SOLICITATION & SALES OF CASTED OBJECTS: CASE STUDY OF A LATE-19TH C CRETAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL REPLICAS
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2020-12-14

Prior to the establishment of the Cretan State in 1898, Cretans had limited autonomy under the Ottoman Empire. Despite restrictions placed on their ability to manage archaeological affairs, material objects continued to have a defining role in the island’s cultural heritage. This paper considers how the Greek Syllogos of Candia —an educational group— balanced its control of local antiquities while simultaneously securing relationships between scientific and academic institutions abroad. Aside from excavations, the Syllogos promoted these relations through the solicitation and sales of casts from objects discovered on the island, and I argue that these advertisements were twofold in their purpose.
First, these advertisements were part of a late-19th century movement to defray conservation expenses for recently excavated antiquities. Second, apart from sales and profits, these advertisements were used to garner transnational support for the scientific achievements of Cretan archaeology and the Syllogos’ supervision over the island’s antiquities.
Using archive collections from the Archaeological Museum of Iraklio, this paper serves as a case study to uncover the circumstances surrounding the 1 June 1895 circular sent to foreign institutions by Dr. Joseph Hazzidakis [President] and Professor Stephanos Xanthoudides [Secretary], which advertised the casts of a 7th century BCE Daedalic statue in poros lithos discovered at Eleutherna; the Head of Aphrodite from Gortyna; and the Gortyna Legal Code. In addition to this distributed circular, correspondences between Italian archaeologist Federico Halbherr and Joseph Hazzidakis will be discussed to give context to the solicitation and sales of these casts.
The development of artifact collections and the sales of casts characterize a period of Cretan history when archaeology was used as a means to support the island during its transitional period towards complete autonomy from Ottoman control. Therefore, these archival documents speak to the archaeological processes of Cretan archaeology and the politics of the past.

Author(s): Genova, Aimee (University of Chicago; American School of Classical Studies at Athens)