Open Access
All Hesperia articles from 1932 to 2011 are available here as downloadable PDFs. This webpage is intended for the use of individuals who do not have access to JSTOR.
Find articles by using the search box below. Click on a column heading to sort the results by title, author, volume, issue, or keyword/abstract. There is no limit to the number of articles that readers can download and save for future use. The articles are free of digital rights management (DRM), but are protected under the Creative Commons BY-NC license that allows for downloading and sharing articles, as long as the ASCSA and Hesperia are credited as the source. The articles and works derived from them cannot be used for commercial purposes.
Title | Author(s) | Volume | Issue | Abstracts/Keywords | Download |
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Excavations in the Archaic Civic Buildings at Azoria in 2005–2006 | Donald C. Haggis, Margaret S. Mook, Rodney D. Fitzsimons, C. Margaret Scarry, Lynn M. Snyder, and William C. West, II | 80 | 1 | Continuing excavation on the South Acropolis at Azoria in northeastern Crete has exposed buildings of Archaic date (7th–early 5th century B.C.) that served communal or public functions. Work conducted in 2005 and 2006 completed the exploration of Late Archaic levels within the Communal Dining Building (putative andreion complex), the Monumental Civic Building, and the adjacent Service Building. These contexts and their assemblages, especially the animal and plant remains, permit the characterization of diverse dining practices and the interpretation of patterns of food production and consumption. Both the Communal Dining Building and the Monumental Civic Building show extensive evidence of communal feasting and the integration of cult. |
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The Ancient Circuit Wall of Athens: Its Changing Course and the Phases of Construction | Anna Maria Theocharaki | 80 | 1 | This paper presents a survey of the physical remains of the ancient Athenian circuit wall, which are plotted here on a new map aligned with the city’s modern urban structure. Technical details of the methods and materials of construction are reviewed in order to distinguish the characteristics of the surviving stretches of walls and to assess the chronological value of these details. The author proposes likely locations for sections of the circuit wall not yet identified. Drawing on the results of the survey and on literary and epigraphical evidence, the author identifies four courses and 15 construction phases of the city wall of Athens between the early 5th century B.C. and the mid-6th century A.D. |
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The Topography of the Pylos Campaign and Thucydides’ Literary Themes | Matthew A. Sears | 80 | 1 | Thucydides’ account of the Spartan defeat at Pylos in 425 B.C. has long been plagued by supposed topographical errors for which there is no agreed-upon explanation. A comparison of the Pylos episode in Book 4 with the description of Phormion’s sea battles in Book 2 suggests that certain literary themes, namely, the respective characterizations of the Athenians and Spartans, might have led the historian to alter several topographical details in order to support his attributions of motive to the Athenians and Spartans at Pylos. |
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A Deposit of Late Helladic IIIA2 Pottery from Tsoungiza | Patrick M. Thomas | 80 | 2 | Although Arne Furumark distinguished between early and late phases of Late Helladic IIIA2, few deposits from the former have ever been published. Presented here is a chronologically homogeneous settlement deposit of more than 10,000 sherds from Tsoungiza in the northeast Peloponnese, some from vessels probably employed in feasting. LH IIIA2 (early) painted ceramics exhibit strong connections to the preceding LH IIIA1 period, both in the large proportion of solidly painted vessels and in several common motifs, but new shapes such as the stemmed bowl and some new motifs allow a clear chronological division to be made between LH IIIA2 (early) and the contiguous periods. |
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The Reminting of Athenian Silver Coinage, 353 B.C. | John H. Kroll | 80 | 2 | Combining evidence from Athenian silver coins, an unpublished Agora inscription, and several accounts concerning historical figures, this article reconstructs the Athenian program of 353 B.C., whereby all of the largerdenomination silver coinage in the city was demonetized and called in for restriking as a means of raising revenue during the fiscal crisis in the aftermath of the Social War. The folded-flan technique and erratic, substandard appearance of the resulting “pi-style” coins, attestations of their hurried production in that year, were retained in all subsequent Athenian silver coinage down into the 3rd century as recognized attributes of good Athenian money. |
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Leasing of Sacred Land in 4th-Century Athens | Arden Williams | 80 | 2 | A fresh examination of six inscribed fragments (Agora XIX L6 a–f ) previously attributed to the first of a series of stelai recording civic leases of sacred land in late-4th-century Athens reveals that they belong to four separate stelai, only one of which can be dated to 343/2 B.C. The publication of the leases was linked to a reorganization of sacred finances that included the amalgamation of the treasuries of Athena and the Other Gods, ca. 346/5. The new reconstruction challenges previous estimates of the extent of Athenian sacred property and the assumption that subsequent lists (Agora XIX L9–12, L14) were produced only at 10-year intervals. |
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A Roman Road Southeast of the Forum at Corinth | Jennifer Palinkas and James A. Herbst | 80 | 2 | A wide, unpaved, north-south Roman road was established in the Panayia Field at Ancient Corinth in the last years of the 1st century B.C. Over the next six centuries, numerous civic and private construction activities altered its spatial organization, function as a transportation artery, and use for water and waste management. Changes included the installation and maintenance of sidewalks, curbs, drains, terracotta pipelines, and porches at doorways. The terracotta pipelines are presented here typologically in chronological sequence. The road elucidates early-colony land division at Corinth, urbanization into the 4th century A.D., and subsequent deurbanization in the 6th century, when maintenance of the road ended. |
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The Excavation of Archaic Houses at Azoria in 2005-2006 | Donald C. Haggis, Margaret S. Mook, Rodney D. Fitzsimons, C. Margaret Scarry, and Lynn M. Snyder | 80 | 3 | This article reports on the excavation of Archaic houses (6th-early 5th century B.C.) in 2005 and 2006 at Azoria in eastern Crete. Five houses are discussed: four on the South Acropolis on the periphery of the civic center, and one on the North Acropolis. Well-preserved floor deposits provide evidence for room functions and permit a preliminary analysis of domestic space. The houses fill a lacuna in the published record of the 6th and early 5th centuries B.C. and contribute to our understanding of the form of Archaic houses in the Aegean and the integration of domestic space into an urban context. |
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Bild, Mythos, and Ritual: Choral Dance in Theseus’s Cretan Adventure on the François Vase | Guy Hedreen | 80 | 3 | Although the François vase clearly depicts Theseus leading a dance upon his arrival on Crete, most commentators have argued, on the basis of literary accounts, that Kleitias intended to depict a later moment in the story. The dance upon arrival, however, has several discursive functions within the image: by characterizing Theseus as the choregos of a dance traditionally performed by marriageable young people, it presents him as a promising husband for Ariadne; and by evoking the triumphal ritual arrival of Dionysos, the image anticipates that Theseus will be victorious. In this image, mythical narrative, spectacle, and the socialization of adolescence are carefully woven together. |
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Crocuses in Context: A Diachronic Survey of the Crocus Motif in the Aegean Bronze Age | Jo Day | 80 | 3 | Floral imagery plays a major role in Minoan art, and the crocus has long been recognized as an important motif. Previous studies, however, have been narrowly focused on specific materials or interpretations, thereby obscuring the richness of crocus iconography and its meanings. This article presents a detailed survey of the crocus in Aegean art from the Early Bronze Age to Mycenaean times, exploring the diversity and development of the motif across different media and reassessing possible explanations for its importance. A complex world of floral symbolism is revealed, in which the polysemic crocus functions as a key element in Minoan identity. |
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A Place of Burning: Hero or Ancestor Cult at Troy | Carolyn Chabot Aslan | 80 | 3 | This article presents the evidence for Early Archaic ritual activity on the site of a Late Bronze Age cemetery a short distance outside the walls of Troy, at a spot known to excavators as “A Place of Burning.” Here, as at the West Sanctuary adjacent to the citadel, the evidence follows a pattern similar to that found in hero and ancestor cults at other sites. Growing population in the region may have led the inhabitants of Troy to use associations with Bronze Age remains as a way of strengthening territorial claims and bolstering the power of the local elite. |
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A World of Goods: Transport Jars and Commodity Exchange at the Late Bronze Age Harbor of Kommos, Crete | Peter M. Day, Patrick S. Quinn, Jeremy B. Rutter, and Vassilis Kilikoglou | 80 | 4 | The harbor site of Kommos, Crete, has yielded rich evidence for long-distance exchange in the form of ceramic transport jars of types used not only for distribution within Crete and the Aegean, but also across the eastern Mediterranean. An integrated petrographic and chemical approach is here employed in order to determine the provenance of short-necked amphoras, transport stirrup jars, Egyptian jars, and Canaanite jars. The results reveal a detailed picture of local jar production within southern Crete, as well as jars that have their origins in the Nile Delta and at several specific locations along the Levantine coast. |
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The Saronic Harbors Archaeological Research Project (SHARP): Investigations at Mycenaean Kalamianos, 2007-2009 | Thomas F. Tartaron, Daniel J. Pullen, Richard K. Dunn, Lita Tzortzopoulou-Gregory, Amy Dill, and Joseph I. Boyce | 80 | 4 | This article describes the initial phase of investigations at Kalamianos, a recently discovered Mycenaean coastal settlement on the Saronic Gulf in the southeastern Corinthia. To date 50 buildings and 120 rooms of Late Helladic IIIB date have been identified at the site, which is unique for the excellent preservation of aboveground architectural remains. Beyond the site is another large Mycenaean architectural complex, as well as small fortified enclosures and terrace walls also dating to the Bronze Age. The evidence indicates that Kalamianos was a significant center of Mycenaean activity in the 13th century B.C., and possibly served as Mycenae’s principal harbor on the Saronic Gulf. |
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Goddess, Lost Ancestors, and Dolls: A Cultural Biography of the Ayia Irini Terracotta Statues | Evi Gorogianni | 80 | 4 | A biographical approach to the study of material culture reveals that an object’s meaning usually varies in different episodes of its life history. This article examines the terracotta statues from the temple at Ayia Irini on Kea in three contexts of experience: (1) their initial context in the Bronze Age temple; (2) their reuse in the Iron Age phase of the temple; and (3) their “permanent” exhibition in the Archaeological Museum of Kea. Although the meaning with which the statues were imbued has varied in these contexts, they have retained the status of sacred objects. |
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The Lapis Primus and the Older Parthenon | Margaret M. Miles | 80 | 4 | The first two sets of Athenian tribute quota lists recording aparchai offered to Athena were inscribed on unusually large blocks of marble that have no parallel among other Greek inscriptions. The author argues that the block used for the first set of lists most likely was originally quarried for use as an architrave on the Older Parthenon, and that the second block may also have been intended for a building, perhaps the Parthenon. The reuse followed the well-attested practice of recycling architectural material held to be the property of a deity, and the monumental size of the blocks enhanced the dedicatory character of the lists of aparchai. |
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Ancient Catapults: Some Hypotheses Reexamined | Duncan B. Campbell | 80 | 4 | Recent summaries and overviews of the development of ancient catapults have mistaken working hypotheses for established fact. Key areas of misunderstanding include the invention of the catapult, the development of the torsion principle, the meaning of the terms euthytone and palintone, and the possible use of sling bullets as catapult missiles. A critical reexamination of these questions, setting them within the framework of the known facts, reveals the fragility of the accepted history of the catapult, as currently presented in general handbooks. |
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Red-Figure Pottery of Uncertain Origin from Corinth: Stylistic and Chemical Analyses | Ian D. McPhee and Efi Kartsonak | 79 | 1 | The focus of this article is a group of 18 red-figure fragments or fragmentary vessels found at Corinth whose place of manufacture cannot be determined by visual analysis. All are datable to the later 5th or early 4th century B.C. Several of the vases were decorated by the Academy Painter (an Attic Late Mannerist) or by another painter, designated the Painter of Corinth 1937-525, who is considered here for the first time. Chemical analysis of the fragments indicates that 15 of the 18 form a discrete group distinct from normal Attic and Corinthian clays. The analysis also confirms the Corinthian origin of a bell krater painted by the Attic Suessula Painter. |
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Pylos Regional Archaeological Project, Part VIII: Lithics and Landscapes: A Messenian Perspective | William A. Parkinson and John F. Cherry | 79 | 1 | The authors document and discuss the chipped stone assemblage collected by the Pylos Regional Archaeological Project in Messenia, Greece, during three seasons of surface investigations conducted between 1992 and 1994. The article begins with a brief description of the basic characteristics of the PRAP chipped stone assemblage. This section is followed by a discussion of the diachronic social processes that can be inferred from the patterns in the assemblage, from the Middle Palaeolithic through historical periods. The article concludes with a comparative analysis of how the distribution of chipped stone in the Messenian landscape relates to comparable evidence from survey projects elsewhere in the Aegean. |
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An Archaic Ivory Figurine from a Tumulus Near Elmalı: Cultural Hybridization and a New Anatolian Style | Tuna Şare | 79 | 1 | The extent of cultural and artistic hybridization in Archaic Anatolia is explored through close examination of an ivory figurine of a mother with two children from Tumulus D at Bayındır, near Elmalı in southwestern Turkey. Along with other figurines from that tomb and from Archaic Ephesos, this family group testifies to the late-7th-century B.C. birth of a western Anatolian style in the minor arts that anticipates the Ionian style in Greek sculpture. The author suggests that the figurines served as handles of sacred implements and that they represent elite participants in the cult of an Anatolian goddess, perhaps Artemis Ephesia. |
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Of Battle, Booty, and (Citizen) Women: A “New” Inscription from Archaic Axos, Crete | Paula J. Perlman | 79 | 1 | The author proposes a join between two previously unassociated inscribed blocks from Axos, Crete. These Archaic inscriptions (IC II v 5 and IC II v 6) are now lost, but published descriptions and drawings of the blocks, along with the text that results from this virtual join, strongly support their association. The new, composite text preserves part of a law or interstate agreement and appears to concern rituals attendant to war; it is examined here in the broader context of Cretan dedicatory habits and society during the Late Iron Age and the Archaic period. |
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Stone Age Seafaring in the Mediterranean: Evidence from the Plakias Region for Lower Palaeolithic and Mesolithic Habitation of Crete | Thomas F. Strasser, Eleni Panagopoulou, Curtis N. Runnels, Priscilla M. Murray, Nicholas Thompson, Panayiotis Karkanas, Floyd W. McCoy, Karl W. Wegmann | 79 | 2 | A survey in 2008 and 2009 on the southwestern coast of Crete in the region of Plakias documented 28 preceramic lithic sites. Sites were identified with artifacts of Mesolithic type similar to assemblages from the Greek mainland and islands, and some had evidence of Lower Palaeolithic occupation dated by geological context to at least 130,000 years ago. The long period of separation (more than 5,000,000 years) of Crete from any landmass implies that the early inhabitants of Crete reached the island using seacraft capable of open-sea navigation and multiple journeys—a finding that pushes the history of seafaring in the Mediterranean back by more than 100,000 years and has important implications for the dispersal of early humans. |
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Mycenaean and Cypriot Late Bronze Age Ceramic Imports to Kommos: An Investigation by Neutron Activation Analysis | Jonathan E. Tomlinson, Jeremy B. Rutter and Sandra M. A. Hoffmann | 79 | 2 | The results of a small-scale program of neutron activation analysis of 69 ceramic fragments from the Minoan harbor town of Kommos are presented and critically evaluated. Prior to analysis, the vessels represented in the sample were thought to be imports from outside of Crete, manufactured either on Cyprus or in the Mycenaean cultural sphere. The chemical analyses support the identifications of the vessels as imports from the regions in question in roughly 80% of the cases. They further suggest that the vast majority of these ceramic imports were produced in a comparatively small number of production centers. |
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A New Type of Early Iron Age Fibula from Albania and Northwest Greece | John K. Papadopoulos | 79 | 2 | This article presents a hitherto unknown type of Early Iron Age fibula from Lofkënd in Albania, together with related examples from Kënet in northeastern Albania and Liatovouni in northwestern Greece. Dubbed the “Lofkënd type,” this group of fibulae can be securely dated to the late 10th or 9th century b.c. The author discusses the evidence provided by archaeological context, as well as the date, distribution, and cultural affinities of the new type. |
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Fish Lists in the Wilderness: The Social and Economic History of a Boiotian Price Decree | Ephraim Lytle | 79 | 2 | This article presents a new text and detailed examination of an inscribed Hellenistic decree from the Boiotian town of Akraiphia (SEG XXXII 450) that consists chiefly of lists of fresh- and saltwater fish accompanied by prices. The text incorporates improved readings and restores the final eight lines of the document, omitted in previous editions. The discussion covers the arrangement of the text and the sources of the lists, one of which probably originated in a customhouse in the nearby port of Anthedon, as well as the larger social and economic context of the decree, which has been generally misunderstood. |
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A Middle–Late Byzantine Pottery Assemblage from Sagalassos: Typo-Chronology and Sociocultural Interpretation | Athanasios K. Vionis, Jeroen Poblome, Bea De Cupere, and Marc Waelkens | 79 | 3 | A 12th–13th-century A.D. ceramic assemblage from Alexander’s Hill at Sagalassos in southwestern Turkey provides new evidence for the typo-chronological study of Byzantine pottery. A functional analysis of the assemblage, along with textual and iconographic evidence, archaeozoological and palynological analyses, and chemical analysis of cooking-pot residues, contributes to the reconstruction of diet and cooking practices in Anatolia. While baked fish, vegetables, pulses, and bread are usually regarded as the staples of Byzantine peasant cuisine, diners at Sagalassos were enjoying beef stews before the Fourth Crusade, when the technique of stewing meat was allegedly introduced to the eastern Mediterranean from the West. | Download |
Priniatikos Pyrgos and the Classical Period in Eastern Crete: Feasting and Island Identities | Brice L. Erickson | 79 | 3 | Classical Crete is still poorly understood archaeologically, although recent work on local ceramic sequences has begun to change the traditional picture of isolation and decline in the 5th century B.C. At Priniatikos Pyrgos in the Mirabello region of eastern Crete, relatively rich phases of Classical occupation provide a detailed view of local ceramic development. A large deposit of fine wares mixed with ash and bone may indicate public feasting. The evidence also casts light on the local economy, revealing connections with Gortyn, Azoria, and other Cretan cities, as well as extensive contacts overseas. |
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Deme Theaters in Attica and the Trittys System | Jessica Paga | 79 | 3 | Analysis of the physical form and geographic distribution of deme theaters in Attica demonstrates their multiplicity of functions during the Classical period. A pattern of one theatral area per trittys per phyle is identified, pointing to the use of the trittyes as nodes of communication within the broader framework of Athenian society and democratic organization. The author argues that the multifunctional nature of the theaters is integrally linked to their relationship with the trittyes, and posits that the theatral areas facilitated both deme and trittyes gatherings. The precise role of the trittyes in organizational and administrative functions is further considered. |
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Towers and Fortifications at Vayia in the Southeast Corinthia | William R. Caraher, David K. Pettegrew, and Sarah James | 79 | 3 | Although rural towers have long been central to the discussion of the fortified landscapes of Classical and Hellenistic Greece, the Corinthia has rarely figured in the conversation, despite the historical significance of exurban fortifications for the territory. The authors of this article report on the recent investigation by the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey of two towers and associated fortifications in the region of Vayia in the southeast Corinthia. By integrating topographic study, intensive survey, and architectural analysis, they suggest that these three sites served to guard an economically productive stretch of the Corinthian countryside and to protect—or block—major maritime and land routes into the region. |
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A Prytany Dedication from Athens Found at Corinth | Paul A. Iversen | 79 | 3 | A fragmentary inscription found at Corinth during the 1965 excavation season (I 2649) refers to the ὑπογραμματεύς (undersecretary) Eisidotos and an ἀντιγραφεύς (copy clerk). The inscription is here identified as a prytany dedication from Athens dating between ca. A.D. 164 and 168/9. |
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Topographic Semantics: The Location of the Athenian Public Cemetery and Its Significance for the Nascent Democracy | Nathan T. Arrington | 79 | 4 | In this article, the author seeks to understand the place of the demosion sema, the public cemetery of Athens, within the Athenian physical and cognitive landscape. The archaeological and literary evidence shows that the cemetery was established ca. 500 B.C., along the road from the Dipylon Gate to the Academy. This was an area with few pre-Classical burials but strong religious and civic associations. Here the nascent democracy shaped a new space for corporate self-definition by juxtaposing the public cemetery with the district further to the east, around the road leading to Hippios Kolonos, which had long been a center for aristocratic display. |
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Greek Verse on a Vase by Douris | David Sider | 79 | 4 | A schoolroom scene on an Attic red-figure kylix painted by Douris (Berlin, Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen 2285) presents two interdependent problems of reading. One concerns the text on the scroll held up by the teacher: is it in hexameters or lyric, and is it part of a preexisting poem or an ad hoc composition by the painter? The second problem is iconographical: how is the viewer to interpret the action? Here it is argued that the verse is meant to be an epic hexameter and that its mistakes are to be attributed to the student, rather than to Douris. |
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Mortaria from Ancient Corinth: Form and Function | Alexandra Villing and Elizabeth G. Pemberton | 79 | 4 | As important vessels in domestic and cultic food preparation in ancient Greece, ceramic mortaria are closely intertwined with the development of culinary customs and their social setting. Examples found at Corinth show a variety of forms, particularly in the Classical period. This study presents an analysis of the morphological changes of the Corinthian examples from the Archaic through Hellenistic periods. The end of the 6th and the first half of the 5th century B.C. see the greatest developments, such as the introduction of spout, handles, and gritted interiors. The functions of mortaria are also discussed in detail, with interpretation based on the artifacts themselves, textual references, and iconographic and contextual evidence. |
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The Excavation of Chrysokamino-Chomatas: A Preliminary Report | Cheryl R. Floyd and Philip P. Betancourt | 79 | 4 | Excavations in 1996 and 1997 at Chrysokamino-Chomatas, a site near the Chrysokamino metallurgy workshop in East Crete, revealed two architectural phases from the Late Minoan period in addition to earlier (pre-LM IB) and later (post–Bronze Age) remains. The first architectural phase, destroyed in LM IB-Final, consisted of the poorly preserved walls of a single isolated building. Above it were the remains of a LM IIIA2–IIIB-Early farmstead. The LM IB building, which was incompletely preserved, possessed several interesting deposits, including one with a complete copper or bronze dagger. The LM III complex was an isolated farmstead with abundant evidence for activities related to farming and animal husbandry. |
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Honorary Shares of Sacrificial Meat in Attic Vase Painting: Visual Signs of Distinction and Civic Identity | Victoria Tsoukala | 78 | 1 | A group of Attic black- and red-figure vases from the late 6th and 5th centuries B.C. is decorated with scenes that prominently feature legs of meat in iconographic contexts other than sacrificial butchering. These leg joints are interpreted as honorary shares of sacrificial meat awarded to select individuals at the festivals of the polis; the honorary shares included more meat than the shares distributed to the general public. Because leg joints were awarded as honorary shares to the priests who officiated at sacrifices, they came to represent honorary shares in general. By extension, the leg joints that appear in painted scenes symbolize meritorious participation in city festivals, and thus can be viewed as expressions of civic identity. |
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Technical Observations on the Sculptures from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia | John G. Younger and Paul Rehak | 78 | 1 | Technical observations on the sculptures from the Temple of Zeus at Olympia allow a reconstruction of their appearance at installation and of the major changes made afterward. At installation, many sculptures were unfinished; the west pediment had more centaur groups than are preserved today; and the horse blocks on the east pediment were separated, one in front of the other. By the time of Pausanias’s visit in A.D. 174, the sculptures had suffered major damage at least twice (in the mid-4th century and the early 2nd century B.C.); his identification of Kaineus in the west pediment may refer to a headless Apollo propped up on his knees, flanked by centaurs. |
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Kleonai, the Corinth-Argos Road, and the “Axis of History” | Jeannette C. Marchand | 78 | 1 | The ancient road from Corinth to Argos via the Longopotamos pass was one of the most important and longest-used natural routes through the northeastern Peloponnese. The author proposes to identify the exact route of the road as it passed through Kleonaian territory by combining the evidence of ancient testimonia, the identification of ancient roadside features, the accounts of early travelers, and autopsy. The act of tracing the road serves to emphasize the prominent position of the city Kleonai on this interstate route, which had significant consequences both for its own history and for that of neighboring states. |
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The 2005 Chios Ancient Shipwreck Survey: New Methods for Underwater Archaeology | Brendan P. Foley, Katerina Dellaporta,Dimitris Sakellariou, Brian S. Bingham, Richard Camilli, Ryan M. Eustice, Dionysis Evagelistis, Vicki Lynn Ferrini, Kostas Katsaros,Dimitris Kourkoumelis, Aggelos Mallios, Paraskevi Micha, David A. Mindell, Christopher Roman, Hanumant Singh, David S. Switzer, and Theotokis Theodoulou | 78 | 2 | In 2005 a Greek and American interdisciplinary team investigated two shipwrecks off the coast of Chios dating to the 4th-century B.C. and the 2nd/1st century. The project pioneered archaeological methods of precision acoustic, digital image, and chemical survey using an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and in-situ sensors, increasing the speed of data acquisition while decreasing costs. The AUV recorded data revealing the physical dimensions, age, cargo, and preservation of the wrecks. The earlier wreck contained more than 350 amphoras, predominantly of Chian type, while the Hellenistic wreck contained about 40 Dressel 1C amphoras. Molecular biological analysis of two amphoras from the 4th-century wreck revealed ancient DNA of olive, oregano, and possibly mastic, part of a cargo outbound from Chios. |
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Warfare in Neolithic Thessaly: A Case Study | Curtis N. Runnels, Claire Payne, Noam V. Rifkind, Chantel White, Nicholas P. Wolff, and Steven A. LeBlanc | 78 | 2 | Cross-cultural archaeological and ethnographic evidence for warfare in farming societies invites us to reconsider the traditional picture of the Greek Neolithic (ca. 7000–3400 B.C.) as a period of peaceful coexistence among subsistence farmers. Archaeological correlates of intercommunal conflict in the prehistoric American Southwest and the widespread evidence for warfare in Neolithic Europe suggest that warfare is also likely to have taken place in Neolithic Greece. The well-known Neolithic record for Thessaly reveals evidence for warfare in defensive structures, weapons, and settlement patterns. Competition for resources such as arable land, grazing rights, and water may have contributed to the causes of Greek Neolithic warfare. |
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How the Corinthians Manufactured Their First Roof Tiles | Philip Sapirstein | 78 | 2 | The earliest known terracotta roof postdating the Bronze Age belongs to the 7th-century B.C. Old Temple at Corinth. Analysis of the surface markings preserved on its tiles suggests a hypothesis for the forming and finishing stages of tile manufacture. Individual tiles were built right side up on a mold, with a pair of profiled templates guiding the shape of the top. Replication experiments reveal that the template design for these tiles is much simpler than formerly believed. Nonetheless, it is likely that the Corinthians created their first tiles in imitation of an earlier terracotta roofing system with separate cover and pan tiles, perhaps developed outside the Corinthia. |
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Fifth-Century Horoi on Aigina: A Reevaluation | Irene Polinskaya | 78 | 2 | In this article, the author reexamines the 14 known horos inscriptions from Aigina in connection with the discovery of four new horoi, published here for the first time. These additional horoi lend new support to the arguments—debated by many scholars—for the date (431–404 B.C.), occasion (Athenian occupation of Aigina during the Peloponnesian War), authorship (Athenian), and purpose (markers of agricultural estates) of the Aiginetan horoi. The article presents a fresh view of Athenian motivations for the introduction of agricultural temene dedicated to the gods on Aigina and in other conquered territories during the Athenian Empire. |
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Flaked Stone from Isthmia | P. Nick Kardulias | 78 | 3 | Archaeologists have long acknowledged the importance of flaked stone tools in the prehistoric archaeological record of the Aegean. Over the past two decades, scholars have demonstrated the continued production and use of lithics in historical periods as well. At Isthmia, flaked stone tools have been found in deposits associated with craft, agricultural, ritual, and domestic contexts. The presence of reduction debris as well as finished tools of obsidian and chert suggests some on-site production in historical eras, but recycling of older pieces is also possible. The assemblage reflects a pragmatic response to the need for cutting, scraping, and incising tools in various periods. |
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Seeing the Sea: Ships’ Eyes in Classical Greece | Deborah N. Carlson | 78 | 3 | Excavations in the Athenian Agora have brought to light fragments of three sculpted marble eyes, or ophthalmoi, from Classical levels in and around the Tholos precinct. The discovery of similar objects at the ancient harbor of Zea, and more recently in association with a Classical Greek ship wrecked off the Aegean coast of Turkey, makes clear that all are examples of the eyes that decorated the bows of ancient Greek ships. Three hypotheses are offered to explain the presence of nautical artifacts within the Agora: they may have served as honorific fixtures relating to the fleet; represented surplus naval equipment stored in the Strategeion; or belonged to a wheeled ship used in the Anthesteria or the Greater Panathenaia festival. |
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The Identity of the “Wool-Workers” in the Attic Manumissions | Kelly L. Wrenhaven | 78 | 3 | In the second half of the 4th century B.C., the names of manumitted men and women and their occupations were inscribed on stones and displayed, presumably on the Athenian Acropolis. More than four-fifths of those identified as female are designated as “wool-workers” (ταλασιουργοί), and scholars have debated whether these women were domestic slaves, or professional slaves who were able to purchase their own freedom. Drawing upon iconographic, literary, and archaeological evidence, the author revisits the “spinning ἑταίρα” debate, arguing that the ταλασιουργοί were primarily prostitutes and that the designation ταλασιουργός was used essentially to avoid the stigma associated with their trade. |
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The Temple of Apollo Patroos Dated by an Amphora Stamp | Mark L. Lawall | 78 | 3 | The temple of Apollo Patroos in the Athenian Agora is often dated to ca. 330 B.C. A fragment of a Thasian amphora with a stamp bearing the eponym Ποῦλυς was found in a pit closed no later than the period of the temple’s construction. This stamp dates to ca. 313 B.C. The temple must therefore have been constructed in the very late 4th or very early 3rd century. Review of the textual and other archaeological evidence related to the temple and its vicinity clarifies the physical development of this cult site from ca. 375 to ca. 300 B.C. |
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A New Athenian Ephebic List: Agora I 7545 | Kevin F. Daly | 78 | 3 | Agora I 7545, a fragmentary ephebic list of the late 1st century B.C. or early 1st century A.D., records the names of six individuals, at least three of whom are otherwise unattested. The document honors ephebic officers and a trainer known from other inscriptions, Menis(s)kos of Kolonai. Two ephebes, Dionysodoros son of Sophokles of Sounion and Gorgias son of Architimos of Sphettos, appear to be related to members of the genos of the Kerykes recorded in IEleusis 300 of 20/19 B.C. The inscription demands a reassessment of the dates and careers of Meniskos and Dionysodoros, and raises questions about the constituency of the Kerykes in the Early Roman period. |
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Travel, Pictures, and a Victorian Gentleman in Greece | Deborah Harlan | 78 | 3 | The rise of mass tourism in the late 19th century coincided with advances in photographic technology that made it easier for travelers to document their journeys. In the 1890s, the clergyman and scientist T. R. R. Stebbing made a photographic record of his travels in the eastern Mediterranean. Stebbing’s images reproduce a way of looking at antiquity prescribed by 19th-century guidebooks, thereby encoding a conventional Western view of antiquity. Incorporated into an academic network of slide collections, Stebbing’s images contributed to an authoritative scholarly construction of the classical world in Britain during the early 20th century. |
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Epigraphical Index | 78 | 4 | epigraphical index |
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Hunting the Eschata: An Imagined Persian Empire on the Lekythos of Xenophantos | Hallie Malcolm Franks | 78 | 4 | The so-called lekythos of Xenophantos presents an image unparalleled in Greek vase painting. In a scene that belongs fully to neither the world of reality nor that of myth, Persians hunt griffins, among other prey. The author offers a new reading of the scene as a fictionalized account of Persian conquest, in which the borders of the empire have reached the edges of the earth, the eschata. Such a scenario has parallels in Herodotos’s stories of the Persians’ (inappropriate) territorial aspirations; in these accounts, as Persians seek to expand their power beyond its natural limits, they are met with failure and punishment. |
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A Roman Athena from the Pnyx and the Agora in Athens | Aileen Ajootian | 78 | 4 | Two fragments of marble sculpture, one found in late fill on the Pnyx and the other in the Athenian Agora, join to form part of a large helmeted head, probably from a Roman statue of Athena. Unusual, wavelike curls escaping from beneath the helmet suggest a date in the mid-1st century a.d. The Pnyx/Agora statue may have been commissioned in Athens during a period of renewed interest in the Panathenaic festival by Athenians who saw the promotion of their city’s religious traditions as a way of enhancing their own status and that of their city. |
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An Early Ottoman Cemetery at Ancient Corinth | Arthur H. Rohn, Ethne Barnes, and Guy D. R. Sanders, with an appendix by Orestes H. Zervos | 78 | 4 | The authors report in this article on the excavation and skeletal analyses of 81 graves containing the remains of 133 individuals in a 17th-century cemetery in the Panayia Field at Ancient Corinth. Two distinct styles of burial reflect Orthodox Christian and Muslim traditions. Osteological analyses revealed a preponderance of adult males over females; more young and middle-aged males and fewer small children than might be expected; and numerous instances of physical violence, including two obvious cases of punishment. The presence of iron boot-heel reinforcement cleats and the mixing of Christian and Muslim burial practices suggest that the cemetery may have served a garrison population in Corinth under Ottoman rule during the early 17th century. |
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Colonialism without Colonies? A Bronze Age Case Study from Akrotiri, Thera | Carl Knappett and Irene Nikolakopoulou | 77 | 1 | Using ceramic evidence from Bronze Age Akrotiri on Thera, the authors explore the idea that regional cultural interactions of a “colonialist” character can take place without the occurrence of colonization per se. They assess the types and frequency of Cretan Middle Minoan IIIA imports from selected deposits at the site, the nature of local imitations of Cretan pottery, and the adoption of a characteristically Cretan technology, the potter’s wheel. By comparing processes of material, stylistic, and technological transfer, the authors seek to characterize Crete’s influence off-island and the responses of neighboring island communities, concluding that Cretan material culture is more a cause than an effect of Minoanization. |
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Plataia in Boiotia: A Preliminary Report on Geophysical and Field Surveys Conducted in 2002-2005 | Andreas L. Konecny, Michael J. Boyd, Ronald T. Marchese, and Vassilis Aravantinos | 77 | 1 | Surface and geophysical surveys at Plataiai elucidate the development of the settlement through nearly five millennia. Pottery distribution patterns show that the site was first occupied in the Neolithic and continued in use through the Bronze Age, with a possible hiatus during the Dark Age. The settlement recovered in Archaic and Early Classical times, expanded during the 4th century B.C., and underwent further development in Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, and Early Modern times. Geophysical survey has located a previously unknown section of the town’s largest fortification circuit and a probable gateway. Results allow a detailed reconstruction of the city grid and the internal structures of some of the blocks surveyed. |
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Athens and Kydonia: Agora I 7602 | Nikolaos Papazarkadas and Peter Thoneman | 77 | 1 | A Hellenistic inscription from the Athenian Agora (Agora I 7602) concerning syngeneia between Athens and Kydonia in western Crete is reedited here with full commentary. The history of Athenian relations with Kydonia is briefly reviewed. The authors propose a reconstruction of the Kydonians’ arguments for mythological kinship between the two cities. Agora I 7602 appears to be the earliest firm attestation of mutually accepted syngeneia between Athens and a non-Ionian city. Indeed, it is the first known inscription recording kinship between Athens and another city on grounds other than the latter’s status as a colony, at least before the Roman period. |
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Pagan Statuettes in Late Antique Corinth: Sculpture from the Panayia Domus | Lea M. Stirling | 77 | 1 | Excavations in 1999 at the Panayia Domus at Corinth uncovered nine statuettes representing Artemis (twice), Asklepios (twice), Roma, Dionysos, Herakles, Europa/Sosandra, and Pan, the contents of a probable domestic shrine in a small, plain room. The statuettes range in date from the late 1st to the mid-3rd or early 4th century A.D. Four are late products of Attic sarcophagus workshops. The figure of Roma is a unique domestic example of this divinity and may refer to a local monument and to the status of the owner. Other statuettes are typical of domestic assemblages in Late Roman Greece. |
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The Bronze Age Site of Mitrou in East Lokris: Finds from the 1988-1989 Surface Survey | Margaretha Kramer-Hajos and Kerill O'Neill | 77 | 2 | This article presents the results of the study of the surface survey material from the island site of Mitrou. The survey was carried out under the auspices of the Cornell Halai and East Lokris Project (CHELP) in 1988 and 1989, and the finds were studied by the authors between 2000 and 2003. Pottery and small finds indicate that Mitrou was one of the major Bronze Age sites in the region, occupied from Early Helladic II through the Protogeometric period without interruption, and benefiting from trading contacts throughout the Aegean. |
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Boiotian Tripods: The Tenacity of a Panhellenic Symbol in a Regional Context | Nassos Papalexandrou | 77 | 2 | The author examines the ritual uses of tripod cauldrons in Boiotian public contexts, synthesizing material, epigraphic, and literary evidence. Dedications of tripods by individuals were expressions of prominent social status. Communal dedications made in the distinctively Boiotian rite of the tripodephoria were symbolic actualizations of power relations between the dominant center and its periphery. Remains of two suntagmata of tripods at the sanctuary of the hero Ptoios at Kastraki, near Akraiphia, provide evidence for the physical ambience of the sanctuary, the form of the tripods, and the collective rites associated with the dedications. |
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The Fabric of the City: Imaging Textile Production in Classical Athens | Sheramy D. Bundrick | 77 | 2 | Scenes of textile production on Athenian vases are often interpreted as confirming the oppression of women, who many argue were confined to “women’s quarters” and exploited as free labor. However, reexamination of the iconography—together with a reconsideration of gender roles and the archaeology of Greek houses dating to the 5th and 4th centuries B.C.—suggests that these images idealize female contributions to the household in a positive way. The scenes utilize the dual metaphor of weaving and marriage to express the harmonia of oikos and polis, a theme particularly significant under the evolving Athenian democracy. |
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Inscribed Silver Plate from Tomb II at Vergina: Chronological Implications | David W. J. Gill | 77 | 2 | Five items of silver plate from tomb II at Vergina are inscribed with their ancient weights. The inscriptions, using the acrophonic and alphabetic systems, suggest that the pieces were made to a drachma weight of ca. 4.2 g. This weight of drachma was introduced to Macedonia by Alexander the Great and does not appear to have been used by Philip II. The inscriptions on the silver add to the cumulative evidence provided by the cremated remains, black-gloss saltcellars, and iconography of the lion-hunt frieze that tomb II was the final resting place not of Philip II, but of Philip III Arrhidaios and Adea Eurydike. |
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A Funerary Horos for Philiste | Kevin F. Daly | 77 | 2 | A 4th-century B.C. funerary horos (I 7525) discovered in the excavations of the Athenian Agora in 1981 preserves the name Philiste. A previously published funerary stele found in the Agora in 1934 is inscribed with the same name (IG II2 6133a). Although it cannot be demonstrated conclusively, it is possible that these funerary inscriptions originally belonged to the same grave plot. |
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Excavation of a 13th-Century Church near Vasilitsi, Southern Messenia | Nikos D. Kontogiannis, with an appendix by Lilian Karali | 77 | 3 | A small-scale excavation in the area of Vasilitsi, southern Messenia, revealed the remnants of a previously unrecorded 13th-century triple-aisled cross-vaulted church with a series of burials along its north wall. In addition to ceramics and a marble basin, a small hoard of Venetian torneselli was found. The author discusses the church’s period of use and details of its architecture and construction, as well as the identity of its builders and the settlement pattern of this largely unknown area. Parallels from published histories, surface surveys, and excavations from other regions of medieval Messenia and Greece are discussed. An osteological report on the burials is presented as an appendix. |
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An Archer from the Palace of Nestor: A New Wall-Painting Fragment in the Chora Museum | Hariclia Brecoulaki, Caroline Zaitoun, Sharon R. Stocker, and Jack L. Davis, with Appendixes by Andreas G. Karydas, Maria Perla Colombini, and Ugo Bartolucci | 77 | 3 | The authors interpret two joining pieces of a brightly colored wall painting found at the Palace of Nestor in 1939. The fragment, removed from the walls of the palace prior to its final destruction, represents part of an archer, probably female. Alternative reconstructions are offered. Artistic methods and constituents of the plaster and paint are studied by XRD, PIXE-alpha analysis, XRF, SEM-EDS, PY/GC-MS, and GC-MS. Egyptian blue pigment was extensively employed. Egg was used as a binder for the pigments in a tempera, rather than a fresco, technique. The identification of individualized painting styles may make it possible to assign groups of wall paintings to particular artists or workshops. |
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Separating Fact from Fiction in the Aiolian Migration | C. Brian Rose | 77 | 3 | Iron Age settlements in the northeast Aegean are usually attributed to Aiolian colonists who journeyed across the Aegean from mainland Greece. This article reviews the literary accounts of the migration and presents the relevant archaeological evidence, with a focus on new material from Troy. No one area played a dominant role in colonizing Aiolis, nor is such a widespread colonization supported by the archaeological record. But the aggressive promotion of migration accounts after the Persian Wars proved mutually beneficial to both sides of the Aegean and justified the composition of the Delian League. |
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The Linguistic Case for the Aiolian Migration Reconsidered | Holt N. Parker | 77 | 3 | Ascribing the presence of speakers of Lesbian in the northeast Aegean during historical times to the migration of Aiolian tribes from mainland Greece receives no support from linguistics. Migration is not the only or even primary way in which languages and dialects may spread. Moreover, on reexamination, the idea of an Aiolic dialect group falls apart. Boiotian, separated by the First Compensatory Lengthening from Lesbian and Thessalian, appears as a conservative dialect, most closely related to West Greek. In turn, Lesbian and Thessalian are both archaic branches of Greek that share no demonstrable common innovations. They are best viewed as two separate relic areas of a relatively unaltered early Greek. |
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The End of the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore on Acrocorinth | Kathleen Warner Slane | 77 | 3 | The end of cult activity in the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore on Acrocorinth has previously been dated to the third or fourth quarter of the 4th century. Because some scholars have suggested that the latest lamps from the sanctuary date to ca. 425 or 450, the author reexamined the context pottery in search of 5th-century material. This article supplements the catalogue in Corinth XVIII.2, reviews the coins and fine wares on which the dates were based, and reconsiders the amphoras, coarse wares, and lamps. The new material is largely datable to the late 5th and 6th centuries and seems to be associated with robbing trenches or the late cemetery rather than with the pagan cult. |
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Excavations in the Hagios Charalambos Cave: A Preliminary Report | Philip P. Betancourt, Costis Davaras, Heidi M. C. Dierckx, Susan C. Ferrence, Jane Hickman, Panagiotis Karkanes, Photeini J. P. McGeorge, James D. Muhly, David S. Reese, Eleni Stravopodi, and Louise Langford-Verstegen, with a Appendix by Stephania Chlouveraki | 77 | 4 | The cave of Hagios Charalambos is a Minoan secondary ossuary in the Lasithi plain in the mountains of east-central Crete. It was excavated in two campaigns (1976–1983 and 2002–2003). Artifacts include pottery, figurines, seals, stone tools, metal tools and weapons, jewelry, and other objects buried with the deceased. The original burials range in date from Neolithic to Middle Minoan IIB, but the bones were all moved to the ossuary within a relatively short period in MM IIB. Some of the bones were partly sorted before their secondary deposition. The skulls indicate many traumas and three sophisticated trephinations, the earliest thus far known in Greece. |
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Nemea Valley Archaeological Project, Excavations at Barnavos: Final Report | James C. Wright, Evangelia Pappi, Sevasti Triantaphyllou, Mary K. Dabney, Panagiotis Karkanas, Georgia Kotzamani, and Alexandra Livarda | 77 | 4 | In 2002 and 2003 the 4th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and the Nemea Valley Archaeological Project (NVAP) excavated a robbed Late Helladic (LH) IIIA2 chamber tomb at Barnavos, west of the village of Ancient Nemea. Through application of a novel method of stratigraphic analysis and careful documentation of the scattered remains, it was ascertained that the tomb was opened as many as six times for four or five interments, including a child and probably both male and female adults. No other tomb was found in the vicinity. This is the first Mycenaean tomb discovered in the valley, and it belongs to the settlement at Tsoungiza. |
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Hieron: The Ancient Sanctuary at the Mouth of the Black Sea | Alfonso Moreno | 77 | 4 | This article presents the currently available literary and archaeological evidence for the sanctuary of Hieron at the mouth of the Black Sea, including the previously unpublished record of its only known excavation. Analyzing the evidence in separate topographical, historical, and archaeological sections, with a map and photographs, the author provides the most complete description of Hieron to date, shows how the entrance to the Black Sea was perceived in spatial and religious terms, and encourages future archaeological exploration that could increase our understanding of ancient trade and settlement in the Black Sea region. |
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The Athenian Calendar of Sacrifices: A New Fragment from the Athenian Agora | Laura Gawlinski | 76 | 1 | Presented here is the editio princeps of a new fragment of the late-5th-century B.C. Athenian calendar of sacrifices. The fragment, Agora I 7577, was discovered during excavations conducted in the Athenian Agora by the American School of Classical Studies. Inscribed on both faces (Face A: 403-399 B.C., Face B: 410-404 B.C.), it is associated with, but does not join, the group of fragments of Athenian legal inscriptions often referred to as the Law Code of Nikomachos. The text provides important additional evidence for the form of the calendar and the manner of its publication, and casts new light on broader issues of Athenian cult and topography. |
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Secondary Cremation Burials at Kavousi Vronda, Crete: Symbolic Representation in Mortuary Practice | Maria A. Liston | 76 | 1 | Excavations at Kavousi Vronda, Crete, recovered 107 intrusive Early Iron Age burials within the abandoned Late Minoan IIIC town. Of these, three were secondary cremation burials in amphoras deposited in stone cist graves that also contained multiple primary cremation burials. The small quantity of bone in each amphora and the recurrence of skeletal elements (bones from the cranium and right forearm) suggest that these burials represent the deliberate selection of particular skeletal parts that may have been transported to the communal graves at Vronda. The author explores the possible significance of these token burials within the larger context of funerary ritual and the representation of the dead. |
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Perseus, the Maiden Medusa, and the Imagery of Abduction | Kathryn Topper | 76 | 1 | Focusing on Classical red-figure vases, the author argues that the appearance of the beautiful Medusa, which has been explained previously as an evolutionary development from the monstrous Archaic type, is determined by discursive context rather than by chronology. Painters used the beautiful Gorgon to convey certain messages about Perseus’s victory, though it is not always clear whether she is meant to evoke humor or pathos. The author further shows that Medusa’s death was figured as a perversion of the erotic abductions common to many Greek myths, and points out the beautiful Gorgon’s affinities with abducted maidens such as Persephone, Thetis, and Helen. |
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Editorial: Celebrating 75 Years of Hesperia | Tracey Cullen | 76 | 1 | This editorial, published to commemorate 75 years of publication, describes the history of Hesperia since its founding in 1932, and looks at trends in readership and type of content published. |
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The Mondragone Relief Revisited: Eleusinian Cult Iconography in Campania | Iphigeneia Leventi | 76 | 1 | This study of a Classical Attic votive relief found at Mondragone in northern Campania reaffirms the traditional interpretation of the deities depicted on it as members of the Eleusinian cult circle. Drawing on contemporary Eleusinian vase painting, the author argues that the relief depicts episodes from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. The figure of Dionysos, leaning on the throne of Hades, indicates that this Attic relief was dedicated in a local or domestic sanctuary in Campania by Eleusinian initiates who may also have participated in the Dionysiac-Orphic Mysteries. Thus, the relief is a crucial piece of evidence for the diffusion of the Eleusinian cult abroad. |
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Life and Death at a Port in Roman Greece: The Kenchreai Cemetery Project, 2002-2006 | Joseph L. Rife, Melissa Moore Morison, Alix Barbet, Richard K. Dunn, Douglas H. Ubelaker, and Florence Monier | 76 | 1 | This article summarizes the goals, methods, and discoveries of the Kenchreai Cemetery Project (2002-2006), an interdisciplinary study of burial grounds at the eastern port of Corinth during the Roman Empire, from the mid-1st to 7th century A.D. Work has concentrated on the main cemetery of cist graves and chamber tombs immediately north of the harbor on the Koutsongila ridge. The contextual study of the geology, topography, architecture, epitaphs, bones, wall painting, and artifacts has illuminated funerary ritual and its relationship to social structure during the early Empire. These burials attest to a diverse and prosperous community with a distinct elite stratum. |
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Cooking Pots as Indicators of Cultural Change: A Petrographic Study of Byzantine and Frankish Cooking Wares from Corinth | Louise Joyner | 76 | 1 | Two styles of cooking pot were used sequentially at Corinth from the 12th to the 14th century A.D., a time during which Frankish crusaders occupied the Byzantine city. Utilizing thin-section petrography, the author investigates possible differences in the provenance and production technology of the two forms of cooking ware. The Byzantine form was made in many fabrics while the Frankish form, introduced some 50 years after the Frankish incursion, was limited largely to one fabric. The fabrics are all consistent with the local geology, suggesting that both forms were produced locally and that the observed differences are the result of changes in the procurement and/or production of the vessels over time. |
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Toward Open Access in Ancient Studies: The Princeton-Stanford Working Papers in Classics | Josiah Ober, Walter Scheidel, Brent D. Shaw, and Donna Sanclemente | 76 | 1 | The authors’ experience with founding and managing an open-access Internet site for publishing scholarly preprints, the Princeton-Stanford Working Papers in Classics, raises issues about the status of publication in classical studies. Open-access e-prints offer unique advantages in terms of availability and dated registration of work, but raise concerns about certification and permanent archiving. E-prints and traditional publications are currently complementary. Yet the worlds of scholarly publication and academic evaluation of scholarship are changing in important ways; closer cooperation between publishers, scholars, and university administrators could help to maximize benefits and limit costs to disciplines, institutions, and individuals. |
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The Birth of Hesperia: A View from the Archives | Jack L. Davis | 76 | 1 | Edward Capps understood the need for a periodical such as Hesperia and promoted its establishment as part of an overall program of reform that he introduced early in his tenure as chairman of the Managing Committee of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (1918-1939). Since its first appearance in 1932, the journal has succeeded where previous efforts at creating a periodical for the American School failed. In this essay, the author discusses the motivating forces that between 1927 and 1932 prompted the creation of Hesperia, and considers several of the longer-term consequences of its editorial policies for the research program and intellectual life of the School. |
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From the Whole Citizen Body? The Sociology of Election and Lot in the Athenian Democracy | Claire Taylor | 76 | 2 | In this article the author examines the sociology of selection procedures in the Athenian democracy. The role of election and lot within the political system, the extent (or lack) of corruption in the selection of officials, and the impact of the selection procedure on political life are considered. A comparison of selection procedures demonstrates that the lot was a relatively democratic device that distributed offices widely throughout Attica, whereas elections favored demes near the city. The reasons for these different patterns of participation are examined. |
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The Departure of the Argonauts on the Dinos Painter’s Bell Krater in Gela | John H. Oakley | 76 | 2 | The main scene on an Attic red-figure bell krater in Gela by the Dinos Painter has been variously interpreted. Some identify the scene as the Argonauts’ arrival at Kolchis, others as the departure of Theseus for Crete. Most recently, Alan Shapiro has interpreted it as Theseus’s departure from Crete. A new analysis of all the elements of the picture suggests instead that it shows the Argonauts’ departure from Kolchis. If this interpretation is correct, the vase constitutes the first known depiction of this scene as well as the first representation in ancient art of Apsyrtos and his stepmother, Idyia. |
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An Inscribed Funerary Monument from Corinth | Benjamin W. Millis | 76 | 2 | In this article the author publishes a Corinthian funerary inscription from the late 5th or early 4th century B.C. The stone’s primary importance lies in its physical characteristics, which imply that it and other similar examples, usually interpreted as sarcophagus lids, are instead horizontal grave markers of the trapeza or mensa type; this class now represents the most common form of grave monument in pre-Roman Corinth. Secondly, given the presence of a base molding datable on stylistic grounds, this stone provides an isolated example of a pre-Roman Corinthian inscription that can be dated by criteria other than letter forms. |
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The Bust-Crown, the Panhellenion, and Eleusis: A New Portrait from the Athenian Agora | Lee Ann Riccardi | 76 | 2 | A marble portrait found in 2002 near the City Eleusinion, just outside the Athenian Agora, depicts the head of a man wearing a crown adorned with eight small busts. The busts appear to be imperial portraits representing male members of the Antonine and Severan dynasties, the latest of which is probably Caracalla, during whose reign the portrait was presumably carved. The face and beard, but not the crown or hair, show signs of having been later reworked. The portrait may represent a delegate to the Panhellenion, an institution closely associated with Eleusis. Possibly an archon or an agonothetes of the Panhellenia, he may have been honored for his service with a statue in Athens. |
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Byzantium and the Avant-Garde: Excavations at Corinth, 1920s-1930s | Kostis Kourelis | 76 | 2 | In the 1920s and 1930s, members of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens engaged in a dialogue with the avant-garde through the shared discovery of Byzantium. This extraordinary experiment took place in excavations at Corinth, where American archaeologists invented the systematic discipline of medieval archaeology, facilitated an inclusive identity for the American School, and contributed to a bohemian undercurrent that would have a long afterlife. This article situates the birth of Byzantine archaeology in Greece within the general discourse of modernism and explores the mechanisms of interchange across disciplinary and national boundaries, between subjective and objective realms. |
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Excavations at Azoria, 2003-2004, Part I: The Archaic Civic Complex | Donald C. Haggis, Margaret S. Mook, Rodney D. Fitzsimons, C. Margaret Scarry, and Lynn M. Synder, with appendixes by Manolis I. Stefanakis and William C. West III | 76 | 2 | This article constitutes the first of two reports on fieldwork conducted at Azoria in eastern Crete during the 2003 and 2004 excavation seasons. The focus of excavation was on the South Acropolis, where buildings of Archaic date (7th-early 5th century B.C.) suggesting public or civic functions have come to light. The complex includes a possible andreion on the west slope, a cult building on the terrace south of the peak, and storerooms and kitchens associated with a monumental public building on the southwest terrace. A 3rd-century B.C. dump on the southeast slope provides important information about the limited reoccupation of the site in the Hellenistic period. |
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Geometric Graves in the Panayia Field at Corinth | Christopher A. Pfaff | 76 | 3 | This article describes the forms and contents of three Geometric graves excavated at Corinth from 2001 to 2004. The two earliest graves date to the Early Geometric period and contain monolithic sarcophagi that are among the earliest known at Corinth. One of these graves and an adjacent pit grave dating to the Middle Geometric I period were provided with special niches for grave goods. A nearby child’s grave, which may be Geometric as well, is also described. The impact of stone sarcophagi on the development of the Corinthian stoneworking industry is considered in an appendix. Stray Early Iron Age finds from the area are listed in a second appendix. |
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Two Inscriptions from the Athenian Agora: I 7571 and I 7579 | Kevin F. Daly | 76 | 3 | Two inscriptions discovered in the Agora Excavations contribute new information about Athenian political history: Athenian interactions with Rhodes in the late 3rd or early 2nd century B.C., and prytany members during the late 2nd century A.D. A state decree, I 7571 names an Athenian proxenos to Rhodes at a time of particularly intense diplomatic activity. The content of I 7579, a prytany document, advances our knowledge of Eleusinian officials and Athenian state practices around a.d. 191/2. In addition, the tribal affiliation proposed for a secretary named in this inscription supports the applicability of Ferguson’s Law to this period. |
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Idea and Visuality in Hellenistic Architecture: A Geometric Analysis of Temple A of the Asklepieion at Kos | John R. Senseney | 76 | 3 | The author uses analytic geometry and AutoCAD software to analyze the plan of Temple A of the Asklepieion at Kos, revealing a circumscribed Pythagorean triangle as the basis for the plan’s design. This methodology and its results counter earlier doubts about the application of geometry to Doric temple design and suggest the existence of an alternative to the grid-based approach characteristic of Hellenistic temples of the Ionic order. Appreciation of the geometric system underlying the plan of Temple A leads to a consideration of the role of visuality in Hellenistic architecture, characterized here as the manner in which abstract ideas shared by architects and scholars conditioned viewing and influenced the design process. |
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Harold North Fowler and the Beginnings of American Study Tours in Greece | Priscilla M. Murray and Curtis N. Runnels | 76 | 3 | Site-based study tours have been integral to the teaching of Greek archaeology at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) since it was founded in 1881, and at other American institutions of higher education as well. The authors present the diary of one such tour taken in 1883 by Harold North Fowler, a member of the first class of students at the ASCSA. Fowler’s diary demonstrates the importance of travel in the training of archaeologists and is of further interest because of the immediacy of the personal impressions recorded by a student of Greek archaeology toward the end of the 19th century. |
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Excavations in the Athenian Agora: 2002-2007 | John McKesson Camp II | 76 | 4 | This article summarizes the results of six seasons (2002-2007) of continuing excavations in the Athenian Agora by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Work concentrated in the area outside the northwest corner of the square, where commercial buildings dating from the 5th century B.C. to the 5th century A.D. were explored and more of the eastern part of the Stoa Poikile was exposed. Further work was also carried out in the area of the Eleusinion, and southwest of the Tholos, in the Classical building traditionally identified as the “Strategeion.” |
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Excavations at Azoria, 2003-2004, Part 2: The Final Neolithic, Late Prepalatial, and Early Iron Age Occupation | Donald C. Haggis, Margaret S. Mook, Tristan Carter, and Lynn M. Synder | 76 | 4 | This article constitutes the second of two reports on fieldwork conducted at Azoria in eastern Crete during the 2003 and 2004 excavation seasons. Evidence of Final Neolithic and Early Iron Age occupation and traces of Late Prepalatial activity were found underlying the Archaic civic buildings on the South Acropolis, particularly along the southwest terrace. The recovery of substantial Final Neolithic architectural and habitation remains contributes to our understanding of the 4th millennium in eastern Crete. Stratigraphic excavations have also clarified the spatial extent of the settlement from Late Minoan IIIC to the Late Geometric period, and brought to light evidence for the transition from the Early Iron Age to the Archaic period, and the transformation of the site in the 7th century B.C. |
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Not Twins at All: The Agora Oinochoe Reinterpreted | Murray K. Dahm | 76 | 4 | A unique double figure on a Late Geometric vessel known as the Agora oinochoe (P 4885) has been interpreted in a variety of ways. In this article the author explores problems with previous interpretations and offers new readings of the figure, the scene, and the frieze. The figure should not be interpreted as the conjoined Molione-Aktorione twins or, indeed, as conjoined at all, in which case there is little to connect the scene with Homeric epic. The scene can be viewed more convincingly as an experiment in narrative, simultaneously showing two moments in time. The frieze in its entirety might even be regarded as an ingenious optical trick. |
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The Oath of Marathon, Not Plataia? | Peter M. Krentz | 76 | 4 | An oath on a 4th-century B.C. stele from Acharnai has previously been identified as the Oath of Plataia, the oath taken by the Greeks before they fought the Persians at Plataia in 479. In this article the author identifies it as the Oath of Marathon, rather than as the Oath of Plataia, and suggests that Lykourgos’s reference (1.80) to “the oath that was traditional among you [Athenians]” is to this Oath of Marathon. |
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The Busy Countryside of Late Roman Corinth: Interpreting Ceramic Data Produced by Regional Archaeological Surveys | David K. Pettegrew | 76 | 4 | Using data generated by the Eastern Korinthia Archaeological Survey, the author examines the evidence for the frequently attested “explosion” of Late Roman settlement in the Corinthia, assessing the degree to which the differential visibility of pottery from the Early and Late Roman periods affects our perception of change over time. Calibration of ceramic data to compensate for differences in visibility demonstrates a more continuous pattern of exchange, habitation, and land use on the Isthmus during the Roman era. The author also compares excavated and surface assemblages from other regional projects, and suggests new ways of interpreting the ceramic evidence produced by archaeological surveys. |
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Schliemann and His Papers: A Tale from the Gennadeion Archives | Stefanie A. H. Kennell | 76 | 4 | Heinrich Schliemann’s heirs deposited most of his personal papers in the Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1936, but retained control over them until the School purchased them in 1962. For 27 years, the heirs granted sole authorization to exploit the papers to Ernst Meyer, who published only limited excerpts, obstructed the access of other researchers, and borrowed several volumes that were never returned. The author explores the troubled history of the Heinrich Schliemann Papers since the archaeologist’s death in 1890 and examines the ways in which recent improvements in cataloguing and access are facilitating new research on Schliemann’s life and career in their historical context. |
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IG I3 1005 B and the Boundary of Melite and Kollytos | Gerald V. Lalonde | 75 | 1 | Two rupestral horoi found on the Hill of the Nymphs in Athens, IG I3 1055 A and B, are not a single boustrophedon text as usually edited. Investigation of the possibility that B marked a deme boundary, prefaced by a discussion of deme formation and territoriality, yields evidence that the ancient street that passed south of horos B on its route from the Agora to the saddle between the Hill of the Nymphs and the Pnyx divided the urban demes of Melite and Kollytos. This argument challenges the traditional view that the Pnyx was in Melite. The study concludes with an approximation of the full extent of Melite. |
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Lizards, Lions, and the Uncanny in Early Greek Art | Jeffrey M. Hurwit | 75 | 1 | An examination of the lizard in the imagery of Archaic Greek vase painting suggests that it was a figure of power and portent and often an omen of disaster. It is argued that the lizard should be ranked among such uncanny beasts as Gorgons, sphinxes, and at least one monumental feline from the Archaic Athenian Acropolis. |
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Sella Cacatoria: A Study of the Potty in Archaic and Classical Athens | Kathleen M. Lynch and John K. Papadopoulos | 75 | 1 | This article provides a detailed publication of an early black-figure infant/child seat, or potty, found in the Athenian Agora, including a series of brilliant watercolors by Piet de Jong. Later red-figure representations show such vessels in use. The potty is attributed to the Gorgon Painter, and the chronological range of such vessels is reviewed by gathering earlier and later examples of the form, both those preserved in the archaeological record and those known through iconography. Finally, the authors suggest that the term λάσανον was used in antiquity to refer to such highchairs-cum-chamber pots. |
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The Athenian Prytaneion Discovered? | Geoffrey C. R. Schmalz | 75 | 1 | The author proposes that the Athenian Prytaneion, one of the city’s most important civic buildings, was located in the peristyle complex beneath Agia Aikaterini Square, near the ancient Street of the Tripods and the Monument of Lysikrates in the modern Plaka. This thesis, which is consistent with Pausanias’s topographical account of ancient Athens, is supported by archaeological and epigraphical evidence. The identification of the Prytaneion at the eastern foot of the Acropolis helps to reconstruct the map of Archaic and Classical Athens and illuminates the testimony of Herodotos and Thucydides. |
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Goddesses, Snake Tubes, and Plaques: Analysis of Ceramic Ritual Objects from the LMIIIC Shrine at Kavousi | P. M. Day, L. Joyner, V. Kilikoglou, and G. C. Gesell | 75 | 2 | Ceramic ritual objects from the Late Minoan IIIC (ca. 1175-1050 B.C.) shrine at Kavousi, Crete, were analyzed by thin-section petrography and scanning electron microscopy. The authors investigate aspects of the objects’ production technology, drawing on the extensive comparative data available in the study area. It appears that potters manufactured these items as sets, in different locations around the Isthmus of Ierapetra, utilizing different raw materials, paste recipes, and firing conditions. These contrasting technologies relate to those used in the manufacture of cooking pots and to a range of jug/jar types, indicating that objects considered specialized may have been made by different groups of potters in the same area. |
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The LH IIIB-LH IIIC Transition on the Mycenaean Mainland: Ceramic Phases and Terminology | Salvatore Vitale | 75 | 2 | In this article the author reconsiders the transition from Late Helladic IIIB to Late Helladic IIIC on the Greek mainland and proposes an alternative ceramic phasing based on quantitative changes in chronologically sensitive indicators. The later part of LH IIIB (traditional LH IIIB2) is divided into LH IIIB2 Early and LH IIIB2 Late. These phases are followed by an initial stage of LH IIIC, preferably termed “LH IIIC Phase 1,” as suggested by Rutter in 1977, rather than “Transitional LH IIIB2-LH IIIC Early,” as recently proposed by Mountjoy. |
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Art and Royalty in Sparta of the 3rd Century B.C. | Olga Palagia | 75 | 2 | The aim of this paper is to demonstrate that a revival of the arts in Sparta during the 3rd century B.C. was owed mainly to royal patronage, and that it was inspired by Alexander’s successors, the Seleukids and the Ptolemies in particular. The tumultuous transition from the traditional Spartan dyarchy to a Hellenistic-style monarchy, and Sparta’s attempts to regain its dominance in the Peloponnese (lost since the battle of Leuktra in 371 B.C.), are reflected in the promotion of the pan-Peloponnesian hero Herakles as a role model for the single king at the expense of the Dioskouroi, who symbolized dual kingship and had a limited, regional appeal. |
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Chairs, Beds, and Tables: Evidence for Furnished Interiors in Hellenistic Greece | Dimitra Andrianou | 75 | 2 | This study presents the archaeological evidence for chairs, beds, and tables from excavated domestic and funerary contexts in Greece dating from the 4th to the 1st century B.C. The author’s principal aim is to present and analyze the evidence for domestic furniture in its primary location, and to discuss issues related to the organization of interior space. Because tombs often preserve furniture and furnishings in good condition, the evidence they provide is carefully examined as well. Methodological issues concerning the limitations of textual and iconographic evidence and the state of publication of so-called minor objects are also addressed. |
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