Download PDF | Change and Transition on Crete_ Interpreting the Evidence from the Hellenistic through to the Early Byzantine Period_ Papers Presented in Honour of G. W. M. Harrison.
226 Pages
Acknowledgements
The editors would like to thank the Department of Classics and Archaeology at the University of Nottingham for hosting the 1st Colloquium on Roman Crete: The Enigma of Late Hellenistic and Roman Crete: Unanswered Questions and in particular Professor Christopher Loveluck and Dr Chrysanthi Gallou for their assistance and support, and the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies and the University of Nottingham for sponsoring the event. We are very grateful for the contributions of scholars who presented their research at this conference. We also thank Jacques Perreault for assistance with foreign-language contributions.
During the course of assembling this volume we have seen the arrival of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which rapidly escalated into a global pandemic. As a result of this, contributors faced new challenges in environments where lockdowns and library closures suddenly became commonplace. Sadly, some of our planned contributions had to be put on hold and others changed to suit the circumstances and the limited access to reference material. We would like to express our thanks to our contributors for their dedication and persistence with their articles in these difficult times.
Jane E. Francis , Michael J. Curtis
About the Authors
Jane Francis holds a PhD in Classical Archaeology from Bryn Mawr College and is Associate Professor in the Department of Classics, Modern Languages and Linguistics at Concordia University in Montreal. Her research focuses on the Roman period on Crete, including ceramics, fabric analysis, sculpture, Cretan caves, ancient beekeeping and landscape archaeology. She is one of the co-authors of the Sphakia Survey Project final publication.
Michael J Curtis is a professional landscape and coastal archaeologist and a Tutor in Archaeology and Ancient History for Northamptonshire Adult Learning Service. He holds a BA in Archaeology from the University of Southampton and an MA in Archaeology from the University of Nottingham. He is an Honorary Fellow in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester where he is studying the Roman Imperial Ports and Harbours of Crete. He is the lead member in a Greek-led project researching and surveying the Roman harbour at lerapetra, in eastern Crete, and within the UK is currently engaged in research into the Catuvellauni, a late Iron Age and Roman tribe in south-eastern Britain.
Nicholas Victor Sekunda was born in 1953 to an English mother and a Polish father. He studied Ancient History and Archaeology at Manchester, from which he received his PhD in 1981. He has worked at Monash and the Australian National University in Australia, in Oxford and Manchester in England, and Torun in Poland. He currently is Head of Department for Mediterranean Archaeology at Gdarisk University.
Adam Paluchowski was born in 1969 in Rybnik (Upper Silesia). He is an ancient historian, Greek epigrapher and classicist educated in Wroctaw (Poland) and in Tours (France), who received his ‘cotutelle’ PhD from the University of Wroclaw and from the University of Tours (2003). He has been an Assistant Professor at the University of Wroclaw since 2004 and published papers as well as two books on Roman Crete (Fastes des protocosmes des cités crétoises sous le Haut Empire and La coloration sociale des noms de personnes grecs sur l’exemple des notables crétois sous le Haut Empire). At present his main research interests are slavery and forms of dependency in Crete from the Archaic epoch to the Roman conquest - on this subject a few papers have been published and a monograph is in progress.
Vassilki E. Stefanaki is an Archaeologist-Numismatist in the Numismatic Museum (Athens). Between 2002 and 2011, she has worked in the Archaeological Institute of Aegean Studies (Rhodes) on a project untitled ‘Coins-Coinage of the Dodecanese’. Her research focuses on the coinages of the islands of Crete, Cyclades and eastern Aegean, minted between the Archaic and the Roman period. She is the author of Nouiopata-Noutopatixy Atyaiov, Kws I (Athens 2012) and Hiérapytna, Histoire et Monnayage jusqu’d la conquéte romaine (Ioannina 2021).
Calliope Emm. Galanaki is an archaeologist at the EFAHRA. In the years 1982-1986 and 1988-1989 she has participated in the excavations at Archanes, the Idaean Cave and Zominthos. From 1988 onwards, she has been excavating in the Pediada and Monofatsi provinces, especially at Chersonissos, along with the supervision of public works in central Crete. Her main research interests include the monumental topography of the ancient cities of central Crete and the management of their water resources with relevant articles and other publications.
Christina Papadaki studied archeology at the University of Crete, where she completed postgraduate studies specializing in Prehistoric Archeology. She completed her doctoral dissertation at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Since 2019, she has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Mediterranean Studies of the University of the Aegean. She has worked at the Archaeological Museum and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Heraklion as well as at the Directorate of the National Archive of Monuments. She has taken part in systematic and salvage excavations, research programs and surface research in Crete (Eleftherna, Monastiraki Amari, Malevizi Monastery, Krousonas, Tylissos, Knossos, Poros - Katsambas, ancient Eltina, Sampas, Galfios, Galatas, Galatios, Galatas, Galatas Silla, Agia Pelagia, city of Heraklion, Gournes Pediados, Kastelli Pediados, Hersonissos, Zakros), Gavdos, the Cyclades and mainland Greece. Her scientific works concerns the Cretan culture of the Minoan, Archaic, and Hellenistic-Roman times and are published in the proceedings of international conferences, collective volumes and in foreign and Greek archaeological journals. She is currently part of a research team studying Egypt and Egyptian scarabs in the Aegean (8th-6th centuries BC).
Kleanthis Sidiropoulos is a graduate of the University of Crete (1980-1984 BA, Classics and Archaeology) and he carried out postgraduate studies on Numismatics at the University of Cologne, Germany (1992-1996). He worked in the university’s excavation of ancient Eleutherna (Sector I), Crete (1985-2003) and at the same time in the Program of Excavation and Restoration at Ancient Messene, Peloponnese (1988-2015). He is currently a curator at the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion (Crete). He has participated in excavations and surveys in Southern Greece, the Cyclades and Crete, with a focus on the study and publication of finds related to monetary and wider economic history from Archaic to modern times, architecture and the restoration of Hellenistic and Roman monuments. He has prepared and realized the numismatic exhibitions of the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion and the Historical Museum of Crete, as well as related educational programs. He is present in scientific events with lectures and participation in conferences on topics related to his research interests, which extend from antiquity to modern history.
Nadia Coutsinas is a Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) post-doctoral researcher at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies - FORTH (Greece), and an associate researcher at the CReA-Patrimoine, ULB (Belgium). She received her PhD both from the university Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Her research interests include archives and history of archaeology, Greek fortifications and defence studies, settlement patterns and landscape archaeology, harbours and maritime networks, as well as glass manufacture and production from the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine period. Since 2018, she has been the primary investigator for the project ‘SettleInEastCrete: Spatial Dynamics and Settlement Patterns in Eastern Crete from the Classical to the Venetian Period’ (IMS-FORTH).
Martha W. Baldwin Bowsky is a Professor Emerita of Classical Studies, retired from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Throughout her career she has been active in epigraphical research on the archaeological sites and in the storerooms and museums of Crete, with a particular interest in the Roman period on the island. She has authored a number of articles both publishing new inscriptions — on stone and on pottery — and also setting these and other Cretan inscriptions into their historical and archaeological contexts.
Anna Kouremenos is Macricostas Endowed Teaching Fellow in Hellenic and Modern Greek Studies at Western Connecticut State University, and Lecturer in Ancient History at Quinnipiac University. She specializes in Roman Greece and her research explores aspects of social, cultural, and island identities from an interdisciplinary perspective. Currently she is conducting research on southern Greece in the 2nd century CE, migration in the Greek and Roman worlds, and on the subject of national narratives. She is also interested in Greek and Roman art, ancient history in film, and the reception of antiquity from the Renaissance to the present.
Eleni Nodarou received her BA from the University of Athens and her MSc and PhD from the University of Sheffield. Since 2003 she has been the Head of the W.A. McDonald laboratory of petrography of the INSTAP Study Center for East Crete. Her research interests include pottery analysis, ceramics technology and experimental archaeology. She is currently participating in archaeological projects involving the analysis of Cretan pottery from the Neolithic to the Byzantine periods.
Jennifer Moody is an Aegean archaeologist, specializing in ceramic fabric analysis, and landscape and paleo-climate reconstruction. She has worked on the island of Crete for over 40 years, where she has directed four archaeological surveys (Khania, Vrokastro, Sphakia, Ag. Vasilios). She also helped establish the William A. McDonald Ceramic Petrography Laboratory at the INSTAP Study Center East Crete in Pachyammos Crete in 2002. In addition to Crete, Moody has worked on the Greek mainland (Messenia and Grevena), the Cyclades (Melos and Kea) and Kythera. She is an advocate for landscape conservation and preservation of cultural heritage in Greece and elsewhere. In 1989 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for her research. She has taught at Baylor University and since 2006 has been a Research Fellow in Classics at the University of Texas at Austin. In 1996 she and Oliver Rackham co-authored The Making of the Cretan Landscape, for which they won the Runciman prize. A translation of their book was published in Greek in 2004.
Anna C. Moles is Assistant Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology and Osteoarchaeology at the University of Groningen, having worked previously as the Assistant Director of the Irish Institute of Hellenic Studies at Athens. She completed her PhD, entitled Urbanism and its impact on human health: a long-term study at Knossos, Crete, at University College London, with MA and MSc degrees from the Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh respectively. She conducted the skeletal data collection for this work at the Knossos Research Centre of the British School at Athens and has held studentships from the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council, British School at Athens and Onassis Foundation. Her research uses both the study of human skeletal remains and stable isotope analysis to investigate the impact of large-scale social, economic and political changes on past health and lifeways.
Scott Gallimore is Associate Professor in the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. His research examines the economic history of the Greek world under Roman rule, with particular emphasis on the island of Crete and the northeast Peloponnese. He is currently codirector of the Western Argolid Regional Project in Greece.
Abstracts
The Export of Whetstones from Hellenistic Crete Nicholas Victor Sekunda
This article is divided into three parts. Its first, and most important aim is to demonstrate that whetstones were exported from Crete to Italy in the Hellenistic period. In the second part of the article, I hope to demonstrate that at least part of this trade was in the hands of an Italian negotiator of the gens Anii, based in Olous. I will finally attempt to gather the evidence for other members of the gens Anii active in trade in the Greek east in the second century BC and will suggest a possible pattern of trade between the Aegean and Campania. In an appendix, a further inscription from Olous containing the name Annios is published.
La derniére ligne droite dans la rivalité acharnée et séculaire entre Phaistos et Gortyne
Adam Patuchowski
The main aim of the paper will be to sketch the outline of transformations in the status of Phaistos from Hellenistic to early Roman Imperial times, with respect to Gortyn and the extension of its territory on the plain of Mesara, all that against a background of forms of dependence and subsequent reorganizations of urban and rural areas. A diversified evidence will be used: mainly epigraphic (IC, SEG) and numismatic (Svoronos, Le Rider, Sheedy, Carbone), included onomastic, but also archaeological (chiefly Watrous et al., Baldwin Bowsky, Francis) and narrative (Polybius, Strabo), The departure point will be set at the beginning of the early 3rd century BC when Phaistos is still an entirely sovereign polis (IC I.xxiii.1*,,_.); however, in order to provide a good deal of historical context, the previous developments in more and more conflictual relationships between Phaistos and Gortyn fighting hard against each other for the control of the plain of Mesara since about the middle Archaic period will be taken into account (Perlman, Lefévre-Novaro, Lippolis). The next step will be a transitional status resulting from the sympolity treaty concluded with Gortyn in c. 240-222 BC (Chaniotis no 71), followed (or maybe preceded) by a dependent polis/community status (IC IV.229 and 330; SEG XXIII 1968 563 = Chaniotis no 13,__.), the latter being a problematic issue which should be deeply analysed. At the final stage, after the destruction of Phaistos and incorporation of its territory into the Gortynian chora in the middle of the 2nd century BC (Str. 10.479), the crucial question will be that of the new functional redistribution among integrated populations - it means citizens, free people, dependent cities and communities (of course aside from communal slaves, in other words serfs who disappeared from the Cretan servile landscape in the late-2nd or in the early 1st century BC) - within the framework of the functional reorganisation of urban and rural areas in late-Hellenistic to early Imperial times, with regard to new opportunities provided by the access to the large Mediterranean commercial network, stabilised and unified under the Roman rule.
Onomasticon and Social Identity on the Cretan Coins in the Late-Hellenistic and Roman Periods: A Case Study
Vassiliki E. Stefanaki
The purpose of the paper is to examine the function and the social identity of the individuals whose names are inscribed on certain late-Hellenistic and Roman issues of the Cretan cities of Hierapytna, Knossos and Kydonia, minted during periods of transition and change in local and regional politics, economy and society. Apart from the poor epigraphic testimonies of the few cases of complete personal names on Cretan coins, the numismatic material may confirm the opinion that the local magistracies and offices were probably the exclusive privilege of some families of the upper classes. It seems that a mutation of the ruling class with the integration of other social classes into the local ruling circle did not occur in Hellenistic and maybe in Roman times as well.
Td&qor kat TapiKés Mpaxtixés oto Apxato Putio
Kalliope Galanaki, Christina Papadaki, Kleanthis Sidiropoulos
On the occasion of a small-scale rescue excavation that took place about a decade ago, in a cemetery section of the early Historical to late-Roman period in Embassos, on the outskirts of the acropolis of Rytion, the monumental topography, its findings and burial practices are presented. The excavation data of older rescue excavations are reconstructed and their correlation with the adjacent settlement takes place, utilizing, at the same time, the few epigraphic and philological testimonies. Particular emphasis is given to the Hellenistic to Roman and late-Roman phase of the necropolis through their comparison with other published burial assemblages of central Crete of the same period. In conclusion, it seems that Rytion follows the common burial practices in the Cretan Hellenistic and Greco-Roman cities without, however, reflecting the glamour and wealth of metropolises such as Knossos in the north and Gortyna in the south of the island. Although the limitations of the archaeological material do not allow us to draw clear conclusions, it seems that the economic prosperity and possibly the social organization of ancient Rytion, as reflected in the hitherto known excavation data, are recorded at a different, obviously lower, level than other large Cretan cities, possibly due to the peculiarity of the landscape and especially the possibilities that it provided over time to the inhabitants of the area.
Did Rome Really Change Anything? Settlement Patterns of Far Eastern Crete in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods
Nadia Coutsinas
The field of Roman studies for Crete has been flourishing in the past decade. The publication of several surveys, excavations, and other studies brings to our knowledge new archaeological data that can already be put together to give us a more complete image of Roman Crete. In this paper, I decided to look at the settlement patterns at the turn of the Hellenistic and Roman periods to see what differences could be identified and if there is indeed a specificity of the early Roman period. I chose to focus specifically in far eastern Crete, from the plain of the Ierapetra isthmus to the eastern shores of the island. Four geographical zones can be distinguished: the north-eastern peninsula and Itanos, the basin of Zakros, the Praisos corridor, the lerapetra isthmus and plain, as well as two islands, Kouphonisi and Chrysi. Since the middle of the 2nd century BC, the main urban centres are Itanos and Hierapytna, at both ends of the region studied. The countryside is slowly filling up with villages, hamlets and farmsteads. A new feature, a few villas, have been identified, which reveal a pattern of agricultural exploitation, if we consider that they were the centre of estates. The existence of amphora workshops and warehouses reveals the agricultural industry and the patterns of trade, as well as the very special role of the isthmus.
Beside the Sea: Unravelling the Maritime Landscape of Hellenistic and Roman Crete
Michael J. Curtis
Our perspective on Hellenistic and Roman Crete is largely based on research and investigation on inland sites. This article seeks to begin to address this situation by presenting an overview of the maritime landscape from the 3rd century BC through to the 2nd century AD, considering the island in the context of the developing trade networks and shipping routes as, over time, Crete became an exporter in its own right. The article offers an initial perspective on the development of harbours, considering their functionality and discussing some of the logistics of maritime trade on the island. It also offers a view on the strategic and economic importance of the island in the eyes of Rome, adding food for thought and another dimension to the reasoning behind the military interventions and eventual conquest in 67 BC.
Becoming Roman: The Cretan Evidence of Augustan Stamps on Italian Sigillata
Martha W. Baldwin Bowsky
This study presents some of the material evidence for how Crete became Roman, that is, involvement in the wider economic system of the Roman Empire as heralded by the presence of imported pottery and other goods. The midto late-Augustan stamps on Italian Sigillata found at four cities on the north coast of Crete date to a midpoint in the transformation of Crete from Hellenistic to Roman, between the mid-1st century BC to the mid-1st century AD. Participation in trade networks that stretched across the island and the Mediterranean is likely to have been an important element in the development of the island’s economy, particularly its primary large-scale export industry, the Cretan wine trade.
The mid- to late-Augustan stamps on Italian Sigillata found on Crete provide concrete, physical evidence for a number of aspects of the economic transformation of Crete from Hellenistic to Roman and the island’s role as a transshipment point. On Crete itself, Augustan stamps have been found and published not from the provincial capital of Gortyn but from cities along the north coast of Crete, not only at the colony of Knossos or the free city of Lappa but also the polities of Eleutherna and Aptera. At the same time, the Italian provenience of the Augustan stamps neatly reflects the history of the Italian Sigillata industry in the late-1st century BC and the early 1st century AD, beginning with stamps from Arezzo followed by Pisa and other locations in Etruria, the Po Valley, Puteoli, and central Italy. The concrete evidence provided by these stamps is significant for understanding Crete’s trade relations in the Augustan period, as an island at a crossroads and transshipment point between north-south (or south-north) and west-east (or east-west) routes. These stamps document a critical stage in Cretan integration into the Roman economy, between Late Hellenistic and Early Roman. Cretan consumers took advantage of the availability of these distinctive red-gloss wares and Crete’s strategic position amid Mediterranean routes of transit and exchange, to eat and drink from the fashionable wares we find in the material record today.
Origanum dictamnus (Dittany of Crete): Testaments, Uses, and Trade of a Sacred Plant in Antiquity
Anna Kouremenos
In Virgil’s Aeneid, Book 12, the goddess Venus rushes to heal her wounded son Aeneas with a stalk of the plant dictamus, known today as dittany of Crete. This passage is depicted in a wall painting from the House of Sirico at Pompeii, where Aeneas is shown being attended by a physician and his mother Venus rushing to his side carrying a few stalks of the sacred plant. This image suggests that to the Greeks and Romans, dictamus, a plant that is endemic to Crete, was associated with divinities and with healing. Indeed, in antiquity, it was considered a ‘panacea’, a drug against every illness. No less than twenty-four ancient writers have praised its healing properties and it was traded across the Greek and Roman worlds. My paper focuses on these ancient testaments about the plant’s healing properties, its presence in archaeological and artistic contexts, and its role in the Cretan economy from the Minoan period to Late Antiquity.
The Fabrics of Roman to Early Byzantine Cretan Amphorae from the Sphakia Survey
Jane Francis, Eleni Nodarou, Jennifer Moody
The identification of Hellenistic and Roman amphora production centers on Crete is ongoing, and the original list of 17 kiln sites (Marangou-Lerat 1995) has increased to 22 in recent decades. The Sphakia Survey Project, in southwest Crete, has not found evidence of kilns, but petrographic and macroscopic fabric analysis, coupled with studies of amphora shapes and distribution, suggests a heretofore unidentified production center possibly located somewhere in southwest Crete.
Preliminary research identified several Cretan fabrics among Sphakiote ‘Cretan’ amphorae and a group of lateRoman to early Byzantine combed amphorae. The latter are the predominant amphora type in Sphakia in this later period, and fabric similarities to earlier amphorae raised questions about the continuity of production and interaction with Sphakia. The multidisciplinary program we developed to investigate these questions distinguished distinctive fabric recipes that are, so far, unique to our study area, perhaps indicating the existence of an additional amphora production center. We are confident that further applications of this combined methodology will continue to improve our understanding of the complex issues surrounding the production and circulation of Cretan transport amphorae.
Health, Diet and Lifeways at Knossos during the Hellenistic, Roman and Late-Antique Periods
Anna Moles
This paper aims to investigate the impact of social and environmental changes at the major urban centre of Knossos on human health and diet, and to study how demographic and economic growth (Hellenistic and early Roman) and decline (late antique) can affect individual lifeways.
Knossos, during the late-Hellenistic to Roman period, was an urban centre of a large enough scale that it suffered from the effects of dense, unhygienic living conditions and infectious disease. This is demonstrated by the low life expectancy and large numbers of deaths in the older sub-adult and young adult age categories. The impact of disease would have been supplemented by warfare, known throughout Crete in the Hellenistic period, and its secondary impacts, such as resource deficits and famine. Population growth at Knossos during the Hellenistic period, and the establishment of the Colonia Iulia Nobilis Cnosus in the Roman period represent new and increased contacts through trade and migration. Changes in political administration as well as climate change in the 3rd century, could have had significant ramifications for agriculture and productivity. These factors are likely to have had an impact on the prosperity, diet, health and longevity of the population. With the introduction of Christianity and lessening of population pressures in the late-antique period, differences can be observed in diet and labour patterns.
This paper demonstrates the potential research questions that can be addressed by fragmentary assemblages from rescue excavations. Human skeletal remains are an under-studied resource for this time period in Crete, and they give greater insight and a new perspective into the lives of individuals at Knossos from the Hellenistic to lateantique periods.
Hazard, Risk, Vulnerability and the AD 365 Earthquake on Crete
Scott Gallimore
This paper provides a critical assessment of the transformative potential of the AD 365 earthquake and tsunami on Crete by applying the framework of hazard, risk, and vulnerability to evaluate the character of the island’s society before and after. This framework is regularly used to analyse modern populations threatened by various disasters in an attempt to develop mitigation strategies. For an ancient disaster, it can offer a more refined picture of response and resilience to events like the AD 365 earthquake and can contextualize the degree of material and social transformation evident in its aftermath.
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