Hesperia 91.4 Now Online!

We are pleased to announce the publication of Hesperia 91.4! Topics in this issue an overview of Bronze Age panel cups from the Greek mainland, the presentation of a new inscribed ritual norm from the Athenian Agora, and a reexamination of the Kephalari blockhouse assemblage.

Subscribers can read the issue online at Project MUSE, which now hosts current issues of Hesperia as well as an archive of past volumes dating to 2002. Hesperia remains on JSTOR as part of their Arts and Sciences II package, with the usual three-year moving wall. Additionally, all issues of Hesperia from 2011 and earlier are available as Open Access on our website. The printed version will be mailed shortly.

A Shape for Few Seasons: The Rapid Appearance and Disappearance of the Mainland Greek Panel Cup, by Jeremy B. Rutter and Michael Lindblom, explores the various perspectives of the circulation of the panel cup on the Greek mainland beginning in the Middle Helladic III period. The shape flourished for less than a century, principally in the northeast Peloponnese, in both funerary and domestic contexts, and it was produced in two sizes. Pattern-painted examples exhibit remarkable variation, suggestive of intentional individualization. Although the form is originally Cycladic, its mainland imitation was inspired by contemporary Aiginetan products. Funerary contexts in the Argolid suggest a connection between decorated panel cups, elite male burials, and high-profile drinking events. After its brief floruit, the panel cup appears to have been replaced by identical or functionally related shapes made in precious metals.

A Fragmentary Ritual Norm from Athens: Agora I 7538, by Kevin F. Daly, presents the editio princeps of a fragmentary inscribed ritual norm, Agora I 7538, found in the excavations of the Athenian Agora. Characteristic of such documents in its topics and compact style, this Late Classical or Early Hellenistic text directs the disposition of sacrificial items and the invitation (klesis) of a divinity. As the inscription contains several words that are unattested or rare in the Athenian epigraphical record, this text constitutes an exceptional contribution to our knowledge of religious practice and ritual regulations.

Late Antique Reuse of the Blockhouse at Kephalari in the Argolid, Greece, by Scott Gallimore, William Caraher, Sarah A. James, and Guy Sanders, details how past excavations at the Classical or Hellenistic blockhouse at Kephalari, southwest of Argos, recovered a small group of artifacts datable to the mid-6th to early 8th century A.D. This material was not published in the original 1939 report, and its restudy demonstrates its importance for shedding new light on the topic of Late Antique reuse of rural structures. This assemblage is then contextualized within current debates about the structure and function of rural settlement, the chronology of change during late antiquity, and the persistence of interregional connectivity in the northeast Peloponnese in the 7th and 8th centuries A.D.

Click here to subscribe to Hesperia. In addition to receiving printed issues and online access to Hesperia, subscribers also receive complimentary online access to Hesperia Supplements, and Agora and Corinth volumes.

Hesperia welcomes submissions from scholars working on all aspects of Greek material culture, including archaeology, art, architecture, history, epigraphy, and related studies. Further information about the journal, including instructions for preparing manuscripts for submission, can be found on our website.

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