The distinct remains of Blaundus

A few years ago, Turkish TV ran a very interesting program, Zor Yollar (difficult roads) in which a group of adventurers crisscrossed Turkey’s backcountry in their 4x4 vehicles in search of little-known and/or near-hidden sites.

The image of one of these sites stayed with me because it was so out of common, and the name attached to it was Blaundus. The overall remains were poor, a sturdy arch that was part of the city wall, a few rows of columns of a temple of some kind, and the most striking ruins of “an unknown building”. Well, so much to satisfy my curiosity.

Just recently, the Turkish newspaper, Daily Sabah, published an article about Blaundus and the top picture was that of the building that had intrigued me from the onset.

It appears that Blaundus emerged as a Macedonian city and when Alexander the Great occupied Phrygia (to which Blaundus belonged) in 333 BC, he appointed Antigonus Monophthalmus as governor.

The city stands on a well-defendable high plateau. Although Blaundus had been located and analyzed by British and German archaeologists from the late 19^th to the early 21^st century, the first serious excavations started in the last decennium or so.

Blaundus was built according to the Hippodamian plan and it is thought that the monumental structure that caught my eye stood right on the Agora. So far, a temple dedicated to Ceres / Demeter, the fertility goddess, has been located. Other remains that have been documented are the stadium (140m x 37m) from the 1^st century AD, a few steps of the theater, the gymnasium, and one arch of the five-kilometer-long aqueduct (three arches were still standing in the 19^th century). On the slopes northeast of the city, several tombs have been found with their frescoed wall painted in vivid shades of blue, green, and red.

Local authorities now state that the site of Blaundus is open to the public but I wonder whether the access roads have been signposted since the search of the Zor Yollar group. The impressive remains are situated north of the line Aydin – Isparta, meaning that it is not entirely out of reach to the more adventurous traveler.

Bathing in beauty in ancient Gerasa

Excavations carried out between 2016 and 2018 by teams of German, French and Jordanian archaeologists have exposed a large number of statues from the Great Eastern Roman Baths in Gerasa (modern Jerash in Jordan). Apparently they toppled down after a severe earthquake.

[Picture from Albawaba.  Shutterstock/File Photo]

This monumental complex – apparently one of the largest and best preserved in the East – dates from the second half of the 2^nd century AD. Amazingly, some of the vaults of these baths still stand to a height of 12 meters. The construction was enlarged under the Severan Emperors, who added a connecting pillared hall with exedra on the north side. Scholars estimate that this hall is a reminder of the “imperial halls” that were common in Asia Minor at the time.

Several of the 27 statues are said to be intact and represent Zeus and Aphrodite, as well as the muses from Graeco-Roman mythology sitting on a throne. Based on the picture included in the article in Albawaba, and if it does indeed belong to the baths, the artwork is of a very high level.

The statue of Aphrodite in the company of Eros, is made of Pentelic marble quarried around Athens and according to the inscription on the plinth, it was donated by a priest named Demetrius around March 153/154 AD.

The new Archaeological Museum of Troy

Despite the many centuries of excavations in Troy, the time has come (at last!) to build its own museum on the site. It is located some 800 meters outside the ancient city, and from the pictures, it looks very promising.

[Picture from dezeen]

Beyond Troy, about 40,000 artifacts have been transferred from the Archaeology Museum in Istanbul, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, and the Archaeological Museum of Çanakkale. It is nice to have the finds concentrated in one single building.

Besides Troy, artifacts from the greater area are being exhibited here also. Those archaeological remains include finds from cities like Assos, Tenedos, Parium, Alexandria Troas, Smintheion, Lampsacus, Thymbra, Tavolia, and Imbros.

It is a wonderful idea to have this collection together in one place, more so since that corner of Northwestern Turkey is often overlooked by tourists.

More restorations at the Royal Palace in Pella

The Royal Palace of Pella has been off limits for many years now, in spite of the earlier announcement that it would open to the public in 2011.

Such a monumental construction not only needed to be excavated but also required some kind of restoration to stabilize the structure and to help the future visitor to get a better picture of this complex. It now seems that work to that effect will soon be started.

[Digital representation of one of the entrances to the Palace of Pella]

As explained in my earlier blog, “Pella, the birthplace of Alexander the Great,” the palace covers an area of 6 ha with a maze of rooms, stoas, corridors, and staircases set on different levels. In the first stage, three stoas of the palace’s Propylaea and four columns in the peristyle of the courtyard of Building I will be treated.

The Propylaea, as its name indicates, was the very entrance to the palace. It was framed on either side by a not further identified construction, called Building I on the east and Building II on the west, which were enhanced with a Doric colonnade.

The palace survived until Byzantine times, after which it served as construction material for the settlers in the nearby villages. All that remains today are the foundations of the palace complex, as well as several columns and some mosaics all across the site.

Nonetheless, it will be extremely rewarding to have a closer look inside those walls where Alexander spent his youth and to visualize the entire organization of the premises.

Preservation of the Roman Aqueduct at Gadara

Roman aqueducts are a constant marvel of engineering, as each and every aqueduct is unique. Their remains are still clearly visible in many landscapes around the wide Mediterranean area.

The latest news on the subject comes from Umm Qais, the modern name for ancient Gadara in Jordan. It has been established that Gadara had the largest Roman water system in the world, running over a distance of 170 kilometers all the way into modern Syria.

In an earlier blog (see: Another legacy of Alexander in Gadara), I casually mentioned the discovery of a network of water tunnels, including a number of Hellenistic ones, but at present, the entire system has been traced and mapped.

Scholars speak of a twin aqueduct as two systems run parallel, the upper and the lower tunnels. On their way to Gadara, water from other sources was added, coming from springs and channels that were cut in the rock surface to collect the rainwater. It has been established that the aqueducts were combined with karezes or qanats, which automatically provided underground access to the channels in order to carry out the maintenance works.

Since most of Gadara is built on top of the ancient city, the exact course of these aqueducts cannot always be followed exactly, but they appear in the section that has been excavated near the Baths, the Byzantine Church, and several private houses. Around the many Nymphaeums that survived, for instance, those along the Decumanus, it is still possible to find traces of the connecting aqueducts.

A detailed study on the Roman aqueducts in Jordan can be found on the site Roman Aqueducts.

Air pollution in antiquity

We are inclined to believe that air pollution is a modern phenomenon that started with the Industrial Revolution in the 1800s, but recent research has shown that the problem existed already in Greek and Roman antiquity.

The first mining of metals started in the 6^th millennium BC but mass production was a Roman invention as they intensively used lead for the production of water pipes, household items, and to mint their silver coins. The smelting of lead releases toxic heavy metals into the air.

It has never been established, for instance, to what extend King Philip’s mines in Crenides, Stratonici, Skouries, and Olympiade on the east side of the Chalcidice peninsula, and Potidaea contributed to the air pollution (see: Macedonia's gold and silver mines today) .

Until now, scientists relied on the traces of metal trapped in Greenland’s ice but that is far away from the actual mine sites. At present, the concentrations have been measured in the deepest layers of ice on the Mont Blanc, which is geographically much closer to the source.

The study of alpine ice has revealed that lead emissions in antiquity increased the natural level by a factor of 10. By comparison, the use of leaded gasoline in Europe matched up to a factor of 50 to 100. The impact may not seem so important were it not that the Roman pollution spread over many centuries, while our leaded gasoline damaged our air quality for "only" 30 years or so.

Although the Roman smelting and mining activities went on for almost 500 years, it appears that they knew two peaks in atmospheric lead pollution, i.e., during the 2^nd century BC and again during the 2^nd century AD. The Romans mined lead all over Europe, from Iberia to Great Britain, and the production eventually declined gradually after the fall of the Empire in the 5^th century.

We look at the Roman Empire with its grand monuments and great works of art but never consider that all that wealth came at a very high price.

Today we aim to bring our air pollution back to standards from before the Industrial Revolution, but it is clear that it existed for a long time. To take the values from before the Industrial Revolution as a “clean” standard does no longer stand either. There were many ups and downs, like noted in the Middle Ages when mining activities almost became nil, particularly when the Black Death pandemic hit this part of the world in the mid-14^th century.

Beside the lead pollution, quantities of antimony were also released into the atmosphere. It is important to know that lead ores also contain elements like arsenic, copper, silver, and gold.

What did the citizens of ancient Sagalassos look like?

Talking about Sagalassos or any city from antiquity, it merely comes down to buildings and stones. So, it is gratifying to find archaeologists trying to give the people who lived so many centuries ago a face.

We owe it to the Belgian researchers Jeroen Poblome (director of the Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project) and Sam Cleymans (postdoctoral researcher), who – together with the University of Burdur in Turkey – managed to reconstruct two human faces from that remote past.

[Credit: Bruno Vandermeulen & Danny Veys/Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project]

To that purpose, they used a female skeleton that was retrieved from a graveyard in 1995 and dated to the Middle-Byzantine era (11^th-13^th century AD), which they called Eirènè, as well as the remains of a Roman man who lived early 3^rd century AD, found in 2016, and which they baptized Rhodon. Both skeletons were in a good state of conservation and were almost complete. Of course, their real names are unknown, but putting a name on a face makes them indeed come alive.

Rhodon is estimated to be older than fifty and must have belonged to the middle class. He was interred with beautiful gifts, among which they found an epistomion (a golden leaf covering the mouth of the deceased) that carried the picture of a bee and a gilded bronze ring. It has been established that Rhodon led a hard life full of physical labor in this challenging landscape surrounding Sagalassos, even today.

Eirènè has been estimated to have been between 30 and 50 years old at the time of her death, and her burial was more sober, following the traditions of her time.

As usual with facial reconstructions, the research team started making a 3D scan of the skulls, and layer by layer, the face was created, calculating the shape of the nose, the ears, and the eyes. To determine the color of the eyes and the hair, they observed today’s people of nearby Ağlasun, who have relatively light skin but brown eyes and hair.

Since Rhodon lived in the 2^nd century AD, they sought inspiration from the portraits of Emperor Hadrian and gave him short hair and a carefully trimmed beard. The appearance of Eirènè is more austere, as was customary in Byzantine times, and, as a result, she had loose hair with a thin braid.

This is a very rewarding tentative to give us a look into the past. One thing is sure, these are people we could easily encounter today!

Massive plundering of art in the early years of the Roman Empire

The plundering and looting of artwork have been ongoing for centuries, and it was not Emperor Augustus’ scoop. In a previous blog, Wartime Looting in antiquity, I covered many ancient artifacts that changed owners over the centuries. This time, I want to focus on Augustus’ contribution, among which are some treasures related to Alexander the Great.

Octavian's conquest of Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean clearly went to his head. He was now the most powerful man on earth for all to see and respect. To underscore his role, he proclaimed himself emperor, taking the name of Augustus, which means majestic and venerable. Modesty was not his virtue.

The greatest treasures that fell into Octavian's hands came from Alexandria, where the Ptolemies had amassed many artworks from the most famous Greek artists like Apelles, Alexander’s privileged painter, and Antiphilus, a contemporary of Apelles and maybe a rival. However, he worked mainly for Philip II and for Ptolemy I. Egypt was an untouched trophy, and besides their Greek heritage, they had gathered spoils from Africa and collected other precious Orientalist Greek-Egyptian works of art, all to be added to their own centuries-old cultural heritage. Obviously, Octavian’s army helped itself during what must have been quite a rampage after the downfall of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC. Upon their return to Rome, blinded by the wealth that poured into the city, everybody of name and fame wanted a piece of the pie and acquired what they could by all possible means: from honest purchases and authentic gifts to robbery, haggling, blackmail, or bribery.

Egypt was not the first victim, and we will remember that only a good one hundred years before, the Romans had helped themselves to the treasures of Macedonia in 168 BC when they won the decisive Battle of Pydna. Aemilius Paulus took the royal library of Macedonia with him, and Sulla followed suit in 86 BC, helping himself to Aristotle’s personal library in Athens. Marc Antony simply dispatched the 200,000 parchment rolls from the Library of Pergamon to Cleopatra in 43 BC as a wedding gift. Papyri and parchment rolls were no booty to show off with, but paintings, statues, and jewelry enabled you to brag. As kingdoms like Macedonia and Pergamon were subdued by Rome, they became treasure troves for art lovers and the nouveau riche.

Julius Caesar was already a great “collector,” and Octavian, as the new Emperor Augustus, would not stay behind. With the increase of its wealth, Rome developed further refinement. Several private connoisseurs are known by name, like L. Lucinius Luculius and Novius Vindex, who highly appreciated Greek bronze and marble statues made by Lysippos (he acquired a statuette of Heracles, which was previously owned by Alexander, Hannibal, and Sulla), Praxiteles, Phidias, Skopas, and Polycleitus, and the paintings by Apelles were among their prized objects.

Augustus “bought” a famous painting of Aphrodite by Apelles, a controversial transaction that officially enabled the citizens of Cos to pay their outstanding taxes, but some obscure blackmail is more likely. The painting was exhibited for the opening of the Temple of the deified Julius Caesar in the Forum Romanum in 29 BC. Despite the eulogy written by several Latin poets, it remains unclear whether this Aphrodite was painted in the nude, rising from the sea and wringing her hair, or if only her upper body was showing. Two more paintings by Apelles were put on public display on the Forum, probably because they featured Alexander the Great. They were “Castor and Pollux with Victory and Alexander the Great” and “The Figure of War with his Hands tied behind him following the Triumphal Chariot of Alexander.”

Everything tied to Alexander was a prime possession as Augustus was a great admirer of the world conqueror and visited his tomb while he was in Alexandria. So it seems that the bronze Nike statues that supported each corner of the canopy over Alexander’s funeral chariot, as described by Diodorus, found their way to Rome as two of them were placed in front of the Temple of Mars Ultor and the two others stood in front of the Regia. These Nikes originally were covered with gold foil or gilt and not made of massive gold, as often assumed, for that would have made the statues too heavy for the funeral chariot.

Another close relation to Alexander was found in the Temple of Apollo Palatinus. According to Pliny the Elder, inside this temple stood a magnificent bronze chandelier “with the lights fixed like apples on a tree,” which had been taken by Alexander from Thebes in 335 BC (another earlier spoil of war!). Alexander had dedicated it as his votive offering after victory at the Battle of the Granicus.

The Alexandrian painter Antiphilus was another favorite artist of the Roman emperor. A group representing “Alexander with Philip and Athena” was placed in Rome’s Portico of Octavia with ”Noble Hesione.” In the nearby Portico of Philippi, three more works found a place: “Alexander portrayed in his early teens,” “Dionysus,” and the “Death of Hippolytos.”

Augustus’ greed was boundless, and he did not hesitate to confiscate the chryselephantine statue of Athena from Tegea, made by a certain Endoios, to place it on the Forum Augusti. At the time of his conquest of Egypt, he also seized the statue of Zeus made by Myron from Samos and moved it to the Capitol Hill in Rome.

These are, of course, only a few examples, for it is impossible to know how many works of art Augustus brought to Rome and how many pieces from previous acquisitions changed hands in those days. Yet the quantities and mainly their quality were unheard of, and we must thank Pliny the Elder for documenting the works displayed in Rome’s many public buildings and porticoes. Pausanias, also, during his extensive travels, highlighted the prized collection. Plutarch, in turn, had an eye for Cleopatra’s treasures, including precious metals, jewels, pearls, and ivory.

It is hard to imagine the wealth and luxury displayed in the heyday of Rome, for this is far beyond anything we can imagine. Opulence was the common good; the Romans ruled the world, and they showed it.

[The above is based on an article published by Academia.edu: Plundered art in the galleries of Augustan Rome, uploaded by Tomasz Polański. The pictures are mine.]

Chinese search for immortality

The search for immortality is from all times but here we are confronted with a liquid that was meant to do just that!

The precious elixir of life was discovered in China’s Henan Province inside a bronze pot from the Han Dynasty. It was part of the grave goods surrounding the remains a noble family from Luoyang.

[Picture from Archaeology News Network - Credit  VGC]

Archaeologists first thought they found a liquor because of its alcoholic smell but close lab research revealed that it was made of potassium nitrate and alunite or alum. According to ancient Taoist texts, these elements were the main ingredients of an immortality medicine.

This is the first time such “immortality medicine” is found in China and it offers a unique opportunity to study the Chinese thoughts on achieving that immortality. I suppose that the 3.5 liters will suffice further examination.

Beside the remains of the deceased, this tomb, which covers 210 square meters, also yielded a great number of jade and bronze artifacts as well as painted clay pots.

Of course, the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) started some 100 years after Alexander but that does not mean that this kind of elixir did not exist before that – maybe even in Alexander’s days …

New theory about the foundation of Apamea

In an earlier blog (see: Apamea, heritage of Alexander), I mentioned how the Macedonian military camp of Pella may have been founded by Alexander when he returned from Egypt in 331 BC.

The Hellenistic mosaics of Apamea that surfaced after clandestine excavations in October 2011 (see: The unique mosaic of Apamea and More illegal mosaics from Apamea) have triggered a new interpretation of the city’s history.

An in-depth study made by Marek Titien Olszewski and Houmam Saad and published by Academia.eu establishes that the foundation of Pella took place shortly after the Treaty of Triparadeisus in 321 BC upon the initiative of Antipater and inspired by Cassander.

By 300 BC, Seleucos renamed the city Apamea after his wife, Apame. Under his rule, it was turned into a military base where he kept 500 elephants and an extensive stud of 30,000 mares and 300 stallions.

A Census carried out in the year 6 AD, established that the population of Apamea reached at least 130,000 people – maybe even 500,000. All in all, a major city worthy of Alexander and his Successors!