Minoan Archaeology

This small offering to Filippo Maria Carinci illustrates a few passages from Marcel Proust's famous work, À la recherche du temps perdu, which refer to Minoan-Mycenaean archaeological discoveries and material culture, and offers an opportunity to reflect on the interactions of memory, history, mythology, literature, and archaeology. Legend remains victorious in spite of history Sarah Bernhardt Con questo piccolo omaggio in onore del caro collega Filippo Maria Carinci, colgo l'occasione per presentare alcuni brani tratti dalla famosa opera di Marcel Proust, À la recherche du temps perdu, in cui compaiono riferimenti a specifiche scoperte archeologiche della cd. età del Bronzo nell'Egeo (o a produzioni artistiche ispirate da esse), e che offrono spunti di riflessione sui rapporti tra memoria, storia, letteratura, mitologia e realtà archeologiche. Alcuni di questi brani sono già stati brevemente citati in precedenti pubblicazioni, ma senza riferimento al loro contesto e significato più ampio. 1 Altri, invece, sembrano essere sfuggiti, fino ad ora, all'attenzione degli studiosi del mondo egeo, i quali da qualche decennio si vanno sempre più interessando alle percezioni, appropriazioni e utilizzazioni delle antiche culture egee nelle arti, letterature e altri prodotti culturali moderni-temi di ricerca che hanno suscitato l'interesse del nostro collega. 2 Parigi e il mondo egeo nella Belle Époque (ca. 1890-1914) Prima di passare ai brani proustiani oggetto di questo breve contributo, è opportuno fare qualche osservazione preliminare su come possano essersi sviluppati una conoscenza e un interesse per il mondo egeo da parte del noto autore parigino. In altre parole, bisogna fare 1 Piccola parte dei due brani di Proust su Calypso e sul Palazzo del Sole (v. infra) compare in Farnoux 1993, 118 e Momigliano 2013, n. 7; v. anche La Rosa-Militello 2006, 246 (sul Palazzo del Sole). 2 V. ad esempio Hamilakis-Momigliano 2006; Momigliano-Farnoux 2017. innanzitutto qualche considerazione sul ruolo cruciale svolto dalla capitale francese nella diffusione delle notizie e immagini sul mondo egeo (e minoico-miceneo in particolare) a un pubblico europeo e non-europeo più ampio, che andava ben oltre ai limitati confini delle discipline classiche e archeologiche. L'importanza di Parigi in questa diffusione è attestata da due fattori interrelati. In primo luogo, bisogna far notare lo zelo quasi missionario mostrato da noti studiosi, come ad esempio Salomon Reinach (1858-1932), Edmond Pottier (1855-1934) e Victor Bérard (1864-1931), nel pubblicizzare a Tout Paris (e oltre Tout Paris) le nuove scoperte riguardanti l'età del Bronzo nell'Egeo, durante il periodo antecedente alla prima guerra mondiale. 3 Reinach (dal 1887 membro e dal 1902 direttore del Musée des Antiquités Nationales di Saint-Germain-en-Laye) e Pottier (fin dal 1884 membro del Département des Antiquités Orientales et de la Céramique Antique del Louvre) scrissero entrambi numerosi articoli in riviste di carattere storico-artistico e letterario di ampia circolazione. Ad esempio, tra il 15 giugno e il 7 settembre 1901, Reinach pubblicò una decina di articoli sulla Creta minoica in La Chronique des arts et de la curiosité, un 3 Alcuni degli scritti di Reinach e altri studiosi francesi influenzarono anche la diffusione di notizie sull'egeo in Russia, come si deduce, ad esempio, dal saggio sull'arte egea di Pavel Florensky del 1913 (v. Florensky 2002) che cita soprattutto Reinach (1904) e Lagrange (1909). L'opera 'missionaria' di Reinach e Pottier fu continuata dal critico dell'arte Christian Zervos, dal periodo tra le due guerre mondiali fino agli anni Cinquanta del XX secolo, ma ovviamente questa va oltre lo scopo del mio contributo, poiché si sviluppa dopo la morte di Proust.

Just as we speak of “dead” languages, we say that religions “die out.” Yet sometimes, people try to revive them, today more than ever. New Antiquities addresses this phenomenon through critical examination of how individuals and groups appeal to, reconceptualize, and reinvent the religious world of the ancient Mediterranean as they attempt to legitimize developments in contemporary religious culture and associated activity.

Drawing from the disciplines of religious studies, archaeology, history, philology, and anthropology, New Antiquities explores a diversity of cultic and geographic milieus, ranging from Goddess Spirituality to Neo-Gnosticism, from rural Oregon to the former Yugoslavia. As a survey of the reception of ancient religious works, figures, and ideas in later twentieth-century and contemporary alternative religious practice, New Antiquities will interest classicists, Egyptologists, and historians of religion of many stripes, particularly those focused on modern Theosophy, Gnosticism, Neopaganism, New Religious Movements, Magick, and Occulture. The book is written in a lively and engaging style that will appeal to professional scholars and advanced undergraduates as well as lay scholars.

The ‘big data’ whose analysis constitutes the paradigm of the ‘Digital Humanities’ are not, in general, present in archaeology. Rather, instead of ‘big data’ we have the very different ‘lots of data’, exemplified by a wide range of ceramic evidence, used in reconstructing function and dating of archaeological spaces. Although this data cannot, in most cases, be taken as a representative sample of the kinds of ceramics made and used, there is still often just enough to make it possible to address questions about large-scale behaviour of societies. For example, attempts to model city-state formation in Archaic Greece largely make use of geography and the knowledge of significant sites, available despite the lack of systematic archaeological material, to form the basis for comparison. This example is couched in a framework of ‘theory modelling’ in which assumptions are made about the agency behind the formation of what, in practice, are exchange networks.

The situation is complicated by the presence of more (but not extensive) data. It is challenging to find a middle ground between generic theory modelling and detailed structuring of data (data modelling), from which agency is inferred rather than assumed. In this talk we shall discuss one approach using a (13,000+ artefact) data set from Late Bronze Age (LBA) Crete put together by one of us (PG) from published catalogues. This data is too much for generic modelling but (with only 1000 'useful' artefacts) too little for data modelling. Nonetheless, combining the data with geography, technology, assumptions about artefact function and general network analysis provides a dynamic avenue through which to explore the role of key Cretan sites during the LBA.

This paper aims to apply the most recent social analysis trends to the study of military practice and  to  the  virile  ideals  of  Early  Iron  Age  Crete.  Particular  attention  will  be  payed  to  the  interpretative  model  developed  by  B.P.C.  Molloy  and  based  on  the  evaluation  of  war  as  social  process,  practice  and  event.  The  present  analysis  emphasizes  the  central  role  of  the  martial  character in the Cretan societies, fundamental element of cohesion and identity for the emerging aristocracies,  as  eloquently  declared  in  the  funerary  narrative.  Huge  amounts  of  energy  and  resources were invested in activities related to war, which had in Crete a peculiar character, on the  ground  of  the  types  of  weapons  attested.  The  suggestion  of  a  particular  Cretan  inclination  in the resolution of the conflicts can be traced back to the literary tradition, briefly taken into account in the contribution

En el siguiente trabajo nos disponemos a analizar un epíteto de Minos, mítico rey de la isla de Creta, para tener en cuenta su posible relación con algunas prácticas religiosas de la Edad de Bronce conocidas a través de la arqueología. Con este objetivo, estudiaremos la cuestión desde una triple perspectiva: primero, realizando una correcta traducción de la palabra en cuestión; segundo, considerando la evidencia material que nos muestra cierta continuidad entre la religión preclásica y las manifestaciones posteriores; tercero, teniendo en cuenta los rasgos astronómicos de la religión minoica. Finalmente, intentaremos demostrar que este epíteto podría sugerir mucho más que una cuestión retórica.

Minos ἐννέωρος and Crete Bronce Age Religion
This paper analyses an epithet for Minos, the mythical king of Crete, in order to determine whether it is possible to establish connections between it and religious practices of the Bronze Age, which are known due to archaeological evidence. In this sense, the topic will be studied from different perspectives. In the first place, a proper translation of the term will be offered; secondly, the material evidence that shows some continuity between the Bronze Age religion and its later manifestations will be taken into account; thirdly, the astronomical aspects of the Minoan religion will be considered. Finally, it will be demonstrated that this epithet constitutes more than a rhetorical resource.

(full text downloadable from the links provided)

This monograph contains the primary publication of the seals (S1–S16), sealings (N1–N75) and stamped objects (I1–I3) retrieved at the Bronze Age site of Akrotiri in Thera. Their contexts date from the MC A period, which corresponds roughly to the Cretan MM I period (at the turn of the third to the second millennium BC), until the final volcanic destruction phase that occurred at a mature phase of LC/LM IA (1623/1530 BC). The majority of the objects examined had been manufactured in Crete and were imported to Akrotiri as readymade items.
The monograph first examines the archaeological contexts where the objects were found, and then considers the objects from a typological and iconographical viewpoint. The place and possible role of these objects at Akrotiri are also discussed. Seals appear to have remained an alien body in Akrotiri until the end, as they were a distinctly Cretan product that was seemingly assimilated but not emulated. The notable paucity of objects with seal impressions (other than the nodules) further reinforces the absence of any meaningful, practical role for seals in the social practices at Akrotiri. It also suggests that the reason for the acquisition of seals at Akrotiri was the very Cretan provenance of these objects, as opposed to any other practical need.
Sealings were evidently meaningful to certain individuals at Akrotiri, who were definitely acquainted with and somehow involved in Minoan Neopalatial administrative practices. Their study has helped elucidate certain aspects of Minoan Neopalatial administration. Important, among other observations, are the ‘collaborative’ stamping patterns between administrators who were clearly part of a strict, hierarchical administrative chain, observed in the so-called flat-based nodules. The seal impressions and their combinations on these sealings reveal seal bearers of higher and lower ranks, as well as their respective responsibilities in the administrative praxis. The comparative study of material from LM IB sites in Crete exposes patterns that were largely similar to the ones observed at Akrotiri, still practised some 80–120 years after Akrotiri had perished in the volcanic eruption.