Travelling surprise in Greece

Knowing where to go and what to see is very important in any travel plan, but some surprises can turn out to be true gems. 

It so happened that I could visit the recently excavated cemetery of Akanthoy, near Ierissos, North Chalkidikis. The finds date roughly from the 7th-6th century BC, i.e., before Alexander and thus something he would have known.

According to Thucydides, the ancient city of Akanthos was founded as a colony of Andros, or, if we follow Plutarch, jointly by Andros and Chalkis in the middle of the 7th century BC. It sat on top of a prehistoric settlement. The city took the side of the Persians both in 499 BC (First Persian War) and 480 BC (Second Persian War) and sided with the Athenians in 431 BC during the Peloponnesian War. With the expansion of Macedonia under Philip and Alexander, Akanthos was incorporated into their kingdom. In 200 BC, the city was plundered by the Romans and became a mere province. 

The cemetery has been located underneath the modern city of Ierissos. It has yielded more than 14,000 findings confirming that the site was used all through the Roman age. The best artifacts have, of course, been moved to the Archaeological Museum of Polygyros. 

One of the fascinating spots I happen to stumble upon by chance is these lovingly cared-for tombs discovered in 2014, where everything is kept in situ. I admire the work of the archaeologists who managed to unearth these tombs from different eras in superposed layers while leaving each one undisturbed by the excavation of the others. 

Jars of all sizes and shapes (varying with time) alternate with small tombs, roofed or not. A few poignant small tombs still contain the cremated remains with their original grave goods on top – little earthen pots and jars that helped define the burial date. Also, skeletons of what seem to be young children are surrounded by toy horses and miniature vases. There also are many larger rectangular tombs in terracotta.

Outside, in front of an unmarked building, many larger pots have been collected, some wrapped in protective plastic. They are all waiting to be cataloged and studied together with smaller items filling colorful crates. Archaeology requires a lot of patience!

Hellenica Oxyrhynchia by P.J. McKechnie and S.J. Kern

Repeated references in previous reading material (e.g. The History of Alexander the Great and the Ephemerides of Alexander’s Expedition by CA Robinson and Xenophon, The Persian Expedition) and the historical background of the papyri dump discovered at Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, led me to pick up this book, Hellenica Oxyrhynchia with an introduction, translation and comments by P.J. McKechnie and S.J. Kern (ISBN 0-85668-358-2).

 

The authors have brought together the first publications by B.P. Grenfell and A.S. Hunt in 1908 with those made on later fragments. They are a collection of different copies of the same document written by the same unknown author.

The most recent fragments are kept at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and these are also the oldest papyri dating to the late first century AD. The so-called Florence Fragment was discovered in 1934 and is relatively small; it is kept at the Istituto Papirologico in the University of Florence and is dated to the late 2nd century AD. The principal papyrus is the one discovered by the above-mentioned British explorers in 1906, consisting at first of about 230 fragments that are dated to the late first or early second century AD. It is, however, possible that further portions of this Hellenica Oxyrhynchia will be discovered and identified in the future.

The fragments generally cover the history of Greece between 409 and 407 BC on one hand and 396 to 394 BC on the other. These papyri are a continuation of Thucydides’ history and pick up where Xenophon’s ‘Hellenica’ begins. A serious effort is made, thanks to the authors of this edition, to clarify the endless wars between Athens and Sparta about politics and power, combined with the warring and bribing of the Persians, who were experts in setting up one party against the other. The tale is fragmentary because the papyri are only fragments, but all the available Greek texts (reproduced on the left page) are given with a parallel translation in English (on the right-hand page); these texts are further commented upon in detail, including remarks and findings made in works of earlier authors.

The major question, i.e., the name of the author, remains unanswered. Pros and cons are being discussed, ranging from Xenophon, Theopompus, and Cratippus to Dionysus of Halicarnassus, Daimachus of Plataea, and Ephorus – to name only a few.

Captivating, highly interesting, and making you want to dig out the subject further.

More information about the papyri of Oxyrhynchus can be found in my previous story “Get involved with Oxyrhynchus” and in my comments on Peter Parsons’ book “City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish”.