Assesia

{{Short description|Cultic epithet of the Greek goddess Athena}}

Assesia ({{langx|grc|Ἀσσησία}}) was a cultic epithet for the goddess Athena in Greek mythology, derived from the town of Assesos in Ionia, where she had a temple.Herodotus, Histories 1.19

The historian Herodotus relates several anecdotes about this aspect of the goddess, as having a temple at Assesos that was accidentally burned down by the forces of the 7th century BCE Mermnad king Alyattes I, while his forces were waging war against the Milesians, and burning all their grain.{{cite book

| last =Hanson

| first =Victor Davis

| authorlink =Victor Davis Hanson

| title =Warfare and Agriculture in Classical Greece

| publisher =University of California Press

| date =1998

| pages =50

| language =English

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Tzki6y9Cxc8C

| isbn = 9780520215962

| accessdate=2024-08-18}} After falling ill, the king consulted the Pythia, who told him no answer would be forthcoming until the temple was rebuilt, which Alyattes did, ultimately building two temples to Athena Assesia.{{cite book

| editor-last=Avery

| editor-first=Catherine B.

| title =The New Century Handbook of Classical Geography

| publisher =Appleton-Century-Crofts

| date =1972

| pages =208

| language =English

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=WQu3AAAAIAAJ

| isbn = 9780390669308

| accessdate=2024-08-18}}{{cite book

| editor-last=Hägg

| editor-first=Robin

| title =The Role of Religion in the Early Greek Polis: Proceedings of the Third International Seminar on Ancient Greek Cult, Organized by the Swedish Institute at Athens, 16-18 October 1992

| publisher =The Swedish Institute at Athens

| date =1996

| pages =26

| isbn=978-91-7916-033-3

| language =English

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=5nnaAAAAMAAJ

| accessdate=2024-08-18}}

The ruin of one of these temples still exists today, and is a significant source of south Ionian pottery for modern scholars.{{cite book

| last =Papadopoulos

| first =John K.

| editor-last1=Papadopoulos

| editor-first1=John K.

| editor-last2=Morris

| editor-first2=Sarah P.

| title =Ancient Methone, 2003-2013: Excavations by Matthaios Bessios, Athena Athanassiadou, and Konstantinos Noulas

| chapter=The East Greek Fine Pottery

| publisher =Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press

| date =2023

| pages =834–835

| language =English

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=z-OyEAAAQBAJ

| isbn = 9781950446339

| accessdate=2024-08-18}}{{cite book

| last =Miles

| first =Margaret M.

| editor-last1=Pieper

| editor-first1=Christoph

| editor-last2= Ker

| editor-first2=James

| title =Valuing the Past in the Greco-Roman World: Proceedings from the Penn-Leiden Colloquia on Ancient Values VII

| chapter=Burnt Temples in the Landscape of the Past

| publisher =Brill Publishers

| series =Mnemosyne: Monographs on Greek and Latin Language and Literature

| volume =369

| date =2014

| pages =114

| language =English

| url =https://books.google.com/books?id=UGi7AwAAQBAJ

| isbn = 9789004274952

| accessdate=2024-08-18}}