Two burials with rich grave goods were found in a pit from the Middle Minoan IA era (2100-2000 BC) in Siteia, NE Crete, during excavations of a palace-related cemetery.
The excavations took place for 14 years under Director Emerita of the Ministry of Culture Metaxia Tsipopoulou, at the cemetery of Petras in the area of Siteia, dated to 2800-1700 BC (Pre- and Proto-Palatial periods).
In the first pit, a primary or original burial of a man included the first weapon found in Petras, a bronze short sword, Tsipopoulou said in a statement. The first burial also included a “secondary burial of a woman with a large number of gold beads of very fine workmanship” and beads of silver, crystal, carnelian, and jasper.
The second burial, also a primary one, was dated to the Proto-Minoan II period (2600-2300 BC) and included “dozens of gold beads with exquisite pressed decoration of spirals, as well as hundreds of other beads of gold or silver, with a diameter of 1mm, which appear to have been sewn onto a garment.”
A third burial was unique to Petras and consisted of a tomb made of perpendicular schist slabs, forming a box-like structure. This contained two secondary burials of children under 10 years old and two gold bracelets from thin sheets of gold.
For its era, the Petras cemetery has proven to be by far the largest on Crete. It belonged to elite family members related to the palace in the area. So far, 26 funerary buildings of 45 to 150 sq.m. have been excavated, along with five burial pits that include irregular stones or low walls.
According to Tsipopoulou, the cemetery contains at least four or five funereal buildings that were noted in 2018 but have not been fully excavated yet. It also includes two extensive areas for rituals, dating to between 1900 and 1700 BC (Middle Minoan IB-IIB) and two periboloi, or low built enclosures, east and west.
In antiquity, Petras had a large port and served as the entry gate to eastern Crete during the Pre- and the Proto-Palatial period for the incoming trade of raw materials, objects and ideas from Syria and Egypt.
Its palace, according to the official excavation site (https://www.petras-excavations.gr/el) was built in the Middle Minoan IIA era (19001800 BC), slightly after the large palatial complexes of central Crete. The preserved section of it covers 2,500 sq.m., but it’s impossible to calculate its original extent because the whole southern section has been destroyed.
In the 14th century BC (during Late Minoan IIIA), following the destruction of its palace, there was building activity in the cemetery that appears to be related to honoring ancestors. This activity lasted until the 12th century BC.
During this year’s season, the excavation staff included 19 graduate and doctoral students from the Universities of Athens, Crete, Thessaloniki, Kalamata, Madrid, Harvard, Rhodes and Toronto. Senior excavators included professors David Rupp, Miriam Clinton and Sevi Triantafyllou, Dr. Maria Relaki, and nine workmen from Siteia.
The study group includes 26 archaeologists from Europe, the United States, and Canada. The excavation, the stabilization of architectural features, the conservation of findings and their study are funded exclusively by INSTAP, the Institute for Aegean Prehistory which was established as a nonprofit in the United States in 1982.
Unbeknownst to a Greek farmer, a 3,400-year-old tomb containing two coffins and dozens of artifacts dating back to the Late Minoan era had been lying beneath his olive grove in southeast Crete.
As reported in Cretapost, the unnamed farmer was trying to park his vehicle under the shade of an olive tree when the ground beneath him began to sink. After pulling away, the farmer noticed that a hole, measuring about four feet wide (1.2 meters), had suddenly appeared. As he gazed into the void from above, he quickly realized he had stumbled upon something important.
The farmer contacted the Lassithi Ephorate of Antiquities—the local heritage ministry—which sent archaeologists to investigate. The farmer, as it turns out, had stumbled upon a Late Minoan era tomb containing a pair of coffins, each containing a single skeleton. Two dozen pots with colored ornaments were also found inside the tomb, according to the ministry. The hole in the olive grove had opened up on account of a broken irrigation tube, which made the soil soft.
“According to the ceramic typology, and according to the first estimates, the tomb can be dated to the Late Minoan IIIA-B period, approximately from 1400 to 1200 BC,” explained the ministry in a statement. The tomb is located near the village of Kentri in southeast Crete.
Importantly, the tomb, at a depth of eight feet (2.5 meters), has never been disturbed by looters. Archaeologists are now in the process of collecting as much information about the chamber and its contents as possible.
Some 3,400 years ago, the tomb was dug into the region’s soft limestone, with access made possible by a vertical trench. The tomb is comprised of three carved niches, and the entrance was eventually sealed by stone masonry, according to the ministry.
The two clay burial coffins, called larnakes, were in excellent condition, and embossed with ornamentations. The coffins each held a single male skeleton, the identities of which aren’t known, but the quality of the pottery suggest they were high-status individuals. Larnakes are small, closed coffins that were often used in Minoan culture. Bodies had to be placed in tight crouching positions to make them fit inside.
Larnakes debuted in Minoan times during the Aegean Bronze Age. They were initially made from ceramic materials and made to look like wooden chests. These coffins were often decorated with abstract patterns, or scenes depicting hunting and religious rituals.
Egypt’s Antiquities Ministry announced that an Egyptian archaeological mission on Sunday has uncovered a Ptolemaic dynasty cemetery west of Alexandria.
Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Mostafa Waziri said that the ministry is conducting excavation work in the region through an archaeological mission, supervised by the Director General for Alexandria Antiquities Khaled Abu al-Hamd.
Speaking to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Waziri said that the cemetery dates back to the third century BC, around 2,270 years ago.
Head of the Egyptian Antiquities Sector Ayman Ashmawy said that the mass graves carved in the rock were uncovered by the mission during excavation work. These graves are separate architectural units, each consisting of stairs leading to a small hall that may have been used as a rest for visitors, which leads into an open yard surrounded by the burial holes.
He added that it was likely that the tombs were belonged to poor people of the time, as the cemetery features layers of simple mortar with no fanciful decorations giving away high status.
According to Ashmaway, preliminary examinations revealed that architectural plans for some tombs were modified later, with certain burial holes being closed up, confirming that multiple generations used the cemetery.
Tableware used by the families of the dead during their visits was found alongside decorated lamps, Ashmaway said. Glass and pottery were also found, which were offerings for the deceased.
The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, also known as the Decollation of Saint John the Baptist or the Beheading of the Forerunner, is a biblical event and holy day observed by various Christian churches that follow liturgical traditions. The day commemorates the martyrdom by beheading of Saint John the Baptist on the orders of Herod Antipas through the vengeful request of his step-daughter Salome and her mother.
Archaeologists have uncovered a king-size mikveh in the ruins of Machaerus, a fortress built by the vassal Roman king Herod by the Dead Sea.
Only a few marble columns and stone walls remain of what once was one of Herod's fortresses.
On the eastern side of the Dead Sea, and about 16 miles southeast of the mouth of the Jordan River, one finds the hilltop where the fortified palace of Mkawir (“Maxairous,” in Greek; “Machaerus,” in Latin) once stood.
Simulation of the royal bathhouse in Machaerus, built by King Herod in Jordan. Courtesy of the Hungarian Archaeological Mission to Machaerus
Only a few marble columns and stone walls remain, but from the hilltop one can perfectly well see the many small caves that hermits, anchorites, and monks carved into the sandstone to live a life of prayer in the vicinity of the place in which, according to Flavius Josephus, John the Baptist was beheaded. Nowadays, these caves are used by shepherds who seek refuge from both the heat (during the day) and the cold (during long, starry nights) of the southern Jordanian desert. In fact, perfect silence is here only interrupted by an occasional goat bell. Some say, though, that the Baptist himself might have been held prisoner in one of these caves.
According to the gospels of Mark (6:24) and Matthew (14:8), the beheading of John the Baptist took place in 32 AD, after the “last of the prophets of the Old Testament” — as the Baptist is often described — spent at least two years imprisoned in this fortress. In the video above, you can see the renowned Israeli archaeologist Danny Herman and Erick Stakelbeck taking a deep look at the Machaerus fortress. Also, you can look at the caves and road leading to the hilltop in the slideshow below.
The first traces of the monumental stone structure at the ancient site of a former Roman legionary camp in Novae, Bulgaria, was discovered by AMU archeologists a few years ago. Since then, Dr. Elena Klenina and Dr. Andrzej B. Biernacki have worked on the site of the former legionary camp belonging to the Roman soldiers of the First Italian Legion. Last year, they determined that it was an arsenal – armory. This year’s excavations made it possible to learn about the subsequent history of the area.
The structure built by the Roman soldiers was huge, it occupied about 1800 square meters. It was erected in the first half of the second century. Its base consisted of six monumental rectangular pillars arranged in two rows. They were made of precisely matched, hexagonal blocks of limestone. In the opinion of the researchers, it is the most monumental building, discovered in all known legion camps along the Danube River.
Credit : Andrzej Biernacki
Novae was an ancient greek city of Thrace among other cities of Moesias' province . At present we use the name of Novae (Nouae), although the toponym might have referred to the canabae (canabae legionis I Italicae Novae), when the castra itself had the name of castra legionis I Italicae. The literary sources give the name of Novae or in Accusative form Novas (Itin. Ant. 221, 4; Jord., Get., 101, Tab. Peut. VIII, 1; Not. Dign. Or. XL, 30, 31; Eugipp., 44, 4) and the Greek transcription – Nόβας given by Procopius (De aed. IV, 11), Theophanes Confessor (Chron., p. 423, 426, 436, ed. J. Classen) and Anonymous Ravennatis (IV, 7). The Greek form Nόβαι appears rather rare (Hierocl. Synecd. 636, 6; Theoph. Sim. VII, 2.16; VIII, 4.3-4); earlier form mentioned by Ptolemy is Nooῦαι (Ptol. III, 10.10).
Roman military presence in the Lower Danubian region started in the middle of the 1st century AD. Around AD 45 Legio VIII Augusta, which took part in the suppression of the Greek uprising, was placed here and founded its castrum. At the same time the province of Moesia was created..
MOESIA, Istros. 4th century BC. Drachm (Silver, 5.70 g 12), circa 350. Two facing male heads side by side, one upright and the other inverted - a tête-bêche pair. Rev. ΙΣΤΡΙΗ Sea eagle standing left on dolphin; below dolphin, monogram of ΑΠ
“At the end of the 4th century construction was rebuilt and then it also changed its function: instead of military installations, it started to store grain and other food necessary to keep the legion stationed here,” said Dr Klenina, head of the International Interdisciplinary Archeological Expedition “Novae” of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań.
Inside the uncovered structure, archaeologists found numerous artefacts, including over one hundred bronze coins. They were minted in the first quarter of the fourth century AD and a dozen or so coins date from the times of Emperor Licinius I (308-324 AD).
Special attention of archaeologists, however, was pointed by the limestone head sculpture depicting a syncretic deity – Dionysus-Sabazios. According to Dr. Biernacki, an AMU archaeologist who has been involved in work at Novae for many years, the artefact may indicate the arrival of settlers from very distant regions. From the artistic side, the sculpture exhibits distinctly middle-eastern influences with elements of the Greek art of the archaic period of the 1st or 2nd century AD.
This AMU research is carried out in cooperation with the Institute of Archeology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
A new virtual reality mobile application which allows users to experience the majesty of the theatre in Kato Paphos during its heyday in 150 AD is now available to download.
“The availability of the app for download on iTunes and Google Play now gives people a chance to view the ancient theatre from their own home (so long as they have a VR headset),” said Dr Craig Barker, one of the archaeologists involved with the project, speaking to the Sunday Mail from Australia.
University of Sydney archaeologists have joined forces with Melbourne based digital technology firm Lithodomos VR (LVR) to create a virtual reality mobile application that showcases a 360-degree view of the building’s grand Roman façade, marble columns, imperial statues and painted entranceways.
LVR is an Australian start-up company which specialise in Virtual Reality (VR) reconstructions of the ancient Mediterranean archaeological sites.
Barker has used the app at the heritage listed site when giving Cypriot school children tours of the archaeological site, as well as with school groups visiting the University’s Nicholson Museum.
“We have brought history to life and used modern technology to examine a 2,000-year-old building,” he said.
Only the foundations of the Paphos theatre, used for performance and spectacle for more than 600 years, remain today.
For the last 20 years Barker has led the university’s efforts to uncover Nea Paphos. He said that the collaboration was a natural fit for the Paphos Theatre Archaeological Project. Barker and a number of colleagues, university students and volunteers, have uncovered paved Roman roads, an ancient nymphaeum (water fountain) and the semi-circular theatre over the years.
“There have been some, but limited, reconstructions of ancient sites in Cyprus in this format, but the Paphos theatre lent itself well for a 3D VR experience. The benefits for us as an archaeological project is it allows people to visualise what the theatre would have looked like long after its destruction.”
Dr Despo Pilides, curator of the Antiquities Department said that they encourage the use of technology in such instances where it promotes the value of archaeological sites and museums.
“We welcome new ideas, especially those that are educational. By engaging adults and children and interesting them, this is one of the best ways to protect culture and heritage,” she said.
Barker noted that both VR and AR are increasingly being used in archaeology as a means of visualising the past, adding that the archaeologists are now part of a big trend in using new technology to study old sites.
“Cyprus is perfect for this type of technological use.”
The VR headset and app was first unveiled at an art exhibition for Pafos2017 in October and a headset was available for visitors. The team also used it on site during their excavations at the end of last year, for visitors – including visiting school students – to learn more about what the site probably looked like.
The theatre of Paphos was used for over six centuries (c. 300 BC – 365 AD) and technologies such as these enable people to understand how much the building has changed over time, and how different the surviving ruins looked from the ‘actual’ theatre, he said
“I hope one day to produce a version of the Hellenistic theatre to contrast with the Roman theatre.”
By downloading the app and wearing the headset, viewers are able to see the ancient theatre from three different views – a 360 degree angle view from the upper seating, and two views from the ancient orchestra – which gives viewers an idea of what the ancient stage and the seating looked like. The theatre was 100m in diameter and could seat over 8000 people at this point in its history, so it’s impressive, he said.
“We have used it a lot for teaching school students in Australia which is very exciting and everyone is thrilled by the experience, but we do have to watch that people don’t walk into things, thinking they are actually within the 3D space of the ancient theatre.”
Barker said that the Australian team is currently working on an academic publication of their findings so far and aim to return to the site in September-October 2019.
“We are pleased to be welcomed by our friends and supporters in Paphos each time we dig at the site, and there are many people in Australia who now regard Paphos as their second home.”
LVR made its first breakthrough in early 2017 with modest funding and has since mushroomed, boasting, museums, tourism operators and universities from all over the world as clients, and have partners at more than 50 sites in 15 countries.
Underwater archaeologist Matej Školc carefully excavates the foundations of an ancient harbour structure. Photograph: Vassilis Tsiairis/Lechaion Harbour Project
New archaeological excavations at the ancient port of Corinth have uncovered evidence of large-scale Roman engineering. Named Lechaion, the port was one of a pair that connected the city of ancient Corinth to Mediterranean trade networks. Lechaion is located on the Gulf of Corinth, while Kenchreai is positioned across the narrow Isthmus of Corinth on the Aegean Sea. These two strategic harbours made Corinth a classical period power, but the Romans destroyed the city in 146 BC when conquering Greece. Julius Caesar rebuilt the city and its harbours in 44 BC, ushering in several centuries of prosperity. Recent excavations by the Lechaion Harbour Project have revealed the impressive engineering of the Roman Empire.
Caesar’s Corinthian colony developed into one of the most important ports in the eastern Mediterranean. Ships filled Lechaion with international goods and Corinth became so well known for luxury and vice that a Greek proverb stated, “not everyone can afford to go to Corinth.” However, while ancient coins depict a formidable harbour with a large lighthouse, visible remains of Lechaion are scarce. Visitors to the coastline today can see the foundations of two large structures forming the outer harbour, but otherwise the remains are buried under centuries of sediment. The excavations are beginning to reveal the secrets of this largely forgotten port.
Underwater archaeologists Matej Školc and Alex Tourtas excavate in the Outer Harbour. Photograph: Spyros Kokkinakis & Bjørn Lovén/Lechaion Harbour Project
The team has found a complex harbour that changed over time. In the 1st century AD, Lechaion had a large outer harbour of 40,000 square meters and an inner harbour of 24,500 square meters. The basins, as well as the approach to the harbour, were delineated by large moles and quays constructed of stone blocks weighing five tons each, including one mole that is 45 metres in length and 18 metres wide. A number of monumental buildings once graced Lechaion, such as a lighthouse that is depicted on coins and a monumental structure on an island in the middle of the inner basin. The island monument remains a mystery, but archaeologists speculate that it could be a religious sanctuary, the base of a large statue, or a customs office. However, the island was used for only a brief period. “The island monument was destroyed by an earthquake between 50 and 125 AD. It may well be the first evidence of the earthquake of circa AD 70 under the emperor Vespasian mentioned in ancient literary sources,” says Guy Sanders, who previously directed excavations at Corinth. By the 6th century AD, a new basin measuring approximately 40,000 square metres had to be constructed to service Byzantine Corinth. Sediment had filled areas of the earlier basins and a huge earthquake lifted the area around Lechaion by over a metre.
A pristinely preserved two-thousand-year-old wooden post. Photograph: Angeliki Zisi/Lechaion Harbour Project
The stone block structures are impressive feats of engineering, but the project is revealing information about the process of harbour construction through wooden caissons and pilings used as foundations. Wooden elements rarely survive the centuries, but buried underwater deposits are one of the few places where organic materials can be preserved. “For almost two decades I have been hunting for the perfect archaeological context where all the organic material normally not found on land is preserved” says director Bjørn Lovén. While much can be inferred from the stone remains, the discovery of wooden elements provides more insight into the ancient engineering process. Wood is the holy grail for archaeologists and some of the artifacts discovered at Lechaion are so well preserved that they appear as though they were cut yesterday. Lovén says, “I was joking that I would rather find a wooden spoon than a statue, and we did find archaeological layers where almost everything is preserved.” Besides wooden infrastructure, the team excavated delicate organics finds including seeds, bones, part of a wooden pulley, and carved pieces of wood.
The archaeologists are also finding evidence of everyday life in ancient Corinth. They have found ceramics that transported trade goods that originate from Italy, Tunisia, and Turkey. Maritime items like anchors and fish hooks tell of life along the seaside.
The work at Lechaion is located in shallow water, but it presents several significant challenges. It is a highly active marine environment, which causes the excavation trenches to fill quickly with sediment from wave action. Overnight several tons of sand can build up in the excavation areas. The team is also pushing boundaries with the latest methods scientific methods. Geoarchaeologists used core drilling and drone surveys to map the coastal changes in the area, resulting in the surprising discovery of a new harbour basin. The sediment study is showing how the harbour silted over time and which areas would have been accessible in different periods. The project is using DNA analysis to understand the “genetic landscape” of the trees, plants, and animals that inhabited the region 2,000 years ago. The information from these different scientific methods may one day allow for a reconstruction of Lechaion in each time period.
The project is a cooperation between the Danish Institute at Athens, University of Copenhagen, and the Greek Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities. It is directed by Dr Bjørn Lovén and Dr Dimitris Kourkoumelis, as well as assistant directors Paraskevi Micha and Panagiotis Athanasopoulos. The excavation is funded by Her Majesty the Queen Margrethe II’s Archaeological Foundation, Augustinus Foundation, and Carlsberg Foundation. The excavation will continue next year and it is expected to reveal more information about ancient engineering. “The potential for more unique discoveries is mind blowing” says Lovén.
Source https://www.theguardian.com
An Arthur Conan Doyle's detective novel A Study in Scarlet (1887) we learn that Sherlock Holmes used the most effective memory system known: a memory palace. Although imagined memory palaces are still used by memory champions and the few who practice the memory arts, they are best known from Greco-Roman times when great orators, including Cicero, used them to ensure their rhetoric was smooth, detailed, and flawless. The physical memory palace, usually a streetscape or building interior, would become so familiar to the orator that it was always available to them in their imagination. By "placing" one piece of information in each site, they could mentally stroll through their memory palace, location by location, drawing out each portion of the speech in the required order without missing any element.
Received opinion is that this method of loci, as the technique is also known, dates to before Simonides of Ceos (c. 556-468 BCE), who is often credited as the inventor. However there is ample circumstantial evidence that indigenous cultures the world over have been using it for far longer than that. There is a continuous record dating back at least 40,000 years for Australian Aboriginal cultures. Their songlines, along with Native American pilgrimage trails, Pacific Islanders' ceremonial roads, and the ceque system of the Inca at Cusco all exhibit exactly the same pattern as the memory palaces described by Cicero. At each sacred location along these paths, elders would sing, dance, or tell a story, all making the information associated with the location more memorable.
The memory skills of indigenous elders exceed anything reported for the ancient Greeks. Research with the Native American Navajo people, for example, shows that they memorize a classification of more than 700 insects along with identification, habitats, and behavior. And that's just insects. A fully initiated indigenous elder would be able to relate stories equivalent to a field guide for all the birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, and hundreds of insects within their environment.
Another study shows that the Hanunoo people of the Philippines were able to identify 1,625 plants, many of which were unknown to Western science at the time. Add to that knowledge of astronomy, timekeeping, navigation, legal and ethical guidelines, weather and seasons, complex genealogies and belief systems, and you have a vast encyclopedia stored in an interwoven memorized web: a web that is tied to a real or imagined memory palace.
Cultures without writing are referred to as "non-literate," but their identity should not be associated with what they don't do, but rather with what they do from necessity when there is no writing to record their knowledge. Cultures without writing employ the most intriguing range of memory technologies often linked under the academic term "primary orality," including song, dance, rhyme and rhythm, and story and mythology. Physical memory devices, though, are less often included in this list. The most universal of these is the landscape itself.
Australian Aboriginal memory palaces are spread across the land, structured by sung pathways referred to as songlines. The songlines of the Yanyuwa people from Carpentaria in Australia's far north have been recorded over 800 kilometers. A songline is a sequence of locations, that might, for example, include the rocks that provide the best materials for tools, to a significant tree or a waterhole. They are far more than a navigation aid. At each location, a song or story, dance or ceremony is performed that will always be associated with that particular location, physically and in memory. A songline, then, provides a table of contents to the entire knowledge system, one that can be traversed in memory as well as physically.
Enmeshed with the vitalized landscape, some indigenous cultures also use the skyscape as a memory device; the stories of the characters associated with the stars, planets, and dark spaces recall invaluable practical knowledge such as seasonal variations, navigation, timekeeping, and much of the ethical framework for their culture. The stories associated with the location in the sky or across the landscape provide a grounded structure to add ever more complexity with levels of initiation. Typically, only a fully initiated elder would know and understand the entire knowledge system of the community. By keeping critical information sacred and restricted, the so-called "Chinese whispers effect" could be avoided, protecting information from corruption.
Rock art and decorated posts are also familiar aids to indigenous memory, but far less known is the range of portable memory devices. Incised stones and boards, collections of objects in bags, bark paintings, birchbark scrolls, decorations on skins, and the knotted cords of the Inca khipu have all been used to aid the recall of memorized information. The food-carrying dish used by Australian Aboriginal cultures, the coolamon, can be incised on the back, providing a sophisticated mnemonic device without adding anything more to the load to be carried when moving around their landscape. Similarly, the tjuringa, a stone or wooden object up to a meter long decorated with abstract motifs, is a highly restricted device for Aboriginal men. As the owner of the coolamon or the elder with his tjuringa touched each marking, he or she would recall the appropriate story or sing the related song.
This is very similar to the way the Luba people of West Africa use a well-documented memory board known as a lukasa. Previous researchers have claimed that the "men of memory" of the Mbudye society would spend years learning a vast corpus of stories, dances, and songs associated with the bead and shells attached to a piece of carved wood.
My initial attitude when I read this was complete skepticism. It was surely claiming far too much for such a simple device. So I made one. I grabbed a piece of wood and glued some beads and shells on it and started encoding the 412 birds of my state: their scientific family names, identification, habitats, and behavior. It worked a treat. I no longer doubt the research. Though simple, this is an incredibly powerful memory tool. Inspired by my success with the lukasa, I have also created songlines for more than a kilometer around my home. I have a location on my walk for each of the 244 countries and dependent territories in the world. I walk through them from the most populous in China to little Pitcairn Island. I also walk through time from 4,500 million years ago until the present, nodding to the dinosaurs, meeting our hominid ancestors, and greeting numerous characters from history. My memory has been hugely expanded by using this ancient mnemonic technique.
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It is the structure of the human brain that dictates the memory methods that work so effectively right across human societies. It is our dependence on writing that has eroded this skill. We can, if we choose to, implement these techniques alongside our current educational methods. I have taught schoolchildren to sing their science and to create memory trails right around the school grounds, with excellent results. We can and should learn from the intellectual achievements of indigenous cultures by adapting their techniques to contemporary life. But when we do this, we should acknowledge the source. These memory techniques are far older than our Western civilization, and they are far more effective than the crude rote techniques that replaced them.
Like most of the Greek islands, Euboea was originally known under other names in Antiquity, such as Macris (Μάκρις) and Doliche (Δολίχη) from its elongated shape, or Ellopia, Aonia and Abantis from the tribes inhabiting it. Its ancient and current name, Εὔβοια, derives from the words εὖ "good", and βοῦς "ox", meaning "the land of the well-fed oxen".
A Swiss-led team of archaeologists in Greece has made a spectacular find: the temple of Artemis, a famous open-air sanctuary of antiquity.
Researchers have been looking for the sanctuary for more than a century. The site was found at the foot of the Paleoekklisies hill near the small fishing town of Amarynthos on the Greek island of Euboea. It’s about 10km from the place where the temple was wrongly thought to be located.
Since 2007, the search for the sanctuary has been led by Karl Reber, a professor at the Universty of Lausanne and director of the Swiss School of Archaeology in Athens.
Researchers found parts of a massive wall dating back to the classical era, which they believe belongs to the stoa or portico built near the temple.
Euboea or Evia (Greek: Εύβοια, Evvoia, Ancient Greek: Εὔβοια, Eúboia) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow island; it is about 180 kilometres (110 mi) long, and varies in breadth from 50 kilometres (31 mi) to 6 kilometres (3.7 mi). Its geographic orientation is from northwest to southeast, and it is traversed throughout its length by a mountain range, which forms part of the chain that bounds Thessaly on the east, and is continued south of Euboea in the lofty islands of Andros, Tinos and Mykonos.
It forms most of the regional unit of Euboea, which also includes Skyros and a small area of the Greek mainland.
Exploratory trenches were opened in Amarynthos in 2012, and the Swiss team brought to light a bigger part of the building.
Now, after also finding artefacts with inscriptions, they are sure that they have located the site of the Artemis Amarynthia, which was the end point of the annual procession of people from the once prosperous trading city of Eretrea, 10km away.
They held a festival in honour of Artemis, the untameable goddess of hunting in Greek mythology. She was worshipped as the patron goddess of Amarynthos, which takes its name from an Eretrean man who was besotted by Artemis.
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Artifacts that were discovered with inscriptions indicate that this is the site of Artemis Amarynthia; which was the end point of the annual procession of people from the once prosperous trading city of Eretrea; 10km away.
The ancient civilization held a festival in honor of Artemis; who was the goddess of hunting in Greek mythology. She was worshiped as the patron goddess of Amarynthos; which takes its name from an Eretrean man who was besotted with Artemis.
Euboea /juːˈbiːə/ is a transliteration from the Ancient Greek: Εύβοια, Euboia [eúboja], while Evia and Evvia reflect the Modern Greek pronunciation [ˈevia].
Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, J.B. Bury, ed., Methuen, 1898 p. 6:390, footnote 69 https://en.wikipedia.org
Gregory, Timothy E.; Ševčenko, Nancy Patterson (1991). "Euboea". In Kazhdan, Alexander. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 736–737. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
https://www.swissinfo.ch
Lane Fox, Robin. Travelling Heroes (London: Penguin, 2008) passim
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ElAnt/V1N2/powell
Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War. I 15.
John David Lewis. Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History Princeton University Press, 25 jan. 2010 ISBN 1400834309 p 34
Lazenby, p. 248–253
Norwich, John Julius. Byzantium: The Decline and Fall (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996) p. 116
A shipwreck lover’s dream has been discovered in the azure waters of the Black Sea: around 60 wrecks, from the Byzantine era to the 19th century, revealing 2,500 years of maritime history.
Described as a “ship graveyard” due to the sheer numbers, the plethora of ships found is not only incredible but some of them are in astonishingly good shape too.
The three-year project, Black Sea MAP, from the University of Southampton’s Centre for Maritime Archeology and funded by the EEF, is one of the largest marine archeological projects ever staged, and to begin with it wasn’t even searching for ships.
Researchers set out to complete geophysical surveys of the Black Sea to study the effects of climate change and how it had changed the environment along the Bulgarian coast. However, they found a whole lot more in this submerged world.
The earliest ship they found dates to the 4-5th century, and they go right through the Roman Empire, 10th-century Byzantine, and the Ottoman Empire, covering a period of 2,500 years and offering fascinating insight into seafaring routes and traditions.
Researchers have called the discovery “unrivaled”, the ships’ locations revealing ancient patterns of trade, warfare, and communication as well as confirming structural ship design and features that could only have been guessed at or glimpsed in drawings before now.
‘‘We have never seen anything like this before,” said Dr Kroum Batchvarov, from the University of Connecticut, in an emailed statement. “This is history in the making unfolding before us.”
The researchers used remotely operated vehicles (ROV) with high-resolution 3D cameras as well as high-def cameras, a laser scanner, lights, and geophysical equipment to survey the seabed.
Luckily, below around 150 meters (492 feet), the Black Sea is anoxic, meaning the organisms that usually feast on anything organic cannot survive because there is little light or oxygen, so many of the ships are in surprisingly excellent condition.
“There's one medieval trading vessel where the towers on the bow and stern are pretty much still there,” Ed Parker, CEO of Black Sea MAP, said.
“It's as if you are looking at a ship in a movie, with ropes still on the deck and carvings in the wood."
Despite the excitement garnered by such a find, the team is keeping the locations of the ships secret to protect them while they study them. It wasn’t that long ago that the earliest human skeleton in the Americas was discovered by amateur divers, only for them to put it on social media and by the time excited scientists turned up it had been stolen.
Luckily, these researchers had a television crew, one who has previously worked on the BBC's incredible David Attenborough-led Blue Planet, follow them through the three-year project. The incredible findings will be coming to a TV near you soon.
Excavations conducted in the ancient city of Patara in Antalya province have revealed more than 200 objects, including a bronze mirror frame, forks, bowls and coins, giving hints about the daily practices of the civilization that lived in the ancient city.
More than 200 utensils that are 2,350 years old, including a bronze mirror frame and a fork, have been unearthed in the ancient city of Patara, located in the Kaş district of Antalya province.
The excavation works in Patara started in 1988 and are being continued by the head of Akdeniz University's Archaeology Department Prof. Havva Işık and her team. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Işık said Patara is one of the most important ancient cities of the Mediterranean region.
Implying that Patara was the prophecy center of Apollo, the god of art, music, sun, poem and fire in mythological sources, Işık said Saint Nicholas, who is an important figure in the Christian world, was also born there, and he created his teachings in Myra.
She added that they have focused on the area around the Nero Hamam this year, and the excavation works in the basilica and Tepecik Acropolis in the heart of the city are ongoing.
"Tepecik Acropolis, which is the most important area of the excavations, houses the earliest settlement. This is why the most important findings have been found there," Işık said.
She indicated that they are trying to reveal the Hellenistic and classical period with the findings there.
Noting that they discovered many interesting artifacts in the excavations of the Tepecik acropolis, Işık said more than 200 works have been found in a construction site that was demolished because of an earthquake or fire.
The goods, which have been found together in the same area including meal bowls, weights, sculptures and coins, are in good shape.
"This house is a think tank for us. These works are important since they provide information about the Hellenistic period. They bring important information about daily life," Işık indicated.
Noting that the earthenware baby bottle, bronze mirror frame and iron fork were important findings, vice head of the Patara excavations associate professor Şevket Aktaş said, "We think these findings belong to an important figure. We have found more than 200 household goods together. They date back to 2,350 years ago. We date them at the end of the Hellenistic period and the beginning of the Classical period. We generally discover broken pieces in excavations. However, it was so exciting that we have found them simultaneously and in preserved shape."
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Explaining that the baby bottle was used for fluids like milk, Aktaş implied the importance of these findings to understand the family structure of the period.
Starting from the bronze mirror frame, he also commented that these goods possibly belong to someone rich because ordinary people from this period didn't use mirrors.
In order to show the importance of the findings to get information about the daily life of the period, Aktaş gave the example of weaving looms. Many weaving looms dating back to 350 B.C. have also been found in the excavations but their wooden parts were unable to last over the years.
Additionally, in Patara, the parliament building of the Lycian League, which is accepted as the first democratic parliament of the world, was opened to tourism after reparation by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 2011.
Greeks in the Trojan War
Achilles (Ἀχιλλεύς), the leader of the Myrmidons (Μυρμιδόνες), son of Peleus and Thetis, and the principal Greek champion whose anger is one of the main elements of the story.
Agamemnon (Ἀγαμέμνων), King of Mycenae, supreme commander of the Achaean armies whose actions provoke the feud with Achilles; elder brother of King Menelaus.
Ajax or Aias (Αίας), also known as Telamonian Ajax (he was the son of Telamon) and Greater Ajax, was the tallest and strongest warrior (after Achilles) to fight for the Achaeans.
Ajax the Lesser, an Achaean commander, son of Oileus often fights alongside Great Ajax; the two together are sometimes called the "Ajaxes" (Αἴαντε, Aiante).
Calchas (Κάλχας), a powerful Greek prophet and omen reader, who guided the Greeks through the war with his predictions.
Diomedes (Διομήδης, also called "Tydides"), the youngest of the Achaean commanders, famous for wounding two gods, Aphrodite and Ares.
Helen (Ἑλένη) the wife of Menelaus, the King of Sparta. Paris visits Menelaus in Sparta. With the assistance of Aphrodite, Paris and Helen fall in love and elope back to Troy, but in Sparta her elopement is considered an abduction.
Idomeneus (Ιδομενέας), King of Crete and Achaean commander. Leads a charge against the Trojans in Book 13.
Menelaus (Μενέλαος), King of Sparta and the abandoned husband of Helen. He is the younger brother of Agamemnon.
Nestor (Νέστωρ), of Gerênia and the son of Neleus. He was said to be the only one of his brothers to survive an assault from Heracles. Oldest member of the entire Greek army at Troy.
Odysseus (Ὀδυσσεύς), another warrior-king, famed for his cunning, who is the main character of another (roughly equally ancient) epic, the Odyssey.
Patroclus (Πάτροκλος), beloved companion of Achilles.
Phoenix (Φοῖνιξ), an old Achaean warrior, greatly trusted by Achilles, who acts as mediator between Achilles and Agamemnon.
Teucer (Τεῦκρος), Achaean archer, half-brother of Ajax.
Troy
Aeneas (Αἰνείας), son of Aphrodite; cousin of Hector; Hector's principal lieutenant; the only major Trojan figure to survive the war. Held by later tradition to be the forefather of the founders of Rome. See the Aeneid.
Agenor (Ἀγήνωρ), a Trojan warrior who attempts to fight Achilles in Book 21.
Antenor (Ἀντήνωρ), a Trojan nobleman who argues that Helen should be returned to Menelaus in order to end the war. In some versions he ends up betraying Troy by helping the Greeks unseal the city gates.
Cassandra (Κασσάνδρα), a daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba; Cassandra's prophecies are ignored.
Glaucus (Γλαῦκος), co-leader, with his cousin Sarpedon, of the Lycian forces allied to the Trojan cause.
Hector (Ἕκτωρ), firstborn son of King Priam, husband of Andromache, father of Astyanax; leader of the Trojan and allied armies, and heir apparent to the throne of Troy.
Lycaon (Λυκάων), a son of Priam and Laothoe, daughter of the Lelegian king Altes; not to be confused with Lycaon, the father of Pandarus of Zeleia, who fought at Troy.
Pandarus (Πάνδαρος), archer who shoots and wounds Menelaus with an arrow, sabotaging an attempt to reclaim Helen.
Paris (Πάρις), Trojan prince and Hector's brother; also called Alexander. His abduction of Helen is the casus belli of the Trojan War. He was supposed to have been killed as a baby because his sister Cassandra foresaw that he would cause the destruction of Troy; he was, however, raised by a shepherd.
Polydamas (Πολυδάμας), a young Trojan commander, a lieutenant and friend of Hector.
Priam (Πρίαμος), king of the Trojans, son and successor of Laomedon; husband of Queen Hecuba, father of Hector and Paris; too old to take part in the fighting; many of his fifty sons are counted among the Trojan commanders.
Sarpedon (Σαρπηδών), a son of Zeus and Laodamia, daughter of Bellerophon; co-leader, with his cousin Glaucus, of the Lycian forces allied to the Trojan cause.
Family and servants of Odysseus
Laertes, father of Odysseus.
Penelope, wife of Odysseus, mother of Telemachus, she is clever and loyal to Odysseus, she is contrasted with Clytemnestra.
Telemachus, son of Odysseus and Penelope, matures during his travels to Sparta and Pylos, fights Penelope's suitors with Odysseus
Suitors of Penelope
Amphinomus
Antinous
Eurymachus
Mistresses
Briseis, mistress and love interest of Achilles, a woman captured in the sack of Lyrnessos, a small town in the territory of Troy, and awarded to Achilles as a prize; Agamemnon takes her from Achilles in Book 1 and Achilles withdraws from battle as a result.
Chryseis, Chryses’ daughter, taken as a war prize by Agamemnon.
Helen (Ἑλένη), daughter of Zeus, former Queen of Sparta and wife of Menelaus, now espoused to Paris. Deities
Aphrodite, goddess of love, beauty, and sexual pleasure. Wife of Hephaestus, and lover of Ares.
Apollo, god of the sun, light, knowledge, healing, plague and darkness, the arts, music, poetry, prophecy, archery. Son of Zeus and Leto, twin of Artemis.
Ares, god of war. Lover of Aphrodite. Driven from the field of battle by Diomedes (aided by Athena).
Athena, goddess of crafts, domestic arts, strategic warfare, and wisdom. Daughter of Zeus.
Hera, goddess of birth, family, marriage, and women. Sister and wife of Zeus, queen of the gods.
Hermes, messenger of the gods, leads Priam into Achilles' camp in book 24.
Iris, messenger of Zeus and Hera.
Poseidon, brother of Zeus, Greek god of the sea and earthquake, curses Odysseus.
Zeus, king of the gods, brother of Poseidon and Hera and father of Athena, Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo.
Hephaestus, god of blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes.
Thetis, mother of Achilles, wife of Peleus.
The Javelin Sand Boa was used as a projectile against enemy ships
The rediscovery of an Ancient Greek snake species in Italy was announced on Thursday in the scientific journal Acta Herpetologica.
Scientists in Italy have rediscovered a type of snake which was used by the ancient Greeks as a weapon of war during sea battles.
They used to throw it at their enemies so as to create panic and confusion.
The Javelin Sand Boa, officially known as Eryx jaculus, had not been recorded in Italy for 80 years, as Telegraph reports.
However, snake experts decided to investigate and found the species, as locals claimed that this type of snake appeared in Sicily.
They believe the snake may have been introduced to Sicily in ancient times, when the island was colonised by the Greeks and it was found close to the sites of two ancient battles.
The rediscovery of the species in Italy was announced in Acta Herpetologica, a scientific journal.
“The Greeks used to use snakes as projectiles, hurling them at enemy ships before attacking in order to create confusion and fear,” Gianni Insacco, one of the researchers, told the news agency Ansa.
“In general they used vipers that had had their venom removed. Alternatively they would use similar species, like the sand boa.”
The species is also found in Greece, the southern Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East.
Parium (or Parion; Greek: Πάριον) was a Greek city of Adrasteia in Mysia on the Hellespont. Its bishopric was a suffragan of Cyzicus, the metropolitan see of the Roman province of Hellespontus
Founded in 709 B.C., the ancient city of Parion is located in the village of Kemer in the township of Biga in Çanakkale province of Turkey, currently. A major coastal city with two harbors in the Roman period, Parion had intensive relations with Thrace and Anatolia throughout history. This was the main customs station through which all Istanbul-bound goods from Greece and the Aegean had to pass.
The skeletons of a total of 24 people, including one child, have been unearthed from a chamber tomb opened during this year’s excavations in the ancient city of Parion in the northwestern province of Çanakkale.
The mystery of this multi-burial tomb, which has surprised archaeologists and is estimated to date back to a period between the 1st and 3rd centuries, will be solved by anthropologic researches to be carried out next year.
This year’s excavations have recently ended after they were initiated on July 3 in the 2,600-year-old ancient city of Parion, located in the Biga district’s Kemer village.
Headed by Ondokuz Mayıs University Archaeology Department Professor Vedat Keleş, the excavations unearthed new findings this year. Among them, the most interesting one was the skeletons found in a chamber grave. The tomb was unearthed in 2011 during illegal excavations and the last tomb was opened this year.
“A chamber tomb was uncovered here in 2011. We started excavations in the same year and found six 2,600-year-old chamber tombs. Their architectures are similar to each other. But particularly the one that we opened this year and named OM-5 is very interesting in terms of its burial method. Even though the other five have the same architectural features, their burial methods are different. We found the skeletons of 23 adults and a child inside this one,” Keleş said.
He noted that they believe the people were buried at a time between the 1st and 3rd centuries. “It shows us that there was a significant demographic increase in Parion during those years. The skulls of 15 skeletons were found on one side of the tomb. Seven were buried in the northeast direction. We also found the skeleton of a child. The existence of six chamber tombs next to each other shows that people with special statuses were buried in this field,” he added.
The professor said they also found some objects inside the tombs, which were put as gifts for the dead.
“We found ancient items, including three tear bottles, one of which is a glass, a plate, an amphora and a pitcher. We also found a strigil, used by ancient people to clean their bodies,” he added.
Keleş said they closed the chamber tombs to prevent damages on them, adding that the skeletons will be removed next year.
