Ioannis Moschos | Hellenic Ministry of Culture & Sports (original) (raw)

Books by Ioannis Moschos

During the entire Mycenaean period Achaea maintains relations - direct or indirect ones - wit... more During the entire Mycenaean period Achaea maintains relations - direct or indirect ones - with the rest of the known world. Not only with the regions of the large mainland centers, but with the Aegean islands too, such as Rhodes and Crete and even further as far as Cyprus.Imported artifacts have come from Syro-Palestine and Egypt to the east, Italy and central Europe to the west. Achaea in turn would export its products to the coast and the inland areas around the Corinthian Gulf, to the Argolid, to the northern neighbors in Aitolia (Thermos) and Acarnania (Loutraki), Elis, the Ionian Islands, even reaching the Italian peninsula and Adriatic Sea. During the 12th and 11th centuries B.C., Achaea seems to have been taking part in the regional commerce, taking advantage of a road network that had been created and maintained, with the axis towards Elis being probably the most important; this network also facilitated indirect contact with other regions and ports outside its immediate control, thus providing access to goods traded away from the Achaean coasts. Achaea was also actively involved in sea-trade, particularly in the safe waters of the Corinthian Gulf, indirectly benefiting from the roads that reached the northern coast of the gulf from Epirus and central Greece. It is not known whether Achaean merchants organized voyages to the Adriatic and Italy, where Achaean LH III C pottery has been found. Contact with these regions, proved to be beneficiary in the shaping of local Achaean culture. At the same time, this culture haw also influenced its neighbors.
The study of the data regarding Mycenaean Achaea is expected to yield valuable new elements that will help reconstruct all aspects of this unique culture. The Society for the Study of Mycenaean Achaea aims at helping this effort and coordinating the endeavors of all those who are interested in the region's prehistory. At the same time, the society will also work for the promotion of Achaean culture in a way that will help put Achaea in its rightly deserved place in Greek prehistory.
The book is sent free of charge to the members of the Society.

The Prehistoric Periods is the first volume in a series of publications where the results of the ... more The Prehistoric Periods is the first volume in a series of publications where the results of the Danish/ Greek excavations 1995 to 2001 in Ancient Chalkis in Aetolia, are published. For the first time ever, stratigraphically excavated deposits from the Final Neolithic, the Early Helladic, Middle Helladic and the Late Helladic periods in Northwestern Greece are published and presented in their proper scientific contexts. In addition to the archaeological contexts geological surveys in the area and studies in the fauna of marine shells and animal bones from the prehistoric layers are submitted. The results are supported by a series of C14 dates.

Papers by Ioannis Moschos

THE MYCΕNAEAN CEMETERY AT PORTES The prehistoric cemetery at Portes lies in SW Achaea on the bor... more THE MYCΕNAEAN CEMETERY AT PORTES
The prehistoric cemetery at Portes lies in SW Achaea on the border with Elis. The site comprised part of a wider communication network that connected central Greece and western Peloponnese via the Gulf of Corinth. Archaeological research has revealed all types of burial monuments spanning the Mycenaean times. The architecture, the burial customs, and the rich burial offerings are representative of a complex social and political structure.

Very little, practically nothing has been written about the Submycenaean period in Western Achaea... more Very little, practically nothing has been written about the Submycenaean period in Western Achaea, a fact reflecting the belief that this stage was not particularly developed or that it had nothing significant to offer. 1 Moreover, in the few reports the word "Submycenaean" defines objects that do not fall stylistically into the Mycenaean period and, at the same time, cannot be classified as EPG, without taking into consideration their cultural environment, as usually happens elsewhere. 2 The simple definition "probably Submycenaean" is the most common in these cases and it refers exclusively to objects, so that the phase is merely being insinuated, without the slightest effort to place these objects in a general cultural frame, if there should be one. It seems that the existence of this hypothesis does not leave room for further analysis and for thorough examination so that the subject is finally overlooked and not discussed. This situation is due to objective difficulties related to the region, but also to the numerous and often different and contradictive views which are still pertinent to the use of the term Submycenaean. 3 This fact gives the impression that there are only few and isolated objects, mostly pottery, in Achaea that probably belong to the Submycenaean Style, which is either rare or confused with the local LH III C Late/Mature Achaean pottery Style. 4 As a result this particular phase, stage, period or whatever it is, is practically considered to be non-existent. However, this perspective is not exclusively related to pottery but it partly includes bronze items as well. If the classification of bronze or other objects in the Submycenaean period is correct, and given that the Submycenaean is not exclusively associated with a certain pottery style only, then the presence of other features, which so far have been overlooked or regarded as insignificant, must be expected. Below we are going to propose that in Achaea there is not only a particular or local Submycenaean style but features which define a Submycenaean Period. These features are beyond changes in the settlement but also beyond fashion in dressing, like the appearance of new bronze accessories, as we shall see below.

Wooden doors on Mycenaean chamber tombs. Following a burial in a Mycenaean chamber tomb, the sto... more Wooden doors on Mycenaean chamber tombs.
Following a burial in a Mycenaean chamber tomb, the stomion was sealed as a rule by means of a dry stone wall and more rarely by a stone door. Generations of archaeologists have grown up with this assertion so that when excavating a chamber tomb we are certain in advance what awaits us at the doorway. Every time the dry stone wall or stone door is esposed, the conviction finds further substantiation. But can we be sure of this, or is there perhaps something we are overlooking? In the following article a new proposal is put forward: when an excavation reaches the dry stone wall or the stomion of a tomb, we must ask ourselves whether originally a wooden door stood in front of it. Characteristic examples of the existence of wooden doors in Mycenaean tombs are considered and, among other things, the various support mechanisms of wooden doors are discussed. The presence of wooden doors is linked on the one hand to Mycenaean eschatological concepts and on the other to the good state of preservation of the dry stone walls.

Ξύλινες θύρες θαλαμωτών τάφων.
Το σφράγισμα του στομίου των θαλαμωτών τάφων μετά από μία μυκηναϊκή κηδεία γινόταν ως επί το πλείστον με το χτίσιμο της ξερολιθιάς και σπανιότερα με τη χρήση μίας λίθινης θύρας. Η παραπάνω φράση μεγάλωσε γενιές αρχαιολόγων, ώστε όταν σκάβουμε έναν θαλαμωτό τάφο να είμαστε σίγουροι εκ των προτέρων για το τί περίπου θα συναντήσουμε στην είσοδο. Και όταν αποκαλύπτεται η ξερολιθιά, ή η λίθινη θύρα, η παραπάνω πρόταση επιβεβαιώνεται για μία ακόμα φορά. Πρέπει, όμως, να είμαστε σίγουροι, ή μήπως υπάρχει και κάτι άλλο που παραβλέπουμε; Στο κείμενο που ακολουθεί παρουσιάζεται μία νέα πρόταση: Όταν κατά την ανασκαφή συναντούμε την ξερολιθιά ή το στόμιο ενός τάφου, πρέπει οπωσδήποτε να αναρωτηθούμε εάν μπροστά από αυτά υπήρχε κάποτε μία ξύλινη θύρα. Εξετάζονται χαρακτηριστικές περιπτώσεις ύπαρξης ξύλινων θυρών σε μυκηναϊκούς τάφους και προσεγγίζονται οι διάφοροι τρόποι στήριξης της ξύλινης θύρας. Η παρουσία των ξύλινων θυρών συσχετίζεται με μυκηναϊκές εσχατολογικές αντιλήψεις και συνδέεται με την καλή διατήρηση των ξερολιθιών έως τις μέρες μας.

R. Jung - I. Moschos - M. Mehofer, Killing in the Same Way: Peaceful Relations on War between Wes... more R. Jung - I. Moschos - M. Mehofer, Killing in the Same Way: Peaceful Relations on War between Western Greece and Italy during the Late Mycenaean Times (in greek)

Western Achaea and the Ionian Islands are of strategic importance for maritime traffic and communication of all kinds between Greece and Italy. Controlling this region means to control the goods exchange between central and eastern Mediterranean. At the same time it also means to be the first area affected by military aggressors which originate in and operate from the Adriatic Sea.
Thus, it is not surprising to detect strong influence from Italy in the local Achaean and Cephalonian weapons technology during the 12th and 11th centuries BC and particularly in Naue II swords of types Cetona and Allerona, spearheads with cast socket, a dagger of Pertosa type and greaves with wire fittings.
A fundamental issue related to the weapons of relative Italian typology is their provenance, on which all further perspectives of interpretation depend. One of our research aims is to answer precisely the question if these Italian-type bronzes are imports from the Adriatic regions or local products made according to central Mediterranean prototypes. We do not study these weapons based only on their typology, but we also try to answer these questions taking in consideration the technological knowledge as well as the respective methods of the era.
On the one hand EDXRF as well as lead isotope analyses are made to get an overview over the chemical composition of the objects. These can give us information about the provenance of the metal and at least about the location of the ore deposit used for the production of the metal. On the other hand, we analyse the construction schemata of these weapons which are directly connected to the combat style. By these analyses of typology, archeometry and technology we aim at explaining the changes in fighting techniques from the 13th to the 11th century BC.

Employing the art of weaving as a presentation technique, the archaeologists Ioannis Moschos and ... more Employing the art of weaving as a presentation technique, the archaeologists Ioannis Moschos and Elena Partida unfold aspects of land, river- and sea-routes, the paths of stone-cutters, athletes, pilgrims and merchants, the routes of raw materials and stone cargoes with implications for cultural relations and the diffusion of artistic traditions, the road network in social, military, architectural and historical context, city-planning etc. The innovation of the particular presentation rests in the actual interlacing / braiding of the above topics, as each one of the archaeologists passes on to the other clues, whereupon they both build a notional voyage leading the audience to different roads into the antiquity.

Σε μια "πλεκτή" παρουσίαση, οι αρχαιολόγοι Γιάννης Μόσχος και Έλενα Παρτίδα αναπτύσσουν θέματα σχετικά με θαλάσσιους, χερσαίους και ποτάμιους δρόμους, τα μονοπάτια λατόμων, αθλητών και προσκυνητών, τις διαδρομές εμπόρων, πρώτων υλών και φορτίων οικοδομικού υλικού με προεκτάσεις στις πολιτισμικές επαφές, τη διάδοση καλλιτεχνικών παραδόσεων, τους οδικούς άξονες σε στρατιωτικο-πολιτικό, αρχιτεκτονικό και ιστορικό πλαίσιο, τον πολεοδομικό σχεδιασμό κ.ά. Η πρωτοτυπία έγκειται στην έμπλεκτη προσέγγιση των θεμάτων, καθώς ο ένας ομιλητής δίνει "πάσα" στον άλλον, καθιστώντας τους ακροατές ταξιδιώτες σε δρόμους διαφόρων περιόδων της αρχαιότητας.

Παγκόσμια Ημέρα Περιβάλλοντος 2015 / Πράσινες Πολιτισμικές Διαδρομές / "Με το ποδήλατο στο μουσείο" (Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Πατρών / Patras Archaeological Museum - International Day of Environment 2015)

Mediterranean Patras / Η Πάτρα της Μεσογείου, 2019