I. The Ayiofarango Valley

E1 (M, GR, BM)

A terrace at about the 200 m. contour, east of and above the road from Kaloi Limenes to A. Kyriaki, c. 100 m. from the point where the road crosses the watershed into the catchment area. The terrace is c. 150 m. (N.-S.) by 50 m. (E.-W.), bounded on the east by steep, bare upward gradients, and on the west by a steep downward slope covered only with low scrub. Two possible stretches of wall were found on the western slope, but the only certain structural remains were a modern sheep pen and a circular wall, c. 1–5 m. in diameter, which appeared to be a filled-in well. Abraded sherds were quite common on the western slope, but scarcer on the terrace.

This article examines Schliemann's own description of his journey through Greece and the Troad in 1868. It begins in Corfu and Kephalonia, and moves on quickly to Ithaca. The article examines Schliemann's concern with Homer in relation to his activities on these islands, as well as relating a Homeric narrative for his journey to concerns in his personal life, and picking out details emphasizing his increasing interest in archaeology. The scene moves on to Athens and Schliemann's view of modern Greece, then to the Peloponnese and his reaction to Mycenae, Tiryns and other Argolid sites. Part two concerns Schliemann's time in the Troad. It deals with the Homeric question and the location of Troy in scholarship up to 1868; an outline of Schliemann's itinerary in the Troad; Schliemann's search for Troy, including excavations at Bunarbashi; and the question of his acquaintance with Hissarlik. The views put forward differ significantly from those previously expressed in regard to the question of Hissarlik. The article concludes with two appendices, one offering extracts from Schliemann's Ithaca diary, the other extracts from his Troad diary.

In 1964, in the agora at Sparta, Ch. Christou excavated part of a monumental building which is identified as the Persian Stoa. The most important find was a bronze female portrait statue, Roman in date, which is on display in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens (NM 23321). The identification of the statue as Julia Mamaea, suggested by Ch. Christou, is still prevalent, although several scholars see in the Sparta statue iconographical elements that link it with Caracalla's wife Plautilla or with Annia Faustina, Elagabalus' third wife. However, the rendering of the hairstyle provides evidence for the identification of the woman whom the statue depicts as the empress Julia Aquilia Severa, Elagabalus' second and fourth wife. The erection of a statue of Julia Aquilia Severa in the Persian Stoa is most likely connected with the imperial cult of Elagabalus and his empress in Sparta.

Located in west-central Crete, the ancient city of Eleutherna attracted considerable scholarly interest at the end of the nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. Drawing on largely unpublished archival information, this paper sheds light on the first archaeological explorations of the site, describing their aims, scope, vicissitudes, and results. Emphasis is given on the plans that the Italian School of Archaeology at Athens developed for Eleutherna and the excavations conducted there, first by the local ephor, E. Petrulakis, and then by the British School at Athens. The ‘discovery of Eleutherna’ is assessed with reference to the shifting scholarly agenda of Cretan archaeology in that period and its relation to major developments in the island's political history.

Η Ελεύθερνα, μια αρχαία πόλη ευρισκόμενη στο κεντρικό προς δυτικό τμήμα της Κρήτης, προσήλκυσε το έντονο ενδιαφέρον των αρχαιολόγων κατά τα τέλη του 19ου και τον πρώιμο 20ο αιώνα. Αντλώντας πληροφορίες από αδημοσίευτο κυρίως, αρχειακό υλικό, η παρούσα μελέτη επιχειρεί μια ανασύνθεση των πρώτων αρχαιολογικών ερευνών στην αρχαία πόλη, εξετάζοντας τα κίνητρα και τους στόχους τους αλλά και τις δυσκολίες και τα αποτελέσματά τους. Έμφαση δίδεται στα σχέδια της Ιταλικής Αρχαιολογικής Σχολής Αθηνών για την Ελεύθερνα, αλλά και στις ανασκαφές που διενέργησαν στη θέση πρώτα ο τοπικός έφορος αρχαιοτήτων, Ε. Πετρουλάκις, και αργότερα η Βρετανική Σχολή Αθηνών. Η «ανακάλυψη ιης Ηλεύθερνας» εξετάζεται σε σχέση με τις μεταβαλλόμενες ερευνητικές προτεραιότητες της κρητικής αρχαιολογίας της περιόδου αλλά κοα σημαντικές αλλαγές σιην πολιτική ιστορία του νησιού.

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

During the sinking of some trial pits by the iron bridge over the Eurotas a hoard of silver coins was found. They were contained in a plain vase of red ware, the mouth of which was closed by a clay stopper, and were discovered at a depth of ·50m. below the level of the present surface. The coins have now been transferred from the Sparta Museum to the National Coin Collection at Athens. They are all silver tetradrachms of Attic-Euboic weight, except of course the Ptolemaic coins, which were struck on the Phoenician standard. The weights are those of the coins before they were cleaned. They have probably lost a little in weight during the cleaning process, but I have not thought it necessary to re-weigh them. The Athenian coins I have not described in detail, as the type is so common. My hearty thanks are due to Dr. Svoronos for his help and advice.

1. The frontier of Pisidia, where it adjoins Lycaonia, is placed wrongly in my Histor. Geogr. Chs. Q and V. The district was little known, when I wrote: I had traversed it hurriedly in 1882, 1886, and 1890, in each case only on a single hasty route. The excursion of 1882 resulted in placing Anaboura and Neapolis. No name was discovered in the excursions of 1886 and 1890. Prof. Sterrett explored the district very carefully in 1884 and 1885; but the numerous inscriptions, which he found, unluckily did not contain important topographical indications, and he assigned a position much too far north for the city of Pappa-Tiberiopolis. I shared his view on this critical point, with the result that many other towns were drawn away far north of their true situation, because they stood in some relation to Pappa, and when it seemed to lie away in the north, they had to be placed correspondingly. For the same reason, the Pamphylian frontier was drawn too far north.

This article provides a short report on a survey of the region to the east of the ancient city of Butrint, in south-west Albania. Centred on the modern villages of Mursi and Xarra, the field survey provides information on over 80 sites (including standing monuments). Previous surveys close to Butrint have brought to light the impact of Roman Imperial colonisation on its hinterland. This new survey confirms that the density of Imperial Roman sites extends well to the east of Butrint. As in the previous surveys, pre-Roman and post-Roman sites are remarkably scarce. As a result, taking the results of the Butrint Foundation's archaeological excavations in Butrint to show the urban history of the place from the Bronze Age to the Ottoman period, the authors challenge the central theme of urban continuity and impact upon Mediterranean landscapes posited by Horden and Purcell, in The Corrupting Sea (2000). Instead, the hinterland of Butrint, on the evidence of this and previous field surveys, appears to have had intense engagement with the town in the Early Roman period following the creation of the Roman colony. Significant engagement with Butrint continued in Late Antiquity, but subsequently in the Byzantine period, as before the creation of the colony, the relationship between the town and its hinterland was limited and has left a modest impact upon the archaeological record.

One of a number of enigmatic depictions in the Aegean iconography of the second millennium bce is the structure painted on the south wall of the Miniature Frieze from the West House at Akrotiri, Thera. This structure covers the slope of a hill and consists of two vertical blue bands on its western edge and four horizontal blue bands, all with features indicating masonry construction. Five rows of black triangles alternate with the horizontal bands. Each triangle has a round opening in its base. Unique in Aegean iconography, it has been interpreted as a dovecote, a shipshed, a storage space, a rock-cut structure with triangular niches, a geological formation and even a stretch of land with terraces and a vineyard. In one very brief reference it has been identified with an apiary.

In line with contemporary rules of perspective, certain details suggest this structure could represent an apiary on a terraced area, protected on its western edge by a wall to windward. The triangular elements must depict the vertical-type fixed-comb woven beehives, which were in use until quite recently in Greece. A road leading from the apiary and connecting the settlement with the tripartite building at the top of the hill completes the elements needed for organised beekeeping. Similarly, there is a trapezoidal expanse of blue to the east of it which probably depicts a pond, another essential element of beekeeping. Both the extent of the area covered by the installation and the prominence of beekeeping products (indicated by chemical analysis and references on Linear B tablets) raise questions about the management of the apiary and the function of the building at the top of the hill.

The building at Toumba, Lefkandi, stands unique in its time and place. The remains of this monument are significant in terms of size and elaboration, and also on account of the way it has been reconstructed and interpreted as the ancestor of the Greek peripteral temple. The primary concern of this article is the structural evaluation of the architectural remains. In part due to the scant nature of the archaeological evidence behind the widely accepted reconstruction, the latter can be seen to have several structural shortcomings. In reassessing the structure several factors are considered, including the state of technology at the time of construction, the characteristics of the building materials employed, and the way they respond to the strains of load and the forces of nature. The process of reconciling such factors with the documented remnants of the building directs us towards a different reconstruction. It thus emerges that the building at Toumba is an implausible ancestor of Greek peripteroi, and an alternative solution without the iconic pre-peristasis is proposed here.

This methodological paper uses the measurements of the Early Iron Age Toumba building at Lefkandi to study whether a single design-unit can be detected in the data set. Cosine quantogram analysis is used in the initial analysis of the building dimensions and, in the second phase, the relevance of the obtained results is calculated by using Monte Carlo computer simulations. A statistically significant unit of c. 49 cm can be isolated, but because of the very limited number of precise dimensions, this result should only be accepted with caution. The case study demonstrates how the complex statistical problem of deriving the lengths of possibly used design-units in ancient architecture can be approached; metrological analyses can only gain from employing appropriate quantitative methods.

Recently discovered pottery from David Hogarth's 1899 excavation in the Psychro Cave is published in this study. The great majority of these vases can, on the basis of their fabric and decoration, be traced to Malia, Knossos and the Lasithi Plain. During the MM I-LM I A period most of the fine ware pottery dedicated at the Psychro came from Malia. The monumental size of the sanctuary and the large number (and the elite character) of the votives indicates that during MM I B-LM I A Psychro was the main extra-urban sanctuary for the polity centred at Malia. During LM I B-III A1/2 virtually all of the decorated vases from Psychro are Knossian. This change suggests that Mycenaean Knossos assumed control of the sanctuary during this time, and that some of these vases are those referred to in the Linear B tablet from Knossos KN. Fp 1 that lists dedications of oil sent to Dictaean Zeus.

The presence of Hellenistic amphora production centres in central and east Crete was demonstrated in the 1990s through the survey carried out by J.-Y. Empereur, Ch. Kritzas and A. Marangou. In addition, more recent studies have placed emphasis on wine as a major component of the rural economy of Crete during that period. However, archaeological evidence from excavated sites and well-stratified contexts remains scarce. The rescue excavation carried out in a private plot at Loutra (Rethymnon, west Crete) by the 25th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities brought to light a Hellenistic farmstead with an olive beam press and a pottery kiln mainly producing amphorae. In this study we focus on the ceramic assemblage from the site. The study of the pottery, coupled with thin-section petrography, adds new evidence for the production of amphorae in west Crete during the Late Hellenistic period, and allows the investigation of issues such as the use of raw materials, the clay pastes and the technology of pottery manufacture. Moreover, the proximity of the kiln to the olive beam press sheds light on the use of amphorae for the trade in olive oil on a local and regional scale.

Small pockets of neolithic levels were sampled during the 1987 investigation of the Throne Room System in the palace of Knossos. The limited stratigraphic evidence is here presented, as well as sections concerning the pottery, small finds, and animal bones. The most interesting point to emerge concerns the presence of Final Neolithic characteristics in the ceramic evidence that will help towards formulating an appreciation of that elusive period at Knossos.

The publication of Sheila Adam's lively and closely argued study of the technique of Greek sculpture has aroused considerable controversy; not the least disputed of her views was that the running drill, ‘the only major technical change which occurs in Greek sculpture of the Classical Period’, was not introduced until the second quarter of the fourth century B.C., a full seventy years or more after Blümel's date for its invention. Although such examination as I have been able to make of extant Greek originals from this period suggests to me that Adam was correct in concluding that the tool was not in general use until after c. 370, there does seem to be some evidence that sculptors were experimenting with it for about twenty to thirty years beforehand.

In the 1850s Captain T. A. B. Spratt, subsequently to become Admiral and Director of the Mediterranean Survey, was engaged on the charting of the Aegean. This work was interrupted by the Crimean War and later resumed. Captain Spratt had under his command the paddle frigate Spitfire and the tender Auxiliar, from which he necessarily made journeys ashore in Crete in order to complete the triangulation of the Aegean from the mountain summits to the adjacent islands. On these journeys he took a keen interest in the location of Classical sites. In this respect he followed some thirty years after Robert Pashley whose pioneering work Spratt is reported to have been able occasionally to supplement or correct.

The probable extent of the Late Cycladic town at Akrotiri is discussed, and the original geographical setting reconstructed. The principles on which the town and its buildings were constructed are elucidated; emphasizing the compact accumulation of rooms and other units of space. Buildings are generally multi-storied, and there is no evidence for courtyards or light walls within them. Access is generally limited to a single entrance, lighting and ventilation are provided by windows. Drainage systems are provided. The three types of streets: main streets, narrow alleys, and blind alleys are described, and the factors behind their arrangement and form discussed. Orientation of the streets is approximately north to south and east to west. The phenomenon of dentation in the construction of walls is discussed. The conclusion is that the town plan reflects a building operation based on a well-organized community with strong traditions and unwritten laws.

The control groups used in the earlier analysis (BSA 75 (1980) 151–61) have been enlarged. The range of suspected imports was extended with samples from Cyprus and Crete. It is concluded, as a result, that the majority of exports did originate in Euboea, though it is not possible to distinguish between kilns at Lefkandi, Chalkis, and Eretria. No conclusions were possible in the case of six sherds from Knossos. The results demonstrate early Euboean maritime enterprise.

Evidence for the Ptolemaic occupation of the Cycladic island of Keos in the 3rd century B.C. is both contentious and exiguous. A recent archaeological surface survey of both the territory and the polis-centre of Koressos (Ptolemaic Arsinoe, apparently the principal Egyptian foothold on the island) invites a review of relevant historical and epigraphical evidence, old and new. Contrary to some opinion, all the available evidence implies that the later Hellenistic period was not a time of material prosperity for Koressos. It is suggested that its incorporation into the Ptolemaic empire may have contributed to its demise as a city-state, and to its eventual transformation into a minor adjunct of the neighbouring polis of Ioulis.