Corinthian Matters

Category: Sites, Diolkos

  • 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,…

  • Another Article on the Diolkos

    Back in January, I noted another new article on the diolkos of Corinth by Yannis Nakas and D. Koutsoumba forthcoming in the Loutraki volume (more on this soon).  Since then, I’ve been in contact with Yannis Nakas about the piece and his ideas about the diolkos.  Yannis is a maritime archaeologist in Greece and also…

  • 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…

  • The Diolkos: A Significant Technical Achievement of Antiquity

    I wish I had attended that Corinthia Loutraki conference in 2007.  I continue to discover interesting paper titles and abstracts in the forthcoming publication.  I noted previously Hans Lohman’s “Der Diolkos von Korinth — eine antike Schiffsschleppe?.”  And now I learned of another paper on the diolkos titled “The Diolkos: A Significant Technical Achievement of…

  • Glider Flights over the Isthmus

    The revolution of YouTube and video sharing has ushered in a whole new world of viewing the Corinthia.  Already hundreds of videos can be found online related to the site of ancient Corinth—too many, in fact, to be useful to a person interested in ancient Corinth.  I plan at some point to do a series…

  • 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…

  • 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,…

  • Antiquities in the Trash

    Earlier this week, Facebook friends were circulating and commenting on an article in the Greek newspaper Ekathimerini about the ruin of Greek monuments and sites.  In the critical essay, “Greece’s Debt Mirrors Crisis in Cultural Assets,” A. Craig Copetas argues that Greece’s inability to protect and preserve its most important antiquities not only reflects current…

  • Niketas Ooryphas Strikes Again

    This last weekend, I had a chance to go to Chicago, see some old friends, and participate in the Byzantine Studies Conference.  I heard some excellent papers at the BSC including one on the monastic clothing in Byzantium, the historical and linguistic bases for Catholic and Orthodox conflict (with the hope for better modern dialogue),…

  • The Diolkos Petition

    It’s not hard to construct narratives of decline for the paved trans-Isthmus diolkos road.  One only has to compare the monument unearthed by N. Verdelis 50 years ago with modern photos of a road sliding into the canal.  Indeed, Sophia Loverdou has used the tools of social media to launch a “Save the Diolkos” campaign. …