bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Copper Age of Peninsular Italy and the Aegean
Authors: Whitehouse Ruth , Renfrew Colin
Published: September 2013

Italy, like several other areas of prehistoric Europe, enjoyed a flourishing ‘Copper Age’— a period when objects of copper but not of bronze were in use, although not plentifully, and when various other changes in custom and material culture occurred, including transformations in the conventions of burial. These changes, like many in European prehistory, are often explained in terms of the ‘diffusion’ of ‘cultural influences’ from more advanced areas, notably the Aegean, or by the arrival of new groups of people from that region who would, it is sometimes thought, have set up ‘colonies’.
A Question of Identity in the North Entrance Passage at Knossos
Authors: Evely D.
Published: September 2013

In his concluding article in a recent series published in Kadmos, Professor Palmer, in considering Popham's study of the destruction of the Palace of Knossos, first questions, and then rejects, the existence of an earth baulk in the North Entrance Passage, said to lie immediately outside the opening to the west, which now houses the steps leading up on to the Bull Relief Portico. As Palmer notes, the existence of the ‘baulk’ and its identification as the source of the 1913 Test Pit 79 material was first put forward in 1960 by Boardman on the strength of evidence found among photographs by Sir Arthur Evans, which are now stored in the Ashmolean Museum.
Balbilla, the Euryclids and Memorials for a Greek Magnate
Authors: Spawforth A. J. S.
Published: September 2013

This paper, which is in two parts, re-employs published evidence to shed new light on the Spartan senator C. Iulius Eurycles Herculanus L. Vibullius Pius. The first part presents a re-edition of the dedication from the heröon of Herculanus, the improved text revealing evidence for a link of kinship between the later Euryclids of Sparta and the dynasty of Commagene. The second part restudies two inscriptions from Mantineia and Corinth which, it is proposed, were originally part of posthumous memorials to Herculanus erected in those two cities.
A Dark Age Cemetery in Erechtheion Street, Athens
Authors: Brouskari Maria
Published: September 2013

In the spring of 1955 the Water Company, extending its drainage system to include Erechtheion Street, a road in the neighbourhood south of the Acropolis running south from the street of Dionysius the Areopagite, uncovered part of the wall and a gate of the ancient city. The Ephoria of Acropolis Antiquities under its then director, Mr. J. Miliades, undertook the excavation of these remains. With the aid of his epimelete, Dr. G. Dontas, the present director of the Acropolis, he cleared the wall and the gate down to bedrock, and extended his investigation to uncover as many building remains and other finds as possible, under a fair amount of pressure from the Water Company, who were in a hurry to begin their own work. The excavation, which took place from March until June 1955, has added considerably to our knowledge of the topography of the area during the classical period; at the same time it uncovered a Dark Age cemetery.
A Minoan Pottery Kiln at Palaikastro
Authors: Davaras Costis
Published: September 2013

Nowadays new country tracks are constantly being opened all over the Greek countryside, as demanded by the general mechanization of agricultural work. This is at once the hope and despair of the archaeologist in charge of the area as it often reveals and sometimes destroys antiquities otherwise completely buried and unsuspected.

A new country track of this kind following the foot of the northern slope of the Anemospiliara Hill just to the west of the loftier Petsophas at Palaikastro ran very near the top of the side of a curious round construction with burnt edges, a small section of which was barely visible below a thick bush of prinos (Plate 1). The area, known as Στῶν Μανϱοκουκουλήδων οἱ πεζοῦλες, is about 400 metres from the sea and 300 metres SE of the excavated parts of the Minoan town of Palaikastro at Roussolakkos. From it there is a splendid view over the whole site and the small bay of Palaikastro, with the trapezoidal Kastri Hill dominating the horizon in the background (map Fig. 1).
Buildings and Residence on the Land in Classical and Hellenistic Greece: The Contribution of Epigraphy
Authors: Osborne Robin
Published: September 2013

References to rural buildings mentioned in inscriptions are analysed, particularly the records of the temple estates of Delian Apollo on Delos, Rheneia, and Mykonos. It is concluded that, against earlier interpretations, none of the vocabulary employed in the leases necessarily implies residence. Evidence from other leases confirms this. It is suggested here that buildings referred to as oikiai were not primarily residences, but centres of agricultural activity, according to season.
The Sons of Lycaon in Pausanias' Arcadian King-List
Authors: Roy J.
Published: September 2013

Pausanias' Book viii on Arcadia contains at the beginning a list of Arcadia's early kings from Pelasgus onwards, and later in the book more information of a similar sort is attached to Pausanias' accounts of various Arcadian communities. This material has received considerable attention, notably from Hiller von Gaertringen, and there has recently been a full and careful examination by Hejnic of this ‘phenomenon quite unique in the whole ancient literature’. The main effort of modern analysis has been directed at establishing Pausanias' sources, and evaluating how far the form of the material is due to Pausanias' own redaction and how far to discernible earlier redactions, with the further hope of extracting from Pausanias' account an original core of material and using it to reconstruct Arcadian history, especially of the archaic period. It is the purpose of this article, apart from making a minor contribution to this process, to suggest that the form of Pausanias' material owes more to Pausanias himself, and therefore presents more serious obstacles to interpretation, than has been realized.

Here only one part of the material is examined, namely the sons of Lycaon. Pausanias' account of them is almost certainly drawn from Arcadian belief of his own day; the other main account of them, by Apollodorus, probably stems from a non-Arcadian literary development.
Some Relief Sculptures in the Museum of the British School at Athens
Authors: Waywell G. B.
Published: September 2013

The British School at Athens has had in its possession for many years now a number of fragments of Greek relief sculpture, mostly from funerary or votive monuments. The origin of these sculptures is obscure, but it seems likely that they were collected by the historian George Finlay, probably during the first half of the nineteenth century. It is the purpose of this article to publish photographs and details of some of the more important fragments, and also to attempt to date them and to interpret the scenes which they show.

S.7. Plate 73a. A fragment from the lower right corner of a relief. H. 0·27 m., W. 0·45 m., Th. 0·17 m., Depth of relief 1 cm. Pentelic marble. Part of the right-hand edge of the relief remains, where it can be seen that there was no side frame. Below, there is a simple plinth or ground-line with a flat surface, and beneath this a rougher receding margin of about the same width, perhaps where the relief was inserted into a base
Monkey Business in the Bronze Age Aegean: The Amenhotep II Faience Figurines at Mycenae and Tiryns
Authors: Cline Eric H.
Published: September 2013

Two small blue frit monkey figurines inscribed with the cartouche of Amenhotep II have been found in Late Bronze Age contexts at Mycenae and Tiryns in Mainland Greece. The questions of the findspot of the Mycenae figurine and of an Egyptian or a Syrian origin for the Tiryns figurine are addressed. The usefulness of the two figurines for chronological studies and possible explanations for their purpose and presence in Mainland Greece are also addressed. Other occurrences of monkey figurines, amulets, and representations in the Bronze Age Aegean are included for comparative purposes.
MM IA Pottery from Evans' Excavations at Knossos: A Reassessment
Authors: Momigliano Nicoletta
Published: September 2013

This article is a critical reassessment of the major Knossian deposits assigned by Evans to the Middle Minoan I A phase. It is divided into three main sections: first, an introduction, in which the author discusses the development of the definition of Knossian MM IA pottery; second, a detailed discussion of each deposit, based upon a systematic and first-hand re-examination of the ceramic material, and of the relevant written sources; third, a discussion of the problems concerning the classification of these deposits, and a typological study of their ceramic assemblages. The picture of Knossian MM IA pottery which emerges from this study is remarkably different from that presented by Evans, which is generally accepted. This has further implications not only for the study of Minoan pottery, but also for the early history of the site.
The Palaeolithic of Klithi in its wider context
Authors: Bailey Geoff
Published: September 2013

Klithi is a rockshelter in the lower reaches of the Voidomatis gorge, near the village of Klithonia in Epirus. Excavations in progress since 1983 have revealed evidence of a late Upper Palaeolithic occupation dated between 16,000 BP and 10,000 BP, with rich microlithic stone tool industries and faunal assemblages dominated by chamois and ibex. The excavations have been accompanied by wider investigations of the local and regional palaeoenvironment and reexamination of the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sites excavated by Eric Higgs in the 1960s, notably Kokkinopilos, Asprochaliko, and Kastritsa. This paper presents some of the detailed results of the Klithi excavations and sets the results within the wider context of the global issues which inform the study of Palaeolithic archaeology, the Palaeolithic of Greece as a whole, and the regional picture of Palaeolithic settlement in Epirus.
A palaeoethnobotanical study of the West House, Akrotiri, Thera
Authors: Sarpaki Anaya
Published: September 2013

This paper summarizes some results of palaeoethnobotanical study at Akrotiri, Thera, and evaluates the importance of studying plant remains at such a site. (As this is the first stage of a long programme, it does not pretend to be exhaustive.) The data from the West House provides the most detailed and complete information from Bronze Age Greece concerning bioarchaeological remains, because it comes from a single architectural unit (a completely excavated house). The results offer evidence for the crops grown, weeds of cultivation (segetal), and ruderal plants, as well as crop processing and storage. The data is important for its high taphonomic potential, thanks to the high degree of preservation of charred, mineralized, and silicified plant remains.
Crossing the river: observations on routes and bridges in Laconia from the Archaic to Byzantine periods
Authors: Armstrong Pamela , Cavanagh W. G. , Shipley Graham
Published: September 2013

The bridges that served the city of Sparta are known to us from archaeological evidence, inscriptions, and references in the historical sources. These are brought together to examine changes in the activity of bridge-building from the Archaic to Byzantine periods. The conclusions from this analysis are associated with the findings of the Laconia Survey. Some topographical issues arising from the survey results are also examined.
Of helmets and heretics: a possible Egyptian representation of Mycenaean warriors on a papyrus from el-Amarna
Authors: Schofield L. , Parkinson R. B.
Published: September 2013

This paper examines the representation of soldiers on a painted papyrus from el-Amarna, recently acquired by the British Museum (EA 74100). Features include helmets and short-cropped oxhide tunics; these can be paralleled in representations from the Aegean, suggesting that the painting may show figures wearing boar's tusk helmets and Mycenaean-style tunics. This interpretation of the battle scene argues that the Egyptian iconographic repertoire included depictions of Mycenean features. This adds to the evidence for direct, rather than indirect, contacts between the two cultures.
Representations of a shrine on a Mycenaean chariot krater from Kalavasos–Ayios Dhimitrios, Cyprus
Authors: Steel Louise
Published: September 2013

An important tomb group was discovered during the 1992 excavations of the Late Cypriot II town at Kalavasos–Ayios Dhimitrios. The tomb contained large quantities of Mycenaean ceramics, ranging in date between LH III A 2 and III B. Of particular importance was a chariot krater with the representation on both sides of a shrine, surmounted by horns of consecration, housing a seated female figure. As yet the iconography is unmatched among the known corpus of Mycenaean pictorial vases, though it appears to be related to Minoan–Mycenaean iconography known from other media.
Was There a Guarded Southern Entrance Way to the First Palace at Mallia?
Authors: Spence Y.
Published: September 2013

The oldest domestic structures at Mallia are three houses lying at the southern border of the later palace. Among them is a building which clearly was not domestic, but may have been a tower. Certain indications in the architecture of Houses A and B suggest that there was a broad road flanked by a tower which crossed the southern limit of the later palace at a slight angle in the direction, but east of, the western block of palace magazines where traces of much older structures have been found. This paper tries to show the reasons for this assumption.
Enclave Colonies Model – True or False?
Authors: Tournavitou I.
Published: September 2013

The factors adduced by Dr Lambrou-Phillipson at the 6th International Colloquium on Aegean Prehistory for identifying enclave colonies, small groups of resident foreigners, are discussed. It is suggested that they are not conclusive, particularly with respect to the ivory industry at Thebes and elsewhere.
The Politics of Despair: The Plague of 746–747 and Iconoclasm in the Byzantine Empire
Authors: Turner David
Published: September 2013

This article concerns the plague of 746–747, which took the lives of many in the Byzantine empire, especially in Constantinople. After discussing the main sources (i.e. the patriarch Nikephoros, Theodore the Stoudite, and Theophanes), mention is made of the possible influences which the plague had on developments in the iconoclastic controversy during the reign of Constantine V (741–75). The persecution of iconophile monks as well as attacks against the Holy (e.g., churches, icons, holy relics etc.) is placed in a more general psychological context which is at least partly explained by the plague. Finally, a brief reference is made to theLifeof Leo of Katania which may reflect iconoclastic opinion on the matters given above.
Byzantine Thebes: excavations on the Kadmeia, 1980
Authors: Armstrong Pamela
Published: September 2013

In May and June 1980 Dr K. Demakopoulou undertook exploratory excavations on behalf of the Greek Archaeological Service in the central square of the city of Thebes. Deposits of the Byzantine and later periods continued down for more than 5 metres. The finds, primarily from domestic habitation, are presented here.
Towards an appreciation of Minoan metallurgical techniques: information provided by copper alloy tools from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Authors: Northover P. , Evely D.
Published: September 2013

A group of ten copper and copper alloy Minoan tools from the Ashmolean Museum's Cretan collection is analysed. Though the component elements are recorded, the emphasis is on metallographic aspects of the objects. By considering these sets of information together we can learn how craftsmen treated the types of metal available in order to suit the requirements of the intended products. Many details of the stages undergone by the metal in its transformation into a finished item can be recovered. Much of this process is dictated by the physical properties of the metal itself. Two standards of finishing existed, relating to the available metal and its intended use. Though limited in the range of its conclusions, the study shows that the return of information, especially in an area of investigation left unexplored, well recompenses the loss of the snippet required for analysis.
Mycenaean black inlaid metalware in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens: a technical examination
Authors: Demakopoulou K. , Mangou E. , Jones R. E. , Photos-Jones E.
Published: September 2013

Current technical interest in the nature of the black inlaid decoration on ancient metalware has stimulated an examination of some of the well-known bronze daggers, silver vessels, and other fragments, all with inlaid decoration and dating to the 16–14th centuries BC, from Mycenae, Prosymna, Dendra, Routsi, and Pylos. Results of non-destructive X-ray fluorescence analysis point to great versatility in working with copper (or bronze)–gold–silver alloys. The black inlaid decoration is usually copper/bronze–gold alloy with small quantities of silver. Four of the objects were also examined by X-ray radiography.
A Mycenaean terracotta figure from the Menelaion
Authors: Catling H. W.
Published: September 2013

An LH III wheelmade terracotta female figurine, found in the 1910 excavations at the Menelaion, Sparta, is illustrated and described. The context can be dated no later than LH III. An earlier suggestion that the piece is ‘provincial’ is discounted in the light of new material, particularly the so-called Lady of Phylakopi. Recent views on the nature of such figures are discounted. A summary list of comparable wheelmade figures of women, and of animals, is appended.
Gender relations in the classical Greek household: the archaeological evidence
Authors: Nevett L. C.
Published: September 2013

Despite the amount of textual material surviving from classical Greece, our knowledge of the household has remained limited because of the selectivity and orientation of those texts. In this paper, archaeological remains of late 5th- to late 4th-cent. houses are explored in order to shed light on aspects of domestic relations that recur most frequently in the sources: the relationship between male and female household members, and the way in which this was reinforced through the organization of the domestic environment. The traditional picture of a house divided into male and female areas is an over-simplification of a complex pattern of social relationships. A broader approach focuses on interaction between men and women, rather than on women's activity in isolation. The resultant, more detailed model for gender relations offers a glimpse of variability through space and time in how relationships were expressed spatially, and suggests the possibility of differences in the relationships themselves at different levels of the social hierarchy.
Grottoes on the acropolis of hellenistic Rhodes
Authors: Rice E. E.
Published: September 2013

The city of Rhodes, founded in 408/7 BC, took full advantage of the possibilities offered by a previously uninhabited site. In the acropolis area many of the main public structures were laid out in an open, natural landscape, but approaches to the summit from the city led past extensive, interconnecting artificial grottoes and ‘nymphaea’, decorated in flamboyant style. These were aligned with the city's grid-plan, and adjoined streets and stoas formalizing their ornamental aspects. The grottoes offered spatial distraction and visual interest, and served as cool, shady venues for displays of small votives to unknown deities; some apparently gave access to the underground aqueducts. The acropolis, as well as a monumental area, was a focus for private religious activity, seen in these dedications. The ornamental landscaping of the acropolis is to be understood, not in terms of a ‘pleasure park’, but as a fitting adornment for a primarily sacred area.
Praisos III: a report on the architectural survey undertaken in 1992
Authors: Whitley James , O'Conor Kieran , Mason Howard
Published: September 2013

This is a report of an architectural survey of the site of Praisos in E. Crete, undertaken in 1992. A plan of ancient and modern features was produced, which included remains surviving above ground such as ancient walls, rockcuttings, cut blocks, and spolia, together with more detailed plans of features and concentrations of features. This documentation has been supplemented with photographs, elevation drawings, and descriptions of selected features, especially rock-cuttings. Rock-cut features, common on many Cretan sites, have rarely been described in detail or discussed properly; the article seeks to remedy this state of affairs to some extent. The remains seem to date to the Minoan, archaic, and late classical–hellenistic periods, particularly the last. Some historical conclusions are drawn.
Minoan religious influence in the Aegean: the case of Kythera
Authors: Sakellarakis Y.
Published: September 2013

This article presents conclusions drawn from the results of surface survey and excavation at Agios Georgios, Vouno (Kythera), the peak sanctuary of the nearby Minoan colony at Kastri. Small finds included a black steatite ladle inscribed in Linear A with a name reminiscent of ‘Demeter’, libation tables, some clay and numerous bronze figurines (both anthropomorphic and animal), jewellery, bronze votive offerings in the shape of human limbs, miniature clay horns of consecration, and a small bronze double axe. The pottery includes some MM I B–MM II but is richest in MM III–LM I/I B, particularly fine wares. The finds suggest that the importance of Kastri was greater than hitherto supposed, but they exhibit significant contrasts with assemblages at Cretan peak sanctuaries. The site's proximity to the metallurgical resources of Laconia, and its strategic location overlooking sea passages, are considered. It is suggested that cult activity here was dependent not on West Crete but on Knossos. Parallels are drawn with the sites of Troullos (Kea), Trianta (Ialysos, Rhodes), and Mikri Vigla (Naxos), and possible Minoan elements in later Laconian cult are noted.
Some Inscriptions in Attic demes
Authors: Stanton G. R.
Published: September 2013

In recent years several inscriptions, including a deme decree (IGii21181) thought to have been found at Sounion, have been reassigned to Rhamnous. The community of Sounieis dedicated a kouros to Zeus even before it had been incorporated in the Athenian state as a deme. The sole remaining deme decree (IGii21180) suggests that the deme centre must have been about 4 km N of the cape, though there was another centre of population at the cape in classical times. Over time the deme sought to protect its resources, possibly against state mining activities but more certainly against inroads by shepherds or goatherds from other demes. Indeed, this was a surprisingly widespread activity, with some eight series of rupestral boundary inscriptions now known. In some cases, as at Sounion, there seems to have been cooperation between demes or reciprocal hostile responses to incursions by grazing animals. The attribution of this burst of protective activity to the 4th century BC is strengthened by the thorough survey of the region in which one deme (Atene) was situated; this shows that the area was uninhabited between the end of that century and the 4th century AD.
A re-examination of the Floral Fresco from the Unexplored Mansion at Knossos
Authors: Chapin Anne P.
Published: September 2013

Restudy of the fragments belonging to the LM IA Floral Fresco from the Unexplored Mansion at Knossos yields a more comprehensive reconstruction that focuses on the arrangement of the floral elements within their landscape setting and facilitates an examination of the composition within the context of Aegean art. The reconstruction suggests that the anonymous artist displays technical mastery and innovation which produce the unusual ‘anemone’, ‘frilled flower’, and ‘osier’ motifs, yet reveal an intimate knowledge of contemporary trends in both Minoan and Cycladic painting. Comparison with surviving fragments of landscape painting from the neighbouring Knossos town houses further suggests that LM IA artists actively participated in a competitive environment in which new pictorial motifs were invented to satisfy the demands of their patrons for novelty.
Excavation of the Greek Temples at Mycenae by the British School at Athens
Authors: Klein Nancy L.
Published: September 2013

The Greek temples on the summit of the citadel at Mycenae were discovered and partially cleared by Ch. Tsountas in 1886, but the major excavation was undertaken in 1939 under the direction of A. J. B. Wace. The results of this season have never been fully studied. This article is based upon a new examination of the material evidence and the documents in the Mycenae archives of the British School at Athens. Previously unpublished architectural drawings, photographs, plans, and sections make it possible to assess the nature of the Archaic and Hellenistic temples at Mycenae. The evidence points to the establishment of the cult in the Geometric period, along with the construction of the northern terraces, followed by a significant reorganization of the temenos and the construction of the first stone temple in the early Archaic period. Preliminary analysis of the preserved architectural elements indicates a strong connection between the Archaic temple at Mycenae and the early temples at Corinth and Isthmia. The well-known stone reliefs from Mycenae, datedc. 630 BC, should also belong to this early structure. In the third century BC, when Mycenae had been resettled as an Argivekome, the temple was rebuilt, incorporating Archaic material in its foundations.
Kean Miltos: The Well-Known Iron Oxides of Antiquity
Authors: Photos-Jones E. , Cottier A. , Hall A. J. , Mendoni L. G.
Published: September 2013

The island of Kea in the North Cyclades was well known in antiquity for its miltos, a naturally occurring red iron oxide valued for its colour and wide range of applications. By combining geological field work, physico-chemical analytical techniques, simulation (heating) experiments as well as simple laboratory tests, this paper describes the study of Kean iron oxides in an attempt to characterize this material which is still largely elusive in the archaeological record. The present work corroborates previous observations about the superior quality of some Kean iron oxides. Furthermore, it puts forward the hypothesis that miltos may have been considered an industrial mineral, and as such may have been used as an umbrella term for a variety of materials including mineralogically distinct purple as well as red iron oxides.
The Dodecanese and the Ahhiyawa question
Authors: Simpson R. Hope
Published: September 2013

The recently reaffirmed identifications of Millawanda (= Miletos) and Apasa (= Ephesos) in the Hittite archives also confirm that interaction between Ahhiyawa and the Hittites was mainly in South-West Anatolia. Since Ahhiyawa was ‘across the sea’ from there, it is now shown to have been one of the ‘kingdoms’ of Mycenaean Greece. The Dodecanese Islands have been proposed, where a population increase may have been accompanied by immigration from the Argolid. But, even if combined with part of the Anatolian mainland opposite, the Dodecanese would not have been sufficiently important, since at least one king of Ahhiyawa was addressed as an equal by a Hittite Great King. Of the other suggested identifications, only Mycenae possessed the power and international status indicated. The Dodecanese seem marked as ‘the islands’, mentioned in the Hittite texts both as belonging to Ahhiyawa and as a haven for persons fleeing Hittite retribution.
Late Cypriot I A maritime trade in action: underwater survey at MaroniTsaroukkasand the contemporary east Mediterranean trading system
Authors: Manning Sturt W. , Sewell David A. , Herscher Ellen
Published: September 2013

The period from the late Middle Bronze Age to the start of the Late Bronze Age in the Levant, largely coeval with the Canaanite, ‘Hyksos“, 15th Dynasty of Egypt, is characterized by the appearance of Late Cypriot I A ceramics at a number of key sites in the east Mediterranean. The exact absolute dates to apply to this period have been the subject of controversy, in part inter-linked with debate over the date of the eruption of Thera, but scholarship recognises that this visible horizon of international trade must have been of considerable significance, especially on Cyprus itself. Here a dramatic shift in settlement to the coastal areas of the island at the beginning of the Late Cypriot period has long been recognized; this is also the time period of the formation of larger complex socio-political entities at the sites on Cyprus which go on to comprise the Late Cypriot ‘urban“ civilisation. Tombs of the relevant Middle Cypriot III–Late Cypriot I period are well known on Cyprus, but stratified settlement contexts on Cyprus, yet alone contexts directly related to such international trade, are scarce to non-existent. We report finds of just such direct relevance from a (currently) unique deposit as a result of an initial investigation of the seabed off the Late Cypriot site of MaroniTsaroukkason the south coast of Cyprus (MTSB Site 1). Consideration of these finds provides important new evidence for the Late Cypriot I A period; they also indicate routes to more sophisticated analyses of Cypriot–east Mediterranean interaction and the resolution of current problems in chronology. In particular, a review of Late Cypriot I A connections highlights the need to emphasise the central importance of the Canaanite pre-18th Dynasty (late Middle Bronze Age) world to the formative development of both Late Bronze Age Cyprus, and the Late Bronze Age Aegean.
For whom did the bell toll in ancient Greece? Archaic and Classical Greek bells at Sparta and beyond
Authors: Villing Alexandra
Published: September 2013

Bells of fairly small size were known across ancient Greece from the Archaic period onwards, both in bronze and terracotta. They are found in sanctuaries, graves and, more rarely, in houses, and served a variety of purposes, both practical and more abstract, in daily life and ritual, and in both male and female contexts. Archaeological, iconographical and literary sources attest to their use as votive offerings in ritual and funerary contexts, as signalling instruments for town-guards, as amulets for children and women as well as, in South Italy, in a Dionysiac context. A use as animal (notably horse) bells, however, was not widespread before the later Roman period. The bells' origins lie in the ancient Near East and Caucasian area, from where they found their way especially to Archaic Samos and Cyprus and later to mainland Greece. Here, the largest known find complex of bronze and terracotta bells, mostly of Classical date, comes from the old British excavations in the sanctuary of Athena on the Spartan acropolis and is published here for the first time. Spartan bells are distinctive in shape yet related particularly to other Lakonian and Boiotian bells as well as earlier bells from Samos. At Sparta, as elsewhere, the connotation of the bells' bronze sound as magical, protective, purificatory and apotropaic was central to their use, although specific functions varied according to place, time, and occasion.
A kalpis from Piraeus Street by Polygnotos
Authors: Tzachou-Alexandri Olga E.
Published: September 2013

The kalpis published here was found in 1961 in Piraeus Street. The scene depicted on the body of the vase comprises four young women. The principal person, around whom the representation is organised, is a woman seated on a chair. She wears a chiton and a himation, has a diadem on her head and her two hands hold a larnax on her knees. The other three women are standing. They are dressed in pepla and the two on the right also wear diadems. The one standing in front of her holds an exaleiptron. High up in the background above the head of the seated woman hangs a wreath. The artistic style recalls Polygnotos and a comparison with his other works dates our kalpis to the decade 450–440 BC, in his early period. The graffito on the mouth of the vase, ON…I, is a known trade mark and probably concerns its price. The scene, which is set in a gynaeceum, is interpreted as the adornment of a bride, and is one of the earliest such representations known. It was probably inspired by wall painting. The Piraeus Street kalpis has now answered the question of the origin of this type of gynaeceum scene, which must be ascribed to Polygnotos himself and not to one of the artists of his Group.
‘The passion of hazard’: women at the British School at Athens before the First World War
Authors: Gill David W. J.
Published: September 2013

From the opening of the British School at Athens in 1886 to the outbreak of the First World War, women were regularly admitted as Students. British women were actively engaged in research in Greece, although they were not permitted to join official School excavations until the 1911 campaign at Phylakopi on the island of Melos. This contrasts with the active field research of American women like Harriet Boyd Hawes. Most of the British women had been educated at either Girton College or Newnham College, Cambridge, where they had been influenced by Katharine Jex-Blake and Jane Harrison. For several, notably Hilda Lorimer, Gisela Richter and Eugenie Strong, their residence in Athens was to make a significant contribution to their careers and subsequent study of antiquity.
The Chronology of the Bronze Coins of Knossos
Authors: Jackson Anne
Published: September 2013

In this article I shall attempt to place in chronological order the bronze issues struck during the period when Knossos was an autonomous city; that is, up to the time of the Roman conquest in 67 B.C. I shall not deal here with the issues Zeus head/eagle (Svoronos, pl. vii, 18–23), since I have discussed these elsewhere.

The earliest bronze coins of Knossos seem to be the small pieces with a head on both obverse and reverse, some varieties of which are illustrated by Svoronos, Numismatique de la Crète Ancienne, pl. vi, 10–14.
The Structural Mechanics of the Mycenaean Tholos Tomb
Authors: Cavanagh W. G. , Laxton R. R.
Published: September 2013

The method of spanning or roofing spaces by means of corbelling has recommended itself quite widely to primitive peoples. It has been recognized in a number of prehistoric cultures: the megalithic tombs of Copper Age Iberia, tombs such as Maes Howe, Orkney and Newgrange, Co. Meath, in the British Isles, as well as several tombs in Brittany, employ the method. The Sacred Wells of the Nuragic Culture in Sardinia were also roofed with corbelled domes. In these west European examples the gap spanned by corbelling tends to be relatively small, two or three metres, and the slope of the corbelling conservative. The point is demonstrated clearly by the ‘tholos tombs’ of Iberia; the greatest distance of their chambers is covered by a single slab, and their walls are corbelled out only a relatively short distance. The technique was by no means limited to the illiterate communities of prehistoric Europe. Relatively modern examples have been reported from the south of France and from Italy, where the technique is used for roofing buildings which are not covered by the earthen mounds found over the megalithic tombs. The Egyptians of the Old Kingdom used a steep and narrow corbelling to roof the passages and chambers of, for example, the Bent Pyramid of Sneferu, and the Great Pyramid of Kheops at Giza. However the skill and daring of the Mycenaean engineers who commonly spanned distances of eight metres, and in the largest tombs over fourteen, is unmatched in the history of the technique. Indeed only the invention of the true dome enabled larger spaces to be bridged without internal supports. As the Mycenaean tholos tombs illustrate the technique at its most perfect, they provide an especially appropriate example from which to examine the principles of corbelled structures.
Coarse-ware Stirrup-jars at Mycenae
Authors: Haskell Halford W.
Published: September 2013

The coarse-ware stirrup-jars presented here come from two buildings at Mycenae excavated by Alan Wace from 1950 to 1952: the House of the Wine Merchant (HWM), and the House of the Oil Merchant (HOM). Over fifty examples were found in the HWM, and twenty-seven (plus three semi-fine ones) in the HOM, and as such they comprise the largest surviving deposits of the type apart from that of the Kadmeion at Thebes (where Keramopoullos found at least 120).

Although coarse stirrup-jars have received an increasing amount of attention in the last quarter-century, nearly all of the work has focused on those bearing painted Linear B inscriptions; results of philological studies, and of scientific analyses of the clay fabric, have provided fresh evidence for the debate concerning the political and economic relations between Post-Palatial Crete and the Greek mainland. With one possible exception, none of the jars from the two Mycenae deposits is inscribed, but the evidence indicates that, as is the case with inscribed jars, many were manufactured on Crete. Many of the jars fall into distinct typological groups, with parallels from other findspots at Mycenae, and other Aegean sites. The deposits are fairly well dated, and illustrate the diversity of coarse-ware stirrup-jars in use at Mycenae in the late fourteenth to the middle of the thirteenth century B.C.
Petrological Examination of Coarse-ware Stirrup-jars from Mycenae
Authors: Riley J. A.
Published: September 2013

Elemental analysis of coarse-ware stirrup-jars from Thebes provided the first objective evidence for the movement of coarse wares in the Late Bronze Age Aegean. While the evidence of the optical emission spectrometry analysis indicates that stirrup-jars occur in several fabrics, the assignation of these fabrics to specific sources has been the subject of some debate, summarized and discussed in the light of fresh evidence by Catling and Jones but continued by McArthur.

It was to cast more light on the general questions that a large sample of stirrup-jars from Mycenae was analysed by petrological analysis. This method of analysis involves the identification of the rocks and minerals within the clay and relates them to geological sources most compatible with the archaeological evidence. Recent discussions of the method include Courtois, Peacock, and de Paepe.

With considerable help and collaboration from Dr. E. French and Lord William Taylour, and permission from the Greek Department of Antiquities, 37 samples were taken from stirrup jars from the House of the Wine Merchants (= HWM; dated LH IIIA/B), 25 from the House of the Oil Merchants (= HOM; dated to the end of LH IIIB1), and ten samples from stoppers found in the stirrup jars in the House of the Oil Merchants. The aim was to define the fabrics petrologically in order to relate these to the typology proposed by Haskell (this volume), and to suggest possible origins for them based on geological evidence.
An Early Cypriot III Vase from the Palace at Knossos
Authors: Catling H.W. , MacGillivray J.A.
Published: September 2013

Fragments of a vase, now in the Stratigraphical Museum at Knossos, from the excavations of Sir Arthur Evans (south-east Kamares Area, Dove Pit) are identified as Early Cypriot. Cypriot parallels are described from Bellapais, Vounous, and Lapithos. The vase is classed as EC IIIB/MC I, its Minoan context EM III/MM IA. A brief review is given of evidence for Minoan-Cypriot contact at the turn of the third and second millennia B.C.
A Skeletal History of Byzantine Fortification
Authors: Lawrence A. W.
Published: September 2013

A series of analytical descriptions is given, to reveal how defensive principles changed, and the extent to which tradition prevailed throughout the Byzantine period. In addition to those few works whose date is known from literature or inscription, others which seem to have been built in response to specific historical circumstances are included.
Byzantine and Allied Pottery: A Contribution by Chemical Analysis to Problems of Origin and Distribution
Authors: Megaw A. H. S. , Jones R. E.
Published: September 2013

Analyses are given of the clay composition of kiln waste from some production sites, and of excavated sherds of some distinctive wares, as a contribution to a possible archive aimed at localizing the origins of different classes of pottery found in archaeological contexts, and at clarifying trade patterns.
Observations on the Historical Ecology of Boeotia
Authors: Rackham Oliver
Published: September 2013

This study was part of the work of the Cambridge-Bradford expedition to Boeotia. It gathers information on wild vegetation as part of the environment of, and resources available to, human activities. It is concerned with vegetation, with the structure, maintenance, and history of plant communities, rather than with flora, with individual plant species as such. The survey extends beyond the area of the archaeological survey (Mavromati), a highly cultivated area; in order to search for plant communities of a more nearly natural kind, this botanical study includes a much wider area covering almost the whole of the modern Boeotia (and beyond) from Mt. Parnassos to Chalkis. The land, geology, and soils are described as the essential context for the vegetation. Factors affecting modern vegetation are analysed, and the historical and archaeological evidence is discussed. It is concluded that, contrary to the general assumption, prehistoric Boeotia was a semi-arid land, both in classical and late Turkish times. The main features were very much as they are now, but this was not necessarily constant.
The Use of Cone Shells in Neolithic and Bronze Age Greece
Authors: Reese David S.
Published: September 2013

Finds of the Mediterranean Cone Shell (Conus mediterraneus Hwass in Bruguière 1792 = ventricosus Gmelin) from Neolithic and Bronze Age Greece are listed, and their use discussed.
Notes on Scarabs and Aegean Chronology
Authors: Yule P.
Published: September 2013

Seals from Minoan contexts in the form of scarabs or scaraboids are, it is argued, Minoan rather than Egyptian in origin. They are related to the well-defined categories of Minoan seals of EM or MM date. Several belong to the Border/Leaf context, a large group of Minoan seals defined by I. Pini. Other Minoan techniques and motifs found on scarabs and scaraboids are discussed.
On Kerameikos Inv. I 388 (SEG xxii, 79): A Note on the Formation of the Athenian Metic-status
Authors: Baba Keiji
Published: September 2013

An emended text of this inscription is presented. The evidence it affords for the development of Athenian metic-status is discussed, in the light of its reattribution to the time of the Kleisthenic reforms. The role of Kleisthenes in establishing the metic-status is confirmed.
Lead Figurines from the Menelaion and Seriation
Authors: Cavanagh W. G. , Laxton R. R.
Published: September 2013

The lead figurines from recent excavations at the shrine of Helen and Menelaus are discussed, excluding those in the form of wreaths, which were well over half the total of almost 6,000. Five hundred and sixty-one moulds are distinguished, divided between sixty-one varieties. A chronology is attempted on the basis of three methods, stratigraphy, seriation, and typology and a tentative sequence is proposed.
Some Military Aspects of the Aegean in the Late Fifteenth and Early Fourteenth Centuries B.C.
Authors: Driessen J. M. , MacDonald Colin
Published: September 2013

Part 1 (Driessen) discusses the evidence in the Linear B tablets for a military organization and the use of mercenaries at Mycenaean Knossos. First, the Pylian evidence for foreign troops is discussed. At Knossos, there is also evidence for relatively large groups of men who may be of non-Cretan origin in the Linear B tablets. It is asked whether these may be foreigners, as in the Pylian tablets, who rendered military service in return for fiefs of land. It is suggested that eqeta were military commanders responsible for groups of men and specific geographical areas. Keseno are identified as ‘foreign warriors’ who were of lower rank than eqeta, namely mercenaries in the service of the Mycenaean wanaka of Knossos.

Part 2 (Macdonald) reviews the latest evidence for warrior burials in LM II–IIIA2. The term is confined to burials with swords, since they are more likely to have had a purely military function as well as being the weapon of prestige. The evidence for a major Knossian workshop which produced the finest ‘horned’ and ‘cruciform’ swords and one-piece spearheads is discussed. An examination of the different Knossian cemeteries leads to the possible identification of traditional Minoan burial grounds on Upper Gypsadhes and at Mavro Spelio, while the Zapher Papoura and Sellopoulo cemeteries may be those of the LM IIIA Mycenaean community. The concept of a military aristocracy is reviewed, and rejected in favour of an interpretation which sees the Knossian warrior burials as representing ‘officers’ of different ranks in the Palace military organization drawn from different levels of society. Finally, it is proposed that the lack of uniformity of sword-types and the absence of warrior burials in the Knossos area after LM IIIA2, represent the demise of the Knossian workshop and the end of the military organization.
Notes on the Third Century A.D. in Spartan Epigraphy
Authors: Spawforth A. J. S.
Published: September 2013

This article contains epigraphically based studies which aim to bring increased order to the chronology and prosopography of Roman Sparta. It is concluded that only one occurrence of the nomen Aurelius can be assigned with any confidence to the period before the Constitutio Antoniniana. A dedication for Septimius Severus and his family is discussed. Epigraphic evidence for M. Aurelius Aristocles of Taenarum and his family is presented. An epigraphic reference to the ‘Pitanate Lochos’ recruited by Caracalla is discussed. The dating of the occasions when the god Lycurgus is attested as eponymous patronomos is discussed, when it is argued that Woodward's dating for the fourth to eleventh patronomates (c. 180–90) is some fifty to sixty years too early. The career of the champion runner P. Aelius Alcandridas is elucidated. Texts referring to the sculptor Demetrius are discussed. An account is given of priests of the imperial cult at Sparta under the Severi, fifteen priests being identified. A list of Spartan patronomoi of the third century is compiled. In an appendix a revised text of IG v. 1. 168 + 603 is proposed.
Some Attic Inscriptions
Authors: Stanton G. R.
Published: September 2013

The inscriptions discussed are: (i) that on the prytany monumentAgoraxv. 44, (ii)EM13056, officials for the cult of Athene Pallenis, and (iii) some rock-cuthorosinscriptions from the vicinity of Thiti and on Kaminia and Alepovouni. In (i) it is argued that the two additional lines calculated for the completion of column x (referring to Antiochis) were not for ‘missing’ demes but to mark off the trittyes from each other; (ii) presents a discussion of theparasitoi, identified as individuals of high status, and of the sets ofarchontes; (iii) are taken to refer to a new concern in Hellenistic times with the boundaries between areas of value for agriculture or grazing. The implication of these for the study of the Kleisthenic system of trittyes and demes is argued.
‘I Propose to Begin at Gnossos’
Authors: Brown Ann
Published: September 2013

The evidence of John Myres's papers and letters in the Ashmolean Museum, and his unpublished memoirs entitled ‘Praeterita’, shows that he planned to conduct excavations at Knossos in 1893. They suggest the reasons which prompted these plans, and the circumstances which led to their abandonment.