Karystos

Figurines féminines d’Eubée (Grèce) de l’époque classique et hellénistique. Usages votifs et funéraires
Les figurines recueillies depuis le xixe s. sur les principaux sites d’Eubée, Chalcis, Érétrie, Histiaia-Oreos et Karystos, sont examinées ici en fonction de leur context de trouvaille. De nombreuses figurines féminines des ve et ive s. av. J.-C., dont les
types iconographiques apparaissent parfois sur plusieurs sites, comme les protomés, les courotrophes, les figures juvéniles debout ou assises et les acteurs comiques dans des rôles féminins, ont été trouvées aussi bien dans des tombes que dans des sanctuaires d’Eubée : elles prouvent que les mêmes ateliers répondaient aux différents besoins du marché, en vue d’une destination funéraire aussi bien que votive. Certaines figurines élaborées ont peut-être fait l’objet de commandes spéciales : elles manifestaient le statut de l’élite locale à la fois dans des contextes sacrés et profanes.

Female figurines of Classical and Hellenistic times from Euboea. An exploration of their votive and funerary uses. 
This study examines the figurines collected since the 19th century from the main sites of Euboea – Chalkis, Eretria, Histiaia-Oreos, and Karystos – within the context of their archaeological findspots. In the 5th-4th c. BC, certain types of female figurines
attested at multiple sites – including protomai, kourotrophoi, standing and seated juvenile figures, and comic actors in female roles – appear both in graves and sanctuaries in Euboea. Such finds prove that the same workshops catered to a range of
different consumer needs, producing objects that could be funerary as well as votive in function. Some elaborate figurines may represent special orders, demonstrating the status of local elite groups in both sacred and profane contexts.

"Karystos revisited: Interaction networks of an Aegean island polity (sources and finds)".
Due to geographical and other reasons, connectivity or isolation are two of a large number of lenses one can use to explore political, religious and economic aspects of life in an ancient city through study of relevant finds. Cult is connected to polis identity, since what was religious and what was political were never quite separate in ancient Greek cities. Karystos, as one of the main Euboean city-states, is in this paper shown to have participated in a number of religious, political and trade networks that expanded for large part in the Aegean region and centered on Athens and Delos, as well as on Delphi in the mainland. An attempt is therefore made to revisit the cultic landscape of the polis of Karystos through a presentation of some of its attested relations to sanctuaries in other poleis and regional or Pan-Hellenic sanctuaries. In some aspects, local cult and trade relations are shown to have often co-existed, together with realistic political responses in cases polis survival or autonomy was threatened.

A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF THE ARCHAIC POTTERY FROM EUBOEA
A small number of representative vases of the archaic period from Euboea are presented in this paper.
Οld finds in the National Archaeological Museum, as well as new discoveries from recent excavations in Karystos
are included too. The Euboean ceramic corpus was firstly studied by Kourouniotis, Boardman, Bothmer,
Ure, Kilinsky, Metzger, Descoeudres and others.
A new find from Karystos, an archaic pithos-amphora with the depiction of a siren, with close Corinthian
and Protoattic parallels is described. Setting that as a starting point, an overview of some of the known
data on the archaic Euboean ceramic production, including reference to the local Orientalising - Corinthianizing,
Atticizing ware as well as Attic and Corinthian imports found in the main cities of the island, Chalkis,
Eretria and Karystos is attempted. Moreover, a brief recapitulation of certain aspects of archaic euboean ceramic
production is provided, focusing on the vases ascribed to the Dolphin Group.
In short, new data on finds from old and recent excavations in Euboean sites can be added to the Euboean
corpus, as well as to a tentative catalogue of Attic, Corinthian and other imports to this island, leading to fresh
stimuli for research and study. This paper provides a preliminary and brief update of some features of the
Euboean ceramic production of the 6th century B.C., bringing into the discussion finds from Karystos, aiming
at underscoring the variety and adaptability of the expressive means of some ceramic workshops active in
the main city-states of the island during the same period.
Dr Maria Chidiroglou
National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece.

As of 2009 the Ephorate of Antiquities of Euboea (former 11th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities) has been working in collaboration with the VU University Amsterdam on a fieldwork and excavation project centring on the archaeological site of Plakari at Karystos in Southern Euboea. The earliest signs of occupation on the site date to the Final Neolithic period. During the Early Iron Age the site accommodated a cult place that dates back to the 11th century BC. Based on the study of finds, cultic activities on the site seem to have continued in later periods too.
The ceramic finds discussed in the article were found during the excavation seasons of 2011 and 2012 mainly on the floor layers of a small building (Building A) in the site. A number of representative vases and lamps are presented in the article. They are black-glazed, banded and plain oinochoai, jugs, skyphoi, cups, one-handlers and handleless bowls, one fish-plate, a lid with relief decoration, one lekythos and one incense burner, as well as some plain lamps. A number of the vases bear graffiti that have been examined in the article as bearing witness to cultic and sympotic activities performed in the site. The study of the assemblage aims to assess dating of Building A, as well as to ascertain some of the traits of the local ceramic production of the 5th and 4th centuries BC, taking in view influences South Euboean pottery workshops appear to have received from Athens, Chalcis, Eretria and other regions.

τhe aim of this paper is to present the current status of the study of the Christian monuments in Euboea and to summarize current issues for future researchers. We should take into consideration the lack of monuments from certain periods, the sometimes obscure chronological terminology, the shortage of a critical overview of the material already published, as well as the tendency for damnatio memoriae. Finally, there is also a great volume of unpublished material. In view of these facts, one can easily understand why Early Christian and Byzantine Euboea represents almost a blank page in our knowledge of Byzantine Greece, with the exception of the period of Venetian dominion over the island (1204-1470). The absence of a local Ephorate for Byzantine Monuments before 2005 has played a not-insignificant role in this defective situation. The Early Christian Period (4th century AD-AD 565) is characterized by the lack of archaeological evidence for the majority of its Christian centres (Ch...