Ετικέτα: archaeological sites of Greece

Archaeological Site of Dion:

Some more pictures from the sanctuary of Isis. The temple of Demeter also has many votive statues. Judging from the votive statues in other sanctuaries, these could be in the likeness of adorants, priestesses, family members of people who were helped or healed by the sanctuary, and sponsors. The last statue depicts Isis Tyche, in the same room, a sacred spring was also housed. 

Artemis was previously worshipped at the sanctuary and towards its destruction in the 4th century A.D, it seems that Christ and Isis were worshiped together there. The sanctuary was destroyed by a series of earthquakes and floods. This series of natural disasters might have also destroyed Dion’s oldest christian basilica. 

Sites of central Athens/ The Library of Hadrian:

A view of Hadrian’s Library from the Monastiraki metro station.

For this series about monuments in central Athens, I will post limited commentary on this round. But they will be reblogged with added commentary that will include information about their recent history.

The temple of Aphaia, Aegina:

The sanctuary of Aphaia in Aegina lies above the headland of Ayia Marina on a hill offering a panoramic view over the sea. Worship on the site of the
sanctuary goes back to prehistoric times, around 1300 B.C, when  it was
associated with a female fertility deity, as is clear from finds
brought to light by archaeological excavations.

It was
originally thought that the temple of Aphaia was built in honour of
Athena, whose figure dominated the two pediments of the temple. During
excavations by German archaeologists in 1901, however, an inscription
was found referring to the name of the local goddess Apha (Aphaia),
making it clear that the temple was dedicated to Aphaia and not Athena.

According
to myth, Aphaia, who is identified with Britomartis, daughter of Zeus
and Karme, was loved by Minos and to escape his attention, jumped into
the sea and emerged in Aegina, where she became “invisible”
(άφαντη/αφαία, unseen) in a grove. She hid in a cave, probably the one
on the north-east corner of the Archaic enclosure, in which many
terracotta figurines and other votive objects dating from the Mycenaean
period have been found.

In historical times, three temples were
built in different periods on the same site near the area associated
with the prehistoric cult. Of the first temple, which is dated to the
early 6th century BC, only traces of the foundations survive. The second
temple was larger, with an altar in the front of the east side. The
surviving temple is the third, which was built in about 500 B.C.
(…)

The
pediments of the temple of Aphaia, which are dated to 490/480 BC, were
adorned with scenes from battles fought inTroy and watched by Athena,
whose figure was the predominant one at the center of both pediments.
The east pediment depicted the campaign of Herakles against king
Laomedon, and the west the Greek expedition under Agamemnon against
Priam’s Troy. Part of the east pediment was destroyed during the Persian
Wars, possibly from a thunderbolt.

The statues that survived
were set up in the sanctuary enclosure and those that were destroyed
were buried according to the ancient custom (in general old votive
offerings and other objects of worship that had been weathered down,
were not discarded, they were either buried, stored, or even “built in”
the foundations of the temples).

The old composition  was
replaced by a new one with a battle scene featuring Athena at the
center. The pedimental sculptures were excavated in 1811 by Baron von
Hallerstein and the architect C.R. Cockerell. They were put up in
auction in Italy and purchased in 1813* by Ludwig I, king of Bavaria and
father of Otto, first king of Greece. They were raken to the Glyptothek
in Munich, where they have been on display ever since. Parts of the
destroyed east pediment were found furing Furtwangler’s excavation and
are now displayed in the National Archaeological Museum, in Athens.

Texts by L. Katsa

Part
of the “reasons” listed by foreign museums that forbid the return of
artifacts belonging to monuments, is that they have been owned by them
for two centuries more or less. However, the greek state still paid off
loans plus interest that were taken during the greek war of
independence- that is before the existence of the official greek state-
well into the 20th century*. Because of these loans greek lands had been
mortgaged to foreing banks, and it was impossible for these lands to be
redistributed to farmers. And what’s even more is that despite that
Greece had loaned a certain amount, it actually received roughly a
little over 50% of these money. The state still paid off however the
whole amount plus interest on the 100%. So personally, I don’t see how
we can both owe and pay off money we never received two centuries ago,
but parts of monuments that belonged to Greece for over 2 milleniums
can’t be owed to us.

So whenever you hear about the greek debt just replace everything with Greece
was the best client of foreign banks for two centuries, and circa 2010
when there was a chance we wouldn’t owe as much we had to have an
artificial crisis so we can owe money for two centuries to come. And whenever you hear about greek artifacts belonging more to foreign museums than Greeks just replace everything with Non-Greeks that don’t live in Greece believe that Greeks in Greece are not greek enough to have greek stuff from Greece.

*I was born in the 20th century, for all you youngsters.

Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki / The Byzantine Fortifications:

Heptapyrgion and the Trigoniou Tower as seen from the White Tower.

The earliest walls date from the 3rd to the 5th century A.D, while many repairs and additions followed up until the 15th century. The Trigoniou Tower was built in the second half of the 15th century, probably to withstand canon fire. The fortress of Heptapyrgion, or “Yedi Kule” as it was known in the Ottoman period, was converted into a dreaded prison complex in the late 19th century. It was still in function up until the last greek dictatorship, known as the Junta, or The Regime of the Colonels (1967-1974). It played a dreadful role in the dictatorship of Metaxas, the Nazi Occupation and the Greek Civil War (1946-1949).

Byzantine Monuments of Thessaloniki / The church of “Acheiropoietos”:

Mosaics from the inside of the arches formed between the columns of the temple, depicting geometrical and floral patterns. Birds within these patterns along with fountains are also a recurring motif. The mosaics are set in blue, red, green, and white tones predominantly in a golden background.

(5th century A.D)

Acheiropoietos (αχειροποίητος) means “not made by human hands” and it refers to the miraculous icon of the Virgin Mary to which the church was devoted. Since icon-making was considered a form of prayer by which the outcome was the work of God, when a work was truly exceptional, artists refrained from signing the painting with their name- believing it to be the work of God. “Acheiropoietos” was the title given to these works instead. 

I think acheiropoietos would like to see this.