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The Hadrianic Aqueduct of Corinth (With an Appendix on the Roman Aqueducts in Greece)
... The importance of Stymphalos as a source of water was transformed during the Roman period when the Hadrianic aqueduct to supply water for Corinth was built. The manipulation of this plentiful water supply, more specifically the spring at Driza, just to the north of Lake Stymphalos (Lolos, 1997) by Roman technology altered the very nature and meaning of water at Stymphalos. This does not mean to say that local people's engagement with the lake and surrounding springs, and the springs' associations with sanctuaries and deities necessarily changed. ...
... This change in a community's or society's relationship with water would have course been true in any landscape where such a feat of hydraulic engineering had been undertaken. In Greece alone there were ca. 25 aqueducts plus a dozen across the Greek islands (Lolos, 1997). This example shows the importance of hydrogeological resources in the location and management of terraced slopes but also the difficulty in quantifying the effects of such management on erosion and sediment loss in a polje basin.Province, SW Spain have revealed the consequences of land use change on the nature and pattern of soil erosion (Fig. 6). ...
This paper critically examines the soil-exhaustion and societal collapse hypothesis both theoretically and empirically. The persistence of civilisations, especially in theMediterranean, despite intensive and erosive arable farming, creates what is described here as the archaeology-soil erosion paradox. This paper examines the data used to estimate past erosion and weathering rates, before presenting three case studies which engage with the theoretical arguments. Study 1 shows 5000 years of high slope erosion rates with both soil use and agriculture continuously maintained in the catchment. Study 2 shows how ancient agricultural terraces were constructed as part of integrated agricultural systems which fed the ancient city of Stymphalos - now abandoned. Study 3 presents a recent example of how after the removal of terraces high soil erosion rates result during intense rainstorms but that arable agriculture can still be maintained whilst external costs are borne by other parties. What these case studies have in common is the creation of soil and increased weathering rates whilst productivity is maintained due to a combination of soft bedrocks and/or agricultural terraces. In societal terms this may not be sustainable but it does not necessarily lead to land abandonment or societal collapse – this is the paradox.
... The importance of Stymphalos as a source of water was transformed during the Roman period when the Hadrianic aqueduct to supply water for Corinth was built. The manipulation of this plentiful water supply, more specifically the spring at Driza, just to the north of Lake Stymphalos (Lolos, 1997) by Roman technology altered the very nature and meaning of water at Stymphalos. This does not mean to say that local people's engagement with the lake and surrounding springs, and the springs' associations with sanctuaries and deities necessarily changed. ...
... This change in a community's or society's relationship with water would have course been true in any landscape where such a feat of hydraulic engineering had been undertaken. In Greece alone there were ca. 25 aqueducts plus a dozen across the Greek islands (Lolos, 1997). This example shows the importance of hydrogeological resources in the location and management of terraced slopes but also the difficulty in quantifying the effects of such management on erosion and sediment loss in a polje basin.Province, SW Spain have revealed the consequences of land use change on the nature and pattern of soil erosion (Fig. 6). ...
This paper critically examines the soil exhaustion and societal collapse hypothesis both theoretically and empirically. The persistence of civilizations, especially in the Mediterranean, despite intensive and presumably erosive arable farming creates what is described here as the archaeology soil erosion paradox. This paper examines the data used to estimate past erosion and weathering rates before presenting case studies that engage with the theoretical arguments. Study 1 shows 5000 years of high slope erosion rates with both soil use and agriculture continuously maintained in the catchment. Study 2 shows how ancient agricultural terraces were constructed as part of an integrated agricultural system that fed the ancient city of Stymphalos—now abandoned. Study 3 presents a recent example of how after the removal of terraces high soil erosion rates result during intense rainstorms but that arable agriculture can still be maintained while external costs are borne by other parties. What these case studies have in common is the creation of soil, and increased weathering rates while productivity is maintained due to a combination of soft bedrock and/or agricultural terraces. In societal terms this may not be sustainable but it does not necessarily lead to land abandonment or societal collapse.
... The Aqueducts: The supremacy of the Roman Empire mainly used aqueducts for latrines, public baths and thermal baths, public fountains as well as for sewage systems, irrigation and fire-fighting (Chanson 2008). The aqueducts of Tyana, with a length of 4.3 km, are a typical example of Roman aqueducts (Owens and Taşlialan 2009), mainly due to their practicality and sumptuous expenses (Lolos 1997). They begin underground and reach a height of 6 m above the ground, with the span of the belt being 3.5 m and the block size max. ...
... Such details of its design and execution, such specii cities of gradient, course, and duration, were assembled by Yannis Lolos in the course of topographical survey and related research in the early 1990s (Lolos 1997). With sustained effort, Lolos linked up various remnants (noted on disparate occasions and distributed as numerous topographical texts) local memories, associations, and the visible vestiges of the channel. ...
The introduction, “Caring about Things,” makes a case for why archaeology should be understood as the “discipline of things.” It sets out a definition of things, sketches the rudiments of a symmetrical archaeology, and lays out the structure of the -book.
... Such details of its design and execution, such specii cities of gradient, course, and duration, were assembled by Yannis Lolos in the course of topographical survey and related research in the early 1990s (Lolos 1997). With sustained effort, Lolos linked up various remnants (noted on disparate occasions and distributed as numerous topographical texts) local memories, associations, and the visible vestiges of the channel. ...
The “science of old things,” archaeology is marked by its care, obligation, and loyalty to things, from ancient cities in the Mexican heartland and megalithic monuments in Britain to the perfume jars of the ancient Greek city-state and Leica cameras. This book seeks to understand the diverse practices that arise through this disciplinary commitment to things.
... The area of the city of Stymphalus (Modern Stymphalia), and lake Stymphalus in northeast Arcadia (See Fig. 1 and 15), is a part of the Arcadian landscape that has seen little archaeological research or survey. What has been done relies mainly on research into water being taken from Lake Stymphalus into neighbouring regions via aqueducts in the roman period (Lolos, 1997), or from survey of classical period Stymphalus which has brought to light the material culture of Mycenae pottery sherds in the acropolis of the city suggesting an earlier occupation and settlement (Williams, 2010). The effects of climate and hydraulic conditions are often an under researched aspect of Mediterranean archaeology and in particular the central Peloponnese (Butzer, 2011). ...
This thesis examines the topographical relationship between religious sites and sanctuaries in rural areas of Arcadia following the bronze-age collapse, and their associated mythology, to ascertain if there is any possible evidence of why population settlement in the later geometric, archaic, and classical periods favoured more urban settlement away from the rural places mentioned in the mythology of Arcadia. It relies on the assumption commonly made that since ritual practice was of paramount importance for the Greeks, that sanctuaries in rural Arcadia must have a connection to the mythology of such characters as Herakles and Artemis, as these were among the characters of mythology written about in Classical period plays; and in descriptions of the landscape by ancient writers such as Pausanias.
... A relatively early presentation of steady open channel flow calculation applied to an aqueduct was presented by Lolos (1997), who studied the Hadrianic aqueduct of Corinth in Greece. Reflections on practicalities of construction such as service roads were presented, with considerable detail of hydraulic structures such as bridges and settling tanks. ...
A short review is presented covering English-language publications where quantitative engineering analysis has been used to study and gain insight into how ancient Roman and Mediterranean water systems functioned. The review covers work on using technical engineering perspectives to try and understand the geometrical layout of water systems, quantitative work of a type readily accomplished by undergraduate civil engineering students, such as calculating the flow capacity of aqueducts and other conduits of known dimensions, and more involved studies using computational techniques usually applied by specialist engineers in research or industry. It is concluded that the many different levels of analyses employed have given insight into how Roman water systems worked, for example the amount of water they delivered, and the kinds of issues their designers and operators might have faced. It is hoped that this review will inspire further interdisciplinary study in Archaeohydrology, using modern engineering techniques to amplify and extend the story of Roman water systems told by archaeologists.
... Average dimensions of specus are: W 0.50 m and H 0.70 m. A large siphon with receiving tank is preserved, constructed near Lethaios River [30]. The aqueduct bridged the deep Metropolianos River and ended on the hillside above the Agora at Volakas. ...
The Romans were well aware of the strategic importance of Crete and tried, by any means possible, its final conquest. The island was under Roman rule over four centuries (ca 67 BC–330 AD). Under Roman rule, Crete witnessed a growth of its population and prosperity and an increase in its connectivity with other parts of the Empire. In addition, Gortys, Chersonisos, Elyros, Lyttos, Kissamos and other cities flourished under their rule. At that prosperous time, several luxurious infrastructures, such as hydraulic works, were developed. In this paper, we wish to examine the principles and the technical characteristics of major aqueducts built at that time. They constructed impressive hydro-works, such as aqueducts, by using the knowledge gained from earlier Greek civilizations in Minoan and Classical and Hellenistic times. However, they mainly increased the scale of applied technologies to support the increased population water demand. Water is a common need of humankind and several ancient civilizations developed simple but practical techniques, such as the aqueduct, especially during Roman times. We can gain from their experience and knowledge to develop a sustainable water supply, presently and in the future, both in developed and developing countries.
... However, the extent to which terracing was employed in the historical period is debated (Foxhall, 1996). In addition, large-scale drainage and water management projects are recorded from Phase 7 (Hope Simpson & Hagel, 2006), augmented later by large-scale water transfer systems such as aqueducts in the Roman period (Phase 12) (Lolos, 1997). These elements were likely integral components of the agricultural system in the ancient Peloponnese but due to limitations in our understanding of their ubiquity in the landscape, and precisely how these affected crop yields and other modelled quantities, they are not currently included in our calculations. ...
Understanding the sustainability of land use systems over time requires an accounting of the diversity of land uses and their varying influences on the environment. Here we present a standardized review of land use systems in the Peloponnese, Greece, from the Neolithic to the Roman period (~6500 BC–AD 300). Using a combination of sources, we synthesize the fundamental information required to characterize and quantify the spatial requirements of land use. We contextualize our results in a discussion of temporal trends, the probable drivers of change, and how these changes can be integrated with the general knowledge of these societies and the overall effect of land use across time. While our review concentrates on the Peloponnese, our methodology is widely applicable where suitable archaeological and historical records are available, and is broadly representative of the prehistoric and early historical evolution of agricultural land use systems in the eastern Mediterranean.
... Finally, the Hadrianic aqueduct of Corinth, which supplied water from the Stymphalian Springs along a route circa 85 km long, included three tunnels; the longest of them is 1070 m in length and its apex lies at a maximum of circa 80 m below the surface. It is fully described by Lolos (1997), who studied the literary evidence, the course, the construction, the repairs, and the history of the aqueduct; he also compiled an excellent catalog of the numerous Roman aqueducts in Greece. ...
... Given the intensity of urban transformation at Roman Corinth, we may perhaps wish to interpret rural contraction in the Corinthia as a consequence of changes in land ownership and farming practices rather than complete regional depopulation. Certainly the construction of fountain houses and the Hadrianic aqueduct, which provided water to the city from Lake Stymphalia, highlight significant improvements within the management of urban resources (Lolos, 1997). ...
Published archaeological, palaeoenvironmental, and palaeoclimatic data from the Peloponnese in Greece are compiled, discussed and evaluated in order to analyse the interactions between humans and the environment over the last 9000 years. Our study indicates that the number of human settlements found scattered over the peninsula have quadrupled from the prehistoric to historical periods and that this evolution occurred over periods of climate change and seismo–tectonic activity. We show that societal development occurs both during periods of harsh as well as favourable climatic conditions. At some times, some settlements develop while others decline. Well-known climate events such as the 4.2 ka and 3.2 ka events are recognizable in some of the palaeoclimatic records and a regional decline in the number and sizes of settlements occurs roughly at the same time, but their precise chronological fit with the archaeological record remains uncertain. Local socio-political processes were probably always the key drivers behind the diverse strategies that human societies took in times of changing climate. The study thus reveals considerable chronological parallels between societal development and palaeoenvironmental records, but also demonstrates the ambiguities in these correspondences and, in doing so, highlights some of the challenges that will face future interdisciplinary projects. We suggest that there can be no general association made between societal expansion phases and periods of advantageous climate. We also propose that the relevance of climatic and environmental regionality, as well as any potential impacts of seismo-tectonics on societal development, need to be part of the interpretative frameworks.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
... Such details of its design and execution, such specifi cities of gradient, course, and duration, were assembled by Yannis Lolos in the course of topographical survey and related research in the early 1990s (Lolos 1997). With sustained effort, Lolos linked up various remnants (noted on disparate occasions and distributed as numerous topographical texts) local memories, associations, and the visible vestiges of the channel. ...
"Archaeology has always been marked by its particular care, obligation, and loyalty to things. While archaeologists may not share similar perspectives or practices, they find common ground in their concern for objects monumental and mundane. This book considers the myriad ways that archaeologists engage with things in order to craft stories, both big and small, concerning our relations with materials and the nature of the past. Literally the "science of old things," archaeology does not discover the past as it was but must work with what remains. Such work involves the tangible mediation of past and present, of people and their cultural fabric, for things cannot be separated from society. Things are us. This book does not set forth a sweeping new theory. It does not seek to transform the discipline of archaeology. Rather, it aims to understand precisely what archaeologists do and to urge practitioners toward a renewed focus on and care for things.".
... Its dimensions are similar to those of the aqueduct of Elyros (West Crete). It is also larger in section than other tunnels in Greece, such as the Hadrianic aqueduct of Corinth (Lolos 1997, 301). The tunnel at Anemomylos is 40 meters long and ends to a transverse well-built wall, which reminds of a fountain frontage. ...
Water resources and their efficient management though specialized hydraulic construction works comprise the basic guide in each human activity and the main criterion for the selection of a permanent residence. This work describes how geophysical methods can be used in order to map such hydraulic structures enlightening at the same time past and completely unexplored archaeological hypotheses. To this direction a high resolution surface 3D ERT survey was completed at the site of “Anemomylos” on the hill Pyrgi, the Acropolis of Eleutherna in Central Crete (Greece). The analysis and the 3D inversion of the data revealed the existence of a new structure that is either a cistern or a basin to the management of water. This lies between the aqueduct tunnel and the two existing cisterns verifying a past archaeological hypothesis.
... During the time of the Roman emperor Hadrian (ca. 125 AD) an aqueduct was built channeling the waters of Stymphalia spring north-eastwards along an 85 km route to Acrocorinth (Lolos 1997). The Hadrianic water conduit possibly followed a dam-like structure parallel to the eastern shore of Lake Stymphalia through a Roman tunnel nowadays called Siouri to the neighboring polje of Skotini and continued further towards Acrocorinth. ...
... During the time of the Roman emperor Hadrian (ca. 125 AD) an aqueduct was built channeling the waters of Stymphalia spring north-eastwards along an 85 km route to Acrocorinth (Lolos 1997). The Hadrianic water conduit possibly followed a dam-like structure parallel to the eastern shore of Lake Stymphalia through a Roman tunnel nowadays called Siouri to the neighboring polje of Skotini and continued further towards Acrocorinth. ...
Abstract Known from the ancient myth of Heracles fighting the Stymphalian birds, the karst polje of Stymphalia (22°27’E, 37°51’N) is an ideal site to study the climate history of the area. Stymphalia is the only natural perennial lake on the Northern Peloponnesus, which provides a continuous sedimentary record of the entire Holocene and a large part of the Last Glacial. As a large and quite reliable water reservoir, Lake Stymphalia and its surrounding karst springs played an important role for the water supply of the region from ancient time until today. However, due to climate fluctuations, the water supply can change significantly, challenging the water management of the people living in the area. Here we present geochemical analyses of the uppermost part of a lake sediment core (STY-1), recording the changes in climate and water supply during the Holocene and the Late Glacial. The chronology is based on several
14
C dates combined to a Bayesian age-depth model. Using XRF elemental analysis, we compare the influx of terrestrial material (indicated by K and Rb) to the carbonate precipitation in the lake (indicated by Ca and Sr). The Rb/Sr ratio as a proxy for changes between dry/warm and wet/cold conditions indicate pronounced wet phases around 6800, 4000–3700–4000, 3500–3000 and 500–200 cal BP.
... Tracer experiments revealed a subterraneous hydrogeological connection to the karst springs of Kiveri and Lerni 30 km to the SE of Lake Stymphalia at the Gulf of Argos (Morfis and Zojer, 1986). Since the late 19th century, a former Roman build tunnel from the 2nd century AD ("Hadrianic aqueduct") at the SE rim of the lake channels part of the lake waters for agricultural purposes to the neighbouring polje of Scotini and from there to the coastal plain of Kiato (Morfis and Zojer, 1986;Lolos, 1997). The modern Lake Stymphalia is reported as an eutrophic (Papastergiadou et al., 2007), hard-water lake (pH 8.5; alkalinity 123 mg CaCO 3 l À1 ; 44.2 mg Ca l À1 ) with a conductivity of 208 mS cm À1 (measurements during the field campaign in March 2010, cf. ...
The sedimentary sequence of Lake Stymphalia (NE-Peloponnese) for the first time sheds light on the palaeoclimate development of Southern Greece from 15 to 5 ka BP. New geochemical data based on high-resolution X-ray fluorescence scanning provide in-situ, and continuous analysis of predefined element suites on split-core surfaces. Variations of elements over time were assessed constructing correlation matrices based on the calculation of Pearson correlation coefficients. The element suite includes Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Zn, Rb, Sr, and Zr. A major result includes that changes in element behaviour are related to hydrological changes in the catchment (precipitation), lake level status, and evaporation (insolation/solar activity), and are ultimately driven by climate. Major trends/shifts in elemental ratios correspond to the climate development in the Eastern Mediterranean region. Based on correlation of Rb/Sr, reflecting wet/dry climates, with foraminiferal proxies of marine core LC21 from the Southern Aegean Sea, and the stable oxygen-isotope record of Soreq cave (Israel), the Belling-Allerod, the Younger Dryas, and the 8.2 ka cold event were identified.
It has long been clear that the water supply in ancient Greece was transformed over time, with the relative number of various types of water sources varying in time and space. Yet, what patterns this produced has never been explored, and the degree to which trends suggested by local or qualitative studies are representative for larger areas and patterns is unknown. The root of this uncertainty lies largely in the difficulty assembling an extensive and representative material beyond individual sites or cities. Following this, the present article has two aims. The first is to test and evaluate a method for collecting an extensive and (more) representative material for the investigation of the water supply in ancient Greece on a regional scale, based on a systematic review of the material from the Peloponnese published in Archaeological Reports 1887–2012. The second aim is to discuss how the collected data can be used to explore the transformations of the water supply systems on the Peloponnese in the period 900 BC–AD 300. Together the results are intended to develop further the WaterWorks project, which aims to create a better understanding of the development of the ancient water supply. The method produced a considerably better dataset than previously available. The dataset, recorded in an Access database, suggests that some hitherto acknowledged trends are probably valid for larger areas while others are less prominent than previously believed. However, in the end, the dataset is too limited to allow firm conclusions concerning how, and to a larger degree why, the water supply system was transformed over time. The dataset will be made publicly accessible in an open access repository.
The Western Argolid Regional Project (WARP) is an intensive pedestrian survey of 30 km2, located northwest of Argos along the banks of the Inachos River. Using high-intensity collection strategies, WARP generated very fine-resolution data that provide insights into the ways this seemingly marginal area contributed to and was impacted by regional histories. A key question is how the network of mountainous routes that traverse this landscape, connecting the area to the Corinthia and Arkadia, may have influenced localized, diachronic settlement patterns. This article focuses on areas of high artifact densities to demonstrate how regional activity and interconnectivity changed from the Neolithic to Modern period at this crossroads in the northeastern Peloponnese.
In this paper, we present findings from a field inspection of the Knossos aqueduct undertaken in 2019. A key contribution of our fieldwork was the architectural identification of the Roman channel underlying the nineteenth-century wall of the Ottoman-Egyptian aqueduct supplying Iraklio. While reuse of the Roman aqueduct in the nineteenth century was known from historical reports, the structural overlap has never been identified in the field or documented archaeologically, until now. We recorded the Roman channel lined with opus signinum running along the base of the nineteenth-century aqueduct's wall between Fundana and Spilia. Through this realisation in the field, we were able to establish diagnostic styles of masonry for both periods. Our architectural distinction between the overlaid aqueducts allowed us to integrate previously disarticulated components of the later system, like the reused Roman tunnel at Skalani and the nineteenth-century bridge at Spilia, into an integrated Ottoman-Egyptian water supply for Iraklio. As we approached Knossos from Spilia, we were also able to identify the point at which the Venetian aqueduct supplying Iraklio converged with the Roman system. Consequently, our 2019 fieldwork not only mapped the length of the Roman aqueduct supplying the city of Knossos but also that section of the nineteenth-century Ottoman-Egyptian aqueduct of Iraklio built directly over it and a shorter tract of the Venetian aqueduct of Iraklio that either ran alongside it or was, in turn, itself partially overlaid by the nineteenth-century system.
Calcium carbonate deposits from ancient water systems such as aqueducts are a hidden archive for archaeology and environmental sciences. These deposits formed wherever carbonate‐rich water was in contact with a water‐containing structure and recorded water composition, temperature, biological content, the operation or nonoperation of a water system segment, flow discharge and velocity, the shape of disappeared segments of water structures, the number of years a water supply system was active, disruptions of the water supply and water management such as repairs, adaptations and cleaning. Indirectly, urban development, resilience, population‐ and socioeconomic dynamics can be studied through the stratigraphy of carbonate in water systems. Carbonate archives can also give insight into long‐term changes in paleoclimate and on environmental pollution, deforestation, extreme floods, droughts, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Archaeological and environmental investigations of carbonate deposits can provide data with up to daily resolution over decades to centuries. Although absolute dating of carbonate from water systems is still problematic, each study on the aqueduct of an ancient city, together with its carbonate deposits, provides its own microstory in Roman life.
Colonia Iulia victrix Philippiensium was founded by Mark Antony after the battle of Philippi in 42 BC and was re-founded by Octavian as colonia Iulia Philippiensis, then Augusta, after the naval battle in Actium in 31 BC. Philippi was one of the most important stations along the Egnatia Road. During the Antonine period, in the second half of the 2nd c. AD, the city’s center was reconstructed in its most monumental form. The aqueduct for the water supply of the city has been dated to the same period. It is an open-channel aqueduct with a barrel vaulted cover that collected water from the Kefalari area (karstic springs of Voirani), about seven kilometers north-northwest of Philippi.
A sixth season of excavation at the late Roman rural estate of Gerace (Enna province, Sicily) took place in 2019. The principal goal, of completing the investigation of the bath-house of ca. 380 (first discovered in 2016), was achieved. A second cold pool of the frigidarium was excavated, and found to be very well preserved; in a secondary period, probably during construction, it had been made smaller than originally planned. Bricks underpinning its marble floor are, at ca. 65 cm square, among the largest known, and may document continuing use of the Doric foot measure (widespread in classical and Hellenistic Sicily) into late antiquity. The marble floor had been ripped up during the stripping process in the fifth century, when a bonfire was lit inside the pool. The caldarium also saw modification during construction (it too was made smaller than planned); its mosaic floor was smashed (although its design was recoverable) and all but one of the pilae stacks supporting the floor were removed during demolition. The opus signinum floor of an adjacent hot-water pool had been similarly destroyed. Its back wall was severely fractured by the earthquake that struck Gerace in the second half of the fifth century, possibly not before ca. ad 470. Part of its praefurnium was also excavated, but total exposure was hindered by the precarious state of the masonry. The exterior of the praefurnium of tepidarium 2 was also explored. Two successive water conduits were found to the north, and the water system for supplying the baths hypothetically reconstructed. An enigmatic apse belonging to another building, possibly mid-imperial, was also discovered. Finds in the baths included a new monogrammed tile stamp reading ANTONINI or similar, a leg of a marble statuette, and five chamber pots, four of them reconstructable entire. Four appendices contain reports on other ongoing research. Work on the animal bones include for the first time isotopic analysis of a sample; the number of equid bones continues to rise to unusually high levels for a Roman archaeological site in the Mediterranean. Continuing analysis of the carbonized wood has identified that the hypocaust fuel for the baths comprised oak and olive-tree cuttings. Investigation of a deposit inside one of the chamber pots has shown the presence of eggs of intestinal whipworm (and therefore of faeces), so proving the function of such vessels for the first time.
Une sixième saison de fouilles sur le site du domaine rural romain d’époque tardive de Gerace (province d’Enna, Sicile) a eu lieu en 2019. L’objectif principal, à savoir compléter l’investigation des bains datant d’env. 380 apr. J.-C. (découverts en 2016), fut atteint. Un second bassin du frigidarium fut mis au jour et se révéla très bien conservé. Il avait été aménagé dans des dimensions moindres que celles initialement prévues, ce changement ayant probablement été opéré directement au moment des travaux de construction. Les briques qui sous-tendent son plancher en marbre sont, à env. 65 cm ² , parmi les plus grandes connues, et peuvent attester de l’utilisation prolongée de la mesure en pied dorique (répandue en Sicile classique et hellénistique) jusque dans l’Antiquité tardive. Le plancher de marbre avait été arraché au Ve siècle lors du processus de décapage, lorsqu’un feu avait été allumé à l’intérieur du bassin. Le caldarium fit lui aussi l’objet de modifications au moment de sa construction (il fut lui-même réduit par rapport à son plan initial); son sol en mosaïque était fracassé (bien que sa conception ait pu être récupérée) et toutes les piles de pilae qui supportaient le plancher sauf une furent retirées au moment de la démolition. Le pavement d’ opus signinum d’un bassin d’eau chaude adjacent avait été détruit de la même manière. Son mur arrière avait été sévèrement fracturé par le tremblement de terre qui frappa Gerace durant la seconde moitié du Ve siècle (peut-être pas avant env. 470 apr. J.-C.). Une partie de son praefurnium fut également fouillée, mais l’exposition entière fut entravée par l’état précaire de la maçonnerie. L’extérieur du praefurnium du tepidarium 2 fut également exploré. Deux conduites d’eau successives furent retrouvées au nord, et le système d’alimentation en eau des bains a pu être hypothétiquement reconstitué. Une abside énigmatique appartenant à un autre édifice, datant possiblement du milieu de l’empire, fut par ailleurs mise au jour. Les découvertes dans les bains comprenaient une nouvelle marque d’étampe sur une tuile d’un monogramme indiquant ANTONINI ou similaire, une jambe d’une statuette en marbre et cinq pots de chambre, dont quatre étaient entièrement reconstructibles. Quatre annexes contiennent des rapports sur d’autres recherches en cours. Les travaux sur les os d’animaux comprenaient pour la première fois l’analyse isotopique d’un échantillon. Le nombre d’ossements d’équidés continue d’augmenter à des niveaux anormalement élevés pour un site archéologique romain en Méditerranée. L’analyse continue de bois carbonisé a permis d’identifier que le combustible de l’hypocauste pour les bains comprenait de chêne et des boutures d’olivier. L’analyse d’un dépôt à l’intérieur d’un des pots de chambre a révélé la présence d’œufs de trichocéphale intestinal (et donc d’excréments), prouvant ainsi la fonction de ces vaisseaux pour la première fois.
The fragmented remains of five plain-ware Sicilian-made pots were recovered from the fifth-century destruction deposits of the late fourth-century bath-building at Gerace in 2019. While their shape raised the possibility that they may have been used as chamber pots, further evidence was required to improve confidence in this interpretation. One of the pots contained mineralized concretions inside the bottom of the container. A sample of this was removed, so providing the opportunity for laboratory analysis to determine whether human faecal waste had been present in this pot at the time when the concretions formed. Multiple eggs of whipworm (Trichuris trichiura) were found in the mineralized material (Figure 2), at a concentration of 40 eggs per gram. They are identifiable by their lemon shape, wall thickness, overall dimensions, and also the location of the original polar plugs at each end (although the plugs themselves did not survive). The mean egg length without polar plugs was 46.6 micrometers (standard deviation +/-3.5), and the mean width was 25.6 micrometers (SD +/-1.3). The presence of human intestinal parasite eggs embedded within the mineralized concretions which had formed inside this pot shows that human faeces was present on a sufficiently regular basis for some of its contents to become incorporated into the matrix as it formed. In this context, the most plausible explanation is that this particular vessel, and no doubt its companions as well, were used as chamber pots by those visiting the bath-house.
Old Lands takes readers on an epic journey through the legion spaces and times of the Eastern Peloponnese, trailing in the footsteps of a Roman periegete, an Ottoman traveler, antiquarians, and anonymous agrarians.
Following waters in search of rest through the lens of Lucretian poetics, Christopher Witmore reconstitutes an untimely mode of ambulatory writing, chorography, mindful of the challenges we all face in these precarious times. Turning on pressing concerns that arise out of object-oriented encounters, Old Lands ponders the disappearance of an agrarian world rooted in the Neolithic, the transition to urban-styles of living, and changes in communication, movement, and metabolism, while opening fresh perspectives on long-term inhabitation, changing mobilities, and appropriation through pollution. Carefully composed with those objects encountered along its varied paths, this book offers an original and wonderous account of a region in twenty-seven segments, and fulfills a longstanding ambition within archaeology to generate a polychronic narrative that stands as a complement and alternative to diachronic history.
Old Lands will be of interest to historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and scholars of the Eastern Peloponnese. Those interested in the long-term changes in society, technology, and culture in this region will find this book captivating.
The Roman Villa in the Mediterranean Basin - edited by Annalisa Marzano July 2018
Cambridge Core - Classical Archaeology - The Roman Villa in the Mediterranean Basin - edited by Annalisa Marzano
This paper uses the results of recent excavations of the city of Stymphalos and environmental studies on the floor of the Stymphalos polje to examine the role of both the lake and springs in the history of the classical city. Associated with Artemis and famed for Herakles' sixth labour (killing of the Stymphalian birds), the city has a rich (geo)mythology. While this narrative has been associated solely with the lake, it is argued here that this geomythology was part of the city's relationship to environmental unpredictability and the relationship between water supply and water loss. Seen in this context, the construction of the fountain-house above the contemporary lakeshore is symbolic of the importance of springs to the foundation and sustainability of the classical city during both the Greek and Roman Periods. Through these archaeological and environmental analyses, we seek to illustrate the complimentary, but complex nature of archaeological, hydrogeological and palaeoenvironmental data that intersect in the geomythological landscapes of Mediterranean antiquity.
It is often considered that when the Balkanicpeninsula came to be under Roman dominion, autonomous Greek city states were turned into mere administrative districts of a unified province from now on, and that a change of settlement and land-use patterns occurred. It is a matter of fact necessary to reexamine the countryside's history by questioning the chronological foundations of the archaeological surveys. Moreover, it is possible as well to pinpoint the city's pereniality even as far as the Empire's period. It is the very notion of "Roman Greece", regarded at the same time as a spatial continuum and as a chronological unity lasting from 200 BC to 200 AD, which is thus challenged.
The essays in this volume bring to bear the latest scholarly and technological trends in archaeological research to shed new light on the site of Pisidian Antioch in west-central Turkey. Drawing on 3-D virtual reality technology as well as archival material from a 1924 University of Michigan expedition to the site, the authors propose new reconstructions of the city's major excavated monuments. They also evaluate these monuments in relation to the social and political imperatives of Pisidian Antioch's hybrid culture - one that overlaid a Roman imperial colony on a Hellenistic Greek city in an Anatolian region long inhabited by Phrygians and Pisidians. The study of Pisidian Antioch is thus seen in the context of recent scholarship on Rome's colonial project in the eastern empire. An accompanying DVD presents a fly-over of the virtual city created to aid in the authors' research.
During the reign of Hadrian (117-138 AD), many cities in the Peloponnese issued bronze coins. The portrait of the emperor features on the obverse and a civic design on the reverse. Among those issuing coins were the Eleans (from Elis, Roman province of Achaia), who administered the sanctuary of Olympia. Although the volume of the coinage was fairly limited, it nevertheless offered them a means of promoting their artistic and agonistic heritage, with the urban centre of Elis itself associated with the prestige of Olympia.
The reconstruction of population-levels for ancient cities is a difficult undertaking. Many methods are present in the literature, each with their own (dis)advantages. This paper presents an illustration on the methodological issues encountered in the reconstruction of the population-levels of an ancient city. The city of Corinth is used as an example, since it has a long history of scholarly interest (including demographic) and it is considered to have played a pivotal role in Roman Greece. Excavations at the site of Corinth have revealed a strongly monumentalized site which seems to at least equal its Greek predecessor. In terms of population, Corinth has been estimated as one of the larger cities in Roman Greece. Corinth is therefore a focal point of academic attention for researchers both directly and indirectly involved in its studies.
Modern perceptions of the ancient Piraeus have been monopolised by the urban image and function of the port as the naval stronghold of Classical Athens. Existing scholarship so far has tended to consider the post-Classical centuries, especially the era following the sack of the port in 86
bc
by the Romans, as a period of decline. Such preconceptions, based on largely superficial readings of a few ancient literary texts and a near-total disregard of the material evidence, have created a distorted image of the Piraeus and its significance in the Roman period. Drawing upon textual sources as well as archaeological evidence, this paper explores the changing nature of urban settlement, maritime functions and the economy of the port from the time of its destruction in 86
bc
to around the sixth century
ad
. Particular emphasis is placed on a re-examination of the existing evidence from rescue excavations conducted by the Greek Archaeological Service as they relate to the topography of the Roman port and its long-term evolution. This combined study offers a more complex picture of the infrastructure, urban image and operational capability of the port during the Roman period than was hitherto possible. It also permits a more balanced understanding of the port's function at local, regional and provincial levels, and thus enables comparisons with other Roman ports in the Aegean and the rest of the Mediterranean.
This book is a comprehensive study of the experience of alienation in its many and inter-related manifestations as attested in the late-antique East. It situates Christianity's enduring legacy in its early historical context and explores the way estrangement from all worldly attributes was elevated to the status of a cardinal religious virtue. The author analyzes the reasons for the new faith's concern for the marginalized and shows the contemporary relevance of social utopia as an antidote to alienation. Christianity's contradictions are also examined as, in opposing the existing legal order, the followers of the monotheistic religion inadvertently supported the violence of the imperial authority and its laws. Further, the study focuses on the existentialist and psychological dimensions of time-honoured metaphors, such as «Life is a theatre» and «Dead to the world», and investigates mental illness in late antiquity. Finally, the early origins of the modern concept of the self are traced back to the ideological transformations that marked the slow transition from antiquity to the middle ages. © Peter Lang AG, International Academic Publishers, Bern 2010. All rights reserved.
In the early a.d. 120s, Hadrian employed the Peloponnesian Achaian League to unify the cities of the province Achaia. Roman Corinth's role as urban leader of the League may have been formalized by the renovation of the Lechaion Road Basilica, embellished with an unusual sculpture program that included heroes, gods, and personifications representing Peloponnesian member cities. The relief figures could even have represented the itinerary of Hadrian's first visit as emperor to Greece in a.d. 124. The sculptures may have adorned the Lechaion Road Basilica and offer a profile of the city and the Achaian koinon just before the initiation of the Panhellenion in Athens.
In this paper I examine the difficulties encountered in securing the water supply for the Roman city of Lyttos in east central Crete. The city, set on an elevated spur in the western foothills of the Lasithi range, represents one of the relatively few examples of a flourishing upland Roman city on the island. Lyttos was both an inland centre and one of the most prosperous cities of Roman Crete. Its lofty position, simultaneously overshadowing the Pedhiadha plain and controlling the main pass into the Lasithi plateau, secured its control over a wide agricultural area. At this inland, and relatively inaccessible site, economics (as manifested in viticulture), as opposed to geographical accessibility per se, connected the city with the broader Roman world. Despite the relative inconvenience of the city’s topography, the city remained on its perch in order to control the pass into the lucrative Lasithi plain. The city’s strategic placement undoubtedly presented a challenge for its Roman planners, yet the city survived (and continued to flourish into the Byzantine period), by virtue of its hydraulic surveyors taking full advantage of the city’s mountainous surrounds in designing its aqueduct.
Built by the emperors of the Flavian dynasty, the conical fountain known in antiquity as the Meta Sudans appears on imperial coins and medallions issued by the emperors Titus, Domitian, Alexander Severus, and Gordian III. The enduring imperial interest in the fountain can be attributed to the monument's topographic and ideological associations with Augustus and the legacy of imperial Rome, associations that inspired the building of similar fountains in North Africa as well as the use of conical fountains as numismatic symbols of Rome in the cities of Corinth in Achaea and Nikopolis in Epirus.
Of all monuments constructed or renovated in Corinth from its foundation as a Roman colony in 44 b.c. into the early 3rd century a.d., springhouses and fountains are perhaps the most evocative and elaborate. Hydraulic architecture is particularly valuable for chronicling Corinth's evolution from Roman colony among Greek neighbors to thriving capital of provincia Achaia. Architecture and sculptural adornment, donor inscriptions, and associated myths conspired to cultivate memories and shape identity, reflecting and reinvesting in the city's provincial and imperial status. While fountain design was an important medium of sociopolitical communication, the monuments were, above all, expressions of affinities and tensions felt toward the natural world and its divine stewards.
A wide, unpaved, north-south Roman road was established in the Panayia Field at Ancient Corinth in the last years of the 1st century b.c. Over the next six centuries, numerous civic and private construction activities altered its spatial organization, function as a transportation artery, and use for water and waste management. Changes included the installation and maintenance of sidewalks, curbs, drains, terracotta pipelines, and porches at doorways. The terracotta pipelines are presented here typologically in chronological sequence. The road elucidates early-colony land division at Corinth, urbanization into the 4th century a.d., and subsequent deurbanization in the 6th century, when maintenance of the road ended.
At some time in the second quarter of the second century AD, the controversial sophist–philosopher Favorinus seems to have delivered a speech in Corinth, complaining about the removal of a statue which had previously been erected there in his honour. In doing so he was addressing the inhabitants of a city which occupied an unusual – in many ways unique – position between Greek and Roman identity: Corinth had been sacked by Roman forces in 146 BC, and then refounded as a Roman colony more than one hundred years later, and even in the second century AD it was still sometimes represented as a Roman intrusion within the Greek world, even though it had been strongly influenced by the Greek populations surrounding it in the intervening years. My aim in this article is to examine Favorinus' Corinthian Oration in the light of the cultural ambiguities of its setting. Despite increasing interest in Favorinus in recent years, and despite an increasing volume of archaeological evidence for Corinthian life in the second century, there have been very few detailed readings of the speech's complexities, and even fewer which have recognized the way in which it is crucially anchored within its Corinthian context.
The term nymphaeum is conventionally used by archaeologists for monumental fountain structures, of different architectural forms. Their common features are their monumentality and their exceptional architectural aesthetics, as well as their function as urban landmarks. They were public buildings, included in the city’s urban context, sometimes located just at the city´s outskirts, however always connected with a major aqueduct - either at its end, or along the route of the central water supplying system.
Monumental nymphaea are centrally located in major cities of the roman East and are usually financed by the Emperor, the city, or local wealthy patrons. These imposing monuments stood one to three stories high and were embellished with sculptural display programs that often interacted with flowing water to create innovative kinetic displays, carefully arranged to reflect the city’s image, to project its prosperity and to display the authority and majesty of the benefactor or/and the local community. Their study tries to reconstruct the role they held in the urban design, as well as in the social and political life of the cities of the Graeco-Roman East.
The ancient road from Corinth to Argos via the Longopotamos pass was one of the most important and longest-used natural routes through the northeastern Peloponnese. The author proposes to identify the exact route of the road as it passed through Kleonaian territory by combining the evidence of ancient testimonia, the identification of ancient roadside features, the accounts of early travelers, and autopsy. The act of tracing the road serves to emphasize the prominent position of the city Kleonai on this interstate route, which had significant consequences both for its own history and for that of neighboring states.
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