The females of Labraunda : Presence or absence?

Abstract: The history of the Zeus sanctuary Labraunda in Karia began in the Archaic period and continued until Late Antiquity. The focus of this paper is to investigate a side of the sanctuary which hitherto has not been subject to extensive study: the females of Labraunda, both immortal and mortal. The aim is to show the traces of females in the archaeological material (terracotta figurines, sculptures, reliefs, pottery and small finds) and the inscriptions, and discuss what kind of material is needed to discern the presence of someone at a sanctuary. The study has shown that several goddesses might have been present in Labraunda, some having their own cult, while others are more probable to have been visiting gods. It has also been shown that mortal females are not present in the material in a distinctive way, and that their supposed absence from the cult might depend on the character of Zeus Labraundos.