AWOL - The Ancient World Online

Monday, September 19, 2022

El Sur de la Península Ibérica y el Mediterráneo Occidental: relaciones culturales en la segunda mitad del II milenio a.C.

In ancient times, the first communities, societies and civilizations in the Iberian peninsula, according to archaeological evidence, began to develop following a progressive local evolution tempered by the significance of outside contacts. In order to reconstruct our history, resorting to ancient poets, we strive to distinguish reality from myth in the pursuit of a bond of certainty between the data provided by historical and literary sources and the excavated remains. Greek epics, based on the Illiad and the Odyssey, are the basis for the first speculations that link societies all along the Mediterranean coast, from east to west, with a common thread. However, how many times have we been told about mythical places, such as cities of great splendour and unique cultural progress? Did the land which Plato called Atlantis and Adolf Schulten linked to Tartessos truly exist? These answers may never be revealed (they are not at the forefront of research interests nowadays); for the time being, they are lost into a mythical and legendary world. Nonetheless, they remain alive over time. Spanish description: En tiempos lejanos, ahora sepultadas bajo la caída de los años, comienzan a formarse las primeras comunidades, sociedades y civilizaciones que se irán desarrollando en la Península Ibérica, por una progresiva evolución local, sin descuidar la atención de los contactos foráneos previa contrastación arqueológica. Refugiándonos en figuras creadas por los antiguos poetas, tratamos de discernir entre lo que comúnmente se ha denominado mito-leyenda y lo real, buscando un vínculo de certeza entre los datos que revelan las fuentes literario-históricas y los vestigios que se desentierran de nuestra primera historia, aquella que tratamos de reconstruir. La épica occidental apoyada en los relatos homéricos de la Ilíada y la Odisea, son la base de las primeras conjeturas que con un hilo, unen a las sociedades que conviven en el Mar Mediterráneo desde Oriente hasta Occidente. Pero ¿cuántas veces hemos oído contar relatos sobre míticas ciudades de gran esplendor e inigualable progreso cultural? ¿Existió aquella tierra denominada por Platón “Atlántida” y que fue asociada por Adolf Schulten a Tartessos? Estas respuestas quizá nunca lleguen a desvelarse (tampoco están en la vanguardia de los intereses de la investigación), por ahora sólo están inmersas en un mundo mítico y legendario, pero es cierto que se mantienen vivas, nostálgicas, con el paso del tiempo.

Contents

1. Introducción.; 2. ¿Crecientes intercambios, contactos interregionales, formas de contacto?; 3. Una visión historiográfica del II milenio a. C. en el Sur de la Península Ibérica.; 4. El proceso de análisis de los yacimientos prehistóricos de Llanete de los Moros (Montoro, Córdoba) y Fontanar de Cábanos (Córdoba).; 5. Metodología y tipología para el estudio del material cerámico.; 6. El yacimiento protohistórico El Llanete de los Moros (Montoro, Córdoba).; 7. El yacimiento protohistórico El Fontanar de Cábanos (Córdoba).; 8. Contactos e influencias provenientes de Oriente.; 9. Conclusiones.; 10. Bibliografía.; 11. Catálogo.; 12. Lista de figuras, cuadros, mapas, tablas, gráficos y muestras.

H 276 x W 203 mm
580 pages
Illustrated throughout in black & white with 14 plates in colour
Spanish text
Published Jul 2017
Archaeopress Access Archaeology
ISBN
Paperback: 9781784916442
Digital: 9781784916459

Open Access Journal: Bilkent University Department of Archaeology Newsletter

Bilkent University Department of Archaeology Newsletter

In the fall of 2021 and 2022, students from the Department of Archaeology published a detailed newsletter. To open and read, click on the photos below:

2021

2022

Previously, in the 2000s, the Department of Archaeology published four Newsletters and one News Bulletin, edited by Department member Ben Claasz Coockson in collaboration with Marie-Henriette Gates.

Links to the newsletters that are online are below.
May 2004
May 2003
May 2002

See AWOL's full List of Open Access Journals in Ancient Studies

PapPal - The Paleography of the Papyri

[First posted in AWOL 8 March 2013, updated 19 September 2022]

PapPal

PapPal facilitates the study of ancient writing by collecting images of dated papyri. Its aim is to illustrate the development and diversity of ancient scripts, and to assist in dating undated texts.

The site is supported by the University of Heidelberg’s Sonderforschungsbereich 933, Materiale Textkulturen: Materialität und Präsenz des Geschriebenen in non-typographischen Gesellschaften, which is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
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To the Images …

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Large Scale Rhodian Sculpture of Hellenistic and Roman Times

By Kalliope Bairami

The Hellenistic society of the Rhodian metropolis, a naval aristocracy (Gabrielsen), dedicated bronze statues of their members in the sanctuaries and public buildings and used marble and -occasionally-lartios lithos to carve portrait-statues originally for funerary use and in a later period also for honorific purposes, figures of deities and decorative sculpture for the houses and the parks. The artists, local and itinerant, from Athens, the islands and the Asia Minor, established artistic workshops on Rhodes, some of them active for three centuries and for more than one generation. The impact of Rhodian art is evident on the islands of the Aegean and the cities of Asia Minor, due to the expansion of the Rhodian Peraia. Together with Pergamon, Rhodes emerges as a productive artistic centre of the Hellenistic era, creating statuary types and combining them with landscape elements. The radiance of its art is evident in the late Hellenistic period in Rome, the new capital of the world, where the Rhodian artists create mythological statuary groups set in grottoes. This volume presents the large-scale Rhodian sculpture of the Hellenistic and Roman period through the publication of sixty unpublished sculptures of life size or larger than life size, together with forty-five sculptures already published. The sculptures are grouped according to their statuary type (gods, mortals and portraits), while those unable to be firmly identified due to their fragmentary condition are grouped under the category ‘uncertain identification’. The presentation of the sculptures is further supplemented by a technical description and an analysis of stylistic characteristics according to chronological development. Excavation data, wherever available, are also provided.

H 297 x W 210 mm
892 pages
222 plates, 23 in colour
Greek text
Published Apr 2017
Archaeopress Access Archaeology
ISBN
Paperback: 9781784915766
Digital: 9781784915773

Eastern Sudan in its Setting: The archaeology of a region far from the Nile Valley

By Andrea Manzo

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 94

Eastern Sudan, like other regions far away from the Nile valley, has often been overlooked historically on account of a kind of prejudice towards areas lacking in monumental or urban remains or evidence of any literary production. Despite the relevance of the deserts and marginal areas becoming increasingly evident in the last year or so, in Sudan only few research projects have been conducted in these regions. The ongoing research project in Eastern Sudan by the University ‘L’Orientale’ has provided a preliminary reconstruction of the history of the region from c. 6000 BC to AD 1500. This publication outlines this reconstruction and also considers the more general setting known for the other regions of northeastern Africa. Several issues remain to be clarified and understanding of some phases is still limited, nevertheless it can be safely stated that Eastern Sudan, was in ancient times, as it is now, a crossroads between the Nile basin, Eastern Desert, the Ethio-Eritrean highlands and the Red Sea, represented a crucial region in several respects: the spread of domestic crops and animals towards the Ethio-Eritrean highlands, the spread of the Sahelian crops towards India via the Red Sea and Arabia, as well as the long-distance trade network characterizing northeastern Africa in the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC.

Contents

Preface; Chapter 1. Introduction; Chapter 2. The emerging of a regional tradition (c. 6000-3000 BC); Chapter 3. In a fledging network (c. 3000-1000 BC); Chapter 4. The transition to nomadism (c. 1000 BC-AD 1500); Chapter 5. Final remarks and perspective of research; References

H 276 x W 203 mm
100 pages
Illustrated throughout with 38 colour plates
Published Mar 2017
Archaeopress Access Archaeology
ISBN
Paperback: 9781784915582
Digital: 9781784915599

The Death of the Maiden in Classical Athens

By Katia Margariti

The present study examines the death of maidens in classical Athens, combining the study of Attic funerary iconography with research on classical Attic maiden burials, funerary inscriptions, tragic plays, as well as the relevant Attic myths. The iconography of funerary reliefs focuses on the idealized image of the deceased maiden, as well as the powerful bonds of love and kinship that unite her with the members of her family, whereas the iconography of vases emphasizes the premature death of the maiden, the pain of loss and mourning felt by her family, as well as the observance of the indispensable funerary rites concerning her burial and ‘tomb cult’. Particularly interesting is the fact that the ‘traditional’ theory according to which the loutrophoros marked the graves of the unmarried dead alone has been proven non valid. The study of classical Attic maiden burials indicates that the prematurely dead maidens were buried as children who didn’t live long enough to reach adulthood. The untimely death of maidens in Attic drama and mythology is beneficial to the family or the city. In great contrast to that, the premature death of real - life Athenian maidens was a terrible disaster for the girls’ families, as well as the polis itself. Despite this, the iconography of dead maidens in classical Athens is in accordance with the ‘image’ of the deceased maidens presented by funerary epigrams, tragedy, and mythology. It has to be noted though, that the same is not true in the case of maiden burials. This Access Archaeology publication presents a special edition of Katia Margariti’s doctoral thesis entitled The Death of the Maiden in Classical Athens. The original thesis was submitted to the Department of History, Archaeology, and Social Anthropology (IAKA) of the University of Thessaly in Volos in 2010. Here the original thesis is augmented by an extensive 63 page summary in English accompanied by the original Greek text, catalogue and illustrations. The thesis contains much valuable analysis and catalogue material and this publication has been produced in order that the work should not be overlooked merely for reasons of language.

Contents

ENGLISH SUMMARY TABLE OF CONTENTS; Introduction; History of the subject; THE DEAD MAIDENS IN THE FUNERARY ART OF CLASSICAL ATHENS; MAIDEN BURIALS IN CLASSICAL ATHENS; FUNERARY EPIGRAMS OF DEAD MAIDENS; THE DEATH OF THE MAIDEN IN GREEK TRAGEDY; THE DEATH OF THE MAIDEN IN ATHENIAN MYTHS; CONCLUSIONS; TABLE OF CONTENTS (English translation of the Greek thesis table of contents): Introduction; 1. The dead maidens on the Attic vases of the Classical period; 2. The dead maidens on the Attic funerary reliefs of the Classical period; 3. The burials of maidens in other areas of the Greek world; 4. The dead maidens in the Attic funerary epigrams of the Classical period; 5. The death of the maiden in Attic tragedy; 6. The death of the maiden in Athenian mythology; The death of the maiden in classical Athens: Conclusions; CATALOGUES: Funerary Reliefs; Attic Vases; Funerary Inscriptions; ABBREVIATIONS; BIBLIOGRAPHY; TABLES - GRAPHS
H 290 x W 205 mm
700 pages
105 plates in colour and black & white
Greek text
Published Mar 2017
Archaeopress Access Archaeology
ISBN
Paperback: 9781784915469
Digital: 9781784915476

Continuity and Change in Etruscan Domestic Architecture

By Paul M. Miller

Etruscan architecture underwent various changes between the later Iron Age and the Archaic period (c. 800-500 BC), as seen in the evidence from several sites. These changes affected the design and style of domestic architecture as well as the use of raw materials and construction techniques. However, based on a supposed linear progression from inferior to superior building materials, explanations and interpretations often portray an architectural transition in Etruria from ‘prehistoric’ to ‘historic’ building types. This perspective has encouraged a rather deterministic, overly simplified and inequitable view of the causes of change in which the replacement of traditional materials with new ones is thought to have been the main factor. This book aims to reconsider the nature of architectural changes in this period by focussing on the building materials and techniques used in the construction of domestic structures. Through a process of identification and interpretation using comparative analysis and an approach based on the chaîne opératoire perspective, changes in building materials and techniques are examined, with special reference to four key sites: San Giovenale, Acquarossa, Poggio Civitate (Murlo) and Lago dell’Accesa. It is argued that changes occurred in neither a synchronous nor a linear way, but separately and at irregular intervals. In this monograph, they are interpreted as resulting mainly from multigenerational habitual changes, reflecting the relationship between human behaviour and the built and natural environments, rather than choices between old and new materials. Moreover, despite some innovations, certain traditional building techniques and their associated materials continued into the Archaic period, indicating that Etruscan domestic architecture did not undergo a complete transformation, as sometimes asserted or implied in other works. This study of building techniques and materials, while not rejecting the widely held view of a significant Etruscan architectural transition, argues for a more nuanced reading of the evidence and greater recognition of the nature of behavioural change during the period in question.

Contents

Abstract; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: Introduction; Chapter 2: Theory, methods and a review of the literature; Chapter 3: The foundations of early Etruscan buildings, 800-625 BC; Chapter 4: The foundations of Orientalising and early Archaic period Etruscan buildings, 625-500 BC; Chapter 5: The walls and roofs of Etruscan domestic structures, 800-500 BC; Chapter 6: Material Procurement, Production and Use; Chapter 7: Conclusions; Glossary; Bibliography

H 276 x W 203 mm
288 pages
Illustrated throughout in colour and black & white
Published Apr 2017
Archaeopress Access Archaeology
ISBN
Paperback: 9781784915803
Digital: 9781784915810