Article
amphorae and amphora stamps, Greek
Mark L. Lawall
Article
Antissa
D. Graham J. Shipley
Antissa, small coastal *polis in NW *Lesbos; birthplace of the poet *Terpander. A bronze age site has been explored; the Classical town originated in the early geometric period. Three apsidal buildings (possibly temples), stretches of a probable city wall, and remains of a harbour mole have been identified. The Mytileneans strengthened the defences during their revolt of 428
Article
archaeology, underwater
A. J. Parker
Article
archives, Greek
Rosalind Thomas
Article
arms and armour, Greek
Matthew A. Sears
Evidence for Greek arms and armour is found throughout literature and art, and from archaeological excavation and historical reenactment. Mycenaean and Homeric warriors fought with spears and swords, protecting themselves with figure-eight shields and sometimes body armour. Hoplites wielded large round shields with double grips and attacked their enemies with thrusting spears backed up by swords. This basic kit could be supplemented by helmets, breastplates (including linen options as well as bronze), and greaves. Light-armed troops, with virtually no armour, attacking with arrows, slings, and stones were always a part of armies, and peltasts throwing javelins became increasingly popular. The Macedonians modified the phalanx by giving it longer spears and smaller shields, and coordinated this infantry in a combined arms force with cavalry of various types, particularly heavy cavalry with lances, and light-armed troops. Arms and armour were often key to a soldier’s identity and could feature in competitive display.
Article
Athens, topography
John McKesson Camp II
Article
Buthrotum
David R. Hernandez
Article
dead, disposal of
Ian Morris
Article
fortifications, Greek
Ian Archibald Richmond, Eric William Marsden, and Richard Allan Tomlinson
Article
gems
Frederick Norman Pryce, David Edward Eichholz, and Michael Vickers
Article
Greco-Roman architecture, reception of
Elizabeth R. Macaulay
Since antiquity Greek and Roman architecture has been subject to diverse and complex receptions. Architectural forms have experienced different and wide-scale transformations across space and time, both in antiquity and in postantique contexts. These adapted forms have emerged because of the complex interactions between building traditions and contemporary needs.
At a fundamental level, architecture must be functional. It must work for the purpose for which it was designed, be it a temple, law court, or residence. Vitruvius endorses this view in De Architectura (I.2.5), the only surviving architectural treatise from Greco-Roman antiquity. At the same time, architecture has a unique ability to concretise ideas. Not only were there political, religious, economic, social, and ideological concepts associated with specific types of ancient buildings, but the architectural forms of the classical world have had a powerful range of resonances that postantique architects, patrons, and regimes have been only too keen to exploit. Classical architectural forms come with a lot of baggage.
Article
horse- and chariot-races
Sinclair W. Bell, Jean-Paul Thuillier, and Carolyn Willekes
Article
Ilion
Charles Brian Rose
Article
Knossos
Anthony James Whitley
Article
land division, Greek
Robin Osborne
Article
metallurgy, Greek
Sandra Blakely
The story of metallurgy in ancient Greece spans five millennia and a geographic range reaching from the Greek colonies in the west to Anatolia and the Levant. An interdisciplinary effort, its study engages archaeological fieldwork, historical texts, and scientific analyses, and has moved from social evolutionary models through Marxist, processual, and post-processual frameworks. Metallurgical innovation and invention are productive loci for the investigation of historical change and emerging complexity. Three case studies—the transition from native ores to smelting, the emergence of bronze, and the spread of iron technology—foreground the entanglement of metallurgy with ecological strategies, maritime and overland mobility, the status of the crafter, and elite and non-elite control of production. Deterministic paradigms and models based on revolutionary innovations are yielding to more nuanced frameworks of gradual change, tempered by insights from ethnoarchaeology and from new excavations which shed fresh light on the cultural meanings of metallurgy among both metalworkers and patrons.
Article
pastoralism, Greek
Stephen Hodkinson
Article
polychromy, sculptural, Greek and Roman
Jan Stubbe Østergaard
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.