Ancient inscribed significant marble slab found in Greece

An inscribed marble slab which was found and seized by authorities on Thursday on the island of Evia is, according to a local expert, of significant archaeological significance.

The slab was found, following a tip-off, by officers from the Attica Security Directorate’s Department of Cultural Heritage and Antiquities.

It had been hidden among rocks in a bag used to transfer agricultural products.

According to the head of the Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities Department at the archaeological site of Chalcis (Halkida), it is a 50x22 centimeter marble slab with an ancient Greek inscription carved into it.

He said it dated to the Hellenistic era or Early Roman period, and had been part of an ancient sanctuary or ancient market.

Moreover, he said the text could provide valuable insights into ancient Greek culture.

Authorities have launched an investigation to find out who had hidden the stone. 

Ancient inscribed significant marble slab found in Greece

New Bronze Age discoveries at Pyla Kokkinokremos excavations in Cyprus island

The Cyprus Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, announces that a fifth joint excavation campaign between the Universities of Ghent, Louvain and the Mediterranean Archaeological Society took place at Pyla-Kokkinokremos from the 27th of March until the 26th of May.The site of Pyla-Kokkinokremos represents a singularly short-lived settlement in the island’s Late Bronze Age history. Established only a generation or so prior to its eventual abandonment in the early 12th century BC, the site provides important evidence relating to the crucial period at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 12th century BC. Former excavations suggest the entire plateau of ca. 7 ha to have been densely occupied. Excavated parts on the plateau were laid-out regularly within a perimeter ‘casemate’ wall. During the 2018 season excavations continued both on the west and east lobe in an effort to better discern the layout, organisation and functional specialisation of the settlement. 

Several rooms were partly or totally excavated in Sector 4. Their main characteristic is the great depth of deposit, in places up to 3 metres against the slope of the plateau. Specific stratigraphic details point to a natural disaster, possibly a seismic event, which led to the collapse of part of the plateau and the partial sealing of rooms built against it. The excavation of these rooms brought to light novel details suggesting a sudden and very quick departure of the inhabitants from the site, obviously in the face of acute danger.Therefore, in Room 8 ca. 100 loom weights, still unbaked and in the process of being made with raw strips of clay, were placed in a perishable container, possibly a basket with an oval shape, as their location on the bedrock suggests. The strips of clay were still malleable. It is the first time that such 12th century BC clay becomes available in considerable quantities, ideal for scientific investigation. Fragments of charcoal and burnt soil buried under the collapse of the plateau will provide important chronological details regarding the abandonment and partial destruction of some buildings.Further loom weights, fired this time, came to light in Rooms 15-16 suggesting the propable location of a loom.

The excavation continued in the partly investigated Rooms 25 and 43-37bin Sector 4.1. It became evident that these rooms continue further to the east, towards the centre of the west lobe of the plateau.

Five excavation seasons have resulted in the discovery of 34 spaces, built on three distinct terraces. Spaces 21-34 were excavated during the 2018 campaign. The architecture within this sector is remarkably well preserved, especially against the slope. So far, the remains of Sector 5 show no signs of a clear north-south external façade suggesting the presence of a casemate wall.Spaces 5.26 and 5.28 each seem to have held an outer (settlement) entrance which appears to have been closed off at some point in time. If so, the rock-cut shafts adjacent to the entrance in both these rooms might have belonged to a later phase, since they would not fit within the context of an entrance. Another major element in Space 5.26 is a large, well-cut, trapezoid ashlar block.Space 5.31 generated an ensemble of finds, namely three dozen chunks of ore neatly stacked within a rectangular surface alongside a complete pithos, a stone hammer and a ca. 2,5 kilo heavy lead block – denoting the use of this room as part of a metal workshop. Assemblages of bronze objects were unearthed in Spaces 5.2 (excavated in 2014) and 5.21. The latter yielded a concentration of more than 100 bronze fragments as well as a sickle, an arrowhead and earrings; presumably all these bronze objects had been collected in a vessel. Some other significant finds are a large stone tripod mortar or vessel (Space 5.25) and a bronze arrowhead, probably intentionally deposited within a crack in the bedrock floor (Space 5.28). 

Topographical survey

During the topographical survey of the Kokkinokremos hill a large, hitherto non-published limestone quarry was discovered (Fig. 3). Located immediately below the west lobe of the plateau on which the Late Bronze Age settlement is situated (Sector 4), the quarry extents over ca. 500 metres², with a width of 40 metres and a length between 15 to 24 metres. The exploitation, either by chisels or stone picks, is illustrated by the usual extraction channels (ca. 8 to 10 cm wide) in the rock along with several, unfinished regular blocks. No surface sherds were observed, hence further study is necessary to decide whether the quarry already dates to the Bronze Age or to the historical period occupation that is attested in the proximity. This said, several ashlar blocks were also noted on the surface of the Bronze Age site and some were either found reused in the walls or used as lintels.

New Bronze Age discoveries at Pyla Kokkinokremos excavations in Cyprus island

Untouched grave of ancient noblewoman comes to light in island of Sikinos

Archaeologists in Greece have made an exciting discovery at the Episkopi excavation site in the island of Sikinos. The find is an ancient unlooted tomb of a prominent woman adorned with great treasures and jewellery. The find came to light during the restoration work of the Episkopi Monument that the Ministry of Culture and Sports has been carrying out since 2017 with the Cyclades Ephorate of Antiquities.

According to the Ministry of Culture’s announcement: “The wealth of jewellery worn by the woman betrays that she was a prominent figure in the Sikinos society. From the tomb, golden wristbands, rings, a necklace, a brooch with a cameo relief, along with glass and metal vases, other smaller finds, as well as organic fragments of the costume of the dead, were wrapped around the grave.”

The box-shaped grave was located in a concealed portion of the Episkopi site's underground, ostensibly in order to avoid tomb raiders.

Several precious items of jewelry adorned the body entombed in the grave, denoting a prominent resident of the island, featuring gold rings, bracelets, necklaces, along with glass and metallic vases.

One assessment is that the building, dated to late antiquity and subsequently serving as a Christian church during the Byzantine era, was as an impressive mausoleum for the woman. An up-until-now funereal inscription discovered at the monument cites the name "NeikO" - spelled Νεικώ, in Greek.The monument itself resembles a temple, and due to its height is considered as unique in the Greek world. A settlement was constructed up around the monumen

Untouched grave of ancient noblewoman comes to light in island of Sikinos

Aigai (Aeolis), Turkey

The ancient site of Aigai, one of the twelve cities of Aeolis, is located some twenty miles north-west of Manisa. The ruins are impressive, but the journey is a tough one. 

It is accessible by Jeep from the coast road near Aliağa. 

The area is called Nemrut Kale in Turkish and is no longer inhabited.

Aigai, also Aigaiai (Ancient Greek: Αἰγαί or Αἰγαῖαι; Latin: Aegae or Aegaeae; Turkish: Nemrutkale or Nemrut Kalesi) was an ancient Greek, later Roman (Ægæ, Aegae), city and bishopric in Aeolis. Aegae is mentioned by both Herodotus and Strabo as being a member of the Aeolian dodecapolis. It was also an important sanctuary of Apollo. Aigai had its brightest period under the Attalid dynasty, which ruled from nearby Pergamon in the 3rd and 2nd century BC.

The remains of the city are located near the modern village of Yuntdağı Köseler in Manisa Province, Turkey. The archaeological site is situated at a rather high altitude almost on top of Mount Gün (Dağı), part of the mountain chain of Yunt (Dağları).

History

The area of Aeolia was that stretching along the coast of Western Anatolia and was founded, according to legend, by the descendants af Agamemnon. Aigai was an Aeolian colony from Its origins, and according to Herodotus, wos the oldest city in Aeolia. it was here that Themistocles, being in exile, made his way secretly In a lady’s litter to the Persian court at Susa. The town can never have been a political power, owing to its    unfavorable    position in a remote spot in steep mountainous country. It lay on the  outskirts of the other Aeolian towns.

Path to Aigai

Initially the city was a possession of the Lydian Empire and later the Achaemenid Empire when it conquered the former. In the early third century BC it became part of the Kingdom of Pergamon.

It changed hands from Pergamon to the Seleucid Empire, but was recaptured by Attalus I of Pergamon in 218 BC.

Plan of Aigai drawn by Richard Bohn in 1889

In the war between Bithynia and Pergamon, it was destroyed by Prusias II of Bithynia in 156 BC. After a peace was brokered by the Romans, the city was compensated with hundred talents. Under the rule of Pergamon a market building and a temple to Apollo were constructed.

In 129 BC the Kingdom of Pergamon became part of the Roman Empire. The architecture of the reconstruction was tit at of the style of Pergamum. In this period the town had more importance ond expanded. It was badly damaged by the great earthquake of 17 A.D. which shook the whole region, but it recovered and enjoyed prosper it’s agoin for another period.

Ægæ was important enough in the Roman province of Asia Prima to become one of the many suffragans of its capital Ephesus's Metropolitan Archbishopric; but it as to fade.

The first western visitors of Aigai were William Mitchell Ramsay and Salomon Reinach in 1880. They reported about their visit in the Journal of Hellenic Studies and the Bulletin de Correspondance Hellénique. They were followed by Richard Bohn and Carl Schuchhardt, who examined the site as a part of the excavations in Pergamon.

Since 2004 the site is being excavated by Ersin Doğer of Ege University in Izmir. By 2010 the access road, the bouleuterion, the odeon, shops, numerous water pipes and large parts of the market hall were uncovered. For the coming years it is planned to re-erect the market hall's facade with the original stones.

Monuments

The site of Aigai is similar to that of Pergamum in that it is a long rocky acropolis, stretching in four successive tiers to a point in the northeast.

Stoa

Agora

The extension towards the south of the original enclosure is built In fine regular courses, very much like the Wall of Eumenes  ot Pergamum. 

Macellum

Macellum

They both   have the same  style of decoration and seem to have been designed by the same architect. This southern section af thé walls forms an excellent defence.

The stadium stood on the lower terrace and the theoter was higher up. Its cavea was carved out of the rock and the stage was on a long platform. A small portlcoed temple occupies the upper terrace on the west, but the best-preserved building is the covered market which is also located on the upper terrace. The market building is rectangular and originally consisted of three levels.

Bouleuterion in Aigai

Temple of Apollo

Temple of Apollo photo 1880

Temple of Athena

Gymnasion

Nekropolis

Nekropolis

Byzantine Basilica

The city is situated on a plateau at the summit of the steep Gün Dağı mountain, which can be climbed from the north. The plateau is surrounded by a wall with a length of 1.5 kilometers. On the eastern side are the remains of the three-story indoor market with a height of 11 meters and a length of 82 meters. The upper floor of the Hellenistic building was renovated in Roman times.The partially overgrown remains of many other buildings are scattered over the site. These include the acropolis which is laid out in terraces, a Macellum, a gymnasium, a bouleuterion and the foundations of three temples.

About five kilometers to the east the foundations of a sanctuary of Apollo are found on the banks of the river which flows around the ruins. It was an Ionic order peripteros temple from the first century BC. A cella which is six meters high and three monoliths still remain

Source
www.ancienthellas.ga

Aigai (Aeolis), Turkey