Τροφώνιος,τοπικός και χθόνιος θεός

..
Λατρευόταν στην Λεβάδεια ως μαντικός και χθόνιος θεός.
Αρχικά τοπικός θεός,ταυτίστηκε αργότερα με τον Ερμή αλλά κυρίως με τον ΧΘΟΝΙΟ ΔΙΑ που επονομάστηκε ΔΙΑΣ ΤΡΟΦΩΝΙΟΣ και ΔΙΑΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ.
Προς τιμήν του τελούσαν οι Λεβαδείς τα ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙΑ.
..
Το ιερό του βρισκόταν στην αριστερή όχθη του ρέματος της Έρκυνας.
Μέσα στο άλσος υπήρχε ναός του με λατρευτικό άγαλμα,έργο του Πραξιτέλη ή του Δαίδαλου.
Πολλοί λίθοι από τον ναό αυτόν χρησιμοποιήθηκαν στην οικοδόμηση του γειτονικού μεσαιωνικού πύργου.
Το μαντικό ιερό του Τροφώνιου εντοπίστηκε και ανασκάφηκε στο όρος του Προφήτη Ηλία,κοντά στον ναό του Διός Βασιλέως.
..
Η διαδικασία που ακολουθούσε όποιος ήθελε να πάρει χρησμό από τον Τροφώνιο ήταν περίπλοκη :
α.πρώτα απομονώνοταν σε ένα οίκημα μέσα στο τέμενος,
β.καθαιρόταν με την αποχή από τα θερμά λουτρά και τη διατροφή με κρέας θυσιασμένου κριού,που θυσιαζόταν στον Λάκκο του Αγαμήδη,
γ.όταν τα σημάδια ήταν αίσια,λουζόταν στην Έρκυνα,αλειφόταν με λάδι και ετοιμαζόταν με την βοήθεια δύο παιδιών,
δ.στη συνέχεια ιερείς τον οδηγούσαν στις πηγές της Λήθης και της Μνημοσύνης,στο άγαλμα του Τροφώνιου και τέλος στο μαντείο πάνω στο βουνό,
ε.από μία πλατφόρμα που προστατευόταν από χάλκινους πασσάλους κατέβαινε στο χάσμα με τη βοήθεια μιας στενής κινητής σκάλας,
στ.περνούσε στο άδυτο ξαπλωμένος ανάσκελα με τα πόδια μπροστά στο άνοιγμα και κρατούσε γλυκίσματα,
ζ.στο άδυτο αυτό παρέμενε μέχρι να ακούσει ή να δει από τον θεό τα μελλούμενα.
..
Το μαντείο του Τροφώνιου δεν ήταν γνωστό στον Όμηρο και η φήμη του άρχισε να απλώνεται από τον 6ο π.Χ. αιώνα.
Ήταν ένα από τα πέντε μαντεία που συμβουλεύτηκε ο Κροίσος.
Ο Μαρδόνιος το συμβουλεύτηκε πριν την μάχη των Πλαταιών.
Το 100 π.Χ. αναφέρει ο Πλούταρχος,ήταν μόνο αυτό από τα βοιωτικά μαντεία που λειτουργούσε ακόμη.
Το 175 μ.Χ. το επισκέφθηκε ο Παυσανίας,ο οποίος ζήτησε χρησμό και το περιέγραψε με πολλές λεπτομέρειες.
Επλήγη από τα διατάγματα του Θεοδόσιου Α' και Θεοδόσιου Β',και τελικά έπαψε να χρησμοδοτεί τον 5ο αιώνα.
..
Ο Τροφώνιος ήταν γιός του Εργίνου,αδελφός του Αγαμήδη και πατέρας του Αλκάνδρου και της Έρκυνας.
Άλλη παράδοση θεωρεί ως γονείς του τον Απόλλωνα και την Επικάστη,
ή τον Δία και την Ιοκάστη,και ως τροφό του την Δήμητρα.
..
Μαζί με τον αδελφό του Αγαμήδη θεωρούνταν μεγάλοι αρχιτέκτονες που εφάρμοσαν την οικοδόμηση μνημείων από λίθο,και όχι από ξύλο και πλίνθους,όπως συνηθίζονταν.
..
Ανάμεσα στα κτίρια που κατασκεύασε αναφέρονται ο ναός του Απόλλωνος στους Δελφούς,ο ναός του Ποσειδώνος στη Μαντίνεια,ο οίκος του Αμφιτρύωνος και της Αλκμήνης στη Θήβα,οι θησαυροί του Αυγεία στην Ήλιδα και του Υριέως στα Ύρια.
Έργο του Τροφώνιου,στο οποίο δούλεψε μόνος του,ήταν ο ναός του Απόλλωνος στις Παγασές και το μαντικό του ιερό,το Τροφώνιο στη Λεβάδεια.
..
http://www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Trophonios.html
..
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=762507585
Agamedes and Trophonius, in Greek mythology, sons of Erginus, king of Orkhomenós. The brothers were famous as architects and built a temple of the god Apollo in Delphi and the treasury of King Hyrieus of Hyria in the republic of Boeotia. They constructed the treasury in such a way that a large stone could secretly be removed from one of the walls, thus allowing them to enter unnoticed. They constantly robbed the treasury, until Hyrieus discovered his losses and set a trap for the thieves. When Agamedes was caught, Trophonius cut off his brother's head and fled with it to prevent identification of the body. Trophonius, however, was at once swallowed up by the earth in the grove of Lebadea, where in later times he was worshiped.
..
http://www.drbilllong.com/Words/Thersites.html
Trophonian :
Trophonius has a story too, though it must be pieced together from the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, the geographer Pausanias and other ancient sources. He was a sneaky guy who built, along with his brother Agamedes, a treasury vault for King Hyrieus, but he inserted a removable stone in the wall so that he or his brother could remove it and steal the king's treasures. Ultimately Agamedes was trapped inside the vault and, to avoid being identified in the plot, Trophonius cut off his brother's head. While running away, he was swallowed up by the earth.
At the point where he was swallowed by the earth [Lebadea in western Boeotia] a cult of Trophonius developed. As the Oxford Classical Dictionary tells it, "What caught the imagination was the bizarre means of communication [between the worshiper and Trophonius]: there was no medium; instead the consultant, after suitable and lengthy preliminaries, descended underground and confronted the god himself. The experience was spectacular, frightening, notorious and expensive."
So powerful and awe-inspiring was the experience that anyone who consulted him was reputed never to smile again. Thus, one can refer to someone who never smiles as having a "Trophonian visage." Or, we might use it in the following sentence. "We all remember the solemn trophonian pallor of the 9/11 rescue workers." It not only suggests that the faces were unsmiling at the time but that possibly the faces would never smile again. Don't you think it is time we recapture "trophonian"?
..
The oracle of Trophonious :
http://gogreece.about.com/library/bllevadia.htm
..
http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Trophonius
Trophonius (the Latinate spelling) or Trophonios (in the transliterated Greek spelling) was a Greek hero or daimon or god - it was never certain which one - with a rich mythological tradition and an oracular cult at Lebadaea in Boeotia.
Etymology and parallel cultsThe name is etymologically derived from trepho, "to nourish". Strabo and several inscriptions refer to him as Zeus Trephonios. Several other chthonic Zeuses with similar titles are known from the Greek world, including Zeus Meilikhios ("honeyed" or "kindly" Zeus), and Zeus Chthonios ("Zeus beneath-the-earth").
Similar constructions are also found in the Roman world: for example, a shrine at Lavinium in Lazio was dedicated to Aeneas under the title Iuppiter Indiges (Jupiter in-the-earth).
Trophonius in myth
In Greek mythology, Trophonius was a son of Erginus. According to the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, he built Apollo's temple at the oracle at Delphi with his brother, Agamedes. Once finished, the oracle told the brothers to do whatsoever they wished for six days and, on the seventh, their greatest wish would be granted. They did and were found dead on the seventh day. The saying "those whom the gods love die young" comes from this story.
Alternatively, according to Pausanias they built a treasure chamber (with secret entrance only they knew about) for King Hyprieus of Boeotia. Using the secret entrance, they stole Hyprieus' fortune. He was aware but did not know who the thief was; he laid a snare. Agamedes was trapped in it; Trophonius cut off his head so that Hyprieus would not know who the body in the snare was. He then fled into the cavern at Lebadaea, and disappeared forever.
The cave of Trophonius was not discovered again until the Lebadaeans suffered a plague, and consulted the Delphic Oracle. The Pythia advised them that an unnamed hero was angry at being neglected, and that they should find his grave and offer him worship forthwith. Several unsuccessful searches followed, and the plague continued unabated until a shepherd boy followed a trail of bees into a hole in the ground. Instead of honey, he found a daimon, and Lebadaea lost its plague while gaining a popular oracle.
The childless Xuthus in Euripides's Ion consult Trophonius on his way to Delphi.
Apollonius of Tyana, a legendary wise man and seer of Late Antiquity, once visited the shrine and found that, when it came to philosophy, Trophonius was a proponent of sound Pythagorean doctrines.
Plutarch's De Genio Socratis relates an elaborate dream-vision concerning the cosmos and the afterlife that was supposedly received at Trophonius's oracle.
Trophonius in cultPausanias, in his account of Boeotia (9.39), relates many details about the cult of Trophonius. Whoever desired to consult the oracle would live in a designated house for a period of days, bathing in the river Herkyna and living on sacrificial meat. He would then sacrifice, by day, to a series of gods, including Kronos, Apollo, Zeus the king, Hera the Charioteer, and Demeter-Europa. At night, he would a black victim into a pit sacred to Agamedes, drink from two rivers called Lethe and Mnemosyne, and then descend into a cave. Here, most consultees were frightened out of their wits, and forgot the experience entirely upon coming up.
Afterward, the consultee would be seated upon a chair of Mnemosyne, where the priests of the shrine would record his ravings and compose an oracle out of them.
Trophonius in the classical tradition"To descend into the cave of Trophonios" became a proverbial way of saying "to suffer a great fright": this saying is alluded to in Aristophanes's Clouds.
Several ancient philosophers, including Heraclides Ponticus, wrote commentaries on the cult of Trophonios that are now sadly lost. Trophonios has been of interest to classical scholars because the rivers of Lethe and Mnemosyne have close parallels with the Myth of Er at the end of Plato's Republic, with a series of Orphic funerary inscriptions on gold leaves, and with several passages about Memory and forgetting in Hesiod's Theogony. The Hellfire Club once constructed a "Cave of Trophonius" with obscene wall-paintings in which to conduct their revels. The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche calls himself a "Trophonios" in the preface to his Daybreak, alluding to his labor in the underground of moral prejudices
..