Greek Material Culture

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Macedonian vaulted tombs  

Olga Palagia

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
15 September 2022
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture

Macedonian vaulted tombs are underground chamber tombs usually covered by an artifical mound and accessible through a corridor. They are built of ashlar masonry and were provided with stone or wooden furniture and luxurious burial goods. They often served for family burials and there is some evidence that their façades remained visible. Their inception and origin are controversial; their dates range from approximately the 330s to the mid-2nd century bce.

Underground built chamber tombs covered with a barrel vault first appeared in Macedonia at some point in the 330s bce or after; they ceased to be erected after the Roman conquest of Macedonia in 168bce, though there are at least two Roman imitations built in Macedonia in the 1st century CE.1 They are characterized by their barrel vault (Figure 1a), artificial mound (tumulus), façade and dromos (built corridor leading to the entrance) and are called Macedonian tombs to distinguish them from cist tombs which are also underground chambers but have flat roofs and are accessible from above.

Article

Eteocretans  

Anthony James Whitley

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
15 August 2022
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture
Eteocretan refers both to a people (the Eteocretans) and to a language (Eteocretan). The Eteocretans (etymologically the “true Cretans”) are one of the five peoples of Crete mentioned in the Odyssey (Hom. Od. 19.175–177) whom Diodorus (5.64.1) calls autochthonous. Other sources (implicitly, Hdt 7.169–171; explicitly, Strabo 10.4.6 = Staphylus of Naukratis, FrGrHist 269 F12) locate these people in eastern Crete around Praisos; their curious customs form a minor trope of the Graeco-Roman antiquarian tradition (POxy. 1241, col. 5, 22–30; Ath. 9.375f–376a = Agothocles of Cyzicus, FrGrHist 472 F1) long after Praisos’s destruction around 140 bce. From 1884 onward, public inscriptions (IC 3.6.1–4) dating from the 6th to 4th centuries bce and written in Greek letters but not in the Greek language were found near the principal sanctuary (Altar Hill) of Praisos.1 Some scholars have detected material expressions of an Eteocretan ethnic identity in the distinctive style of Geometric and Orientalizing East Cretan painted pottery,2 in East Cretan mortuary practices,3 in the iconography of votive terracottas,4 and in the retention of the Eteocretan language for public inscriptions,5 though most acknowledge that there is no automatic connection between group identity and its expression in material culture.

Article

Praisos  

Anthony James Whitley

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
18 July 2022
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture
Praisos (also spelled Πράσος in Strabo; sometimes Latinized as Praesus) is an ancient city in eastern Crete, one of forty-nine political communities (poleis or citizen-states) on that island.1 It is an inland site extending for about 28 ha over three hills (see Figure 1). The city and its territory were known to Herodotus (7.170–171), Theophrastus (Hist. pl. 3.3.4), Pseudo-Skylax (Periplous 47), Staphylus of Naucratis (FGrH 269 F 12), and Strabo (10.4.6), the last of whom located the sanctuary of Dictaean Zeus (now known to be at Palaikastro) within its territory (10.4.12).2 In Hellenistic times this territory extended from the northern to the southern coast of Crete; dependent communities included the Stalitai and Sitiatai (IC 3.6.7) in the 3rd century bce and the previously autonomous community of Dragmos by the early 2nd century bce (IC 3.4.9, line 58). Several inscriptions in Greek letters (but not in the Greek language) from Archaic through Hellenistic times have confirmed that this city was home to the Eteocretans (“True Cretans”), one of the five peoples of Crete mentioned in the Odyssey (19.

Article

Ilion  

Charles Brian Rose

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
24 February 2022
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture: Bronze Age
  2. Greek Material Culture
The name of Ilion is generally applied to the site of Troy to designate the settlement in existence there following the end of the Bronze Age. After the destruction of Troy (VIIb2) in the mid-11th century bce, probably by an earthquake, a few of the buildings were repaired but the town was not systematically rebuilt as in earlier periods. Some of the Protogeometric pottery uncovered at the site is paralleled in mainland Greece, especially in and around Euboea, Phocis, and Macedonia, so Ilion was clearly still part of an Aegean trade network at this time.1The fortunes of the city began to rise again during the late 9th and early 8th centuries bce, when there was new construction in the West Sanctuary, a complex on the southwest side of the citadel mound. One of the ruined Late Bronze Age structures in the sanctuary was rebuilt with benches inside and out, as well as a stone base that may have supported a cult image (Figures 1 and 2).

Article

Eleutherna  

Antonis Kotsonas

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 April 2021
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture
Eleutherna is an ancient city on the Aegean island of Crete. It is located 25 km (15.5 miles) south-east of the modern city of Rethymno and is adjacent to the villages of Eleutherna and Ancient Eleutherna. The ancient site is centred on a narrow, long hill located between the north-western foot of Mount Ida and the north coast of Crete. The hill rises to 340 m (1,115 feet) above sea level, extends in a north to south direction, is flanked by two streams, and overlooks lowland areas extending northwards to the Aegean Sea.The name Eleutherna derives from the name of one of the Cretan daemons called Kouretes (Steph. Byz., s.v. Ἂωρος, Ἐλευθεραί, Ἐλεύθερνα). According to Stephanus of Byzantium, Aoros and Saoros were earlier names of the city, while Apollonia was a later one (Steph. Byz., s.v. Ἂωρος, Ἀπολλωνία κγ´, Ἐλευθεραί).Greek mythology considered Eleutherna as the home of Linus, son of .

Article

Lyktos  

Antonis Kotsonas

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 April 2021
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Material Culture
Lyktos (or Lyttos, from the Classical period on) is an ancient city on the island of Crete. It is located on the central part of the island, a short distance to the east of the modern town of Kastelli Pediadas and close to the village of Xydas (also spelled Xidas). The ancient site occupies a double acropolis which is part of the northwest foothills of the Lasithi mountains, and is crowned by two modern chapels. The acropolis of Lyktos rises to an elevation of over 600 m (2,000 ft) and overlooks the fertile plain of Pediada. The name Lyktos may refer to the highland location of the site (Steph. Byz., s.v. Λύκτος).The history and culture of Lyktos is amply documented in ancient literature and epigraphy (I.Cret. I xviii), to a degree which is unusual for any Cretan city. Indeed, Lyktos has produced the second largest epigraphic record from anywhere on Crete (after .

Article

Bouleuterion  

Malcolm Bell, III

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
27 August 2020
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture
The bouleuterion housed the boule or council of a Greek polis in the form of a roofed meeting space. Most, if not all, cities had one; the remains of more than fifty buildings are extant. Although there were also bouleuteria in large sanctuaries and federal capitals, the major examples are urban. Bouleuteria were almost always located near a city’s agora. Over time their architects designed increasingly unobstructed interior spaces.Construction of dedicated bouleuteria began in the late archaic period; earlier councils may have met in porticoes or other buildings. Councils were generally composed of 100–500 bouletai and required a capacious meeting place; the bouleuterion became one of a city’s largest secular buildings. In the 5th and 4th centuries bce, the usual form was a hypostyle hall with symmetrically spaced interior columns, level floors, and seating on benches, as at Argos and Athens. Sloping stone seating was introduced early in the Hellenistic era and became standard; both rectilinear and curvilinear versions are known, the latter much more common. Secondary meeting spaces for committees of prytaneis or probouloi were sometimes adjacent.

Article

polychromy, architectural, Greek and Roman  

Stephan Zink

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 March 2019
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture
  2. Science, Technology, and Medicine
  3. Roman Material Culture
The polychromy of Greek and Etrusco-Roman architecture comprises the chromatic effects and surface treatments of exterior façades and roofs, as well as interior floors, walls, and ceilings. Colour and/or contrasts of light and shadow are the basis for all architectural ornamentation. The practice is characterized by a large variety of materials and techniques, which draw from different genres of the visual arts such as stone, plaster and stucco working, toreutics, tessellation, sculpture, panel painting, terracotta, and glass making. The treatment of architectural surfaces is thus intimately connected to changes in both construction knowledge and building economies, while their visual effects depend on changing architectural forms and designs. Both texts and archaeological remains underline the importance of colour and material as an integral part of ancient architectural design; they play a key role for the sensory and atmospheric experience of architecture and could influence its symbolic meaning.Despite strong regional traditions and a general lack of standardization, a few overall developments can be pinpointed: a triple colour scheme of dark (black, blue), light (white, cream), and red hues dominated both Archaic Greek and Etrusco-Italic architectural polychromy; its chromatic polarity became fundamental for the Greek Doric order and, as a basic combination, it remained a recurring motif of architectural surfaces into the Roman Imperial periods. During the Greek Classical period, green, yellow, and increasingly, gilding joined the basic colour palette. Late Classical/Hellenistic innovations included illusionistic painting techniques, intermediality (the imitation of one material by means of another), as well as the increase of light and shadow effects. While variation (Greek poikilia) of both colours and materials was a guiding principle, it seems that there were also occasional reductions of polychrome accentuations on exteriors.

Article

polychromy, sculptural, Greek and Roman  

Jan Stubbe Østergaard

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
26 February 2018
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture: Bronze Age
  2. Greek Material Culture
  3. Roman Material Culture

The term “polychromy” has been in use since the early 19th century to denote the presence of any element of colour in Greek and Roman sculpture. The evidence for such polychromy is literary, epigraphical, archaeological, and archeometric; research on the subject therefore requires collaboration between the humanities, conservation science, and natural science. Such research should go hand in hand with the investigation of the polychromy of Greek and Roman architecture, since it is symbiotically related to sculpture, technically as well as visually.

Knowledge of Greek and Roman sculptural polychromy is still very uneven. Scholars have focused on stone sculpture, and most research has been directed towards the Archaic, Early Classical, Hellenistic, and Imperial Roman periods. For terracottas, the Hellenistic period has enjoyed the most research, while investigation of the polychromy of bronze sculpture has only recently begun.

The scientific research methodology applied concerns the materials and techniques employed. The main colouring agents are paints, metals, and coloured marbles. Pigments are based on inorganic and organic materials applied with proteins, wax, or plant gums as binding media. Metals used are bronze, copper, silver, and gold. A range of coloured marbles came into use in the Roman Imperial period, but in all periods, assorted materials such as semi-precious stones and metals were used for inlaid details and attached objects like jewelry and weapons.

Article

Antikythera Mechanism  

Alexander Jones

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
27 July 2017
Subjects:
  1. Greek Material Culture
  2. Science, Technology, and Medicine

The Antikythera Mechanism (National Archaeological Museum, Athens, inv. X 15087) was a Hellenistic gearwork device for displaying astronomical and chronological functions. Substantial but highly corroded remains of the instrument were recovered from an ancient shipwreck (see Figure 1).

The most complex scientific instrument to have survived from antiquity, it resembled the sphaerae or planetaria described by Cicero (1) and other Greco-Roman authors. The date of its construction is in dispute but must have been earlier than the middle of the 1st centurybce and can scarcely have been before the end of the 3rd centurybce. It is an invaluable witness for ancient mechanical technology at its most advanced level (see mechanics) as well as for Hellenistic astronomy.