ABSTRACTS - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

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The complex is organized symmetrically on each side of a large rectangular space, with an arch at its north side. Two large halls stand out among the rooms, displaying marble foundations to their north and south side, with 3 m.-high column bases of green marble, two of which have fallen in situ. On the west side, a narrow corridor revealed an entrance, as well as a room with niches at its four corners, connected to another room still preserving a mosaic floor with a geometric decoration and a series of dolphins on the perimetric decorative band. A furnace was discovered at the south side, where lateral walls create with two more walls longitudinal spaces for the introduction of fuel. The walls preserve the foundation of six clay arcs creating the furnaces’ vaulted ceiling. The building’s walls have incorporated material coming from another large building of the time, while during its long use it has undergone many transformations: doors were closed, new walls were built, and graves were opened in its interior. Part of a bath was investigated at a distance of approximately 17 meters to the east of the central core. Two halls with an arc were revealed on the west side, as well as hypocausts, a floor with clay plaques and remains of marble wall facades. Two sculptures were discovered near the bath: a child and dolphin, copied after a Hellenistic work, which decorated a fountain in the complex, and the upper part of a statuette of a young girl whose face had been destroyed. The dimensions of the complex, the existence of mosaic floors and of a second floor, the multitude of the marble facades, the marble architectural members and the sculptures found manifest that this was a luxurious villa, whose first construction phase dates at the 2 nd century A.D. and its use ranges until the 6 th century A.D., as a marble parapet and other movable finds clearly demonstrate. Despoina Koutsoumba and Yannis Nakas, Archaeologists, Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities The Diolcos: A Significant Technical Achievement of Antiquity The time-consuming and dangerous circumnavigation of the coast of the Peloponnesus constituted a major problem for ancient navigators. The first systematic effort for the transport of warships and merchandise from the Saronic Gulf towards the Corinthian Gulf and vice-versa is represented by the ancient Diolkos. The Diolkos was a paved trackway constructed in the 6 th c. B.C., probably at the time of Periander, according to the inscribed letters revealed on many stones and belonging to the older local alphabet of the early 6 th c. B.C. The Diolkos extended from the beach of Schinous until the western end of
today’s channel, between modern-day Corinth and Loutraki. It was constituted of grooves for the rolling of wheeled means carrying ships. The ancient sources mention the use of the Diolkos at times of warfare, when the swift transport of warships across the isthmus was of crucial importance, until the 9 th c. A.D. Visible parts of the Diolkos were first mentioned by German archaeologist Dr. Habbo Gerhard Lolling in 1883. Lolling was the first person to identify visible traces of the monument at the western end of the canal which was being constructed at the time. In 1913, G.H. Frazer mentioned one more part of the Diolkos close to the village of Kalamaki. In the mid 40’s, the then Head of Antiquities for the Argolid and Corinthia, N. Verdelis, identified stone bricks from the paving of the Diolkos and between 1957 and 1959 he conducted a systematic excavation in order to unearth the monument. The Diolkos ran for a total length of approximately 8 km. Today, its course is known for a length of about 1,100 meters. It is partially preserved at the west end of today’s canal, from the Peloponnesian side as well as from the side of Central Greece. Its route has not been traced at the eastern part, nor towards its end in the Saronic Gulf, which is placed at the area of ancient Schoinous (modern-day Kalamaki). The transport of ships was realized by means of a paved trackway, whose width varied between 3.50 and 4.00 meters. Limestone stone bricks were used for the paving. Grooves were chiseled on the limestone, at an axial distance of about 1.50 m, for safely guiding the wooden wheeled vehicle on which was realized the transport of vessels. The western end of the Diolkos revealed part of an oblique paved mooring, which was underwater at its western end. At the mooring were dragged the vessels on wooden cylinders, before they were mounted on the wheeled vehicle and after they were debarked from it. A wooden lifting machine was probably installed at the southeast of the mooring at the beginning of the 4 th c. BC, facilitating the placement of vessels on the wheeled vehicle. In this presentation, the study of the ancient Diolkos will focus on the research of the visible remains of the monument, with an accent on its western part. This study aims at possibly clarifying the manner of hauling of ships and the form of wheeled transport vehicles. In order to answer these questions, we will investigate the in situ remains of the Diolkos, comparing them with the published evidence on the form and construction details of ancient commercial and war ships.
Page 1 and 2: ABSTRACTS Stavros Oikonomidis, Arch
Page 3 and 4: important cases are the early proch
Page 5 and 6: Αmalia Giannopoulou, Vivi Evaggelo
Page 7 and 8: Panagiota Kassimi, Substitute Head,
Page 9 and 10: attle took place somewhere east of
Page 11: Richard Tomlinson, Professor Emerit
Page 15 and 16: larger survey zone in the Korphos r
Page 17 and 18: Where would such a facility have be
Page 19 and 20: Elena Korka, Head of the Directorat
Page 21 and 22: smoothings on its stalagmite and st
Page 23 and 24: Torsten Mattern, Professor, Institu
Page 25 and 26: R.Αngus K.Smith, Assistant Profess
Page 27 and 28: intensive archaeological survey foc
Page 29 and 30: Vasco Hachtmann, Institute for Pre
Page 31 and 32: Christos Pitteros, Substitute Head,
Page 33 and 34: a distance of 8.5 km to its West. T
Page 35 and 36: Dimitra Sarri, Archaeologist, LZ΄
Page 37 and 38: The presence of evidence of ancestr
Page 39 and 40: Αthanasios Tsiogas, Archaeologist,

ABSTRACTS - The American School of Classical Studies at Athens

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