Five tombs at Knossos

1963 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 30-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. N. Coldstream

On the east slope of Lower Gypsades hill, about 100 metres west of the Temple Tomb, a chamber tomb came to light in August 1958, when a cutting for a new water pipe was driven through the area (A in Plate 9 a). In the course of this operation, part of a plain larnax (iii) was sliced off, and much earth removed from the west end of the collapsed chamber: at no point, however, had the municipal workmen penetrated to the tomb floor.The chamber was approached by a sloping dromos (Plate 9 a: length 2·80 metres; max. width 1 metre), roughly cut into the natural kouskouras rock: its walls were approximately perpendicular. Although the gradient varied a good deal, there was no suggestion of a stairway.The blocking wall was found in good condition. Of especial interest were the numerous fragments of larnakes that had been built into its fabric: some of them could be recognized as belonging to each of the three fragmentary larnakes (i, ii, v) whose scattered pieces were found below and around the two undisturbed burials in the chamber (iii, iv). We may thus distinguish two periods in the history of the tomb: larnakes i, ii, and v were evidently smashed up in order to make room for iv and iii, which must have been deposited in that order. The debris of v was found under iv, with a few adult bones in its wreckage. Part of i lay on the floor near the south-west corner, where two plain vases (2, 3) were found in situ, hence, also, came most of the fragments of the fine L.M. IIIA 2 stirrup vase (1), although its other pieces were scattered all over the floor of the tomb. This small group of offerings may belong to the disturbed adult skeleton, whose skull lay up against the lower edge of iii. Curiously, some fragments of i and ii were also found above the broken lid of iv (Plate 9 b): perhaps the lid of the later larnax was accidentally smashed at the time of the funeral, in which case the debris from earlier burials could have been piled up above it, as a rough and ready means of protection.

Author(s):  
Peter Davenport

The frustrated cry of the young Barry Cunliffe has an odd echo in these days of preservation in situ. Sitting in the Roman Baths on his first visit as a schoolboy in 1955, he was astonished at how much was unknown about the Baths, despite their international reputation: large areas ‘surrounded by big question marks . . . all around . . . the word ‘‘unexcavated’’ ’ (Cunliffe 1984: xiii; figure 1). His later understanding of the realities and constraints of excavation only sharpened his desire to know more. Now, fifty years on and more, due in large part to that drive to know, his curiosity, we can claim to have made as much progress in our understanding of the baths and the city around them as had occurred in all the years before his visit, a history of archaeological enquiry stretching back over 400 years. In 1955 the baths were much as they had been discovered in the 1880s and 1890s. They were not well understood. The town, or city, or whatever surrounded it, were almost completely unknown, or at best, misunderstood. It was still possible in that year to argue that the temple of Sulis Minerva was on the north of the King’s Bath, not, as records of earlier discoveries made clear, on the west (Richmond and Toynbee 1955). Yet as the young Cunliffe sat and mused, the archaeological world was beginning to take note and a modern excavation campaign was beginning; indeed had begun: Professor Ian Richmond, in a short eight years to become a colleague, had started ‘his patient and elegant exploration of the East Baths’ the summer before (Cunliffe 1969: v). Richmond initiated a small number of very limited investigations into the East Baths, elucidating a tangle of remains that, while clearly the result of a succession of alterations and archaeological phases, had never been adequately analysed. Richmond’s main aim was to understand the developmental history of the baths, and this approach, combined with a thoughtful and thorough study of the rest of the remains, led to a still broadly accepted phasing and functional analysis (Cunliffe 1969).


1957 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. R. H. Wright

Basic Structure: A broad flight of twenty-one steps leads up from the south-west angle of the Temple of Apollo to a partially paved court immediately in front of the lower face of the scarp. This is given a quadrilateral delimitation by the angular revetment of an irregularity in the scarp to the west, and by the monumental water tank to the east of the entrance to the grotto. The entrance was hewn in the cliff face in the form of three arches (now much destroyed), and was revetted with large well-draughted limestone blocks. Of these, only the lower two courses are now in situ, but individual blocks of the upper courses have been collected and amongst them are those with crowning mouldings and one bearing the fragment of a Greek inscription (height:of letters, 25 cm. approximately).The interior of the grotto consists basically of a central oblong depression, paved and cemented, surrounded on the two sides and the back by a raised staging—thus giving rise to the term of reference ‘TRICLINIUM’—while between the staging and the walls are the tanks and channels: associated with the water supply and drainage.Considered longitudinally, the interior may be divided into three entities. The first extends from the entrance to a pair of rock-hewn columns bearing rude inscriptions. Immediately above this compartment lay the terrace of an ancient rock-cut path and its collapse has breached the path and totally unroofed this section of the grotto.


2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-226
Author(s):  
Agni Sesaria Mochtar

Borobudur temple has been famously known as one of the Indonesian heritage masterpiece. Various aspects of it had been studied thoroughly since the beginning of 20th century A.D. Those studies tended to be monumental centric, giving less attention to the cultural context of the temple and its surroundings. Settlement in the nearby places is one of the topics which not have been studied much yet; leaving a big question about how the settlement supported continuity of many activities in the temple, or even the other way around; how the temple affected the settlement. There is only a few data about old settlement found in situ in Borobudur site, only abundance of pottery sherds. The analysis applied on to the potteries find during the 2012 excavation had given some information about the old settlement in Borobodur site. The old settlement predicted as resided in the south west area, in the back side of the monument.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margot Patry ◽  
Iwona Klonowska ◽  
Karolina Kośmińska ◽  
Jarosław Majka

<p>The Isbjørnhamna Group, which crops out in the south-west of Svalbard in the High Arctic, is crucial for understanding Svalbard’s regional geology. It can be traced in southern Wedel Jarlsberg Land and Sørkapp Land, and it consists of a Barrovian-type series of metapelites that were metamorphosed during the Torellian (c. 640Ma; Majka et al. 2008) and overprinted during the Caledonian orogenesis (Majka & Kośmińska, 2017). Although relatively recent petrological study exists, there are certain gaps in it. In order to fill these gaps, we decided to re-investigate these rocks using the most up-to-date petrochronological approach. Hence, we aim to determine the metamorphic history of these rocks in detail, test the hypothesis if there are indeed several orogenic events registered by these rocks and what was a possible exhumation mechanism responsible for uplift of this sequence.</p><p>The studied garnet-bearing mica schists preserve four different parageneses, ranging from chloritoid to kyanite metamorphic zones. Here we report on the samples containing chlorite and chloritoid, kyanite, staurolite and both staurolite and kyanite. The studied samples are the same exact rocks that have been previously studied by Majka et al. (2008, 2010) using both geothermobarometry and petrogenetic grids in the KFMASH system. According to those authors the estimated pressure-temperature conditions (P-T) were c. 655°C at 11kbar for the kyanite-bearing shist, c. 624°C at 6.6 to 8.7kbar for the staurolite + kyanite pelite and c. 580°C at 8-9kbar for the staurolite-bearing rock. The chloritoid schist has not been studied previously.</p><p>Our preliminary phase equilibrium modelling in the MnNCKFMASHTO system using the Theriak-Domino software indicates P-T conditions of c. 660°C at 7 kbar for the kyanite-schist and c. 575°C at 8 to 9.5kbar for the staurolite-schist, respectively. The chloritoid schist yielded conditions of c. 560°C at 7.5kbar. Further P-T modelling coupled with in-situ Ar-Ar and U-Pb geochronology should allow for much better understanding of the complex geological history of these rocks as well as potential flaws in the previous studies.</p><p> </p><p>Research funded by National Science Centre (Poland) project no. 2019/33/B/ST10/01728.</p><p> </p><p>References:</p><p>Majka & Kośmińska (2017): Arktos, 3:5, 1.17.</p><p>Majka et al. (2008): Geological Magazine, 145, 822-830.</p><p>Majka et al. (2010): Polar Research, 29, 250-264.        </p>


1905 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 153-172
Author(s):  
Ronald M. Burrows
Keyword(s):  
The West ◽  

While searching the seacoast district north-east of Tanagra for traces of the Temple of Apollo at Delium, I came across what may prove to be an important inscription. On a low hill two or three miles North East of Tanagra and about as far West South West of Dilisi, the orthodox site for Delium, stands the small chapel of Hagios Demetrios. A dedication on the west side, by the doorway, states that it was built in 1903 by Georgios Papametrou of Liatani, a village close to the ancient Tanagra. This, however, was only the rebuilding of an ancient Byzantine chapel that had fallen into decay; and the engraved blocks that can now be seen built into the walls were found at the time in the ruins on the spot.


1981 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 49-53
Author(s):  
Joyce Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
The West ◽  
The Road ◽  

I give below the texts of two new military inscriptions from Cyrenaica with one published earlier and now reread. They are of some interest both for the history of the Roman army and for the history of the province.1. Limestone stele (width 0.61 m × height 1.35 m × depth 0.27 m) inscribed on one face which is very worn on the lefthand side, where it has been exposed to the weather. Found in 1970 by Mr. Abdussalem Bazama, half-buried on the east bank of the Wadi Kambish just west of the city of Ptolemais, beside the road which leads from the city through the surviving gate in the west wall. Left in situ.Letters, probably Augustan/Julio/Claudian: 1. 1, 0.07; 11.2, 3, c. 0.05; 1. 4, 0.075. A gable is outlined in relief above the text.C(aio) Sempronio C(aii) f(ilio)Longo duplicar(io)c(o)hortis Hispanor(um)vacatvac. Venusta lib(erta) vac.2. Limestone stele (width 0.45 m × height 1.07 m × depth 0.35 m) inscribed on one face. Photographed at Cyrene in 1929, but without record of the fmdspot; now in Cyrene Museum.Letters, probably Augustan/Julio/Claudian, 0.05.M(arcus) Aemiliu[s]M(arci) f(ilius) MacerTuranicu[s]ỊẠṚỊ me(n)s(or) c(o)h[o]-rtis Hispan-orum an(n)o-[r]um XXXX aer-a XIIX frạ[ter]vac. hie [posuit]1.4 the first four letters are enigmatic (for suggestions on their meaning see p. 00); 1.5 it is just possible that the figure I stands between cohortis and Hispanorum, but 1 think it unlikely.


2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 545-570
Author(s):  
John Witte

Over the past three decades, a veritable cottage industry of important new scholarship has emerged dedicated to the history of rights talk in the Western tradition prior to the Enlightenment.1 We now know a great deal more about classical Roman understandings of rights (iura), liberties (libertates), capacities (facultates), powers (potestates), and related concepts, and their elaboration by medieval and early modern civilians. We can now pore over an intricate latticework of arguments about individual and group rights and liberties developed by medieval Catholic canonists and moralists, and the ample expansion of this medieval handiwork by neo-scholastic writers in early modern Spain and Portugal. We now know a good deal more about classical republican theories of liberty developed in Greece and Rome, and their transformative influence on early modern common lawyers and political revolutionaries on both sides of the Atlantic. We now know, in brief, that the West knew ample “liberty before liberalism,” and had many fundamental rights in place before there were modern democratic revolutions fought in their name.


Author(s):  
Chrysanthos Kanellopoulos ◽  
Elena Partida

The Temple of Zeus Basileus at Lebadea rests almost unknown. Its physical remains and date (not systematically explored so far) pose a riddle, as regards not only the circumstances which entailed its presumed incompletion but also the historic context in which the commencement of construction can be embedded. The dimensions of the krepis alone render this edifice highly interesting in the history of temple-building. The in situ preserved architectural elements suggest that here was begun the erection of what was at the time the largest peristasis in Mainland Greece. The temple stylobate measures 200 feet/podes in length, with a lower column diameter equal to just over two metres, and the longest interaxial spacings and corresponding architraves of its time. By increasing the length and height of the structure, the architects achieved its qualification as colossal. This qualification is revealed from the uniquefor-the-Classical-period length of 14 columns along the peristasis, with visible euthynteria and hypeuthynteria courses. As shown in this paper, this colossal structure abided by the rules of Doric design. Ascribing the unfinished state of the temple probably to financial shortcoming and/or military adventures, Pausanias did comment on its ambitious, gigantic size. The level of construction eventually reached is another focal point of our investigation. The study of the Temple of Zeus Basileus brings out the multifaceted notion of the term “monumentality”, tightly related to visual impact. One of the aims of its commissioners would have been to establish a landmark on the summit where Zeus was probably co-worshipped with Trophonios, the Boeotian hero-prophet. Since the temple in question, as we propose, most probably commemorated both a grandiose military victory in the 3rd century BC and the contemporary political situation, its imposing volume, along with the aesthetic effect of bichromy, were meant to perpetuate the overtone of these events within the ambience of the sacred Lebadea. Another facet of monumentality involves the respective building programme, and it derives from epigraphical sources, namely a contract specifying construction details, with particular instructions already at the orthostate level, denoting that accuracy in execution safeguarded the high quality of ancient Greek architecture.


1999 ◽  
Vol 119 ◽  
pp. 86-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ione Mylonas Shear

The structures along the west side of the Athenian Akropolis have long delighted visitors approaching the site and have challenged scholars for generations. By happy coincidence a variety of different studies has recently been published which emphasized different aspects of the approaches to the citadel and once again remind us of the many problems still remaining to be solved.Ira S. Mark concentrated on the shrine of the Athena Nike. He dealt primarily with the Mycenaean bastion enclosed within the later ashlar masonry of the classical podium, the various early remains of the shrine, which lie roughly 1.30 m. below the floor level of the classical temple, and the historical background of the temple itself. He published a few of the many early drawings of the bastion made by Nikolaos Balanos and his associates and re-examined the early walls crowning the archaic bastion, which he divided into various stages. Although, in my opinion, his chronology needs adjustment, his division of the walls built along the edges of the basion into different phases helps us to understand in more detail the history of the site and is a welcome addition. One of these earlier walls, which had long been considered to be Mycenaean, was dated by Mark to a much later phase (Fig. 1, 15). He suggested that the wall was a post-Mycenaean addition built in this position to enclose the east side of the shrine. This wall lies parallel to the West Cyclopean Wall and had been thought to represent the eastern limit of the bastion. The fragmentary remains of this wall, which are no longer visible, were originally recorded by Panagiotis Kavvadias and Georg Kawerau and its existence has bedeviled all attempts to restore a Mycenaean gate in this area.


1913 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 73-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. R. Horwood

This district is bounded on the north by the Coalville and Ashby line, on the west and south by the county boundaries, on the east by the Shackerstone and Market Bosworth lines. In the north are exposures of Coal-measures, Permian breccias, and Bunter, which the Trias in turn rests upon unconformably. The Lower Keuper forms a long tract on the west not more than two miles in breadth, forming a good feature, the sandstones giving rise to scarps, whilst the Red Mail occupies the rest of the district to the east. On the south-west beds of sandstone form marked features, which also give rise to bold escarpments, whilst the Red Marl itself constitutes a uniform plateau with little or no variation in heights. There are few exposures in the marls, which on the extreme east are covered by a mantle of Boulder-clay and sands. The River Sence and the Sence Brook, however, cut down to the lower parts of the Red Marl, and a good deal of alluvium fills the valleys to the south. The altitude over most of this ground rises uniformly above 300 feet, and in some parts to over 400, rarely sinking below 250. A ridge of hills is formed by the Orton Sandstone striking north-west and south-east, and another ridge meets it at right angles from Market Bosworth.


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