Swiss scholars locate lost ancient Temple of Artemis on Greek island of Evia (video)

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Like most of the Greek islands, Euboea was originally known under other names in Antiquity, such as Macris (Μάκρις) and Doliche (Δολίχη) from its elongated shape, or Ellopia, Aonia and Abantis from the tribes inhabiting it. Its ancient and current name, Εὔβοια, derives from the words εὖ "good", and βοῦς "ox", meaning "the land of the well-fed oxen".

A Swiss-led team of archaeologists in Greece has made a spectacular find: the temple of Artemis, a famous open-air sanctuary of antiquity. 

Researchers have been looking for the sanctuary for more than a century. The site was found at the foot of the Paleoekklisies hill near the small fishing town of Amarynthos on the Greek island of Euboea. It’s about 10km from the place where the temple was wrongly thought to be located.

Since 2007, the search for the sanctuary has been led by Karl Reber, a professor at the Universty of Lausanne and director of the Swiss School of Archaeology in Athens. 

Researchers found parts of a massive wall dating back to the classical era, which they believe belongs to the stoa or portico built near the temple. 

Euboea or Evia (Greek: Εύβοια, Evvoia, Ancient Greek: Εὔβοια, Eúboia) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. The narrow Euripus Strait separates it from Boeotia in mainland Greece. In general outline it is a long and narrow island; it is about 180 kilometres (110 mi) long, and varies in breadth from 50 kilometres (31 mi) to 6 kilometres (3.7 mi). Its geographic orientation is from northwest to southeast, and it is traversed throughout its length by a mountain range, which forms part of the chain that bounds Thessaly on the east, and is continued south of Euboea in the lofty islands of Andros, Tinos and Mykonos.

It forms most of the regional unit of Euboea, which also includes Skyros and a small area of the Greek mainland.

Exploratory trenches were opened in Amarynthos in 2012, and the Swiss team brought to light a bigger part of the building. 

 Now, after also finding artefacts with inscriptions, they are sure that they have located the site of the Artemis Amarynthia, which was the end point of the annual procession of people from the once prosperous trading city of Eretrea, 10km away. 

They held a festival in honour of Artemis, the untameable goddess of hunting in Greek mythology. She was worshipped as the patron goddess of Amarynthos, which takes its name from an Eretrean man who was besotted by Artemis.

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Artifacts that were discovered with inscriptions indicate that this is the site of Artemis Amarynthia; which was the end point of the annual procession of people from the once prosperous trading city of Eretrea; 10km away.  

The ancient civilization held a festival in honor of Artemis; who was the goddess of hunting in Greek mythology.  She was worshiped as the patron goddess of Amarynthos; which takes its name from an Eretrean man who was besotted with Artemis.

The upper gymnasium of ancient Eretria

Source/Bibliography/Photography

http://www.ancientencyclopedia.com
Euboea /juːˈbiːə/ is a transliteration from the Ancient Greek: Εύβοια, Euboia [eúboja], while Evia and Evvia reflect the Modern Greek pronunciation [ˈevia].
Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, J.B. Bury, ed., Methuen, 1898 p. 6:390, footnote 69
https://en.wikipedia.org
Gregory, Timothy E.; Ševčenko, Nancy Patterson (1991). "Euboea". In Kazhdan, Alexander. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 736–737. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.

https://www.swissinfo.ch
Lane Fox, Robin. Travelling Heroes (London: Penguin, 2008) passim
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ElAnt/V1N2/powell
Thucydides: History of the Peloponnesian War. I 15.
John David Lewis. Nothing Less than Victory: Decisive Wars and the Lessons of History Princeton University Press, 25 jan. 2010 ISBN 1400834309 p 34
Lazenby, p. 248–253
Norwich, John Julius. Byzantium: The Decline and Fall (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996) p. 116

Scientists rediscover ancient Greek 'weapon of war' snake in Sicily

The Javelin Sand Boa was used as a projectile against enemy ships

The rediscovery of an Ancient Greek snake species in Italy was announced on Thursday in the scientific journal Acta Herpetologica.

Scientists in Italy have rediscovered a type of snake which was used by the ancient Greeks as a weapon of war during sea battles.

They used to throw it at their enemies so as to create panic and confusion.

The Javelin Sand Boa, officially known as Eryx jaculus, had not been recorded in Italy for 80 years, as Telegraph reports.

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However, snake experts decided to investigate and found the species, as locals claimed that this type of snake appeared in Sicily.

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They believe the snake may have been introduced to Sicily in ancient times, when the island was colonised by the Greeks and it was found close to the sites of two ancient battles.

The rediscovery of the species in Italy was announced in Acta Herpetologica, a scientific journal.

“The Greeks used to use snakes as projectiles, hurling them at enemy ships before attacking in order to create confusion and fear,” Gianni Insacco, one of the researchers, told the news agency Ansa.

“In general they used vipers that had had their venom removed. Alternatively they would use similar species, like the sand boa.”

The species is also found in Greece, the southern Balkans, North Africa and the Middle East.

Skeletons found in tomb of the ancient Greek city Parion in Turkey

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Parium (or Parion; Greek: Πάριον) was a Greek city of Adrasteia in Mysia on the Hellespont. Its bishopric was a suffragan of Cyzicus, the metropolitan see of the Roman province of Hellespontus

Founded in 709 B.C., the ancient city of Parion is located in the village of Kemer in the township of Biga in Çanakkale province of Turkey, currently. A major coastal city with two harbors in the Roman period, Parion had intensive relations with Thrace and Anatolia throughout history. This was the main customs station through which all Istanbul-bound goods from Greece and the Aegean had to pass.

The skeletons of a total of 24 people, including one child, have been unearthed from a chamber tomb opened during this year’s excavations in the ancient city of Parion in the northwestern province of Çanakkale. 

The mystery of this multi-burial tomb, which has surprised archaeologists and is estimated to date back to a period between the 1st and 3rd centuries, will be solved by anthropologic researches to be carried out next year. 

This year’s excavations have recently ended after they were initiated on July 3 in the 2,600-year-old ancient city of Parion, located in the Biga district’s Kemer village. 

Headed by Ondokuz Mayıs University Archaeology Department Professor Vedat Keleş, the excavations unearthed new findings this year. Among them, the most interesting one was the skeletons found in a chamber grave. The tomb was unearthed in 2011 during illegal excavations and the last tomb was opened this year.

“A chamber tomb was uncovered here in 2011. We started excavations in the same year and found six 2,600-year-old chamber tombs. Their architectures are similar to each other. But particularly the one that we opened this year and named OM-5 is very interesting in terms of its burial method. Even though the other five have the same architectural features, their burial methods are different. We found the skeletons of 23 adults and a child inside this one,” Keleş said. 

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He noted that they believe the people were buried at a time between the 1st and 3rd centuries. “It shows us that there was a significant demographic increase in Parion during those years. The skulls of 15 skeletons were found on one side of the tomb. Seven were buried in the northeast direction. We also found the skeleton of a child. The existence of six chamber tombs next to each other shows that people with special statuses were buried in this field,” he added. 

The professor said they also found some objects inside the tombs, which were put as gifts for the dead.

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“We found ancient items, including three tear bottles, one of which is a glass, a plate, an amphora and a pitcher. We also found a strigil, used by ancient people to clean their bodies,” he added. 

Keleş said they closed the chamber tombs to prevent damages on them, adding that the skeletons will be removed next year.

Source/Photography/Bibliography

http://www.ancientencyclopedia.com
Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013, ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 950
P. Frisch (ed.), Die Inschriften von Parion (Bonn, 1983) (Inschriften griechischer Städte aus Kleinasien 25).
https://en.wikipedia.org
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Parium". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.

2,000-year-old ancient Greek baby bottle unearthed in Turkey’s Çanakkale

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An Ancient Greek 2,000-year-old ancient baby bottle was discovered Tuesday in the Biga district of western Turkey's Çanakkale province.

The discovery was made during excavation works in areas of the Hellenistic period antique port city of Parion.

Member of the Parion Antique City excavation team and Assistant Professor of Archeology Department at Atatürk University, Hasan Kasaoğlu, said the baby bottle had a single handle and a pacifier-like spout.

"These bottles were used during ancient Roman times 2,000 years ago as equipment to feed babies milk or food. These are earthenware produced as a result of firing," Kasaoğlu said, adding that such bottles could be found in areas dating back to early Roman period.

According to the archeologist, such bottles could sometimes be discovered in baby tombs in areas dating back to early Roman period. He said they were left in tombs as burial gifts, adding that the bottles were equipment used in daily life.

Kasaoğlu also said that the ancient baby bottles usually had a volume of 50-100 milliliters.

"The products were made so that a baby could drink any liquid or baby food from it. They are all made from baked clay. The clay is molded by pressing, then fired and ready for use," Kasaoğlu added.

Source/Bibliography/Photography
http://www.ancientencyclopedia.com

Earthquake faults may have played key role in shaping the culture of ancient Greece

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Greece has a lot of ancient temples. Greece also has a lot of earthquakes. And sometimes they happen in the same places. On one hand, this shouldn’t be surprising. Greece and its neighboring islands are contained in a “box” of seismic fault lines that run in all different directions. The region also has millennia of history and is bursting with ancient ruins. But new research from the University of Plymouth suggests the overlap of earthquakes and temples may be no accident. A study published in the Proceedings of the Geologists’ Association suggests that the ancient Greeks deliberately built their sacred or treasured sites on land that had previously been shaken by a quake.

Delphi, the famous ancient sanctuary and temple complex, was once thought of as the navel of the world. It was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 373 B.C., and then rebuilt in precisely the same place, atop a fault line, which gave rise to the intoxicating gases and sacred spring there.

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Scientists have previously connected these geothermal features with the site’s spiritual importance, but Ian Stewart, director of the university’s Sustainable Earth Institute, believes the site is emblematic of a larger trend. Other examples of sacred sites intentionally built on fault lines, he suggests, may include Mycenae, Ephesus, Cnidus, and Hierapolis.

“I have always thought it more than a coincidence that many important sites are located directly on top of fault lines created by seismic activity,” Stewart said in a statement released by the University. “The Ancient Greeks placed great value on hot springs unlocked by earthquakes, but perhaps the building of temples and cities close to these sites was more systematic than has previously been thought.” That said, there are many ancient sacred sites on stabler ground, and many faults that don’t host temples.

Stewart believes that the ancient Greeks saw earthquakes as a mixed blessing. “[They] were incredibly intelligent people,” he said. “I believe they would have recognized the significance [of these fault lines] and wanted their citizens to benefit from the properties they created.” Modern Greece is a little more wary of the properties created by seismic activity—every new home or building is built with stringent anti-earthquake measures.

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Seismic faults and sacred sanctuaries in Aegean antiquity

Source/Bibliography/Photography

Provided by: University of Plymouth

http://www.ancientencyclopedia.com

http://www.gettyimages.com

The orchestra and the first series of theater seats were discovered in Ancient Thouria

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The findings of the excavations in Ancient Thouria are impressive, and the magnificent ancient theater slowly descends into light. The excavation period for this year was completed with significant - as they were characterized - results that give a significant outlook for the continuation.

It is also estimated that this particular ancient theater is one of the largest.

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According to archaeologist Xeni Arapogiannis: "The significance of the revelation and the existence of an ancient theater is enormous for the region as well. And so much exaltation will be given to this region, the Municipality of Kalamata and the whole area. It will be a great vista of the site with great developments in the future ".

As for the excavation that took place this summer at the Ancient Theater, he said: "It went very well with significant and impressive results, as the whole orchestra of Ancient Theater was revealed with all the first row of seats. Now we can have a very impressive and impressive picture of ancient theater. "

Altogether this year, 3 archaeologists, 9 laborers and an architect worked.

As for the next goal, it is "to be able to continue the excavation to give the largest possible share to the public and then to the restoration study and, of course, the restoration."

As for the funding of the excavation, according to Mrs. Arapogianni, it mainly comes from the George and Victoria Karelia Foundation, as well as from the Municipality of Kalamata, the Kapetan Vasilis and Karmen Konstantakopoulos Foundation as well as the Region of the Peloponnese, which contributes to the improvement of the the image of the ancient, in their projection, mainly in the area of ​​Asklepieion.

The important contribution of all members of the Friends of Ancient Thurias and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Messinia was emphasized.

Archaeologist Xenia Arapoyianni spoke of the whole course and the expectations, while for today the Ariochori Cultural Association had prepared a small celebration in honor of the whole group and its work.

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Source/Bibliography/Photography
http://best-tv.gr
https://www.eleftheriaonline.gr

Mycenaean tomb of the 14th century BC was discovered in Orchomenos, Greece

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A chamber tomb of significant archaeological importance has been discovered in Orchomenos, Viotia, Greece’s Ministry of Culture & Sports announced on Monday. Describing the discovery as “one of the largest Mycenaean carved chamber tombs ever found in Greece,”  a Ministry statement said that the construction of the chamber tomb dates back to the middle of the 14th century B.C. The skeleton of only one dead was found in the tomb with all the grave goods. The grave was found in Prosilio village of the Municipality of Livadeia, at the foot of Mt Akontio.

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entrance – original stones 

The construction of the tomb is monumental and testifies to the special care that has been paid for its creation. In the funeral room there is a 20m long carved road leading to the funeral room which is striking 42 sq. meters. On the four sides of the room there is a carved ledge covered with clay mortar.

The original roof height, which had the shape of a rocky roof, is estimated at 3.5 m. However, the original roof began to collapse as early as antiquity, perhaps even in the Mycenaean period, giving a cave-like appearance to the interior of the chamber, totaling 6.5 m.

The collapse of the roof has disturbed to some extent the place of the deceased and the grave goods, but also covered and protected the burial layer from later interventions.

On the floor of the chamber,  [the skeleton of] a man, estimated between 40 and 50 years old, was found, accompanied by carefully selected items: more than tin pots, a pair of hooks (parts of horseshoes), arc accessories, arrows, pins, jewelry made of various materials, hair combs, a seal and a seal ring.

The value of the finding lies in the fact that it yielded one of the best documented tombs of the palace period in mainland Greece. It is noteworthy that individual burials with important finds are rarely preserved in monumental Mycenaean chamber tombs, as they are usually used for multiple burials and for many generations, resulting in disturbing or removing the grave goods.

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Therefore, the important thing in the case of the found tomb is that all the objects found are associated with the only dead who was buried there.
Finding this burial site and its features will give researchers the opportunity to better understand the burial practices of the region during the Mycenaean times.

For example, the deposition of many jewels in the tomb of a man doubts the widespread belief that jewelry was mostly accompanying women in their last home. It is also noteworthy that, with the exception of two small amphoras, no Mycenaean ceramics were found in the grave, which, moreover, was extremely popular in this period.

The excavation team speculates that the chamber tomb is related to the palace of Mycenaean Orchomenos, which is approximately 3.5 km,  and was the most important center of northern Boeotia in the 14th – 13th c. B.C.

The dead in the tomb appears to have belonged to the upper social class of the local Mycenaean elite.A warrior? A member of the royal dynasty?

The excavation has been taking place in cooperation of the Antiquities Dept of the Greek Culture Ministry, the British School in Athens/University of Cambridge.

It is the ninth largest chamber tomb of approximately 4,000 excavated in the last 150 years.

Orchomenos or Orchomenus, is the setting for many early Greek myths, is best known as a rich archaeological site in Boeotia (Viotia), that was inhabited from the Neolithic through the Hellenistic periods. Orchomenus is also referenced as the “Minyean Orchomenus” in order to distinguish from “Arcadian Orchomenos” in Peloponnese.

According to the founding myth of Orchomenos, its royal dynasty had been established by the Minyans, who had followed their eponymous leader Minyas from coastal Thessaly to settle the site.

In the Bronze Age, during the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries, Orchomenos became a rich and important centre of civilisation in Mycenaean Greece and a rival to Thebes. The palace with its frescoed walls and the great tholos tomb (“Tomb of Minyas) show the power of Orchomenos in Mycenaean times. A massive hydraulic undertaking drained the marshes of Lake Copaïs making it a rich agricultural area. Like many sites around the Aegean, Orchomenos was burned and its palace destroyed in ca. 1200 BC. 

Culture and Society in the Lyric Age of Greece Fri, 9/8—Sat, 9/9 · 219 Aaron Burr

A Joint Conference with the European Network for the Study of Ancient Greek History and the Network for the Study of Archaic and Classical Greek Song.

Location: Aaron Burr Hall, Room 219

Date/Time: 09/08/17 at 09:00 am - 09/09/17 at 7:00 pm

Sponsored by the Department of Classics, Humanities Council, Program in the Ancient World

Category: Conference

Department: Classics

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Department of Classics
141 East Pyne, Princeton, NJ 08544
Tel: (609) 258-3951 Fax: (609) 258-1943

Princeton University 

Ancient Greek Lycian-era mausoleum destroyed in Turkey’s Antalya

An ancient Greek 2,500-year-old mausoleum in the southern province of Antalya part of Ancient Greece has become the victim of vandalism.

Considered one of the symbolic mausoleums of the Lycian era, the mausoleum, located in the Gölova neighborhood, 12 kilometers away from the Elmalı district, had classical-age paintings and Byzantine-era decorations. However, the inside and outside walls of the structure have been scraped off and painted with colored paints.

“A 2,500 year old mausoleum is the victim of graffiti. It is disappearing in front of us,” said Ertuğrul Gün, a local, who reacted against the situation.

“We are sad about this vandalism against historical values. We have sent photos to various directorates to clean the structure and protect it. I hope it will be protected before it sees more damage,” said Gölova Mayor Ali Küçük.

“I was very sorry when I saw the structure. It was completely destroyed. We have ordered for the writing to be cleaned using a nutshell. We do not use the sanding method because it may cause scratches,” said Antalya Relievos and Monuments Director Cemil Karabayram.

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The ancient Greek structure, dating back to the fifth and sixth century B.C., was examined by U.S. Professor Machteld J. Mellink. The structure had previously been damaged by treasure hunters.

Ancient Greek horse still exists today

The small-bodied species of the Skyrian horse is one of the rarest horse breeds in the world. It was native to Greece, and in ancient times lived throughout the country. At the time of writing there are 220 Skyrian horses in Greece, of which 152 live in Skyros. The Skyrian horse is a protected species.

The Skyrian horses are friendly, social, robust, intelligent animals; they are particularly friendly breed. Maximum height is 116 cm. and body-type is similar to that of the large horse. The head is very handsome, the mane being long and richly coloured, usually in a hue darker than skin colour. Compared to other horses, they have a big belly. Their legs are slim, strong and wiry, with strong joints. The tail is low set, tasseled and long. Often it reaches the hooves, which are small, hard, usually black in colour, and do not need shoeing. A particular characteristic are the hairs on the fetlocks, the so-called feathers. Colour is usually a brown-red or chestnut hue, sometimes white or grey-brown, rarely blond. Some individuals have a white mark on their face (star- or rebas-shaped). The Skyrian horse belongs to the species Equus Cabalus but because of its small size it is considered a different race designated Equus Cabalus Skyros Poni or Equus Cabalus Skyriano.

The Skyrian Horse (Eguus Cabalus Skyros Pony) is one of the native races of horses that lived all over Greece in antiquity, and there is a theory that it is a representative of the Pindos Pony family. Legend has it that they are a descendant of the horses that Achilles took with him to Troy, and linked to the horses of Alexander the Great and those shown as participating in the Panathinea procession depicted on the Parthenon’s Frieze. Some scientists believe that the Skyrian horses are related to mountain, small-bodied horse races that migrated from Alaska along the Siberian Plateau and reached Europe some 12,000 ago. It is thought that they were brought to the island of Skyros by Athenian immigrants in the 5th century BC.

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Athens to honor China-Greece ancient innovations

Herakleidon museum warmed up for an upcoming exhibition of ancient Chinese technology, by this week unveiling: The “Voyage: Greek shipbuilding and seafaring” in Athens.

“Seafaring has formed the Greeks’ character. The spirit of Ulysses still exists in Greeks today. Shipping was and still remains their basic activity. The sea and shipping in particular offer Greeks wealth, vision and a future,” said Eleni Nomikou, the museum’s director.

“Greek ships did not carry only products, but also knowledge and culture throughout our history. Thanks to these vessels Greeks travelled the world, enriched their knowledge and used it to create on this land and give birth to the Greek civilization.”

A total of 35 handmade wooden models of vessels, complemented with works of art, maps, drawings and video projections narrate the history of Greek seafaring from prehistoric times to the middle of the 20th century.

The model of a vessel of the Minoan civilization which flourished from 2600 to 1100 BC, was built based on a mural unearthed on Santorini Island, while for the replica of the early 19th century frigate “Hellas” Maras went through naval architectural designs of her sister ship, the US Navy’s frigate USS Hudson.

The frigate “Hellas” was built in the US, arrived in Greece in 1826 and played a decisive role in the last years of the War of Independence against the Turks.

As the “Voyage” exhibition is set to travel to Cyprus and the US, Herakleidon Museum is getting ready to welcome a remarkable exhibition of the technological and scientific achievements of the ancient Chinese civilization.

“The museum has signed a significant agreement with Beijing’s China Museum of Science and Technology (CSTM) for the exchange of two exhibitions of ancient technology,” Nomikou said.

“Ancient Greek technology will travel to China in October this year, while ancient Chinese technology will be presented in Herakleidon Museum in less than a month. It will stay here for about eight months giving the opportunity to not only Athenians, to see the achievements of Chinese people from antiquity to today in the fields of technology and science.”

The deal was sealed as the two countries celebrate in 2017 the China-Greece Cultural Exchanges and Cultural Industry Cooperation Year as part of efforts to further enhance bilateral ties.

“The two great ancient civilizations, the Chinese and Greek, meet each other through their differences. It is so exciting when one discovers how two different civilizations, two different ways of thinking which progressed in parallel and did not meet essentially in antiquity, how through all this show man’s effort to create and develop when facing the same issues,” Nomikou said.

The exhibition will also include a section on Chinese seafaring. “We will see their efforts in shipbuilding, how different were their vessels compared to the ships constructed by other people and how close they were regarding the key point: Man’s thirst to travel. This is eventually the common element we see regardless of the different ways and techniques used,” said Nomikou.

AGREEMENT OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE MUSEUM HERAKLEIDON AND THE CHINA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MUSEUM

EXCHANGE OF EXHIBITIONS OF ANCIENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN 2017

The Museum Herakleidon is honored and delighted to announce its official collaboration with the China Science and Technology Museum (CSTM) of Beijing, with the objective of organizing and exchanging exhibitions, in parallel, in 2017, which has been declared the Year of Greek-Chinese Friendship.

Beginning in September 2017 and continuing through January 2018, the Museum Herakleidon will host, in its two buildings in Thissio (16 Herakleidon Str. and 37 Ap. Pavlou Str.), the exhibition of the CSTM “Ancient Chinese Science and Technology”, while beginning in October 2017 and running through March 2018, the Museum Herakleidon will present, at the China Science and Technology Museum in Beijing, the exhibition “EUREKA. Science, Art and Technology of the Ancient Greeks”, in collaboration with the Association for the Study of Ancient Greek Technology and Mr. Theodosis P. Tasios, professor emeritus of the School of Civil Engineering of the National Technical University of Athens, as scientific consultant.

The joint goal of the two museums is the strengthening of the relations of the two nations by getting to know and promoting each other’s important cultural heritage.

The China Science and Technology Museum, the most comprehensive museum of science and technology in China, opened in 1988. It is a large-scale science popularization facility for the implementation of the national strategy of invigorating the country through science and education, and for the enhancement of the scientific literacy of the general public through interactive exhibitions, science popularization activities and educational programs. The footprint of the museum is 48,000 m2, with a total area of 102,000 m2, covering an important part of the park “Olympic Green”, which was created for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, to highlight its motto “Green Olympics, Scientific Olympics and Olympics of Humanity”. It comprises five main thematic exhibitions (Science Paradise, The Glory of China, Science, Technology and Life, Explorations and Discoveries, Challenges and the Future). There is also a temporary exhibition area, as well as four special-effect theatres, lecture halls, a number of laboratories and classrooms and other facilities. Composed of numerous building block-like concrete blocks that articulate with each other, the structure of the museum is made to look like a Lu Ban lock or “magic cube”, to symbolize science as an endless process of “unlocking” and “discovering” secrets.

The Museum Herakleidon has been bringing art, education, and culture to the general public since 2004. The inspiration comes from the founders Paul and Anna-Belinda Firos. During the first decade of its operation, the museum focused on the fine arts and organized exhibitions of the works of several important artists (M.C. Escher, Victor Vasarely, Carol Wax, Constantine Xenakis, Toulouse-Lautrec, Edgar Degas, Edvard Munch, Sol LeWitt, et al.). Today the museum has evolved into an interactive center for popularized science. Based on its philosophy of Science, Art, and Mathematics, it provides innovative educational programs for students, teachers and adults, as well as exhibitions of art and popularized science at its two buildings in Thissio (16 Herakleidon Str. and 37 Ap. Pavlou Str.).

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Source/Photography/Bibliography

http://www.wcop.ga

http://herakleidon-art.gr

http://www.shanghaidaily.com

Fossil footprints challenge established theories of human evolution

The footprints were discovered by Gerard Gierlinski (1st author of the study) by chance when he was on holiday on Crete in 2002. Gierlinski, a paleontologist at the Polish Geological Institute specialized in footprints, identified the footprints as mammal but did not interpret them further at the time. In 2010 he returned to the site together with Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki (2nd author), a Polish paleontologist now at Uppsala University, to study the footprints in detail. Together they came to the conclusion that the footprints were made by hominins. Credit: Andrzej Boczarowski

Newly discovered human-like footprints from Crete may put the established narrative of early human evolution to the test. The footprints are approximately 5.7 million years old and were made at a time when previous research puts our ancestors in Africa - with ape-like feet.

Ever since the discovery of fossils of Australopithecus in South and East Africa during the middle years of the 20th century, the origin of the human lineage has been thought to lie in Africa. More recent fossil discoveries in the same region, including the iconic 3.7 million year old Laetoli footprints from Tanzania which show human-like feet and upright locomotion, have cemented the idea that hominins (early members of the human lineage) not only originated in Africa but remained isolated there for several million years before dispersing to Europe and Asia. The discovery of approximately 5.7 million year old human-like footprints from Crete, published online this week by an international team of researchers, overthrows this simple picture and suggests a more complex reality.

Human feet have a very distinctive shape, different from all other land animals. The combination of a long sole, five short forward-pointing toes without claws, and a hallux ("big toe") that is larger than the other toes, is unique. The feet of our closest relatives, the great apes, look more like a human hand with a thumb-like hallux that sticks out to the side. The Laetoli footprints, thought to have been made by Australopithecus, are quite similar to those of modern humans except that the heel is narrower and the sole lacks a proper arch. By contrast, the 4.4 million year old Ardipithecus ramidus from Ethiopia, the oldest hominin known from reasonably complete fossils, has an ape-like foot. The researchers who described Ardipithecus argued that it is a direct ancestor of later hominins, implying that a human-like foot had not yet evolved at that time.

The new footprints, from Trachilos in western Crete, have an unmistakably human-like form. This is especially true of the toes. The big toe is similar to our own in shape, size and position; it is also associated with a distinct 'ball' on the sole, which is never present in apes. The sole of the foot is proportionately shorter than in the Laetoli prints, but it has the same general form. In short, the shape of the Trachilos prints indicates unambiguously that they belong to an early hominin, somewhat more primitive than the Laetoli trackmaker. They were made on a sandy seashore, possibly a small river delta, whereas the Laetoli tracks were made in volcanic ash.

The footprints were discovered by Gerard Gierlinski (1st author of the study) by chance when he was on holiday on Crete in 2002. Gierlinski, a paleontologist at the Polish Geological Institute specialized in footprints, identified the footprints as mammal but did not interpret them further at the time. In 2010 he returned to the site together with Grzegorz Niedzwiedzki (2nd author), a Polish paleontologist now at Uppsala University, to study the footprints in detail. Together they came to the conclusion that the footprints were made by hominins. Credit: Andrzej Boczarowski

"What makes this controversial is the age and location of the prints," says Professor Per Ahlberg at Uppsala University, last author of the study.

At approximately 5.7 million years, they are younger than the oldest known fossil hominin, Sahelanthropus from Chad, and contemporary with Orrorin from Kenya, but more than a million years older than Ardipithecus ramidus with its ape-like feet. This conflicts with the hypothesis that Ardipithecus is a direct ancestor of later hominins. Furthermore, until this year, all fossil hominins older than 1.8 million years (the age of early Homo fossils from Georgia) came from Africa, leading most researchers to conclude that this was where the group evolved. However, the Trachilos footprints are securely dated using a combination of foraminifera (marine microfossils) from over- and underlying beds, plus the fact that they lie just below a very distinctive sedimentary rock formed when the Mediterranean sea briefly dried out, 5.6 millon years ago. By curious coincidence, earlier this year, another group of researchers reinterpreted the fragmentary 7.2 million year old primate Graecopithecus from Greece and Bulgaria as a hominin. Graecopithecus is only known from teeth and jaws.

During the time when the Trachilos footprints were made, a period known as the late Miocene, the Sahara Desert did not exist; savannah-like environments extended from North Africa up around the eastern Mediterranean. Furthermore, Crete had not yet detached from the Greek mainland. It is thus not difficult to see how early hominins could have ranged across south-east Europe and well as Africa, and left their footprints on a Mediterranean shore that would one day form part of the island of Crete.

"This discovery challenges the established narrative of early human evolution head-on and is likely to generate a lot of debate. Whether the human origins research community will accept fossil footprints as conclusive evidence of the presence of hominins in the Miocene of Crete remains to be seen," says Per Ahlberg.

Source

https://phys.org

Modern terrorism and ancient Greek tragedy: Isis meets Antigone

If someone was to lob the name Antigone about, many of us would smile and nod while trying to remember if this is the one about the guy who shagged his mum or the parent who offed their kids. (Bit of both.). or those whose Sophocles is hazy, let me summarise. 

After a civil war in Thebes that sees two brothers, Eteocles and Polyneices, dead, the new king Creon rules that Eteocles is to be buried with honour, while Polyneices will be left outside the city gates to rot. Their sisters, Ismene and Antigone, have different views. Ismene — concerned that their social position is a bit shaky, given a family history of incest and rebellion — obeys Creon. Antigone, who thinks Creon’s decree offends natural and divine law, says whatever the Ancient Greek is for ‘sod that’, then buries her brother. Creon responds by burying Antigone alive, which sets off a chain of events that sees everyone he loves die.

We remind you of this because it’s relevant to one of the best novels of the year. Kamila Shamsie’s magnificent Home Fire retells Antigone as the story of two British-Pakistani families, divided over a rebel brother’s fate. Drawing on the play’s messy moral conflicts — between family and country, love and duty, divine justice and man-made law — Shamsie crafts a multifaceted tragedy about cultural tensions and radicalisation in modern London. Isma (Ismene) and Aneeka (Antigone) are Wembley sisters living with the fear and stain of their father’s jihadi past, something rekindled when their brother, Parvaiz (Polyneices), joins Isis in Syria.

Meanwhile, Karamat (Creon) is the first British-Pakistani to become home secretary. Via Karamat’s charming, loafer son Eamonn (Haemon) — who befriends Isma, then falls for Aneeka — the families are drawn together as Aneeka seeks relentlessly to bring her brother home, to help him ‘shake free of the demons he had attached to his own heels’. Isma opposes her — ‘We’re in no position to let the state question our loyalties’ — and Karamat forbids Parvaiz’s return by stripping him of his British citizenship, metaphorically leaving him outside the gates to rot. As the home secretary’s own son becomes entangled in Aneeka’s illegal quest, Parvaiz’s repatriation forms the novel’s potent central question.

Shamsie’s great achievement is to humanise a political story, seeking empathy for every side of the argument surrounding Parvaiz’s return without ever showing sympathy for the evil of jihad. She does this by deftly embodying various points of view about Parvaiz (and Britain) in her lead characters, and challenging them via conflicts with their dearest loves. By structuring the narrative in segments that follow the main characters’ subjectivities, Shamsie prompts the reader to see through each character’s eyes, presenting all the flawed and different ways that love and national loyalty can blur. In this way, Home Fire is insistently intelligent without becoming didactic — a novel that poses weighty questions about British politics and society through their impact on the most elemental levels of the state: the family and the human heart.

With a story architecture as tight as any HBO drama, conveyed in prose of stunning suppleness and economy, Home Fire not only discourses with Sophocles’ work on a moral and structural level, but with modern translations of Antigone by Anne Carson and Seamus Heaney. Through wisps of shared phrasing, Shamsie stitches this contemporary story back into its Greek precedent, reinforcing, at every level of her text, that great human concerns — justice, family, country, love — are shared across cultures and millennia. Home Fire is everything literary fiction should be — an exciting, beautiful, profound novel of lasting value that deserves laurels. I hope the Booker judges will agree.

Scientists find languages not used since Dark Ages among ancient manuscripts recovered from monastery

Languages not seen since the Dark Ages have come to light after scientists used a new method to inspect a trove of ancient manuscripts found in a monastery in Egypt.

They turned up extremely rare tongues, including Caucasian Albanian, on documents they found in Saint Catherine’s monastery on the Sinai peninsula that date back 1,500 years.

Monks originally wrote their texts down on parchments which were later scrubbed off and used to write the Bible by future generations who spoke in more modern languages.

But a new technique developed by researchers allows them to see the original text hidden from the naked eye in a development hailed as “new golden age of discovery”.

Researchers took photographs of the material using different parts of the light spectrum and put the electronic images through a computer algorithm.

The method allows them to see the first writing laid down on the parchments, which at the time were highly valuable, before they were re-used in later years.

It comes as the chances of finding further ancient documents in St Catherine’s monastery comes under threat by Muslim extremists, including Isis, who are known to destroy Christian sites.

“The age of discovery is not over,” Michael Phelps from the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library in California told The Times.

“In the 20th century new manuscripts were discovered in caves. In the 21st century, we will apply new techniques to manuscripts that have been under our noses. We will recover lost voices from our history.”

The site beneath the mountain where God is said to have revealed the Ten Commandments to Moses has collected thousands of manuscripts since it was built in the 6th century.

“I don’t know of any library in the world that parallels it,” said Mr Phelps. “The monastery is an institution from the Roman Empire that continues operating according to its original mission.”

He added that although the site stored ancient knowledge for future generations the practice by monks of re-using parchments meant they were also to blame for erasing it.

“At some point the material the manuscript was on became more valuable than what was written on it,” Mr Phelps said. “So it was deemed worthy of being recycled.”

But scientists are now busy digging out the original texts found in the recent trove of manuscripts discovered in St Catherine’s, which was announced by the Ministry of Antiquities in Cairo.

The find includes the first-known copy of the gospels in Arabic and the earliest examples of known works from the Greek physician Hippocrates.

Sunken ancient ruin noted by Pausanias discovered in Greek island of Salamis

An underwater ruin that could be the remains of a public building situated near the port of Salamis in antiquity - possibly one seen and mentioned by the traveler and geographer Pausanias in the 2nd century AD - is gradually emerging following an archaeological investigation of Ambelakia bay near the Greek island.

A culture ministry announcement issued on Monday noted that a large and robust structure constructed of stone plinths, roughly 13 metres long, is traced in the mud beneath the water. The find is located a short distance from the more contemporary 48-metre pier, built before 1900 using ancient building materials, that stands out in the northern section of Ambelakia bay. "It is, in all likelihood, the base (with strong localised foundations in its southern section) of a public building construction," the announcement said.

The shape of the foundations, other architectural elements and movable finds located on the site, combined with the earlier nearby find in 1882 of a marble pedestal for a statue with a dedicatory inscription, lead to the initial conclusion that the building was either a temple or stoa used in the later Roman era but possibly built earlier, during the late Classical or Hellenistic eras. 

Underwater survey

The new discoveries were revealed during the second phase of a underwater survey along the historically important eastern coast of the island of Salamis, taking in the Ambelakia bay, the port of the Classical-era city of Salamis controlled by Athens, which served as the main gathering place of the united Greek fleet before the Battle of Salamis in 480 B.C., as well as the region off the Kynosoura peninsula in the north of the island, where the most important Nike monuments are situated.

The geophysical survey in the Kynosoura area yielded a "large volume of high-quality digital data, whose processing is expected to shed light on the paleogeographic development of the region and the location of targets of archaeological significance," the ministry announcement added.

The goal of the research is to trace the Classical-era coastline of the island and put together the region's coastal paleogeography, while also revealing possible archaeological finds resting on the seabed or hidden beneath it. 

It is part of a three-year cooperation programme between the Underwater Antiquities Ephorate and the Institute of Underwater Archaeological Research (IENAE), led by Dr. Aggeliki Simosi and Ioannina University professor Dr. Yiannos Lolos, with the participation of the Patras University's Laboratory of Marine Geology and Physical Oceanography.

Greek Ministry of Culture: Port of ancient sea battle of Salamis discovered

The battle of Salamis

The battle of Salamis is one of the most important battles in the history of Ancient Greece. 

It was a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles and the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC which resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks. 

The battle was fought in the straits between the Attica mainland and Salamis, an island in the Saronic Gulf near Athens, and is deemed as the climax of the second Persian invasion of Greece.Ancient Greek historian Herodotus recorded that there were 378 triremes in the Allied fleet. 

The Persian fleet initially numbered 1,207 triremes. However, by his reckoning they lost approximately a third of these ships in a storm off the coast of Magnesia, 200 more in a storm off the coast of Euboea, and at least 50 ships to Allied action at the Battle of Artemisium.Read more here.

Source: ANA-MPA

NYC’s Metropolitan Museum Surrenders Ancient Greek Vase to the Authorities for Investigation

The vase, which until recently was on display in the museum’s Greek and Roman galleries, is now sitting in the DA’s evidence room in New York City. The Met has been fully cooperative and said in a statement that it had already been in touch with officials at the Italian Ministry of Culture about returning the vase.

Tom Mashberg uncovered the story in the New York Times, in which he says that authorities “quietly seized the antiquity last week based on evidence that it had been looted by tomb raiders in Italy in the 1970s.”

A copy of the DA’s warrant issued on July 24 claims that there is “reasonable cause” to believe that the vase was stolen.

The vase, which depicts Dionysus riding a cart, is from 360 B.C. and is attributed to the Greek artist Python, who created it at a time when southern Italy was populated by Greeks.

Investigative forensic archaeologist Christos Tsirogiannis first published his findings about the Python vase on the art crime blog published by the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art back in 2014.

Tsirogiannis then reached out to Manhattan prosecutor Matthew Bogdanos who has a keen interest in looted antiquities.

A United States Marine colonel who, while on active duty in 2003, Bogdanos led an investigation into the looting of Iraq’s National Museum and published a book on the topic called Thieves of Baghdad: One Marine’s Passion for Ancient Civilizations and the Journey to Recover the World’s Greatest Stolen Treasures. He subsequently won the National Humanities Medal which was presented dot him by President George W. Bush.

Police officials believe the case is linked to Giacomo Medici, an elderly Italian dealer who was arrested in 1997 and convicted of conspiring to traffic in antiquities in 2004.

German returns gutter section from ancient Olympia to Greece

A chunk of a stone gutter from the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games, which was illicitly taken from Greece some 80 years ago, has been voluntarily returned by a German member of the public.

Greece’s Culture Ministry said Wednesday that the 75-centimeter (30-inch) long ancient marble fragment was handed over to the Greek embassy in Berlin.

It is now stored at the museum of ancient Olympia, in southern Greece, where the Games were held in antiquity from 776 B.C. to 393 A.D.

A ministry statement said the unnamed German donor believed the chunk may have come from the stadium — where most of the ancient events were held. It didn’t say how he acquired it.

Ancient Olympia had an extensive stone drainage network to deal with flooding.

Outside Jerusalem’s Old City, a once-in-a-lifetime find of ancient Greek inscription

During a salvage excavation ahead of telephone cable infrastructure placement, archaeologists uncover a rare intact 1,500-year-old mosaic from the dawn of the Christian empire.

An extremely rare ancient early Christian Greek inscription has been discovered about a kilometer north of Jerusalem’s Old City. The once-in-a-lifetime dream archaeological find was discovered by chance during infrastructure work for a phone cable.

The intact 1,500-year-old mosaic was uncovered in the flooring of what is thought to have been a pilgrim hostel during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. Israel Antiquities Authority director of excavation David Gellman was supervising the salvage dig ahead of the placement of Partner communications cable infrastructure outside American Consulate buildings in East Jerusalem.

Gellman called the find “extremely exciting,” saying that “it’s not every day that one finds an inscription — a ‘direct letter’ from someone — from 1,500 years ago.”

The black-lettered mosaic inscription was discovered on a white tile floor during the last day of salvage work.

“The fact that the inscription survived is an archaeological miracle,” said Gellman.

Gellman, who has spent the past four years working on digs in Jerusalem, said with one more day left to his excavation permit, he had been unsure of any remarkable finds from the dig. The team was excavating an area approximately one meter below street level.

“The excavation in a relatively small area exposed ancient remains that were severely damaged by infrastructure groundwork over the last few decades. We were about to close the excavation when all of a sudden, a corner of the mosaic inscription peeked out between the pipes and cables,” he said.

“My heart leapt out of my chest,” the Toronto-born Gellman said on Wednesday at a press tour at the IAA’s Rockefeller Museum headquarters.

“Amazingly, it had not been damaged. Every archaeologist dreams of finding an inscription in their excavations, especially one so well preserved and almost entirely intact,” said Gellman. He said one area of the mosaic was slightly raised by a tree root growing beneath it, and a there are a few gaps of letters among the six-line inscription.

After three days of work on his extended excavation permit Gellman’s team uncovered, in addition to the mosaic, a few remnants of walls of the pilgrims’ hostel, pottery shards of bowls and other vessels, and three Byzantine coins dating from the 6th century.

The Greek inscription was deciphered by the Hebrew University’s Dr. Leah Di Segni, an expert on ancient Greek inscriptions.

The inscription reads, “In the time of our most pious emperor Flavius Justinian, also this entire building Constantine the most God-loving priest and abbot, established and raised, in the 14th indiction.”

Di Segni believes it was written to commemorate the founding of the building — presumed to be a pilgrim hostel — by a priest named Constantine. The word “indiction,” said Di Segni, “is an ancient method of counting years, for taxation purposes. Based on historical sources, the mosaic can be dated to the year 550/551 CE.”

The new inscription is currently being treated and researched by conservation experts at the Israel Antiquities Authority’s mosaic workshop in Jerusalem.

The inscription was found on a road leading to the Damascus Gate, the main northern entrance to Jerusalem in the period surrounding the era of the charismatic emperor Justinian. Also known as Justinian the Great, the monarch was considered the “last Roman emperor” for his desire to revive the vast strength and greatness of the Roman empire. It was under Justinian that the Byzantine empire completed its conversion to Christianity.

According to Gellman, the foundation of the hostel by Justinian on the Damascus Road points to the importance of Jerusalem in the empire.

“Knowing that, it is no surprise that this area is rich with archaeological remains,” said Gellman. “In the Byzantine period, with the emergence of Christianity, churches, monasteries and hostels for pilgrims were built in the area north of the gate, and the area became one of the most important and active areas of the city.”

A similar mosaic was found in the 1970s during excavations of the Old City under the remains of the Nea Church, or new church, also founded by Justinian, in 543 CE. The church, dedicated to Jesus’s mother Mary, was a jewel of the Byzantine empire. It is now on exhibition in the Israel Museum.

According to the IAA, the abbot of the church was the same priest Constantine whose name appears in the newly discovered inscription. Gellman said that the inclusion of the priest Constantine in the newly found mosaic points to the influence of the priest, whom we now know was not only in charge of the Nea Church but also of the pilgrim complex uncovered by the IAA outside the walls of the city during salvage operations ahead of construction of new roads and a gas station over the past several dozen years.

Ancient Greek expert Di Segni concurred that the two mosaics are “fairly similar” in that they include mentions of both Justinian and Constantine.

“This new inscription helps us understand Justinian’s building projects in Jerusalem, especially the Nea Church,” said Di Segni. “The rare combination of archaeological finds and historical sources, woven together, is incredible to witness, and they throw important light on Jerusalem’s past.”

Uncovering this mosaic, said Gellman, is, “so far, the height of my career.”