The Mycenaean center of Iklaina: In the footsteps of the first federation of the western world

Archeologist Michalis Kosmopoulos talks about the new finds at the site where the oldest Linear B tablet was found in 2011, as well as the importance of the Mycenaean center in terms of state organization that "influenced" even the United States.

It is known as the city where the oldest Linear B tablet was found.

And as excavations have progressed over the past 11 years in southwestern Messinia, our knowledge of the political organization of Mycenaean Greece is changing, as Cyclopean architecture, wall paintings, urban infrastructure, and residential organization reveal that it was a new palatial center that is now revealing another aspect of its splendor and power.

It turns out that almost 500 years after its destruction, not only did it not fall into oblivion, but its memory outlasted time and was mentioned as one of the nine capitals of the western part of the kingdom of Pylos in Homer's "Iliad".

And its name in the "Catalog of Ships" - Aipy - may not help us locate the great Mycenaean center on the modern map. However, this is the most important archeological site that has been excavated since 2011 at a distance of only 2 km from the village of Iklaina and 14 km south of Pylos, as the professor of archeology at the University of Missouri, Michalis Kosmopoulos, pointed out a few days ago in a speech to the Archeological Society under whose auspices the excavations are being carried out.

A monumental gateway that led from the neighborhood of houses and workshops to the administrative center of the city is one of the most important and impressive finds recently unearthed by the excavation team led by Professor Kosmopoulos. It consists of two large cubes and a 2-meter opening, although the upper part, which was probably made of bricks, is not preserved. The condition of the find is not good, since it was paved over the centuries and part of it, as well as the paved streets and squares, was destroyed by the sweeping of the plows, since the antiquities were at a very shallow depth (20-30 cm). "This is a focal point of the city, as the gate leads from the residential to the administrative center," the excavator explained to Greek newspaper "NEA". "From the gate begins a paved road, 17 m long and as wide as the gate (2 m), of such quality that anything similar to this does not even exist in Mycenae, since the joints are not even visible," he continues, explaining that the road leads to a construction in a cyclopean manner, that is, with blocks that served as a platform to support a two- or three-story building.

As impressive as the mansion at the heart of the administrative center - which was also digitally represented in three dimensions - is, it is not the only element that distinguishes Iklaina.

It's the city's water supply and sewage system, as well as more than 1,000 frescoes depicting female figures, sailors and fish, among other things.

"Such infrastructures for the Mycenaean world are extremely rare, we find them only in Mycenae, Tiryns, Thebes, Egliano, where the so-called Palace of Nestor is located, which shows that Iklaina is a great unknown Mycenaean center. In a settlement of lesser importance, you would not find such a thing," he stresses, recalling the discovery of the oldest Linear B sign six years ago in a deposit, that is, in the garbage, of the prehistoric settlement. It bears a different text on its two sides and is dated to between 1420 and 1370 BC, while the oldest Linear B tablet from Mycenae so far has been dated to 1390/70 to 1330/15 BC.

THE KINGDOM OF PYLOS

So what role did it play in the Mycenaean world? "It was one of the capitals of the kingdom of Pylos, which was divided into two provinces. The western one had nine capitals and the eastern one seven, which is due to the fact that the kingdom of Pylos was formed gradually and the local rulers of each city fought with their neighbors. The ruler who lived in the so-called Palace of Nestor seems to have prevailed, but he maintained the independence of the cities he conquered, creating an early federation. It is the first appearance of a kind of federal state in the world, and in search of the roots of their own state, the Americans are exclusively funding this particular excavation," says Professor Kosmopoulos about the city that flourished around 1300 BC, a century before the so-called Palace of Nestor.

In the heyday of the palace, it seems to have been conquered, destroyed, and relegated to a laboratory center. "This destruction was the salvation for the preservation of the cityscape, because, oxymoronic as it may sound, in cases where there is continuity in an area, the newer buildings destroy the older ones," explains the archeologist about the city, which occupies almost 180 hectares, but whose population cannot be calculated from the data so far.

This particular Mycenaean center justifies its presence in the "Catalog of Ships" of the "Iliad", as "euctiton", i.e. well-built in Greek, more than 400 years after its destruction, and that today allows scholars to locate its ancient name: "Until today, the capital a-pu2 (pronounced Aipy or Aiphy), mentioned in the Linear B tablets of Pylos, could not be located on the map. However, considering that the capitals always appear in the same geographical order in all the tablets, and knowing that Aipy is located south of Nestor's palace and that, according to the evidence on the tablets, it is not a coastal city, we conclude that the great Mycenaean center of Iklaina is identified with Aipy," says the archeologist and regular member of the American Academy of Sciences of St. Louis.

The question that puzzles researchers, however, is how the fame of Aipy got into the Homeric epics, since the destruction of the city took place in 1200 BC and the writing of the rhapsodies is dated to 750-700 BC. "The greatest possibility is in the oral tradition, which means that Iklaina was a very powerful center and its monuments were still visible and impressed the people of the time. Homer's research has proved that there was interaction between the rhapsodists who recited the epics and their listeners, so important centers with great monuments could have been preserved in the epics and consequently in memory through oral tradition," concludes Michalis Kosmopoulos.

Pistyros: An important mining center in ancient Macedonia, Greece

Pistyros was founded in the 7th century BC by Thassius on the border between Kavala and Xanthi, and its craftsmen processed silver, copper, iron and gold.

The small ancient city at a crossroads in Macedonia had rich deposits of silver, copper, iron and gold from the neighboring mines of Lekani town located on the Paggaio mountain and was the center of ore supply for the ancient Greek world.

Pistyros had strong fortifications, an impressive sanctuary and the archeological excavations brought to light a number of finds that testify to its short but interesting history.

The archeological site of Pistyros is located next to the old road from Kavala to Xanthi, 18 km east of Kavala, outside the village of Pontolivados. The choice of the site for the foundation and development of the city was not accidental, because nearby there was a lake with brackish water and abundant fish.

It is attested by Herodotus, who mentions it twice as "a Hellenic city by the sea  on the mainland", indicating an urban center with Greek facilities.

The photos were provided by the archeologist and director of the excavations, the Honorary Director of the Ministry of Culture, Stratis Papadopoulos.

The first systematic excavations took place in the 1970s for the opening of a canal in Nestos, but for the last eight years the archeological site has been systematically excavated under the direction of the archeologist and honorary director of the Ministry of Culture, Stratis Papadopoulos.

Pistyros was a small city founded by the Thasians in the 7th century BC, and in the second half of the 6th century BC the Thasians developed a strong trading activity, as shown by the coins, the abundant imported Thasian pottery and the impressive wall of marble plinths of Thasian origin, but also the engraved Greek inscription "ΘΑCΙΩΝ" on the inside of the northern entrance.

Its function as a mining center is evidenced by the discovery of fragments of the inner wall of a mining furnace - a rare find for archeological data -by the large amount of ore, but also by the presence of strong fortifications. According to Mr. Papadopoulos, the large quantities of metallurgical remains inside and outside the walls, as well as the study of the slag, indicate the processing of metals for supply, especially copper, silver, iron and possibly gold.

The photos were provided by the archeologist and director of the excavations, the Honorary Director of the Ministry of Culture, Stratis Papadopoulos.

Although there is no evidence of the items produced, it is assumed that they were weapons, tools, jewelry, but also coins. However, it is not excluded that trade took place in raw materials, that is, processed ores.

Although it was a small town with only 10 hectares, Pistyros was an important mining and trading center of antiquity, and from today's point of view one would say that it was a "stock exchange center" of ancient Macedonia.

Its importance is testified by the monumental wall that protected the treasure that lay within it, namely the abundant and expensive ore.

The excavations, completed a few days ago this year with the participation of students from the Universities of Patras and Ioannina, revealed the entire wall with towers and a unique carriage gate at the southeastern end of the city, with double doors and parastrades (side beams) of great dimensions. A second gate was located at the northeastern end of the fortress and provided access to the main road of the city.

Numerous derivations of ore processing suggest a metallurgical laboratory. In addition, in one of the two rectangular tanks found ends a lead pipe that transported liquid in a vessel, probably an amphora, and it is considered possible that the site was a winery with rooms for the transport and washing of fruit, wine cellars and wine cellars.

The photos were provided by the archeologist and director of the excavations, the Honorary Director of the Ministry of Culture, Stratis Papadopoulos.

A large complex of buildings has also been excavated, in the courtyard of which structures have been found that seem to be related to the metallurgical activities of its inhabitants, but also a one-room square building with built-in benches inside, which it cannot be excluded that it had a public character - perhaps a small parliament corresponding to the so-called seat of the politarchs in the market of Pella - but also houses.

The sanctuary of Pistyros was located to the west of a square. The investigations revealed a small temple with two rooms, in the tradition of the temples of the Cyclades and Thassos, whose wide axis was highlighted. Among the finds in the nave, a large grinder in the form of a "sacrificial bench", a libation vessel in the form of a "sacred cistern', female figures probably representing Aphrodite, and the clay hearth divided into four sections and decorated with spirals stand out.

At a distance of 5 meters north of the temple was found a square stone altar and between the temple and the altar grew a courtyard paved with stones for gatherings.

The photos were provided by the archeologist and director of the excavations, the Honorary Director of the Ministry of Culture, Stratis Papadopoulos.

In large spaces to the east and west of the altar, a considerable number of weaving weights were found, which was common in Macedonia at shrines of female deities such as Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis and the Mother of the Gods. Thus, it is assumed that in the sanctuary of Pistyros there was an intensive textile production in the service of the deity worshiped there.

In the east of the temple, a courtyard area with column bases and votive offerings was excavated. The most important find in this area is the inscription testifying to the worship of Zeus the Savior and King Philip. The inscription dates back to the middle of the 3rd century BC and probably refers to Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great. A pottery workshop from the 3rd century BC was found in the central part of the city, and a similar one was also excavated by Mr. Papadopoulos in Limenaria on Thassos.

The systematic excavations at ancient Pistyros have yielded important movable finds dating from the late 7th to the 1st century BC: abundant imported and local pottery, a large number of sealed pottery and amphorae, many weaving techniques, figurines, coins, tools and jewelry. . Many vases seem to have been imported from Thassos, the Cyclades, from the coasts of Asia Minor and Attica.

The photos were provided by the archeologist and director of the excavations, the Honorary Director of the Ministry of Culture, Stratis Papadopoulos.

Of great interest are the inscriptions engraved on the front of the Archaic buildings, in several cases in Parian alphabet: "ἐπὶ τὰ λαια" (to the left). The first three or four letters of the names are engraved, as in the fortress of Thassos, and it is assumed that they belong to quarry owners and workers. In Pistyros there are several dozen inscriptions, among which the names Epig(enes), Glau(kos) and Mim(os) are frequently repeated.

The city was in full development from the 7th century BC to the end of the 2nd century BC, and it is still unknown when, how, and why its inhabitants abandoned it. Although there is evidence of seismic activity in the area, it is considered very likely that it was abandoned for economic reasons. In other words, it is possible that another mining center emerged in the same area and took over the baton of production and trade.

Master plan for the iconic walls of the Acropolis

The "wooden walls" that were supposed to protect Athens from the Persians and that the Oracle of Delphi prophesied were, of course, the ships, as Themistocles said, but the walls of the Acropolis, the oldest preserved on the Sacred Rock, have protected it from enemies for centuries. Sometimes parts of it were destroyed and enemies invaded, sometimes small parts collapsed or toppled over without human intervention, sometimes rainwater or a sewer caused damage. For the walls there is now a separate master plan, the implementation of which will begin after the approval of the Central Archaeological Council.

The historical collapses of parts and the constant repair works are the main evidence that the ancient walls, despite their careful construction, had structural problems and in some cases failed under heavy loads (earthquakes, earth tremors). In the areas where they have been preserved, they have been severely deformed. An example is the deviation of the south wall in the corner SW of the Parthenon to the outside.

On parts of the walls, warping and protrusions can still be observed, probably due to earth tremors, the detachment of the newer installations or problems with the foundations (slipping, overloading).

The movement of water is perhaps the most important factor in the wear and tear of the walls. For decades it was on the surface until drainage works were recently carried out under the direction of Michalis Lefantzis. The water was stored in large quantities in the embankments, which increased the pressure forces. It gradually evaporated causing corrosion, and eventually flowed to the surface of the rock, causing problems in the foundation. The heavy dampness in places showed that the water had penetrated the masonry, causing severe decomposition of the rock.

Collapse of the section

According to an earlier study by Manolis Korres, Chairman of the Committee for the Preservation of the Monuments of the Acropolis, and Petros Koufopoulos, "the corrosion and deterioration of the ancient wall, with a simultaneous reduction in its mechanical properties, led to the collapse of sections of the wall. These sections were built in different eras with different materials and techniques than the ancient building. The new buildings had smaller dimensions than the original, and less mortar was also used.

Parts of the new additions collapsed after corrosion and deterioration of the mortar, and new additions were built, so that the wall on its exterior shows a variety of techniques and building materials, both in its composition and geometry. Great damage was also caused by shelling, which created gaps in the wall and loosened its structure.

Extensive works to the major restoration works by N. Balanos were carried out to secure and protect the wall, especially on the south side. The high walls were built with small-sized stones and mortar binder. The deterioration of the mortar has meant that the outer wall on the south side is now at the limit of equilibrium in some places and in danger of collapse, posing the risk of chain collapse of the buildings above, as well as general stability problems of the old wall. In the areas where buildings have been detached, it can be seen that the external extension has been connected to the old wall with mortar. The deterioration of the mortar mainly means that today there is no adhesion (connection) of the external extension with the old internal wall.

From the classification made, it appears that there is an increased risk of rockfall on the northern slopes. The most critical are the areas of the south wall with the large slope heights and an area with retaining wall function.

From Mycenaean times

The study also draws on the report of special expert Mairis Ioannidou, who served as director of the Acropolis Monuments Maintenance Service, and notes that the Acropolis was first built in the 13th century.

Parts of this fortification probably remained until the Persian Wars, when the sanctuaries and walls of Athens were destroyed by the Persians. After the return of the Athenians, construction of new walls began. Under Themistocles, the northern wall was built first, while a little later, under Kimon, the eastern and southern walls were built with the spoils of the victory at Eurymedon river(469 or 466 BC).

The western approach lost its fortified character with the construction of the Propylaea in 437-432 BC. This side was fortified in the late Roman period, probably after the Heruli raid in 267 AD. At that time or a little later, the eastern part of the northern wall is rebuilt and the northernmost part of the eastern wall is completed.

During the Byzantine period, the same defense system was probably maintained without any particular changes. In the Frankish period (1204-1456), a tall rectangular tower was built on the south of the Propylaea, while the west side seems to have been generally reinforced. In Ottoman times (1456-1833) the walls were adapted to the requirements of firearms and further strengthened, especially on the west side.

Extensive repairs and rebuilding were apparently required after the 1705 earthquake, and fighting during the Greek War of Independence also caused severe damage. In 1834, it was decided to remove the walls "without archeological or historical value" and the systematic demolition of the medieval and Ottoman phases began (demolition of the western fortifications and ramparts).

In the first half of the 20th century, repair works were carried out by Balanos (1899-1938) and Orlandos (1947-1949) which aimed primarily at fixing structural and static problems.

The architect Chr. Pinatsis states in the same study that each construction phase "expresses the way the corresponding era dealt with the defensive needs of the most important sanctuary and fortress of the city, and the damages are often linked to the results of the battles fought for its restoration, including those of the War of Independence".

Palimpsest

The Acropolis Wall is described as "a unique monument, where the palimpsest of successive construction phases has not only been preserved, but also supplemented by new constructions, without the intention of restoring the original form. Because of their fortification and their static function, the walls become first and foremost a bearer of historical memory". However, without "ceasing to shape the environment of the great temples of the Acropolis".

Structural problems refer to inherent problems of the structure (material, rock, method of support) that manifest themselves in different ways (cracks, deviations, subsidence, collapses). A structural problem is found more or less on the entire south wall, which is also confirmed by the older interventions and led to the support with columns and the lining of entire areas. The structural problems are mainly related to the action of water and humidity, which leads to corrosion phenomena, especially on the north wall (from superficial wear to complete dissolution and detachment of parts of the stone). Problems also occur with the fillings, the situation being aggravated by the use of cement mortar.

In this broad context, the restoration of the classical structure is proposed in three cases: A) islands of recent masonry and/or small-format mortar of the 20th century, which have replaced mainly the surface of individual plinths or groups of stones (in some places along the entire north wall, in the SE corner and in some places of the wall).

B) Extensive annexes, of which enough parts of classicism are preserved on both sides, which were clearly continuous

C) Areas adjacent to the classicist, where the ancient structure is preserved behind the adobe construction and sporadically on the facade.

As for the southern wall, the reconstruction of the classical structure is generally not proposed (it would affect the entire area of the classical wall), due to the reservation of smearing an extensive historical/architectural phase, the extent of the intervention, the need to preserve the remarkable medieval structures, and various other structural problems. Here, grouting and local additions with earthen constructions of the Ottoman and more recent structures are proposed. Restoration of the old masonry is proposed in the SE corner,and in the area west of the 13th column. Finally, it is proposed to remove the Balanos lining at the western end of the wall and restore the original form along a length of 12 meters.

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