Ancient Corinth Research Articles

POTTERS AT WORK IN ANCIENT CORINTH: INDUSTRY, RELIGION, AND THE PENTESKOUPHIA PINAKES. By EleniHasaki. Hesperia Supplement 51. Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2021. Pp. 448; figures. Paperback, $75.00.

POTTERS AT WORK IN ANCIENT CORINTH: INDUSTRY, RELIGION, AND THE PENTESKOUPHIA PINAKES. By EleniHasaki. Hesperia Supplement 51. Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2021. Pp. 448; figures. Paperback, $75.00.

:Potters at Work in Ancient Corinth: Industry, Religion, and the Penteskouphia Pinakes

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Local Utilitarian Pottery at Ancient Corinth: Differences in Materials and Diachronic Changes

ABSTRACT: This article explores the chemical-element composition of a wide range of local domestic wares (late 6th century b.c. to early 4th century a.d.). Using instrumental neutron activation analysis and two statistical approaches, we examine whether function or date explains variations in the chemical groups we found and if they match their archaeological labels. The initial choice of ceramic pastes (cooking fabric or buff ware) relates to function, but within those main categories, vessel function did not affect grouping. Fabrics did vary with time. Such changes do not occur at the same time in the cooking and buff wares, nor do they correlate well with the political history of the city.

Administrative Sciences and their Origin in Ancient Corinth (*)

During Periander’s reign (c. 627–585 BCE), Corinth became the wealthiest city-state in pre-classical Ancient Greece. By relying on reviewing ancient and non-ancient writings about Ancient Corinth, I venture to claim that Periander invented the multi-divisional form of organization. Additionally, I claim that he deserves to be called the Father of Administrative Sciences because, in his attempt to manage the city-state (his organization) efficiently and effectively, he instituted adverse selection and moral hazard minimizing incentive mechanisms. Periander established a classless society and encouraged the creation of new products and services. He promoted competition, efficiency, and fairness. He was against free monopoly and opportunism of any short as well as against waste and luxury. He freed all slaves so that Corinthians focus less on inconsequential endeavors and more on how to sharpen skills and improve know-how to enrich their lives and their city-state. He enabled Corinthians to distribute their products all over the known world by relying on sea trade and trade centers (primary Corinthian colonies) and marketed his city-state products through effective marketing by relying, mainly, on diplomacy. He minted state-sponsored metal coin money which became the most popular medium of exchange in trade dealings across the Mediterranean Basin. Furthermore, he required sellers to issue receipts and pay taxes above a certain level of revenue. Undoubtedly, during Periander’s 40 years of reign, materially, culturally, and aesthetically, Ancient Corinth became the Shining City on a Hill.

Multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental record of coastal tectonic uplift and abandonment (ca. 6th c. CE) of Lechaion's inner harbour, ancient Corinth, Greece

Lechaion's inner harbour basin was constructed in the 7th-6th c. BCE and served as Corinth's principal port for over a millennium. The harbour decline and abandonment in the 6th c. CE has been attributed to several causes: natural siltation, co-seismic uplift, coastal subsidence, and damage by tsunami impacts. A multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental study was conducted on seven cores from Lechaion's inner harbour to determine changes in the coastal environments and timing and cause of harbour abandonment. Palaeoenvironments were reconstructed using high-resolution micro-XRF core scanning of sedimentary facies, isotopic (δ18O, δ13C), and micropalaeontological analyses (foraminifera, palynomorphs).The harbour lithostratigraphy consists of an uppermost (∼1 m) sequence of laminated mud and marl overlying interbedded pebbly sand and mud containing abundant marine microfossils and Roman pottery refuse. A thin (<12 cm) calcrete layer at the base of the marl defines a basin-wide paraconformity, marking a transition from a marine-estuarine harbour basin to a restricted, evaporitic lake. Basin restriction is recorded by a sharp decline in terrigenous elements (Si, Ti, K, Fe), increased Sr, δ18O, a decline in foraminifera and marine dinoflagellate cysts, and an increase in freshwater algae. The event is constrained by AMS 14C age modelling to the 6th c. CE and interpreted as rapid, co-seismic uplift of the harbour floor, most likely during destructive earthquakes of 524 and 551/552 CE. These seismic events have been linked to a ∼1.1 m uplift of the nearby Perachora Peninsula and sediment liquefaction structures on-site. No evidence was found for 2nd c. BCE or 6th c. CE tsunami events proposed in previous work. This study represents the most comprehensive geoarchaeological study completed to date in Lechaion's inner harbour and confirms its destruction and abandonment in the 6th c. CE as a result of co-seismic uplift and rapid shoaling of the inner basin.

Provenance Investigation of Three Marble Relief Sculptures from Ancient Corinth: New Evidence for the Circulation of the White Marble from Mani

Three unique marble relief sculptures of the Roman period from Ancient Corinth were studied using a variety of non‐invasive and minimal invasive techniques. The sculptures are of similar size, relief technique, and distinguished material compared to all other sculptures in Corinth. Thus, apart from the interest in identifying the origin of this distinct marble the question of whether they could belong to the same original monument is raised. To tackle this question, we used: (a) optical examination of the whole objects in‐situ under transmitted light from a standard lumen source and using portable digital microscopes, (b) stable isotopes δ13C and δ18O (IRMS), (c) electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (EPR) and (d) selective thin‐section examination. The results indicated that all three reliefs are made of the same marble. Moreover, their identical isotopic signature signifies that they could even belong to the same block of marble that was used for building the monument. As for the provenance of the marble, detailed treatment of the results concluded that the most likely origin must be the white marble quarries of the Mani peninsula in the Peloponnese. This find provides new evidence for the circulation of white Mani marble in Roman times.

Greek and Latin Inscriptions from Temple Hill, Corinth

This article presents editions of 42 inscribed fragments belonging to 37 different Greek and Latin inscriptions unearthed between 1968 and 1978 on Temple Hill in ancient Corinth. They date from the early 6th century B.C. to the 6th century A.D. and include a new fragment of a previously published sacrificial calendar on stone, a new fragmentary sacrificial calendar on lead, eight new decrees, and several new fragments that join to, or can be associated with, previously published decrees or other kinds of public documents.

Small and Miniature Vases at Ancient Corinth

This study surveys the small and miniature vases from a number of different sanctuaries and burials in ancient Corinth from the later 7th century B.C. on, in order to determine which shapes appear where and when. Their contexts and chronology identify the variation in types, important for understanding cult rituals. Some misconceptions about miniatures are addressed: they were not for poor people or children, nor were they substitutes for their larger prototypes. Their supposed low value is in fact fundamental for their meaning, as several ancient writers suggest. Because they are inexpensive, offered anonymously, and nonfunctioning as vases, they are special-gifts for the gods.

Guy D. R. Sanders, Jennifer Palinkas, Ioulia Tzonou-Herbst, with James Herbst. Ancient Corinth: Site Guide, 7th Edition. pp. 208, with col. plates. 2018. Princeton NJ: The American School of Classical Studies at Athens. ISBN 978-0-87661-661-1, hardcover

Since the beginning of the excavations in Ancient Corinth by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1896, a multi-period, intricate stratigraphy of the urban landscape of this site has been unravelled. This century-long history of excavations in Ancient Corinth has been previously disseminated by six editions of the site guide published by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Previous editions were curated by the ASCSA director Rhys Carpenter in 1928 and in 1933; the scholar Charles Morgan in 1936; Oscar Broneer in 1947 and 1951, whose 1951 edition was revisited by Robert Scranton in 1954; and, finally, Corinth director Henry Robinson in 1960.

Ian McPhee and Elizabeth G. Pemberton. Late Classical Pottery from Ancient Corinth, Drain 1971-1 in the Forum Southwest. Corinth VII.6. pp. 400, 80 ills, 4- plates, 18 charts. 2012. Princeton NJ: American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

Volume VII.6, late Classical Pottery from Corinth, is another fine addition to the American School at Athens Corinth Excavation series. McPhee and Pemberton present in this volume the ceramic material (plus other artefacts) associated with Drain 1971-1 excavated in the southwestern area of Corinth’s Roman forum. The material attested in this deposit has been dated to the latter part of the 4th century BC and is expertly presented by the authors. Corinth VII.6, therefore, further enhances our understanding of ceramic developments at Corinth during the late Classical/early Hellenistic period, a timeframe of great geo-political change, not necessarily reflected as McPhee &amp; Pemberton assert in the use of ceramic utensils by Corinth’s inhabitants.

Corinth, 2018: Northeast of the Theater

The 2018 excavations at ancient Corinth opened up a new area of exploration northeast of the ancient theater. Part of a major east–west road dating from the 3rd to the 5th or 6th century A.D. was revealed. South of the road were remains of a substantial Roman building, the walls of which were extensively plundered in the 6th century or later, although portions of three rooms provide evidence of elaborate pavements that appear to be Early Roman. A few lower strata with predominantly Hellenistic pottery and mixed fills with redeposited Archaic and Classical sherds suggest that the area may provide an opportunity to explore undisturbed earlier contexts in the future.

Retrospective Photogrammetry in Greek Archaeology

This paper addresses the advantages as well as the obstacles in practicing photogrammetry based on archival photos of archaeological sites and examines how the results can be put to use for further research, preservation, restoration and monitoring rates of deterioration. While the extensive use of historic aerial photographs has been applied to photogrammetric modeling, archaeological excavation archives have been largely ignored. Historically archaeological excavations have been vigorously documented photographically and many of these photographs are available in archives. Not all photo archives are suitable for photogrammetry as they were not photographed with the intention of overlap and other photogrammetric qualities. By selectively choosing photographs with common points and manipulating exposures, cropping and other properties to enhance commonality, 3D models of past structures and excavations can allow us to revisit them, produce accurate measurements and view angles that were never photographed. Some sites are still available for modern comparison and surveying, allowing us to quantitatively compare conditions at the time of excavation with the current state of those sites. Given the right treatment, retrospective photogrammetry will have impacts in the preservation, restoration and monitoring of the deterioration of archaeological sites. Examples from the Athenian Agora: the state prison and Omega House, and Ancient Corinth: the Fountain of the Lamps, will be used to demonstrate these possibilities.

Exploring sex differences in diets and activity patterns through dental and skeletal studies in populations from ancient Corinth, Greece

Sex and temporal differences are assessed in relation to dietary habits and activity patterns in three ancient populations from Corinth, Greece. The skeletal sample spans time from the Geometric to the Early Byzantine Period (9th c. BCE-5th c. CE). Dental caries and tooth wear have been proven to be reliable dietary indicators. Similarly, spinal osteoarthritis, spinal facet remodeling and Schmorl’s nodes, have been used to infer activity patterns.

THE HEIGHT OF DENIER TOURNOIS MINTING IN GREECE (1289–1313) ACCORDING TO NEW ARCHAEOMETRIC DATA

The years 1289–1313 witnessed particularly prolific minting activities at different southern and central Greek mints on behalf of different polities. The coin issues are of great economic and political relevance, and therefore of interest to modern historians. Our understanding of these is based on traditional sources, either numismatic (types and finds), or historical. This paper aims to investigate the possibilities of adding further details to the picture through archaeometry. Specifically, tournois pennies of the three main mints of the region (Clarentza, Thebes, Naupaktos) excavated at Ancient Corinth were analysed according to two different non-destructive methods, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The resulting relative silver percentages and the fingerprints of the trace elements have supported our attempts to put the different coin types in chronological order and to add detail to the context and intent for each one of these. A vivid picture of monetary production emerges. The different issuing authorities were usually intent on maintaining a decent standard while variously trying to put pressure on rivals or to harmonise their productions with their allies. All the analysed mints were commercial in character, though they were subject to the great political changes affecting Greece in this period, the ambitions of the Angevin dynasty, the various challenges which it faced in Athens, the Peloponnese and the western Mainland, and finally the destructive arrival of the Catalans. In times of need, specifically military, these same mints could therefore rely on further bullion which reached them through internal or external political channels.

Cutting down the tallest ears of grain: archaeological evidence for tyranny and sumptuary law in ‘wealthy’ Corinth

In one of his few references to the city of Ancient Corinth, Homer described it as wealthy, ‘aphneios.’ Yet archaeological investigation has exposed a city lacking great numbers of lavish offerings and monumental temples in the Greek periods. Explanations for this anomaly have included the Mummian destruction of the city in 146 BC, when Roman looting could have removed evidence for wealth, or the argument that the agora of Corinth has yet to be located. In a 1996 article Elizabeth Pemberton argued that the lack of opulent dedications in Corinth was because the early community made the choice to offer only goods made from that which they had. Local resources were primarily limited to wood, clay, and limestone. Since resources for marble, gold, and other metals are lacking in the Corinthia, she proposed that the city chose not to make offerings from such materials.

Christian prisoners: fifth and sixth century inscriptions from Corinth

Among the inscriptions from Corinth (in publication), there are graffiti carved into the floor of a prison in Corinth. They shed interesting light on the hopes, beliefs and opinions of Christians from late antiquity. This study offers an overview of the insights to be gained from these graffiti. Now that IG IV² 3 Fasc. 3. Inscriptiones Corinthi, regionis Corinthiae is available, the evidence on Christian prisoners in the later Roman Empire will be easily accessible. 2 The texts consist of graffiti on limestone floor tiles. They were found at the back of the “Boudroumi” arches. 3 The vaults were shops north-west of the agora of ancient Corinth. Currently, these fragments of the limestone slabs that are still available are kept in the museum’s storerooms.

Technology issues of Byzantine glazed pottery from Corinth, Greece

A large assemblage of Byzantine glazed pottery from ancient Corinth, Greece was analysed by a multi-technique analytical approach in order to determine the production technology. The samples cover a long time period (10th–14th c. CE) and a wide range of the most representative wares and classes. SEM/EDS, a standard non-invasive microscopy and analytical technique, was applied in combination with Raman spectroscopy and assisted with advanced, high precision techniques (PGAA, milli-PIXE) in order to examine the ceramic body, the glaze and the clay-glaze interface of the samples. Parameters of the manufacturing process, such as the selection of clay sources, the glaze recipe, the glaze application technique and the glaze firing temperature, were examined using a combination of statistical tools and methodologies. This work comprises the first large scale physicochemical analysis of Byzantine glazed ceramics from Greece, providing information on the composition and technology of all of the major typological categories of Medieval Greek glazed ceramics. Furthermore, it highlights the significant socioeconomic changes that occurred at the -beginning of the 13th c. CE in the Byzantine Empire and their consequences in the manufacturing and distribution system of glazed ceramics.

THE ART OF IMPLEMENTING SFM FOR RECONSTRUCTION OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN GREECE: PRELIMINARY APPLICATIONS OF CYBER-ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORDING AT CORINTH

Author(s): Levy, TE; Vincent, ML; Howland, M; Kuester, F; Smith, NG | Abstract: Cyber-archaeology represents the marriage of archaeology, computer science, engineering, and the natural sciences with the aim of taking advantage of constantly evolving technologies for digital data capture, curation, analyses and dissemination. Digital data collection tools are perhaps the most rapidly changing arenas of development in cyber-archaeology and are becoming affordable tools for every archaeologist. In this paper, we examine two users’ approaches to produce point cloud models of archaeological sites using structure from motion (SfM) photography. The experiment took place at the Fountain of Peirene in ancient Corinth, Greece. Their implementation of the technology and their results are compared to highlight the very important role the photo-shooting session can play in the final outcome of the SfM reconstruction. We correlate the users’ approaches to the applied algorithms’ robust features and known limitations to provide a technical explanation of how archaeologists can significantly improve their success in SfM. As new algorithms and software emerge making SfM a common tool in archaeological documentation the methodology presented in this paper will enable archaeologists to meet the high demand for digital documentation on a global scale.

Geophysical investigation for the detection of liquefaction phenomena in an archaeological site, Lechaion, Greece

The area of Lechaion located in the northeastern part of the Peloponnese (Greece) is of great archaeological interest because it represents the western harbor of ancient Corinth and includes the remains of an early Christian basilica destroyed during a series of earthquakes in the sixth century AD. Numerous depressions and buckling structures of circular and linear geometry observed on the decorated floor of the basilica are indicative of ground deformation processes possibly related to earthquake-induced ground liquefaction. Electromagnetic (with a conductivity meter), ground penetrating radar (GPR) (with 250 MHz shielded antenna), and electric (ERT) methods have been applied in an effort to study the properties of the substratum and to identify indicative features related to ground liquefaction phenomena. The electromagnetic survey that was used as a reconnaissance method with both coil orientations provided valuable information through data processing, identifying zones of higher conductivity that favor liquefaction, or even the detection of the features themselves. The GPR method detected vertical zones that could represent sand vents either directly with multiple diffractions or indirectly through severe wave attenuation and reduction of the anomaly intensity due to finer sand and increased water saturation. Finally, the ERT method detected layering and the geologic status of the survey area but more importantly, it successfully detected narrow vertical zones of lower resistivity at shallow depths corresponding to sand vents via distinct variations in grain size and permeability. This combination of geophysical methods has successfully detected the dominant trend of east-northeastern–west-southwestern direction and a minor vertical one of north-northwestern–south-southeastern direction of surface depressions caused by liquefaction and generally can successfully provide valuable information on the extent and characteristics of ground liquefaction features in areas of geotechnical or archaeological interest located in regions of intense seismic activity.

The Archaic Colonnade at Ancient Corinth: A Case of Early Roman Spolia

Although it is rarely discussed, a row of badly worn Archaic-period columns that lines the western side of the Upper Forum of ancient Corinth holds the potential to speak volumes about several periods in the long architectural history of the site. First fully exposed in 1933, this colonnade stretches northward from the northwest corner of the South Stoa to a point just west of the Central Shops that divide the Upper and Lower Forums of the Roman colony. Archaeologists have consistently noted that the details of these columns indicate they had once served as the interior colonnade for the nearby sixth-century B.C.E. Temple of Apollo. Additional excavation in this area in the 1970s has shown that they were reerected in their present location sometime in the middle of the first century C.E. This article offers a more careful examination of the colonnade in both its primary and secondary contexts. There is much this structure can reveal about the Archaic-period temple both before and after the destruction of Corinth in 146 B.C.E., the appearance of the western end of the Roman forum, and the practice of architectural reuse in the Roman era. Additional figures can be found under this article's abstract on AJA Online.