Athens and Attica (Neolithic to Archaic)

This paper addresses the construction of a " national " identity of the Athenian inhabitants during the tyrannical governance of Peisistratos and his sons (561/0-511/0 BCE 1) mainly through a series of religious practices, such as the transfer of cults from the rural areas to the city (asty) of Athens, the reorganization of the Panathenaia, the establishment of the City Dionysia, etc. The present paper investigates how this developed " national " consciousness in the late 6th century, in the sense of the citizens' nationalization within the borders of the Athenian city-state, could enable the political unification of Attica and the emergence of Democracy, taking into account the constitutional reforms of Kleisthenes the Alcmeonid, after the expulsion of the Peisistratidai. This paper focuses on the interpretation of the concept of political equality and the formation of a political identity of the Athenians in the late 6th century onwards, two notions which are treated here as very closely integrated. It was that political consciousness, following the constitutional changes of Kleisthenes, which led the Athenians to their first great military victories in the early 5th century over the Persians. These victories, which indisputably confirmed the strength of the constitution, will be brought, in short, into discussion in order to clarify the transition of Athens from the narrow borders of an archaic city-state to the rise of its naval empire in the " golden " 5th century via the newly-established Democracy.

Il contributo intende ripercorre l’Εἰρήνη aristofanea in una retrospettiva data dall’apporto del centrale L’opera di Rabelais e la cultura popolare. Riso, carnevale e festa nella tradizione medievale e rinascimentale, di Michail Bachtin (1895-1975), sulla scia degli studi di Wolfgang Rösler e Bernhard Zimmermann. Sfruttando come strumento critico la teorizzazione dell’essenza della festa carnevalesca, con i suoi elementi principali, le sue occasioni, le sue forme e le sue ragioni, ci si propone una lettura della commedia alla specola dei principi teorico-critici illustrati nell’Opera di Rabelais, cercando di delineare il particolare rapporto dell’uomo aristofaneo con il senso che permea la sorte di ciascuno e sembra governare le invisibili trame del destino e della storia.
In particolare, l’analisi si focalizza sulle scene rappresentate nella commedia, sugli elementi costitutivi e peculiari di queste e sul valore antropologico che l’agone comico poteva avere presso i Greci. Secondo questa via esegetica, il destino dell’uomo aristofaneo, durante il periodo della festa cittadina in cui si rappresenta la commedia, è all’insegna di un’“utopia fantastica” in cui il δῆμος è in grado di autodeterminarsi ed autogovernarsi. L’ésprit che viene a crearsi in questa situazione è quello del “sentimento carnevalesco del mondo”, il quale permette il capovolgimento secondo una “scoronazione carnevalesca”, dalla quale nasce una sorta di vuoto che viene preso dal popolo, unico responsabile di se stesso in questa parentesi temporanea. Il personaggio di Trigeo, in particolare, è il promotore del “rovesciamento”: sfidando paratragicamente gli dèi, egli conquista la pace per il suo popolo, riportando così in Grecia i tempi di benessere. Il tutto viene celebrato con un banchetto (il simbolico banchetto nuziale di Trigeo ed Opora), altro elemento di centrale importanza tanto nella commedia quanto nell’analisi bachtiniana, la quale permette di interpretarlo come la celebrazione della “conclusione sempre gravida di un principio nuovo” tipica della festa popolare.

The paper argues that Cleisthenes’ military reforms were not improvised. The
general view of war in Archaic Athens as a series of skirmishes between small
contingents recruited on an almost private basis must be qualified, as there are
indications to suggest a greater and more regulated involvement of the polis of Athens
in the organisation of collective war. This was not entirely effective since it depended
on “private” channels, the aristoi from different districts, who fought each other (stasis).
Despite this, they were “institutionalised” as part of the common political and
institutional framework. The sources seems to indicate that the existence of “Hoplites” in Peisistratid Athens was more widespread than is usually believed.

Am Ende des 8. Jhs. v. Chr. richtete ein elitärer Zirkel Athens bei der Bestattung seiner Angehörigen in der Kerameikos-Nekropole ein neues Ritual ein: die "Opferrinnen-Zeremonie". Sie stellt allerdings entgegen dieser Bezeichnung keinen Opfer- oder Beigabenbrauch dar, sondern einen Akt der Status-Inszenierung am Grab, wie eine Revision des archäologischen Befundes zeigt. Die Vernetzung der "Opferrinnen-Zeremonie" mit der übrigen materiellen Hinterlassenschaft der damaligen Lebenskultur in Athen und mit relevanten Homer-Passagen als mentalitätsgeschichtlichen Zeugnissen soll im weiteren helfen, ihre kulturhistorische Bedeutung zu erfassen.

A survey of evidence from a formative stage of the Athenian state sanctuary.  In studies of Archaic Athens, emphasis is often placed on the “archaeology of tyranny” versus the “archaeology of democracy.” As recent research has shown, focusing on those distinctions often creates biases in the interpretation of the monuments, sequences of building, and iconography. This article reviews the evidence for the appearance of the Acropolis prior to 566 BC, a date associated with the re-organization of the Panathenaic festival and the monumentalization of the Acropolis. Since much of this evidence is fragmentary and has been disturbed by later building projects, the full significance of the range of votive and architecture pieces is not always appreciated. The state sanctuary of Athens is often thought to lag behind other cities and sanctuaries in the 8th, 7th, can early 6th centuries until ca. 566 (and the possible patronage of the tyrant Peisistratos). The article analyzes the available evidence in light of new research (on bronzes, sculpture, early architecture) and argues that many aspects of the Acropolis suggest a more dynamic and progressive development of the sanctuary before 566.

The author proposes that the Athenian Prytaneion, one of the city's most important civic buildings, was located in the peristyle complex beneath the court and church Agia Aikaterini, on the ancient square that once stood before the Lysikrates and other choregic monuments as well as a fourth-century stoa, and situated below the likely remains of the Anakeion on the southeast slope of the Acropolis.  This thesis, which elucidates Pausanias' tour from the original Agora of Athens to the Theater of Dionysus, is supported by archaeological and epigraphical evidence.  The identification of the Prytaneion at the eastern foot of the Acropolis, close to the oldest residential neighborhoods around the Acropolis as well as the Cephisus River, helps to reconstruct the map of Archaic and Classical Athens and illuminates the testimony of Herodotus and Thucydides.

This paper looks at the chronological and geographical context of “killed” weapons, their relationships to the types of burial in which they appear, and the other grave goods which accompany these burials. It suggests that the swords “killed” in the period ca. 950-825 are the result of societal conditions relating to the value of iron, the exclusivity of warfare, and conscious acts of destruction in burials at this time. On the other hand, the later burials in Eretria relate to changing factors in the deposition of weapons, new ideas about exclusivity and value, and reflecting the way in which warfare changed in the late eighth century. It also suggests that arguments so far have ignored important metallurgical observations about “killed” swords, and what they reveal about sword use and ownership in the EIA Aegean.

The present study examines the  topographical development of early Athens from around 1075 BC until 480/479 BC, as this is ascertained from the archaeological remains, particularly of the cemeteries but also of the few houses or other indications of habitation.
Taking the graves as stable starting points and correlating their location with the Acropolis, the administrative, residential, and religious center of Athens, an attempt is made to approach the areas in which the early
nuclei of habitation, which are related to the nearby burial grounds and cemeteries, developed.
Through the overall assessment of the continuous interaction between
the areas of burial and of settlement, we try to detect the limits of habitation in each period, as this becomes clear from the development of the Submycenaean cemeteries in Geometric times, the Archaic settlement remains, and the successive changes in the uses of space down until the Persian destruction.

An interpretative approach of elements and principles structuring the ancient topography of the Lavreotike peninsula.  An example of applying nested scales of spatial analysis, involving fresh data aquired within salvage survey and excavation projects undertaken by the 2nd EPhorate of Prehistoric and Classical Αntiquities (2007-2010)

Mycenae culture became due to its own merits, the most important one in continental Greece for more than four centuries all along the II Millennium B.C. Its commercial importance due to the fact they took advantage of the minoans exchange routes and their own economic interests made them reach far regions even in Central Mediterranean and the Near East. But all of that must’ve been difficult if they hadn’t encountered a powerful army who support their colonial and commercial adventures. Numerous Lineal B writings, pictorial and archaeological remains are witness to the importance the military world provides to those former Mycenaean. Therefore, in this article we will try to show the diverse aspects related to the Mycenaean army who supported its power in continental Greece in spite of this, neither the reforms taken in 13th century B.C. got that mycenaeans culture survival, when their settlements were destroyed.

The abundance and variety of divine epithets are well known characteristics of Greek religion. For the Ancients, these epithets were a privileged way to communicate with the divine; consequently, they remain for modern scholars a relevant tool to investigate Greek polytheism. Indeed, their quantitative (not all gods are equally endowed) and qualitative distributions (they belong to very diverse semantic and functional fields) are testimonies of the structures and dynamics of polytheistic systems. Taking advantage of recent updates of Attic epigraphy and new perspectives drawn in divine onomastics, the present communication will assess the case of Zeus in Attica, on the longue durée, from the Archaic to the Roman imperial period. Being the richest god in cult epithets (in Athens as elsewhere), Zeus offers a good case-study to tackle some disputed issues, such as that of the « one vs many », or that of the relationships with other deities (especially Athena).

Α presentation of ceramic material excavated by Valerios Stais at the prehistoric settlement of Thorikos (including some post-Bronze Age fragments) and an  review of prehistoric occupation on the site. With an Appendix on clay fabrics by Margarita Nazou

In order to study the provenance of the clays used for the black-glaze (BG) decoration of Athenian pottery, we analysed in situ with the use of a Bruker handheld-PXRF system ~100 Geometric, Archaic and Classical decorated sherds from the 19th century excavations at the Acropolis of Athens (Graef and Langlotz, 1933), Boeotian ware from the Kavirion excavations and test pieces from the early excavations at the potter's quarter in Corinth. The sherds were also examined microscopically and documented by means of optical microscopy/digital photography. The results were compared with laboratory BG specimens produced by following the “iron reduction technique” at the THETIS workshop in Athens. The laboratory BG specimens used clay-colloids from 36 different ferruginous, illitic, low-calcium content, clay-sources in Attica. Trace element comparison between modern and ancient BG samples, with respect to the Zn content, points to the occasional use in antiquity of clay-deposits from Laurium. In addition, two phenomenological features of the ancient BG samples also present in prominent museum exhibits, i.e. the characteristic star-like micro-cracks and distinct brown-black colour shades, appear in the laboratory BG specimens produced from specific clay-deposits in the Panakton plateau and Mount-Parnes region.

This Final Degree Project we seek to establish a clear path on the evolution of coins in Athens during the Archaic Period, this being the origin of the coinage in the territory of Continental Greece. These first steps in the numismatic production will force to contemplate an evolution from which it would be the precedent of the currency, the "hacksilber", going through the first monetary production, the wappenmünzen; until reaching the end of the period that is contemplated, around 480 a. C. At this time was when the characteristic type of Greek coins, the head of Athena and the owl were consolidated.

This paper reconstructs two old, previously undiscovered versions of myths that represent the ‹barbaric› Amazons in a positive light as immigrants, female ancestors and founding heroines. The paper focuses on the tale of Theseus and Antiope – an especially popular narrative at the end of the 6th c. BC that can be connected with very old cult monuments in Athens. In Ephesos findings from recent excavations in the Temple of Artemis coming from the Early Archaic Period (7th century BC) may likewise have provided reasons for the emergence of an older foundation legend there as well.
Under the influence of the Persian wars and of Athens’ subsequent hegemonic interests these stories lost their function as migration myths serving to establish identity and were eclipsed by Greek-Barbarian duality. This process was so successful because the old spatial references were no longer present.

βλέπε: πρόλογος στο συνημμένο.

tags: πολεοδομική ιστορία της Αθήνας, κριτική, ματεριαλιστική ανάλυση, assemblage, ρίζωμα, Deleuze, de Landa, Zizek, σχιζοανάλυση, συμμετοχικός σχεδιασμός, πολυκατοικία, Ντελέζ, συναρμολόγημα, Ζίζεκ, Lyotard, μοντερνισμός, μεταμοντερνισμός, πολεοδομία, αρχιτεκτονική, μη στατικές ισορροπίες.

ελεύθερο κατέβασμα Α5-pdf

Είναι τεράστια τα λάθη ετυμολογίας που σχετίζονται με τις ονομασίες αυτές του Πειραιά και δυστυχώς έχουν μεταφερθεί και στην Wikipedia.
Ο συγγραφέας αναλύει και επαναξιολογεί όλα τα δεδομένα προκειμένου να προτείνει μια νέα άποψη για την προέλευση της ονομασίας τους.

The Festivals of the Celtic and Greek Lunar Calendars are charted for comparison and contrast. The Festivals follow the lunar calendars of both cultures using the Coligny Calendar of the Druids of Gaul and the Greek Attic Calendar of Athens, respectively. Deities are noted by means of comparative mythology.

This paper explores how a conception of the rule of law (embodied in a variety of legal and political institutions) came to affirm itself in the world of the ancient Greek city states. It argues that such a conception, formulated in opposition to the arbitrary rule of man, was to a large extent consistent with modern ideas of the rule of law as a constraint to political power, and to their Fullerian requirements of formal legality, as well as to requirements of due process. The article then analyses how this ideal was formulated in the Archaic period, and how it became a key feature of Greek identity. Finally, it argues that in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE it came to be used as the measure of the legitimacy of Greek political systems: democracy and oligarchy, as they engaged in an ideological battle, were judged as legitimate (and desirable) or illegitimate (and undesirable) on the basis of their conformity with a shared ideal of the rule of law. Then as now, to quote Tamanaha, 'the rule of law' was 'an accepted measure worldwide of government legitimacy'.

Im Jahr 2016 wurde bei Notgrabungen in der ausgedehnten Nekropole im Phaleron ein mehrteiliges Massengrab von insgesamt 79 Männern freigelegt, die eines gewaltsamen Todes starben. Aufgrund seiner Datierung ins dritte Viertel des 7. Jhs. v. Chr. wurde bereits nach kurzer Zeit eine Verbindung zum bei Herodot (5, 71) und Thukydides (1, 126) überlieferten Putschversuch des Kylon hergestellt.

Der Vortrag strebt eine Interpretation sowie eine historische Einordnung des Massengrabes an. Dafür werden die bislang bekannt gewordenen Informationen zu den archäologischen Befunden einerseits und die Überlieferung zum Putschversuch des Kylon andererseits einer kritischen Prüfung unterzogen. Dabei stellt sich heraus, dass die beiden Quellengattungen kaum direkt miteinander verbunden werden können, doch trotz ihrer Unterschiede und der im Detail vielen offenen Fragen letztlich ähnliche Dinge aussagen: Archäologischer Befund und schriftliche Überlieferung stellen zwei gewissermaßen zufällig erhaltene, doch mitteilsame Ausschnitte intensiver Konflikte im früharchaischen Athen dar. Diese Auseinandersetzungen folgten aus der Zunahme der inner-elitären Konkurrenz, welche sich archäologisch gut verfolgen lässt. Sie erreichte in früharchaischer Zeit ein dergestalt gesellschaftsschädigendes Maß, dass gegengesteuert werden musste. Damit markieren das Massengrab sowie die überlieferte Anekdote einen entscheidenden Abschnitt in jenem gesellschaftlichen Transformationsprozess, der häufig verkürzt als die ›Entstehung der athenischen Polis‹ bezeichnet wird.

This article presents a detailed analysis of a pottery assemblage of the Early Helladic period discovered in the course of the wider archaeological project of the Rhamnous excavations conducted under the direction of Βasileios Ch. Petrakos. The ceramic material comprises potsherds from Early Helladic (EH) I to EH II Late, and also includes a clay hearth rim with a sealed impression (fig. 11, β-ε, no. 35). All the artifacts, including a Melian obsidian blade (fig. 12, no. 41) are unstratified and were collected during a surface recovery in the Pazaraki peninsula in June 1996. Pazaraki (fig. 3), which is located at the entrance of the South Euboean Gulf, only 2 km south of the strategic coastal acropolis of Rhamnous (fig. 2), is situated on an important sea route connecting the Cyclades to the Euboean Gulf. It has a panoramic view to the Euboean sites of Almyropotamos and Nea Styra. The detailed macroscopic analyses and classifications of ceramic wares and vessel shapes from Pazaraki have allowed: (a) the identification of five Ware Groups (A, B, Γ, Δ, Ε) and 12 Ware Types (A1α, Α1β, Α1γ, Α1δ, Α1ε, Α2α, Α2β, Β1, Γ1α, Δ1α, Ε1α, Ε2) (fig. 4), (b) the construction of a local chronological sequence comparable to the developments in central and southern Greece (Chapter III), (c) the possible identification of “Ware Group A”, the most common ware encountered, as a local or at least regional product, (d) the identification of close relations to the EH I and EH II pottery of Central Euboea (especially to the sites Kalogerovrysi, Manika 2-3 and Amarynthos) and finally (e) the tracing of artifacts not available locally, such as the potsherds of the Cycladic “Talc Ware” (fig. 12, no. 36-37), which document interaction with groups of people from the Cyclades (chapter IV). The sealed hearth rim from Pazaraki (no. 35), which is related to communal dining practices as known from Lerna III C-D and period II of Ayia Irini on Kea, indicates that such a feast or a ceremony might have been conducted in Pazaraki during EH II developed and EH II late, too and possibly provided an opportunity for the mentioned interactions (chapter V). Chapter VI provides a summary of the assemblage character and significance and tries to place it in its wider local and regional context. It is suggested that Pazaraki was the
harbour of Early Helladic Rhamnous and played a significant role as a stop-over for the ships on their way towards the South Euboean Gulf and vice versa.

Ancient Athens developed democracy to a higher level than any other state before modern times. It was the leading cultural innovator of its age. Athens is rightly revered for its political and cultural achievements. Less well known is this state’s extraordinary record of military success. Athens transformed ancient warfare and became one of the ancient world’s superpowers. There is a strong case that democracy was a major reason for this success. The military impact of Athenian democracy was twofold. The competition of elite performers before non-elite adjudicators resulted in a pro-war culture. This encouraged Athenians in increasing numbers to join the armed forces and to vote for war. All this was offset by Athenian democracy’s rigorous debating of war. This debating reduced the risks of Athenian cultural militarism. It also made military reforms easier and developed the initiative of the state’s generals, hoplites and sailors. Political scientists have long viewed Athenian democracy as a source of fresh ideas. Presently they cannot satisfactorily explain the warmaking of modern democracies. Consequently Ancient History can provide Political Science with new lines of enquiry into how democracy impacts on international relations today.

Der hier erstmals publizierte griechische Marmorlöwe steht seit seiner Erwerbung im Jahre 2001 in der Münchner Glyptothek im Saal der Archaik. Der von den frühgriechischen Jünglingsfiguren beherrschte Raum wird durch den langgestreckten Löwenkörper um eine horizontale Dimension erweitert. Der Marmor, die weiche Modellierung der Oberfläche und die Typologie weisen die Skulptur dem ostgriechischen Kunstraum zu. Der Münchner Löwe gibt den Typus des Löwen in sprungbereiter Drohhaltung wider. Innerhalb der verschiedenen Überlieferungsstränge des archaischen Löwenbilds nimmt der Münchner Löwe eine besondere Rolle ein. Wir fassen in ihm ein Zeugnis der fortschrittlichen Entwicklung der ionischen Kunst. Das neue Bewegungsmotiv und das damit verbunden Körperideal sind demnach von dort ausgegangen und haben das Löwenbild der Folgezeit bestimmt. Die in unserem Löwen manifestierten Elemente kraftvoller Angespanntheit und drohender Aggressivität dienen als Ausdruck seiner dämonischen Wirkmächtigkeit und symbolhaften Schutzkraft. Auch in diesem Sinne hat der archaische Löwe einen guten Platz gefunden am Beginn des Rundganges durch die Glyptothek, den Tempel antiker Bildhauerkunst in München.

Athens was an ancient city like no other. Named for a goddess, epicenter of the first democracy, birthplace of tragic and comic theater, locus of the major philosophical schools, artistically in the vanguard for centuries, it looms larger than any other ancient polis in contemporary thought from historical scholarship to tourist attractions. The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Athens is a comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the ancient city, its topography and monuments, inhabitants and cultural institutions, religious rituals and politics. Chapters in the volume link the religious, cultural, and political institutions of Athens to the physical locales in which they took place, so that readers gain a sense of the life and realia of the ancient city. Discussion of the urban plan with its streets, gates, walls and public and private buildings will give readers a thorough understanding of how the city operated, how various people flowed through it, what they saw, heard, smelled and perhaps tasted. Drawing from the newest scholarship on various aspects of the city as well as on-going excavations of its Agora, sanctuaries, and cemeteries, this volume examines how the city was planned, how it functioned, and how it was transformed from a democratic polis into a Roman urbs.