In this book, Gabriel Zuchtriegel explores and reconstructs the unwritten history of Classical Greece - the experience of nonelite colonial populations. Using postcolonial critical methods to analyze ...Greek settlements and their hinterlands of the fifth and fourth centuries BC, he reconstructs the social and economic structures in which exploitation, violence, and subjugation were implicit. He mines literary sources and inscriptions, as well as archaeological and data from excavations and field surveys, much of it published here for the first time, that offer new insights into the lives and status of nonelite populations in Greek colonies. Zuchtriegel demonstrates that Greece's colonial experience has far-reaching implications beyond the study of archaeology and ancient history. As reflected in foundational texts such as Plato's 'Laws' and Aristotle's 'Politics', the ideology that sustained Greek colonialism is still felt in many Western societies.
The Tomb of the Diver has been subject for many decades of fierce debate among archaeologists and classicists. Since its discovery in 1968, some scholars have considered it a unique example of the ...lost tradition of Greek painting, others have emphasized Etruscan or Italic parallels. More recently, a possible local production has been suggested. With the aim of trying to solve the archaeological question, an archaeometric comparison among this well-known artwork and several frescoed tombs coming from Hellenistic and Lucan necropolis was carried out. The multi-analytical study was focused on the identification of peculiar features of executive techniques and raw materials since the first period of the archaeological site. The analytical investigation has been preliminary based on a non-destructive approach, performed in-situ by portable equipment including imaging diagnostics and compositional spectroscopic techniques for identifying pigments and the conservation state of original painted surface; subsequently, a further deepening by using destructive techniques was performed in-lab for the mortar-based supports characterization. Archaeometric study suggested that technological choices slightly changed in a time span of about two centuries, highlighting important markers that allow clustering the contemporary artistic productions. Moreover, a comparison with mortars from temples decorations was provided to better understand the whole artistic context. The archaeometric data showed that the Tomb of the Diver could be traced back to a local artisanal tradition and therefore is neither Etruscan nor Greek, but the first and foremost an expression of the local elite culture of Paestum.
The ancient city of Pompeii, destroyed by the 79 CE Plinian eruption of Vesuvius, is one of the most famous archaeological sites worldwide and an open-air laboratory for many disciplines. The ...destruction of Pompeii has so far been reconstructed in terms of a succession of volcanic phenomena and related effects, identified as the accumulation of pumice lapilli on roofs and dynamic pressure exerted by pyroclastic currents on buildings, and neglecting the potential effects of the syn-eruptive seismicity, the occurrence of which is beautifully described by an erudite eyewitness to the catastrophe, Pliny the Younger. During a recent excavation in the Insula dei Casti Amanti , in the central part of Pompeii, the peculiar evidence of building collapses, that overwhelmed two individuals, has been uncovered. The multidisciplinary investigation, involving archaeology, volcanology, and anthropology, gathered information on the construction technique of the masonry structures, the volcanological stratigraphy, the traumatic pattern of bone fractures of the skeletons, along with the detection of the wall displacements, that led to archaeoseismological considerations. The merging of the data has highlighted the need of an updated perspective in the assessment of the damage at Pompeii during the 79 CE eruption, by considering the syn-eruptive seismicity as a factor contributing to the destruction of the city and death of the inhabitants. By comparing the attitude and characteristics of different types of damage, and after ruling out any other possible damaging event, our conclusions point to the occurrence of syn-eruptive earthquake-induced failures of masonry structures. The structural collapses, based on our stratigraphic and volcanological data, are chronologically consistent with the beginning of the caldera-forming phase of the eruption which was accompanied by strong seismic shocks. The crush injuries of the skeletons of the two individuals are consistent with severe compression traumas and analogous to those shown by individuals involved in modern earthquakes testifying that, apart from other volcanic phenomena, the effects of syn-eruptive seismicity may be relevant. These outcomes lay the foundation for a more extensive study concerning the assessment of the contribution of the syn-eruptive seismic destruction at Pompeii and open new perspectives for volcanological, archaeoseismological and paleopathological studies.
Southern Italy is characterized by important archaeological sites developed during the pre-roman period. Among these, Paestum and Velia Archaeological Park, located in the Campania region, represents ...one of the most important and well-preserved sites of the Magna Graecia. During the last year, several unexpected archaeological findings have permitted the supposition of the presence of another undiscovered temple at Paestum, in a not yet investigated area of the site, close to the fortification walls (Western City Walls) of the ancient city and a few meters away from the gate of Porta Marina. To support this amazing hypothesis, the Paestum and Velia Archaeological Park and the National Research Council planned an accurate campaign of geophysical surveys, based on the combined use of Geomagnetic and Ground Penetrating Radar methodologies. The results of the geophysical surveys have effectively supported the detection of the temple, providing detailed information about its location and highlighting the geometry of the basement of the structure with high accuracy. The discovery sheds new light on the archaeological and architectonic history of the site and may represent one of the most relevant archaeological discoveries of the XXI century performed in Italy.
The paper discusses a series of issues linked to the restauration and maintenance of archaeological structures consisting partly or entirely of earth layers and stratigraphic sections. Taking recent ...maintenance work on the theatre of the ancient Greek colony of Velia, southern Italy, as a starting point, the author explores the role of public accessibility for the conservation and perception of archaeological remains and monuments. With regard to ancient theatres, the multisensorial perception of archaeological structures and spaces is highlighted, particularly with regard to acoustics. The paper concludes by advocating an enlarged and inclusive conceptualization of monuments and landscapes in the field of archaeological restauration and conservation that pays attention to the visual, acoustic, and kinetic experience of archaeological sites.
Building on studies emphasizing the discursive nature of ethnicity and culture in ancient Greece, the paper argues that culture and ethnicity were closely linked from the Classical period onward. In ...particular, the author aims to demonstrate that at the time when Isocrates conceptualized for the first time something that resembles the modern notion of “culture” (which he calls paideusis or paideia), the idea of an ethnic dimension of culture was already virulent. Moreover, the link between culture and race was present not only in Isocrates’ writings, but also in the world in which he lived. The analysis of so-called Lucanian tomb paintings from Paestum, southern Italy, suggests that Hellenicity as a concept embracing ethnical, cultural, and political values was spreading beyond Athens and Greece as early as the fourth century BC. In the same period, the figure of the Barbarian as culturally and ethnically inferior also began to spread in non-Greek communities – well before it was adopted by the Roman imperial ideology and iconography.
The paper discusses a series of issues linked to the restauration and maintenance of archaeological structures consisting partly or entirely of earth layers and stratigraphic sections. Taking recent ...maintenance work on the theatre of the ancient Greek colony of Velia, southern Italy as a starting point, the author explores the role of public accessibility for the conservation and perception of archaeological remains and monuments. With regard to ancient theatres, the multisensorial perception of archaeological structures and spaces is highlighted, particularly with regard to acoustics. The paper concludes by advocating an enlarged and inclusive conceptualization of monuments and landscapes in the field of archaeological restauration and conservation that pays attention to the visual, acoustic, and kinetic experience of archaeological sites. Parole chiave Velia, ancient theatres, acoustics, landscape, accessibility
Sin dalla sua scoperta entro una piccola necropoli rurale localizzata a 1,5 km dall'antica Paestum, la Tomba del Tuffatore è stata letta e interpretata nel constesto e negli ambiti dell'arte e della ...cultura "greca" o "etrusca". Questo contributo, invece, presenta nuovi dati che consentirebbero di inquadrare la Tomba del Tuffatore nel filone delle tradizioni artistiche e dei costumi locali. Lo studio di altre tombe affrescate, seppure prive di scene figurate, databili tra il tardo VI e il V secolo a.C., suggerirebbe anche per la Tomba del Tuffatore la possibilità di una rilettura e di una migliore comprensione sullo sfondo della cultura locale della Paestum tardo-arcaica e classica. Al tempo stesso, nella tomba trovano senza dubbio riflesso i trend religiosi, filosofici, artistici e rituali che si verificano su una più vasta scala di orizzonte mediterraneo. Al fine di descrivere la relazione tra i fattori mediterranei e quelli locali, il contributo s'ispira al concetto di 'glocalizzazione' sviluppato in ambito economico, ma che di recente trova applicazione anche negli studi storici e archeologici.
The paper discusses how postcolonial approaches might be applied to the archaeology of the Ionian Coast in southern Italy during the Classical and Hellenistic periods. Until now, postcolonial ...approaches here have been limited largely to so-called « mixed settlements » of the 7th century BC and, to a lesser degree, to the Imperial period. However, postcolonial approaches might also be useful for a better understanding of the Classical and Hellenistic periods, as the author argues. The paper emphasises the role of subaltern and marginalised groups within the scope of postcolonial criticism, and tries to identify such groups in the archaeological and ephigraphical evidence. Furthermore, the author discusses if and how marginalisation and subalternity led to the formation of hybrid identities, for example in the case of rural populations.
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