CATEGORY: artifact DEFINITION: A type of blade tool retouched along both sides to form a slug-shaped object.
CATEGORY: artifact DEFINITION: A small clublike weapon, usually of stone, crafted to fit snugly in the hand, for pounding. It often had a perforated head and was attached to a shaft of wood (or ivory or horn), often tapering towards the end that was gripped. Many maceheads have been excavated from Predynastic and Early Dynastic cemeteries in Egypt. In medieval times, it was made of iron and used for breaking defensive armor.
CATEGORY: term DEFINITION: In the Aztecperiod, commoners who made up the bulk of the population and who cultivated land held by his or her descent group. The macehual class was further differentiated into class levels. Certain occupations were accorded higher prestige than others (merchants, lapidarians, goldsmiths, and featherworkers are mentioned, and the list probably included stone sculptors); and all urban occupations were assigned higher status as compared with rural farming.
CATEGORY: structure DEFINITION: In Roman antiquity, a marketplace for perishable foods consisting of shops around a colonnaded court; the center building was either round or octagonal. Some more sophisticated examples have individual architectural features associated with them, such as (at Leptis Magna and Pompeii) a porticoed enclosed rectangular courtyard, with one or two colonnaded pavilions in the central area. At Pompeii, shops under the porticoface inward into the market and also outward into the surrounding streets. At Rome, the Macellum Magnum erected by Nero was apparently a grand-scale example, doubling both the portico and the pavilion into two-storied structures.
MacEnery, Reverend J. (17??-d. 1841)
CATEGORY: person DEFINITION: A Roman Catholic priest who excavated at Kent's Cavern, England, and discovered Palaeolithicflint tools alongside the bones of extinct animals in an undisturbed stratum. He concluded that man and these ancient animals must have coexisted, but these views found little acceptance at the time. MacEnery died without publishing his results; William Pengelly did publish the report of MacEnery's excavations (1869).
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: A town in western Eritrea, Ethiopia, with four village sites from around the 3rd millennium BC. Surface artifacts, such as stone maceheads and ground stone axes seem related to the Nubian C Group of the Nile Valley. Other artifacts suggest an early practice of food production that may have been passed from the Nile Valley to the Ethiopian highlands.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: modern Albe CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: An ancient fortified Roman colony, at the foot of Mount Velino, Italy. It was originally a town of the ancient Marsi people, but was occupied by Latin colonists c 302-303 BC. It was situated on a hill with three distinct summits, which were enclosed in its walls, much of which are still standing. Remains of the forum with a temple and various buildings of the time of Sulla are there, including a basilica, curia, macellum, theater, and amphitheater. This colony was important during the civil wars of the 1st century BC and state prisoners of Rome were often held there.
Alexander the Great (356-323 BC)
CATEGORY: person DEFINITION: Alexander the Great (Alexander III), king of Macedonia, began his career of conquest in 335 BC. He overthrew the Persian Empire and laid the foundation for the territorial kingdoms of the Hellenistic world. Born in Macedonia in 356 BC, he was the son of Philip II and Olympias. He was taught by the great philosopher Aristotle from the age of 13-16. Alexander took power in Macedonia and mainland Greece in 340 BC when Philip left to attack Byzantium. By 332 BC, his arrival in Egypt ended the Persian occupation and he had already conquered much of western Asia and the Levant before his arrival in Egypt. In Egypt, Alexander made sacrifices to the gods at Memphis and visited the oracle of Amun-Ra where he was recognized as the god's son, thus restoring the true pharaonic line. He founded the city of Alexandria and then left Egypt in 331 BC to continue his conquest of the Achaemenid empire. His empire stretched from India to Egypt. After his death from a fever in 323 BC, his kingdom quickly dissolved.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Anzabegovo CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: A large settlement of the First Neolithic and Early Vinca periods of Macedonia near the Bregnalnica River. Excavations have revealed a four-phase occupation c 5300-4200 BC. There was cultivation of emmer and wheat as well as some herding. The architecture was mud brick walls to wattle-and-daub timber-framed houses. The artifacts are similar to those found in northern Greece and the Anatolian Late Neolithic.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Apameia; Apamea ad Maeandrum CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: A city in Hellenistic Phrygia on the Orontes River, partly covered by modern Dinar. Originally a Macedonian colony founded by Antiochus I Soter in the 3rd century BC, it became a Seleucid city superseding Celaenae and commanding the east-west trade route of the Empire. In the 2nd century BC, Apamea passed to Roman rule where it became capital of the Syria Secunda province. It became a great center for Italian and Jewish traders, but it declined by the 3rd century AD and trade was diverted to Constantinople. The Turks captured the town in 1070 and it was devastated by an earthquake in 1152.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Athínai (modern Greek), Athenai (ancient Greek) CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Important classical Greek city-state with evidence for continuous occupation from the Late Neolithic, but because of its continuous occupation and the resulting disturbance of the earlier levels, its history is told from the time of the Mycenaeans in the Late Bronze Age. The citadel on the Acropolis was walled early in its history. It is the capital of Greece and generally considered to be the birthplace of Western civilization. Athens is best known for its temples and public buildings of antiquity. The Parthenon, a columned, rectangular temple built for the city's patron goddess, Athena, is considered to be the culmination of the Doric order of classical Greek architecture. Also located on the Acropolis are the Erechtheum, originally the temple of both Athena and Poseidon, and the Propylaea, the entrance of which is through the wall of the Acropolis. At the foot of the Acropolis, to the south, are the theaters of Herodes and Dionysus, while to the northwest is the Agora, the ancient marketplace of the city. The Kerameikos cemetery documents the city's Iron Age (c 11-8 BC), after which archaeology and history combine to tell of its brilliance through the classicalperiod. It supposedly rivaled Knossos and later resisted successive waves of Dorian invaders. It is still not clear how far Athens, perhaps the base of the very early Ionian colonies, managed to ride out the 'dark age' that followed the collapse of Mycenaean civilization. There is evidence of a cultural and commercial renaissance in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. A major component of this socioeconomic revolution was the borrowing of the Phoenicianalphabet for the writing of Greek. Commercial success brought rapid economic growth and a population explosion. New ideas were imported and political upheaval led to experiments in government, such as democracy. Athens resisted Persian invaders and developed a prestige which allowed the establishment of the Delian League and the extension of her political power -- the Athenian empire. In the years 447-431 BC, under Pericles, vast sums were spent on public works, such as the new group of buildings on the Acropolis including the Parthenon. Pericles would not grant the Hellenes the freedom requested by Sparta, which led to the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) after which Athens was a dependent of Sparta. Escape from Spartan imperialism in the 4th century BC was threatened by Philip of Macedon and Alexander the Great. By the end of the century, Macedon dominated and Athens did not achieve independence until 228 BC. Rome then intruded in the 2nd and 1st centuries and Athens was sieged and plundered by Sulla. During the Imperial period, Athens was confined to a role as a cultural center and seat of learning for the rich -- which lasted into the 6th century AD, when the edict of Justinian in 529 closed down the schools of philosophy. By the Byzantine period, Athens had become a modest provincial town. Athens' ruins will be difficult to protect from the corrosive atmosphere and millions of visiting tourists.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: axe-hammer, axe-adze, hammer-axe CATEGORY: artifact; lithics DEFINITION: A tool consisting of an ax and a hammer combined, i.e. a shaft-hole ax having a hammer knob in addition. It was primarily a weapon of war, combining the functions of battle-ax and mace.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: [Greek 'royal building'] CATEGORY: structure DEFINITION: Originally a royal palace which consisted of a large oblong building or hall with double colonnades and a semicircular apse at the end, used for a court of justice and place of public assembly. It formed one side of the forum or marketplace. The term owes its original meaning to the fact that in Macedonia the kings, and in Greece the archon Basileus dispensed justice in buildings of this description. The Romans, who adopted the basilica from those countries, used it as a court, a branch of the forum, etc. The first basilica was built at Rome, 182/184 BC. One such building is the Basilica of Maxentius, which has survived in the ruins of the Forum in Rome. Its aisled-hall plan of which was adopted by many early Christian churches. The form of construction remained popular for a variety of religious purposes in Rome, Ravenna, and North Africa from the 4th-12th centuries. Constantine, the first Christian emperor, constructed several basilican churches in the 4th century, including the first St. Peters.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: live stock CATEGORY: fauna DEFINITION: Domesticated bovine farm animals of the genus Bos raised for their meat or milk or for draft purposes. Wild cattle or aurochs (Bos primigenius) were widely distributed and are beautifully portrayed in Palaeolithic cave art and present from the Middle Pleistocene. The earliest evidence of domestication (Bos taurus) comes from northern Greece before 6000 BC (Nea Nikomedeia in Macedonia, Argissa in Thessaly and Knossos in Crete) and from c 5800 BC at Catal Huyuk (Anatolia). Thereafter, different breeds were developed, notably B. longifrons in southwest Asia and Europe, and the humped zebu, B. indica, in India. The last record of Bos primigenius was 1627 AD in Poland, but it was uncommon long before then.
Cyrus the Great (590-580 BC-529/530 BC)
CATEGORY: person DEFINITION: The first great Achaemenid king, who founded the Achaemenid empire after overthrowing the Medes and expanding westward through the mountains into Anatolia and eastward across the Iranian plateau into Central Asia. His capital was at Pasargadae (Persia), where his tomb survives. He is remembered as a tolerant and ideal monarch who was called father of his people by the ancient Persians and in the Bible as the liberator of the Jews captive in Babylonia. His successors extended the kingdom into Egypt, western India, and Macedonia.
Fayyum, al- or Fayum
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Fayoum, Fayum region, ancient Ta-she, She-resy, Moeris CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: A large fertile depression in the Libyan Desert, southwest of Cairo near the west bank of the Nile, with two prehistoric cultures dating to c 5000 BC and c 4500 BC. These early settlements were of the first food-producing peoples of Egypt. Emmer and barley were cultivated and cattle, sheep, and pigs bred. Saw-edged sickle flints, mat-lined silo pits, and saddle querns have been found and ax heads were of flaked flint or ground pebbles. Hollow-based flint arrowheads, bone dart tips, stone maceheads, and bone harpoons were used for hunting and fishing. Artifacts of special note include a threshing flail and a wooden sickle set with flint teeth. Pottery was in use and beads of ostrich eggshell and seashells of both Mediterranean and Red Sea types were imported. Lake Qarun had fish which were a delicacy for Egyptians throughout the ages. In Middle Empire (c 2000 BC), the pharaohs (Amenemhet III) engaged in huge irrigation and drainage schemes and the area was famous for orchards and gardens. After a period of decline, the Ptolemies in turn took an interest in the area, establishing a number of small towns there, the papyrus archives which have survived in great quantity and excellent state of preservation. The region incorporates archaeological sites dating from the late Palaeolithic to the late Roman and Christian periods (c 8000 BC-641 AD), including Shedet (later Crocodilopolis), chief center for worship of the crocodile-god Sebek, near which al-Fayyum town now lies.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: ancient Hamath; Epiphaneia CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: A city in central Syria on the Orontes River that was an important prehistoricsettlement, which became the kingdom of Hamath under the Aramaeans in the 11th century BC. It fell under Assyrian control in the 9th century BC, later passing under Persian, Macedonian, and Seleucid rule. A Neolithic occupation comparable to that of Mersin was succeeded by a village with Halafpottery. Later levels continue through to the Iron Age, when it was an inland site of the Phoenicians. During the 2nd millennium BC, Hama was a large town, but it does not appear in ancient documents until c 1000 BC, when it became capital of an Aramaeankingdom. Excavations revealed a fine palace of this period, with evidence of ivorycarving. The Arabs took the city in the 7th century AD.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Kom el-Ahmar; ancient Nekhen CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: An important Predynastic and Archaic settlement and necropolis in southern Upper Egypt (Luxor). The town's population was in excess of 5000 and it was particularly associated with the god Horus. In proto-dynastic times Hierakonpolis was the capital of southern Egypt. Discoveries of this period are stone palettes, votive objects, and mace-heads, with carving illustrating the rise of the kings to the divine status they enjoyed in pharaonic times. A series of successive shrines dates from early Archaic/late Predynastic.
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: A location described in classicalwriting, inhabited from about the 10th century BC by the Illyrians, consisting of the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula. West of the Vardar and Morava valleys, south of the Roman province of Pannonia and west of Moesia, at its height Illyria extended from the Danube River southward to the Adriatic Sea and from there eastward to the Sar Mountains. The Illyrians, descendants of the Hallstattculture, were divided into tribes, each a self-governing community with a council of elders and a chosen leader. The last and best-known Illyrian kingdom had its capital at Scodra (modern Shkodër, Albania). One of its most important rulers was King Agron (second half of the 3rd century BC), who, in alliance with Demetrius II of Macedonia, defeated the Aetolians (231).
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Important Khartoum Neolithic site on the edge of the old Nileflood plain which has lent information on the early development of food production in the central Sudan. Kadero was an extensive village inhabited during the second half of the 4th millennium BC. Herding was mainly of cattle, with some sheep and goats. There were many grindstones, and grain impressions on the pottery indicate the presence of wild panicum, sorghum, and finger millet. Burials included stonemace heads, palettes, carnelianbead necklaces, ivory bracelets, pottery, and ochre.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Larissa CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Mousteriansite in northern Greece and a Final Neolithic culture with a black polished pottery. In antiquity, Larissa was the seat of the Aleuad clan, founded by Aleuas, who claimed descent from Heracles. The poet Pindar and the physician Hippocrates died there. In 357 BC the last Aleuads called in Philip II of Macedonia against the tyrants of Pherae, and from 344 to 196 Larissa remained under Macedonia. Rome then made it capital of the reorganized Thessalian League. The emperor Justinian fortified the city, whose name means citadel"."
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Roman Laurium CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: A hilly region of Attica, Greece, which was important for silver mines from the Bronze Age in the 1st millennium BC. The region developed into a principal miningarea, especially from about 483 BC until the end of the 5th century BC. The mines may have been worked as early as 1000 BC, but in 483 BC Athenians exploited the veins to finance construction of a large fleet, which then defeated the Persians at Salamis in 480. Production remained low until after 350 and the mines were closed in the 2nd century AD. The mines were state property, rented out to individual contractors, and worked by slaves. The area has ancient mineshafts, processing areas, surface mining structures, water cisterns, and ore-washeries. The Laureot Owls, Athenian silvercoinage attributed to the mines, were circulated throughout the classical world, but by Roman times the mines lay neglected because of competition from the gold and silver mines in Macedonia and pirate raids on the Laurium mines. About the beginning of the Christian Era, the silver was exhausted.
Merimde Beni Salama
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Merinde, Merimda Beni Salama CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Site on the west bank of the NileDelta, Egypt, representing one of the earliest cultures of Egypt, similar to that of the Fayyum (Faiyum). It yielded a radiocarbon date of 5060 BC and was occupied for about 600 years, probably c 4900-4300 BC, by a population up to 16,000. Three occupation phases showed progressively more substantial shelters, beneath which the dead were buried in a crouched position. Barley and emmer, cattle, sheep, and pigs are attested. Sickle flints and hollow-based arrowheads, pyriform and spherical maceheads, sling stones, fishhooks, spindle whorls, and simple stone axheads have been found. The pottery was poor, plain, straw-tempered and often covered with a slip. It is the earliest evidence for fully sedentary village life in the Nile valley. The Merimda phase of the Lower Egyptian Predynastic Period appears to have been roughly contemporary with the late Badarian and Amratian phases in Upper Egypt.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Messini CATEGORY: geography DEFINITION: Ancient Greek city in southwest Peloponnese, Greece, founded in 369 BC after the defeat of Sparta by Athens. The site includes with Megalopolis, Mantineia, and Argos; the summit of Mt. Ithómi served as the acropolis. The classical city withstood several Macedonian and Spartan sieges. After the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, it was absorbed into the domain of Philip II of Macedonia, and it remained important under the Romans. The Hellenistic agora, theater, stadium, Temple of Artemis, city walls, and council chamber have been excavated.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: mosaic work CATEGORY: artifact DEFINITION: A technique of decoration used mainly on floors or walls involving the setting of small colored fragments of stone, tile, mineral, shell, or glass, each called a tessera (plural tesserae), in a cement or adhesive matrix. Mosaic also refers to a tesselated area, often of complex designs and, possibly, inscriptions. Mosaic floors were made from small squares, triangles, or other regular shapes up to an inch in size. They were laid in cement to form designs, figures of animals, or classical figures representing the seasons, etc. Old limestone would be used for white and various reds, browns, or grays from baked clays. Glass, too, was sometimes incorporated. The earliest known mosaics date from the 8th century BC and are made of pebbles, a technique refined by Greek craftsmen in the 5th century BC. Greek mosaics were simple pebble floors and then became more complex and sophisticated under Macedonian kings. Mosaics are known from Pompeii and Rome, Tivoli, Aquileia, and Ostia -- as well as Africa, Antioch, Sicily, and Britain. Under the Roman Empire, the achievements of the 5th-6th century Byzantine artists at Ravenna are impressive. An excellent collection of mosaics from Pompeii may be seen in the Mueo Nazionale at Naples, and a good selection of Imperial Roman provincial work may be seen at the Museum of Le Bardo, outside modern Tunis, Tunisia. Pre-Columbian American Indians favored mosaics of semiprecious stones such as garnet and turquoise and mother-of-pearl. These were normally used to encrust small objects such as shields, masks, and cult statues. Mosaic as an art form has most in common with painting. It represents a design or image in two dimensions. It is also, like painting, a technique appropriate to large-scale surface decoration.
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Site in Palestine in a cave on the Judean desert, containing 630 Chalcolithiccopperritual objects from the Ghassulian culture, including 240 mace heads, 80 scepters, and 10 crowns. They have incised and solid decorative elements.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Nea Nikomidhia CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: An Early Neolithictellsettlement in Macedonia in northern Greece. From a large structure (shrine?) in the center of the mound, there were terra-cotta female figurines thought to have been used in rituals. The remains of rectangular mud houses, a number of crouched burials, and plain and painted pottery, frogs carved from greenstone, flint blades, and many ground stone axes have been found. Radiocarbon dates of c 6200-5300 BC was obtained. The earliest known domesticated cattle date from about 6000 BC at Nea Nikomedeia, in association with cultivated einkorn, emmer, and barley.
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Principal sanctuary of Zeus in Greece and the site of the original Olympic Games, a Panhellenic sanctuary in the western Peloponnese of Greece. It originated in the Greek Bronze Age and has a 7th century BC Temple of Hera and 5th century BC Temple of Zeus. Traces of the circular building of Philip of Macedon and buildings associated with athletes and games -- gymnasium, palaestra, bouleuterion, Leonidaeon, and running track have been found. The workshop of the sculptor Pheidias, who made bronze of Athene at Athens and Zeus at Olympia, has been located. Perhaps first attracting use as an earthshrine and oracle, the site shows signs of continuous occupation from early in the 3rd millennium BC. The Games were celebrated on a four-yearly cycle, the Olympiad, which came to form the basis of a Greek system of dating. The first Olympiad is dated to 776 BC, but tradition places the commencement of the Games in the 9th century, with ascriptions variously to Heracles or Pelops as founder. The Games showed an unbroken record of celebration from 776 BC to 393 AD, when Theodosius I abolished them.
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Ancient city of northern Greece, captured and destroyed by Philip of Macedon in 348 BC. Some late Neolithicsettlement is followed after a gap by Iron Age occupation by Thracian tribes, perhaps from about 1000 BC. The 5th-4th centuries BC saw the classical Greek town caught up in alliances, misalliances, intrigues and wars. The town, from c 430 BC, had a roadsystem and Hippodamian-planned house blocks. Many of the houses show an internal courtyard, sometimes colonnaded, and a south-facing dining room. In some cases, a second story is reached by a wooden staircase from the courtyard. The roof is typically pitched and tiled. There are important examples of pebblemosaic floors, some with mythological scenes, and of a bathroom with pottery tub. Inscriptional evidence from the houses gives information of their sale, rental, and mortgage. The houses have also produced several coin hoards. It also provides a terminus ante quem for the development of black-glossed pottery.
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Bounomos CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: The ancient capital of King Archelaus of Macedonia at the end of the 5th century BC (until 168 BC) and birthplace of Alexander the Great. It is in northern Greece, northwest of Thessaloníki. The city flourished under Philip II, but, after the defeat of the last Macedonian king by the Romans (168 BC), it became a small provincial town. Excavations have revealed houses with colonnaded courts and rooms with mosaic floors made with small natural pebbles of various colors, dating from the late 4th century BC. The town had a rectangular grid plan; under the streets are terra-cotta pipes for distributing fresh water.
Pengelly, William (1812-1894)
CATEGORY: person DEFINITION: A British geologist and archaeologist who did cave excavation and demonstrated the antiquity of Palaeolithic artifacts by showing that stone tools made by humans were contemporary with remains of extinct animals. At Kent's Cavern, he was able to confirm the conclusions of Reverend J. MacEnery that flint tools were associated with the bones of extinct animals. Though this association was not widely accepted, he continued to find further proof with work at Windmill Cave, Brixham (Devon). He gained academic support and, in 1859, John Evans and several of Britain's leading geologists joined him in contradicting the 4004 BC date as the Creation of man. The discoveries of Jacques Boucher de Perthes in the Somme Valley in France corroborated Pengelly's findings and were used to demonstrate the antiquity of man in 1859, the same year that saw the publication of Darwin's revolutionary Origin of Species"."
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Old Thasian settlement in Kavála, Greece, which Philip II of Macedon fortified in 356 BC to control neighboring gold mines. In 42 BC Philippi was the site of the decisive Roman battle in which Mark Antony and Octavian (later the emperor Augustus) defeated Brutus and Cassius, the leading assassins of Julius Caesar. Located in Thrace, it was the object of an unsuccessful attempt at colonization by Thasos in the 6th century BC and for a time was known as Crenides and Daton. After his victory, Mark Antony established Philippi as a colonia for his veterans, and the town gained strategic importance from its position and its proximity to the port of Neapolis. Philippi was important in the early history of Christianity, as is shown by the prominence given to the story of St. Paul preaching there in 49 AD and being consequently imprisoned and extensive early Christian building. Among the ruins are walls, acropolis, forum, gymnasium, macellum, baths, and theaters.
CATEGORY: chronology; culture DEFINITION: Term describing Egypt during the Hellenistic era, when it was ruled by the dynasty of the Macedonian general Ptolemy I Soter (reigned 305/304-283/282 BC) and his descendants. The Ptolemaic Period was a large-scale experiment in bureaucratic centralism and mercantilism. Egypt was ruled by Ptolemy's descendants until the death of Cleopatra VII on Aug. 12, 30 BC.
CATEGORY: person DEFINITION: Name held by a succession of 15 Hellenistic rulers of Egypt from 305/304 to 30 BC. The Ptolemaic period is often taken to include the brief preceding Macedonian phase (332-305 BC), encompassing the reigns of Alexander the Great (332-323 BC), his half-brother Philip Arrhidaeus (323-317 BC), and his son Alexander IV (317-310 BC). Ptolemy I Soter (b 367/366 or 364 BC-d 283/282, Egypt), Macedonian general of Alexander the Great, became ruler of Egypt (323-285 BC) and founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. The dynasty reigned longer than any other dynasty and only succumbed to the Romans in 30 BC after Cleopatra VII's death.
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Large Ionian/Aegean island, prosperous in Classical times as it was on trade routes from Greece to Egypt and the East. Minoan remains at Ialysus are evidence of early Cretan influence. With the collapse of the Minoancivilization (c. 1500-1400 BC), Rhodes became a powerful independent kingdom with a late Bronze Age culture. Rhodes was occupied by Dorians, mainly from Argos, c 1100-1000 BC. The Rhodian cities of Lindus, Ialysus, and Camirus, along with Cos, Cnidus, and Halicarnassus, belonged to the Dorian Hexapolis (league of six cities) by which the Greeks protected themselves in Asia Minor. The cities of Rhodes traded throughout the Mediterranean and founded colonies in Italy, Sicily, Spain, and Asia Minor. Rhodes supported Rome during its war with Philip V of Macedonia. The island steadily declined after Rome made Delos a free port c 166 BC. During the triumvirate of Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus (43 BC), the conspirator Gaius Cassius plundered Rhodes for refusal to support him. Though it continued for another century as a free city, it never recovered its former prosperity; in about 227 BC a severe earthquake devastated the island. Excavations have unearthed a stadium, odeum, temples, and city walls. At its wealthiest and most powerful in the period c 323-166 BC, Rhodes developed a new form of house colonnaded court (peristyle) with one row of columns higher than the others; provided a grand entrance to the Lindos acropolis sanctuary of Athena, and produced sculptures of quality, including a colossus overlooking the harbor (which fell in the earthquake of 227 BC). Rhodes became important again during the Crusader period, when it was chosen for an important military base.
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: A principal city of prehistoric and classic Cyprus, located on the east coast of the island, north of modern Famagusta. According to the Homeric epics, Salamis was founded after the Trojan War by the archer Teucer, who came from the island of Salamis, off Attica. This literary tradition probably reflects the Sea Peoples' occupation of Cyprus (c 1193 BC). Later, the city grew because of its harbor; it became the chief Cypriot outlet for trade with Phoenicia, Egypt, and Cilicia. Salamiscame under Persian control in 525 BC. In 306 BC, Demetrius I Poliorcetes of Macedonia won a great naval victory there over Ptolemy I of Egypt. Salamis was sacked in the Jewish revolt of 115-117 AD and suffered repeatedly from earthquakes. It was completely rebuilt by the Christian emperor Constantius II (reigned 337-361 AD) and given the name Constantia. Under Christian rule, Salamis was the metropolitan see of Cyprus. Destroyed again by the Arabs under Mu'awiyah (c 648), the city was then abandoned. There is a large area of surviving ruins, and an extensive necropolis to the west. The Mycenaean settlement was probably at Enkomi. Most remarkable are the so-called 'Royal Tombs', perhaps dating from the Late Geometric period, featuring large dromoi. The burial chambers are constructed of large rectangular blocks and have gable roofs, but were robbed in antiquity. There is an association with horse-and-chariot funerary rites, and horse skeletons still complete with bit in mouth have been discovered. There are also bronzehorse accouterments, and cauldron and tripod, and ivory furniture. One tomb shows evidence for an original upper beehive structure or tholos; other tombs are rock-cut and show evidence for rites involving pyres and clay figurines.
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Settlement mound in eastern Macedonia, northern Greece, which has produced an important stratigraphy for the chronology of the north Aegean. Sitagroi began with a Middle Neolithic occupation dated c 4500 BC, and continued into the Early Bronze Age in the 3rd millennium BC. The site was chosen for excavation to clarify the relationships between the cultural sequence in the Aegean and the Balkans during those times. The excavation established that finds of Gumelnitatype preceded by a considerable period of time finds of Troy I type. The site also supports claims for the primacy of southeast European metalworking over that of Anatolia and that coppermetallurgy was an independent development in the Balkans.
CATEGORY: culture DEFINITION: Term used for the ethnic groups speaking related languages in eastern Europe during the second half of the 1st millennium AD. They inhabited an area concentrated in modern Poland, and by the early Middle Ages they were considered a distinct cultural group. The origins of the Slavs are obscure, though they seem to derive from the Iron Age tribes indigenous to the Oder-Vistula area. Prehistorically, the original habitat of the Slavs was Asia, from which they migrated in the 3rd or 2nd millennium BC to populate parts of eastern Europe. Subsequently, these European lands of the Slavs were crossed or settled by many peoples forced by economic conditions to migrate. State-level polities began in Greater Moravia in the 9th century AD and in Poland in the 10th century. They are principally defined by linguistic and place-name evidence rather than by historical or archaeological remains. The gród or hrad (castle") was the stronghold of Slav communities. It is the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of peoples in Europe residing also across northern Asia to the Pacific Ocean. Slavic languages belong to the Indo-European family. Customarily Slavs are subdivided into east Slavs (Russians Ukrainians and Belarusians) west Slavs (Poles Czechs Slovaks and Wends or Sorbs) and south Slavs (Serbs Croats Slovenes and Macedonians)."
SYNONYMS OR RELATED TERMS: Salonica CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Macedonian and Roman city and port in north of Greece. In Roman times, it was the capital of the province of Macedonia and it was very important in Byzantine times. Churches and monuments are among its ruins.
Thrace or Thracia
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Ancient and modern region of the southeastern Balkans; in ancient times, the part north of Greek settlement extending to the Black Sea. In the 5th century BC, it included modern Bulgaria and Romania. Most Thracians became subject to Persia in c 516-510 BC. It was assimilated (356-342 BC) by Philip II of Macedon and later provided Philip's son, Alexander the Great, with troops during his conquests. In 197 BC, Rome assigned much of Thrace to the kingdom of Pergamum. In the 1st century BC, Rome became more involved in the affairs of the region and emperor Claudius I annexed the entire Thracian kingdom in 46 AD. Thrace was subsequently made into a Roman province. The emperor Trajan and his successor, Hadrian, founded cities in Thrace, notably Sardica (modern Sofia) and Hadrianopolis (modern Edirne). In about 300 AD, Diocletian reorganized the area between the Lower Danube and the Aegean into the diocese of Thrace. Archaeological sites are the homes of Democritus, the 5th-century philosopher, and of Protagoras, a counselor of Alexander the Great; and the Roman highway Via Egnatia.
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Iron Age burialsite of the Hallstatt D period, c 6th-5th centuries BC, in Macedonia near Knoplje. The rich graves contained datable Greek imports and the site is the most northerly penetration of Greek goods during that period in lands adjacent to Greece.
CATEGORY: site DEFINITION: Royal capital of Macedonia in northern Greece with a tumuluscemetery of the Early Iron Age. A pair of royal tombs from the fourth century BC contained many objects of gold, silver, bronze, and iron, several wall frescoes, and two caskets of human bones, which may be the remains of the parents of Alexander III, Philip II and his fourth wife Olympias.