Editing Relic (section)

==In classical antiquity==
[[File:Hero cult Louvre CA308.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|An [[amphora]] depicting a [[Greek hero cult]] in honor of Oedipus ([[Apulian vase painting|Apulian red-figure]], 380–370&nbsp;BC)]]

In [[ancient Greece]], a [[polis|city]] or [[Greek temple|sanctuary]] might claim to possess, without necessarily displaying, the remains of a venerated [[hero]] as a part of a [[Greek hero cult|hero cult]]. Other venerable objects associated with the hero were more likely to be on display in sanctuaries, such as spears, shields, or other weaponry; [[chariots]], ships or [[Figurehead (object)|figureheads]]; furniture such as chairs or [[Sacrificial tripod|tripods]]; and clothing. The sanctuary of the [[Phoebe (Leucippides)|Leucippides]] at [[Sparta]] claimed to display the egg of [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]].<ref name="Ekroth-p110-111">Gunnel Ekroth, "Heroes and Hero-Cult", in ''A Companion to Greek Religion''  (Blackwell, 2010), pp. 110–111.</ref>

The bones were not regarded as holding a particular power derived from the hero, with some exceptions, such as the divine shoulder of [[Pelops]] held at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]]. Miracles and healing were not regularly attributed to them;<ref name="Ekroth-p110-111" /> rather, their presence was meant to serve a [[tutelary deity|tutelary]] function, as the tomb of [[Oedipus]] was said to protect [[Classical Athens|Athens]].<ref>Ruth Fainlight and Robert J. Littman, ''The Theban Plays: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), p. xii.</ref>

The bones of [[Orestes]] and [[Theseus]] were supposed to have been stolen or removed from their original resting place and reburied.<ref>Susan E. Alcock, "Tomb Cult and the Post-Classical Polis", ''American Journal of Archaeology'' 95 (1991), p. 447.</ref> On the advice of the [[Delphic Oracle]], the [[Sparta]]ns searched for the bones of Orestes and brought them home, without which they had been told they could not expect victory in their war against the neighboring [[Tegea]]ns.<ref>[[Herodotus]], ''Histories'' 1.46, as cited by Fainlight and Littman, ''The Theban Plays'', p. xii.</ref> [[Plutarch]] says that the Athenians were likewise instructed by the oracle to locate and steal the relics of Theseus from the [[Dolopia]]ns.<ref>Plutarch, ''Theseus'' 36, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Theseus*.html#36 Bill Thayer's edition] of the [[Loeb Classical Library]] translation at [[LacusCurtius]].</ref>

The body of the legendary [[Eurystheus]] was also supposed to protect Athens from enemy attack,<ref>[[Euripides]], ''Heracleides'' 1032–1034; [[Aeschylus]], ''Eumenides'' 763ff.</ref> and in [[Ancient Thebes (Boeotia)|Thebes]], that of the prophet [[Amphiaraus]], whose cult was oracular and healing.<ref>Herodotus, ''Histories'' 8.134 and Aeschylus, ''Seven Against Thebes'' 587–588, as cited by Fainlight and Littman, ''The Theban Plays'', p. xii.</ref> Plutarch narrates transferrals similar to that of Theseus for the bodies of the historical [[Demetrius I of Macedon]] and [[Phocion|Phocion the Good]].<ref>Plutarch, ''Demetrius'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Demetrius*.html#53 53] and ''Phocion'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Phocion*.html#37 37–38], English translations at [[LacusCurtius]].</ref> The bones or ashes of [[Aesculapius]] at [[Epidaurus]], and of [[Perdiccas I]] at Macedon, were treated with the deepest veneration.

As with the relics of Theseus, the bones are sometimes described in literary sources as gigantic, an indication of the hero's "larger than life" status. On the basis of their reported size, it has been conjectured that such bones were those of [[History of paleontology|prehistoric creatures]], the startling discovery of which may have prompted the sanctifying of the site.<ref name="Ekroth-p110-111" />

The head of the poet-prophet [[Orpheus]] was supposed to have been transported to [[Lesbos]], where it was enshrined and visited as an [[oracle]].<ref>[[Philostratus III|Philostratus]], ''Heroicus'' 5.3 and ''Life of Apollonius'' 4.14; Joseph Falaky Nagy, "Hierarchy, Heroes, and Heads: Indo-European Structures in Greek Myth", in ''Approaches to Greek Myth'' (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990), pp. 210–212. [[Pottery of ancient Greece|Ancient Greek vase paintings]] also depict the head of Orpheus prophesying.</ref> The 2nd-century geographer [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] reported that the bones of Orpheus were kept in a stone vase displayed on a pillar near [[Dion, Pieria|Dion]], his place of death and a major religious center. These too were regarded as having oracular power, which might be accessed through dreaming in a [[incubation (ritual)|ritual of incubation]]. The accidental exposure of the bones brought a disaster upon the town of Libretha, whence the people of Dion had transferred the relics to their own keeping.<ref>Pausanias 9.30.4–5, as cited and discussed by Nagy, ''op. cit.'' pp. 212.</ref>

According to the ''[[Chronicon Paschale]]'', the bones of the Persian [[Zoroaster]] were venerated,<ref>Dindorf, p.&nbsp;67.</ref> but the tradition of [[Zoroastrianism]] and its scriptures offer no support of this.{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}}