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10/09/2009

Hesperia Volume 78:3, 2009 Available

Carol Stein

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Flaked Stone from Isthmia
by P. Nick Kardulias
doi: 10.2972/hesp.78.3.307
Archaeologists have long acknowledged the importance of flaked stone tools in the prehistoric archaeological record of the Aegean. Over the past two decades, scholars have demonstrated the continued production and use of lithics in historical periods as well. At Isthmia, flaked stone tools have been found in deposits associated with craft, agricultural, ritual, and domestic contexts. The presence of reduction debris as well as finished tools of obsidian and chert suggests some on-site production in historical eras, but recycling of older pieces is also possible. The assemblage reflects a pragmatic response to the need for cutting, scraping, and incising tools in various periods.

Seeing the Sea: Ships’ Eyes in Classical Greece
by Deborah N. Carlson
doi: 10.2972/hesp.78.3.347
Excavations in the Athenian Agora have brought to light fragments of three sculpted marble eyes, or ophthalmoi, from Classical levels in and around the Tholos precinct. The discovery of similar objects at the ancient harbor of Zea, and more recently in association with a Classical Greek ship wrecked off the Aegean coast of Turkey, makes clear that all are examples of the eyes that decorated the bows of ancient Greek ships. Three hypotheses are offered to explain the presence of nautical artifacts within the Agora: they may have served as honorific fixtures relating to the fleet; represented surplus naval equipment stored in the Strategeion; or belonged to a wheeled ship used in the Anthesteria or the Greater Panathenaia festival.

The Identity of the “Wool-Workers” in the Attic Manumissions
by Kelly L. Wrenhaven
doi: 10.2972/hesp.78.3.367
In the second half of the 4th century B.C., the names of manumitted men and women and their occupations were inscribed on stones and displayed, presumably on the Athenian Acropolis. More than four-fifths of those identified as female are designated as “wool-workers” (ταλασιουργοί), and scholars have debated whether these women were domestic slaves, or professional slaves who were able to purchase their own freedom. Drawing upon iconographic, literary, and archaeological evidence, the author revisits the “spinning ἑταίρα” debate, arguing that the ταλασιουργοί were primarily prostitutes and that the designation ταλασιουργός was used essentially to avoid the stigma associated with their trade.

The Temple of Apollo Patroos Dated by an Amphora Stamp
by Mark L. Lawall
doi: 10.2972/hesp.78.3.387
The temple of Apollo Patroos in the Athenian Agora is often dated to ca. 330 B.C. A fragment of a Thasian amphora with a stamp bearing the eponym Ποῦλυς was found in a pit closed no later than the period of the temple’s construction. This stamp dates to ca. 313 B.C. The temple must therefore have been constructed in the very late 4th or very early 3rd century. Review of the textual and other archaeological evidence related to the temple and its vicinity clarifies the physical development of this cult site from ca. 375 to ca. 300 B.C.

A New Athenian Ephebic List: Agora I 7545
by Kevin F. Daly
doi: 10.2972/hesp.78.3.405
Agora I 7545, a fragmentary ephebic list of the late 1st century B.C. or early 1st century A.D., records the names of six individuals, at least three of whom are otherwise unattested. The document honors ephebic officers and a trainer known from other inscriptions, Menis(s)kos of Kolonai. Two ephebes, Dionysodoros son of Sophokles of Sounion and Gorgias son of Architimos of Sphettos, appear to be related to members of the genos of the Kerykes recorded in IEleusis 300 of 20/19 B.C. The inscription demands a reassessment of the dates and careers of Meniskos and Dionysodoros, and raises questions about the constituency of the Kerykes in the Early Roman period.

Travel, Pictures, and a Victorian Gentleman in Greece
by Deborah Harlan
doi: 10.2972/hesp.78.3.421
The rise of mass tourism in the late 19th century coincided with advances in photographic technology that made it easier for travelers to document their journeys. In the 1890s, the clergyman and scientist T. R. R. Stebbing made a photographic record of his travels in the eastern Mediterranean. Stebbing’s images reproduce a way of looking at antiquity prescribed by 19th-century guidebooks, thereby encoding a conventional Western view of antiquity. Incorporated into an academic network of slide collections, Stebbing’s images contributed to an authoritative scholarly construction of the classical world in Britain during the early 20th century.