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?

Sandy Pylos

SANDY PYLOS
#pylos #mycenaeangreece #polis #nestor

somewhere under those sandhills and silt lies a Mycenaean harbour or landing beach ...and maybe a summer house fit for a king

This first map shows what the the bay's shorelines probably were about the 5th BCE

Although the southern part of the bay has a deep channel and the modern settlement of navarino / pylos unmarked on this map is down the southern end the harbour during Nestor's time was probably that semi circular cove up north.

Possibly also inside the bay too since Mycenaean warships were much smaller and no one seems to be able to agree on just how deep the Northern Channel was in ancient times. People write about wading across it but I've seen sandy river entrances that you can wade or swim across at low tide if there is NO STRONG outflow current and yet those same entrances can be sailed through by yachts and other shipping at high tide through the deepest channel albeit with extreme caution.

A lot of Mycenaean shipping was small very small smaller than Classical era pentekonters.

Now go to Google Earth for a modern view ... lots of sandy lagoon with a sandy bottom north part of bay sandy bottom and shallow but also rivers and if those rivers have been continually shifting sand and silt ...

This map dated 1898 shows the rivers flowing into the bay and that Sandy Pylos is also rocky Pylos.

However there is no description that suggests an uphill ascent to Nestors Palace for this site or the palace found further inside and Homer calls it SANDY PYLOS. Okay so Homer was blind and may have never visited there but he was shaping an oral tradition which in other cases has proven accurate.

The Odyssey's description suggests a short chariot ride across level ground past where Telemachus' ship and crew were.

Did you look at Google Earth Earth?

I'm thinking Nestor could have had a summer house perhaps wood near the bay ?

Perhaps its foundations may yet be discovered?

Another map. You're probably wondering why the Mycenaean settlement wasn't further south. After all Nestor was said to have had a large fleet of ships.

Mycenaean era artifacts have turned up all around the bay. 

Frankly I suspect there was some kind of fishing port at least down south but any stone buildings probably got torn down and used for building the  Neocastro.

Another solution is that Methone was also used for his fleet under a different name ... the Iliad's catalogue of ships names several settlements.

Pylos should still be the major port in this area and to a certain extent is at least for fishing and yachting  but the vagaries of history and geography reduced to rubble and rock and sand and buried a string of settlements around the bay since Nestor's time. 

Given another 3000 years and maybe that northern channel will widen and it will be possible to have an anchorage for ships in the northern part of the bay again?

INVISIBLE WOMEN OF PREHISTORY

Invisible Women of Prehistory

3 Million Years of peace, 6000 years of war.


This book may both fascinate and annoy you.

I don't agree with the authors belief Indo Europeans invented war and spread it around the world nor in Mayan - Chinese contact or a regular transpacific trade route however they do have some interesting ideas about using symbols and art  to analyse ancient culture and unlike some writers in this area they do look at actual artifacts and cite sources and review writings on matrilineality.

Worth a look at.

Steven Mithen THIRST

THIRST

Water and Power

in the Ancient World

Steven Mithen 2012


While this book deals with cultures other than Greece and Rome it has excellent chapters on water management systems created by the Mycenaeans, Greeks, Romans, and Byzantine cultures.

Ever wondered what happened to Lake Copais or about roman aquadects ?

Read this book!

LERNA and LEGENDS reposted

Due to its popularity I'm bumping this ( a 3rd time a couple of years later) so more readers can see it.
#LERNA site of the #HYDRA legends is also a fascinating archaeological site.
I've collected a set  of the most interesting and useful  images I could find for you to use.

The Hydra was said to have been a many headed water snake however the lake at Lerna which has now dwindled to a mere pool seems to have had a very thin barrier between it and the sea.

Perhaps the Hydra was a giant squid or octopod swept into the lake by a storm who attacked swimmers?

Yet The Lake was supposedly always unsafe to swim in even after the Hydra was killed.

The legend speaks of Heracles burning the stumps of the Hydra however other legends also tell of him creating large scale water diversion schemes. Was the Hydra a parasite or disease in a coastal wetland? Was the charcoal from burnt trees used to purify water. Another part of the legend tells of a forest being cut down. Did Heracles divert water into a channel beginning the process of draining the lake and coastal wetlands ? Did he block a dangerous sinkhole perhaps?

Map of Lerna Was the lake north or south of modern Lerna village?

Here's a diagram showing the archaeological site. One of the oddest things about Lerna is that the famous House of Tiles one of the largest #Helladic structures in ancient Greece seems to have been delibarately pulled down carefully and then buried under a tumulus. What were later occupants trying to do? Cherish the ancients or protect themselves from ghosts?

You'll see this aerial shot several times if you google image search Lerna. It seems to date back to the 50s?

I suggest you use Google Earth as their image set show the site area and photos of the springs !

And do read Pausanias if you can!