KATERINA TSAKALOU-TZANAVARI - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by KATERINA TSAKALOU-TZANAVARI
Archaeology of Colour. Technical Art History Studies in Greek and Roman Painting, Μελετήματα 87, Athens 2023, 2023
The collection of sculptures of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is one of the richest a... more The collection of sculptures of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is one of the richest and most important in Greece. It includes statues and reliefs, creations of significant workshops in Macedonia and Thrace, while the later artifacts come from sculpture workshops that operated in the city of Thessaloniki and the surrounding area. A considerable part of this collection has already been published in fourth volumes published by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a work that documents the largest part of the sculptures in the Museum. This paper refers to certain preliminary observations, which resulted from the combination of chemical analyses and specialized methods of photography. Our aim is to reconstruct, as close as possible, the sculptures’ initial polychromy, using the lab’s technical equipment, as well as the museum’s specialized scientific personnel.
The archaeometric analysis leads us to ascertain that the sculpture decoration was mainly dominated by pure (clear) colours, such as red ochre, yellow ochre and Egyptian blue. The colour scale expands further with the mixture of colours, as can be noted by the detection of violet colour, a combination of blue and pink. However, the use of the vegetable dye made from madder, which was very popular among painters of the Hellenistic era and the dyeing extracts of the Murex trunculus have not been detected yet. The preference on red and violet colours for the decoration of dresses in sculpture of the Hellenistic times has been interpreted as an imitation of the luxurious purple-coloured fabrics. In several instances, lead was detected on the relief surface or the background. This material was used for the creation of a smooth and uniformly coloured surface as a pigment or as base for a mixture of pigments.
In certain sculptures presented here, yellow ochre is either an ersatz for gilding or used as a base for surface gilding with gold leafs. Regarding the gilding application, the fragmentary preservation of the above-mentioned sculptures, does not allow us to decide whether they were entirely gilded, yet their rarity has already been confirmed. It is therefore possible that sculptures with a mixed technique, multi-coloured and gilded, were manufactured in the sculpture workshops of Thessaloniki as well. This technique combined the gilding of the hair and the naked parts of the body and the use of colour for the clothing and shoes. Through the examination of the sculptures of the Thessaloniki Museum it is proven that the painted and sculpted parts are often two equally important factors of a common artistic composition.
Oἰκουμένη. Studi di archeologia classica in omaggio a Margherita Bonanno, , 2024
Ancient Lete, an important city of ancient Mygdonia in the region of central Macedonia, is locate... more Ancient Lete, an important city of ancient Mygdonia in the region of central Macedonia, is located in the plain NW of Thessaloniki. Archaeological
data, historical and epigraphic testimonies evidence its continuous prosperity from the Archaic period onwards.
The three terracotta figurines presented here represent the iconographic type where the female figure is shown seated on a rock. She wears a chiton and a himation, wrapped around her body and arms. The right hand touches the belly, while the left one rests on the surface of the rock. The head turns to her right. The richly folded himation accentuates her posture. She wears closed shoes. The rock is formed by three successive spherical projections, indicating the uneven surface of the ground. With the exception of some figurines from the early Hellenistic period at Athens, the dissemination in Greece of this specific iconographic type appears to be limited. On the contrary, the type’s spatial distribution outside Greece, was contemporary with its emergence, such as the five figurines from a child’s tomb from the Kalfata necropolis at Apollonia Pontica or the four examples from Alexandria of early Hellenistic period.
The depicted youthful figure is characterized by the sad expression of the face, its austere posture and clothing, and especially the cubic shape of the rock, which, it is an element may provide us a connection of the representation with the depiction of Demeter sitting on the ἀγέλαστον πέτραν at Eleusis.
The close resemblance of the monumental figure of the figurine inv.no. MTh 23550 with the cult statue of Demeter from her sanctuary at Knidos, where she was depicted as a mourning mother, as well the reconstruction of the movement of her left hand holding perhaps a small vessel, a kylichnis, namely a cylindrical box where incense was stored and used in religious rituals, lead us to the interpretation of the figure as a priestess dedicated to the Eleusinian cult. As for the figurines inv. nos. MTh 22709 and MTh 22805 it is plausible that depict young women initiated into her worship, who freely adopt and copy a characteristic representation of the goddess.
H. Brecoulaki (ed.), Archaeology of Colour. Technical Art History Studies in Greek and Roman Painting, Μελετήματα 87, N AT I O N A L H E L L E N I C R E S E A R CH F O U N DAT I O N / I N S T I T U T E O F H I S TO R I C A L R E S E A R CHAthens ., 2023
Summary The collection of sculptures of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is one of the r... more Summary
The collection of sculptures of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is one of the richest and most important in Greece. It includes statues and reliefs, creations of significant workshops in Macedonia and Thrace, while the later artifacts come from sculpture workshops that operated in the city of Thessaloniki and the surrounding area. A considerable part of this collection has already been published in fourth volumes published by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a work that documents the largest part of the sculptures in the Museum. This paper refers to certain preliminary observations, which resulted from the combination of chemical analyses and specialized methods of photography. Our aim is to reconstruct, as close as possible, the sculptures’ initial polychromy, using the lab’s technical equipment, as well as the museum’s specialized scientific personnel.
The archaeometric analysis leads us to ascertain that the sculpture decoration was mainly dominated by pure (clear) colours, such as red ochre, yellow ochre and Egyptian blue. The colour scale expands further with the mixture of colours, as can be noted by the detection of violet colour, a combination of blue and pink. However, the use of the vegetable dye made from madder, which was very popular among painters of the Hellenistic era and the dyeing extracts of the Murex trunculus have not been detected yet. The preference on red and violet colours for the decoration of dresses in sculpture of the Hellenistic times has been interpreted as an imitation of the luxurious purple-coloured fabrics. In several instances, lead was detected on the relief surface or the background. This material was used for the creation of a smooth and uniformly coloured surface as a pigment or as base for a mixture of pigments.
In certain sculptures presented here, yellow ochre is either an ersatz for gilding or used as a base for surface gilding with gold leafs. Regarding the gilding application, the fragmentary preservation of the above-mentioned sculptures, does not allow us to decide whether they were entirely gilded, yet their rarity has already been confirmed. It is therefore possible that sculptures with a mixed technique, multi-coloured and gilded, were manufactured in the sculpture workshops of Thessaloniki as well. This technique combined the gilding of the hair and the naked parts of the body and the use of colour for the clothing and shoes. Through the examination of the sculptures of the Thessaloniki Museum it is proven that the painted and sculpted parts are often two equally important factors of a common artistic composition.
10th International Scientific Meeting on Hellenistic Pottery , 2023
The Contribution of Pottery to the Definition of Duration of Use of the Looted Beehive-vaulted Ch... more The Contribution of Pottery to the Definition of Duration of Use of the Looted Beehive-vaulted Chamber Tomb in Ancient Lete.
The archaeological research and inscriptional evidence have led to the location of Ancient Lete, approximately 12 km north-east of Thessaloniki. The urban space and the cemeteries of the city are developed over the hills of the Derveni pass and the western part of the fertile plain of Langadas. Its strategic location and the extensive agricultural territorium, from which it derived much of its wealth, justify its diachronic habitation and prosperity up to the Late Antiquity.
The pottery presented in this article comes from a funerary monument located 1,5 km north-east of the Derveni necropolis. The form of the tomb, consisting of a long covered dromos, an antechamber with a monumental entrance and a circular chamber, allows for its connection to similar monuments discovered in the Thracian hinterland and which belonged to the local aristocracy of the Odrysian kingdom. The founding date of the tomb is defined by a bronze coin of Cassander, issued after 306 BC.
The structural elements of the tomb, as much as the funerary furniture once placed in the burial chamber, were discovered plundered by the looters. It is thought possible to conclude that at least four burials had taken place inside the monument. Moreover, the finds of these burials were found in a fragmentary state, scattered across the desecration stratum.
The contribution of the pottery to the definition of duration of usage of the beehive-vaulted chamber tomb is decisive, given the fact that they can be dated from the early 3rd to the first half of the 2nd c. BC. Among the ceramic finds, there is some imported Attic pottery, whereas the discovery of tin-coated vessels is of particular interest.
Πότνια Πέλλης, 2022
Terracotta figurine of a dwarf –baskanion, from the cemetery of ancient Lete. The terracotta fig... more Terracotta figurine of a dwarf –baskanion, from the cemetery of ancient Lete.
The terracotta figurine presented here was found during the excavation of the surface layer of the cemetery of the ancient city of Lete and is kept in the storerooms of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki Region (inv. no 23193). Lete was a city in ancient Mygdonia (Northern Greece). Its prosperity during the early Hellenistic era is associated with Cassander’s building policy, aiming at ensuring the organisation and safety of settlements, including Lete, as well as the wealth flowing into Macedonia during the gradual return of the veteran companions of Alexander III from his
campaign in the East.
The figurine survives in fragmentary condition (pr. h. 7 cm). It consists of two handmade parts, laterally adjoined. It depicts an elderly hunchback male figure, standing with his short legs slightly open. The head is inordinately large compared to its bodily proportions. The shoulders and torso are wrapped in a small himation, which the figure is clasping at chest height and lifting to reveal his hypertrophic testicles. The himation is coloured light blue, while the male skin and genitals are coloured reddish-brown.
These features allow us to recognize in this figurine the realistic depiction of a hunchback dwarf with the familiar deformities of achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. More specifically, it is classified among the so-called pathological caricatures with faces and bodies harshly depicting physical deformities and human illnesses. This physical dysplasia is perceived as comical, while the disabled and hunchbacks caused laughter. Moreover, it was believed that, as bearers of magical powers, they warded off harmful forces.
Their depictions in miniature sculpture were, therefore, “baskania”, i.e. amulets which with their repulsive appearance brought good fortune to the living and protected the dead from evil spirits. This is the interpretation favoured for the figurine presented here as “une amulette pour le dernier voyage”. Its morphological characteristics lead us to date the figurine to the 4th century BC or the early Hellenistic era.
Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Cologne/Bonn 2018, Vol. 53, 2022
The city of Ancient Lete is located at the western part of the fertile plain of Langadas basin (N... more The city of Ancient Lete is located at the western part of the fertile plain of Langadas basin (Northern Greece). Τhe Roman occupation began here in 168 BC and acquired a legal character with the establishment of the Roman province of Macedonia in 148 BC. An important factor in the economic development of the city is the fact that via Egnatia passed through the region.
Throughout its history, Lete controlled an extensive agricultural territorium, from which it derived much of its wealth. The Roman negotiatores, who seem to have begun settling in and around the city, have set up banks and commercial activities and acquired land. Inscriptions from Lete from the 1st-2nd century AD, record the gentilicia of many Italian-Roman families.
Further evidence of the Roman presence in the area appears to be furnished by four
farmhouses, built within a short distance of one another. Their excavation was a salvage process, and thus limited and incomplete. The most important finds relating to the management of the wealth produced by farming activities came from Farmhouse Α (total area 808 m2). This farmhouse was built in the middle of the 2nd century, later the house was repaired and a triclinium (248 m2) added for receiving guests and holding banquets. The living and dining rooms of the house were quite separate from the areas associated with rural economy, the storage and the processing of agricultural products. These activities were housed in the west wing, which had its own entrance for the transporting of items. The room on the northeast side, with a separate entrance, was probably the kitchen of the villa.
The archaeological evidence indicates that this farm’s economy was based on household production, mainly agriculture and animal husbandry. The primary processing of agricultural produce is confirmed by the discovery of a wine-making cistern for crushing grapes and extracting the must. The meat and milk required by the household were obtained from the sheep and goats they raised. Surplus milk was used to make white cheese, a common rural craft, as indicated by perforated vases of local manufacture for the production of cheese. Fishery products also accounted for a significant proportion of the household’s diet. Various species of fish and eels could be obtained from the nearby lakes. The consumption of shellfish is attested by the shells found at the site. In sum, it seems fair to say that the economy of this farm was based on a variety of activities: agriculture, viticulture and wine-making, animal husbandry, fishing, weaving and ceramic production. These activities were clearly intended to ensure the self-sufficiency of the household.
The size of the villas, the luxurious decoration of the reception rooms, the separation of uses in different buildings, the triclinia and the stables suggest that these were permanent residences providing a very comfortable lifestyle. This is further borne out by the use of fine imported tableware and glass vessels. The transport amphorae from Tunisia and the northeastern Aegean indicate a preference for particular varieties of wine to complement the household’s high dietetic standard.
There can be no doubt that the owners of the rural villas were Roman settlers belonged to the aristocracy of Lete. The creation of these farmsteads reflects the new model of organisation of agricultural land, following the Roman system of the land register used in the provinces for record-keeping and taxation purposes.
Τhe beehive-vaulted chamber tomb of the cemetery of ancient Lete. First approach The monumental t... more Τhe beehive-vaulted chamber tomb of the cemetery of ancient Lete. First approach
The monumental tomb presented here was discovered at 1998, in a distance of about 1,5 km. NE of the Derveni cemetery, of ancient Lete. Lete, a city of ancient Mygdonia, located 12 kilometers NW of Thessaloniki, is listed by Claudius Ptolemaeus (Geography 3, 12. 23) and Pliny the Elder (nat. 5, 10, 17) in the Imperial age. The settlement flourished during the Hellenistic period, due to its location near the city of Thessaloniki and to the Via Egnatia which passed through the area. However, the era of its greatest prosperity coincides with the kingship of Cassander, king of Macedonia (305 - 298 BC), at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd c. BC.
The structural elements of the tomb, as much as the funerary furniture placed in the burial chamber, were discovered plundered by the looters, maybe during the Roman time. The form of the tomb, consisting of a long-roofed dromos, an antechamber with a monumental entrance and a circular chamber, with a diameter of 3.10 m., allows for its connection to similar monuments discovered in the Thracian hinterland (the present-day Bulgarian land) which belonged to the local aristocracy of the Odrysian kingdom. The founding date of the tomb is defined by a bronze coin of Cassander, issued after 306 BC.
Moreover, the finds of the burials were found in a fragmentary state, scattered across the desecration stratum. The only elements that ware rescued from the sculptural decoration of the monument is a stone crowning with floral composition, an excellent combination of relief and painted floral motifs, originally placed on the lintel of the entrance of the antechamber. From the furnished interior of the tomb were saved fragments of the stone funeral bed (κλίνη), as well as parts of some other furniture.
The form of the tomb raises issues concerning its founding conditions, while interesting is the investigation of the national identity of the deceased and his family who were buried in the monument. Ιt would be tempting, then, to assume that the buried dead man was of Thracian descent and in fact a member of the Odrysian dynasty, who served in the army of Alexander III in his campaign in the East and for some reasons unknown to us led him to Macedonian land, in an area particularly close to the borders of his country.
Διεθνές Επιστημονικό Συμπόσιο προς Τιμήν του Ομότιμου Καθηγητή Γεωργίου Βελένη, Θεσσαλονίκη, Αμφιθέατρο Αρχαίας Αγοράς 4-7 Οκτωβρίου 2017, Πρακτικά, 2021
The marble statuette presented in this paper was recovered in 2004 in the area of ancient Lete an... more The marble statuette presented in this paper was recovered in 2004 in the area of ancient Lete and was recorded in the inventory of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki with the inv. no. 22885.
The statuette follows the so-called “Aphrodite-Nymphe” type (Typus Nymphe mit hochgestelltem Fuss), according to which the figure is resting her foot on the rock, a type also known from terracotta figurines of the third century and marble statuettes of the Late Hellenistic and Early Imperial era. They originated on a Lyssipian creation, which
was probably produced in Attica and was diffused after the documented migration of Athenian sculptors in northern Greece in the late fourth century BC. The comparative examination of the Aphrodite statuette mainly with terracotta figurines determines its dating possibly in the beginning of the third century, an estimation supported by the fact that the same iconographic type appears, with little chronological divergence, in a terracotta figurine from the area of Thessaloniki. Furthermore, certain technical similarities with an assemblage of statuettes from the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore in Derveni, Lete, dated to the late fourth to early third century, allow its association with the local sculpture workshop of the ancient city. Thus, in a city which developed into an important urban centre, especially in Cassander’s era, the existing evidence of the worship of Aphrodite, along with other finds, can be dated from the late fourth century BC until the second century AD.
Κατάλογος Γλυπτών του Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου Θεσσαλονίκης, τ. IV, 2019
Η αρχαία Λητή και η περιοχή της, Μ. Τσιάπαλη (επιμ.), Πρακτικά Ημερίδας 16 Δεκεμβρίου, Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης, Θεσσαλονίκη., 2019
The archaeometric examination of Derveni’s Grave I began in 1995. The tomb was discovered at the ... more The archaeometric examination of Derveni’s Grave I began in 1995. The tomb was discovered at the site of Derveni in Thessaloniki, during the excavation of the access - dromos to the Macedonian tomb III. The burial monument dates back to the early 3rd century B.C. The rich painting decoration of the tomb is of great interest.There are four zones in the painting decoration: in the lower part there is an imitation of ortho-
marble, whereas the next part is decorated with a yellow ochre paint, followed by a decorative zone, which is a crowned by a doric molding. The main decorative theme comprise of garlands of flowers, which are intermittently interrupted. The most interesting part is the upper zone, where a blue background is present, showing objects which are related to the grooming and the costumes of the buried woman. Herein the previously collected results are revisited and moreover, for the first time, new results related to the decorative features of the tomb are presented. Initially the following techniques were used: polarizing microscopy, optical emission spectroscopy (OEA) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). In the second step of the study, the following methods were employed: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) in conjunction with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), Χ-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and FTIR spectroscopy. The distinctive architecture of the tomb is associated
with the two different architectural bases of frescoes. The stone of the masonry is calcareous sandstone with its main components: quartz, feldspars and calcite. In the upper zone, the masonry is covered by lime
mortars, coarse grains and fine grains. In the lower zone on the clay basis, the mortar with a high content of lime and clayish material is first applied, followed by the fine-grained lime mortar.The lime-clayish mortar with the coarse-grained aggregates of the lower zone was produced by adding quartz sand and clay materials to the lime, in a possible
ratio of 2:1:1.5.The lime mortar with the coarse-grained aggregates
of the upper zone was produced by adding quartz sand and crushed marble to the lime, in a ratio of lime: aggregates (inert) 1:2. In contrast to the internal coarse-grained mortars, the supernatant fine mortars of both zones are of the same nature, namely lime, but with different qualitative
and quantitative compositions. We therefore conclude that fine mortars were made of different batches of lime and not at the same time. In the fine mortars, the inert material was marble powder.The important pigments of the painting are: Cyan is Egyptian blue, in the composition of which cuprorivaite crystals were found along with glassy material. Yellow pigment is yellow ochre of the mineral goethite, dark red is hematite, bright red is cinnabar and bright green is malachite.The painting technique which was Iplied in the tomb is «fresco a’secco» using lime as binder. In the multilayer layers, and to depict the growth of the shadow, it is likely that an organic binder was used. The brown sample used for luminescence modeling was studied using FTIR spectroscopy. Proteinaceous material was detected in the sample, which may be related to the use of an organic adhesive material.
Η αρχαία Λητή και η περιοχή της,, 2019
K. Tzanavari, Ancient Lete. The city and its cemeteries. Rescue excavations and epigraphic eviden... more K. Tzanavari, Ancient Lete. The city and its cemeteries.
Rescue excavations and epigraphic evidence that refer to ancient Lete have shown that the city was located on the hills and the plain that spread after the Derveni pass, on the western edge of the Langadas basin. The first archaeological research took place during the Ottoman era and carried on after the liberation of Macedonia and during World War I, as part of the archaeological campaign of the Armée d’Orient.
The structural remains, the pottery collected from both excavations and field surveys, as well as the burial data revealed recently in the area, testify that the city was founded around the middle of the 6th c. BC. Depositional fills argue for the continuation of habitation in the 5th c. BC. Few structural remnants survive from the 4th century; the burial evidence however are more representative of the era, with characteristic grave goods, such as clay vessels and terracotta figurines from Attic workshops, as well as their local imitations. It has been attested through inscriptions that the city had an urban organization, while its impressive development at the time is associated with king Cassander, who paid attention to his motherland after 316 BC. A small part of the city wall, at its northern edge, was revealed, dating to that era, and the sanctuary of Demeter flourished at the same time, enriched by cult and votive marble statuettes. The organized cemeteries of the city were located around its periphery. The unlooted graves found at Derveni also belong to the cemeteries of Lete, dating to the late 4th and early 3rd c. BC, with a variety of unique grave goods and metal vessels, whose representations reflect the beliefs in the afterlife. The most important find was the Derveni Papyrus, whose theological-cosmogonic text proved the initiation of the deceased and functioned as a passport for him, to secure eternal bliss for him in the underworld.
The flourishing economic environment that developed after Alexander’s Asian Campaign favored the creation of workshops. These workshops dealt with sculpture, metallurgy, goldsmithing, pottery and coroplastic production, sometimes imitating Attic prototypes. Particularly regarding the sculpture workshops, it is evident that their distinctive artistic character has been influenced by Athenian artists. This prosperity continued in the reign of Antigonos Gonatas (272-239 BC), an era of stability and affluence, and partly as further in time as the dissolution of the Macedonian kingdom by the Romans in 148 BC. Via Egnatia, which crossed Lete as it connected the Adriatic with the Black Sea, contributed to its economic development and created favorable conditions for the installation of Roman settlers.
However, the Roman civil wars that were fought in Macedonia between the armies of Caesar and Pompey (49-48 BC) and later among the legions of the Triumvirate of Antony, Octavian and Lepidus against the armies of Brutus (42 BC) left their marks on the city, as the abandonment and destruction of houses and villas indicate. A group of lavish villas was founded in the city’s region in the late Hellenistic and Roman times, which span as far as the late 4th c. AD. They probably belonged to the Roman elite, which owned vast properties, as is also attested in the region of Langadas via inscriptions. Finally, the fact that one of the gates on the western city walls of Thessaloniki that led to Mygdonia was named Letaia, attests the city’s importance even during the Byzantine era.
Η αρχαία Λητή και η περιοχή της, 2019
The Macedonian tomb presented here was unearthed in 1910 in Macedonia, still under the Turkish o... more The Macedonian tomb presented here was unearthed in 1910 in Macedonia, still under the Turkish occupation. This is the so-called “Tomb of Langadas”, named thus when published by the Greek ottoman archaeologist Theodoros Macridy / or “Tomb of Macridy bey”, after the excavator’s name. The documentation and the graphical representation of the tomb were undertaken by the painter Halil Édhem bey (1851-1938). The marble door of the chamber, as well as all the findings that escaped the looting, were transferred in that same year to the Ottoman Imperial Museum (Istanbul Arkeoloji Muzesi), in Istanbul. Only the marble door is exhibited to this day.
This Macedonian tomb is constructed using brownish blocks of limestone and has two chambers and a façade of the Ionic order. The façade is decorated with wall paintings, like other monuments of the same type found in the greater area of ancient Macedonia. The door leading to the antechamber was wooden, while the one of the chamber was made of marble. According to the relevant descriptions, the bronze elements of the doors, as well as their decorative and functional reliefs, were gilded, and can be compared with relevant finds, indicating thus the dating of the monument at the end of 4th cent. B.C. The main burial took place inside a cist tomb, which had been constructed underneath a complex marble structure.
Σπονδή. Αφιέρωμα στη μνήμη του Γιώργου Δεσπίνη, 2020
From the Society of Roman Thessaloniki: A Female Honorary Statue of the Early Imperial Era. The ... more From the Society of Roman Thessaloniki: A Female Honorary Statue of the Early Imperial Era.
The presented female statue inv. no. 851 is carved in Thassian marble, its size is slightly larger than life and it derives from the sanctuary of the Egyptian gods in Thessaloniki. It belongs to the sculptural type of Kore-Persephone, Berlin/London and particularly resembles some colossal statues of the Julio-Claudian era, such as those in the Archaeological Museum of Sparta, the National Museum of Parma and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden of Leiden. Moreover, the ends of the clothing motifs around the legs and on the plinth are compared to imperial portrait statues of the same period. These comparisons, the plasticity that characterizes the rendering of the statue, but also the forming of the folds without the use of a drill, suggest its dating in the first half of the 1st century A.D. The statue was dedicatory, according to its finding context. Honorary statues of priestesses and women were dedicated mainly for benefactions to the city and its sanctuaries. Thus, considering the quality and the size of the sculpture, the attire of the figure, as well as some epigraphical evidence from the region of Thessaloniki which belong to the same time, it is assumed that the figure can be identified as the Italian Avia A.f. Posilla, known from two bilingual votive inscriptions of the late 1st century B.C. or the early 1st century A.D., one of which refers to her benefactions to the sanctuary of Isis. She belongs to the famous family of the Roman negotiatores Avii, who are active in Thessaloniki from the late Republican era until the 3rd century A.D. The high artistic quality of the statue, along with some comparisons with works by Attic workshops suggest that the female statue is the work of an Athenian sculptor. The influence of Attic sculpture in the selection of the iconographic prototypes and the artistic preferences of the Macedonian workshops has been documented quite early. The statue from Thessaloniki exhibits some distinctive iconography, such as her heavy attire, the tunica, the peronatris and the palla, which aims to denote the high social status of the represented figure. Additionally, her theomorphic parallels with Ceres, a selection that indicates the virtues of the wife and mother, but also chastity and modesty, are considered.
Context and Meaning. Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference of the Association Internationale pour la Peinture Murale Antique, Athens, September 16-20 2013 (Leuven, Paris, Bristol 2017) , 2007
The cist tomb presented here was discovered in the area of the ancient necropolis of Derveni. Thi... more The cist tomb presented here was discovered in the area of the ancient necropolis of Derveni. This type of funerary monument, built with blocks of poros belongs to a series of cist tombs, whose internal walls are decorated with painted representations. They are usually found in the area of Northern Greece, dating from the second half of the 4th to the beginning of the 3rd century BC. These graves, with or without decorated walls, were, in most cases, tombs of women and especially of young girls prematurely deceased (άωρη νεκρή).
The objects depicted on the inner walls of the cist tomb I, as the hydria and the thymiaterion, the fan, the stephane and the mirror, the papyrus, the footwear, the pyxis, the pigeon etc, are relevant to everyday life activities as well as to the rituals of marriage and death. Furthermore, the presence of painted wreaths of myrtle and bakchoi, objects related to the cult of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone, allows us to assume that the young woman who was buried inside the tomb was probably a priestess of their cult focused on the afterlife.
Figurine demi-nue d' Aphrodite avec Cupidon et cithare, milieu du IIe s. av. J.C. Musée Archéolo... more Figurine demi-nue d' Aphrodite avec Cupidon et cithare, milieu du IIe s. av. J.C.
Musée Archéologique de Veroia
Cette figurine de terre cuite, qui figure parmi les plus brillantes réalisations de l'atelier local, reproduit un type iconographique très en vogue à l’époque hellénistique. Aphrodite, Anadyomene avec Eros and a masque of Silenus. Aphrodite est la déesse de la beauté, de l’amour et de la fécondité, elle est aussi l’unique divine féminine qui représente les Douze Olympiens dans un nombre limité de tombes féminines de la société locale de Veroia, alors qu’elle est fréquemment représentée dans des contextes semblables et dans d’autres nécropoles hellénistiques.
Aphrodite apparait donc ici comme la protectrice des défunts, un rôle que lui confèrent les sources anciennes et que viennent corroborer les documents archéologiques. Tout en offrant mets et breuvages aux adeptes de l’adoration bachique, elle leur promet l’immortalité de l’âme et une vie heureuse dans l’au-delà, où morts se réjouiront durant les siècles ou son de la phorminx (Pindare, Ode à Némée, IV, 45).
The archaeological evidence relating to the worship of the gods in Thessaloniki and its surroundi... more The archaeological evidence relating to the worship of the gods in Thessaloniki and its surrounding area goes back to the foundation of the city by Cassander, the king of the Macedonia (316/315 BC).
The cults that emerged here were focused on the twelve traditional Olympian gods, such as Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Demeter and Kore (Persephone), Zeus Hypsistos, Hermes, Poseidon and Dionysos. The links that already existed, or were developed with Asia, Egypt and Thrace, contributed to the dissemination of the worship of deities popular to these regions. At this period the city emerged as a large religious center of the Egyptian gods. Among them the main deity was Isis, wife of Osiris, mother of Horus, Sarapis and Harpokrates.
The conquest of Macedonia by the Romans and its conversion in 148 BC into a province of the Roman state favored the development of cults that were established throughout the empire, such as the deified emperors and Dea Roma. There is also evidence for practice of the cults of deities such as Mithras, Sol Invictus, and Epona, the protector of horses and stables, who were popular within the Roman armies, who encamped outside the city walls.
The archaeological evidence relating the worship of the gods in Thessaloniki, cult statues and dedications made by the priests and the believers that enable us to reconstitute the religious character of the city.
The new Neolithic site was located in the western part of the Langadas basin, c. 1.5 km. NE of th... more The new Neolithic site was located in the western part of the Langadas basin, c. 1.5 km. NE of the Derveni pass. It was discovered during the construction of the flyover, at branch 1 of the Langadas junction, on the Egnatia highway.
The wider area is flat and the stratification of the fill laid down by Lake Koroneia is regular. Purely Neolithic deposits were located in three pits. Their structural features suggest that they are probably cisterns for collecting and storing water, which was so vital to the inhabitant’s survival.
On the basis of the typology of the pottery, Liti III has been dated to Middle Neolithic period. The practice of building subterranean houses was widespread in Macedonia in this period, as it was in the Danubian areas in Yugoslavia and Romania. The special significance of this particular site lies in the fact that it belongs to the end of the Early Neolithic and the beginning of the Middle Neolithic, thus adding to the number of sites from this period.
The discovery that the settlement was established in the layer of lacustrine deposits suggests that the Lake Koroneia had already covered the w. part of the Langadas basin long before the beginning of the Middle Neolithic and that it subsequently receded.
Veroia, mentioned by Thucydides in 432 BC, was built on a terrace in the foothills of the Mount V... more Veroia, mentioned by Thucydides in 432 BC, was built on a terrace in the foothills of the Mount Vermion. Is one of the most prominent cities of the Macedonian kingdom and is reached the peak of its glory and prosperity in the Hellenistic era, during the reign of the Antigonid dynasty, the ruling house of ancient Macedonia from 306 to 168 BC. The Hellenistic and Roman period constituted therefore its apogee in all aspects of culture.
The ancient city was enclosed within a strong fortification walls with towers and gates corresponding to the main roads that secured communication with other urban centers of ancient Macedonia. The buildings remnants survive in a very fragmentary condition, nevertheless, parts have been found of public buildings belonging to the ancient agora, the political and commercial centre of the city. Inscriptions attest the existence of a gymnasium, theatre and important sanctuaries devoted to the cult of the main Greek gods, as Zeus, Athena, Asclepius and Hygeia, Aphrodite, Apollo and Artemis, Dionysos, Heracles Kynagidas and the Egyptian deities.
The Archaeological Museum of Veroia, built in the early 1960s, houses antiquities from the ancient city and the surrounding area. Among the exhibits are grave goods from burial contexts from the well known Classic and Hellenistic cemetery of Veroia, an Eros or Agon marble statuette, a marble table leg with the representation of the abduction to Olympus of the Trojan prince Ganymede by Zeus, two marble female portraits female heads dated to the middle Antonine period, i.e. about 160-180 AD, as well as the colossal marble portrait of Vespasian refashioned from an older portrait head of Nero. They were all made by a local sculpture workshop that was active in the city in the Late Hellenistic and Roman periods.
Two main local workshops were active in Veroia during the late Hellenistic era. The first one is a very dynamic sculpture workshop. The tombstones and the relief monuments are kept in the Archaeological Museum of Veroia and date from the Late Hellenistic period up to the middle 3rd century AD.
The artistic output of the figurine workshop of Veroia was confined to the period between the last third of the 3rd and the middle of the 1st century BC. Study of the total 70 iconographic types has shown that they can be assigned to two large groups. The first comprise female figurines, dolls and figures of men and children and the second includes subjects connected with cult and religion, such as dancing women, kourotrophoi, icononographic types of Aphrodite, Isis, Psyche and Eros, and the group of Adonis and Aphrodite. The distinctive character of the local workshop is the result of its specific thematic and artistic choices.
The entry no 6 for the catalogue concerns a grave stele from the “Rhaidestos Collection” at the A... more The entry no 6 for the catalogue concerns a grave stele from the “Rhaidestos Collection” at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. It was initially a tall stele, possibly with pedimental crowning. The relief representation depicts a female figure walking to the right and a young girl depicted in a type common to the Attic grave monuments of the 4th century BC.
The entries nos 29 and 30 concern a naiskos (miniature temple) and a relief from “Rhaidestos Collection” depicting the Phrygian goddess Cybele, the goddess of nature and mountains, patroness of settlements and cities. Their dates remain uncertain. They could be date to the late Hellenistic and the Roman period.
Archaeology of Colour. Technical Art History Studies in Greek and Roman Painting, Μελετήματα 87, Athens 2023, 2023
The collection of sculptures of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is one of the richest a... more The collection of sculptures of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is one of the richest and most important in Greece. It includes statues and reliefs, creations of significant workshops in Macedonia and Thrace, while the later artifacts come from sculpture workshops that operated in the city of Thessaloniki and the surrounding area. A considerable part of this collection has already been published in fourth volumes published by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a work that documents the largest part of the sculptures in the Museum. This paper refers to certain preliminary observations, which resulted from the combination of chemical analyses and specialized methods of photography. Our aim is to reconstruct, as close as possible, the sculptures’ initial polychromy, using the lab’s technical equipment, as well as the museum’s specialized scientific personnel.
The archaeometric analysis leads us to ascertain that the sculpture decoration was mainly dominated by pure (clear) colours, such as red ochre, yellow ochre and Egyptian blue. The colour scale expands further with the mixture of colours, as can be noted by the detection of violet colour, a combination of blue and pink. However, the use of the vegetable dye made from madder, which was very popular among painters of the Hellenistic era and the dyeing extracts of the Murex trunculus have not been detected yet. The preference on red and violet colours for the decoration of dresses in sculpture of the Hellenistic times has been interpreted as an imitation of the luxurious purple-coloured fabrics. In several instances, lead was detected on the relief surface or the background. This material was used for the creation of a smooth and uniformly coloured surface as a pigment or as base for a mixture of pigments.
In certain sculptures presented here, yellow ochre is either an ersatz for gilding or used as a base for surface gilding with gold leafs. Regarding the gilding application, the fragmentary preservation of the above-mentioned sculptures, does not allow us to decide whether they were entirely gilded, yet their rarity has already been confirmed. It is therefore possible that sculptures with a mixed technique, multi-coloured and gilded, were manufactured in the sculpture workshops of Thessaloniki as well. This technique combined the gilding of the hair and the naked parts of the body and the use of colour for the clothing and shoes. Through the examination of the sculptures of the Thessaloniki Museum it is proven that the painted and sculpted parts are often two equally important factors of a common artistic composition.
Oἰκουμένη. Studi di archeologia classica in omaggio a Margherita Bonanno, , 2024
Ancient Lete, an important city of ancient Mygdonia in the region of central Macedonia, is locate... more Ancient Lete, an important city of ancient Mygdonia in the region of central Macedonia, is located in the plain NW of Thessaloniki. Archaeological
data, historical and epigraphic testimonies evidence its continuous prosperity from the Archaic period onwards.
The three terracotta figurines presented here represent the iconographic type where the female figure is shown seated on a rock. She wears a chiton and a himation, wrapped around her body and arms. The right hand touches the belly, while the left one rests on the surface of the rock. The head turns to her right. The richly folded himation accentuates her posture. She wears closed shoes. The rock is formed by three successive spherical projections, indicating the uneven surface of the ground. With the exception of some figurines from the early Hellenistic period at Athens, the dissemination in Greece of this specific iconographic type appears to be limited. On the contrary, the type’s spatial distribution outside Greece, was contemporary with its emergence, such as the five figurines from a child’s tomb from the Kalfata necropolis at Apollonia Pontica or the four examples from Alexandria of early Hellenistic period.
The depicted youthful figure is characterized by the sad expression of the face, its austere posture and clothing, and especially the cubic shape of the rock, which, it is an element may provide us a connection of the representation with the depiction of Demeter sitting on the ἀγέλαστον πέτραν at Eleusis.
The close resemblance of the monumental figure of the figurine inv.no. MTh 23550 with the cult statue of Demeter from her sanctuary at Knidos, where she was depicted as a mourning mother, as well the reconstruction of the movement of her left hand holding perhaps a small vessel, a kylichnis, namely a cylindrical box where incense was stored and used in religious rituals, lead us to the interpretation of the figure as a priestess dedicated to the Eleusinian cult. As for the figurines inv. nos. MTh 22709 and MTh 22805 it is plausible that depict young women initiated into her worship, who freely adopt and copy a characteristic representation of the goddess.
H. Brecoulaki (ed.), Archaeology of Colour. Technical Art History Studies in Greek and Roman Painting, Μελετήματα 87, N AT I O N A L H E L L E N I C R E S E A R CH F O U N DAT I O N / I N S T I T U T E O F H I S TO R I C A L R E S E A R CHAthens ., 2023
Summary The collection of sculptures of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is one of the r... more Summary
The collection of sculptures of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki is one of the richest and most important in Greece. It includes statues and reliefs, creations of significant workshops in Macedonia and Thrace, while the later artifacts come from sculpture workshops that operated in the city of Thessaloniki and the surrounding area. A considerable part of this collection has already been published in fourth volumes published by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a work that documents the largest part of the sculptures in the Museum. This paper refers to certain preliminary observations, which resulted from the combination of chemical analyses and specialized methods of photography. Our aim is to reconstruct, as close as possible, the sculptures’ initial polychromy, using the lab’s technical equipment, as well as the museum’s specialized scientific personnel.
The archaeometric analysis leads us to ascertain that the sculpture decoration was mainly dominated by pure (clear) colours, such as red ochre, yellow ochre and Egyptian blue. The colour scale expands further with the mixture of colours, as can be noted by the detection of violet colour, a combination of blue and pink. However, the use of the vegetable dye made from madder, which was very popular among painters of the Hellenistic era and the dyeing extracts of the Murex trunculus have not been detected yet. The preference on red and violet colours for the decoration of dresses in sculpture of the Hellenistic times has been interpreted as an imitation of the luxurious purple-coloured fabrics. In several instances, lead was detected on the relief surface or the background. This material was used for the creation of a smooth and uniformly coloured surface as a pigment or as base for a mixture of pigments.
In certain sculptures presented here, yellow ochre is either an ersatz for gilding or used as a base for surface gilding with gold leafs. Regarding the gilding application, the fragmentary preservation of the above-mentioned sculptures, does not allow us to decide whether they were entirely gilded, yet their rarity has already been confirmed. It is therefore possible that sculptures with a mixed technique, multi-coloured and gilded, were manufactured in the sculpture workshops of Thessaloniki as well. This technique combined the gilding of the hair and the naked parts of the body and the use of colour for the clothing and shoes. Through the examination of the sculptures of the Thessaloniki Museum it is proven that the painted and sculpted parts are often two equally important factors of a common artistic composition.
10th International Scientific Meeting on Hellenistic Pottery , 2023
The Contribution of Pottery to the Definition of Duration of Use of the Looted Beehive-vaulted Ch... more The Contribution of Pottery to the Definition of Duration of Use of the Looted Beehive-vaulted Chamber Tomb in Ancient Lete.
The archaeological research and inscriptional evidence have led to the location of Ancient Lete, approximately 12 km north-east of Thessaloniki. The urban space and the cemeteries of the city are developed over the hills of the Derveni pass and the western part of the fertile plain of Langadas. Its strategic location and the extensive agricultural territorium, from which it derived much of its wealth, justify its diachronic habitation and prosperity up to the Late Antiquity.
The pottery presented in this article comes from a funerary monument located 1,5 km north-east of the Derveni necropolis. The form of the tomb, consisting of a long covered dromos, an antechamber with a monumental entrance and a circular chamber, allows for its connection to similar monuments discovered in the Thracian hinterland and which belonged to the local aristocracy of the Odrysian kingdom. The founding date of the tomb is defined by a bronze coin of Cassander, issued after 306 BC.
The structural elements of the tomb, as much as the funerary furniture once placed in the burial chamber, were discovered plundered by the looters. It is thought possible to conclude that at least four burials had taken place inside the monument. Moreover, the finds of these burials were found in a fragmentary state, scattered across the desecration stratum.
The contribution of the pottery to the definition of duration of usage of the beehive-vaulted chamber tomb is decisive, given the fact that they can be dated from the early 3rd to the first half of the 2nd c. BC. Among the ceramic finds, there is some imported Attic pottery, whereas the discovery of tin-coated vessels is of particular interest.
Πότνια Πέλλης, 2022
Terracotta figurine of a dwarf –baskanion, from the cemetery of ancient Lete. The terracotta fig... more Terracotta figurine of a dwarf –baskanion, from the cemetery of ancient Lete.
The terracotta figurine presented here was found during the excavation of the surface layer of the cemetery of the ancient city of Lete and is kept in the storerooms of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki Region (inv. no 23193). Lete was a city in ancient Mygdonia (Northern Greece). Its prosperity during the early Hellenistic era is associated with Cassander’s building policy, aiming at ensuring the organisation and safety of settlements, including Lete, as well as the wealth flowing into Macedonia during the gradual return of the veteran companions of Alexander III from his
campaign in the East.
The figurine survives in fragmentary condition (pr. h. 7 cm). It consists of two handmade parts, laterally adjoined. It depicts an elderly hunchback male figure, standing with his short legs slightly open. The head is inordinately large compared to its bodily proportions. The shoulders and torso are wrapped in a small himation, which the figure is clasping at chest height and lifting to reveal his hypertrophic testicles. The himation is coloured light blue, while the male skin and genitals are coloured reddish-brown.
These features allow us to recognize in this figurine the realistic depiction of a hunchback dwarf with the familiar deformities of achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. More specifically, it is classified among the so-called pathological caricatures with faces and bodies harshly depicting physical deformities and human illnesses. This physical dysplasia is perceived as comical, while the disabled and hunchbacks caused laughter. Moreover, it was believed that, as bearers of magical powers, they warded off harmful forces.
Their depictions in miniature sculpture were, therefore, “baskania”, i.e. amulets which with their repulsive appearance brought good fortune to the living and protected the dead from evil spirits. This is the interpretation favoured for the figurine presented here as “une amulette pour le dernier voyage”. Its morphological characteristics lead us to date the figurine to the 4th century BC or the early Hellenistic era.
Proceedings of the 19th International Congress of Classical Archaeology, Cologne/Bonn 2018, Vol. 53, 2022
The city of Ancient Lete is located at the western part of the fertile plain of Langadas basin (N... more The city of Ancient Lete is located at the western part of the fertile plain of Langadas basin (Northern Greece). Τhe Roman occupation began here in 168 BC and acquired a legal character with the establishment of the Roman province of Macedonia in 148 BC. An important factor in the economic development of the city is the fact that via Egnatia passed through the region.
Throughout its history, Lete controlled an extensive agricultural territorium, from which it derived much of its wealth. The Roman negotiatores, who seem to have begun settling in and around the city, have set up banks and commercial activities and acquired land. Inscriptions from Lete from the 1st-2nd century AD, record the gentilicia of many Italian-Roman families.
Further evidence of the Roman presence in the area appears to be furnished by four
farmhouses, built within a short distance of one another. Their excavation was a salvage process, and thus limited and incomplete. The most important finds relating to the management of the wealth produced by farming activities came from Farmhouse Α (total area 808 m2). This farmhouse was built in the middle of the 2nd century, later the house was repaired and a triclinium (248 m2) added for receiving guests and holding banquets. The living and dining rooms of the house were quite separate from the areas associated with rural economy, the storage and the processing of agricultural products. These activities were housed in the west wing, which had its own entrance for the transporting of items. The room on the northeast side, with a separate entrance, was probably the kitchen of the villa.
The archaeological evidence indicates that this farm’s economy was based on household production, mainly agriculture and animal husbandry. The primary processing of agricultural produce is confirmed by the discovery of a wine-making cistern for crushing grapes and extracting the must. The meat and milk required by the household were obtained from the sheep and goats they raised. Surplus milk was used to make white cheese, a common rural craft, as indicated by perforated vases of local manufacture for the production of cheese. Fishery products also accounted for a significant proportion of the household’s diet. Various species of fish and eels could be obtained from the nearby lakes. The consumption of shellfish is attested by the shells found at the site. In sum, it seems fair to say that the economy of this farm was based on a variety of activities: agriculture, viticulture and wine-making, animal husbandry, fishing, weaving and ceramic production. These activities were clearly intended to ensure the self-sufficiency of the household.
The size of the villas, the luxurious decoration of the reception rooms, the separation of uses in different buildings, the triclinia and the stables suggest that these were permanent residences providing a very comfortable lifestyle. This is further borne out by the use of fine imported tableware and glass vessels. The transport amphorae from Tunisia and the northeastern Aegean indicate a preference for particular varieties of wine to complement the household’s high dietetic standard.
There can be no doubt that the owners of the rural villas were Roman settlers belonged to the aristocracy of Lete. The creation of these farmsteads reflects the new model of organisation of agricultural land, following the Roman system of the land register used in the provinces for record-keeping and taxation purposes.
Τhe beehive-vaulted chamber tomb of the cemetery of ancient Lete. First approach The monumental t... more Τhe beehive-vaulted chamber tomb of the cemetery of ancient Lete. First approach
The monumental tomb presented here was discovered at 1998, in a distance of about 1,5 km. NE of the Derveni cemetery, of ancient Lete. Lete, a city of ancient Mygdonia, located 12 kilometers NW of Thessaloniki, is listed by Claudius Ptolemaeus (Geography 3, 12. 23) and Pliny the Elder (nat. 5, 10, 17) in the Imperial age. The settlement flourished during the Hellenistic period, due to its location near the city of Thessaloniki and to the Via Egnatia which passed through the area. However, the era of its greatest prosperity coincides with the kingship of Cassander, king of Macedonia (305 - 298 BC), at the end of the 4th - beginning of the 3rd c. BC.
The structural elements of the tomb, as much as the funerary furniture placed in the burial chamber, were discovered plundered by the looters, maybe during the Roman time. The form of the tomb, consisting of a long-roofed dromos, an antechamber with a monumental entrance and a circular chamber, with a diameter of 3.10 m., allows for its connection to similar monuments discovered in the Thracian hinterland (the present-day Bulgarian land) which belonged to the local aristocracy of the Odrysian kingdom. The founding date of the tomb is defined by a bronze coin of Cassander, issued after 306 BC.
Moreover, the finds of the burials were found in a fragmentary state, scattered across the desecration stratum. The only elements that ware rescued from the sculptural decoration of the monument is a stone crowning with floral composition, an excellent combination of relief and painted floral motifs, originally placed on the lintel of the entrance of the antechamber. From the furnished interior of the tomb were saved fragments of the stone funeral bed (κλίνη), as well as parts of some other furniture.
The form of the tomb raises issues concerning its founding conditions, while interesting is the investigation of the national identity of the deceased and his family who were buried in the monument. Ιt would be tempting, then, to assume that the buried dead man was of Thracian descent and in fact a member of the Odrysian dynasty, who served in the army of Alexander III in his campaign in the East and for some reasons unknown to us led him to Macedonian land, in an area particularly close to the borders of his country.
Διεθνές Επιστημονικό Συμπόσιο προς Τιμήν του Ομότιμου Καθηγητή Γεωργίου Βελένη, Θεσσαλονίκη, Αμφιθέατρο Αρχαίας Αγοράς 4-7 Οκτωβρίου 2017, Πρακτικά, 2021
The marble statuette presented in this paper was recovered in 2004 in the area of ancient Lete an... more The marble statuette presented in this paper was recovered in 2004 in the area of ancient Lete and was recorded in the inventory of the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki with the inv. no. 22885.
The statuette follows the so-called “Aphrodite-Nymphe” type (Typus Nymphe mit hochgestelltem Fuss), according to which the figure is resting her foot on the rock, a type also known from terracotta figurines of the third century and marble statuettes of the Late Hellenistic and Early Imperial era. They originated on a Lyssipian creation, which
was probably produced in Attica and was diffused after the documented migration of Athenian sculptors in northern Greece in the late fourth century BC. The comparative examination of the Aphrodite statuette mainly with terracotta figurines determines its dating possibly in the beginning of the third century, an estimation supported by the fact that the same iconographic type appears, with little chronological divergence, in a terracotta figurine from the area of Thessaloniki. Furthermore, certain technical similarities with an assemblage of statuettes from the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore in Derveni, Lete, dated to the late fourth to early third century, allow its association with the local sculpture workshop of the ancient city. Thus, in a city which developed into an important urban centre, especially in Cassander’s era, the existing evidence of the worship of Aphrodite, along with other finds, can be dated from the late fourth century BC until the second century AD.
Κατάλογος Γλυπτών του Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου Θεσσαλονίκης, τ. IV, 2019
Η αρχαία Λητή και η περιοχή της, Μ. Τσιάπαλη (επιμ.), Πρακτικά Ημερίδας 16 Δεκεμβρίου, Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο Θεσσαλονίκης, Θεσσαλονίκη., 2019
The archaeometric examination of Derveni’s Grave I began in 1995. The tomb was discovered at the ... more The archaeometric examination of Derveni’s Grave I began in 1995. The tomb was discovered at the site of Derveni in Thessaloniki, during the excavation of the access - dromos to the Macedonian tomb III. The burial monument dates back to the early 3rd century B.C. The rich painting decoration of the tomb is of great interest.There are four zones in the painting decoration: in the lower part there is an imitation of ortho-
marble, whereas the next part is decorated with a yellow ochre paint, followed by a decorative zone, which is a crowned by a doric molding. The main decorative theme comprise of garlands of flowers, which are intermittently interrupted. The most interesting part is the upper zone, where a blue background is present, showing objects which are related to the grooming and the costumes of the buried woman. Herein the previously collected results are revisited and moreover, for the first time, new results related to the decorative features of the tomb are presented. Initially the following techniques were used: polarizing microscopy, optical emission spectroscopy (OEA) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). In the second step of the study, the following methods were employed: Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) in conjunction with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), Χ-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and FTIR spectroscopy. The distinctive architecture of the tomb is associated
with the two different architectural bases of frescoes. The stone of the masonry is calcareous sandstone with its main components: quartz, feldspars and calcite. In the upper zone, the masonry is covered by lime
mortars, coarse grains and fine grains. In the lower zone on the clay basis, the mortar with a high content of lime and clayish material is first applied, followed by the fine-grained lime mortar.The lime-clayish mortar with the coarse-grained aggregates of the lower zone was produced by adding quartz sand and clay materials to the lime, in a possible
ratio of 2:1:1.5.The lime mortar with the coarse-grained aggregates
of the upper zone was produced by adding quartz sand and crushed marble to the lime, in a ratio of lime: aggregates (inert) 1:2. In contrast to the internal coarse-grained mortars, the supernatant fine mortars of both zones are of the same nature, namely lime, but with different qualitative
and quantitative compositions. We therefore conclude that fine mortars were made of different batches of lime and not at the same time. In the fine mortars, the inert material was marble powder.The important pigments of the painting are: Cyan is Egyptian blue, in the composition of which cuprorivaite crystals were found along with glassy material. Yellow pigment is yellow ochre of the mineral goethite, dark red is hematite, bright red is cinnabar and bright green is malachite.The painting technique which was Iplied in the tomb is «fresco a’secco» using lime as binder. In the multilayer layers, and to depict the growth of the shadow, it is likely that an organic binder was used. The brown sample used for luminescence modeling was studied using FTIR spectroscopy. Proteinaceous material was detected in the sample, which may be related to the use of an organic adhesive material.
Η αρχαία Λητή και η περιοχή της,, 2019
K. Tzanavari, Ancient Lete. The city and its cemeteries. Rescue excavations and epigraphic eviden... more K. Tzanavari, Ancient Lete. The city and its cemeteries.
Rescue excavations and epigraphic evidence that refer to ancient Lete have shown that the city was located on the hills and the plain that spread after the Derveni pass, on the western edge of the Langadas basin. The first archaeological research took place during the Ottoman era and carried on after the liberation of Macedonia and during World War I, as part of the archaeological campaign of the Armée d’Orient.
The structural remains, the pottery collected from both excavations and field surveys, as well as the burial data revealed recently in the area, testify that the city was founded around the middle of the 6th c. BC. Depositional fills argue for the continuation of habitation in the 5th c. BC. Few structural remnants survive from the 4th century; the burial evidence however are more representative of the era, with characteristic grave goods, such as clay vessels and terracotta figurines from Attic workshops, as well as their local imitations. It has been attested through inscriptions that the city had an urban organization, while its impressive development at the time is associated with king Cassander, who paid attention to his motherland after 316 BC. A small part of the city wall, at its northern edge, was revealed, dating to that era, and the sanctuary of Demeter flourished at the same time, enriched by cult and votive marble statuettes. The organized cemeteries of the city were located around its periphery. The unlooted graves found at Derveni also belong to the cemeteries of Lete, dating to the late 4th and early 3rd c. BC, with a variety of unique grave goods and metal vessels, whose representations reflect the beliefs in the afterlife. The most important find was the Derveni Papyrus, whose theological-cosmogonic text proved the initiation of the deceased and functioned as a passport for him, to secure eternal bliss for him in the underworld.
The flourishing economic environment that developed after Alexander’s Asian Campaign favored the creation of workshops. These workshops dealt with sculpture, metallurgy, goldsmithing, pottery and coroplastic production, sometimes imitating Attic prototypes. Particularly regarding the sculpture workshops, it is evident that their distinctive artistic character has been influenced by Athenian artists. This prosperity continued in the reign of Antigonos Gonatas (272-239 BC), an era of stability and affluence, and partly as further in time as the dissolution of the Macedonian kingdom by the Romans in 148 BC. Via Egnatia, which crossed Lete as it connected the Adriatic with the Black Sea, contributed to its economic development and created favorable conditions for the installation of Roman settlers.
However, the Roman civil wars that were fought in Macedonia between the armies of Caesar and Pompey (49-48 BC) and later among the legions of the Triumvirate of Antony, Octavian and Lepidus against the armies of Brutus (42 BC) left their marks on the city, as the abandonment and destruction of houses and villas indicate. A group of lavish villas was founded in the city’s region in the late Hellenistic and Roman times, which span as far as the late 4th c. AD. They probably belonged to the Roman elite, which owned vast properties, as is also attested in the region of Langadas via inscriptions. Finally, the fact that one of the gates on the western city walls of Thessaloniki that led to Mygdonia was named Letaia, attests the city’s importance even during the Byzantine era.
Η αρχαία Λητή και η περιοχή της, 2019
The Macedonian tomb presented here was unearthed in 1910 in Macedonia, still under the Turkish o... more The Macedonian tomb presented here was unearthed in 1910 in Macedonia, still under the Turkish occupation. This is the so-called “Tomb of Langadas”, named thus when published by the Greek ottoman archaeologist Theodoros Macridy / or “Tomb of Macridy bey”, after the excavator’s name. The documentation and the graphical representation of the tomb were undertaken by the painter Halil Édhem bey (1851-1938). The marble door of the chamber, as well as all the findings that escaped the looting, were transferred in that same year to the Ottoman Imperial Museum (Istanbul Arkeoloji Muzesi), in Istanbul. Only the marble door is exhibited to this day.
This Macedonian tomb is constructed using brownish blocks of limestone and has two chambers and a façade of the Ionic order. The façade is decorated with wall paintings, like other monuments of the same type found in the greater area of ancient Macedonia. The door leading to the antechamber was wooden, while the one of the chamber was made of marble. According to the relevant descriptions, the bronze elements of the doors, as well as their decorative and functional reliefs, were gilded, and can be compared with relevant finds, indicating thus the dating of the monument at the end of 4th cent. B.C. The main burial took place inside a cist tomb, which had been constructed underneath a complex marble structure.
Σπονδή. Αφιέρωμα στη μνήμη του Γιώργου Δεσπίνη, 2020
From the Society of Roman Thessaloniki: A Female Honorary Statue of the Early Imperial Era. The ... more From the Society of Roman Thessaloniki: A Female Honorary Statue of the Early Imperial Era.
The presented female statue inv. no. 851 is carved in Thassian marble, its size is slightly larger than life and it derives from the sanctuary of the Egyptian gods in Thessaloniki. It belongs to the sculptural type of Kore-Persephone, Berlin/London and particularly resembles some colossal statues of the Julio-Claudian era, such as those in the Archaeological Museum of Sparta, the National Museum of Parma and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden of Leiden. Moreover, the ends of the clothing motifs around the legs and on the plinth are compared to imperial portrait statues of the same period. These comparisons, the plasticity that characterizes the rendering of the statue, but also the forming of the folds without the use of a drill, suggest its dating in the first half of the 1st century A.D. The statue was dedicatory, according to its finding context. Honorary statues of priestesses and women were dedicated mainly for benefactions to the city and its sanctuaries. Thus, considering the quality and the size of the sculpture, the attire of the figure, as well as some epigraphical evidence from the region of Thessaloniki which belong to the same time, it is assumed that the figure can be identified as the Italian Avia A.f. Posilla, known from two bilingual votive inscriptions of the late 1st century B.C. or the early 1st century A.D., one of which refers to her benefactions to the sanctuary of Isis. She belongs to the famous family of the Roman negotiatores Avii, who are active in Thessaloniki from the late Republican era until the 3rd century A.D. The high artistic quality of the statue, along with some comparisons with works by Attic workshops suggest that the female statue is the work of an Athenian sculptor. The influence of Attic sculpture in the selection of the iconographic prototypes and the artistic preferences of the Macedonian workshops has been documented quite early. The statue from Thessaloniki exhibits some distinctive iconography, such as her heavy attire, the tunica, the peronatris and the palla, which aims to denote the high social status of the represented figure. Additionally, her theomorphic parallels with Ceres, a selection that indicates the virtues of the wife and mother, but also chastity and modesty, are considered.
Context and Meaning. Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference of the Association Internationale pour la Peinture Murale Antique, Athens, September 16-20 2013 (Leuven, Paris, Bristol 2017) , 2007
The cist tomb presented here was discovered in the area of the ancient necropolis of Derveni. Thi... more The cist tomb presented here was discovered in the area of the ancient necropolis of Derveni. This type of funerary monument, built with blocks of poros belongs to a series of cist tombs, whose internal walls are decorated with painted representations. They are usually found in the area of Northern Greece, dating from the second half of the 4th to the beginning of the 3rd century BC. These graves, with or without decorated walls, were, in most cases, tombs of women and especially of young girls prematurely deceased (άωρη νεκρή).
The objects depicted on the inner walls of the cist tomb I, as the hydria and the thymiaterion, the fan, the stephane and the mirror, the papyrus, the footwear, the pyxis, the pigeon etc, are relevant to everyday life activities as well as to the rituals of marriage and death. Furthermore, the presence of painted wreaths of myrtle and bakchoi, objects related to the cult of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone, allows us to assume that the young woman who was buried inside the tomb was probably a priestess of their cult focused on the afterlife.
Figurine demi-nue d' Aphrodite avec Cupidon et cithare, milieu du IIe s. av. J.C. Musée Archéolo... more Figurine demi-nue d' Aphrodite avec Cupidon et cithare, milieu du IIe s. av. J.C.
Musée Archéologique de Veroia
Cette figurine de terre cuite, qui figure parmi les plus brillantes réalisations de l'atelier local, reproduit un type iconographique très en vogue à l’époque hellénistique. Aphrodite, Anadyomene avec Eros and a masque of Silenus. Aphrodite est la déesse de la beauté, de l’amour et de la fécondité, elle est aussi l’unique divine féminine qui représente les Douze Olympiens dans un nombre limité de tombes féminines de la société locale de Veroia, alors qu’elle est fréquemment représentée dans des contextes semblables et dans d’autres nécropoles hellénistiques.
Aphrodite apparait donc ici comme la protectrice des défunts, un rôle que lui confèrent les sources anciennes et que viennent corroborer les documents archéologiques. Tout en offrant mets et breuvages aux adeptes de l’adoration bachique, elle leur promet l’immortalité de l’âme et une vie heureuse dans l’au-delà, où morts se réjouiront durant les siècles ou son de la phorminx (Pindare, Ode à Némée, IV, 45).
The archaeological evidence relating to the worship of the gods in Thessaloniki and its surroundi... more The archaeological evidence relating to the worship of the gods in Thessaloniki and its surrounding area goes back to the foundation of the city by Cassander, the king of the Macedonia (316/315 BC).
The cults that emerged here were focused on the twelve traditional Olympian gods, such as Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Demeter and Kore (Persephone), Zeus Hypsistos, Hermes, Poseidon and Dionysos. The links that already existed, or were developed with Asia, Egypt and Thrace, contributed to the dissemination of the worship of deities popular to these regions. At this period the city emerged as a large religious center of the Egyptian gods. Among them the main deity was Isis, wife of Osiris, mother of Horus, Sarapis and Harpokrates.
The conquest of Macedonia by the Romans and its conversion in 148 BC into a province of the Roman state favored the development of cults that were established throughout the empire, such as the deified emperors and Dea Roma. There is also evidence for practice of the cults of deities such as Mithras, Sol Invictus, and Epona, the protector of horses and stables, who were popular within the Roman armies, who encamped outside the city walls.
The archaeological evidence relating the worship of the gods in Thessaloniki, cult statues and dedications made by the priests and the believers that enable us to reconstitute the religious character of the city.
The new Neolithic site was located in the western part of the Langadas basin, c. 1.5 km. NE of th... more The new Neolithic site was located in the western part of the Langadas basin, c. 1.5 km. NE of the Derveni pass. It was discovered during the construction of the flyover, at branch 1 of the Langadas junction, on the Egnatia highway.
The wider area is flat and the stratification of the fill laid down by Lake Koroneia is regular. Purely Neolithic deposits were located in three pits. Their structural features suggest that they are probably cisterns for collecting and storing water, which was so vital to the inhabitant’s survival.
On the basis of the typology of the pottery, Liti III has been dated to Middle Neolithic period. The practice of building subterranean houses was widespread in Macedonia in this period, as it was in the Danubian areas in Yugoslavia and Romania. The special significance of this particular site lies in the fact that it belongs to the end of the Early Neolithic and the beginning of the Middle Neolithic, thus adding to the number of sites from this period.
The discovery that the settlement was established in the layer of lacustrine deposits suggests that the Lake Koroneia had already covered the w. part of the Langadas basin long before the beginning of the Middle Neolithic and that it subsequently receded.
Veroia, mentioned by Thucydides in 432 BC, was built on a terrace in the foothills of the Mount V... more Veroia, mentioned by Thucydides in 432 BC, was built on a terrace in the foothills of the Mount Vermion. Is one of the most prominent cities of the Macedonian kingdom and is reached the peak of its glory and prosperity in the Hellenistic era, during the reign of the Antigonid dynasty, the ruling house of ancient Macedonia from 306 to 168 BC. The Hellenistic and Roman period constituted therefore its apogee in all aspects of culture.
The ancient city was enclosed within a strong fortification walls with towers and gates corresponding to the main roads that secured communication with other urban centers of ancient Macedonia. The buildings remnants survive in a very fragmentary condition, nevertheless, parts have been found of public buildings belonging to the ancient agora, the political and commercial centre of the city. Inscriptions attest the existence of a gymnasium, theatre and important sanctuaries devoted to the cult of the main Greek gods, as Zeus, Athena, Asclepius and Hygeia, Aphrodite, Apollo and Artemis, Dionysos, Heracles Kynagidas and the Egyptian deities.
The Archaeological Museum of Veroia, built in the early 1960s, houses antiquities from the ancient city and the surrounding area. Among the exhibits are grave goods from burial contexts from the well known Classic and Hellenistic cemetery of Veroia, an Eros or Agon marble statuette, a marble table leg with the representation of the abduction to Olympus of the Trojan prince Ganymede by Zeus, two marble female portraits female heads dated to the middle Antonine period, i.e. about 160-180 AD, as well as the colossal marble portrait of Vespasian refashioned from an older portrait head of Nero. They were all made by a local sculpture workshop that was active in the city in the Late Hellenistic and Roman periods.
Two main local workshops were active in Veroia during the late Hellenistic era. The first one is a very dynamic sculpture workshop. The tombstones and the relief monuments are kept in the Archaeological Museum of Veroia and date from the Late Hellenistic period up to the middle 3rd century AD.
The artistic output of the figurine workshop of Veroia was confined to the period between the last third of the 3rd and the middle of the 1st century BC. Study of the total 70 iconographic types has shown that they can be assigned to two large groups. The first comprise female figurines, dolls and figures of men and children and the second includes subjects connected with cult and religion, such as dancing women, kourotrophoi, icononographic types of Aphrodite, Isis, Psyche and Eros, and the group of Adonis and Aphrodite. The distinctive character of the local workshop is the result of its specific thematic and artistic choices.
The entry no 6 for the catalogue concerns a grave stele from the “Rhaidestos Collection” at the A... more The entry no 6 for the catalogue concerns a grave stele from the “Rhaidestos Collection” at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. It was initially a tall stele, possibly with pedimental crowning. The relief representation depicts a female figure walking to the right and a young girl depicted in a type common to the Attic grave monuments of the 4th century BC.
The entries nos 29 and 30 concern a naiskos (miniature temple) and a relief from “Rhaidestos Collection” depicting the Phrygian goddess Cybele, the goddess of nature and mountains, patroness of settlements and cities. Their dates remain uncertain. They could be date to the late Hellenistic and the Roman period.
The investigation is based on 352 terracotta figurines that were discovered in undisturbed grave ... more The investigation is based on 352 terracotta figurines that were discovered in undisturbed grave groups. Study of the total 70 iconographic types has shown that they can be assigned to two large groups. The first comprise female figurines, dolls and figures of men and children and the second includes subjects connected with cult and religion, such as dancing women, kourotrophoi, icononographic types of Aphrodite, Isis, Psyche and Eros, and the group of Adonis and Aphrodite. The distinctive character of the local workshop is the result of its specific thematic and artistic choices.
The existence of a local workshop is attested by the clay used for the figurines and by their technical features. The practice of signing the moulds is also attested on the rear of two types. The artistic output of the figurine workshop of Beroia was confined to the period between the last third of the 3rd and the middle of the 1st c. BC.. The use not only of the same repertoire but also of the same models as the Pella figurine workshops unable us to identify the models we are seeking to the workshops of the Macedonian capital. As for the interpretation of the standing female figurines one could be claimed that they depict the dead woman herself. The frequent presence of Aphrodite guarantees of the immortality of the soul and its protection after death.
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Ancient Country Houses on Modern Roads, 2003
One of the cities of Macedonia listed by Claudius Ptolemaeus (Geogr. III, 12, 23) and Pliny the Y... more One of the cities of Macedonia listed by Claudius Ptolemaeus (Geogr. III, 12, 23) and Pliny the Younger (NH. V, 10, 17) in the imperial age is Lete. The city lies at the western end of the bassin of the lakes Koroneia and Volvi. After the defeat of the Macedonian army in 168 BC and the conflict followed in 148 BC Macedonia was converted into a province of the Roman empire. Roman legions appeared in thw area of Lete immediadiately after the capture of Macedonia. An important factor in the economic development ot the city is the fact that the Via Egnatia passed through the region. The urban space of Lete was stricktly separated from the rural area. Excavations conducted revealed four roman villas that they were permanent installations of their owners. Country house A occupied a total area of 802.50 m2. The ground-plan of the building corresponds to the prescriptions of the Roman country houses as set out in De Architectura by Vitruvius. The interior walls were faced with marbre revetment. The main building was built in the middle od the 2nd c. AD and was abandoned in the middle or the 3rd c. After that date limited-scale interventions in the gound plan and the addition to the east side of a triclinium 220 m2 were all desidned to improve the living comfort of its owners.
From the country house D uncovered two outbuildings, a triclinium and a long tworoomed building. The discovery of the burial of a pair of horses SE of the ticlinium and of another one inside the other building enables us to identify the latter with the villa stables. This villa was built in the second half of the 3rd c. and finally abandoned at the end of the 4th c. AD.