Di Cesare R., G. Sarcone 2022, Il santuario dell'acropoli e l'abitato classico-ellenistico di Efestia (Lemno). Scavi e ricerche del 2022, in "Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente", vol. 100, Tomo II, pp. 88-150. (original) (raw)
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During 2022, archaeological exploration continued in the area of the Archaic sanctuary of Hephaestia, in the northern sector of the Palaeopolis peninsula. The investigations, in continuity with those of last year, were conducted in the natural valley, adjoining the sanctuary to the W. The oldest idetified levels of frequetation are thick layers containing Proto- geometric ad Geometric pottery, which attest to the extent of the settlement inhabited by the local population in the Early Iron Age, from the 11th to the early 7th cent. B.C., before the life of the sactuary (mid-7th to late 6th cent. B.C.). The most conspicuous phase is from the Classical-Hellenistic period (5th-2nd cent. B.C.), referring to the Athenian cleruchy. Several rooms have been excavated, the largest having a rectagular floor plan, a off-centre entrace and built couches (klinai) along the inner sides, and can be interpreted as a banquet hall (hestiatorion). The finds (both pottery ad coroplastic) hint at the symposium ad cult sphere (terracotta statuettes of deities and small altars). The smaller neighbouring rooms, featuring a recurring plan with a raised platform on four sides and a quadrangular central space, can also be referred to the same function. This complex of hestiatoria could well be connected to a sanctuary, to be found nearby. According to the excavated stratigraphies, the area was abandoned as early as the end of the Hellenistic period.
Archaeological research in 2021 on the archaic acropolis of Hephaestia and in the quarter located W of it, in the adjoining natural valley, led to the acquisition of new data on the settlement history from the Early Iron Age to the Late Roman period. The activities focused on three areas. 1) On the acropolis plateau an open-air area between the Building with votive deposit and the central complex of the sanctuary (7th-6th centuries BC) was newly excavated. Remais of archaic walls ad a large terracotta pithos embedded in the rocky bank have been documented. The archaeological data indicate that this area was already settled before the sanctuary was built. 2) In the Building with votive deposit, room H, an uncovered space joined to the lower rooms of the building, was Iinvestigated. Inside this space, a thick layer of earth ad rubbish was excavated down to the steeply sloping rocky bank, attesting to a settlement phase of the Early Iron Age (second half of the 11th to the end of the 8th/beginning of the 7th centuries BC) preceding the construction of the Building with votive deposit. The large amount of fragmentary pottery includes protogeometric amphoras and three most represented ceramic classes: grey ware (with beige and brown/red variant), geometric and coarse ware. In the same layers millstoes ad pestles, animal bones ad malacological finds related to meal remains were also found. The source of this material is probably a settlement located uphill. 3) In the area to the W of the Building with votive deposit, an area of more than 600 mq was excavated and a new quarter of the city from the classical ad Hellenistic period (5th-1st centuries BC) was discovered. Beneath the thick modern arable soil, an extendssive layer of debris with stoes, bricks ad fragmentary pottery covers a series of structures ad corresponds to a phase of spoliation and abandonment, after the last sporadic frequentation of the area in the 4th-7th centuries AD.
The SAIA Archaeological Mission in Lemnos resumed investigations in 2021 in the eastern port district of Hephaestia, after a one-year interruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The excavation continued in the south aisle and narthex of the Early Byzantine Basilica and in an adjoining room of its Middle Byzantine phase; two burials of this time were also brought to light. The excavation of the south aisle uncovered a large building with pithoi for storing foodstuffs, dated to the 5th-4th century B.C., below the floor preparation. This discovery complements the knowledge of the classical phases of Hephaestia, identified since 1926 in other parts of the peninsula, with the excavation of the necropolis and theatre, and perhaps also the walls.
The IASA archaeological expedition continued to investigate the basilica complex located on the Eastern harbour of Hephaestia, Lemnos. Investigations resumed in 2018, ninety-two years after the discovery of the site. During the 2019 excava- tion season, the structures of the Early Byzantine basilica were completely brought to light, as well as an associated room located north of the narthex. The stratigraphic excavations of the central nave of the Early Byzantine basilica revealed the overlying single nave of the Middle Byzantine church, cruciform in plan. Moreover, excavations below the apse revealed two structures that date to the Archaic-Classic and Hellenistic phases of occupation of this site. This paper presents the preliminary results of the 2019.
In 2022, IASA continued the research project of the eastern harbour area of Hephaestia, carrying out the stratigraphic excavation of the Early Byzatine basilica, the subject of the School’s project since 2018. Sectors E ad W of the northern nave were investigated, and the later structures that occupied the central sector were spared. A survey was carried out in the southern sector of the narthex, where the floor preparation had been removed, ad an adjoining room, adjacent to the north to the narthex but not communicating with it, was excavated in order to trace the phases that existed before the costruction of the basilica. The preliminary results are presented here.
In July 2018, the archaeological mission of the IASA at Lemnos resumed research within the basilica of the Eastern Port at Hephaistia, which, discovered by Alessandro Della Seta in 1926, is still unpublished. Available archive documentation was extremely scarce, accounting for a schematic plan and several photos. The excavations brought to light a Paleochristian basilica with three naves, in which the structures of a second Middle-Byzantine church were built between the apse and presbytery, along- side the structure of a later annex connected to it. The preliminary results of the 2018 excavation campaign are presented here.
The aim of this contribution is to offer a new interpretation of the so-called Bluebeard pediment, originally exposed on the Ur-Parthenon (proto-Parthenon or Archaic Parthenon) of the Athenian Acropolis. My special focus is on the sculptural group on the right. It includes a three-bodied being and a figure in front of it. Having discussed the previous interpretations, I now propose to recognise in Bluebeard a wind, namely Boreas, the North wind, depicted in a specific narrative context, referring to the ancestral past of Archaic Athens: the abduction of the Athenian king Erechtheus’ daughter, Oreithyia. The king’s daughter would be recognisable in the dressed female figure standing in front of the three-bodied being, smaller than this and depicted before her abduction. According to the oldest version of the myth, the abduction took place on the Acropolis, when Oreithyia carried out the role of kanephoros. The identification of the Bluebeard and of Oreithyia is based on comparisons with both iconographic and literary evidence. With the depiction of a famous story from early Athens, linked to the cult of the goddess Athena and related to the cruel central scene of two lions killing a bull, perhaps an allusion to the sacrifices in honour of Erechtheus, and the fight between Nereus and Heracles, Athena’s protégé, a Panathenaic frame was given to the pediment. Such themes were very appropriate to decorate the first great peripteral hexastyle poros temple on the Acropolis, dedicated to the patron goddess of the polis and inaugurated in 566/5 BC to celebrate the foundation of the Great Panathenaea.
The topic of this paper is the G 2-3 pottery from Lemnos. This poorly studied class of ceramics has been found in different areas of the archaic settlement of Hephaestia, in its necropolis and in the Kabeirion of Chloi. An abundant quantity, which is being prepared for publication, came from the sanctuary of the archaic acropolis of Hephaestia, in particular from the building with votive deposit (the so-called "Edificio con stipe"). The study aims to contribute to the debate on the production, forms and diffusion of G 2-3 pottery in the North Aegean, and to reconstruct ceramic production on the island of Lemnos between the Early Iron Age and the Archaic period.
Athens between Hadrian and Gallienus (117-268 CE): History, Archaeology, and Urban Landscapes is a work created as part of the “Roman Athens” research program of the Italian Archaeological School in Athens and developed through studies conducted at the University of Perugia and the “Sapienza” Uni- versity of Rome. This book continues a long tradition of scholarship and offers a new historical, archae- ological and topographical reconstruction of Athens during the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE. It focuses on the concept of the “Urban Landscape”, understood as a combination of material and immaterial realities, and as a historical process characterized by productive or destructive actions, sometimes spontaneous and other times planned, along with a constant relationship between natural and human-made space. The research is structured into three parts. Part I (Historical, Cultural, and Economic-Political Framework) is divided into three chapters. Chapter 1: Historical Framework offers a chronological overview of events between the 2nd and 3rd cen- turies CE, with emphasis on the relationships between emperors, institutions, and Athenian citizens. Chapter 2. Cultural Framework describes Athens as a centre of collective cultural experience, high- lighting the Second Sophistic, the intellectual life centred on Athens, philosophy, education, festivals and performances. Chapter 3. Economic-Political Framework analyses the political structure, economic measures and the institution of public benefaction. Part II (Areas of Investigation) is dedicated to describing the data (contexts, architectural structures, and infrastructure) that shaped the urban landscape of Athens during the years between Hadrian and Gallienus. Part III (Reconstructing and Narrating the Urban Landscapes) builds on the relationship between Parts I and II and is divided into two chapters. Chapter 1. Interpreted Landscape proposes hypotheses for the reconstruction of the urban land- scapes of three key periods in Athens during the mid-Imperial era: the Hadrianic age, the Antonine age (post-Hadrian), and the period between the Severan dynasty and the time of Gallienus. Each chapter con- tains sections that critically analyse the findings discussed in Part II. Chapter 2. Narrated Landscape provides a concise final narrative on the transformation of Athens’ urban landscapes. The text is accompanied by a section that gathers images, maps, plans, sections and reconstructions, all created using the available data.