A Resource for the Study of the Corinthia, Greece
This fourth installment in a series of bibliographic reports for 2015 focuses on post-antique bibliography. Download the report as PDF here:
The first three 2015 Bibliographic Reports:
A Companion to Latin Greece, recently published by Brill, offers 11 essays that provide “an introduction to the study of Latin Greece and a sampler of the directions in which the field of research is moving.” Edited by Nickiphoros Tsougarakis and Peter Lock, the work surveys society, culture, and economy in Greece from the 12th to 14th century (with occasional forays beyonds). As the abstract / book description notes:
“The conquest of the Byzantine Empire by the armies of the Fourth Crusade resulted in the foundation of several Latin political entities in the lands of Greece. The Companion to Latin Greece offers thematic overviews of the history of the mixed societies that emerged as a result of the conquest. With dedicated chapters on the art, literature, architecture, numismatics, economy, social and religious organisation and the crusading involvement of these Latin states, the volume offers an introduction to the study of Latin Greece and a sampler of the directions in which the field of research is moving.”
Sharon Gerstel’s review of the work in Medieval Review does note the lack of substantial discussion and exploration of archaeological evidence from either excavations or surveys, but concludes positively that
What this volume makes clear is the central importance of Latin Greece to the study of the Mediterranean and, indeed, to the study of late medieval and Early Modern Europe. The region’s enduring ties to both the West and Byzantium, its role in agricultural production and the exportation of vital commodities, its mixed population, and its multiple religious confessions, place Latin Greece at the center of current discourses about identity, networks, and globalism. Providing an impressive range of materials, this volume challenges the reader to think critically about local and regional transformations at a time of political uncertainty.
For further information:
The American School of Classical Studies Excavations at Corinth announced on Friday the conclusion to their 2015 season which focused this season on continuing excavation in the Frankish quarters, conservation of the Good Luck mosaic, excavation in the area of South Stoa, 3D scans of the Fountain of Peirene, among others. Here’s the news release from Friday:
Our 2015 excavation season at Corinth has come to a successful end as the third session supervisors, Emilio Rodriguez-Alvarez, Phil Katz, and Anna Marie Sitz, wrap up their final reports over the next week. Evidence for the construction date of the Church in the Frankish area will be bolstered by the large numbers of coins retrieved. Elina Salminen excavated and studied burials from the area. Larkin Kennedy acted as the site supervisor and Rossana Valente assisted in the pottery sheds. Conservation and anastylosis also continue in the Frankish area. In the Agonotheteion of the South Stoa excavation reached bedrock in preparation for the resetting of the Eutychia mosaic. Conservation work in the South Stoa, generously funded by the Stockman Family Foundation, continues. Currently Colin Wallace is using photogrammetry to record the 37 mosaic panels. Also during the final session we received a visit from Scott Lee and Matthew Strahan of Cyark who scanned the fountain of Peirene in 3D. Thus, 102 years after Carl Blegan and Emerson Swift slid through the wet muddy tunnels with compass, measuring rod, and candles floating on boards, this old fountain was recorded by archaeologists in yet another fashion.
Related Stories:
Here is the second part to last week’s post about new scholarship in the last three months.
You can find the full collection of articles and books related to Corinthian studies at the Corinthian Studies Zotero Page. If you don’t see URLs for articles and books below (they sometimes don’t transfer in the copy), visit the Zotero group page. The new entries are tagged according to master categories .ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY or .NEW TESTAMENT AND EARLY CHRISTIAN.
As I noted previously, Version 2 of the library in RIS format is scheduled to be released by summer. I am always looking for reviewers of articles or books listed in the CSM posts. If you can write and are qualified, drop me a line.
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Adams, Edward. The Earliest Christian Meeting Places: Almost Exclusively Houses? A&C Black, 2014. http://books.google.com/books?id=FNBBAgAAQBAJ.
Angeli Bernardini, Paola, ed. Corinto: luogo di azione e luogo di racconto : atti del convengo internazionale, Urbino, 23-25 settembre 2009. Pisa [etc.]: F. Serra, 2013. http://www.libraweb.net/result1.php?dettagliononpdf=1&chiave=2848&valore=sku&name=Luogo.jpg&h=870&w=600.
Balzat, Jean-Sébastien, and Benjamin W. Millis. “M. Antonius Aristocrates: Provincial Involvement with Roman Power in the Late 1st Century B.C.” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 82, no. 4 (December 2013): 651–72. doi:10.2972/hesperia.82.4.0651.
Batchvarov, Kroum N. “Clay Pipes and Smoking Paraphernalia from the Kitten Shipwreck, an Early Nineteenth-Century Black Sea Merchantman.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 18, no. 1 (March 1, 2014): 1–19. doi:10.1007/s10761-013-0244-z.
Bradshaw, Paul F. Rites of Ordination: Their History and Theology. Liturgical Press, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=shQpnQEACAAJ.
Çakırlar, C., S. Ikram, and M-H. Gates. “New Evidence for Fish Processing in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean: Formalised Epinephelus Butchery in Fifth Century Bc Kinet Höyük, Turkey.” International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, January 1, 2014, n/a–n/a. doi:10.1002/oa.2388.
Docter, Roald, and Babette Bechtold. “Two Forgotten Amphorae from the Hamburg Excavations at Carthage (Cyprus, and the Iberian Peninsula) and Their Contexts.” Carthage Studies 5 (2011) (2013): 91–128.
Forbes, Hamish A. “Off-Site Scatters and the Manuring Hypothesis in Greek Survey Archaeology: An Ethnographic Approach.” Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens 82, no. 4 (December 2013): 551–94. doi:10.2972/hesperia.82.4.0551.
Hall, Jonathan M. Artifact and Artifice: Classical Archaeology and the Ancient Historian. University of Chicago Press, 2014.
Heil, Andreas, and Gregor Damschen, eds. Brill’s Companion to Seneca: Philosopher and Dramatist. Leiden: Brill, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=9jqOAgAAQBAJ.
Jones, Catherine M. “Theatre of Shame: The Impact of Paul’s Manual Labour on His Apostleship in Corinth.” PhD Thesis, University of St. Michael’s College, 2013. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/43420.
Laios, K., G. Tsoucalas, M. Karamanou, and G. Androutsos. “The Medical–Religious Practice of Votive Offerings and the Representation of a Unique Pathognomonic One Inside the Asclepieion of Corinth.” Journal of Religion and Health, 2013, 1–6. doi:10.1007/s10943-013-9811-1.
Lambert, Craig. “Norman Naval Operations in the Mediterranean.” Journal for Maritime Research 15, no. 2 (2013): 241–43. doi:10.1080/21533369.2013.852314.
Last, Richard. “Money, Meals and Honour: The Economic and Honorific Organization of the Corinthian Ekklesia.” PhD Thesis, University of Toronto, 2013.
Nichols, Aidan. Figuring out the Church: Her Marks, and Her Masters. Ignatius Press, 2013.
Polinskaya, Irene. A Local History of Greek Polytheism: Gods, People and the Land of Aigina, 800-400 BCE. Leiden: Brill, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=8FqNAgAAQBAJ.
Punt, Jeremy. “Framing Human Dignity through Domination and Submission? Negotiating Borders and Loyalties (of Power) in the New Testament.” Scriptura 112 (2013): 1–17. doi:10.7833/112-0-82.
Reed, David Alan. “Paul on Marriage and Singleness: Reading 1 Corinthians with the Augustan Marriage Laws.” PhD Thesis, University of St. Michael’s College, 2013. https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/43426/1/Reed_David_A_201311_PhD_thesis.pdf.
Rowan, Clare. “Coinage as Commodity and Bullion in the Western Mediterranean, Ca. 550–100 BCE.” Mediterranean Historical Review 28, no. 2 (2013): 105–27. doi:10.1080/09518967.2013.837638.
Saliari, Konstantina, and Erich Draganits. “Early Bronze Age Bone Tubes from the Aegean: Archaeological Context, Use and Distribution.” Archeometriai Műhely [Archaeometry Workshop], 2013, 179–92.
Schoenborn, Christoph Cardinal. The Source of Life: Exploring the Mystery of the Eucharist. Ignatius Press, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=oydLAgAAQBAJ.
Spinks, Bryan D. Do This in Remembrance of Me: The Eucharist from the Early Church to the Present Day. SCM Press, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=-309AgAAQBAJ.
Stoneman, Richard. Pindar. I.B.Tauris, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=jwlgAgAAQBAJ.
Thiessen, Matthew. “‘The Rock Was Christ’: The Fluidity of Christ’s Body in 1 Corinthians 10.4.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 36, no. 2 (December 1, 2013): 103–26. doi:10.1177/0142064X13506171.
Toffolo, Michael B., Alexander Fantalkin, Irene S. Lemos, Rainer C. S. Felsch, Wolf-Dietrich Niemeier, Guy D. R. Sanders, Israel Finkelstein, and Elisabetta Boaretto. “Towards an Absolute Chronology for the Aegean Iron Age: New Radiocarbon Dates from Lefkandi, Kalapodi and Corinth.” PLoS ONE 8, no. 12 (December 26, 2013): e83117. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0083117.
Wallace, Christopher. “Ager Publicus in the Greek East: I. Priene 111 and Other Examples of Resistance to the Publicani.” Historia 63, no. 1 (2014): 38–73.
———. “Ager Publicus in the Greek East: I. Priene 111 and Other Examples of Resistance to the Publicani.” Historia 63, no. 1 (2014): 38–73.
Walsh, Justin St P. Consumerism in the Ancient World: Imports and Identity Construction. Routledge, 2013. http://books.google.com/books?id=XU83AgAAQBAJ.
Let’s face it. Excavation is pretty boring. Hours of tedium, careful digging, and extensive notetaking with occasional glorious bursts of finds and findings (and often: nothing or very little at all). I admit that I still like the process of excavation and get enthusiastic about the prospects of discoveries that change the way we think about the local past – even when we are finding nothing.
Watching the videocast of the open meeting of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens at Athens is like watching a series of ‘highlights’ clips of a sporting event, say, basketball in March Madness (or, perhaps more accurately, like an average basketball game during regular season since the March Madness games tend to keep the attention). In these open meetings, the director offers a lecture of archaeological research in the past year both directly sponsored by the school (Corinth and Athens) and fieldwork conducted by the school’s affiliated institutions.
This year’s clip from Director James Wright gives an overview of the work of the school in 2014 and is followed by Merle Langdon’s lecture on “Rupestral Inscriptions in the Greek World”.
The bit on Corinth runs from 5:24 to 8:48 and surveys the programs of preservation and education, including plans for restoration of the Peirene Fountain and South Stoa (with discussion of the famous agonothetes / Isthmian games mosaic), excavations south of the South Stoa (which came down upon 11th century AD fills, a late antique house, and some earlier Roman levels), conservation of the Frankish city just outside of the museum, and educational programs with area schools.
Beyond Corinth, the lecture surveys recent fieldwork in the Athenian agora (near the Stoa Poikile), the Molyvoti Peninsula (in Thrace), Samothrace, Halai, Mitrou, among many others. My video crashed about the 27 minute mark yesterday so I’m not sure what lies beyond.
The annual report of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens has recently been released. Plenty of Corinthiaka inside, including a report on the 2013 field season at Corinth, and wider work in the region. Here is a snippet:
“Excavations at Corinth during 2012–13 continued under the direction of Guy D.R. Sanders, with Ioulia Tzonou Herbst serving as Assistant Director and James Herbst as Architect.
Excavations again concentrated immediately south of the South Stoa, where early sixth century a.d. levels of disturbance may be a consequence of the earthquake of ca. 525 a.d. In another area, a small votive deposit of the fourth century b.c. included an Early Archaic iron object embellished with gold and silver. A third area provided valuable evidence of
eleventh century a.d. occupation.In June, work on the conservation and consolidation of the Frankish Area south of the Corinth Museum continued with completion of the work on Unit 1, consisting of 14 architectural spaces covering an area of 825 m2. Conservation of the tile floors will be done at a later stage. Work also began on Unit 2, the monastic complex…”
Read the rest here (see pp. 8-10).
The Canadian Institute in Greece recently announced a new digital tool called “Portal to the Past: Digital Archive of Archaeological Projects and Research.” According to the press release posted on the Canadian Institute website,
“The user will find detailed information pertaining to all 18 field projects that have been undertaken during the CIG’s history. These projects cover Greece from north to south, east to west and span from the 9th millennium BCE to the 20th century CE. However, within the framework of each project the visitor will also find a wealth of information including details about each project, directors, publications, excavated material, photographs, and much more. A scan of the various “about” pages at the Portal will explain the purposes of each of the main areas of the site, although the most interesting way to see what’s there is to just start clicking!”
The portal website also notes about the project:
A generous grant from Thracean Gold Mining, S.A., a subsidiary of the Eldorado Gold Corporation (Vancouver), has enabled the Institute to undertake the creation of an interactive website, “Portal to the Past” (or Portal) that highlights the archaeological work of the Canadian Institute in Greece (CIG) since 1980. TheAmbassador of Canada to the Hellenic Republic, Robert W. Peck, was instrumental in creating this opportunity for CIG. This new website is designed to provide a wide audience in Canada and beyond with access to the fieldwork, the finds and the results of the archaeological and scientific research carried out under the auspices of the Canadian Institute in Greece with permits from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. Cultural organizations around the world for the past decade or so have created similar online portals to make their collections accessible to the public.… In making this available online, both the projects and the Institute will receive a broader recognition of the significant work that they have carried out in the past four decades throughout Greece in elucidating the rich cultural heritage of the country. These discoveries span from the Mesolithic period (ca 9th millennium BCE) to the 20th century CE. One can search each component for specific information.
A clickable map shows site and projects, which link to metadata related to the archaeological work: directors, project team, permit type, funding source, project description, and, usefully, project website, and bibliography.
Archaeological projects and sites from the southern Corinthia include the Stymphalos Project, Cistercian Monastery of Zaraka Excavation, Ayia Sotira Cemetery Excavation, and the Underwater Survey of Kalamianos Harbor in the southeast Corinthia.
Dr. Evi Margaritis kindly sent me the following poster (“Exploring the Everyday of Frankish Corinth: Households under the Microscope”) presented at the Byzantium in Transition, 2nd International Workshop. The Middle-Late Byzantine Era, 12th-13th Centuries, held on Paros May 24-26, 2013.
The poster presents Dr. Margaritis’ preliminary comments on her study of plant remains (figs, grapes, barley, wheat) from a pit, well, and house floors in Frankish Corinth and its potential for informing our knowledge of grain processing and daily life in the Frankish period.
I have pasted a JPEG of the poster below, and a pdf version here (better for zooming in). It is exciting that this marks the start of a broad program of archaeobotanical analysis for the historical periods in Corinth. I hope there will be more to share as the studies develop.
Corinthian Matters 
