"The pen fell from my hand when I was in my eighty-sixth year"

"The pen fell from my hand when I was in my eighty-sixth year"

Gunnel Ekroth (red.), Jenny Wallensten (red.) 

ActaAth-8°, no. 24

“The pen fell from my hand when I was in my eighty-sixth year.” Revisiting the work of Martin P. Nilsson

Edited by Jenny Wallensten & Gunnel Ekroth

2017 marked the 50th anniversary of both the death of Martin P. Nilsson, the eminent Swedish scholar of ancient Greek religion, and the publication of the third edition of his monumental Geschichte der griechischen Religion. Nilsson’s scholarly output was huge, with a production of around 20 items annually, and he touched upon most aspects of the study of ancient Greek religion, be it in a book or an article, in a footnote or an in-depth argument. This volume constitutes a re-reading of Nilsson in the light of new ancient evidence, and modern methods and theoretical approaches.

Five leading researchers in this field of religion revisit major works of Nilsson’s oeuvre—Geschichte der griechischen Religion, vols 1 and 2 (Jon Mikalson and Eftychia Stavrianopoulou), Greek folk religion (Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge), Minoan-Mycenaean religion (Matthew Haysom) and Greek piety (Michael D. Konaris)—in order to explore whether his works today are mainly touched upon with just the usual obligatory references or if they still have an active impact on contemporary discourses. Hopefully, this undertaking will stimulate others to explore the vast landscape of Nilsson’s work in the future.

ISBN 9789179160708

Hard cover

168 pages

Published 2024

Language eng

Contents

Initial remarks. By Jenny Wallensten & Gunnel Ekroth, pp. 9–14

Science, evergreen. An introduction. By Jesper Svenbro, pp. 15–22

Martin P. Nilsson, Geschichte der griechischen Religion vol. 1. By Jon Mikalson, pp. 23–37

Hellenistic Religion(s). Revisiting Martin P. Nilsson’s Geschichte der griechischen Religion vol. 2. Die hellenistische und römische Zeit. By Eftychia Stavrianopoulou, pp. 39–65

To be or not to be … “popular”. Martin P. Nilsson’s Greek folk religion, its context, and its modern echoes. By Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge, pp. 67–85

Nilsson in the Bronze Age. The place of prehistory in the history of Greek religion. Martin P. Nilsson’s Minoan-Mycenaean religion. By Matthew Haysom, pp. 87–120

A history of changing religious attitudes in Greek antiquity. Martin P. Nilsson’s Greek piety. By Michael D. Konaris, pp. 121–154

Index, pp. 155–158

 

 

Children Lost and Found : A bioarchaeological study of Middle Helladic children in Asine with a comparison to Lerna

Children Lost and Found : A bioarchaeological study of Middle Helladic children in Asine with a comparison to Lerna

Anne Ingvarsson-Sundström 

ActaAth-4°, no. 45

This study focuses on children’s living conditions during the Middle Helladic period in Greece. The primary material comprises disarticulated skeletal remains found in a stratigraphic context during the Swedish excavations of Asine in 1926: 4,583 fragments/complete bones. These made up 103 subadults and 36 adults by means of Minimum Number of Individual (MNI) calculations. It was possible to assign subadult skeletal remains to 39 of the 105 already published graves in the Lower Town of Asine. In addition, children’s graves and skeletal remains from the neighbouring site of Lerna (periods IV–VI) are considered for comparisons of demography, health and mortuary treatment. The wider archaeological context, i.e., the published mortuary material from the settlements and cemeteries, is also examined and used to describe the community’s perception of children. It is necessary to consider children in past cultures as active and constantly changing individuals, possessing different social roles during the course of their life. Given that a culture’s perception and definition of children are dependent on age or physical development, for example, the physical remains of these individuals must be given adequate attention; only by including these data also can one hypothesize on a culture’s image of a child as well as on their age specific morbidity and mortality. I argue that neonatals, and even foetuses were regarded as individuals who were afforded the same type of mortuary treatment as older children and adults in the intramural cemetery of Asine. However, it is likely that the elite groups of the community had other customs, possibly preventing the burial of foetuses and neonatals in the extramural cemetery used by them.

The examination of children’s growth and analysis of the teeth suggest that their morbidity was aggravated by periods of malnutrition at both sites. The presence of prenatal disturbances on the teeth combined with normal length of the long bones during the infants’ first months points in different directions: it is therefore likely that different types of physiological stress affected different parts of the skeleton during the individuals’ development. The skeletal growth profiles of children indicate that growth started to be affected after three months of age, and after two years of age many children could probably be considered short for their age in comparison with modern Western children. The neonatal mortality at both Asine and Lerna was probably increased by women’s poor health which seems to have begun already in childhood. Significant amounts of foods other than breast-milk were probably given to the infants at around four months of age, as reflected by the Bourgeois-Pichat biometric analysis. Demographic variables derived from contemporary pre-industrial populations suggest that older siblings were likely to have been important care-givers for infants and young children, a practice which would also be consistent with an early introduction of other nutrients than breast milk.

ISBN 9789179160562

Soft cover

151 pages

Published 2008

Language eng

 

 

Mastos in the Berbati Valley : An Intensive Archaeological Survey

Berit Wells (red.), Michael Lindblom (red.)

 

ActaAth-4°, no. 54

This study presents the results of a small but intensive surface survey conducted on the Mastos Hill in the Berbati Valley in 1999. While remains from the Early and Late Helladic period were known from previous excavations on its southern and eastern slopes, this is the first analysis of the entire hill. It includes a digital documentation of the local topography as well as an account of the archaeological remains retrieved in the field. The study fills a gap in different data sets and results gained through old excavations and the extensive 1988-1990 Berbati-Limnes survey.

The introductory chapter summarises previous work in the valley, discusses its ancient routes of communication and outlines the method employed in the archaeological survey. This is followed by an account of the topographical survey and the geographical information system used. In the six following chapters the archaeological remains are presented and analysed in a diachronic fashion. It is concluded that the hill was predominantly settled in prehistory with the exception of a small stronghold in Medieval times on its top terrace. A detailed petrographic study of ceramics found at different locales in the valley is also included.

ISBN 9789179160586

Hard cover

189 pages

Published 2011

Language eng

 

Open access (articles as PDF)

List of illustrations |

List of tables |

Preface |

Introduction |

The topographical survey and the Geographical Information System (GIS) |

The Neolithic period |

The Early Helladic period |

The Middle Helladic period |

The Late Helladic period |

The Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods |

The Late Antique and Medieval periods |

Petrographic analysis of ceramics from the Berbati Valley |

Conclusions |

Bibliography |

Foldout 1 |

Foldout 2 |

 

 

Music from Ancient Meroë: Reconstructing Queen Amanishakheto’s Auloi

Music from Ancient Meroë: Reconstructing Queen Amanishakheto’s Auloi

Edited by Susanne Gänsicke and Stefan Hagel

 

In 1921, the Harvard University-Museum of Fine Arts Expedition to Meroë in the northern Sudan excavated a cache of ancient wind instruments in the tomb of Queen Amanishakheto from the late first century BCE. Although recognized as important testimonies to the music of classical antiquity at the moment of discovery, the instruments were highly deteriorated and fragmented. Over decades, scholars attempted to understand the find, but the sheer number of fragments had made a meaningful interpretation almost hopeless—until now. This volume presents the results of a twelve-year-long research and conservation project on the auloi of Meroë. It offers a contextualized narrative of discovery, detailed documentation of the cache, and the technical and musical interpretations of the twelve pipes. It serves readers with various interests, ranging from Nubia and the ancient Nile Valley through the histories of music and technology between the Greco-Roman world and the Empire of Kush, and particularly the community of scholars and practitioners of the aulos.

xi + 292 pages

9 x 12 in.

978-1-957454-74-0 (hardcover)

978-1-957454-69-6 (PDF)

Spring 2026

 

 

 

 

Keramaikos.org Relaunch

 Keramaikos.org Relaunch 

Dear Colleagues, 

Our team is thrilled to announce the relaunch of kerameikos.org! Over the last year we have been diligently rebuilding our site to create a more accessible and engaging experience for users — whether they be experts, researchers, students, or those simply with an interest in ancient Greek pottery. 

For those of you who have yet to be introduced to our project, kerameikos.org is a Digital Humanities initiative dedicated to defining the intellectual concepts of ancient Greek pottery following the methodologies of Linked Open Data (LOD). We write standardized definitions in multiple languages for concepts including “artist” (e.g. “Achilles Painter”), “technique” (e.g. “black-figure”), and “shape” (e.g. “amphora”). Additionally, kerameikos.org aggregates museum and archaeological datasets into an information system that facilitates broader public access. Through the project, thousands of objects from multiple institutions that adhere to Open Data principles are available for analysis by museums, archaeologists, historians, and Greek pottery students and specialists. 

Our website now features improved navigation, updated search and browsing functions, new definitions, expanded translations, redesigned visuals, and up-to-date information on the project’s history and collaborators. Educators and students will find useful new resources including guides on our terminology and how Greek vases are used in archaeological study. Those interested in integrating digital methods in their own research might benefit from reading our body of publications or consulting our Linked Open Data bibliography.

Kerameikos.org is a deeply collaborative project. Though we are based at the University of Virginia, our team comprises researchers and experts from across the USA, Greece, China, Germany, and beyond. If you notice something on our site that needs adjusting, correcting, or adding, we welcome your feedback. You can submit feedback here with our Google form. 

Our project would not be possible without the support of our researchers, translators, partner institutions, and users like you. We invite you to explore our new website and to follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Thank you for being a part of the ever-growing kerameikos.org community!

Sincerely,

Tyler Jo, Ethan, Abigail & the team at kerameikos.org

 

Études d’histoire et d’épigraphie de D. M. Pippidi

Études d’histoire et d’épigraphie de D. M. Pippidi

Publié le 3 juin 2026 par Th. Castelli

Pippidi, D. M. (1988) : Studii de istorie și epigrafie, Bucarest [Études d’histoire et d’épigraphie]

Cet ouvrage rassemble 72 brefs articles dus à l’épigraphiste roumain, D. M. Pippidi, dont 48 sont consacrés à l’ouest de la mer Noire et quelques uns à Tibère, autre intérêt de l’auteur. La plupart mettent en avant des inscriptions et parfois quelques sources littéraires.

L’ouvrage rassemble en un seul lieu une somme de réflexions sur différents points de l’histoire parues dans différentes revues roumaines (les références de la publication originale sont indiquées).

L’ouvrage en ligne : https://biblioteca-digitala.ro/?pub=9924-studii-de-istorie-si-epigrafie

 

The Greek-Swedish Excavations at the Agia Aikaterini Square, Kastelli, Khania 1970-1987 and 2001. Utges i två delar sålda tillsammans : Vol. 4:1-2. The Late Minoan IIIB:1 and IIIA:2 Settlements, Text and Plates, 2011, ActaAth-4°, no. 47:4:1-2

The Greek-Swedish Excavations at the Agia Aikaterini Square, Kastelli, Khania 1970-1987 and 2001. Utges i två delar sålda tillsammans : Vol. 4:1-2. The Late Minoan IIIB:1 and IIIA:2 Settlements, Text and Plates, 2011, ActaAth-4°, no. 47:4:1-2

Erik Hallager (red.), Birgitta P. Hallager (red.) 

ActaAth-4°, no. 47:4:1-2

This volume is the fourth in a series of seven presenting the results of the Greek-Swedish Excavations during the years 1970-1987 and 2001 in the Agia Aikaterini Square, Kastelli Khania. The excavations which are situated close to the harbour of the modern town of Khania, western Crete were under the direction of Dr Yannis Tzedakis and Professor Carl-Gustaf Styrenius.

During the years of excavation the LM IIIA:2 and LM IIIB:1 period was always considered a unit, called "Level 4". The following detailed studies of stratigraphy, pottery and architecture, however, made it clear that the two chronological phases at the GSE also represented two different stratigraphic units. All excavated units within the LM IIIB:1 and LM IIIA:2 settlements are dealt with in some detail, according to their stratigraphic positions, after which follows the analyses of the architecture, the pottery and the different kinds of small finds. The volume ends with an appendix on statistics. The analyses show that in the LM IIIA:2 and especially the LM IIIB:1 period Khania was an important commercial centre in the Aegean with lively contacts all over the island and to the surrounding Aegean and wider Mediterranean world. This is partly shown by the distribution of the pottery from the Kydonian Workshop, and the production and distribution of transport stirrup jars several of which were inscribed with Linear B. The importance of the settlement as an administrative centre in the Aegean is clearly demonstrated by the finds of Linear B tablets.

ISBN 9789179160609

Hard cover

787 pages

Published 2011

Language eng

Open access (articles as PDF)

Contents |

Preface |

List of illustrations |

Introduction |

Abbreviations |

Bibliography |

Introduction to the LM IIIB:1 and LM IIIA:2 settlements |

LM IIIB:1. Building 1. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIB:1. Building 3. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIB:1. Street. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIB:1. Rubbish Area Southeast. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIB:1. Building 2. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIB:1. Courtyard. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIB:1. Between Buildings 1 and 2. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIB:1. North of Buildings 1 and 2. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIA:2. Building 1. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIA:2. South of Building 1. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIA:2. Rubbish Area Southeast. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIA:2. Building 2. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIA:2. Courtyard. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

LM IIIA:2. Rubbish Area North. Stratigraphy and catalogues |

Unstratified material |

The architecture |

The wall plaster in the LM IIIB:1 and LM IIIA:2 levels |

The pottery |

Industrial activities, personal adornments and belongings |

The terracotta figurines and the stone vases |

The obsidian |

The Linear B inscriptions and potter’s marks |

Index for Linear B |

General conclusions |

Appendix: pottery statistics |

Concordance list |

Index |