Blog 12: Research Temple

1) Name of temple: Temple of Despoina

2) Basic Details of Temple:

Dates: Pausanias gave description of scared place which was a temple built in 180 BCE, date confirmed by excavations done in the 1889

Location: The Sanctuary of Despoina at Lycosoura is located 9 km WSW of Megalopolis, 6.9 km SSE of Mount Lykaion, and 160 km SW of Athens (in Arcadia).

Possible Size: The stylobate (platform) of the temple measures 11.15 by 21.35 m and is divided between a pronaos (front portico) and a cella.

Areas Located around it: The site of Lycosura occupies a hill of 632 m in the wooded, mountainous region south of the river Plataniston. The Sanctuary of Despoina is sited in a declivity on the north-eastern face of the hill occupied by the city. The temple and considerable remains of the cult statuary group were discovered in 1889 CE by the Greek Archaeological Society, well before the advent of stratographic excavation techniques. Dating of the finds and structures thus remains problematic, although later excavations and studies have attempted to clarify the situation. While the site of the city remains largely unexcavated, the sanctuary of Despoina has been thoroughly uncovered and consists of a temple, a stoa, an area of theater-like seats, three altars, and an enigmatic structure conventionally called the Megaron. Pausanias also describes a temple of Artemis Hegemone (Artemis the Leader) at the entrance to the sanctuary on its eastern side;[10] this structure and a number of others mentioned by the author have not to date been identified archaeologically. Traces of the temenos wall (boundary of the sacred area) have been detected on the north and the east sides of the sanctuary; the southern and western limits of the sacred area are thus unknown.

Goddess/God: The daughter of Demeter and Poseidon and sister of Arion. The goddess of mysteries of Arcadian cults worshipped under the title Despoina, “the mistress” alongside with her mother Demeter, one of the goddesses of the Eleusinian mysteries. Her real name could not be revealed to anyone except those initiated to her mysteries. However, this temple is really in fact dedicated to Demeter because she is the primary goddess of agriculture.

Sculptures Associated with Temple: Acrolithic-technique statues of Despoina and Demeter seated on a throne, with statues of Artemis and the Titan Anytos standing on either side of them – all in Pentelic marble located in the middle of the temple-cella. Colossal sculptural group perhaps made by Damophon of Messene.The goddess Despoina (Chthonic deity: associated with earth or underworld). Sculptures of despoina and her mother Demeter were seated while Artemis and Anytos were standing. All the parts of the sculpture are made from one stone (Pausanias states that they got the stone through a vision in a dream where they dug into the earth within the sanctuary and found it) the size of both the images is about that of the mother in Athens. Demeter carries a torch in her right hand while the other hand rests upon Despoina. Despoina hold a scepter and has what is called “the cista” on her knees.

Existing Photo of Ruin:

3) Coins Associated/ Describing the Temple:
THERE IS NO COIN (only a coin of Demeter, but this doesn’t help with the description of the temple

4)Primary Ancient Sources on Temple:

Pausanias (c. AD 110 – AD 180)is this temples primary source. He was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD. He is famous for his Description of Greece,  one of his works that describes Ancient Greece from firsthand observations. He is a crucial link between classical literature and modern archaeology.

5) Temples of that Period:

Temple of Eleusis

Bassae Temple of Apollo

6) Rough Draft your Temple:

a) Scale: 1cm : 0.5 m

b) Key Features:  The Temple of Despoina is prostyle-hexastyle in plan and in the Doric order – i.e. it had six Doric columns across the front façade only.The six columns of the façade are in marble, as is the entablature.A curious feature of this temple is the doorway in the south wall facing the theater-like area.The architecture also deviates from the standard Doric schema in that its Doric frieze is 1.5x the height of the architrave.[11] At the rear of the cella is a massive, c. 1m high stone podium designed to hold the cult statuary group, in front of which is a mosaic decorating the floor. General consensus holds that the first construction of this temple dates to the 4th century BCE. There were several repairs in the Roman period.
To the south of the temple, inset into the slope of the hill, is a theater-like area with ten rows of stone seats ranging from 21 to 29 m in length. These rows of seats are uncurved and parallel with the south wall of the temple.

View of the sanctuary looking WNW from the area of the Megaron: (L to R) theater-like area, temple of Despoina, stoa, altars.
To the NE of the temple, there was a Stoa also in the Doric order with a single story and an internal colonnade, measuring 14 by 64 m. Foundations for a room of uncertain function measuring 5.5 by 6 m are connected to the west end of the stoa. Pausanias reports that the stoa contained a panel painted with matters pertaining to the mysteries and four bas-relief sculptures in white marble.

Sculptures: four significantly over life-size acrolithic-technique figures as well as a highly ornate throne for the central figures of Despoina and Demeter – all in Pentelic marble.[16] This arrangement was somewhat unusual in that the typical situation was for there to be a single cult statue at the rear of the cella that was the primary object of veneration.[17] The central figures of Despoina and Demeter were on a colossal scale, significantly greater than that of Artemis and the Titan Anytus. The bust of Despoina is not preserved. Holes are preserved on the bust of Artemis for the attachment of earrings and other metal ornaments, and for a diadem (or rays) on the bust of Demeter. The eyes of Artemis and Anytus were inset, rather than being carved from the marble as they were in the bust of Demeter.

**(ALL INFORMATION HAS NOT BEEN PUT INTO OWN WORDS… MOST IMFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycosura AND http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Despoina )**

Blog 9: Roman Countryside

Blog 8: An Argive Temple

The period which starts off around 750 BCE is better known as the Archaic period. During this time a a lot changes. Some of the main changes consist of a growing population, a return to the countryside settlement, “a rise of the polis… the creation of male citizen bodies, the generation of the atsu-chora bond, and the definition of more precise territorial boundaries” (135). The archaeological evidence provided in Classical Archaeology related to the increase in population levels is that the number of graves has rose dramatically. However, they are not sure as to whether this for certain proves there is a rise in population or simply a growth in burial practices. The evidence provided for why people began settling in countrysides again is in fact because of the increasing population and because of the demand for a predominantly agrarian economy. Moreover, the tomb cult is related to the development of this period because it brought about an increasing need to “mark and consolidate land ownership through appeals to past authority” (135). In addition, to give you a little bit more insight on this period, there was also a reappearance of rural sanctuaries, as seen during the Dark Ages, and the new appearance of extra-urban sanctuaries.

The site in the Argive peninsula discussed in, Classical Archaeology, is an ancient temple dedicated to the Goddess Hera in Argos, Greece called Heraion of Argos. More specifically, it lies northeast of Argos between the archaeological sites of Mycenae and Midea, “on the edge of the Argive plain about 10 kilometers from atsu of Argos itself” (135). It is of importance because this temple introduced and housed the most important cult in the Argolid, the cult of Hera in Greece. This temple dates back to Pausanias’,a Greek traveler and geographer,  who visited the site in the 2nd century CE and referred to it as Prosymna. The temenos occupies three artificially terraced levels on a site above the plain with a commanding view, reserved for the worship of gods. Three other archaeological or ancient architectural terms are peristyle court ( a columned porch or open colonade in a building surrounding a court that may contain a garden), columned stoas (columns that covered walkways that created a safe and protective atmosphere), and a palaestra (an ancient Greek wrestling school).

The Next Three Images are of Heraion of Argos

These Next Three Images are of Three Different Temples in the same Period

The temple of Apollo in Ancient Corinth, Greece, is a Doric peripteral temple, constructed in ca. 540 B.C.This temple is one of the oldest surviving temples from ancient Greece. Wilhelm Dörpfeld first excavated the site in 1886 and is unaware of the identity of the god for whom this temple was first dedicated to. Moreover, it is thought that this is another temple that Pausanias identified.

The Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens. It is a colossal ruined temple in the center of Athens(the Greek Capital). This temple was dedicated to Zeus, king of the Olympian gods. It’s construction began in the 6th century BC during the rule of the Athenian tyrants.

The Alphaia Temple is located in a sanctuary complex that is dedicated to the goddess Aphaia, on the Greek island of Aigina( in the Saronic Gulf). Aphaia was a Greek goddess who was worshiped almost only at this sanctuary. The extant temple of c. 500 BC was built over the remains of an earlier temple of c. 570 BC that had been destroyed by fire c. 510 BC.

Blog 7: Greek Countryside ( Chapter 4:The Chora!)

Alcock and Osborne’s introduction suggests because archaeologists were guided by the urban and the “high elite”, they were prone to neglecting the countryside because they were to occupied with the prevailing form of archaeology at the time which was stratigraphic excavation of certain specific sites and monuments. Since they always had such specific site to excavate, they never really understood how to go about exploring a countryside which was a very large and vast territory. Alcock points to the importance of the countryside by demonstrating to his readers that without the rural landscape of the countryside, the formation of complex societies of classical antiquity would have never developed.

It is extremely hard to find accurate research that is 100 % reliable when regarding archaeology. Many archaeologists depend on old texts that give a good description of land, as well as, the few geographical analyses of land provided for certain areas. Relying simply on these two forms of sources is a gamble because it is extremely hard to identify areas with such little information provided. For instance, if one chooses to look at the Pillars of Hercules as an example, they will understand that it is extremely hard to pinpoint exactly where these pillars are located, even if several sources suggest that they are located at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River in Spain. The available sources seem to be on point for the location of the northern pillar, however, there seems to be a large debate on where the southern pillar lies. It would be difficult to find remains such as these, because archaeologists who follow surveys similar to Pausanias’ tend to focus solely on the discovery of popular finds of Greek landscape.

Map of Attica (Region discussed on p. 125)

The polis’ borders were marked in several different ways but never by an official wall. However, there were statues of the god of crossings and boundaries, Hermes, that were placed around the polis as a sign that “travelers were passing from one territory to another” (p.126).

The kind of survey that took place in the past and today is one that is labelled as ” Regional Survey”. This form of survey is basically an archaeological methodology that adopts a regional and not only a a single site based focus. For both the past and present, it relies mostly on the “surface reconnaissance” (126) in order to find traces of past human activity rather than focusing on excavation of the territory/surface. Although recent surveys still use the regional survey, the majority are now multi-period focused and involve fieldworkers spaced out between ” 15 and 25 meters apart” on the land being observed (127).

In this chapter of the book, the author informs the reader that most of the population lives in the atsu, otherwise known as the town, or near the urban center. Although most lived in town, there was constantly a flow of movement from town to country and viceversa, because workers would move out to tend the fields and then come back home at the end of the day.

The book refers to the ancient author Pausanias. He discusses mostly about the large variety of gods and heroes that are present in the countryside. He believed that rural shrines were located everywhere in the countryside (mountaintops, springs, hills, etc. ). Pausanias refers to dieties such as Demeter and Artemis, which introduce the topic of the Artemis sanctuary, better known as the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia. This sanctuary was an Archaic site that was devoted  to Artemis in the Classical times. It was one of the most important religious sites in the Greek city-state of Sparta. Furthermore, this site was reintroduced by the British school of archaeology thanks to their digs in Laconia in 1906 to 1910. During this time, they discovered that the unexcavated site seemed to consist  solely of a ruined Roman theatre that seemed as though it was about to collapse into the river.

Blog 6: Ecology &Archaeology

The article Deforestation, Mosquitoes, and Ancient Rome: Lessons for Today, written by  Lara O’Sullivan, Andrew Jardine, Angus Cook and Philip Weinstein, proposes the complex interactions between the study of the origins and development of human beings and disease patterns brought about by mosquitoes. It demonstrates how the spreading of Malaria in today’s world is quite similar to how it was spreading in Ancient Rome. 

In it, the authors discuss some of the causes and outcomes of ancient world activity. Some of the causes they mention are  relevant to Rome being built around the basin of the Tiber. This land was prone to water logging and susceptible to intermittent flooding. As Rome began to grow, so did its population. This increase is what pushed deforestation since they needed to clear agricultural land to harvest timber for future “construction  and combustion” (756). It is this clearing exactly which brought about deforestation.

The archaeology behind this paper is found in the evidence brought by the remains of the ancient peoples. In viewing the remains, it is possible to conclude that deforestation had a large toll on the survival of the people. This was proven by researchers who had found great traces of malaria in remains found in a Roman necropolis.

One primary source mentioned in the article is Theophrastus (c. 371 – c. 287 BC). He was born in Lesbos, came to Athens and studied under Plato. Later, he became Aristotle’s friend and successor. Together they did research in natural science, with Aristotle studying animals and Theophrastus studying plants. This is how he became “the father of botany”, which is a main reason why he is the primary source linked to this article. His study of plants is what helped and can help researches gain more information on deforestation and its effects on the world and populations.

 

Blog 5: Archaeology in the movies

In today’s films, there are many historical errors present that could have been avoided. Some examples are from three main films Alexander The Great, 300 and Tomb Raider. 

In Alexander The Great, there are many historically accurate scenes as well as many inaccurate scenes. Firstly, the Macedonian military equipment, shown in Stone’s film, is in fact correctly reproduced except for one single characteristic.  According to the Greek historian Plutarch, Alexander wore a “simple burnished iron helmet” (2), but in Stone’s film he wore an elaborate lions-head helmet.  Then there is the scene of Ptolemy looking out onto the harbor Alexandra that is also considered to be an error because this lighthouse only came into existance during the first Ptolemy’s reign.  Then there is the error with Roxane’s character. Because a major theme of Stone’s movie is Alexander’s sexuality, he portrays the king’s wife, Roxane, to be a “tempestuous vixen” (3). This is a historical error because Roxane was in fact a avery caring wife and mother who was more than  satisfied playing her role as a birth giver.  Furthermore, there are historical errors associated with land and the actual situation of characters. For one, Antigonus didn’t really accompany Alexander to India as showN in the film. instead he stayed behind as governor of Phrygia up until Alexander’s passing. Secondly, Gaugamela and Babylon are actually located in Assyria and Babylonia but in the film they were in Persia.

In addition, the film poorly demonstrated “the ethnicity and cultural aspirations” (3) of the army of conquest because they are reffered to both the “Greek” and the “Macedonian”. Also during the scene where Alexander’s mother and Ptolemy call him out hero “Alexander the Great” is also historically incorrect because the name “Great” was not added to his full name  until the Roman times.

In the film 300, there are significant problems with the Spartan gear. For one, the directors chose to significantly lessen the Spartan gear worn during battle. They stripped the Spartan uniforms down to their essentials and symbolic features. In reality a Greek warrior was never seen not wearing a chest protector during battle but in this film the directors decided that one was not needed.  All they wore in the film was a helmet, cape, shield, greaves, and weapons. Clearly the directors wanted to project the idea of heroism through Spartans fighting without body armour but this was highly unrealistic and definitely historically inaccurate.

 V.S.    

In Tomb Raider there is also some historical errors present. For example, the Luna temple in this film supposedly temple sank in 330 B.C., but in reality, Alexander didn’t get to the Indus River ( location of where box was found) until 326. This alone proves that there is a fail in keeping events chronological order.  Moreover, Luna was a Roman moon goddess therefore,  Alexander could have never actually erected a temple to her. Furthermore, there is no actual evidence  an earthquake occurring in 330 or the following years as portrayed in the film.

The temple that I think that should have been in the film is The Temple of Apollo Didymaeus (313 B.C.)

Map of the Greek city of Helike

This is the map of where there was an earthquake in 373 B.C.. The earthquake lead to a tsunami that destroyed the Greek city of Helike, near Corinth.

Blog 4: Doing Archaeology

Case Study 1

a) In this first case study I believe that what the narrator means by a historical narrative is a written text about a historical event that incorporates both fictional and non-fictional facts about the event and what actually happened. In this case the historical narrative would be Tacitus, Annals 12.32.

b) & c)

This is a map of  Roman Britain  and Gloucester. However this map shows the official Roman title of Gloucester, which is Glevum. After having labeled Glevum with a red circle, I attached another photo on the map of a mosaic from Debenhams in Northgate Street, which was provided by the Gloucester City Museum.

This is a detailed map of Gloucester which includes its defensive circuit, it’s main streets and cathedral, it’s legionary fortress, the old priory of St. Oswald’, the original channel of the River Severn, and the site of the vexillation fortress at Kingsholm.

Map Of Gloucester (Glevum)

d) Tacitus was a senator and one of the greatest  historians of the Roman Empire. He has five major works which have survived but The Annals and The Histories are considered to be his two major works. His other three works are, The Life of Agricola, Germania, and Dialogue on Oratory. In the book, Classical Archaeology, Henry Rust refers to the passage from Tacitus’ Annals, ” Neither clemency nor force could hold down the Silures…so they needed suppressing by a legionary camp( castrique legionum premenda)” in order to better refer to the Roman city of Glevum.

Case Study 2:

a) The location in North Africa being discussed in Classical Archaeology is Carthage.

b)

This is a map of Tunisia, which was the center of the Carthaginian Empire.

Carthage is a suburb of Tunis, Tunisia that has existed for almost 3 000 years. The Tophet, mentioned in Classical Archaeology, is apparently believed to be built on the location where the foundress of Carthage, Elissa, first set foot in Tunisia.

c) List of Deities mentioned:

Tanit =  A Punic and Phoenician goddess, who was the principle Deity of Carthage. 

Caelestis= Tanit who was later worshiped in Roman Carthage, it is technically the name given to the Romanized Tanit.

Tanit face of Ba’al = Male cult partner of Tanit and supreme god of the Carthaginians. Moreover, he is generally identified by the Romans with Saturn.

Saturn: He was a  god in ancient Roman religion, who was seen as a god of generation, dissolution, plenty, wealth, agriculture, periodic renewal and liberation.

Venus: She was the Roman goddess whose functions encompassed love, beauty, sex, fertility and prosperity.

In the ground of Carthage, the remains of some monumental structures were discovered with walls of Roman concrete. There were f a small number of stelae with Latin dedications to Saturn, fragments of statuary like a head of Saturn and a mosaic floor dating back to the fifth-century A.D. “showing female winged seasons with Venus-like attribute” (Classical Archaeology 80). The Saturn stelae 

and head were said to represent a small cult dedicated to Saturn and apparently the mosaic could have been the representation of a wealthy house/market building that might have been “attached to the port” (80).

d) The book Classical Archaeology speaks of two ancient authors named Apuleius and Quodvultdeus who discussed all the deities listed above in their works.

 

Blog 3: What is Classical Archaeology? Romans

Blog 2: Connoiseurship

How is Pottery Organized ?

The Beazley Archive outlines the shapes of various different pottery.   This following list is the list of shapes posted on the Beazley Archive.

Alabastron Amphora Amphoriskos Aryballos Askos Astragalos

Bail Vase Ball Balsamarion Basin Basket Beaker Bobbin Bolsal Bottle Bowl Brazier

Canopic Jar Chalice Chous Cista Cup Cup Skyphos Fragment Cylinder

Die Dinos Disc Dish Dolium Drinking Horn

Epichysis Epinetron Exaleiptron

Feeder Figure Vase Fish-Plate Flask Funnel

Granary Guttus

Hydria

Kalathos Kantharos Kernos Klepsydra Kothon Kotyle Krater Krater, Bell Krater, Calyx Krater, Column Krater, Volute Kyathos

Lagynos Lakaina Lamp Lebes Lebes Gamikos Lekanis Lekythos Lekythos, Squat Lid Loom Weight Louterion Loutrophoros Lydion

Mastoid Mastos Medallion Mug

Nestoris

Oinochoe Olla Olpe Oon

Panathenaic Amphora Patera Pelike Phiale Phormiskos Pinax Pithos Plaque Plate Plemochoe Pomegranate Psykter Pyxis

Rattle

Sieve Situla Skyphos Spinning Top Sprinkler Stamnos Stand Stirrup Jar Strainer

Tray Tripod Trozzella

Unguentarium

	Wine Vessel Shapes Dinos Kotyle Krater Kyathos Psykter Rhyton Skyphos  Perfume and Oil Alabastron Aryballos Askos Lebes Gamikos Lekythos Loutrophoros Lydion Pyxis Stirrup jar Water Loutrophoros Hydria

Exekias and Byrgos are very famous pottery painters who were most popular in ancient world archaeology. Although they were very different, they used somewhat of the same styles for painting their pottery. They both most often used the black figure and the red figure technique.  However, Exekias most often used the black figure technique to paint his pottery.  He would place clays slips on fire which would eventually turn to black  and then then he created details on the pottery with several very fine and soft incisions. Brygos on the other hand, was considered as one of the earliest to use the red figure technique after it had been introduced by Exikias’ student Andokides. Brygos is most popular for his kylix, now displayed at  the Louvre museum (renamed “the Brygos Cup”). Brygos often painted symposium and palaistra scenes on his pottery. He created such beautiful figures who’s facial expressions, postures, and interactions reflected those of observed citizens. 

Brygos’ kelix

Exekias’ black figure technique

Blog 1: What is Classical Archaeology?

After having read pages 1-3, I have a better sense of what Classical Archaeology is. From what I read, Classical Archaeology is not the “study of material that has acquired “classic” status” (1), but rather the study of the world inhabited by Greeks and Romans during the eighth century B.C. and the fourth century A.D.

The organization and contents of the book , Classical Archaeology, is far from a traditional one. Each topic in the book is discussed from two angles, a Greek angle and a Roman angle. However this organization is done chronologically. The book’s focus of Greek archaeology traces back from ca.700 to ca. 100B.C., and that of Roman archaeology traces back from ca.200 B.C. to ca. A.D.500. Moreover, although the book’s contents are organized chronologically, they are also somewhat organized geographically since the study of the Ancient Greek World focusses more on the Greek peninsula and the eastern Mediterranean while the study of Ancient Rome focusses in the Italian peninsula and in western Europe.

There are various themes discussed in this book are not organized by classes of material like other traditional archaeology books. It is more concerned with the interpretation of the material culture of classical antiquity and what these artifacts have influenced the western civilization since the Renaissance. Moreover, unlike other books, Classical Archaeology, focuses on artifacts that lack aesthetic credit and that have not been payed attention to. This book not only focusses on “sculptures, buildings, and paintings” but also on “broken shards of coarse pottery, the stone beds of oil and wine presses, lumps of slag from mining and metalworking”, etc. (4).