In M. Ghilardi (ed.), Sylvian Fachard, Franck Léandri, Laurent Lespez, Céline Bressy-Leandri (co-eds.), Géoarchéologie des îles de la Méditerranée, Proceedings of the Conference GEOMEDISLANDS (Cargèse, France, - June 30 - July 02, 2015), CNRS éditions Alpha.
https://books.openedition.org/editionscnrs/28785?lang=en
This paper explores the dynamics lead... more https://books.openedition.org/editionscnrs/28785?lang=en
This paper explores the dynamics leading to the establishment of a relatively prosperous Roman settlement on the islet of Kouphonisi in Crete. The settlement was clearly comparatively wealthy, judging from the range of its public buildings (including a bathhouse, theatre, aqueducts and cistern complexes) and the opulent decor of its private residences. What conditions generated such favourable economic circumstances for the inhabitants of this tiny arid islet lying in the Libyan Sea three miles off the southeastern tip of Crete? The location of the islet, which today seems remote and far-removed, is appraised in the context of its seasonal sea currents and favourable winds which facilitated its navigational connectivity with Roman markets operating in the wider Mediterranean. Already in the Hellenistic period, the islet’s strategic importance was keenly recognised by the competitive cities of eastern Crete who vied for its control. However, these serendipitous circumstances, and the site’s sustainability, were short lived. The settlement’s economic boom (born of its strategic position along the wider sailing routes of the Mediterranean) ended abruptly and permanently in the late 4th century AD. Finally, the paper examines the possible nature of the drastic forces which may have been responsible for the settlement’s abandonment, thereby signalling the beginning of a process of desertification which persists today.
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In this paper, we present findings from a field inspection of the Knossos aqueduct undertaken in 2019. A key contribution of our fieldwork was the architectural identification of the Roman channel underlying the 19th-century wall of the Ottoman-Egyptian aqueduct supplying Iraklio. While reuse of the Roman aqueduct in the 19th century was known from historical reports, the structural overlap had never been identified in the field or documented archaeologically until now. We recorded the Roman channel lined with opus signinum running along the base of the 19th-century aqueduct’s wall between Fundana and Spilia. Through this realisation in the field, we were able to establish diagnostic styles of masonry for both periods. Our architectural distinction between the overlaid aqueducts allowed us to integrate previously disarticulated components of the later system, like the reused Roman tunnel at Skalani and the 19th-century bridge at Spilia, into an integrated Ottoman-Egyptian water supply for Iraklio. As we approached Knossos from Spilia, we were also able to identify the point at which the Venetian aqueduct supplying Iraklio converged with the Roman system. Consequently, our 2019 fieldwork not only mapped the length of the Roman aqueduct supplying the city of Knossos but also that section of the 19th-century Ottoman-Egyptian aqueduct of Iraklio built directly over it and a shorter tract of the Venetian aqueduct of Iraklio that either ran alongside it, or was, in turn, itself, partially overlaid by the 19th-century system.
***
ΤΟ ΡΩΜΑΪΚΟ ΥΔΡΑΓΩΓΕΙΟ ΤΗΣ ΚΝΩΣΟΥ, ΕΝΑ ΠΡΟΤΥΠΟ ΓΙΑ ΤΟ ΣΧΕΔΙΑΣΜΟ
ΥΔΡΑΓΩΓΕΙΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΔΕΚΑΤΟΥ ΕΝΑΤΟΥ ΑΙΩΝΑ
Στο άρθρο αυτό παρουσιάζουμε τα ευρήματα από μια αυτοψία πεδίου του υδραγωγείου της Κνωσού κατά το 2019. Μια βασική συμβολή στην έρευνα πεδίου ήταν η αρχιτεκτονική ταύτιση του ρωμαϊκού αγωγού υποκείμενου του τοίχους του Οθωμανικού-Αιγυπτιακού υδραγωγείου του 19ου αιώνα που εφοδίαζε το Ηράκλειο. Ενώ η επανάχρηση του Ρωμαϊκού υδραγωγείου κατά τον 19ο αιώνα ήταν γνωστή από ιστορικές αναφορές, η κατασκευαστική επικάλυψη δεν είχε ποτέ μέχρι τώρα ταυτιστεί στο πεδίο ή τεκμηριωθεί αρχαιολογικά.
Καταγράψαμε τον ρωμαϊκό αγωγό που ήταν επενδυμένος με opus signinum και διέτρεχε κατά μήκος της βάσης του τοίχου του υδραγωγείου του 19ου αιώνα ανάμεσα στην Φουντάνα και τη Σπηλιά. Μέσω αυτής της κατανόησης στο πεδίο, μπορέσαμε να καθιερώσουμε διαγνωστικούς τύπους τοιχοποιίας και για τις δύο περιόδους. Η αρχιτεκτονική μας διάκριση ανάμεσα στα υπερκείμενα υδραγωγεία μάς επέτρεψε να ενσωματώσουμε προηγουμένως αποαρθρωμένα στοιχεία του υστερότερου συστήματος, όπως η επαναχρησιμοποιημένη ρωμαϊκή σήραγγα στο Σκαλάνι και η γέφυρα του 19 ου αιώνα στη Σπηλιά, μέσα σε μια ολοκληρωμένη παροχή νερού για το Ηράκλειο. Πλησιάζοντας την Κνωσό από την Σπηλιά, μπορέσαμε επίσης να ταυτίσουμε το σημείο όπου το Ενετικό υδραγωγείο που εφοδίαζε το Ηράκλειο συνέκλινε με το ρωμαϊκό σύστημα. Συνεπώς, η έρευνα πεδίου του 2019 όχι μόνο χαρτογράφησε το μήκος του ρωμαϊκού υδραγωγείου που εφοδίαζε την πόλη της Κνωσού αλλά και το τμήμα του του Οθωμανικού-Αιγυπτιακού υδραγωγείου του 19ου αιώνα του Ηρακλείου που κτίστηκε απευθείας πάνω του και μια μικρότερη έκταση του Ενετικού υδραγωγείου του Ηρακλείου που είτε διέτρεχε κατά μήκος του προηγούμενου, ή ήταν με τη σειρά του υποκείμενο στο σύστημα του 19ου αιώνα.
This paper explores the dynamics leading to the establishment of a relatively prosperous Roman settlement on the islet of Kouphonisi in Crete. The settlement was clearly comparatively wealthy, judging from the range of its public buildings (including a bathhouse, theatre, aqueducts and cistern complexes) and the opulent decor of its private residences. What conditions generated such favourable economic circumstances for the inhabitants of this tiny arid islet lying in the Libyan Sea three miles off the southeastern tip of Crete? The location of the islet, which today seems remote and far-removed, is appraised in the context of its seasonal sea currents and favourable winds which facilitated its navigational connectivity with Roman markets operating in the wider Mediterranean. Already in the Hellenistic period, the islet’s strategic importance was keenly recognised by the competitive cities of eastern Crete who vied for its control. However, these serendipitous circumstances, and the site’s sustainability, were short lived. The settlement’s economic boom (born of its strategic position along the wider sailing routes of the Mediterranean) ended abruptly and permanently in the late 4th century AD. Finally, the paper examines the possible nature of the drastic forces which may have been responsible for the settlement’s abandonment, thereby signalling the beginning of a process of desertification which persists today.
For example, a sherd carrying an in planta pedis stamp identifying the potter Sex. Murrius Festus/Pisanus sat directly above a black and white mosaic floor where its presence provided a terminus ante quem for this architectural horizon. A small plaque of the infant Herakles struggling with two snakes came from the same strategraphic context. The name Sex. Murrius Festus/Pisanus, <SEXMF/P?> points to a chronological range between AD60-150 as both onomastic variants can be associated with ‘Late Italian’ production, in the Pisan area, more commonly attributed to the major potter L. Rasinius Pisanus (OCK no. 1690).
The overall Italian Sigallata assemblage from Pyrgi (Sector II) reveals a relatively intense 1st century AD phase of activity which conforms with contemporaneous activity in the lower Roman settlement (Sector I).
This period is followed by more limited profile of African Red Slip, confined mainly to the 4th century AD, with a notable lack of Phocaean Red Slip Ware. This paper aims to address such findings and their implications for Pyrgi on both micro and macro scales.
Text on slingshots was conceived of, and cast as, an integral component of the weapon, thereby representing a fundamental aspect of the weapon’s design. Slingshots bearing text are illuminating artefacts as not only can they reflect military action, leadership and civic affiliations, but they also raise questions regarding literacy levels within the forces and prompt debate concerning the psychological potential of such communications. It is the purpose of this paper to present the growing corpus of Cretan material against a wider backdrop of evidence, with a view to understanding the overarching role and purpose of such inscribed communications and to assess the degree of Cretan conformity with, or deviation from, broader military trends.
"
This article examines this notable concentration of Roman baths through an appraisal of their common heating system. This heating system is characterised by the application of clay spacer pins to the main architectural walls of the bathhouse. These spacer pins secure a parallel screen wall, composed of a series of large flat tiles, which creates a cavity allowing for the circulation of hot air generated in the hypocaust of the bath.
This heating system, incorporating the use of spacer pins, is not exclusively restricted to the Mylopotamos region but represents the characteristic Roman bathhouse heating system of the island of Crete. In the wider empire, spacer pins have been found in baths in North Africa, Israel, Cyprus, Rhodes, and Asia Minor, but not elsewhere. The dense distribution of this heating system across Crete contrasts starkly with its apparent rarity on mainland Greece (where a preference for spacer tubes and tubuli / box tiles is demonstrable). Wider imperial distribution of spacer pins supports direct connections and influence between Crete and Asia Minor (particularly in Lycia), and to a lesser extent, North Africa.
There are clear economic benefits to the use of spacer pins in bathhouse heating systems as they could be produced quickly, efficiently and economically on a large scale in Crete. Their production is confirmed in many of the major sites of production of amphorae on the island, being securely identified at Chersonisos, Tsoutsouros, Dermatos and Gortyna.
This coupling of the manufacture of spacer pins with amphora production sites establishes their manufacture on an intense island-wide scale during the 2nd and 3rd century BC, which also corresponds to a period of extensive construction of public baths across the island.
The grouping in Mylopotamos represents the densest inland bathhouse concentration on the island, and, since a public bath, no matter how small, was necessary for civic esteem in the Roman period, as it was in such visible terms that rival cities measured their status, their presence intimates that this inland area was particularly attractive for urban development.
By the 3rd century AD these major sites had grown to such a size whereby they could generate small satellite settlements within their hinterlands (as possibly represented by the baths of Vizari and Alpha). This dynamic is a testimony to the success of the Roman urban pattern in Crete, which not only created urban structures but also transformed rural life, and establishes Eleutherna as one of the most dominant cities in Crete during the imperial period.
http://www.philology.uoc.gr/conferences/mylopotamos/abstracts.pdf
In this paper, we present findings from a field inspection of the Knossos aqueduct undertaken in 2019. A key contribution of our fieldwork was the architectural identification of the Roman channel underlying the 19th-century wall of the Ottoman-Egyptian aqueduct supplying Iraklio. While reuse of the Roman aqueduct in the 19th century was known from historical reports, the structural overlap had never been identified in the field or documented archaeologically until now. We recorded the Roman channel lined with opus signinum running along the base of the 19th-century aqueduct’s wall between Fundana and Spilia. Through this realisation in the field, we were able to establish diagnostic styles of masonry for both periods. Our architectural distinction between the overlaid aqueducts allowed us to integrate previously disarticulated components of the later system, like the reused Roman tunnel at Skalani and the 19th-century bridge at Spilia, into an integrated Ottoman-Egyptian water supply for Iraklio. As we approached Knossos from Spilia, we were also able to identify the point at which the Venetian aqueduct supplying Iraklio converged with the Roman system. Consequently, our 2019 fieldwork not only mapped the length of the Roman aqueduct supplying the city of Knossos but also that section of the 19th-century Ottoman-Egyptian aqueduct of Iraklio built directly over it and a shorter tract of the Venetian aqueduct of Iraklio that either ran alongside it, or was, in turn, itself, partially overlaid by the 19th-century system.
***
ΤΟ ΡΩΜΑΪΚΟ ΥΔΡΑΓΩΓΕΙΟ ΤΗΣ ΚΝΩΣΟΥ, ΕΝΑ ΠΡΟΤΥΠΟ ΓΙΑ ΤΟ ΣΧΕΔΙΑΣΜΟ
ΥΔΡΑΓΩΓΕΙΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΔΕΚΑΤΟΥ ΕΝΑΤΟΥ ΑΙΩΝΑ
Στο άρθρο αυτό παρουσιάζουμε τα ευρήματα από μια αυτοψία πεδίου του υδραγωγείου της Κνωσού κατά το 2019. Μια βασική συμβολή στην έρευνα πεδίου ήταν η αρχιτεκτονική ταύτιση του ρωμαϊκού αγωγού υποκείμενου του τοίχους του Οθωμανικού-Αιγυπτιακού υδραγωγείου του 19ου αιώνα που εφοδίαζε το Ηράκλειο. Ενώ η επανάχρηση του Ρωμαϊκού υδραγωγείου κατά τον 19ο αιώνα ήταν γνωστή από ιστορικές αναφορές, η κατασκευαστική επικάλυψη δεν είχε ποτέ μέχρι τώρα ταυτιστεί στο πεδίο ή τεκμηριωθεί αρχαιολογικά.
Καταγράψαμε τον ρωμαϊκό αγωγό που ήταν επενδυμένος με opus signinum και διέτρεχε κατά μήκος της βάσης του τοίχου του υδραγωγείου του 19ου αιώνα ανάμεσα στην Φουντάνα και τη Σπηλιά. Μέσω αυτής της κατανόησης στο πεδίο, μπορέσαμε να καθιερώσουμε διαγνωστικούς τύπους τοιχοποιίας και για τις δύο περιόδους. Η αρχιτεκτονική μας διάκριση ανάμεσα στα υπερκείμενα υδραγωγεία μάς επέτρεψε να ενσωματώσουμε προηγουμένως αποαρθρωμένα στοιχεία του υστερότερου συστήματος, όπως η επαναχρησιμοποιημένη ρωμαϊκή σήραγγα στο Σκαλάνι και η γέφυρα του 19 ου αιώνα στη Σπηλιά, μέσα σε μια ολοκληρωμένη παροχή νερού για το Ηράκλειο. Πλησιάζοντας την Κνωσό από την Σπηλιά, μπορέσαμε επίσης να ταυτίσουμε το σημείο όπου το Ενετικό υδραγωγείο που εφοδίαζε το Ηράκλειο συνέκλινε με το ρωμαϊκό σύστημα. Συνεπώς, η έρευνα πεδίου του 2019 όχι μόνο χαρτογράφησε το μήκος του ρωμαϊκού υδραγωγείου που εφοδίαζε την πόλη της Κνωσού αλλά και το τμήμα του του Οθωμανικού-Αιγυπτιακού υδραγωγείου του 19ου αιώνα του Ηρακλείου που κτίστηκε απευθείας πάνω του και μια μικρότερη έκταση του Ενετικού υδραγωγείου του Ηρακλείου που είτε διέτρεχε κατά μήκος του προηγούμενου, ή ήταν με τη σειρά του υποκείμενο στο σύστημα του 19ου αιώνα.
This paper explores the dynamics leading to the establishment of a relatively prosperous Roman settlement on the islet of Kouphonisi in Crete. The settlement was clearly comparatively wealthy, judging from the range of its public buildings (including a bathhouse, theatre, aqueducts and cistern complexes) and the opulent decor of its private residences. What conditions generated such favourable economic circumstances for the inhabitants of this tiny arid islet lying in the Libyan Sea three miles off the southeastern tip of Crete? The location of the islet, which today seems remote and far-removed, is appraised in the context of its seasonal sea currents and favourable winds which facilitated its navigational connectivity with Roman markets operating in the wider Mediterranean. Already in the Hellenistic period, the islet’s strategic importance was keenly recognised by the competitive cities of eastern Crete who vied for its control. However, these serendipitous circumstances, and the site’s sustainability, were short lived. The settlement’s economic boom (born of its strategic position along the wider sailing routes of the Mediterranean) ended abruptly and permanently in the late 4th century AD. Finally, the paper examines the possible nature of the drastic forces which may have been responsible for the settlement’s abandonment, thereby signalling the beginning of a process of desertification which persists today.
For example, a sherd carrying an in planta pedis stamp identifying the potter Sex. Murrius Festus/Pisanus sat directly above a black and white mosaic floor where its presence provided a terminus ante quem for this architectural horizon. A small plaque of the infant Herakles struggling with two snakes came from the same strategraphic context. The name Sex. Murrius Festus/Pisanus, <SEXMF/P?> points to a chronological range between AD60-150 as both onomastic variants can be associated with ‘Late Italian’ production, in the Pisan area, more commonly attributed to the major potter L. Rasinius Pisanus (OCK no. 1690).
The overall Italian Sigallata assemblage from Pyrgi (Sector II) reveals a relatively intense 1st century AD phase of activity which conforms with contemporaneous activity in the lower Roman settlement (Sector I).
This period is followed by more limited profile of African Red Slip, confined mainly to the 4th century AD, with a notable lack of Phocaean Red Slip Ware. This paper aims to address such findings and their implications for Pyrgi on both micro and macro scales.
Text on slingshots was conceived of, and cast as, an integral component of the weapon, thereby representing a fundamental aspect of the weapon’s design. Slingshots bearing text are illuminating artefacts as not only can they reflect military action, leadership and civic affiliations, but they also raise questions regarding literacy levels within the forces and prompt debate concerning the psychological potential of such communications. It is the purpose of this paper to present the growing corpus of Cretan material against a wider backdrop of evidence, with a view to understanding the overarching role and purpose of such inscribed communications and to assess the degree of Cretan conformity with, or deviation from, broader military trends.
"
This article examines this notable concentration of Roman baths through an appraisal of their common heating system. This heating system is characterised by the application of clay spacer pins to the main architectural walls of the bathhouse. These spacer pins secure a parallel screen wall, composed of a series of large flat tiles, which creates a cavity allowing for the circulation of hot air generated in the hypocaust of the bath.
This heating system, incorporating the use of spacer pins, is not exclusively restricted to the Mylopotamos region but represents the characteristic Roman bathhouse heating system of the island of Crete. In the wider empire, spacer pins have been found in baths in North Africa, Israel, Cyprus, Rhodes, and Asia Minor, but not elsewhere. The dense distribution of this heating system across Crete contrasts starkly with its apparent rarity on mainland Greece (where a preference for spacer tubes and tubuli / box tiles is demonstrable). Wider imperial distribution of spacer pins supports direct connections and influence between Crete and Asia Minor (particularly in Lycia), and to a lesser extent, North Africa.
There are clear economic benefits to the use of spacer pins in bathhouse heating systems as they could be produced quickly, efficiently and economically on a large scale in Crete. Their production is confirmed in many of the major sites of production of amphorae on the island, being securely identified at Chersonisos, Tsoutsouros, Dermatos and Gortyna.
This coupling of the manufacture of spacer pins with amphora production sites establishes their manufacture on an intense island-wide scale during the 2nd and 3rd century BC, which also corresponds to a period of extensive construction of public baths across the island.
The grouping in Mylopotamos represents the densest inland bathhouse concentration on the island, and, since a public bath, no matter how small, was necessary for civic esteem in the Roman period, as it was in such visible terms that rival cities measured their status, their presence intimates that this inland area was particularly attractive for urban development.
By the 3rd century AD these major sites had grown to such a size whereby they could generate small satellite settlements within their hinterlands (as possibly represented by the baths of Vizari and Alpha). This dynamic is a testimony to the success of the Roman urban pattern in Crete, which not only created urban structures but also transformed rural life, and establishes Eleutherna as one of the most dominant cities in Crete during the imperial period.
http://www.philology.uoc.gr/conferences/mylopotamos/abstracts.pdf
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