The 373 B.C. Helike (Gulf of Corinth, Greece) Earthquake and Tsunami, Revisited

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stathis C. Stiros
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Total Loss ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Archaeological Data ◽  
Gulf Of Corinth ◽  
Tectonically Active ◽  
City States ◽  
The Town ◽  
Archaeological Excavations ◽  
Ancient Texts

Abstract Ancient authors report the destruction and drowning in 373 B.C. in the Gulf of Corinth (Greece) of Helike (Helice and Eliki), an important, nearly coastal town, and of Boura (Bura, Buris, Bouris, and Voura), another town in the hinterland, as a punishment by the ancient God Poseidon because of a serious crime committed in his shrine. This narrative has been regarded as a description of a true event, though with some exaggerations, and the 373 B.C. event is included in earthquake and tsunami catalogs. In the first part of this article, it is shown that (1) local natural hazards exclude the possibility (risk) of total loss of the ancient “polis” (town state) of ancient Helike because of its vulnerability due to its geography. (2) Systematic geoarchaeological studies confirm this prediction because they reveal essentially undisturbed archaeological layers predating and postdating 373 B.C., with no signs of a tsunami. (3) Archaeological excavations have recently brought to light, among other findings, remains of the harbor of Boura and of the shrine of Poseidon at Helike, as well as coins issued by Helike several decades after its alleged loss. This evidence permits a reconsideration of ancient texts related to the loss of Helike in a supervised learning-type approach. It was found that genuine ancient Greek texts do not mention any catastrophe of Helike, but rather that the legend of its total loss appeared several centuries later in Roman times, in local legends, rumors, and forged or manipulated ancient texts (e.g., by pseudo-Aristotle). The ancient legend became important because it explained the collapse of the town state of Helike and it fit ancient religious ideas in a tectonically active region because of the rapid burial (“disappearance”) of ancient Greek remains under sediments in a young delta and because of the prominent location of Helike in the seafaring route between Rome and the eastern Mediterranean. For earthquakes before our era, historical and archaeological data have attracted interpretations… attributing to earthquakes… the demise of flourishing city-states. …The reason for the revival of catastrophe hypotheses is perhaps that they are easy to explain. They are too simple, too obvious and too coincidental and chiefly because they have become fashionable in recent years. (Ambraseys, 2006)

La part d’Henri Weil dans l’édition du De la musique attribué à Plutarque (Paris, E. Leroux, 1900)

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-265
Author(s):  
Laurent Calvié
Keyword(s):  
Original Condition ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Close Collaboration ◽  
First Time ◽  
Ancient Texts

The Weil-Reinach edition of the De musica attributed to Plutarch is the result of a close collaboration of two among the best philologists and specialists of ancient Greek music active in France between the 19th and the 20th centuries : H. Weil and his pupil Th. Reinach. The latter (who personally provided the collation of the manuscripts, some of the exegetical notes and the index) put together the material, but it was Weil who should be regarded as primarily responsible for the work, whose overall organization and component parts are perfectly consistent with the principles and methods that he had already applied to his previous editions : the subordination of the criticism of the texts, founded on the recension of manuscripts, to their history and interpretation. The interventionism typical of this publication derives from the extremely ambitious target that Weil imposed on all his ecdotic works : the reconstruction not of the corrupt archetype of the extant Byzantine and Humanist manuscripts, but of the original condition of the ancient texts. Viewed in this light, the Weil-Reinach edition of the De musica is a treasure of erudition and intelligence, in which the textual problems of a text, which had been deeply altered since antiquity, are raised for the first time.

Middle Byzantine Parekklesia of Constantinople: Their History, Purpose, and New Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-78
Author(s):  
Halûk Çetinkaya
Keyword(s):  
Archaeological Data ◽  
History Of ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Archaeological Excavations ◽  
Written Sources

Abstract Recent restoration projects in Istanbul have brought to light new evidence related to the middle Byzantine (843–1204) churches of Istanbul. In particular, archaeological excavations have exposed previously unknown parts of the monastic churches. This article provides a brief construction history of the middle Byzantine churches of Istanbul and their later additions, and elucidates the purpose for which the latter were built. Thus, together with written sources, archaeological data may improve our understanding of these constructions. In particular, this article discusses the recent discovery of a funerary chapel outside the Pantokrator complex and the parekklesia unearthed at Vefa Kilise Camii.

scholarly journals The marble head of a statuette from Mediana (excavations in 2001)

Starinar ◽  
2013 ◽  
pp. 237-243
Author(s):  
Bojana Plemic
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Archaeological Excavations

During the archaeological excavations in Mediana in 2001, the head of a marble statuette of exceptional beauty and craftsmanship was discovered. It was an isolated discovery, the sculpture probably having been imported from some Greek artistic centre or an eastern Mediterranean workshop, presenting a part of a larger ensemble of sculptures that had adorned an imperial villa with peristyle. Since the head was found in pieces and being just part of a sculptural representation with no reliable attributes, the question of its identification is a difficult task. It was possible to determine, using stylistic traits' analysis that the statuette was made under the influence of Hellenistic cult sculpture, namely that it followed the rules of the school of Praxiteles. On the other hand, the iconographic elements, in particular that of the hairstyle, lead us to the conclusion that this statuette could represent one of two Roman goddesses, either Venus or Diana.

Topography of Athens

Classics ◽  
2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey M. Hurwit ◽  
Ioannis Mitsios
Keyword(s):  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Aegean Sea ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek City ◽  
Urban Core ◽  
Ancient City ◽  
History Of ◽  
City States ◽  
City State ◽  
The City

The ancient city-state (or polis) of Athens was contiguous with the region known as Attica, a large, triangular peninsula extending southeastward from the Greek mainland into the Aegean Sea. In the western angle of Attica, on a coastal plain surrounded by four mountains (Hymettos, Pentelikon, Parnes, and Aigaleos), lay the city itself. Although the modern city has thickly spread up the slopes of the mountains as well as to the sea, the study of Athenian topography concentrates on the monuments, buildings, and spaces of the ancient urban core, an area roughly 3 square kilometers surrounding the Acropolis and defended in the Classical period by a wall some 6.5 kilometers in length. Athens is the ancient Greek city that we know best, and it is unquestionably the Greek city whose art, architecture, literature, philosophy, and political history have had the greatest impact on the Western tradition and imagination. As a result, “Athenian” is sometimes considered synonymous with “Greek.” It is not. In many respects, Athens was exceptional among Greek city-states, not typical: it was a very different place from, say, Thebes or Sparta. Still, the study of Athens, its monuments, and its culture needs no defense, and the charge of “Athenocentrism” is a hollow indictment when one stands before the Parthenon or holds a copy of Sophocles’ Antigone. This article will refer to the following periods in the history of Athens and Greece (the dates are conventional): late Bronze, or Mycenaean, Age (1550–1100 bce); Dark Age (1100–760 bce); Archaic (760–480 bce); Classical (480–323 bce); Hellenistic (323 –31 bce); and Roman (31 BCE–c. 475 ce).

scholarly journals Tell Es-Sultan (Jericho): Radiocarbon Results of Short-Lived Cereal and Multiyear Charcoal Samples from the End of the Middle Bronze Age

Radiocarbon ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hendrik J. Bruins ◽  
Johannes Van Der Plight
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean Region ◽  
Weighted Average ◽  
Near Eastern ◽  
Calibration Curves ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Chronology ◽  
Archaeological Excavations

Samples from Tell es-Sultan, Jericho, were selected for high-precision 14C dating as a contribution toward the establishment of an independent radiocarbon chronology of Near Eastern archaeology. The material derives from archaeological excavations conducted by K. M. Kenyon in the 1950s. We present here the results of 18 samples, associated stratigraphically with the end of the Middle Bronze Age (MBA) at Tell es-Sultan. Six short-lived samples consist of charred cereal grains and 12 multiyear samples are composed of charcoal. The weighted average 14C date of the short-lived grains is 3306 ± 7 bp. The multiyear charcoal yielded, as expected, a somewhat older average: 3370 ± 6 bp. Both dates are more precise than the standard deviation (a) of the calibration curves and the absolute standard of oxalic acid. Calibration of the above Jericho dates is a bit premature, because several groups are currently testing the accuracy of both the 1986 and 1993 calibration curves. Nevertheless, preliminary calibration results are presented for comparison, based on 4 different calibration curves and 3 different computer programs. Wiggles in the calibration curves translate the precise bp dates into rather wide ranges in historical years. The final destruction of MBA Jericho occurred during the late 17th or the 16th century bc. More definite statements about the calibrated ages cannot be made until the accuracy of available calibration curves has been tested. Development of calibration curves for the Eastern Mediterranean region would be important.

scholarly journals Hippocrates, Galen, and the uses of trepanation in the ancient classical world

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Symeon Missios
Keyword(s):  
Surgical Procedures ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
The State ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Roman World ◽  
Classical World ◽  
The World ◽  
Medical Writers ◽  
Ancient Texts

✓Trepanation (ανατρησιζ) is the process by which a hole is drilled into the skull, exposing the intracranial contents for either medical or mystical purposes. It represents one of the oldest surgical procedures, and its practice was widespread in many ancient cultures and several parts of the world. Trepanation was used in ancient Greece and Rome, as described in several ancient texts. Hippocrates and Galen are two of the most prominent ancient Greek medical writers, and their works have influenced the evolution of medicine and neurosurgery across the centuries. The purpose of this paper is to examine Hippocrates' and Galen's written accounts of the technique and use of trepanation in the ancient Greek and Roman world. Examination of those records reveals the ancient knowledge of neurological anatomy, physiology, and therapeutics, and illustrates the state and evolution of neurosurgery in the classical world.

Plant remains from Jiyeh/Porphyreon, Lebanon (seasons 2009–2014): preliminary results of archaeobotanical analysis and implications for future research

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 487-510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Badura ◽  
Ewelina Rzeźnicka ◽  
Urszula Wicenciak ◽  
Tomasz Waliszewski
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Residential Quarter ◽  
Unknown Area ◽  
Mediterranean Archaeology ◽  
Archaeological Excavations ◽  
Over Time

The seaside settlement of Jiyeh in Lebanon, now identified with the ancient Porphyreon, boasts a history dating back to the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age when Phoenicia occupied part of the Levantine coast (eastern Mediterranean). Extensive archaeological excavations by a team from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology University of Warsaw have focused on the urban residential quarter, which consists of numerous houses and buildings separated by passages, containing material that has provided important insights into the lives of its inhabitants over time. However, as archaeobotanical studies had not been conducted there before, the question of plant use remains an important and largely unknown area of research. This article presents the first botanical results from Jiyeh (seasons 2009–2014) and considers their implications for future cooperation between archaeologists and natural scientists.

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