The Stones of Greece
Beotia,
Euboea and Phthiotis
Google-Map
Thebes-Thivai*
2500-100
BC
Archeological sites
92 km
north of Athens on E75
Terracotta figurine from Thebes: The Goddess in her incarnation as
the protectress of fields and animals,
7th century BC (or much
earlier!), Louvre. Wikimedia
Between 1906 and 1929, a massive building was excavated on the celebrated citadel of Thebes. The original excavator, Antonios D. Keramopoullos, interpreted the surviving portions of the building as the ruins of what was alleged to be, in Pausanias' Palace of Kadmos, the legendary founder of Thebes and brother of Europa.
The building had been in use during the 14th cent. BC and appears to have been destroyed by a violent fire in the transition to the 13th cent. The architecture, featuring an impressive footprint and distinctively palatial features, such as ashlar (hewn) masonry and pictorial lifesize processional frescoes, remains prominent today at the center of the contemporary city of Thebes.
Other notable finds include various types of unfinished, incomplete and failed artifacts, mostly made of banded agate; gold jewelry, and the largest cache of transport stirrup-jars (large amphora-like vessels for the long-distance transportation of liquid goods, many of which have been found to be Cretan imports and are inscribed with Linear B script.
Excavation sites are scattered all over the modern town of
Thebes
enlarge the Google Map to compare
Such finds demonstrated the importance of the site already in the
early 20th century, while ongoing archaeological work at Thebes as a
whole has further substantiated the notion that the citadel
commodated an extensive palatial complex and a wide array of
functions tied to the administration of the East Boeotian state.
Text
and Plan from University
of Virginia
The history of and legends about Thebes are many, from Wikipedia :
The record of the earliest days of Thebes was preserved among the Greeks in an abundant mass of legends which rival the myths of Troy in their wide ramification and the influence which they exerted upon the literature of the classical age. Five main cycles of story may be distinguished:
The foundation of the citadel Cadmeia by Cadmus, and the growth of the Spartoi or "Sown Men" (probably an aetiological myth designed to explain the origin of the Theban nobility which bore that name in historical times);
The building of a "seven-gated" wall by Amphion, and the cognate stories of Zethus, Antiope and Dirce;
The tale of Laius, whose misdeeds culminated in the tragedy of Oedipus and the wars of the "Seven Against Thebes", the Epigoni, and the downfall of his house; Laius' pederastic rape of Chrysippus was held by some ancients to have been the first instance of homosexuality among mortals, and may have provided an etiology for the practice of pedagogic pederasty for which Thebes was famous. See Theban pederasty and Pederasty in ancient Greece for detailed discussion and background.
The exploits of Heracles
Thebes Archeological Museum***
The Museum in Thevai is one of the most important in Greece and is just down the road on the north-Pindaru entrance to the city. There are finds from the prehistoric to the Roman period. It also shows in a space outside the museum entrance early Christian and Byzantine sculptures and a mosaic floor. In the garden there are a large number of grave reliefs and important inscriptions that were found at Thebes and the surrounding area.
The museum consists of four rooms: the first two filled with
sculptures from the time of geometric art and Archaikzeit. Most
interesting exhibits are the three Kuroi Ptoion. In the third room
you can see painted grave stelae from Thebes and Tanagra. The last
room contains 16 painted Mycenaean tomb boxes (Lanarkes). In
addition, the museum has interesting findings of recent excavations
at the site of Cadmus's Palace. The catalog includes an amphora and
clay tablets with linear B, and a collection Mesopotamian cylinder
seals with cuneiform inscriptions from the 14th Century BC, which
seem to confirm the legend that Cadmus had brought the first letter
writing from Phoenicia.
See the fabulous Latsis'
Picture Book on the Thebes Museum
Tanagra*
8th
- 1st cent BC
Three Tanagra figurines, Late 4th-1st cent BC
Tanagra (Greek: Τανάγρα) is a community north of Athens in Boeotia, not far from Thebes, that was noted in antiquity for the figurines named after it.
The Tanagra figurines were a mass-produced, mold-cast and fired type of Greek terracotta figurines produced from the later fourth century BCE, primarily in Tanagra.Tanagra, at the time of the Median wars was already a sizeable town. Around 800 BC it was called a polis. Its influence extended and it absorbed the small villages that were on the periphery. It was one of the founding cities of the League and fought with Boeotian Thebes to expand the league. Tanagra became one of the Boeotian powers until the early fifth century BC when infighting League enabled cities like Sparta and Athens to acquire more power.
The walls of Tanagra were destroyed during a battle between the Peloponnesian League in Boeotia which was then under the control of Athens for ten years. Boeotia regained its independence in the late fifth century, but Thebes became the dominant city. Tanagra continued to support the Boeotian League in the Peloponnesian Wars (431 to -404 BC).
Corinne, from Tanagra, a contemporary of Pindar (classical period)
was one of the greatest poets of Greece. The Boeotians were also
excellent musicians. Tanagra was also known for its cockfights
throughout the classical period and Hermes, the god of the city, was
the patron of those fights.
Besides these details, Tanagra was
actually a commercial hub in the classical period, particularly
between Athens and Thebes. When Rome extended its rule over the whole
Mediterranean world, Tanagra retained its role as artistic center,
however from the second century and mainly during the first Tanagra
becasme poorer than Thebes. It nevertheless remained one of the most
important cities of Boeotia.
Most of the Tanagra figurines were found during illegal excavations that destroyed the environment that could have provided information about the time when they were made. However archaeological excavations carried out in a scientific framework allowed some clarification on these works of art.
In the fifth century burials were becoming more common than
cremation. The graves are usually two or three meters deep. Vases
were deposited as offerings, and in Boeotia figures of nude youths
and women draped were found, bearing offerings. New figures of veiled
women dancers arrive from Athens and were immediately adopted by
artisans Boeotians, announcing changes in the Hellenistic period:
they are the visual expression of a transition from a world centered
on the city of Athens to a world run by Macedonian kingdoms
that establish other rules of life.
The typical Tangréen style
appeared in the fourth century BC.
It was manufactured in Athenian
workshops until 330 BC, first as "vases figurines,"
inspired by the great sculptures. The pattern developed on the mud
off it quickly and it goes from simple relief statuette.
Subsequently, Corinth played a role in the evolution of Tanagra
although the degree of influence remains to be determined.
Boeotia,
especially Thebes and Tanagra, were initially importers before also
becoming producers Attik coroplasthics. The strength of the Tanagrans
was to capture a theme from elsewhere and reproduce, usually with
talent.
Around 1870 AD, archaic tombs were discovered flush with the surface.
Their statues generally represented veiled women, who were quickly
called by the name of the city where they were discovered:
Tanagra.
It is estimated that by 1873 half of 8-10000 open
tombs had been robbed of their statuettes. The contextual records of
these finds were very few, and it was not until the 1970s that the
excavations in graves untouched by looters gave more precise
information on the function of these statues and the funerary cults
in general.
The Tanagra figurines were mold-cast terracotta figurines produced
from the later fourth century BC. They were coated with a liquid
white slip before firing and were sometimes painted in naturalistic
tints with watercolors, such as the famous "Dame en Bleu"
("Lady in Blue") at the Louvre. Scholars have wondered why
a rural place like Tanagra produced such fine and rather "urban"
style terracotta figures.
Tanagra figures depict real women —
and some men and boys — in everyday costume, with familiar
accessories like hats, wreaths or fans. Some character pieces may
have represented stock figures from the New Comedy of Menander and
other writers. Others continued an earlier tradition of molded
terracotta figures used as cult images or votive objects. Typically
they are about 4 to 8 inches high.The coraplasters, or sculptors of
the models that provided the molds, delighted in revealing the body
under the folds of a himation thrown round the shoulders like a cloak
and covering the head, over a chiton, and the movements of such
drapery in action.
Text: Google translation of a French article in
tanagra-art.com
Wikepedia
See
also: A.
Zink and E. Porto, a paper on dating the Tanagra figures in the
Louvre
Plataea*
479-386
BC
Hera temple built 386 BC by the Athenians on the ruins of Plataea
Notice the old city walls in the Google-Map
Plataea or Plataeae (Ancient Greek: Πλάταια or Πλαταιαί)
was an ancient city in southeastern Boeotia, south of Thebes. It was
the location of the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, in which an alliance
of Greek city-states defeated the Persians. Plataea was destroyed in
the Peloponnesian War by Thebes and Sparta in 427 BC and rebuilt in
386 BC.
See
Wikipedia
Orchomenos
Boeotia*
2800-68 BC
View of Orchomenos. The plain, once the northeastern corner of Lake Kopais, in the middle ground
"Minyas tomb"
In 1880-1886 Heinrich Schliemann's excavated a tholos tomb in Orchomenos, which he called the "Tomb of Minyas", a Mycenaean monument that equalled the "Tomb of Atreus" at Mycenae itself.
In the Bronze Age, during the 14th and 13th cent BC, Orchomenos became a rich and important centre of civilization in Mycenaean Greece, and was a rival to Thebes. According to the founding myth of Orchomenos, its royal dynasty had been established by - probably non-Greek-speaking - “Minyans”, who had followed their eponymous leader Minyas from coastal Thessaly to settle the site. The palace, which had frescoed walls, and the great tholos tombs show the power of Orchomenos in Mycenaean times. A massive hydraulic undertaking drained the marshes of Lake Kopais
In 1893, A. de Ridder excavated the temple of Asklepios and some
burials in the Roman necropolis. In 1903-1905, a Bavarian
archaeological mission under Heinrich Bulle and Adolf Furtwängler
conducted successful excavations at the site. Research continued in
1970-1973 by the Archaeological Service under Theodore Spyropoulos,
uncovering the Mycenaean palace, a prehistoric cemetery, the
Hellenistic-Roman amphitheatre, and other structures.
Wikipedia
Gla,
Mycenian Fortress*
1300 BC
The immense Mycenaean fortress of Gla, which cannot be identified with a known ancient town, was situated on an island in the Copaic Lake in Boeotia. Today, the lake has been drained and the city is more accessible. The walls are 2¾ km long, which makes Gla a very big city, larger than, for example, Mycene or Tiryns. It needs to be seen on Google Maps !
It had four gates, an unusually high number for a Mycenaean fortification, in the north, west, south and southeast. Elaborate built ramps led to the gates. The fortification can be dated to early LH III B, that is, circa 1300 BC.
But the walls are the only remains of this fortress. Most of the area within the walls is vacant, leading archaeologists to believe that it served as a refuge for farmers in the area of Lake Kopais in the event of attack. It is suggested that the land dominated by the citadel of Gla served as the "bread basket" of the Mycenaean world.
This is supported by the fact that Lake
Kopais - which covered the large area between north of Orchomenos
(Boeotia), west of Gla and and almost to Thebes - had been drained by
a system of dams and canals (one of the most astonishing achievements
of prehistoric engineering) at about the same time as the erection of
Gla, producing a large fertile plain. Lake Kopais' drainage system
collapsed from destruction or neglect at or after the end of
Mycenaean Civilisation; in Classical Antiquity, the lake existed
again. It was drained a second time in the 19th century.
Wikipedia
Acient
Opus- Skala Atalantis
7000-1st cent BC
According to Hesiodus and Plutarch the city was called Opus from Opus, the son of Locros and great-grandson of Deucalion and Pyrrha.
The first signs of organized human life in Atalanti’s region can be traced to the Neolithic era (7000 BC - 3200/3100 BC) when in this time a town in the valley, near Skala Atalanti is growing. All human activities of Neolithic man can be traced in this area: agriculture, stockbreeding, hunting, and fishing.
The period between 3200 -2100 BC observed growth of trade (both land
and sea) and development of pottery. Between 1600 and 1100 BC the
city of Mycenaean Opus is built. Main occupations of inhabitants were
fishing and agriculture (wheat, grain, legumes, olives, grapes are
cultivated and wine is produced). During the 11th century BC (Sub
Mycenaean period) an economic and population decline is found. During
the Archaic period (700 - 480 BC) Opus remains an oligarchy.
For
more historical details see Wikipedia
Atalanti, Archeological Museum***
12th cent BC krater from Opus at the Atalanti Archaeological
Museum
It shows one of the earliest scenes of a naval battle in
Prehistoric Aegean art.
Lefkandi-Xeropolis,
Euboea*
1200-1075 BC
Plan of the late Mycenean Cemetery at Lefkandi, utexas.edu/courses/introgreece
The site's importance is due to a number of factors. First, substantial occupation strata of the Late Helladic IIIC period (ca. 1200-1100/1075 BC) excavated in the 1960s allowed the establishment of a ceramic sequence for this period, at that time insufficiently attested. The IIIC settlement furthermore stands in contrast to sites in the other parts of Greece, such as the Peloponnese, where many sites were abandoned at the end of LHIIIB (i.e. the end of the Mycenaean palatial period). This situation places Lefkandi within a group of sites in Central Greece with important post-palatial occupation, such as Mitrou (settlement), Kalapodi (sanctuary), and Elateia (cemetery).
The Heroon (hero's grave) at Lefkandi (see plan above)
Wikipedia
Aulis-Avlida,
Artemis Sanctuary
6th cent BC
The temple of Artemis where Iphigenia was about to be sacrificed -
and saved.
Today the E75 and the Athenian extension of the Orient
Express passes through the former precinct...
Iphigenia finally returned to become Artemis's double at Brauron,
Attica.
An interesting paper on their relationship : Iphigenia
and Artemis by Deborah Lyons.
Monastery
of Ossios Lukas***
10th-11th
cent AD
Near Distomo/ Delphi
The Katholikon (1012) on the left and
the older cruciform Church
of the Theotokos (Mother of God) on the right (959-963)
Ceiling mosaics in the Katholikon.
An earthquake destroyed the
dome in 1659 and the Pantokrator surrounded by archangels is a mural
dating from that time.
Hosios Loukas (Venerable: Greek: Ὅσιος ) is a historic walled monastery situated near the town of Distomo, Boeotia. It is one of the important monuments of Middle Byzantine architecture. Its Byzantine mosaics compete with those of Daphni (Attika) and Nea Moni on the island of Chios (both middle 11th cent. AD).
Mosaic of the “Panagia Theotokos”, the Mother of God over
the altar apse, and the
"Trinity or the Effusion of the
Holy Spirit" in the dome of the transept (1012 AD)
(a
rare subject in Byzantine churches before the 15th cent) Photos RWFG
1991
Hosios Lukas was founded in the early 10th century by the hermit,
Venerable (Greek: Hosios, not a saint!) Lukas. After his
death, the Byzantine Emperor Romanos II had the churches built. The
main shrine of the monastery contains the tomb of Hos. Luke,
originally located in the crypt, but later placed at the juncture of
the two churches. The monastery derived its wealth from the fact that
the relics of Hos. Luke were said to have exuded myron, a
perfumed oil, which produced healing miracles. Pilgrims hoping for
miraculous help were encouraged to sleep by the side of the tomb in
order to be healed by incubation.
Wikipedia