Corinthian Matters

Category: Geology

  • University of Patras Marine Geology

    Oceanus, the website dedicated to the Network of Laboratories of the University of Patras, has posted information relevant to a geological fieldtrip to the Corinthia.  The pages have maps and brief summaries of geological processes influencing different parts of the Corinthian and Saronic coastlines, including the harbor sites of Kenchreai and Lechaion and the diolkos,…

  • Corinthian Scholarship (February)

    Here’s the latest in Corinthian-related scholarship published, presented, or released online in February.  These 13 articles, books, and studies represent about 7% of ca 175 studies that triggered Google Scholar alerts last month.  There are many, many “false positives” that have little to do with ancient or medieval Corinth, or make only passing and insignificant…

  • Even an Earthquake?

    A close one for Corinth.  An earthquake of 4.5 just east of Kenchreai.  This week has been a page out of a late antique chronicle. “Sirmium was struck with lightning, which consumed the palace and the market-place. This was thought by persons versed in such occurrences to be an omen of evil to public affairs.…

  • Geology & Gulf of Corinth: 2011 Publications

    We conclude the  2011 publications series today with recent publications on the Gulf of Corinth and the geology of the Isthmus.  Most of these publications concern tectonic activity or the study of the Corinth Rift.  But there are a few odds and ends thrown in the mix.  This list will live at this page for…

  • Corinthian Scholarship (November)

    Hard to believe that December is already here – quite a lot of new scholarship delivered electronically in November.  Bronze Age Erika Weiberg, “The invisible dead : The case of the Argolid and Corinthia during the Early Bronze Age,” in Helen Cavanagh, William Cavanagh and James Roy (eds.), Honouring the Dead in the Peloponnese: Proceedings…

  • Beachrock

    “Beachrock” at the western entrance to the Corinth canal, covering the loading platform of the diolkos road.  The authors of the Lechaion tsunami theory (discussed yesterday) have suggested this rock represents “calcified tsunamigenic deposit” caused by a tsunami sometime after the first century AD (Hadler et al. 2011, p. 72).  The beachrock runs 300 m…

  • Did a tsunami destroy ancient Lechaion?

    In early July, Andreas Vött and his colleagues announced that sometime in the 6th century AD, a tsunami destroyed ancient Olympia, the famous site of pan-Hellenic athletic contests.   In considering recent scholarship on historical tsunamis in the Gulf of Corinth, I pondered here at Corinthianmatters whether there was any evidence for tsunamis in the Corinthia. …

  • Corinthian Scholarship (October)

    Bronze Age A recent M.S. thesis on the site of Kalamianos in the the southern Corinthia: some beautiful images of the site: Peter Dao, “Marine Geophysical and Geomorphic Survey of Submerged Bronze Age Shorelines and Anchorage sites at Kalamianos (Korphos, Greece),” M.S. Thesis, McMaster University 2011. Archaic-Hellenistic Some Corinthian B amphoras in: Brendan P. Foley,…

  • Histories of Peirene

    There are no monuments of ancient Corinth more famous and iconic than the Fountain of Peirene.  Any modern visitor who has wandered among the ruins will likely have shot a photo like the one below of the Roman spring facade and court.  And anyone who walks into a tourist shop will have seen plenty of…

  • Tsunamis in the Gulf of Corinth

    When the terrible tsunami hit the northeast coast of Japan six months ago, I couldn’t stop following the media coverage of the sheer destruction.  I was glued to the unfolding event all the more as I watched friends in Hawaii update their facebook statuses and followed the status of my brother-in-law, who had just started…