Tracing the Cycladic Settled Landscape in Late Antiquity and the Early Byzantine period (4th - 9th c. A.D.): the islands of Paros and Naxos (original) (raw)
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Archaeological Studies Leiden University 40. Leiden: Leiden University press, 2017
This 40th volume of the ASLU series is concerned with the study of the Cycladic settled landscape in Late Antiquity and the Byzantine Early Middle Ages. It offers a fresh approach to the history and archaeology of the Cyclades under the light of current archaeological investigations. It is an attempt to interpret human-environmental interaction in order to “read” the relationship between islands, settlements, landscapes and seascapes in the context of the diverse and highly interactive Mediterranean world. The methodology proposed is an interdisciplinary approach, which combines archaeological evidence, literary sources, and observations of the sites and micro-landscapes as a whole, with the advantages offered by the application of new technologies in archaeological research (Geographic Information Systems). The islands of Paros and Naxos are used as case-studies. It is a challenging task to trace how these neighbouring insular communities reacted under the same general circumstances pertaining in the Aegean and to what extent the landscape played a role in this process.
constantinoPolitan features in the middle Byzantine architecture of naXos * naxos, situated in the heart of the aegean sea, is the largest of the cyclades islands and holds a particular place in the study of Byzantine architecture, as it preserves over a hundred churches dating from the early christian to the late Byzantine times 1 . the survival of this impressive number of churches is connected with the absence of major human-caused or physical calamities in the history of the island, but also with the special importance of the island during all stages of its mediaeval past. after the mid 7th century, naxos suffers from arab raids, like all coastal regions of the aegean sea, but its mountainous -yet fertile -inland parts offer a safe shelter for the inhabitants 2 . archaeological evidence indicates an uninterrupted activity during the so-called dark ages, even though, according to the early 10th century testimony of cameniates, it appears that the island was paying tribute to the arabs of crete 3 . the re-conquest of crete in 961 and the restoration of peace in the aegean mark the beginning of the middle Byzantine era, a period of over two centuries of significant prosperity 4 . the founding of the diocese of Paronaxia in 1083 5 and of the theme of the "cycladic islands" around the mid 10th century 6 , whose capital was perhaps naxos 7 , are indications of this prosperity and also of the empire's attention to the island. its importance is also the reason for which, after the conquest of constantinople by the crusaders, marco sanudo founds in 1205 the duchy of naxos which controls most of the cyclades islands for over 300 years 8 . the middle Byzantine architecture of naxos has not been thoroughly studied. many buildings remain unpublished or have been published very briefly. there are significant problems of dating as well as issues of a complicated succession of building phases. however, it is possible to make some general remarks. regarding the evolution of architectural types, it seems that the general trends that prevail elsewhere can also be traced on naxos. from the 9th century onwards, the vaulted basilical type gives way to domed types, of which the cross-in-square gradually prevails, especially in its contracted variation which becomes the most preferable type in the 11th and 12th centuries 9 . regarding the architectural forms and decoration 10 , naxos remained largely attached to a local tradition which had developed throughout the so-called * i wish to thank the state hermitage museum for including this paper in the programme of the seminar and personally dr. denis Jolshin who encouraged me and the greek colleagues in taking a trip to st. Petersburg. the subject of this paper is part of a research on the island of naxos, carried out in the framework of the doctoral thesis which i am preparing at the university of Patras, under the supervision of dr. stavros mamaloukos.
Unlocking Sacred Landscapes: Spatial Analysis of Ritual and Cult in the Mediterranean, edited by G. Papantoniou, Ch. Morris and A.K. Vionis, 2019
The publication of this volume has been funded by the Irish Research Council, the A.G. Leventis Foundation and the Research and Innovation Foundation of Cyprus Cover image: A Minoan bronze worshipper figurine and a sacred landscapes skyline. The design represents the idea of Mediterranean sacred landscapes and their artefacts, thus capturing the scope and spirit of the UnSaLa research network (illustrations by J. Doole [figurine] and B. Cheimariou [landscape skyline])
Annual of the British School at Athens, 2006
The thirteenth-to-sixteenth-century ("Venetian") defended settlement of Kephalos on the island of Paros was surveyed by the Cyclades Research Project (CY.RE.P.). This article offers an archaeological case-study of the kastro by examining and interpreting its medieval material remains (defensive walls, chapels, cisterns, domestic structures and surface potsherds). Moreover, on the basis of combined information from written sources and comparable building projects in late medieval Italy and the Latin dominated Levant, more light can be shed on aspects of daily life in the Aegean. Archaeological evidence suggests that the first phase of Kephalos could be placed in the later thirteenth century but it was extended with the addition of an outer defensive wall in the late fourteenth century and was inhabited until the legendary besiege of the corsair Barbarossa in 1537. Domestic remains within the kastro suggest that the site must have been densely built, housing a large number of peasants in single-roomed two-storey houses. Architectural remains and ceramic finds on the highest point of the site testify to the existence of a strong Catholic/upper class element on the most prominent portion of the kastro, reserved for the Latin lords and their agricultural produce. Extensive survey (by CY.RE.P.) in the valley below Kephalos has shown that a number of contemporary satellite settlements existed and functioned around the kastro, suggesting an agriculturally intensified use of the rural landscape. Additionally, the study and interpretation of the surface ceramic finds offer a window to late medieval living standards and food preferences in the Aegean.
The Byzantine Fortress of Chlerinos (Florina) in NW Greece
10th International Symposium on the Conservation of Monuments in the Mediterranean Basin, 2018
The paper deals with the relatively unknown Byzantine fortress of Chlerinos (Chlerenon) situated at Florina, NW Greece. The aim of this study is to bring to the fore, document, promote and contextualise the history of this significant area in convergence with the rich archaeological heritage of the wider area of Florina. Furthermore, the present research aims at giving the perspective for a future archaeological research and at the same time at setting the basis for the creation of both an archaeological and natural park which covers specific parameters. As such, the study is based on three distinctive axes: the historical and archaeological data of the hill understood as testimony of the past, a mid-scale survey which takes place for the first time and locates the limited architectural remains, the design of a primary master plan focusing on focusing on the survey findings and the future archaeological research points.