Aitaloakarnania and Fokida

More from the long trip... continuing through Fokida, Lokrida, Aitolia, and Akarnania.


The monument to the slaughtered at Distomo (WWII).
Me at Osios Loukas Monastery.
The two churches at Osios Loukas.
Looking out over the valley below Osios Loukas.
Head of Apollo in chryselephantine, Delphi Museum. I did a presentation on this in 1999 with CYA! It's still one of my favorites.
View of the theater and temple of Apollo from above. The small building in the upper right corner is the Treasury of the Athenians.
Temple of Apollo at Delphi, from the inside. (Special permit.)
The Treasury of the Athenians at Delphi, from the inside. (Special permit.)
The gymnasium at Delphi.

The tholos at Delphi.
The sleepy (in winter) town of Galaxidi, which has a really, really great Nautical Museum. Best thing about the town.
The theater with the straight rows at Kalydon. Although no doubt a very important site (this theater is really interesting), the most notable thing about the site of Kalydon is the hoards of mosquitoes. I counted forty mosquito bites on myself before I gave up. Miraculously, they all disappeared within a day.
The heroon at Mesolonghi, for the Greek War of Independence.
The theater at Stratos. In case you're wondering what's going on with all the theaters everywhere, I'm writing my dissertation on them.
John demonstrates one method of entering an archaeological site (here, Stratos).

Steven demonstrates the other method.

The Roman baths at Nikopolis.

Peloponnese Day 7: Tegea and Vasses

Tegea, Temple of Athena Alea.

Museum is closed for renovations.
Temple of Athena Alea: Scopas was the architect. Ivory cult statue of Atehna, tusks of Calydonian boar stolen by Augustus, etc. 1806 first discovered. 1879- 1st excavations. Early 1900’s, French School. 1940’s – 50’s: Hodge Hill compared it to Nemean Temple of Zeus. 1960’s – continuing excavations. Multinational effort.
Cult buildings from Geometric period, Archaic, Classical. A well – where Herakles raped the nymph Auge who gave birth to Telephus. Geometric/Archaic small finds under the temple. Classical altar. Stadium somewhere around here but not found yet. Maybe under church. Waddle and daub apsidal building: Geometric wooden fence in the apse (W part of building). Probably cultic – found decorated pottery. Another one above it, E-W orientation, apse on W part, where cult statue would have stood. Thus: Cult activity here continuous from Geometric period.

In front: a small metal workshop, roughly contemporary with Geometric buildings – cult again? Above all this – a monumental Archaic temple. Foundation preserved in part.

Supposedly (Paus. says) burned down in 395, replaced by a Classical temple (most of what we see). Remains seem to confirm this date. Scopas 375-330 floruit. He was in 360 in Halicarnassus working on Mausoleum. Looking for Asian influence to date it after 360 (when he came back brough some Asian workers) – some elements of this type do in fact exist. Plus a dedication to Mausolus.

345-335 BCE is a good date. Mostly conglomerate blocks. Two entrances – one to the N, one to the E. Ramp on N: cult? games? somehow related. Procession after games maybe, no stadium to the N though. Access to the Heracles/Auge well (?) leads directly to the cult image.

Temple: Doric peripteral hexastyle exterior, 14 columns down the side (i.e., 6x14). Preserves (?) the Archaic floorplan that preceded it (like at Bassae). Over 80 Doric drums survive. Less from porches – 3 architrave blocks – preserve inscriptions identifying people in the metopes! Local mythological figures/heroes. Unusual metopes: independently carved, then set into the metopes (comparanda: Erechtheion in Athens). Interior: hard to reconstruct. Highly decorated – lots of mouldings. Lower colonnade – frieze topped by moulding. Above that – an Ionic colonnade on top. Little evidence – just some fluting that differs from the Doric/Corinthian fluting. Colonnade on three sides of interior (N,W,S). Π-shaped colonnade. Draws eye toward cult statue. Severe Doric exterior that gives way to the elaborately decorated interior, esp. with light hitting the interior of the cella. Exterior harkens back to the Archaic temple. Columns linked by continuous mouldings.
Athena Alea.
Open-air Water Power Museum.
Byzantine bridge at Karytaina. Temple of Apollo, Vasses. (Under the tent.)

Fred Cooper, 4 vols. Sculpture in the British Museum. 6km from Phigaleia on Mt. Kotylon. Pausanias dates it to 429 BC, confirmed by pottery. Architect: Ictinus (architect of the Parthenon). The roof and temple are all of stone. Most admirable (for harmony) after Tegea (Athena Alea). Built after the 431 BC plague, during the Peloponnesian War. Set up by the Phigaleians.

Excavations: discovered in late C18. 1811-12: Cockerell, Hollerstein, et al. 1902-08 Greeks excavated here. 1927: Dinsmoor works on the architecture, publishes ideas. 1960’s: Ialouris. Ther was an earthquake that caused a lot of structural damage. Tent went up in 1987. Since 1970, Fred Cooper has been working here.

Temple: Doric peristyle 6x15. Lacks traditional late C5 refinements: no entasis, no upward curvature or inward inclination, no thicker end columns. Archaizing style. All of this makes its date questionable. Maybe earlier than 429. Carved metopes; no pedimental sculpture. Very simple exterior, complex interior – Ionic frieze with engaged Ionic columns. Oriented N-S. East wall has a door to the adyton. Archaic outside, new inside. Maybe Ictinus didn’t build it? Or maybe there were two building phases? Or a deliberate choice of archaizing – this is most likely.
The footprint of the earlier temple is the same as the Ictinus temple (phase IV), except Ictinus’ is peripteral. Archaic temple dated to 600-575. The Archaic temple was excavated: found 2 sets of terra cotta fragments of roof tiles. 1995: Kelly studies roof structure: if you move Phase IC 10 m N you get temple phase I and II (same footprint) – therefore a deliberate decision.

Interpetation: religious conservatism (Kelly). Cooper imagines a Phase III, but most people disagree with a Phase III.

Corinthian Capital: if we entered the E wall door to the adyton, we would see the first example of a Corinthian Capital. Disappeared (fell apart) but we have pieces. Vitruvius says the image comes from Corinth, but we have this one here as our first example. We have Ionic stuff inside, but it doesn’t work in the middle of a room (it’s not 3D) – so Corinthian makes the most sense here. Fully 3D but has same column shaft as Ionic. Continuous tainia frieze (Ionic) in interior. Dinsmoor wants more than one (3 in fact) Corinthian Columns + capitals but this can’t be proven.

The Corinthian column might have been an aniconic cult statue of Apollo. No evidence of an altar back there. Function of Ionic frieze: architectural feature that ties the room together. C5 friezes delimit space, tie together stuff. Herakles is a focal point in the frieze, acts like a ribbon to bind together unrelated space. Frieze: a Trojan Amazonomachy (Penthesileia, Achilles, Telamonian Ajax), Herakleian Amazonomachy (Telamon), Centauromachy (Hippodameia, Dioskouroi, Apollo, Artemis’ sanctuary). Start at NW and go out in both directions; maybe made by Paionios who made Nike at Olympia? Probably not. Shows development of C5-early C4, but poor lighting diminishes it.

British Museum rearranged the frieze; it was unpopular so they put it back the way it was (wrong).

Ictinus: why would he build the Parthenon, and then this local limestone archaic thing? Seems to have been built before Parthenon (archaizing). Parthenon and Bassae don’t cohere together, may be significant. Ictinus (when we know it’s him) makes a Doric exterior, Ionic inside to carry ceiling.

Peloponnese Day 6: Arkadia

Today was my favorite day of the trip, even though I saw nothing I hadn't seen before. That's okay, because we went to Megalopolis, Lykosoura, and Mt. Lykaion!!

As seen from the top of Mt. Lykaion, smoke emanating from the power plant in the Tripolis plain.
Mt. Lykaion.

Brief excavations at the turn of the 20th century by Greek archaeologists. Sanctuary of Zeus sacred to Arkadians. Whole mountain was sacred, Zeus’ birthplace. Stadium and hippodrome. At top, sanctuary of Pan; ash altar – burnt stones, small animal bones, C5-4 pottery, Aiginetan coins, bronze tripods. Human sacrifice here? 30m diameter altar. Found rooftiles, bronze figurines, but no building. Later (1909) excavated in lower sanctuary. Vanderpool recorded some inscriptions, saw four starting blocks for stadium in situ. We can see one of them. Late C7 activity on top. Lower: C4.

Pausanias: “games used to be held here.” Site was unexplored til 1999, David Romano came here. Only place where we have a preserved hippodrome on Greek mainland. Started test trenches this year, and a survey. Found packed earth floor of stadium/hippodrome. Started Lykaion Games in 1960’s, brought in tons of gravel which now distorts our orientation. Xenon, longer stoa, steps, drain (modern) – spring was an ancient source for the sanctuary. Rectangular structure: late antique building, not published. C4 bath with bathtubs. In the next few years, we should learn a LOT more about this site.

Lykaios < wolf – wolf-stories with Zeus. A man (Lykaios) tried to fool Zeus, killed a slave and offered the meat to Zeus; Zeus changed him into a wolf. Romano has collected all the sources on his website. Allusions of human sacrifice here. You can’t see your shadow up on the ash altar.

There were wild flowers everywhere, especially cyclamen, at Lykosoura.
Seats in the theater at Megalopolis.

-Huge city wall, designed to include fields.
-Divided by Helison River. Theater and Thersileion are on one side; other side: agora with stoa, civic center, sanctuary of Zeus Soter.
-Thersileion: in ruins at Pausanias time, excavated 1891-1893 by Loring (British School). Designed for many, many people, maybe 10,000.
-Theater
-Building under pile of gravel – rectangular structure and C2 roof tiles: skenotheke.
-Did the theater therefore have a movable stage? Was it originally so? Thersileion is very close to the theater. Massive colonnaded porch faced the theater. Maybe the Thersileion was used as a backdrop for the theater.
-Bulla says: theater was for assembly, religious performances, not dramatic performances. He may be prejudiced against rural peoples’ ability to have real theater.

What’s here: columns in radiating lines (protects sight lines). Later, 7 columns were added to protect the structure; early excavators were puzzled by Thersileion’s orientation – opening to theater. Germans excavated here 2000-2003 and say that it’s constructed with the porch in mind, as a planned part of the building. Because they’re oriented to each other, maybe built Thersileion and Theater as a unit, OR the later one was built to orient with it. No stratographic material is left. New excavators look at the stratigraphy from Agora. They use the 2 complexes as comparanda for each other – clamps, chisel markings, shapes of blocks, architecture generally. Conclusion: original theater and skenotheke built as one unit. Believes the Thersileion was constructed first, along with the so-called Stoa of Philip.

Second generation: theater, skenotheke, and Meropolis Stoa. Late C4 (or end of C4) BC. Alternating leader and stretcher courses, diamond shaped chisel rustication (deliberate rough look on stone).

Third generation: skene frons. This blocks the skenotheke, which was then no longer used. Presumably the colonnade of Thersileion was the backdrop. Skene frons is only head-high.

222 BC – destruction by a Spartan king, Kleomenes III. Razes and burns the city. Cause of Thersileion’s destructions that Pausanias sees in C2 AD. Germans doubt this (i.e., that it wasnever rebuilt). Evidence suggests a leading citizen, Philopoemon, contributed funds to rebuld stuff damaged by Kleomenes. This is the phase when the 7 columns are added – matches to a dated stoa in the agora, with rooftiles with Philopemon’s name on it. The article is very new, should be quite controversial.

Back of honorary seats in theater – there is an inscription that identifies it with a C3 Olympic victor.

340’s: founding of the Thersileion
Late C4: Theater
Philopoemon phase: fixing the theater.
The theater is not really built into the hill. It comes out very far, and uses military fortifications in retaining wall. The earth fill was softer
The temple of Despoina at Lykosoura.

I took this photo in January, actually, but this is the power plant as seen from the Thersileion of Megalopolis.
The Stoa of Philip (V?) at Megalopolis Agora:

C4-C5 AD: major destruction, C6AD: private houses built.
Old Bouleuterion on N (DEH) side. Also a gymnasion somewhere.
Stoa of Philip (standing) is 2nd largest stoa in Greece. Germans did anastylosis. Leake saw a lot of columns sticking up. Could see cavea of theater, some seats (later were robbed away).

DEH: lignite coal plant. Lots of lignite here. Should close by 2022.

Peloponnese Day 5: Ancient Messene

Today we went to the chamber tombs at Thourion, the site of Ancient Messene, the Messene Archaeological Museum, the city of Kalamata, the Kalamata Archaeological Museum, and Nichoria.

Chamber tomb at Thourion.
Two churches in the old center of Kalamata.
Stadium at Messene.

No native literary tradition until Messene (369) founded. Surveys done in the area, like Malthi in the Soulema Valley (near Peristeria) – Mycenaean fortified citadel; Ag. Flouros area – thought related to a sanctuary of Artemis or Aphrodite. 1960’s: Minnesota Messenia Expedition did a major “extensive survey.” Talked to local farmers about what’s here. Informal survey walking. They list where they went with notes of what they saw on the surface. Had geologists (Rapp) – studied seacoast change by looking at potential for erosion; described hydrogeology of the area. “Extensive” = not systematic, not random sample – went where they thought would be good places to go.

In the 1990’s, Pylos Regional Archaeological Project, “instensive” survey – 10m apart markers, teams of 5-8 people, systematic. You cover everything, local or not. Random selection of these areas. Based on altitude (get some stuff at various altitudes). Unbiased by “likelihood.” Also multidisclipinary – geologists did cores, botanists/archaeobotanists looked at pollen – can indicate change in climate. Ethnographers talked to locals about their feelings about boundaries/backgrounds; historians (like Sue Alcock); pottery experts. Result: wanted to trace hinterland of Bronze Age Nestor’s Palace. See how the palace slowly increases hegemony on this side of Aigaleon, later on the other side. After Bronze Age, fire destroyed the palace. Not reoccupied. Population drops very dramatically: a very large town outside the palace, lots of LHIIIA-B, very little LHIIIC. Big gap in early Dark Age. Differs from finds at other surveys. Usually, there are a few larger centers, then later towns with small hamlets in between. Here we find huge nucleated sites with lots of empty space in between. Spartans try to control them, so maybe having them dispersed would be harder to control. Population increases Hellenistic -> Roman period. Could be generalized for western Peloponnese, oriented more toward Italy, whereas before was the “backside” of an Aegean-oriented Greece. Survey pottery is not stratified, harder to date precisely. You need a stratified excavation to date more sensitively.

Sculpture from the Kalamata Archaeological Museum.
Ekklesiasterion at Messene (according to Themelis).
Fortifications at the Arcadian Gate, Messene.
Sculpture from the Messene Museum.
The theater at Messene.

The Messenian Wars

Pausanias says: Polychares (a Messenian), whose son was killed by a Spartan, starts killing Spartans, and the Spartans react appropriately. Raids back and forth, indecisive battles. Messenians are stuck in Mt. Ithome, which Spartans besiege. Eventually they surrender to the Spartans, but did not become slaves at this point.

Tyrtaios: Messenians had to give 1/2 of their produce to the Spartans, grieve for the dead Spartan king, and take an oath not to revolt.

.… 30 years later …. Aristomenes leads Messene into the 2nd war. Ends up as an outlaw, betrayed, escapes a lot. Doomed to fail of course. More Messenians flee to Rhegion (Reggio di Calabria). Everyone else becomes helots.

We can’t trust Pausanias, for many reasons. E.g.: dating. Tyrtaios indicates that the wars did take place, and we date Tyrtaios to the wars and vice versa. Stylistically, no later than 640. Perhaps Tyrtaios is a fictional archaizing figure. Or, last Messenian victor in Olympics was in 8th century.

Epaminondas: 230 years after enslavement, freed them. Down-date 68 years. Pausanias’ source is an epic poet of Crete, who mentions a king, Pausanias hadn’t heard of him, so rejected it. If we date the war to late C7 (when the other king reigned) it’s okay. Helped to found Rhegion after the first war: pottery from there contributes to the argument. Pausanias himself has dating discrepancies. Compared to Thuc. and Hdt. even. If we down-date everything (664 -> 499), Battle of Thyreia (Spartans vs. Argives) Pausanias dates very early; down-dated to 547, which matches Hdt. Other events work like this. If we recalibrate thusly, 2nd war inds in 495. A Messenian revolt prevented the Spartans from helping the Athenians at Marathon – could this be the 2nd war? Other evidence kind of supports this. Why didn’t Hdt. know about the revolt in the 490’s? Why are the dates SO off in Pausanias? Tyrtaios mentions Messenians in frag. 23: “fighting” “us” “Messenians”. He’s probably C7. But what does it mean to be Messenian?

Odysseus comes here, and Messenians are described as being in Lacedaimonia. Iliad mentions Messe and Sparta. Maybe related? Probably not. Probably wasn’t a Messenia in C8. Spartan acquisition of the region – by the Classical period at least. Revolt of 460’s. Eventually the Messenians prevailed, Athenians allowed them to go to Naupactus. Messenian identity: those who revolt. They didn’t revolt because they were Messenians, but Messenians because they revolted.

Location of (in 369) the new Messene city. Isocrates: “Aristodemos” – (a Spartan king) deals with it – populated by ex-slaves/helots. Makes it look like Epaminondas is making an illegitimate state.

Archaeology suggests: sanctuaries here are thoroughly Lacedaimonian: Apollo Kourethos (related to Korus, Spartan Amyclae) found on the peninsula; Artemis in Taygetos (Laconic offerings), Kalamata Poseidon, Thouria Poseidon, Messene – motifs of Spartan type. Who was using the sanctuaries? Perioikoi? Had military training – makes sense since they won this freedom from Sparta. Later Messenians claimed that the Spartan cult of Dioskouroi, and Artemis Orthia were originally Messenian and taken away by Spartans. Among smaller ethnic groups, there is an aggregation to a larger identity.

Tholos tomb at Nichoria.

Peloponnese Day 4: Messenia

Today we went to the Neokastro castle, the Neokastro Museum, the Pylos Archaeological Museum, the Ano Eglianos tomb, the Palace of Nestor site, the Xora Archaeological Museum, the Xora chamber tombs site, the site above Voidokoilia, Voidokoilia beach, and Sphakteria.

The Museum inside the Neokastro.

Two pictures of the Neokastro walls.


Bronze figure from the Pylos Archaeological Museum.

The tholos tomb at Ano Englianos.

The beach where I went swimming (Voidokoilia).

Peloponnese Day 3: Methone

Katerina, me, and Maria after I gave my presentation at Methone. Ask me anything you want about Methone!

The bourtzi at Methone.

The bourtzi from a little farther back. I gave my presentation over there!

Peloponnese Day 3: Peristeria and Pylos

The tomb at Peristeria. We had to jump over the fence to see this. There might be a photo of me doing that on someone else's computer. Anyway it was the first but not the last time on the trip that we had to do that.

The interior of the Peristeria tomb.

The view over the plain from the tomb at Peristeria. This is part of the famous agricultural region of Messenia.

The town of Pylos, where we stayed for 3 nights, from the sea. Our hotel is the large yellow building on the left. Photo taken from the boat back from Sphakteria, where an important battle took place...

Pylos: Battle of Sphakteria

Resulted in 420 Spartans imprisoned by Athenians (120 Spartiates, 300 helots) – Spartans desperately wanted them back. Athenians refused. Athenians send a fleet of 40 ships around for Corcyra. Spartans are sending 60 ships also to Corcyra, Demosthenes is along. Supposed to go on to Sicily. Demosthenes wants a garrison here at Pylos, “desolate country.” The Spartans have a garrison at Coroni, Methoni, and Kyparissia: the Messenians speak Doric dialect. A storm comes up and Athenians put in at Pylos for 6 days. Soldiers get bored and start fortifying Pylos for the hell of it. They leave 5 ships with Demosthenes here and take off. Spartans come to Pylos, because they are annoyed – Peloponnesians take the 60 ships here. Spartans “intend to block the entrance to the harbor.” Demosthenes says “come back, Athenian ships.” Spartans leave hoplites on Sphakteria. Demosthenes readies for attack, beats off Spartan hoplites trying to land on Sphakteria. Athenian ships arrive back. “Their intention was to fight in open sea, or in harbor.”

The town square of Pylos, with its enormous plane tree.