“Non vi cade né pioggia né neve”. Iasos, Bargylia e le miracolose statue di Artemis Astiàs e di Artemis Kindyàs

In a well-known passage of his "Histories" (16.12.2), Polybius offers a remarkable piece of information on the religious beliefs of Iasos and Bargylia. Polybius relates that, according to some historians, neither rain nor snow would fall on the agàlmata of Artemis Kindyàs in Bargylia and Artemis Astiàs in Iasos. This prodigious feature of the two statues is clearly inspired by Odyssey 6.41-46, as H. Usener perceptively remarked. This opinion has not received the deserved attention in subsequent scholarship, which has generally paid little attention to the ancient reports about the two agalmata. The contribution, while proposing an in-depth reassessment on the ancient sources on the two statues, develops Usener's observations and reflects on the broader context of the competition between poleis in the religious field.