Volume 97, 2022

Pages 1-22.

This paper proposes to model historically coherent microregions in which long-term dynamics of spatial organization can be studied. Using published datasets from a 520 km2 catchment area in south-central Crete (Greece), settlement evolution is traced by evolutionary trajectories whose variability is then analyzed with State Sequence Analysis. Around diachronically major settlements from Early Iron Age to the Hellenistic period, microregions are modeled using Site Catchment Analysis based on a modeled road network. This enables us to observe the development of small rural city-states, and to date the start of their formation process to the 9th century BC.

Pages 23-50.

In the age of the Mycenaean palaces (LH IIIA-B, ca. 1420/10-1200/1190 BC) thousands of relief beads of gold sheet, glass and faience were made for personal adornment, both on the Greek mainland and on Crete. On the mainland this industry already started during LH IIB (1480/70-1420/10 BC). Earlier relief beads were recovered in fairly small numbers on the mainland and on Crete. This paper presents an overview of these and shows what they look like. It is made clear that their production already started on Crete in the Middle Minoan period (MM I-II, ca. 2100/2050-1750/1700 BC). It is also shown that these earlier beads can be interpreted as precursors of later examples (from LH IIB and LM IIIA onwards). The latter were nearly all produced with the help of moulds, but more than one quarter of the early Minoan specimens were cut from different, mostly precious stones.

Pages 51-64.

The Aristokles stele is a 4th-c. BC marble funerary marker from Attica, depicting an Athenian rider returning from the hunt. Its unique figural scene and accompanying epigram noticeably diverge from contemporary commemorative trends. Whereas on many Attic stelae, figures express sorrow in a subdued way, this monument focuses on Aristokles’ enjoyment of life. This move from traditional representations of emotion holds particular significance to our understanding of the tombstone and its context. In this article, it is argued that the emphasis on the deceased’s feelings is best understood as a conscious attempt to arouse the viewer’s sympathy towards Aristokles and his family, in a context where the Athenians viewed the cavalry with suspicion.

Pages 65-76.

The focus of the investigation are two little-known and only partially preserved bronze statuettes from Egypt, which apparently represent young men in ordinary working clothes. With the help of new photographs with detailed side and rear views, the author succeeds in reinterpreting a statuette of a young man that was recently found in a private collection in the United States. Although the figure had already been correctly assigned to a bronze workshop in Roman Egypt in the auction catalogue of the Julien Gréau collection, which was published in 1885, this attribution seemed to have been forgotten recently. Even if there are no comparable examples among the preserved bronzes, a number of iconographically related terracottas can be cited, which speak for a origin from Hellenistic-Roman Egypt and an identification of the depicted as a servant in the cult of Harpocrates. The second part of the article is about a statuette torso, which was probably acquired in Lower Egypt and has long been on permanent loan from the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in the Antikensammlung of the University of Kiel, which can be reconstructed as a figure of a standing African slave wearing the exomis.

Pages 77-91.

The main sanctuary of Commagene is situated on Mt. Nemrud in eastern Turkey. Here, the coronation memorial of Antiochus is presented. Two identical ensembles of five colossal statues were erected at the East and West terraces during the first century BCE. The statues are named after five deities corresponding with the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Mars and Jupiter. The ensemble represents a frozen picture of the sky as seen from Mt. Nemrud on the 29th January 91 BCE at dawn around 06:58 local time. The time is determined by an annual phenomenon of Regulus, the royal star of Commagene as explained in the article. The colossi represent the largest known horoscope in the world and commemorate the coronation day of Antiochus I. Next to the statues, an ensemble of five reliefs was erected on the West and East terraces i.e., four dexioseis and the Lion Horoscope. The Lion relief is the oldest picture of a horoscope in the world. The importance of Regulus is emphasized by its central location at the heart of the lion. The sculpture is a frozen picture of the sky as seen from Mt. Nemrud on the 14th July of 109 BCE at dusk around 19:38 local time. Also here, the time is determined by Regulus. The ensemble of dexioseis and Lion relief is the coronation memorial of Mithridates I and likely commemorates the symbolic birthday of his son, Antiochus. The research presented in this article, allows for a reconstruction of the Commagenian calendar. Moreover, it is hypothesized that historical chronology can benefit from an unknown tool i.e., the use of the four annual phenomena of the agricultural marker star to determine absolute dates.

Pages 93-112.

This paper deals with a particular kind of ludic objects, the so-called fritilli (or dice-shakers). Usually, peculiar types of small pot of pyriform or cylindrical shape are considered fritilli in Pompeii, but the question can be faced in a different way. The work carried out in the storageroom of Pompeii has permitted to identify several gaming sets in which the presence of fritilli can be attested. The data here presented can offer new insights to the question, shifting from a morphological approach to a contextual one, as suggested by the last perspectives of research. This paper underlines, once again, the complexity of the Pompeian material culture and allow us to throw new lights on the ludic habits of the ancient inhabitants.

Pages 113-132.

As an area that was fundamentally transformed twice within two decades, the Colosseum Valley provides a well-suited case study for understanding the complexity of imperial ideology and architecture in first century CE Rome. Imperial architecture was a crucial element in expressing issues of power and legitimacy, but studying them on their own is not enough. This article studies the interrelatedness and interdependence of monumental architecture, ideology, imperial power and urban experience in the Colosseum Valley during the Flavian period by taking a sensory approach, arguing that contemporaries’ experiences are equally as important for ideological communication as the buildings themselves.

Pages 133-152.

The present paper focuses on hydraulic engineering, fresh water and wastewater management in the civil town of Carnuntum (Pannonia). The state of research based on excavations is summarised and discussed alongside with recent geophysical prospection data. Anomalies, which can be observed in the data, may be interpreted as buildings for the provision of fresh water and the management of wastewater. Further anomalies may indicate bath complexes (thermae) and a fuller´s workshop (fullonica). The hydraulic infrastructure of Carnuntum is compared to other towns in the Northern Provinces and in Italy.

Pages 153-168.

While numerous studies have emphasised the extent to which the reuse of older sculptures within public and private spaces was a frequent habit in Late Antiquity, the immediate spatial environments in which they were exhibited have rarely been considered. This paper examines the fourth-century décor of the Domus della Fortuna Annonaria in Ostia, where miscellaneous architectural and epigraphic fragments from earlier buildings and monuments were visibly displayed next to these sculptures. Reading late antique sculpture collections in their broader display contexts also allows us to consider the aesthetic changes that influenced these late antique sculpture assemblages. In the second part of the paper, comparison with fourth-century poetry, in which similar poses combining literary fragments from the classical past can be observed, provides a new perspective on the aesthetic norms that prompted the syncretistic reuse of physical fragments from different monuments and periods within late antique domestic spaces.

Pages 169-194.

Wilhelm Dörpfeld (1853-1940) was during his lifetime, and is still today, considered one of the greatest classical archaeologists of all time. His contribution to the present understanding of the Acropolis of Athens consists mainly of three theories on architecture and objects attacked by the Persians in 480 BCE: the Archaios Neos, the Older Parthenon, and the Perserschutt. Despite some controversy, these theories have over the years become paradigmatic. The present article aims to explain the general acceptance of the paradigm of Persian destruction and seeks reasons in Dörpfeld’s prevailing esteem as a meticulous scientist and in the philhellenic narrative of Greek rebirth which the paradigm rendered tangible.

Pages 195-218.

In the last few years, a new project focused on the island of Capri has improved our knowledge about the archeological record of the area. The research has actually started from the archivistic record, discovering new papers about the excavation and the transportation of at least three different marble floors. Two of them are already known and still visible in their actual location, the last instead is a totally new find, hitherto not recognizable in any of the visible marble floors reused in the royal palaces of Naples. The new documents improve our knowledge of the location and time of the discoveries, and help us in proposing an hypothetical reconstruction of the lost floor.

Pages 219-224.

This review of Jacques Chamay’s publication on Pierre Sciclounoff Collection (1926-1997) is an opportunity to emphasize the importance of the context in Archaeology and, consequently, on the problems raised by the traceability of ancient artefacts in the art market.