The qanats, one of the greatest inventions of mankind

The qanats are an ever-returning and ever-fascinating subject of discussion.

[Picture from klikabol.com]

It is a water supply system that transports water from underground reserves to irrigation canals and even to cities. The qanats are a valuable asset in desert regions. They are known all over the world, from North Africa to Asia, Arabia, the Mediterranean countries such as Spain, Italy, and Greece, and even in the Nazca Valley of Peru and Chili!

My first encounter happened in Libya where I was introduced to the Garamantes, who used this water supply system. It is still visible in the Sahara desert, although the local Berbers called it foggaras (see: Could Alexander have known the Garamantes?). It is impossible to trace its origins back and we don’t know who really invented the system or implemented it first. Persia seems to be a good candidate and it may have traveled from there over the Silk Road.

Since Libya, I did indeed come across repeated qanats all over Iran. According to the statistics, there were approximately 50,000 such qanats still working in Iran last century. In Afghanistan, about 20,000 qanats were still in use at that time.

With the climate change that is affecting our daily use and need for water, the qanats regain their importance. Although the concept is rather simple, it does require regular maintenance. Over the centuries, the local tribes and chiefs were in charge of keeping the system in working order. However, modern construction projects such as cities and barrages on existing rivers often disrupt and/or interrupt the water supply. Since those projects are overseen by a governmental institution, little attention goes to this centuries-old supply system on which many local populations are still relying. In the process, small communities lose their only access to water. They cannot raise their crops and lack water for their own basic needs.

In northeastern Iran, the qanats of Gonabac are among the oldest and the largest in the world. Their origin seems to go back to 700-500 BC, to the days of the Achaemenid kings. My question about Alexander getting his knowledge from the Garamantes in Libya is obviously outdated. The hydraulic system existed way before his arrival in Persia, but he must have seen it at work.

Once you know what to look for, the scars in the landscape are unmistakably clear. The vertical openings reaching down to the horizontal underground aqueduct appear like a string of pearls. Heaps of soil around the shafts are the visible traces of these access columns. For the maintenance operation, men were lowered down those shafts and each one would clear a section of the horizontal water flow at the bottom. These shafts also functioned as wells and contributed to the ventilation along the route. The water comes from a faraway source, often in the mountains. Gravity carries it through these man-made tunnels. An additional advantage is that these underground conduits significantly reduce the evaporation of the water in the hot desert climate.

The Gonabac complex runs over a total length of 33 kilometers and counts 427 wells. The structure has nothing to envy our modern knowledge of geology and hydraulics. After 2700 years, the qanats are still working! Quite an amazing achievement, that teaches us a precious lesson, doesn’t it?

In this context, a previous post on water management may be interesting reading as well (see: Water management in antiquity).

Travelling back in time into antiquity

The possibilities of modern technology are truly without limits! The latest invention is a digital project allowing a “fly-over” of ancient cities and sites. It sounds like a very exciting way to travel back into time.

The first destination that has been made available is a virtual trip to Rome as it was in the year 320 AD. This specific date has been chosen because so much is known about the city at that time. Several of the key buildings built by the successive emperors were visible at that time.

The program called Rome Reborn allows us to explore the Roman Forum, the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine, Nero’s Palace Domus Aurea, and the Baths of Caracalla. In the next two or three years, other key sites like the Colosseum and the Pantheon will be added. All in all, it will possible to zoom in on about 7,000 buildings and monuments.

Visitors to the above mentioned link can actually “fly-over” the ancient city and stop at chosen locations.

The project has been made possible through close cooperation of archaeologists and the specialized team of Rome Reborn Virtual Reality Project, Flyover Zone Productions.

Plans do exist to recreated Athens in the days of Socrates and Jerusalem during the life of Jesus.

Aigai in Asia Minor

The name Aigai immediately brings the city in Macedonia to mind, which is also spelled Aegae. It seems, however, that there is another Aigai in the province of Manisa in Western Turkey.

[Picture from Inspirock - photo by Selim Rutbil]

The city is located on the valley that runs from Magnesia (modern Manisa) to Elaia, the ancient port of Pergamon. Aigai has been mentioned by Herodotus but had no great power. Although Alexander marched through the area, his presence has not been recorded either. His successor Seleucos is, however, known to have been honored with divine attributes in Aigai. During the later reign of Eumenes I, Aigai fell under the rule of the Attalids of Pergamon. It seems that the city’s layout closely resembles that of Pergamon, which is not surprising based on their common historical background. In the second century BC, Aigai was entirely rebuilt, and in 133 BC, it became part of the Roman Empire.

In 17 AD, the region was hit by a severe earthquake, and Tacitus tells us how twelve cities were destroyed overnight. Among the affected towns, Sardes and Magnesia are mentioned but also Aigai. In any case, Emperor Tiberius contributed to their reconstruction. 

So far, the buildings exposed by the archaeologists all date back to that period, just after the mid-2^nd century AD. Excavations have revealed a 1.5 km long city wall. On the eastern side of Aigai, a three-story high indoor market has been uncovered. Its walls still stand up to 11 meters tall over a length of 82 meters. The upper floor of this overall Hellenistic building was renovated in Roman times. A Roman Macellum used by butchers and fishermen alike has also been excavated. The inside floor was made of stones placed on lime mortar to hold the water in which the fish could be stored safely. Also, two separate channels were unearthed, one that carried fresh water inside and one that transported the waste water outside.

[Picture from Inspirock - photo by Oran Onal]

Several other buildings have been identified as well, like the Agora and its west Stoa, a theater, a Bouleuterion, a Stadium, a Gymnasium, and three temples, one of which has been identified as belonging to Demeter. They all date back to the mid-2^nd century AD. Aigai was eventually abandoned in the 3^rd century AD.

About five kilometers outside the city proper, the remains of a sanctuary dedicated to Apollo were found. It stood on the banks of the river that ran around the ruins. It can easily be spotted because three monolithic columns and the six-meter-high cella walls are still standing. It has been dated to the 1^st century BC.

Elephant trade in Ptolemaic Egypt

What a surprise to find the remains of an old fortress in Ptolemaic Egypt on the coast of the Red Sea. Recent research has revealed that a string of ports was built along that coastline, among which Berenice occupied a prominent place in the trade of war elephants.

It has been established that the Ptolemies imported their elephants mostly from Eritrea. Just try to imagine how it was possible to herd these massive animals together and ship them out to destinations around the then known world!

After Alexander’s death, elephants came to play an important role in the wars of the Diadochi. At that time, the only available source was India. But as the power of the generals shifted, that line of supply was only available to the Seleucids who ruled over most of Central Asia. Ptolemy II and his successors had to find another route and they soon turned to the interior and the coastal regions of Northeast Africa, south of Egypt.

After the Roman conquest in 30 BC, the trade area of Berenice expanded even more. Between the first and sixth centuries AD, business relations reached as far as Southern Arabia, Ethiopia, East Africa.

Berenice was a sizable fortification of about 160m x 80m and counted three large courtyards. The enclosed complex with its workshops and storage areas was surrounded by strongly built walls. The most vulnerable western inland section of the stronghold was protected by double walls. On the eastern and northern sides, a single wall offered apparently enough security. The corners and the most strategic spots were reinforced with square towers.

A major problem for the occupants of the fortress and for the elephants in particular must have been the water supply. Archaeologists have exposed, beside a rock-cut well, a series of drains and pools built to store both rainwater and groundwater. They have calculated that the two largest pools could contain as much as 17,000 liters. This is a huge quantity and scholars speculate that in antiquity the climate was more humid.

Chance encounter with Alexander

It is quite fascinating to have those surprise encounters with Alexander. He may just pop up at a street corner or at a turn of the road. But you cannot miss noticing him.

One such unexpected meeting happened in Edessa, Northern Greece when I drove out of town. I had to cross a small piazza that was crammed with parked cars and in a flash his equestrian statue appeared in front of me. I stopped there and then, leaving my vehicle right in front of a hotel. The valet walked up to me, of course, pointing out that I was obstructing the entrance. I explained that I only wanted to take a picture of Alexander. He looked skeptical but allowed me to shoot my photographs.

Alexander stood on a high plinth, comfortably seated on his Bucephalus. He was holding a torch, his eyes fixed on the horizon. It was a bronze rendition of young Alexander, from the time he was still in Macedonia. Beautiful!

Another surprise encounter was in Naples, Italy. Two bronze statues of Alexander and Bucephalus stood on either side of a back entrance to the Royal Palace. The respective plinths carried an inscription in Latin.

The story goes that a certain Alexandra is to marry Tsar Nicolas the next day to become his Tsarina. During the Tsar’s visit in 1846, he had the pleasure of giving his friend Ferdinand of Bourbon, Emperor of Naples and Sicily, a copy of a statue from St Petersburg. It represents an “unbeatable soldier”. We could assume that there was no need to explain who this unbeatable soldier was. But, on the other hand, maybe the Russians no longer knew that this statue depicted Alexander the Great? Who knows!

Useless to say that these unexpected meetings always make my day!

Why did Alexander burn Persepolis?

The question of why Alexander burned Persepolis is keeping historians busy for many centuries. Even the otherwise so meticulous Arrian offers no actual response, while Diodorus, Curtius, and Plutarch, in their elaborate recount, do not provide any satisfactory answer either.

The subject was treated recently by Anthony Wright in an article published by academia.eu. Few historians have indeed scrutinized the site of Persepolis. Maybe because archaeological excavations have not provided conclusive elements or because the study of the site has not been as thorough as it should have been.

So far, they have established that some buildings, such as the Apadana, the Hall of the One Hundred Columns, and the Treasury, show extensive evidence of fire, while others – like the small Tripylon that connects the Apadana to the Hall of 100 Columns -, carry no signs of being burned. Since the fire would be concentrated on those palaces built by Xerxes, it seems evident that Alexander meant to take revenge for Xerxes’ burning of the Acropolis in Athens some 150 years earlier. 

Research had shown that the Apadana, the Hall of 100 Columns, and the Treasury had been filled with flammable material before the fire was ignited. In the Apadana, for instance, they found charcoaled remains of ignitable material over a length of eight meters by one and a half meters, 60 cm deep. This discovery would imply that the fire was meant to destroy the contents of the palaces rather than the structure itself.

The next question is whether the fire of Persepolis was premeditated. We know that Parmenion advised against it, which would lead us to believe that the fire was lit on purpose. But what is the value of Parmenion’s opinion in this matter? Would Alexander truly have listened (here and on other occasions) to his general’s counsel? On the other hand, the auteur assumes that if Alexander repented immediately, the fire must result from a drunken revelry – led or not by Thais (see: Fire over Persepolis). Whatever the case, it seems we still have no clear-cut answer to the motive of the fire or Alexander’s repentance. Who knows, after all, Alexander may not have repented at all. 

The general consensus is still that the fire and the sack of Persepolis were meant to avenge the Persian destruction of Athens. This opinion is indeed formulated in most of our Greek sources. What happened to the Persian sources, I wonder? Our history is still being told based on our Western literature, while the Persians most certainly kept their own records. The Cyrus cylinder is the most striking example (see: The Cyrus cylinder and ancient Persia: a new beginning). Another significant clay tablet is the one recounting the Persian version of the Battle of Gaugamela (see: The troops of the king deserted him). Like so many others, this tablet belongs to the Astronomical Diaries that were kept in the temple of the Babylonian god Marduk. Over the past two centuries, millions of clay tablets have surfaced from all over Mesopotamia, and the majority still need to be deciphered, leaving us with wide lacunas. A significant number of them are still resting in the vaults of museums all over the world, but scholars capable of reading and/or deciphering the cuneiform tablets are limited. Consequently, significant texts from these tablets only surface piecemeal.

Some scholars believe that Alexander intended to send a clear message to King Darius (who was still on the run) and the Persians in general that the days of the Achaemenids were over. The fire was an unmistakable message, but I cannot believe it was meant to signal the end of the Achaemenids as such. When Alexander finally caught up with Darius, killed by his own kinsman Bessus, he covered the king’s body with his own cloak – a real sign of respect. He then instructed to take Darius’ remains to Queen Sisygambis for a proper burial (see: Alexander in hot pursuit of Bessus). 

Treating the body of King Darius with such reverence does not fit the message Alexander would have sent from Persepolis to signal that the days of the Achaemenids were over. Besides, Alexander incorporated the Achaemenid empire into the new world he planned to create as part of his plan to unite East and West, sealed during the Mass Wedding in Susa in 324 BC. Both Arrian and Curtius see the destruction of Persepolis as a demonstration of Alexander’s new power, although they may not have understood his true vision.

However, the article does not question why Alexander stayed in Persepolis for four months. All we know is that he led a short campaign into the interior of Persia proper to reduce all the villagers to his power, devastating their fields. He returned about 30 days later. What happened during the remaining three months is everyone’s guess.

In the end, there is no clear answer to why Alexander did burn Persepolis. The Greek allies and our Greek sources would have seen it as the completion of their Pan-Hellenic crusade to avenge Xerxes. But that view may be too simplistic considering that Alexander’s behavior also had widespread repercussions on his own future. He was only at the beginning of his conquest of Asia, with many more years of campaigning ahead to forge his new empire.

Alexander, from hero to saint

Alexander was never forgotten in history. After his death, many tales and legends started to circulate. Many of those found their way to the widespread versions of the Alexander Romance.

His pictures, statues, paintings, and mosaics circulated in the countries he had conquered and beyond. A great deal of the artwork we know today are copies made in the Roman era. During Hellenistic times, we can find his pictures from Italy, Egypt, the Near East, to Central Asia, and India. Every ruler liked to present himself with a certain likeness to Alexander. This makes it often difficult to distinguish Alexander from later kings.

When the Byzantine Empire and early Christianity spread throughout the eastern part of the world, Alexander was no longer seen as a Greek hero and made his entry into the Orthodox church. His ascension into Heaven became a recurrent theme. Although he clearly remained a mortal, the great conqueror extended his empire to the heavens.

By the 12^th century, the clergy often depicted Alexander as he rose into Paradise rather than being left among the dead. The best-known such picture is found on the floor mosaic in the church of Otranto in Southern Italy (see: Alexander's presence in Magna Graecia). Recently, one of my friends located a similar relief showing Alexander in precisely the same position in the Church of S. Demetrius in Vladimir, Russian Kiev. In fact, some 2,000 km further east! Alexander is depicted sitting on a throne, holding a bait of meat in each hand. Hungry griffons pick on the flesh, and by doing so, they are pulling him up into Heaven.

Around the 15^th and 16^th centuries, Alexander became a symbol of vanity. Several churches in Greece contain frescoes depicting monks who meditate on vanity while gazing down on Alexander's body at their feet. If we pay close attention, we find several such examples, for instance, in the church of St John the Baptist in the Peloponnese or at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity at the Meteora.

Still recovering ship rams from the Egadi Islands

Last year, the waters around the Egadi Islands were in the news after two bronze ship rams had been recovered, one of which was identified as being Carthaginian (see: Two more bronze ship rams recovered).

[Picture from the Archaeological News Network, Credit: RPM Nautical Foundation]

Two more rostrums have been retrieved from the sea this season, raising the counter to sixteen Roman and two Carthaginian rams. Besides these great finds, various other artifacts were brought to light, among which we count 68 Graeco-Italic, four Punic amphorae, and four plates.

Unusual was this year’s discovery of an iron sword that must have belonged to a soldier of either the Roman or the Carthaginian army. This sword is 70 centimeters long, and the blade is five centimeters wide. A closer study and restoration are required to gather more precise information about this rare piece.

It will be interesting to visit the Museum of the Battle of the Egadi in nearby Favignana to look at all the recently exposed testimonies left behind after the successive Punic Wars fought in the waters around the Egadi Islands. They fill a separate room, accompanied by spectacular multimedia elements.

More news from Anavarza, Roman Caesarea

Restoration works are still ongoing in Anavarza, and after exposing the impressive colonnaded street (see: A double highway in antiquity) of ancient Caesarea, archaeologists are now concentrating on the Triumphal Arch which the Romans built in the 3rd century BC.

[Picture from Huriyet Daily News]

This arch is 22.5 meters wide and 10.5 meters high, one of the largest such gates in the area. Judging by the pictures, this gate looks pretty poor but since many of its construction blocks are still laying around, experts are confident to restore it to its former glory. This Triumphal Arch is one of the three access gates of Caesarea.

Once this project is completed, they will concentrate on excavating the ancient theater.

The Alexander Mosaic

Needless to explain what I mean with “The Alexander Mosaic,” we are all familiar with the picture. The detailed images of Alexander facing Darius on the battlefield are common knowledge and widespread. However, to truly appreciate this mosaic, you have to see it for yourself.

Initially, this piece of art covered the floor of a Roman Villa in Pompeii, the city that was destroyed by the eruption of the Vesuvius in 79 AD. This villa is known today as the House of the Faun, where the lovely dancing and balancing bronze figure was found. This Faun stood in the atrium of the villa and has been replaced with a copy since the original is safely moved to the museum.

The “Alexander Mosaic,” created around 100 BC, is one of the largest ever found and most probably one of the finest also. It measures some 5m x 3m (the exact measurements vary according to the sources) and counts more than one million and a half tesserae made of stone and glass. This splendid piece of craftsmanship occupies a place of its own in the Archaeological Museum of Naples – very close to the Faun.

Scholars established that the composition is based on a wall painting created around 320 or 317 BC, most probably by Philoxenos of Eritrea, but Apelles, Alexander’s personal painter, is another candidate. 

Manolis Andronikos, who discovered and studied the Tomb of Philip in Vergina, made a rather convincing comparison between the hunting painting above the tomb’s entrance at Vergina and the original battle scene as later transposed onto the Alexander Mosaic. Both panels are about the same length, but the Vergina one is less than half in height. The composition of this hunting scene is very similar to that of the battle scene. Besides, both paintings have been executed in the typical style “of four colors” (yellow, red, black, and white), which was initiated by Apelles. Based on his study, Andronikos likes to attribute the painting that led to the mosaic to Philoxenus because he was a pupil of Nikomachos. This artist painted the fascinating Persephone that was discovered in the same Vergina tumulus. 

According to Pliny the Elder, the battle painting of Alexander and Darius was commissioned by Cassander, who was aspiring to become King of Macedonia at that time. It is a chilling thought that we owe such a masterpiece to Cassander, who had Alexander’s blood on his hands.  Hacking his way to the throne, he successively murdered Olympias, Alexander’s own mother, Roxane, his wife, Alexander IV, his son with Roxane, as well as Heracles, his son with his mistress Barsine. He used Alexander’s name and fame only as a means of propaganda to flatter his own ego. It makes you wonder which traits of Alexander he wanted to promote, considering his own brutality. It cannot have been too flattering, to say the least.

By 148 BC, however, Macedonia had been conquered by the Romans, who helped themselves to its many treasures. One of the key figures was Consul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, who plundered Pella’s rich art collection and extensive Library. The original painting may well have been among his trophies to be used some fifty years later to create this mosaic. Many of Rome’s wealthy citizens, to escape the oppressing summer heat, could afford expensive seaside resorts in the Vesuvian area. Their villas were lavishly decorated with paintings, mosaics, and statues robbed or copied from the newly conquered Greek provinces.  

There have been some discussions as to which battle this mosaic is supposed to represent. But lately, scholars have agreed that we are looking at the Battle of Issus rather than the Battle of Gaugamela. The main argument leading to that conclusion is the dead tree behind Alexander. Marco Polo, on his trek with the caravans of Central Asia, learned that late Arabian sources knew the Battle of Issus as The Battle of the Dead Tree.

The dead tree, in fact, opens a whole new discussion as we find two similar dead trees in the Vergina painting. A few years ago, Frank Holt wrote an extensive article on the meaning of these strange lone trees (published by academia.edu under the title Alexander the Great, Lightning, and the Lone Dead Tree), but in the end, no theory was really conclusive. 

The entire setting is theatrical, with the central position of Darius’ turning chariot and horses. The dismounting figure just below Darius has been identified as his brother, Oxyathres. He is standing over his wounded horse (notice the front leg that has been chopped off above the hoof) as Alexander’s sarissa hits him. In reality, no mounted soldier ever carried a sarissa simply because it was too long and too heavy and needed both hands to handle. The cavalry, and in this case, Alexander on horseback, used spears. Well, we can explain this as artistic liberty, I suppose.

Each person and each animal is on the move, nothing is static, and the faces and bodies show an excellent understanding of the human form and anatomy. Connoisseurs speak of the outstanding use of foreshortening – an artistic way to reduce or distort objects and figures to produce a 3-D effect. How on earth did we lose that knowledge and technique in the dark Middle Ages! Stepping back for a moment, I am looking straight at the behind of a horse galloping away from me. Only a master artist is capable of creating such a realistic and daring composition!

It is quite exciting to study this monumental mosaic in all its minute details – of which there are very many. For a start, there is the layout of the tesserae themselves. The scientific name is opus vermiculatum, also known as “worm work,” because the tiny stones are set in a pattern resembling the slow motion of a worm. Studying the legs of the horses at my eye level, I realize that I can almost “feel” the texture of the horse’s robe.

Unbelievable! I also notice the detailed patterns on the pants of the Persians in the foreground, the harnesses of the horses, including the little bell on top of their head, the figures of ducks and lions applied on the bridles, and the thick tassel on their breast. Oxyathres’ pants are particularly elaborate, and I love the comfort of his low leather boots with the flaps. And then there is the gorgeous gold torque worn by the Persian next to Darius, holding his headwear as he is staring at Alexander.

Darius’ chariot is another subject worth to be scrutinized. The rims of its panels show motives of winged animals (dragons and aurochs) reminiscent of Babylon’s walls. I am amazed to see how the front wheel, with its border of beads, throws a shadow onto the body of the chariot. Darius’ large cloak is flung to the side by the sudden turn of his chariot, and I am surprised to find it trimmed with a Greek meander motif. Looking more closely, I even notice that the end of the horse’s tail is tied in an elegant knot. There is much determination in the face of the driver whipping the span he is leading in the turn. There even is a dialogue between two of the Persians in the back who raise their arms as if they are signaling to each other. Their eyes are meeting. There is fear on the face of the fallen Persian at the bottom right, looking up as he is on the point of being trampled by the horses around him. The Persian in the foreground watches his reflection in the Macedonian shield that he is pushing away to avoid being crushed underneath. The scene makes me think about what effect the reflection of hundreds of such shiny shields would have on a battlefield? It must be terrifying!

The Macedonian side of the mosaic is damaged to the point that there is close to nothing to tell about the army and their outfit. Luckily, the image of Alexander the Great has been spared. He has his wide eyes fixed on Darius. He is supposed to ride his black Bucephalus, but this horse is brown. Did that color look better in the picture? Who knows? On the other hand, Alexander’s outfit is correctly rendered with his off-white linen corselet and the lively Medusa head on his chest to avert the evil and the thunderbolts on his shoulder straps. His sword is still sheathed. The one officer behind Alexander is wearing a Thessalian helmet. Otherwise, the tesserae are gone. It makes me wonder if the visitors to the villa had eyes for Alexander only. After all, these were the days when those who could afford it went to Egypt to visit Alexander’s tomb – men like Caesar, Marc Antony, Augustus, Caligula, etc.

The space below the raging battle is filled technically with lost arms: a bow, a sword, a scabbard, and a javelin that still has the Ankyle, leather strip wrapped around its end (meant to increase the throwing distance). 

The commotion and the disarray of the battlefield are very palpable! The Persian spears in the background not only fill the space from an artistic point of view but also provide a line of focus toward Alexander. What a masterly composition!

It is unknown what led the owner of this villa to use this battle theme for his main floor, the one which every visitor would cross upon arrival. There are several theories. One is that the owner was a mercenary in Roman service during the war against King Perseus of Macedonia. Another is that one of his ancestors was involved in the fight against King Alexander of Epirus in Italy. Well, in both cases, they refer to close ties with Macedonia.

Whatever the speculations, this mosaic certainly is a rare piece of art that survived in close memory of Alexander. We still cannot imagine the immense wealth that the Romans hauled away from Macedonia - a wealth we owe to Alexander!