Corinthian Matters

Category: Isthmus

  • 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…

  • Ancient Corinth: 2011 Publications

    I finally had time this week to gather together the 2011 publications for various aspects of Corinth’s history.  The first installment today includes about 3 dozen publications related to the history and archaeology of Corinth in antiquity, i.e., from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity.  I will follow the rest of the week with sections…

  • Abstracts of the AIA / APA 2012 Meetings

    I had planned to post reviews of the AIA / APA meetings a little more than a week ago, but illness and the preparations for a new semester sapped all my momentum.  I have a lot of material in the queue including December scholarship monthly and the scholarship rolls of 2011 which I hope to…

  • A Paper on Corinthian Peasants

    Among the gaggle of Corinthian papers at this year’s Archaeological Institute of America/American Philological Associate Annual Meeting is a paper that David Pettegrew and I offer on peasants in the Corinthian countryside for a joint APA/AIA panel organized by Kim Bowes and Cam Grey from the University of Pennsylvania. (I’ve been blogging about this topic for some…

  • Hexamilion

    The trans-Isthmus “Hexamilion” wall, running 7 kilometers across the Isthmus of Corinth, constructed in the 5th century AD, with later episodic refurbishments.  In the day of its construction, it must have fundamentally altered the human landscape, the regional economy, and the local demands for labor.  Photos by D. Pettegrew 2005 and 2007.      …

  • Problematizing Peasants in the Corinthian Countryside

    As readers of this blog know, David Pettegrew and I are working on a paper on peasants in the Corinthian countryside. We’ll give the paper at the 113th AIA/APA Joint Annual Meeting in early January in Philadelphia (or at least David will!) in a panel organized by Kim Bowes and Cam Grey.  I’ve been mulling…

  • 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…

  • A Southern View of the Isthmus

    Lychnari Bay and Vayia in the southern Corinthia, with the flattened Isthmus against an abrupt limestone mountain (Gerania) in the distance (Photo D. Pettegrew 6-29-09)

  • 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,…

  • The Vampire on the Isthmus: A Halloween Tale

    It is hard to know why ancient writers found Corinth and its territory a region suitable for placing ghosts, witches, and vampires, and whether the region was any more haunted than other towns and countrysides of the ancient world.  The destruction of Corinth by the Romans in 146 BC made the city a gloomy ghost…