Artemis, the Bear and the Mothers of Engyon. Reception of the Ionic Kourotrophos’ Model in Ancient Sicily between Mythic Survivals and Cultic Revivals

The Sicilian polis of Engyon was famous for the epiphaneia of the Goddesses called Meteres, whose temple was considered a Cretan foundation. In the literary sources the Mothers of Engyon are defined as the korai or nymphai identifiable with the bears who were nurses of Zeus on the Idaean Mount in Crete, afterwards associated with a single goddess, the Mater Idaea (Rhea/Cybele). The aim of the paper is to analyze the possible incidence of the Ionic kourotrophos’ model on the Mother(s) cult of Engyon, as it could be inferred by considering the peculiar relationship between Artemis and the Bear, subject to subsequent forms of cultural contamination.