS IN RELATION TO THE
(Fig. 4A; also see Fig. 3C). It would have GEOLOGY
been obvious that springs feed from the
interface between the conical summit and A draping of my geologic map and the
bench-like platform upon which Agios archaeological elements of the Sanctuary
Elias rests. Over time the sanctuary was of Zeus over the modern landscape (Fig. 5)
expanded with the addition of built struc- creates an image that underscores the
tures and activity areas (Fig. 4B). The premise of this paper: the Sanctuary of
upper level of the sanctuary was largely Zeus exploits in a variety of specific ways
established between the fifteenth and sev- the geology of the Agios Elias klippe, and
enth centuries BC, whereas the lower level especially the major thrust fault that
was developed and used between the defines the base of the klippe. In fact, it is
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