Tag Archives: Creta

Prime riflessioni sul commercio del vino cretese nel Golfo di Napoli attraverso la “rilettura” di tre tituli picti dalla Taberna vasaria di Ercolano

Author: Roberto D. Melfi

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In early 1932, a group of thirty-three Cretan amphorae of the AC4 type was discovered in Herculaneum, characterized by inscriptions referring to the same abbreviated name. Among these inscriptions, initially published as bearing identical texts, one in particular (CIL IV 10893) has led to differing subsequent readings and interpretations. Through a new direct examination of the still-visible inscribed traces, it has been possible to achieve a more accurate rereading of at least three inscriptions, essentially confirming M. Della Corte’s editio princeps and securely restoring the formula K. K. ΖΩ, along with identifying previously unrecognized letters. Although minimal, this new reading opens fresh avenues for identifying the individual involved, understanding the production context of these amphorae, and exploring the trade of Cretan wine in Herculaneum. Therefore, this paper aims to update the epigraphic evidence and present a preliminary reflection on its historical and economic implications.

Modellazione 3D ad Haghia Triada: note per un approccio tridimensionale all’architettura minoica

Authors: D. Puglisi, M. Chiricallo
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Minoan architecture was characterized by a complex articulation of the volumes, and in particular by the systematic use of multistorey buildings. Nevertheless, the three-dimensional nature of the Minoan built environment has been quite neglected in the history of Minoan archaeology, in favour of an approach that contemplates the morphological, functional and distributional analysis of only what has survived on the ground floor. Today, the modern 3D modelling softwares offer new research opportunities in studying the elevation of Minoan buildings. This paper aims to outline these new research perspectives and to define the main methodological issues related to them, through the case study offered by the Late Minoan IB settlement of Haghia Triada in Crete.

From the things to the images. The representation of the tree in ancient times

Author: E. Pappalardo

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In this article it will be attempted to carry a cross-cut analysis on the sacred tree symbol in the ancient world. In particular, Near East and Aegean will be investigated and compared, trying to provide more than an answer to the possible meaning that the sacred tree had, involving archaeological attestations, literary sources and images. The research starts from the Assyrian orthostats where sacred tree is associated with the king or sacred creatures, and ends in Iron Age Crete where, already in the second half of IX cent., the tree is variously represented on bronze artefacts and pottery. For each investigated area, it will be tried to associate evidence provided by images with the archaeological record where hypothetical association asherah/bamah can be plausibly recognized.

Considerazioni cronologiche e topografiche sull’impianto della necropoli di Kalyvia presso Festòs

Author: S. Privitera

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The necropolis of Kalyvia was explored in 1901 to the North of the Phaistos hill. In spite of its early publication (1904), several pieces of information regarding the find-spots of the ceramic assemblages as well as the data on the structure of the various tombs remained ill-defined or unknown. Drawing on a fresh reading of Stephanos Xanthoudidis’ original fieldnotes, it is now possible to carry out a critical reappraisal of the necropolis. This will help reconstruct the single funerary assemblages and will enable to contextualize Kalyvia within the western Messara and to set it within the political framework of the LM II-IIIA2 early Knossian state. In this paper, in particular, an unpublished jug is presented, that is interpreted as an LM II heirloom discovered in the famous warrior grave inside tomb 8.

A Bronze Belt from Kavousi

Author: E. Pappalardo

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This work is aimed to re-analyse figured bronze fragments found in the tholos tomb at Kavousi (Crete) by Harriet Boyd in 1900. Since the time of the discovery, the “Kavousi Bronze Plaque” was at the centre of several studies concerning artistic relationships and reciprocal influences between Aegean, Crete in particular, and Near East in the early 1st millennium BC. Interest was mostly addressed to the rich figural decoration through parallel registers, formed by subjects (lords of the animals, sphinxes, griffins) belonging to the Oriental iconographic repertoire but, contemporaneously, well attested in early Iron Age Crete. The attention focused on the plate’s decorative pattern, which has comparisons from other sites of the island (Knossos, Idaean Cave, Eleutherna, Prinias) made almost neglected the nature of the object itself, fundamental for the reconstruction of its meaning. Through the exam of decorative features, the fragments’ borders and the characteristic distribution of the holes along the plate’s rims, and thanks to systematic comparisons with the contemporary Eastern production, it is possible and plausible as well to reconstruct the “Kavousi plate” as a belt. This would be inspired by a Urartian prototype of 9th/8th cent. BC, later quite spread though neighbour Eastern Mediterranean regions.

Dreros e Priniàs: nuovi dati e prospettive di ricerca sulla polis a Creta

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The present paper focuses on Priniàs and Dreros. These two Cretan sites show both analogies and differences concerning the construction and development of the civic and religious spaces during the Iron Age and the Archaic period. Furthermore, they allow to investigate the birth of the polis temple in connection with both the rise of an urban entity around an open space (agora) and the socio-political changes carrying from the Geometric society to archaic polis community. Furthermore, the paper underlines the importance of the new archaeological investigations of areas and buildings already excavated over the past century, which often allow a new reading of the archaeological evidence.