"dc-description","Icon","UserLevel","dc-creator","Collection","Type","dc-subject","dc-date","dc-publisher","Name","Chronology","dc-title","Id","Redirect"
"The Annual of the British School at Athens","","","Morgan, Catherine","Corinth","Publication","","January","","Morgan, The Annual of the British School 96... 2001","","Figurative Iconography from Corinth, Ithaka and Pithekoussai: Aetos 600 Reconsidered","Corinth:Publication:Morgan, The Annual of the British School 96... 2001",""
"The Ekklesia (Citizens' Assembly) All Athenian citizens had the right to attend and vote in the Ekklesia, a full popular assembly which met about every 10 days. All decrees (psephismata) were ratified by the Ekklesia before becoming law. As a rule, the Ekklesia met at its own special meeting place known as the Pnyx, a large theater-shaped area set into the long ridge west of the Acropolis. In theory every assembly represented the collective will of all the male citizens of Athens, although the actual capacity of the Pnyx never seems to have exceeded 13,500, and for much of the Classical period it held only about 6,000. The Pnyx, about SOO B.C. Model by C. Mammelis. Athens, Agora Museum. The model shows the Pnyx in its first phase, generally associated with the Kleisthenic reforms. The natural hill slope was used to form an auditorium, and there was a retaining wall at the bottom which supported the terrace where speakers stood. In this early form the seating capacity was about 5,000. Three phases of the Pnyx. Drawing by John Travlos. In phase I (about 500 B.C.) the Pnyx utilized the natural slope of the hillside, but either political concerns or the exposure of the seating area to northeast winds made a reversal of the structure necessary. In phase II (about 404/3 B.C.) an embankment with a retaining wall at the bottom created an auditorium with a slope contrary to that of the natural hillside, so that the audience now faced southwest and was sheltered from the winds. In phase III (4th century B.C.) the structure was enlarged but retained the same general configuration. Two large stoas were begun but never finished on the south side of the Pnyx adjacent to the city wall. Visible today are the foundation of the curved retaining wall of the auditorium of phase III and the rock-cut bema (stand for speakers), which projects from the scarp. Throughout its long history the Pnyx had three major building phases. The earliest is generally associated with the Kleisthenic reforms. The second phase is dated to about 404/3 B.C., a time after the Peloponnesian War, when the democracy was abolished and Athens was under the control of the Thirty Tyrants, installed by Sparta. According to Plutarch, the Thirty had a specific political reason for shifting the orientation of the seating: The Thirty afterwards turned the bema [stand for speakers] in the Pnyx, which was made to look at the sea, toward the land, because they thought that naval supremacy had been the origin of democracy but that tillers of the soil were less ill disposed toward oligarchy (Life of Themistokles 4). View of the Pnyx from the Observatory with the Speaker’s platform (bema) visible right of center. The excavators associated this passage with a large stepped retaining wall designed to support a seating area that no longer followed the natural slope and that had the bema to the south, facing inland. In a third and final phase dated to the late 4th century B.C., the seating capacity was greatly increased, to accommodate as many as 13,500 people. Lead tokens, 4th century B.C. D.: 0.015-0.023 m. Athens, Agora Museum IL 656, 819, 893, 944, 1146, 1173, 1233. Decorated with various images-a bow, a cow, a dolphin, crossed torches, rosette, Nike, a ship, as well as letters (E or K) - these small tokens were turned in for pay, allowing poor citizens to participate without losing a day's wages. In an important democratic innovation, pay for attending the Ekklesia was instituted in about 400 B.C., thereby ensuring that everyone, including citizens of the working classes, could afford to participate in the political life of the city. Bronze or lead tokens were issued to those attending the meeting, and these could later be redeemed for the assemblyman's pay of two obols (one-third of a drachma) per session.","","","","Agora","Webpage","","","","Birth of Democracy: The Ekklesia","","","Agora:Webpage:b7cf821ed29ed78e4b8e3b6443c66270","http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_ekklesia.html"
"The Jury The jurors for each trial were chosen from a large body of citizens available for jury duty for the period of one year. At the beginning of the year, each juror was given a bronze pinakion, a plaque that had his name, father's name, and deme (and therefore tribe) inscribed on it. Bronze juror's ticket (pinakion), 4th century B.C. L.: 0.102 m. Athens, Agora Museum B 822. This identification ticket carries the juror's name: Demophanes; the first letters of his father's name: Phil .... ; and his deme: Kephisia. Allotment machine (kleroterion), third century B.C. The pinakia were used in kleroteria, allotment machines that assigned jurors to the courts. The procedure worked as follows: On the day a trial was to be held, the potential juror would appear before the magistrate in charge of the allotment who was stationed at one of these machines. At the base of the kleroterion were ten baskets, one for each of the ten tribes. The pinakion would go into the appropriate tribal basket, which was labeled with the name of the juror's tribe. When it was time to allot jurors to courts, the magistrate would take the pinakia from the first tribal basket and put them into the first vertical row of slots in the machine, the pinakia from the second basket into the second row, and so on until he had placed all the pinakia into slots. Reconstruction drawing of the jury-allotment device (kleroterion). Agora Museum Archives. Ten rows of narrow slots were used to hold the juror's tickets. The hollow tube held black and white balls. When cranked, a black or white ball issued forth, determining who would serve that day. The machine assured random selection of the jury and equal tribal representation. According to Aristotle, a pair of such kleroteria stood at the entrance to each court (Athenian Constitution 63). Along the side of the machine was a hollow bronze tube, with a funnel at the top and a crank at the bottom. Into the funnel the magistrate poured a mixture of white and black marbles, which would line up in the tube in random order. A turn of the crank at the bottom produced a single ball. If it was white, the ten citizens (one from each tribe) whose pinakia were set into the first horizontal row would be assigned to the jury for that day and would proceed at once to the court. If it was a black ball, all citizens whose pinakia were in that row were dismissed for the day. The procedure was repeated until a court was filled, selecting ten jurors with every white ball. The machine assured absolutely random selection, both in the order in which the pinakia were placed in the kleroterion and in the order in which the balls appeared. There was no easy way to bribe an Athenian jury, made up of at least 201 men chosen immediately before the court sat. At the same time, the kleroterion chose one juror from each of the ten tribes with each white ball, so that there was equal tribal representation on every court. The machine could also be used to appoint a board of ten magistrates, in this case only one of the balls would be white. As much as any object left to us from antiquity, the kleroterion indicates the lengths to which the Athenians went in trying both to ensure equality and to forestall corruption in their governmental affairs. Lead tokens, 4th century B.C. D.: 0.015-0.023 m. Athens, Agora Museum IL 656, 819, 893, 944, 1146, 1173, 1233. According to Aristotle, the juror on entering the court received a token, or symbolon (Athenian Constitution 65, 68, 69). After voting he turned in the token and was thus entitled to receive his fee of three obols (one-half a drachma). Some fifty such tokens have come to light in the Agora, most dating to the 4th and early 3rd century B.C. Decorated with various images-a bow, a cow, a dolphin, crossed torches, rosette, Nike, a ship, as well as letters (E or K), indicating the court to which the juror was assigned or a particular seating area within the court. Athenian jurors were paid, another democratic procedure designed to ensure that all could afford to serve. Small round lead tokens or symbola were issued to jurors who had been allotted to assure proper payment to the right individuals. Payment was made only at the end of the trial and only upon presentation of the symbolon. Numerous symbola have been found scattered over the Agora; they carry different devices and letters to indicate the court to which the juror was assigned.","","","","Agora","Webpage","","","","Birth of Democracy: The Jury","","","Agora:Webpage:bfdf9fd93064a87093199ba07e334f0d","http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_jury.html"
"The Prytaneis (Executive Committee) The senators administered their meetings themselves. Each tribal contingent in the Boule served in rotation for a period of 35 or 36 days as the Prytaneis, or Executive Committee. During their time in office, the Prytaneis were responsible for day-to-day administration, the schedule, order of business and the like. The Prytaneis had their headquarters in the Tholos, a large round building which lay just adjacent to the Bouleuterion. The Tholos, about 470-460 B.C. Model by Petros Demetriades and Kostas Papoulias. Athens, Agora Museum. The circular shape of the Tholos is unusual among public buildings in the Agora. The design and construction are simple: the round chamber with an inner radius of 8.45 meters had a doorway on the east and six interior supports. The floor was clay. The building was famous for its roof shaped like a sun hat, which gave it the nickname skias, sunshade. The roof was made of diamond-shaped tiles, but their original arrangement is not known. During their term of office they were fed at public expense, and the Tholos served also as their dining hall. The meals were probably fairly modest in the beginning: cheese, barley cakes, olives, leeks, and wine, although by the late 5th century the menu also included fish and meat. Some of the tableware used at these public meals has been recovered from the vicinity of the building. The simple black-glaze cups, bowls, and pitchers have a ligature scratched or painted on them: ΔΕ for demosion (public property), presumably so that the senators would not inadvertently walk off with the official crockery. Tholos dining ware, about 470-460 B.C. 9.2 Black-glaze kylix (drinking cup). H.: 0. 077 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 5117. 9.3 Small olpe (jug). H.: 0.133m. Athens, Agora Museum P 13429. Both vases are marked with the ligature ΔΕ for demosion (public property). On the black-glaze cup the inscription is incised with a sharp tool through the glaze, while on the jug the letters are painted in glaze. Both vases hold standard measures of liquid, suggesting their connection with the public kitchen and indicating that the democratic principle of a fair share for each was carried out. It is clear from written sources that the Tholos was used as a dining hall, but it is difficult to find a suitable arrangement for its furniture. Greeks usually ate reclining on couches, but there is no good arrangement whereby fifty couches can be made to fit into the building. It may be that in this instance the senators ate sitting up, on a bench around the inner face of the wall. Fragment Of a marble relief showing a banquet, 4th century B.C. H.: 0.286 m. Athens, Agora Museum S 834. On the right, a man reclines on a couch behind a table. A woman sits on a stool nearby, with another male figure on the left. The senators must have eaten sitting upright, the pose in which women usually ate, since the size and circular plan of the Tholos would have made it difficult to accommodate the requisite number of couches. In addition to dining in the Tholos, at least one third of the Prytaneis were expected to be on duty in the building at all times, so at least seventeen senators actually slept there at night. Thus, if some emergency arose either within the city or as a result of news from abroad, there were senators available at all times, ready to deal with it. The Tholos therefore in a sense represents the heart of the Athenian democracy, where common citizens were always on duty. Aerial view of the Tholos foundations.","","","","Agora","Webpage","","","","Birth of Democracy: The Prytaneis","","","Agora:Webpage:622b924482072339bbf9213d614efe42","http://agathe.gr/democracy/the_prytaneis.html"
"Solon the Lawgiver By the early 6th century B.C. social tensions in Athens had become acute, pitting the poorer citizens against rich and powerful landowners. Many citizens were reduced to the status of share croppers, and others had actually sold themselves into slavery to meet their debts. To resolve the crisis the Athenians appointed Solon as archon (magistrate) to serve as mediator and lawgiver. Plutarch and Aristotle describe in some detail the constitution devised by Solon, who then went into voluntary exile to avoid being pressured into amending this legislation. Solon canceled most debts and freed those Athenians who had been enslaved, but he refused to redistribute property or to deprive the aristocracy of most of the political power. As he tells us in his own words: For to the common people I gave as much power as is sufficient, Neither robbing them of dignity, nor giving them too much; and those who had power, and were marvelously rich, even for those I contrived that they suffered no harm. I stood with a mighty shield in front of both classes, and allowed neither of them to prevail unjustly. (Plutarch, Life of Solon 18.4) Solon's new constitution was based on ownership of property. This notion of political rights or citizenship depending on property is one found in many societies until relatively recent times. All the people were divided into four classes, and political power was distributed among them. 1.The pentekosiomedimnoi, those whose land produced at least 500 medimnoi (measures) of grain a year which equals 730 bushels. These were eligible for the highest offices. Athenian (Attic) Geometric chest with five model ""granaries"" on the lid, mid-9th century B.C. H.: 0.253 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 27646. This unusual chest comes from the same burial as the jewelry described earlier. The five cone-shaped objects on the lid have been identified as model granaries and may refer to the woman's status as a member of the highest class, the landed aristocracy designated by Solon pentekosiomedimnoi, whose land produced 500 medimnoi (measures). Each of the five granaries would thus represent 100 medimnoi. Both the chest and the granaries are decorated with meander patterns, a favorite Geometric ornament. 2. The hippeis (knights), those who could afford the expense of maintaining a horse and whose property produced 300 medimnoi a year. Athenian (Attic) Geometric horse pyxis (box), mid- 8th century B.C. H.: 0.16 m. Athens, Agora Museum P 5061. This round box has three horses on the lid. Ownership of horses required a certain degree of wealth and allowed the man who owned them to assume a role in defending the city as a member of a fighting cavalry, the knights. Thus, horses became a status symbol and sign of wealth. 3. The zeugitai (teamsters), those who maintained a pair of oxen for plowing and whose land produced 200 medimnoi a year Terracotta figure of a pair of oxen driven by a man, 6th century B.C. H.: 0.10 m. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 18876. This image stands for Solon's third class of citizens, the zeugitai, who could maintain a pair of oxen for plowing and who served as heavy-armed infantrymen in time of war. 4. The thetes or common laborers. Iron pick, date uncertain. Preserved L.: 0.127 m. Athens, Agora Museum IL 1287. Such a pick might have been used by a member of Solon's lowest class, the thetes, or common laborers. All other native-born citizens now possessed an important and basic right: they could not be enslaved by their fellow citizens. As early as the time of Homer, to be a thete was regarded as only just above a slave: ""I would rather follow the plow as thete to another man, one with no land allotted to him and not much to live on, than be King over all the perished dead"" (Odyssey 2.489-491). Members of this lowest class were not allowed to hold office, but were given the right to sit and vote in the assembly and to sit as jurors in the lawcourts. Over time this last right became exceedingly important. An important concept clearly laid out for the first time in Solons political poetry is the notion that political participation was the duty of the citizen, not just a privilege to be exercised or not as one chose: He saw that the state was often in a condition of factional strife, while some of the citizens were content to let things slide; he laid down a special law to deal with them, enacting that whoever when civil strife prevailed did not join forces with either party was to be disenfranchised and not to be a member of the state.(Athenian Constitution 8.5). While Solonian reforms did not establish democracy, they were a crucial step on the Athenian road to democracy. Solons constitution, consisting of moderate redistribution rather than a revolutionary transfer of political power, nonetheless granted important rights to the lowest class of citizens. This middle course pleased no one, as he himself tells us: Wherefore I stood at guard on every side, A wolf at bay among a pack of hounds. (Athenian Constitution 12.4). Within a generation of Solon's reforms, factional strife among the powerful families led Athens once again to the brink of civil war, setting the stage for the next phase of Athenian political development.","","","","Agora","Webpage","","","","Birth of Democracy: Solon the Lawgiver","","","Agora:Webpage:1c9ed7cadcdde1c789066cfe9e24c231","http://agathe.gr/democracy/solon_the_lawgiver.html"
"The focus of this dissertation is the design, construction and function of the South Stoa at Corinth in its initial phase. The South Stoa was first published in a monograph by Oscar Broneer in 1954.1 In addition to dealing with the Greek and Roman phases of the building, Broneer's study also dealt with the pre-stoa remains. Certain aspects of the architecture of the stoa, however, were either treated only briefly or were entirely left out of the publication. While it was one of the first attempts at a full study of a secular Greek building, several conclusions deserve re-evaluation, including the date of construction and the design of the building in its initial phase, which has an impact on subsequent phases of remodeling, the function of the building, as well as its place in the historical development of stoas. Re-evaluation of the in situ remains of the stoa combined with newly identified architectural fragments of the building, particularly from the superstructure, provide important evidence to suggest an alternative reconstruction to that previously put forward. This new reconstruction is presented as the most likely solution, in awareness of the possibility that future finds may give rise to modification. As will be shown, the staircases inside the first and last front rooms of the stoa do not belong to the initial building phase as previously thought, but instead date to the Roman period, while evidence in the form of foundations and cuttings for a staircase inside the colonnade at the west end of the stoa, dated prior to 146 B.C., belongs to the initial phase of the building and calls for an entirely different interior reconstruction. The date of the stoa, which has fluctuated from sometime after the middle of the fourth century B.C. 340-320 (B.C.) to the early decades of the third century B.C., can now be more precisely determined in view of recent examination of pottery deposits from beneath the stoa terrace, which was built prior to the stoa's construction. These deposits have been dated between 300-290 B.C., which would push the date of the stoa's construction to the beginning decades of the third century B.C. This has considerable bearing on the early development of Hellenistic stoas and on the stylistic chronology of several other buildings built around the end of the fourth century B.C. Having resolved aspects of the reconstruction and situated the stoa chronologically, the focus of this study moves on to design considerations, including examination of the proportions and of the ancient foot unit used in the design of the building. Construction and statics of the building are also considered.","","","Scahill, David","Corinth","Publication","","2012","","Scahill, The South Stoa at Corinth: Design, ... 2012","","The South Stoa at Corinth: Design, Construction and Function of the Greek Phase","Corinth:Publication:Scahill, The South Stoa at Corinth: Design, ... 2012",""
"Abstract: This dissertation proposes a social analysis of the Early Christian basilicas (4th-6 th century) of Southern and Central Greece, predominantly those in the Late Roman province of Achaia. After an introduction which places the dissertation in the broader context of the study of Late Antique Greece, the second chapter argues that church construction played an important role in the process of religions change in Late Antiquity. The third chapter examines Christian ritual, architecture, and cosmology to show that churches in Greece depended upon and reacted to existing phenomena that served to promote hierarchy and shape power structures in Late Roman society. Chapter four emphasizes social messages communicated through the motifs present in the numerous mosaic pavements which commonly adorned Early Christian buildings in Greece. The final chapter demonstrates that the epigraphy likewise presented massages that communicated social expectations drawn from both an elite and Christian discourse. Moreover they provide valuable information for the individuals who participated in the processes of church construction. After a brief conclusion, two catalogues present bibliographic citations for the inscriptions and architecture referred to in the text. The primary goal of this dissertation is to integrate the study of ritual, architecture, and social history and to demonstrate how Early Christian architecture played an important role in affecting social change during Late Antiquity.","","","Caraher, William R.","Corinth","Publication","","2003","","Caraher, Church, society, and the sacred ... 2003","","Church, society, and the sacred in early Christian Greece","Corinth:Publication:Caraher, Church, society, and the sacred ... 2003",""
"Agora 1","Agora:PublicationPage:Agora-1-7::/Agora/Publications/Agora/Agora 001/Agora 001 007 (vii).png::1438::2048","","","Agora","PublicationPage","","","","Agora 1, s. 7, p. vii","","Preface","Agora:PublicationPage:Agora-1-7",""