Papers by Eurydice Kefalidou
ΚΑΛΛΙΝΙΚΟΣ, 2024
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Eurydice Kefalidou
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Eurydice Kefalidou
‘Antiquated and Dipolieia-like’: Thoughts on the Sanctuaries and the Caves of the Athenian Acropolis in light of Four Vases by the Gela Painter.
A peculiar scene, repeated in an almost identical way on four black figure vases by the same painter (ca. 500 BC), but nowhere else in the Attic painted pottery repertoire, attracted scholarly research since the mid-19th century. In the center there is a black ox (sometimes clearly shown as a bull) standing on a high platform-like structure which is decorated with a white ox; other oxen stroll around or peak out from caves. The vast majority of scholars recognized the old sacrificial rite of Zeus Polieus on the Acropolis: a number of labouring oxen were left alone to wander around the altar, until one of them ate from the grains which had been left on it and then it was sacrificed on the spot.
I propose a different reading of these scenes by paying special attention to the depictions of caves and to some other informative details which suggest that these idiosyncratic images show a statue of an ox/bull on a decorated pedestal in a partly cavernous sacred space. Many gods and heroes were related to oxen and there have been many cave sanctuaries in Attica; however, the Acropolis, right in the polis center, is undoubltely the most profound case, with its small and large caves all over its slopes. I especially point out the case of the Eleusinion sanctuary, just off the North slope, where Pausanias has seen a statue of a bronze bull.
Abdera was an Ionian colony founded twice, first in the mid-7th c. BC by citizens of the Greek ci... more Abdera was an Ionian colony founded twice, first in the mid-7th c. BC by citizens of the Greek city of Klazomenai on the peninsula of Erythraia in Asia Minor. A century later (circa 545 BC) Abdera was re-colonised by citizens of Teos, another Greek city, located very close to Klazomenai. The settlers must have faced numerous problems as the location of Abdera, on a peninsula near the delta of river Nestos and the foothills of Rhodope, offered many advantages but also disadvantages, the largest one being its surrounding swampy ground, a source for various diseases like malaria that decimated the infant population on many occasions. Our discussion includes both published and unpublished vases. To this day, we know that the earliest Attic imports were some SOS-type trade amphoras used at a later point as funerary urns for infants and children. A gap appears in Attic imports until ca. 530-520 BC, despite the fact that Attic vases reached the wider region (Thasos and some of its colonies) since the first quarter of 6th c. BC. A possible explanation is that the first generations of settlers, from both Klazomenai and Teos, had no special need for this type of ‘luxury’ vases; in fact, such needs were met with East Greek pottery which has been found in the region. In any case, ‘luxurious’ Attic pottery appears at Abdera at a time when other important events occur, many of them associated with the presence of the Persians (and Pax Persica) in the area: minting of heavyweight silver coins, quarrying local stone at the Mandra area, and constructing the military port of Abdera. At the same time, the cult of Demeter (and Kore?) was standardized and the appearance of the first farmhouses attests to an organized land use extra muros. Some indicative examples almost exclusively from the necropoleis of Abdera are mentioned, including late black-figure lekythoi, a black-glaze plemochoe, a red-figure pelike, and a hydria as well as vases rendered in special shapes and techniques. In our concluding remarks we comment on several aspects of Abdera’s early history, including -among others- the possibility that the first Klazomenian colonists exploited the conflict between the Parians-Thasians and the Naxians and settled at this part of the coast as it was available, the constant competition (and even hostility) between Abdera and Thasos, and the early trade routes in the North and East Aegean
L'olympisme, invention moderne et héritage antique 25 avril - 16 septembre 2024 Musée du Louvre, Galerie Richelieu, 2024
“Ποτέ δεν βαριέσαι τις νίκες.
Μπορεί να κερδίσεις δέκα αγώνες στη σειρά
αλλά συνεχίζεις να θέλ... more “Ποτέ δεν βαριέσαι τις νίκες.
Μπορεί να κερδίσεις δέκα αγώνες στη σειρά
αλλά συνεχίζεις να θέλεις να κερδίσεις και τον ενδέκατο.
Πάντα χρειάζεσαι περισσότερες νίκες”
Zinedine Zidane
Γάλλος διεθνής ποδοσφαιριστής
Κάθε τέσσερα χρόνια, στην πρώτη πανσέληνο μετά την εαρινή ισημερία, που σήμερα συμπίπτει με τα μέσα Ιουλίου, δηλαδή με την πιο ζεστή εποχή του έτους, άρχιζε η σημαντικότερη πανελλήνια εορταστική συνάθροιση στο ιερό της Ολυμπίας, η οποία διαρκούσε περίπου πέντε ημέρες.
Ξεχωριστή θέση ανάμεσα στις πολλές και ποικίλες θρησκευτικές εκδηλώσεις, οι οποίες κορυφώνονταν με τη μεγαλειώδη θυσία εκατό βοδιών στο βωμό του Ολυμπίου Διός, είχαν οι αθλητικοί και ιππικοί αγώνες, στους οποίους αναφέρεται το κείμενο της προμετωπίδας. Οι αγώνες διεξάγονταν στο Στάδιο και τον Ιππόδρομο, μπροστά σε χιλιάδες θεατές από όλες τις πόλεις του γνωστού ελληνικού κόσμου.
Ουσιαστική ειδοποιός διαφορά του αρχαίου ελληνικού αγώνα είναι η ίδια η νίκη: ποιος νίκησε, σε ποιους αγώνες και πόσες φορές.
Σε αντίθεση με την άθληση, η οποία μπορεί να αποβλέπει στη δημιουργία κοινωνικών σχέσεων, στη διασκέδαση, στην καλή υγεία ή στην προετοιμασία για τον πόλεμο, ο αγών έχει μόνο ένα στόχο, τη νίκη και την ανάδειξη του "αρίστου".
Για αυτόν τον λόγο, στους τέσσερις μεγάλους πανελλήνιους αγώνες, σημαντικότεροι από τους οποίους ήταν αναμφιβόλως οι Ολυμπιακοί αγώνες, δεν υπήρχε θέση για τον δεύτερο ή τον τρίτο – νικητής ήταν μόνο ένας, ο πρώτος.
Η τοπική κεραμική παραγωγή στη Χαλκιδική κατά τους Ιστορικούς Χρόνους Local Pottery Production in Chalcidice during Historical Times, 2023
During our research on the indigenous redfigure pottery of Chalcidice, we examined the skyphos i... more During our research on the indigenous redfigure pottery of Chalcidice, we examined the skyphos in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki 11666. Its unusually high quality of painting initially suggested an Attic origin. However, features such as the yellowish brown color of its clay, the miltos covering the reserved areas, the scattered silver mica, as well as details of its secondary decoration, indicate that it is a product of the local red-figure workshop of Chalcidice.
We gave its painter the conventional name “Painter of the Handsome Rider” after the rider depicted on both of its sides. Moreover, based on the characteristic palmettes beneath its handles, we attributed to the same artist the skyphos in Budapest T.779, a vase previously published as Attic. Sometime later, the skyphos in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki ΘΠ 15, originating from a grave in the area of the modern Polichne district, was also connected to the two aforementioned vases.
In this article, we add three more skyphoi (Polygyros Museum Λ 404 and Λ 585, Athens, National Museum 34620) and one oinochoe (Thessaloniki University Museum 134) to the oeuvre of the Painter of the Handsome
Rider, analyzing his stylistic characteristics and exploring his affinities with the Painter of Olynthos 5.141. We date his works to the first quarter of the 4th century BC and attempt to trace the chronological development of his
skyphoi within this period. We also discuss his iconographic traits, determine the influences of Attic vases on his work, and highlight his
similarities and differences from his local red-figure contemporaries. Finally, we shortly discuss the ‘biography’ of his vases, taking
into account the lead repair clamps on the Polichne skyphos.
CATENA, 2024
AUTHORS
Alfredo Mayoral, Ana Ejarque, Arnau Garcia-Molsosa, Mercourios Georgiadis, Giannis Apos... more AUTHORS
Alfredo Mayoral, Ana Ejarque, Arnau Garcia-Molsosa, Mercourios Georgiadis, Giannis Apostolou, Vincent Gaertner, Constantina Kallintzi, Eurydice Kefalidou, Hèctor Orengo
Highlights
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We provide the first detailed Relative Mean Sea-Level curve for the Northern Aegean.
•
We detected for the first time in this coastal area the Neolithic drowned landscapes.
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Palaeogeographic reconstruction shows coastal progradation due to anthropic forcing.
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Historical events appear to dominate the fate of the city over environmental factors.
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We detected the impact of a tsunami in 544 AD in this part of the Thracian coast.
Αρχοντικό Τσιατσιαπά στην Καστοριά, τοιχογραφία µε απεικόνιση πόλης Το παρόν έργο πνευματικής ιδι... more Αρχοντικό Τσιατσιαπά στην Καστοριά, τοιχογραφία µε απεικόνιση πόλης Το παρόν έργο πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας προστατεύεται κατά τις διατάξεις του ελληνικού νόμου (Ν. 2121/1993 όπως έχει τροποποιηθεί και ισχύει σήμερα) και τις διεθνείς συμβάσεις περί πνευματικής ιδιοκτησίας. Απαγορεύεται απολύτως η άνευ γραπτής άδειας του εκδότη και του συγγραφέα κατά οποιοδήποτε τρόπο ή μέσο αντιγραφή, φωτοανατύπωση και εν γένει αναπαραγωγή, εκμίσθωση ή δανεισμός, μετάφραση, διασκευή, αναμετάδοση στο κοινό σε οποιαδήποτε μορφή (ηλεκτρονική, μηχανική ή άλλη) και η εν γένει εκμετάλλευση του συνόλου ή μέρους του έργου.
On the Local History C. Sánchez Fernández – J. Tomás Garcia (eds), La cerámica ática fuera del Ática, Studia Archaeologica (L’Erma di Bretschneider, Roma 2023), 81-100, 2023
Abdera was an Ionian colony in the North Aegean Sea, founded twice, first in the mid-7th century ... more Abdera was an Ionian colony in the North Aegean Sea, founded twice, first in the mid-7th century BC by citizens of the Greek city of Klazomenai on the peninsula of Erythraia in Asia Minor, and later (circa 545 BC) by citizens of Teos, another Greek city, very close to Klazomenai. The settlers must have faced numerous problems as the location of Abdera near the delta of river Nestos offered many advantages but also disadvantages, such as the surrounding swamps which caused various diseases like malaria that decimated the infant and child population.
My paper discusses the absence of Attic imported pottery in Abdera until ca. 530-520 BC, despite the fact that Attic vases reached neighbouring areas since the 580’s BC. It seems that the situation changed only when Abdera came under the Persian rule, and this prompts some discussion on the Archaic trade routes within the Aegean Sea. Moreover, a century later, some Attic pottery workshops begun to produce special fine painted pots for the Thracian market. I collect and evaluate the available evidence in order to move “from pots to people” and contribute to certain aspects of the history of North Aegean, especially on the relationships among the various Greek colonists as well as the relationships between the Greeks and the Thracians.
Surveying Aegean Thrace in the Digital Era, 2023
Abstract: This paper presents some preliminary results of the Archaeological Project at Abdera an... more Abstract: This paper presents some preliminary results of the Archaeological Project at Abdera and Xanthi (APAX), a systematic regional survey in the territory of the ancient coastal Ionian colony of Abdera and its
hinterland in Aegean Thrace. The application of diverse systematic and intensive pedestrian survey techniques provided the framework for the study undertaken in this region, ensuring that different dimensions
will be highlighted. Also, the APAX project has employed geophysical analyses (e.g., Electrical and Seismic Tomography and Georadar) combined with the excavation of geoarchaeological trial trenches and the drilling of boreholes in the harbor areas. Digitized aerial imagery has been extensively used, including historical
and present-day photos taken with drones. There has also been some experimental use of a drone automated
survey for which Abdera provides the first ever attempted successful tests. This technique is in its first experimental phase, and further development is in process in order to be employed at a larger scale. In general, the
preliminary results of our research have provided a plethora of quantitative and qualitative, multidisciplinary, reliable data. These datasets will be integrated and studied further in the following years in order to assess
the geomorphological features and the imprint of human activities, and to investigate the traces of the two main cultural groups that were active in this region during most of the 1st millennium BCΕ, namely Greek colonists and indigenous Thracians.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences , 2022
This paper presents the preliminary results of the Archaeological Project at Abdera and Xanthi (A... more This paper presents the preliminary results of the Archaeological Project at Abdera and Xanthi (APAX), a systematic regional survey applying intensive pedestrian sample collection conducted in Greek Thrace. This new archaeological programme has investigated different landscape settings in the Xanthi area. Different collection strategies were developed to adapt to the conditions of visibility presented by the areas under study. The preliminary results of this research have provided quantitative and qualitative spatial data on the distribution of ancient activities, particularly for the Archaic and Classical. Moreover, they allowed a useful assessment of two cultural groups that were active in the same region during most of the 1st millennium BC, namely Greek colonists and indigenous Thracians.
Eurydice Kefalidou (Ed.) The Riverlands of Aegean Thrace | River Valleys and Regional Economies, in: Archaeology and Economy in the Ancient World – Proceed. of 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Cologne/Bonn 2018, 2022
The papers of this volume address topics such as the reconfiguration of ancient river routes, the... more The papers of this volume address topics such as the reconfiguration of ancient river routes, the settlement and exploitation patterns that were formed around them, the boundaries of the chora of various cities, towns, villages and farmsteads, and the communication or the tensions between different groups that moved or expanded beyond their original habitation zone due to environmental and/or economic reasons.
J. Neils and O. Palagia (eds.), From Kallias to Kritias: Art in Athens in the Second Half of the Fifth Century B.C. , 2022
Resent rescue excavations for the construction of the Tramway Extension to Piraeus (2014-2018) re... more Resent rescue excavations for the construction of the Tramway Extension to Piraeus (2014-2018) revealed several parts of the ancient city, including many wells, which were filled up with waste material after their abandonment. In one of these wells, along with abundant plain and black glazed sherds, a remarkable group of 10 red-figure fragments of a late fifth century BC Attic red-figure large plate(?) has been found. The little that remains of the original vase is enough to show that it probably belongs to the circle of the Pronomos Painter and that it pictured several ‘kalathiskos dancers’ together with at least one of the Dioskouroi and an impressive bearded god who can be probably identified as Zeus.
All these figures are well attested in the artistic repertoire of the last decades of the fifth century. The popularity of the Dioskouroi on Attic vases of this era has been connected to the wall paintings of Polygnotos and Mikon in the Anakeion (mentioned by Pausanias), to the claiming of an Attic origin for their sister Helen and the placing of her birth at Rhamnous and, most important, to a tendency of the Athenians (or at least a number of them) to appropriate Laconian heroes for their own benefit during the Peloponnesian war.
Furthermore, ‘kalathiskos dancers’ are depicted on various artistic media from the late 5th c. BC down to the Roman era and there is an ongoing scholarly discussion about their possible common prototype and their connection with the famous bronze ‘Saltantes Lacenae’ of Kallimachos mentioned by Pliny. Their idiosyncratic dance has been connected with the worship of various deities while their relationship with Sparta has been disputed - and often rejected.
The new Piraeus’ fragments by providing the first iconographic evidence of the relationship between this particular dance and the Dioscouroi support the connection between the ‘kalathiskos dancers’ and Sparta and contribute to the discussion on the tendency of the Athenians to claim their enemy’s heroes during the Peloponnesian war.
ΚΑΛΛΟΣ Η Υπέρτατη Ομορφιά. ΕΚΘΕΣΗ, Μουσείο Κυκλαδικής Τέχνης. ΕΠΙΜΕΛΕΙΑ ΝΙΚΟΛΑΟΣ ΧΡ. ΣΤΑΜΠΟΛΙΔΗΣ – ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ Δ. ΦΑΠΠΑΣ, 2021
ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ ΕΠΙΛΟΓΟ
"Αθλητές, επώνυμοι και ανώνυμοι, του μύθου και της πραγματικότητας, ήταν οι πρωτ... more ΑΠΟ ΤΟΝ ΕΠΙΛΟΓΟ
"Αθλητές, επώνυμοι και ανώνυμοι, του μύθου και της πραγματικότητας, ήταν οι πρωταγωνιστές της διαδρομής που επιχείρησα να σκιαγραφήσω, ξετυλίγοντας προς τα πίσω το κουβάρι του χρόνου. Ορισμένοι ήταν νικητές σε επιτάφιους, τοπικούς ή πανελλήνιους αγώνες, ενώ άλλοι ασκούνταν στις παλαίστρες. Οι πιο πολλοί ασχολούνταν με γυμνικά αγωνίσματα διότι αυτά προσφέρονταν περισσότερο για τη διερεύνηση του θέματός μας. Σχεδόν όλοι ήταν άντρες, αλλά υπάρχουν και μερικές γυναίκες, ανάμεσα στις οποίες ξεχωρίζει η μυθική Αταλάντη.
Μαζί με ποικίλα εικαστικά έργα παρουσίασα και σχολίασα κείμενα, γραμμένα κυρίως από ποιητές, φιλοσόφους και ρήτορες, σε μια προσπάθεια να χαραχθούν παράλληλες ή τεμνόμενες γραμμές μεταξύ κειμένων και αντικειμένων. Δεν υπάρχει αμφιβολία ότι αυτό δεν είναι πάντοτε εφικτό και ότι έμειναν εκτός της μελέτης μας πολλά σημαντικά εικαστικά έργα, πολλά σημαντικά τοπικά εργαστήρια, και πολλά αθλήματα. Ελπίζω όμως ότι οι επιλογές μου κατέδειξαν τις γενικότερες αντιλήψεις κάθε περιόδου, και ότι τα ειδικότερα ενδιαφέροντα των αναγνωστών
θα καλυφθούν εν πολλοίς μέσω των υπολοίπων μελετών και του πλούσιου καταλόγου αυτού του τόμου.
Exhibition KALLOS - MUSEUM OF CYCLADIC ART, ATHENS, GREECE , 2021
Athletic beauty is the focus of my discussion, which necessarily expanded into many contingent is... more Athletic beauty is the focus of my discussion, which necessarily expanded into many contingent issues of ancient Greek athletics. I discuss the enduring importance of good physical condition as well as the enduring admiration of champion athletes – that is, those who did not merely exercise in the gymnasia and palaestrae but trained systematically to achieve distinction and excellence. From Homer to Aristotle and from the schematic representations on Geometric pottery to the impressive bronze statues of victors of the fourth century BC, I discuss many young as well as more mature athletes and champions – among them some females – described or depicted with a different degree of realism, different bodily proportions, and with mediocre, lovely, or very beautiful faces. I also comment on the differences between the abundant and narrative but two-dimensional and very small-scale athletics images on pottery, on the one hand, and the numerically far fewer but far more impressive monumental sculptures, on the other. Thus, we have ascertained that only if we look at and collate the texts, the objects and the images of all kinds can we come closer to the beauty and the diachronic allure of athletes and athletics… as well as the diachronic (and harsh) criticism exercised, particularly by some representatives of the “intellectual world”, as we would say today.
The volume contains 32 papers on ancient Greek ceramics, offered by the students to the teacher. ... more The volume contains 32 papers on ancient Greek ceramics, offered by the students to the teacher. The papers regard a) Attic black- and red-figure pottery and iconography of the Archaic and Classical era, b) Ionian, Corinthian, Boiotian and South Italian pottery dated from the Archaic and Classical times, c) local pottery from excavations held in ancient Macedonia, dated from the Geometric until the late Classical period, and d) trade amphorae from the early Archaic until the Helleistic times. Topics such as vase-painting, ritual, daily life, theatre, and trade in antiquity are also explored within the papers along with the presentation of some recently known to the scholarly research, local pottery categories from the region of ancient Macedonia. The papers are written in Greek language and there is an English summary for each of them. Contents Stamatis A. Fritzilas, Homeric Paralipomena: The Departure of Hippodamas and Eurylochos; Victoria Sabetai, Fishermen: The Ephebes and ...
ARGILOS 3 - Publications of the Canadian Institute in Greece Publications de l'Institut canadien en Grèce No. 13, 2021
Α Black-figure Amphora from the Workshop of the Lysippides Painter
and other Attic Vases from th... more Α Black-figure Amphora from the Workshop of the Lysippides Painter
and other Attic Vases from the Cemetery of Argilos
This paper presents and discusses some fragmentary Attic vases found in a rescue excavation conducted in 2003, in the cemetery of ancient Argilos (site Kallithea of Nea Kerdyllia, Chalkias’ plot). Most important among them is a fragmentary black-figure neck-amphora of standard size which depicts Athena and Herakles facing each other on one side, and Dionysos between two dancing Satyrs on the other. I attribute this vase to the Workshop of the Lysippides Painter (ca. 520 BC) and I discuss its iconography within the general context of the late archaic Attic ‘world of images’. I also make certain comments on some of its technical aspects, i.e. the use of incision and added color on the various figures, as well as the possible use of ‘coral-red’ color on the device of Athena’s shield.
The remaining Attic painted sherds belong to various very fragmentary Late Archaic and Classical vases. Most important are: a) fragments of a black-figure Type A panel-amphora (only the black rays around the base survive from its decoration) dating to the last decades of the 6th c. BC; b) part from the lip, neck and handle of a Nolan amphora dating ca. 470-450 BC; c) fragments of a Secondary Type lekythos with black palmettes on the shoulder dating to the second quarter of the 5th c. BC; and
d) fragments of a Standard Type lekythos and a bell krater, both red-figure and both bearing depictions of the goddess Nike, alone on the lekythos and between youths on the back side of the krater.
The lekythos can be dated around 460 BC and is probably connected with the Circle or the Workshop of the Sabouroff Painter; the krater belongs to the ‘Plainer Group’ of the first decades of the 4th c. BC and shows some affinities with the work of the Telos Painter and the Retorted Painter, among others.
In the last part of my paper I make some short comments on the imports of Attic archaic and classical pottery in the cemetery of Argilos and in the area of North-Northeastern Aegean in general, taking into account the published pottery from earlier rescue excavations in the area. Finally, I attempt a correlation between two known historical events and the destruction of graves and grave markers found at various areas in the cemetery, i.e. the Persian invasion and the destruction of Argilos by Philip II (357 BC); I admit that such correlations are rather premature, however they could be used as a working hypothesis and a question of future research in this important area.
Archaeological Project at Abdera and Xanthi (APAX): First Year of the Survey, 2015
Τhe Archaeological Project at Abdera and Xanthi is a systematic, intense survey programme, which ... more Τhe Archaeological Project at Abdera and Xanthi is a systematic, intense survey programme, which is conducted by the Xanthi Ephorate of Antiquities in collaboration with researchers from Greek and foreign
Universities in three areas of the Xanthi Prefecture.
Area A is part of the Abdera polis and in particular the North Enclosure of the city. Area B includes part of the cemeteries and the chora. Area C is located just south of the Rhodope mountain range, where via Egnatia
came through, and Area D is situated in the upland area of Mt Rhodope. This project aims at researching issues related to topography, chronology and historical events. In 2015, the field study was concentrated in the
Northern Enclosure of Abdera, addressing topographic and historical research questions, while the local cultivations has decreased the visibility of the city plan. The finds from the surveyed area have been rich: more than 300,000 objects have been counted, whose preliminary
analysis have provided indications about the habitational, trade and metallurgical activities, the presence of public buildings and household conducts. The majority of these finds can be dated from the Archaic until the Early Hellenistic period (from the 6th until the end of the 4th/early 3rd c. BC). Finally, a small part of area B was surveyed as a sample. In this region there were indications of Prehistoric finds, while there were remains that could be associated with the presence of a
farmstead dated in the Classical - Hellenistic period.
J. Driessen & A. Vanzetti (ed.), Communication Uneven. Acceptance of and Resistance to Foreign Influences in the Connected Ancient Mediterranean, Louvain 2020, 129-146 , 2020
The relations as well as the tensions between Greeks and Thracians must have been more frequent b... more The relations as well as the tensions between Greeks and Thracians must have been more frequent between colonists and local tribes that resided in the Xanthi plain where many conflicts of interest existed. The available land and its resources in the modern Xanthi area was an issue of hostility from the 7th c. BCE until ca. 350 BCE. Perhaps this feeling of insecurity along with the tendencies towards land expansion that the colonists had, made the Thracians of the Xanthi plain to resist Greek cultural influence, until the time of Philip II.
Gimatzidis, S., M. Pieniazek, and S. Mangaloglu-Votruba, eds. 2018. Archaeology across Frontiers and Borderlands. Fragmentation and Connectivity in the North Aegean and the Balkans during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press., 2018
This publication has undergone the process of anonymous, international peer review.
in: E. Μανακίδου – Α. Αβραμίδου, Η κεραμική της κλασικής εποχής στο Βόρειο Αιγαίο και την περιφέρειά του (480-323/300 π.Χ.). Πρακτικά του Διεθνούς Αρχαιολογικού Συνεδρίου, Θεσσαλονίκη, 17-20 Μαΐου 2017 (Θεσσαλονίκη 2019) 115-126 , 2019
The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (AMTh) in collaboration with the “Association of Cerami... more The Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki (AMTh) in collaboration with the “Association of Ceramic Artists of Northern Greece” organized a fiveday long Experimental Pottery Workshop in 2012 for undergraduate and postgraduate archaeology students.
The Workshop was a sequel to an older event that dealt with Neolithic pottery (2010). Its aim was to provide a better understanding of the shapes, the decoration and the uses of 7th and 6th c. BC vases, at a time when the Macedonian kingdom was established and expanded. It was also an opportunity to investigate disciplinary issues on ancient ceramics within an experimental framework.
The approach was experiential and combined archaeological knowledge with the know-how of modern northern Greek ceramists.
Four specific pottery shapes were chosen, two of which have a long tradition in Macedonia (jug with cut-away neck and kantharoid kotyle) and two were imported in Macedonia from Corinth and Attica in the
archaic era, becoming very popular in local ceramic workshops (column krater and exaleiptron). Miniature vessels of various shapes, very often found in burials and sanctuaries, comprised a separate, fifth group.
The 28 participants were divided into groups and each group worked on the potter’s wheel under the supervision of two ceramists. A large number of authentic ancient vases of respective categories were on display and accessible to all in order to examine their construction
details and create copies as close to the original as possible, by imitating the techniques of ancient craftsmen, both in terms of shape and of decoration (either polished or painted).
In the end, the finished products of the Workshop were examined. The changes/alterations on the vases that occurred during firing were documented and discussed, and the participants carried out experimental checks on the produced vessels. Specially designed questionnaires were filled out, which offered insightful comments
on the continuation and improvement of similar endeavours, aiming towards a non-typical form of acquaintance for young archaeologists with the most common and numerous excavation find, ancient pottery.
We hope to carry on the experiments in the Chemistry Lab of the A.M.Th. where we kept specimens of the clays we used. Based on these, we will attempt to investigate the chemical composition of the raw materials
and the changes that occur during firing. XRF (XRay Fluorescence) and AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrometry) will be used for the pottery analysis in order to check the methodology often employed in archaeometric analyses of ancient pottery and address issues of
technology and/or provenance.
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Papers by Eurydice Kefalidou
Eurydice Kefalidou
‘Antiquated and Dipolieia-like’: Thoughts on the Sanctuaries and the Caves of the Athenian Acropolis in light of Four Vases by the Gela Painter.
A peculiar scene, repeated in an almost identical way on four black figure vases by the same painter (ca. 500 BC), but nowhere else in the Attic painted pottery repertoire, attracted scholarly research since the mid-19th century. In the center there is a black ox (sometimes clearly shown as a bull) standing on a high platform-like structure which is decorated with a white ox; other oxen stroll around or peak out from caves. The vast majority of scholars recognized the old sacrificial rite of Zeus Polieus on the Acropolis: a number of labouring oxen were left alone to wander around the altar, until one of them ate from the grains which had been left on it and then it was sacrificed on the spot.
I propose a different reading of these scenes by paying special attention to the depictions of caves and to some other informative details which suggest that these idiosyncratic images show a statue of an ox/bull on a decorated pedestal in a partly cavernous sacred space. Many gods and heroes were related to oxen and there have been many cave sanctuaries in Attica; however, the Acropolis, right in the polis center, is undoubltely the most profound case, with its small and large caves all over its slopes. I especially point out the case of the Eleusinion sanctuary, just off the North slope, where Pausanias has seen a statue of a bronze bull.
Μπορεί να κερδίσεις δέκα αγώνες στη σειρά
αλλά συνεχίζεις να θέλεις να κερδίσεις και τον ενδέκατο.
Πάντα χρειάζεσαι περισσότερες νίκες”
Zinedine Zidane
Γάλλος διεθνής ποδοσφαιριστής
Κάθε τέσσερα χρόνια, στην πρώτη πανσέληνο μετά την εαρινή ισημερία, που σήμερα συμπίπτει με τα μέσα Ιουλίου, δηλαδή με την πιο ζεστή εποχή του έτους, άρχιζε η σημαντικότερη πανελλήνια εορταστική συνάθροιση στο ιερό της Ολυμπίας, η οποία διαρκούσε περίπου πέντε ημέρες.
Ξεχωριστή θέση ανάμεσα στις πολλές και ποικίλες θρησκευτικές εκδηλώσεις, οι οποίες κορυφώνονταν με τη μεγαλειώδη θυσία εκατό βοδιών στο βωμό του Ολυμπίου Διός, είχαν οι αθλητικοί και ιππικοί αγώνες, στους οποίους αναφέρεται το κείμενο της προμετωπίδας. Οι αγώνες διεξάγονταν στο Στάδιο και τον Ιππόδρομο, μπροστά σε χιλιάδες θεατές από όλες τις πόλεις του γνωστού ελληνικού κόσμου.
Ουσιαστική ειδοποιός διαφορά του αρχαίου ελληνικού αγώνα είναι η ίδια η νίκη: ποιος νίκησε, σε ποιους αγώνες και πόσες φορές.
Σε αντίθεση με την άθληση, η οποία μπορεί να αποβλέπει στη δημιουργία κοινωνικών σχέσεων, στη διασκέδαση, στην καλή υγεία ή στην προετοιμασία για τον πόλεμο, ο αγών έχει μόνο ένα στόχο, τη νίκη και την ανάδειξη του "αρίστου".
Για αυτόν τον λόγο, στους τέσσερις μεγάλους πανελλήνιους αγώνες, σημαντικότεροι από τους οποίους ήταν αναμφιβόλως οι Ολυμπιακοί αγώνες, δεν υπήρχε θέση για τον δεύτερο ή τον τρίτο – νικητής ήταν μόνο ένας, ο πρώτος.
We gave its painter the conventional name “Painter of the Handsome Rider” after the rider depicted on both of its sides. Moreover, based on the characteristic palmettes beneath its handles, we attributed to the same artist the skyphos in Budapest T.779, a vase previously published as Attic. Sometime later, the skyphos in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki ΘΠ 15, originating from a grave in the area of the modern Polichne district, was also connected to the two aforementioned vases.
In this article, we add three more skyphoi (Polygyros Museum Λ 404 and Λ 585, Athens, National Museum 34620) and one oinochoe (Thessaloniki University Museum 134) to the oeuvre of the Painter of the Handsome
Rider, analyzing his stylistic characteristics and exploring his affinities with the Painter of Olynthos 5.141. We date his works to the first quarter of the 4th century BC and attempt to trace the chronological development of his
skyphoi within this period. We also discuss his iconographic traits, determine the influences of Attic vases on his work, and highlight his
similarities and differences from his local red-figure contemporaries. Finally, we shortly discuss the ‘biography’ of his vases, taking
into account the lead repair clamps on the Polichne skyphos.
Alfredo Mayoral, Ana Ejarque, Arnau Garcia-Molsosa, Mercourios Georgiadis, Giannis Apostolou, Vincent Gaertner, Constantina Kallintzi, Eurydice Kefalidou, Hèctor Orengo
Highlights
•
We provide the first detailed Relative Mean Sea-Level curve for the Northern Aegean.
•
We detected for the first time in this coastal area the Neolithic drowned landscapes.
•
Palaeogeographic reconstruction shows coastal progradation due to anthropic forcing.
•
Historical events appear to dominate the fate of the city over environmental factors.
•
We detected the impact of a tsunami in 544 AD in this part of the Thracian coast.
My paper discusses the absence of Attic imported pottery in Abdera until ca. 530-520 BC, despite the fact that Attic vases reached neighbouring areas since the 580’s BC. It seems that the situation changed only when Abdera came under the Persian rule, and this prompts some discussion on the Archaic trade routes within the Aegean Sea. Moreover, a century later, some Attic pottery workshops begun to produce special fine painted pots for the Thracian market. I collect and evaluate the available evidence in order to move “from pots to people” and contribute to certain aspects of the history of North Aegean, especially on the relationships among the various Greek colonists as well as the relationships between the Greeks and the Thracians.
hinterland in Aegean Thrace. The application of diverse systematic and intensive pedestrian survey techniques provided the framework for the study undertaken in this region, ensuring that different dimensions
will be highlighted. Also, the APAX project has employed geophysical analyses (e.g., Electrical and Seismic Tomography and Georadar) combined with the excavation of geoarchaeological trial trenches and the drilling of boreholes in the harbor areas. Digitized aerial imagery has been extensively used, including historical
and present-day photos taken with drones. There has also been some experimental use of a drone automated
survey for which Abdera provides the first ever attempted successful tests. This technique is in its first experimental phase, and further development is in process in order to be employed at a larger scale. In general, the
preliminary results of our research have provided a plethora of quantitative and qualitative, multidisciplinary, reliable data. These datasets will be integrated and studied further in the following years in order to assess
the geomorphological features and the imprint of human activities, and to investigate the traces of the two main cultural groups that were active in this region during most of the 1st millennium BCΕ, namely Greek colonists and indigenous Thracians.
All these figures are well attested in the artistic repertoire of the last decades of the fifth century. The popularity of the Dioskouroi on Attic vases of this era has been connected to the wall paintings of Polygnotos and Mikon in the Anakeion (mentioned by Pausanias), to the claiming of an Attic origin for their sister Helen and the placing of her birth at Rhamnous and, most important, to a tendency of the Athenians (or at least a number of them) to appropriate Laconian heroes for their own benefit during the Peloponnesian war.
Furthermore, ‘kalathiskos dancers’ are depicted on various artistic media from the late 5th c. BC down to the Roman era and there is an ongoing scholarly discussion about their possible common prototype and their connection with the famous bronze ‘Saltantes Lacenae’ of Kallimachos mentioned by Pliny. Their idiosyncratic dance has been connected with the worship of various deities while their relationship with Sparta has been disputed - and often rejected.
The new Piraeus’ fragments by providing the first iconographic evidence of the relationship between this particular dance and the Dioscouroi support the connection between the ‘kalathiskos dancers’ and Sparta and contribute to the discussion on the tendency of the Athenians to claim their enemy’s heroes during the Peloponnesian war.
"Αθλητές, επώνυμοι και ανώνυμοι, του μύθου και της πραγματικότητας, ήταν οι πρωταγωνιστές της διαδρομής που επιχείρησα να σκιαγραφήσω, ξετυλίγοντας προς τα πίσω το κουβάρι του χρόνου. Ορισμένοι ήταν νικητές σε επιτάφιους, τοπικούς ή πανελλήνιους αγώνες, ενώ άλλοι ασκούνταν στις παλαίστρες. Οι πιο πολλοί ασχολούνταν με γυμνικά αγωνίσματα διότι αυτά προσφέρονταν περισσότερο για τη διερεύνηση του θέματός μας. Σχεδόν όλοι ήταν άντρες, αλλά υπάρχουν και μερικές γυναίκες, ανάμεσα στις οποίες ξεχωρίζει η μυθική Αταλάντη.
Μαζί με ποικίλα εικαστικά έργα παρουσίασα και σχολίασα κείμενα, γραμμένα κυρίως από ποιητές, φιλοσόφους και ρήτορες, σε μια προσπάθεια να χαραχθούν παράλληλες ή τεμνόμενες γραμμές μεταξύ κειμένων και αντικειμένων. Δεν υπάρχει αμφιβολία ότι αυτό δεν είναι πάντοτε εφικτό και ότι έμειναν εκτός της μελέτης μας πολλά σημαντικά εικαστικά έργα, πολλά σημαντικά τοπικά εργαστήρια, και πολλά αθλήματα. Ελπίζω όμως ότι οι επιλογές μου κατέδειξαν τις γενικότερες αντιλήψεις κάθε περιόδου, και ότι τα ειδικότερα ενδιαφέροντα των αναγνωστών
θα καλυφθούν εν πολλοίς μέσω των υπολοίπων μελετών και του πλούσιου καταλόγου αυτού του τόμου.
and other Attic Vases from the Cemetery of Argilos
This paper presents and discusses some fragmentary Attic vases found in a rescue excavation conducted in 2003, in the cemetery of ancient Argilos (site Kallithea of Nea Kerdyllia, Chalkias’ plot). Most important among them is a fragmentary black-figure neck-amphora of standard size which depicts Athena and Herakles facing each other on one side, and Dionysos between two dancing Satyrs on the other. I attribute this vase to the Workshop of the Lysippides Painter (ca. 520 BC) and I discuss its iconography within the general context of the late archaic Attic ‘world of images’. I also make certain comments on some of its technical aspects, i.e. the use of incision and added color on the various figures, as well as the possible use of ‘coral-red’ color on the device of Athena’s shield.
The remaining Attic painted sherds belong to various very fragmentary Late Archaic and Classical vases. Most important are: a) fragments of a black-figure Type A panel-amphora (only the black rays around the base survive from its decoration) dating to the last decades of the 6th c. BC; b) part from the lip, neck and handle of a Nolan amphora dating ca. 470-450 BC; c) fragments of a Secondary Type lekythos with black palmettes on the shoulder dating to the second quarter of the 5th c. BC; and
d) fragments of a Standard Type lekythos and a bell krater, both red-figure and both bearing depictions of the goddess Nike, alone on the lekythos and between youths on the back side of the krater.
The lekythos can be dated around 460 BC and is probably connected with the Circle or the Workshop of the Sabouroff Painter; the krater belongs to the ‘Plainer Group’ of the first decades of the 4th c. BC and shows some affinities with the work of the Telos Painter and the Retorted Painter, among others.
In the last part of my paper I make some short comments on the imports of Attic archaic and classical pottery in the cemetery of Argilos and in the area of North-Northeastern Aegean in general, taking into account the published pottery from earlier rescue excavations in the area. Finally, I attempt a correlation between two known historical events and the destruction of graves and grave markers found at various areas in the cemetery, i.e. the Persian invasion and the destruction of Argilos by Philip II (357 BC); I admit that such correlations are rather premature, however they could be used as a working hypothesis and a question of future research in this important area.
Universities in three areas of the Xanthi Prefecture.
Area A is part of the Abdera polis and in particular the North Enclosure of the city. Area B includes part of the cemeteries and the chora. Area C is located just south of the Rhodope mountain range, where via Egnatia
came through, and Area D is situated in the upland area of Mt Rhodope. This project aims at researching issues related to topography, chronology and historical events. In 2015, the field study was concentrated in the
Northern Enclosure of Abdera, addressing topographic and historical research questions, while the local cultivations has decreased the visibility of the city plan. The finds from the surveyed area have been rich: more than 300,000 objects have been counted, whose preliminary
analysis have provided indications about the habitational, trade and metallurgical activities, the presence of public buildings and household conducts. The majority of these finds can be dated from the Archaic until the Early Hellenistic period (from the 6th until the end of the 4th/early 3rd c. BC). Finally, a small part of area B was surveyed as a sample. In this region there were indications of Prehistoric finds, while there were remains that could be associated with the presence of a
farmstead dated in the Classical - Hellenistic period.
The Workshop was a sequel to an older event that dealt with Neolithic pottery (2010). Its aim was to provide a better understanding of the shapes, the decoration and the uses of 7th and 6th c. BC vases, at a time when the Macedonian kingdom was established and expanded. It was also an opportunity to investigate disciplinary issues on ancient ceramics within an experimental framework.
The approach was experiential and combined archaeological knowledge with the know-how of modern northern Greek ceramists.
Four specific pottery shapes were chosen, two of which have a long tradition in Macedonia (jug with cut-away neck and kantharoid kotyle) and two were imported in Macedonia from Corinth and Attica in the
archaic era, becoming very popular in local ceramic workshops (column krater and exaleiptron). Miniature vessels of various shapes, very often found in burials and sanctuaries, comprised a separate, fifth group.
The 28 participants were divided into groups and each group worked on the potter’s wheel under the supervision of two ceramists. A large number of authentic ancient vases of respective categories were on display and accessible to all in order to examine their construction
details and create copies as close to the original as possible, by imitating the techniques of ancient craftsmen, both in terms of shape and of decoration (either polished or painted).
In the end, the finished products of the Workshop were examined. The changes/alterations on the vases that occurred during firing were documented and discussed, and the participants carried out experimental checks on the produced vessels. Specially designed questionnaires were filled out, which offered insightful comments
on the continuation and improvement of similar endeavours, aiming towards a non-typical form of acquaintance for young archaeologists with the most common and numerous excavation find, ancient pottery.
We hope to carry on the experiments in the Chemistry Lab of the A.M.Th. where we kept specimens of the clays we used. Based on these, we will attempt to investigate the chemical composition of the raw materials
and the changes that occur during firing. XRF (XRay Fluorescence) and AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrometry) will be used for the pottery analysis in order to check the methodology often employed in archaeometric analyses of ancient pottery and address issues of
technology and/or provenance.
Eurydice Kefalidou
‘Antiquated and Dipolieia-like’: Thoughts on the Sanctuaries and the Caves of the Athenian Acropolis in light of Four Vases by the Gela Painter.
A peculiar scene, repeated in an almost identical way on four black figure vases by the same painter (ca. 500 BC), but nowhere else in the Attic painted pottery repertoire, attracted scholarly research since the mid-19th century. In the center there is a black ox (sometimes clearly shown as a bull) standing on a high platform-like structure which is decorated with a white ox; other oxen stroll around or peak out from caves. The vast majority of scholars recognized the old sacrificial rite of Zeus Polieus on the Acropolis: a number of labouring oxen were left alone to wander around the altar, until one of them ate from the grains which had been left on it and then it was sacrificed on the spot.
I propose a different reading of these scenes by paying special attention to the depictions of caves and to some other informative details which suggest that these idiosyncratic images show a statue of an ox/bull on a decorated pedestal in a partly cavernous sacred space. Many gods and heroes were related to oxen and there have been many cave sanctuaries in Attica; however, the Acropolis, right in the polis center, is undoubltely the most profound case, with its small and large caves all over its slopes. I especially point out the case of the Eleusinion sanctuary, just off the North slope, where Pausanias has seen a statue of a bronze bull.
Μπορεί να κερδίσεις δέκα αγώνες στη σειρά
αλλά συνεχίζεις να θέλεις να κερδίσεις και τον ενδέκατο.
Πάντα χρειάζεσαι περισσότερες νίκες”
Zinedine Zidane
Γάλλος διεθνής ποδοσφαιριστής
Κάθε τέσσερα χρόνια, στην πρώτη πανσέληνο μετά την εαρινή ισημερία, που σήμερα συμπίπτει με τα μέσα Ιουλίου, δηλαδή με την πιο ζεστή εποχή του έτους, άρχιζε η σημαντικότερη πανελλήνια εορταστική συνάθροιση στο ιερό της Ολυμπίας, η οποία διαρκούσε περίπου πέντε ημέρες.
Ξεχωριστή θέση ανάμεσα στις πολλές και ποικίλες θρησκευτικές εκδηλώσεις, οι οποίες κορυφώνονταν με τη μεγαλειώδη θυσία εκατό βοδιών στο βωμό του Ολυμπίου Διός, είχαν οι αθλητικοί και ιππικοί αγώνες, στους οποίους αναφέρεται το κείμενο της προμετωπίδας. Οι αγώνες διεξάγονταν στο Στάδιο και τον Ιππόδρομο, μπροστά σε χιλιάδες θεατές από όλες τις πόλεις του γνωστού ελληνικού κόσμου.
Ουσιαστική ειδοποιός διαφορά του αρχαίου ελληνικού αγώνα είναι η ίδια η νίκη: ποιος νίκησε, σε ποιους αγώνες και πόσες φορές.
Σε αντίθεση με την άθληση, η οποία μπορεί να αποβλέπει στη δημιουργία κοινωνικών σχέσεων, στη διασκέδαση, στην καλή υγεία ή στην προετοιμασία για τον πόλεμο, ο αγών έχει μόνο ένα στόχο, τη νίκη και την ανάδειξη του "αρίστου".
Για αυτόν τον λόγο, στους τέσσερις μεγάλους πανελλήνιους αγώνες, σημαντικότεροι από τους οποίους ήταν αναμφιβόλως οι Ολυμπιακοί αγώνες, δεν υπήρχε θέση για τον δεύτερο ή τον τρίτο – νικητής ήταν μόνο ένας, ο πρώτος.
We gave its painter the conventional name “Painter of the Handsome Rider” after the rider depicted on both of its sides. Moreover, based on the characteristic palmettes beneath its handles, we attributed to the same artist the skyphos in Budapest T.779, a vase previously published as Attic. Sometime later, the skyphos in the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki ΘΠ 15, originating from a grave in the area of the modern Polichne district, was also connected to the two aforementioned vases.
In this article, we add three more skyphoi (Polygyros Museum Λ 404 and Λ 585, Athens, National Museum 34620) and one oinochoe (Thessaloniki University Museum 134) to the oeuvre of the Painter of the Handsome
Rider, analyzing his stylistic characteristics and exploring his affinities with the Painter of Olynthos 5.141. We date his works to the first quarter of the 4th century BC and attempt to trace the chronological development of his
skyphoi within this period. We also discuss his iconographic traits, determine the influences of Attic vases on his work, and highlight his
similarities and differences from his local red-figure contemporaries. Finally, we shortly discuss the ‘biography’ of his vases, taking
into account the lead repair clamps on the Polichne skyphos.
Alfredo Mayoral, Ana Ejarque, Arnau Garcia-Molsosa, Mercourios Georgiadis, Giannis Apostolou, Vincent Gaertner, Constantina Kallintzi, Eurydice Kefalidou, Hèctor Orengo
Highlights
•
We provide the first detailed Relative Mean Sea-Level curve for the Northern Aegean.
•
We detected for the first time in this coastal area the Neolithic drowned landscapes.
•
Palaeogeographic reconstruction shows coastal progradation due to anthropic forcing.
•
Historical events appear to dominate the fate of the city over environmental factors.
•
We detected the impact of a tsunami in 544 AD in this part of the Thracian coast.
My paper discusses the absence of Attic imported pottery in Abdera until ca. 530-520 BC, despite the fact that Attic vases reached neighbouring areas since the 580’s BC. It seems that the situation changed only when Abdera came under the Persian rule, and this prompts some discussion on the Archaic trade routes within the Aegean Sea. Moreover, a century later, some Attic pottery workshops begun to produce special fine painted pots for the Thracian market. I collect and evaluate the available evidence in order to move “from pots to people” and contribute to certain aspects of the history of North Aegean, especially on the relationships among the various Greek colonists as well as the relationships between the Greeks and the Thracians.
hinterland in Aegean Thrace. The application of diverse systematic and intensive pedestrian survey techniques provided the framework for the study undertaken in this region, ensuring that different dimensions
will be highlighted. Also, the APAX project has employed geophysical analyses (e.g., Electrical and Seismic Tomography and Georadar) combined with the excavation of geoarchaeological trial trenches and the drilling of boreholes in the harbor areas. Digitized aerial imagery has been extensively used, including historical
and present-day photos taken with drones. There has also been some experimental use of a drone automated
survey for which Abdera provides the first ever attempted successful tests. This technique is in its first experimental phase, and further development is in process in order to be employed at a larger scale. In general, the
preliminary results of our research have provided a plethora of quantitative and qualitative, multidisciplinary, reliable data. These datasets will be integrated and studied further in the following years in order to assess
the geomorphological features and the imprint of human activities, and to investigate the traces of the two main cultural groups that were active in this region during most of the 1st millennium BCΕ, namely Greek colonists and indigenous Thracians.
All these figures are well attested in the artistic repertoire of the last decades of the fifth century. The popularity of the Dioskouroi on Attic vases of this era has been connected to the wall paintings of Polygnotos and Mikon in the Anakeion (mentioned by Pausanias), to the claiming of an Attic origin for their sister Helen and the placing of her birth at Rhamnous and, most important, to a tendency of the Athenians (or at least a number of them) to appropriate Laconian heroes for their own benefit during the Peloponnesian war.
Furthermore, ‘kalathiskos dancers’ are depicted on various artistic media from the late 5th c. BC down to the Roman era and there is an ongoing scholarly discussion about their possible common prototype and their connection with the famous bronze ‘Saltantes Lacenae’ of Kallimachos mentioned by Pliny. Their idiosyncratic dance has been connected with the worship of various deities while their relationship with Sparta has been disputed - and often rejected.
The new Piraeus’ fragments by providing the first iconographic evidence of the relationship between this particular dance and the Dioscouroi support the connection between the ‘kalathiskos dancers’ and Sparta and contribute to the discussion on the tendency of the Athenians to claim their enemy’s heroes during the Peloponnesian war.
"Αθλητές, επώνυμοι και ανώνυμοι, του μύθου και της πραγματικότητας, ήταν οι πρωταγωνιστές της διαδρομής που επιχείρησα να σκιαγραφήσω, ξετυλίγοντας προς τα πίσω το κουβάρι του χρόνου. Ορισμένοι ήταν νικητές σε επιτάφιους, τοπικούς ή πανελλήνιους αγώνες, ενώ άλλοι ασκούνταν στις παλαίστρες. Οι πιο πολλοί ασχολούνταν με γυμνικά αγωνίσματα διότι αυτά προσφέρονταν περισσότερο για τη διερεύνηση του θέματός μας. Σχεδόν όλοι ήταν άντρες, αλλά υπάρχουν και μερικές γυναίκες, ανάμεσα στις οποίες ξεχωρίζει η μυθική Αταλάντη.
Μαζί με ποικίλα εικαστικά έργα παρουσίασα και σχολίασα κείμενα, γραμμένα κυρίως από ποιητές, φιλοσόφους και ρήτορες, σε μια προσπάθεια να χαραχθούν παράλληλες ή τεμνόμενες γραμμές μεταξύ κειμένων και αντικειμένων. Δεν υπάρχει αμφιβολία ότι αυτό δεν είναι πάντοτε εφικτό και ότι έμειναν εκτός της μελέτης μας πολλά σημαντικά εικαστικά έργα, πολλά σημαντικά τοπικά εργαστήρια, και πολλά αθλήματα. Ελπίζω όμως ότι οι επιλογές μου κατέδειξαν τις γενικότερες αντιλήψεις κάθε περιόδου, και ότι τα ειδικότερα ενδιαφέροντα των αναγνωστών
θα καλυφθούν εν πολλοίς μέσω των υπολοίπων μελετών και του πλούσιου καταλόγου αυτού του τόμου.
and other Attic Vases from the Cemetery of Argilos
This paper presents and discusses some fragmentary Attic vases found in a rescue excavation conducted in 2003, in the cemetery of ancient Argilos (site Kallithea of Nea Kerdyllia, Chalkias’ plot). Most important among them is a fragmentary black-figure neck-amphora of standard size which depicts Athena and Herakles facing each other on one side, and Dionysos between two dancing Satyrs on the other. I attribute this vase to the Workshop of the Lysippides Painter (ca. 520 BC) and I discuss its iconography within the general context of the late archaic Attic ‘world of images’. I also make certain comments on some of its technical aspects, i.e. the use of incision and added color on the various figures, as well as the possible use of ‘coral-red’ color on the device of Athena’s shield.
The remaining Attic painted sherds belong to various very fragmentary Late Archaic and Classical vases. Most important are: a) fragments of a black-figure Type A panel-amphora (only the black rays around the base survive from its decoration) dating to the last decades of the 6th c. BC; b) part from the lip, neck and handle of a Nolan amphora dating ca. 470-450 BC; c) fragments of a Secondary Type lekythos with black palmettes on the shoulder dating to the second quarter of the 5th c. BC; and
d) fragments of a Standard Type lekythos and a bell krater, both red-figure and both bearing depictions of the goddess Nike, alone on the lekythos and between youths on the back side of the krater.
The lekythos can be dated around 460 BC and is probably connected with the Circle or the Workshop of the Sabouroff Painter; the krater belongs to the ‘Plainer Group’ of the first decades of the 4th c. BC and shows some affinities with the work of the Telos Painter and the Retorted Painter, among others.
In the last part of my paper I make some short comments on the imports of Attic archaic and classical pottery in the cemetery of Argilos and in the area of North-Northeastern Aegean in general, taking into account the published pottery from earlier rescue excavations in the area. Finally, I attempt a correlation between two known historical events and the destruction of graves and grave markers found at various areas in the cemetery, i.e. the Persian invasion and the destruction of Argilos by Philip II (357 BC); I admit that such correlations are rather premature, however they could be used as a working hypothesis and a question of future research in this important area.
Universities in three areas of the Xanthi Prefecture.
Area A is part of the Abdera polis and in particular the North Enclosure of the city. Area B includes part of the cemeteries and the chora. Area C is located just south of the Rhodope mountain range, where via Egnatia
came through, and Area D is situated in the upland area of Mt Rhodope. This project aims at researching issues related to topography, chronology and historical events. In 2015, the field study was concentrated in the
Northern Enclosure of Abdera, addressing topographic and historical research questions, while the local cultivations has decreased the visibility of the city plan. The finds from the surveyed area have been rich: more than 300,000 objects have been counted, whose preliminary
analysis have provided indications about the habitational, trade and metallurgical activities, the presence of public buildings and household conducts. The majority of these finds can be dated from the Archaic until the Early Hellenistic period (from the 6th until the end of the 4th/early 3rd c. BC). Finally, a small part of area B was surveyed as a sample. In this region there were indications of Prehistoric finds, while there were remains that could be associated with the presence of a
farmstead dated in the Classical - Hellenistic period.
The Workshop was a sequel to an older event that dealt with Neolithic pottery (2010). Its aim was to provide a better understanding of the shapes, the decoration and the uses of 7th and 6th c. BC vases, at a time when the Macedonian kingdom was established and expanded. It was also an opportunity to investigate disciplinary issues on ancient ceramics within an experimental framework.
The approach was experiential and combined archaeological knowledge with the know-how of modern northern Greek ceramists.
Four specific pottery shapes were chosen, two of which have a long tradition in Macedonia (jug with cut-away neck and kantharoid kotyle) and two were imported in Macedonia from Corinth and Attica in the
archaic era, becoming very popular in local ceramic workshops (column krater and exaleiptron). Miniature vessels of various shapes, very often found in burials and sanctuaries, comprised a separate, fifth group.
The 28 participants were divided into groups and each group worked on the potter’s wheel under the supervision of two ceramists. A large number of authentic ancient vases of respective categories were on display and accessible to all in order to examine their construction
details and create copies as close to the original as possible, by imitating the techniques of ancient craftsmen, both in terms of shape and of decoration (either polished or painted).
In the end, the finished products of the Workshop were examined. The changes/alterations on the vases that occurred during firing were documented and discussed, and the participants carried out experimental checks on the produced vessels. Specially designed questionnaires were filled out, which offered insightful comments
on the continuation and improvement of similar endeavours, aiming towards a non-typical form of acquaintance for young archaeologists with the most common and numerous excavation find, ancient pottery.
We hope to carry on the experiments in the Chemistry Lab of the A.M.Th. where we kept specimens of the clays we used. Based on these, we will attempt to investigate the chemical composition of the raw materials
and the changes that occur during firing. XRF (XRay Fluorescence) and AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrometry) will be used for the pottery analysis in order to check the methodology often employed in archaeometric analyses of ancient pottery and address issues of
technology and/or provenance.
The papers of this volume address topics such as the reconfiguration of ancient river routes, the settlement and exploitation patterns that were formed around them, the boundaries of the chora of various cities, towns, villages and farmsteads, and the communication or the tensions between different groups that moved or expanded beyond their original habitation zone due to environmental and/or economic reasons.
Panels 2.4 and 2.7 explore multiple facets of some Central and Eastern Mediterranean riverlands.