Justice League of ATHENS

#jla #athens #batman #wonderwoman #superman #justiceleague

WHAT IF the Justice League had had equivalents in Ancient Athens say at the peak of the Athenian empire?

BATMAN / Bruce Wayne would probably be the son of a doctor from a wealthy ship building/owning family.

Yes I know Wain means Wagon but the Waynes / Wains came from families with property and industrial investments and in Classical Athens a canny landowner / aristocrat would invest in ship building as an industry researching and implementing technology and with a steady market demand for the military and commerical usages.

Plus the port area down at Peiraeus was probably the major crime area.

As a wealthy Aristocrat Bruce who probably would be called Brisos or Broteas could have had a house in the port area as well as a country estate.

Probably no batcave though? Wrong geology?

He could have donned a black cape but probably used body paint or painted armour for his costume and given the Athenians did not have paint outer walls in dark colors or have multistorey structures much higher than three or four maximum the utility belt would still have pouches but no ropes or cables maybe climbing hooks.

Wonder Woman is easier.

There was a tradition of Scythians coming to from the areas adjacent to the north of the Black sea and serving as street police / city guards in Athens. Diana / Dione might be one of those or a temple guardian and maybe even not bother with a secret identity at all apart from saying she was the daughter of some Sarmatian tribal leader? She would probably just be called the Amazon and not Wonder Woman. No invisible plane but probably she would have horses.

Superman

Given the scarcity of Iron unless a certain spaceship landed in the dead of winter when everyone was indoors half the countryside would have shown up to see if the meteor had iron in it.

Given the lack of tractors or draught horses how the "Kents" managed to hide the ship ...?

Filling in the pit and building something over there? An Olive or Wine Press?

Clark probably would be called Kallias or maybe Glaukos for his blue eyes.

His hero name might not be Superman as that might be rahter too long in Greek  Hyperandreios ?

I could see him calling himself the Athenian or something like Democrates.

Cyborg. The Greeks had stories about automatons who served Hephaestus the Smith god.

Africans in Athens of that era would have been slaves or if free metics.

I could see Victor Nikias and his father as successful metic smiths who developed a special suit of armor including prosthetics working on spring or windup mechanisms maybe?

The Flash Hermias or Hermogenes the Swift One Takhon Thoas or Hyperpodookees?

Aquaman. People might refer to him as the Triton or the Atlantid.

We've had steampunk Batman, British and Chinese Superman and others.

If anyone wants to do a JLof Athens comic I'ld love to script and research it with you!

THE OTHER GAMES

#olympics #teachertips #olympicgames

TEACHERS are you stressing out trying to think of a new angle for using the #Olympic#Games in class? Here's some ideas!

Why NOT tell your class about the OTHER GAMES.

The Olympics were one of a set of 4 games and festivals that had Panhellenic status. The Others were the

NEMEAN

Nemea a mountain valley near the main road between the Argolid and Corinth.

Teaching Angles
Why up in a (cooler) mountain valley
What else was significant about this site
Links to Heracles Myths and Legends
Why are Lions extinct on mainland Greece and Europe now

ISTHMIAN

On the Saronic Gulf side of the Isthmus near a Temple to Poseidon

Teaching Angles
 Importance of Corinth in ancient times
Why Poseidon Who was Poseidon
What is an Isthmus

PYTHIAN

Games were also held at Delphi.

Teaching Angle.
Importance of Delphi to ALL of Greece
The Charioteer Statue especially with the Ben Hur remake coming out soon.
Are modern Stadiums similar to ancient ones
in which ways

As I had to skip a mid week post due to other projects i will try to do double posts this weekend to make up for that!

The Origin and Function of GLA

#Gla #Copiae #boeotia #archaeology #ancientgreece #minyan

I've previously shown you a map of the Eastern Copaic basin now for a map of Gla once an island in a lake and now an ongoing mystery!

This is what we currently know about buildings and possible structures still being explored on GLA

and here again as a reminder is Gla's Location

Note that Larymna to the NE has been used as a small port continuous from the Neolithic onwards and may have been the harbour for the Minyan regime of Orchomenos before they were defeated by the Thebans.

I have also speculated that Copaie / Kastro was originally an outpost and that GLA is probably Copiae and the inhabitants moved back to the mainland.

Now back to the map of GLA.

Note the sealed walled off area to the east. Why do that?

Gla would have been an excellent refuge during flood events. Perhaps livestock were coralled here walled off from the central living and storage areas. There could have been some kind of wooden ramp for human access to keep stock out of ... those seeming open areas could have had sundried mud and timber structures or perhaps GARDENS or terraces for drying eels and fish or edible water plants and herbs for export  and storage?

Why Gardens? 

You're a Minyan surrounded by a lake notorious for suddenly changing shorelines and flooding. Maybe the causeway to the mainland washes away?

You want every bit of flat land along the shore for cereal crops or pasturage for cows and horses. So where do you grow orchard crops or edible herbs so you don't have a long walk up into the hills and mountains? 

Could part of the reason for the walls be to retain soil around eroding off the top of the island? 

Take a look a the map again. 

You're on an island with a great vantage point allowing you to view any possible invasion along causeways or over the ware by boat and to send clear signals to other watch towers or beacons along the north shore back to Orchomenos.

You can can control trade by road or water along and across the lake.

You have protect local people by providing a flood refuge.

You have room to plant trees and herbs and store supplies.

You can provide a market / meeting area in the central plaza.

I suspect further surveys will turn up evidence the destruction of Gla also involved destroyed terraces gardens and trees. Timber supports for roofs were probably taken for firewood or other buildings. With most structures possibly being mud brick and timber this created the impression at first that most of Gla was "empty" space.

However while NOT being a rural Australian the first time I saw aerial shots of Gla one of my first thoughts was CATTLE /  SHEEP YARD bring them in one gate shear wool or milk them and then take them back out another.

I think we may find more traces of internal fencing and terracing on GLA for directing stock into certain areas and out of others.

Gla was more than a storage depot or watch post. It had multifunctions!

The Gla Mystery ONE

The Gla mystery One - The Catalogue of Ships.

#Gla and the TEXTUAL EVIDENCE
from Homer and Greek Historians

First a reminder of the location of GLA!

Map Image is a cropped photo of the relevant page in Barringtons Atlas.
I hope this post counts as reasonable educational usage?

NOTE the Location of COPIAE which is mentioned in the Catalogue of Ships!

Homer's list of cities that sent troops and ships to Troy includes several cities in Boeotia many rediscovered and others we are still uncertain about. 

Homer's List :

Hyriae Aulis Schoinos Scolos Eteonos Thespeia Grais Mycalessos Harma Eilesion Erythrai Eleon Jyle Peteon Ocalea Medeon COPAI Eutresis Thisbe Coronea Haliartos Plataea Glisas Thebes Onchestos Arne Mideia Nisa Anthedon

Orchomenus no longer a major power by the time of the Trojan war gets one mention separately.

Some of theses settlements changed their names or moved in later centuries.

Copai was near modern Kastro. Hyria became Hysiai? and the occupants of Mideia and Arne were the ancestors of the founders of Lebadeia and Chaironeia.

Strabo states some of these cities were once closer to marshes and moved because of flooding.

Pausanias writes of how many ancient settlements were ruins and rubbles.

NONE OF THEM MENTION A CITY ON AN ISLAND.

Archaeological surveys shows that GLA was attacked and abandoned at the end of the Mycenaean but probably before the Trojan War.

So the possibilities are 

a) one of the listed cities that has the hele element in their name referring to marshes.

b) COPIAE 

We know some cities got renamed. The ruins of Copiae are smaller than Gla.

I'm thinking the simplest explanation is that the survivors from Gla moved to the Copiae site? 

c) another idea I've seen is that Gla was Hyle but that name suggests trees and wood and I have been unable yet to find out if anyone has done a full archaeobotanical survey of Gla.

Finally the local residents traditionally are more likely to call GLA Paliokastro the Old fort!

Next time the FUNCTION of GLA Why abandon such an useful site?

Lake Copais Three

Lake Copais Three

#lakecopais #ancientgreece #map

Here's a third interpretation of the available data about the Mycenaean canalization of Lake Copais.

Where it says kat. are indications of the places where the lake drains into underground rivers and sinkholes. Well the ones we know about. Strabo writes 9.2.16 of earthquakes blocking some and opening others over the centuries and there may have been an underground river flowing from the NE and rising from the ground to flow a short distance into the sea near Larymna, again according to Strabo.

The goal of the Minyan engineers from Orchomenus may possibly also have been not just to divert flood waters away from their city but to also make it easier to cross the wetlands when the waters was low by using the canals and paths along them as roads or for barges perhaps? Plus silt building up behind the facings of the canals might have increased the available areas for not just grazing cattle and horses but also growing crops.

Bu the ancient works were destroyed allegedly by Heracles during a dispute between Orchomenus and Thebes and the waters and shorelines changed again and yet again and according to Strabo 9.2.17 several settlements had to change their location and move away from the lakes ever shifting shorelines.

This leads us to the mystery of GLA.

Next time
 Just which one of the polises mentioned in Homer's Catalogue of ships was GLA?

Lake Copais TWO

#lakecopais #boeotia #ancientgreece

The Green Area is one of severel interpretations of the evidence for Lake Copais' shorelines during the Helladic / Mycenaean era. I picked this map to share first because it shows the surrounding mountains and rivers flowing out and into the Copaic Basin and plains. If you search the web yourself you will see other maps NOT showing a Se extension towards Thebes or showing more water around GLA in the NE. Please also bear in mind some of that GREEN area was wetlands with beds of reeds and marshy plants. There were also seasonal changes depending on the winter rains and spring runoff.

The reason there are question marks next to some sites is that whole settlements moved often further towards the hills or disappeared over the centuries.

Orchomenus for example was certainly NOT in the lake. I think the mapmaker is trying to indicate the possible location of a settlement / town mentioned by one ancient  historian who stated that it was moved off the plains due to flooding.

The dilemma for early settlers who wanted to use the shorelines for farming and grazing was the constantly shifting shoreline changing vastly after a major flood event and probably shifting every year  as silt was deposited or the eastern sinkholes blocked and cleared and blocked again.

Next time the rise and fall of the Minyans and Orchomenus.


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Lake Copais ONE

#Lake Copais #Boeotia #Ancient Greece

Once upon a time and probably in the future once again Greece had a lot more lakes. I have posted about the Lake at Lerna before.

This is admittedly a VERY simplified map showing Lake Copais after Mycenaean hydro-engineering diverted rivers into canals. However it should work on smaller screens. I will show you some more precise maps in the next post.

The important things to note are the wetlands to the west of the Copaic basin and the settlements ringing the lake especially GLA.

The canals lead to sinkholes which hercules is should to be blocked so the Orchomenian cavalry could not stop the advance of Theban forces.

The wetlands and part of the lands drained by the canals were probably used for pasturing horses and cattle as well as growing crops. 

Judging from various maps I have seen the lake has changed in shape and size several times as earthquakes or human effort blocked or unblocked sinkholes or created drainage tunnels and canals.

The last major project in the 19th century drained the lake completely so its all farmland FOR NOW.

Stay tuned for the next posts in this series !

Megalopolis the City that should have worked

#megalopolis in #arcadia is an example of urban planning gone and why building a capital from bare ground often doesn't work.

#Megalopolis actually called the great city in Greek was founded to be the capital of the Pan Arcadian league in what seemed like a great location and built 371 - 368 BCE on a tributary of the Alpheios called the Hellison.

High montane valley with permanent river and other streams.

Timber nearby. No wetlands. Not more than minimally dependent on food imports since farmlands nearby.

On a major road junction too!

Here's the location of #arcadia within #Greece in Ancient times.

Some more detail.

Great location but what went wrong?

Possibly they put too much effort into megastructure or rather the Hellenistic equivalent thereof.

Below are the plans and a photo of the Theatre and the adjacent Thersilion Assembly Hall.

Gotta love that angle shot cos while it does show the remains of the Theatre once the largest in Greece and the adjacent #Thersilion though  it also carefully avoids showing the whopping open cut coal mine a short distance away.

I have never come across any references to Megalopolis actually having WALLS or fortifications ... even allowing for the tendency of Byzantine Greeks to treat older buildings as quarries ... in fact apart from these and a couple of other building foundations practically nothing of the city survives.

Modern Megalopolis is a nearby  medium sized town that was a minor village until coal was discovered.

Basically the city lasted only a couple of centuries before people migrated to other parts of Arcadia and by the time Pausanias wrote a description it was well and truly in a decline. 

The descendants of the first settlers and late migrants just seem to have been uncomfortable in a city with too much open space and so few defences?

As early as 362 BCE many of the migrants tried to return home.

Sparta attacked again in 353 331 234 and 223 BCE. 

Nowadays Megalopolis has other problems.

How anyone could allow an open cut mine to be so close to one of the few permanent rivers in Greece...

Mantinea on the other hand ...

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The Greek Agora One Thasos

The Greek Agora is surely the ancestor of the European plaza and town square!

Google #Agora and your usual result will be a plan of the Agora at Athens at any stage from the Archaic to the Roman era.

However I've hunted up some diagrams and maps of the agora area of other cities for your use.

Note the common characteristics :

An open near a shrine or temple or public buildings used both for markets and gatherings.

It does not always have palaces nearby nor do the main roads or streets lead straight away into it.

Large public buildings like stoas or basilicas or courtrooms are often later additions.

Even the smallest polises seem to be have had one.

Now for some images:

The Agora of THASOS

and a map of the city to show its relation to other areas

Sometime next week Corinth !

This weekend we return to the Gospel of Matthew !

Some Bread names

Some Names for Various Types of Bread

BREAD is Usually Ἄρτος in Classical Greek.

This word refers to loafs of wheat and bread in general if PLURAL.

However Bread was not made of wheat alone.

Bread baked from Barley was called μάζα and also Ἄλφιτον a word also used to refer to groats and porridge made from barley meal.

Unleavend bread was Ἄζυμον the opposite of leavened bread raised by yeast ζυμίτης

χονδρίτης was a kind of very coarse bread probably similar to our “wholegrain” very rough and coarse which the Greeks would have regarded as being low quality.

Hearth or Brasier Bread was something like Turkish gozleme a thick soft pancake cooked on a hot surface.

The Greeks also had a kind of bread baked in an oven or on hot coals in an earthenware covered vessel called κριβανίτης.

Fine white bread rolls were κόλλαβος possibly shaped like “knot” rolls.