Late Roman Athens Research Papers (original) (raw)

This contribution concerns amphorae found in the closed deposit of a domestic well (late 2nd to early 5th centuries AD) of a Roman house, unearthed during the excavation for the New Acropolis Museum in Athens. The pottery of the well is divided into three groups according to the periods of use, and the amphorae are classified according to their provenance and typology. A quantification based on diagnostic RBH fragments, complete and restored amphorae is also presented.

- by Angeliki Kouveli
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- Roman Amphorae, Late Roman Athens

This paper attempts to trace the activity and influence of the Neoplatonic philosopher Damascius and his disciples who after the closing of the Academy of Athens by Justinian I (529 AD) decided to move their intellectual establishment in Sassanind Persia (532), away from imperial oppression. There they managed to convince Khosrau I to include their case in a clause of the Eternal Peace of 532 with Justinian, guaranteeing their safety and freedom of traveling and preserving their beliefs undisturbed in Roman territory. The Philosophers settled in Harran in Northern Mesopotamia, a border-point between the two Empires, and re-established their School there. The Graeco-Aramaic background of some of Damascius’ disciples in combination with the bilingual environment (Greek and Persian) of the city encouraged the cultural osmosis and the translation of Greek texts to Syriac and later to Arabic. This well-established tradition was continued by local Syrian and Arab successors until approximately the ninth century and was responsible to an extent for the transmission of Neoplatonic Philosophy in Baghdad of the Abbasids. Standing at the crossroad of Empires and Cultures the legacy of the School of Harran and of the last Neo-Platonists of Athens proved to be fundamental for the intellectual flourishing of the Arab World and its famous Golden Age.

- by Ioannis Papadopoulos
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- History, Philosophy, Late Antique and Byzantine Studies, Plato
- by Milena Raimondi
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- Local History, Fragmentary Greek Historiography, Roman Athens, Late Roman Athens

Portraits of a group of thirty kosmētai, public philosophy teachers in Athens, were found among the fill in the Valerian Wall by the Roman Agora in Athens in 1861. From the Hellenistic period onwards, the kosmētai had taught the philosophy of Aristotle, though with time, the teaching became more varied. In the first century AD the number of students had a peak of three hundred a year. In the third century, when the portraits were buried in the Valerian Wall, the number of students had decreased, much as it had in other pedagogic institutions. The activity of the kosmētai ended about AD 280, when the Valerian Wall was built. The dating of the Valerian Wall is based on coins with the portrait of emperor Probus (AD 276-282), which have been found among the building debris. What we know about the kosmētai from the written sources leads to several questions, such as why the kosmētai portraits were used as building material at a time when the identity of the sitters could still be remembered. Why were some of the portraits recut into those of other individuals shortly before they were put into the wall? Some of the kosmētai portraits were produced, recut and discarded during the span of a few decades. This paper discusses the portraits of the kosmētai and their significance in Roman Athens, and explores questions related to the disposal of them, as well as to context, style, workshop and patronage.

- by Milena Raimondi
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- Emperor Julian, Late Roman Empire, Constantinople, Roman Greece

Late Antique Athens, like Roman Athens before it, remained a prosperous university city, renowned for its rhetorical and philosophical schools and its antiquities. Justinian I shut down the Athenian Neoplatonic school in 529, which was by that time only intended for uncompromising pagans. The city shrank a great deal in the seventh century, but it remained an important regional centre and a pilgrimage site.

Ποιές αλλαγές σηματοδότησε η εδραίωση της μονοκρατορίας του Κωνσταντίνου στον τρόπο που η πόλη και οι εκπρόσωποί της απευθύνονταν προς την κεντρική εξουσία επιδιώκοντας την εύνοιά της; Με ποιό τρόπο ανταποκρίθηκαν ο Κωνσταντίνος και οι άμεσοι διάδοχοί του στη μακρά παράδοση της ειδικής σχέσης μεταξύ των ρωμαίων αυτοκρατόρων και μιας πόλης με ιδιαίτερο συμβολικό βάρος; Τι σήμαινε για την Αθήνα και την παλαιά Ελλάδα η υιοθέτηση του χριστιανισμού ως θρησκείας του αυτοκράτορα καθώς και η ίδρυση της Νέας Ρώμης στην Ανατολή;

The image of Athens as one huge and faceless tourist venue should be replaced by a peopled, nuanced cityscape with much to see and to experience. Athens is worth savoring slowly by foot beyond the few days most visitors budget for it in their mad rush to get some other place in Greece. "Peripatoi: 12 Athenian Walks" is for those individuals who wish to spend more time discovering and unraveling the traces of the multiple layers of cultural developments and artistic achievements over six millennia still visible to the discerning eye in the seemingly chaotic, congested but vibrant central core and peripheral areas of the city. The myriad of archaeological sites and museums, art museums, public buildings, churches, religious structures, house and apartment buildings, monuments and statues, and districts described in these "Peripaptoi" document the palimpsests that constitute the modern Athenian cityscape. The twelve illustrated walks included in the guidebook are divided into pairs. Part 1 includes: Peripatos 1. "Athena's citadel" and Peripatos 2. "The slopes of the Akropolis and the Areios Pagos hill". The entries on these carefully crafted itineraries have succinct descriptions with ample information and frequent images. In addition, straight forward observations and insightful commentaries help to contextualize the points of interest in the broader picture. The routes with aid of maps and walking directions are easy to follow. This is the 3rd revised and enlarged edition of the well-reviewed 2nd edition, "Peripatoi: Athenian Walks", from 2004.

- by Jutta Stroszeck
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- 3rd Century AD, Roman Sculpture, Roman Athens, Ancient Athens
- by Konstantinos Tziampasis
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- Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Attica, Athens

Encounters with Ancient Elites. Leadership, Lifestyles, Legitimacy

- by Julian Gallego
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- Greek Literature, Greek History, Roman History, Archaic Poetry

Vortrag im Kolloquium der Klassischen Archäologie, 27. 01. 2016, 18:00, Raum 141,
Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Institut für Altertumswissenschaften, Fürstengraben 1, 07743 Jena

Η ανακοίνωση έχει ως σκοπό να παρουσιάσει πτυχές της ιστορίας της Αθήνας ως κομματιού της ρωμαϊκής επαρχίας της Αχαΐας και παράλληλα να εξετάσει την πρόσληψη της παλαιάς Ελλάδας σε κείμενα και μνημεία του ύστερου τρίτου και τέταρτου αιώνα μ.Χ. υπό το φως των γραπτών πηγών και του αρχαιολογικού υλικού. Θα αναζητήσω τις αλλαγές που συντελούνται στην ίδια την πόλη αλλά και την πρόσληψή της κατά την ύστερη ρωμαϊκή περίοδο ρίχνοντας παράλληλα φως στην ιστορία της ρωμαϊκής επαρχίας της Αχαΐας κατά την ίδια περίοδο. Κατά τη παρουσίασή μου θα δοθεί ιδιαίτερη έμφαση στη σχέση της πόλης της Αθήνας με τους αυτοκράτορες Κωνσταντίνο, Κωνστάντιο και Ιουλιανό και στις αλλαγές που φέρνει στην πρόσληψη της κλασικής Ελλάδας η θρησκευτική πολιτική του Κωνσταντίνου, η ίδρυση της Κωνσταντινούπολης και η δημιουργία των πρώτων χριστιανικών κοινοτήτων και κέντρων λατρείας στον ελλαδικό χώρο. Οι γνώσεις μας για την Ελλάδα κατά τον τέταρτο αιώνα είναι σχετικά περιορισμένες σε σχέση με ό,τι γνωρίζουμε για παράδειγμα για τον πέμπτο ή τον έκτο αιώνα. Αυτό οφείλεται κυρίως στην ένδεια αρχαιολογικών κυρίως δεδομένων, κάτι που τα τελευταία χρόνια φαίνεται να αλλάζει αναγκάζοντάς μας να επανεξετάσουμε τις σχετικά ευάριθμες αναφορές σε γραπτές πηγές (π.χ. Δέξιππος, Ευνάπιος, Ιουλιανός, Ιμέριος, Λιβάνιος, Συνέσιος κ.ά.) σε συνδυασμό με το επιγραφικό και αρχαιολογικό υλικό.

- by Fausto Longo
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- Archaeology, Classical Archaeology, Prehistoric Archaeology, Historical Archaeology