Modern visitors to Mycenae, which will include many classicists, are likely to wonder in amazement at the enormous stone blocks which were piled up to construct the enclosure walls, and may well pause at the Lion Gate to imagine Agamemnon... more
Modern visitors to Mycenae, which will include many classicists, are likely to wonder in amazement at the enormous stone blocks which were piled up to construct the enclosure walls, and may well pause at the Lion Gate to imagine Agamemnon leaving the citadel on his fateful journey to Troy. Modern tourists are but the most recent of generations of travelers who have made their way to this celebrated site since Antiquity. All of these visitors need to find a way to connect their mythological knowledge to the physical remains which they encounter. This article explores the tensions that exist between literary and mythical, and archaeological and material perspectives on ancient Mycenae. By examining the various ways in which visitors have attempted to make sense of the site we aim to provide a more nuanced archaeological interpretation of the ruins and their settings. We argue that meanings emerge from the interplay of mythologies and archaeological remains which are actively connected to each other.
I am going to collect dispersed items of information which clearly refer or seem to be suggestive of the Aeolic, Pergamene or Attalid school of art historians which developed in the first half of the 2 nd century BC and discuss their... more
I am going to collect dispersed items of information which clearly refer or seem to be suggestive of the Aeolic, Pergamene or Attalid school of art historians which developed in the first half of the 2 nd century BC and discuss their idiosyncratic methods and original contribution to the Greek intellectual life of the Hellenistic period. Even the fragmentary history of the Attalid art collections which can be reconstructed from the archaeological data and the scarce information in the literary sources shows that the collections grew as a result of various factors: 1. wartime robbery. 2. purchases of artworks. 3. a well-thought out programme of reproducing original Greek artworks. The Attalids must have had professional art historians at their side as consultants. We can identify two of them by name: Antigonus of Karystos and Polemon of Ilion. A number of passages testify to a lively academic debate between them. In the course of their professional polemics they discussed the problems of authorship and authenticity of artworks, they adduced biographical details in their efforts to establish the personal identities of the artists and paid tribute to their heroes with colourful anecdotes. They attributed artworks to alternative authors. They also constructed complicated genealogical trees of schools of painting and sculpture, along the principle of master/pupil relations. Their epigraphic studies must have been inspired and influenced by the editors of the Aeolic Archaic poets.
Pausanias (ii.25.10), who traveled extensively in Greece in the 2nd century AC, mentioned the existence of two altars of Zeus and Hera on Mount Arachnaion above the village of Lessa in the Argeia of the Greek Peloponessos. Two travellers... more
Pausanias (ii.25.10), who traveled extensively in Greece in the 2nd century AC, mentioned the existence of two altars of Zeus and Hera on Mount Arachnaion above the village of Lessa in the Argeia of the Greek Peloponessos. Two travellers in the early 19th century climbed to ...
An account of the “weeping rock” of Niobe, known to Homer, Pausanias and other classical writers, written for a popular magazine on strange phenomena. It is situated on Mt Sipylus, not far from the town of Manisa (ancient Magnesia ad... more
An account of the “weeping rock” of Niobe, known to Homer, Pausanias and other classical writers, written for a popular magazine on strange phenomena. It is situated on Mt Sipylus, not far from the town of Manisa (ancient Magnesia ad Sipylum).
