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?

Miletus and Mud

#Miletos #Miletus #Balat #turkey #Greekcolony #Ionia

I was looking for more town plans showing agoras when I came across this map that shows the the intersection of #history and #geography.

Yes now that gray green area in the middle was once open water!

Now Miletus has been occupied since at least the Bronze Age and hence probably even earlier. Who was there before the Minoans and Mycenaeans I don't know but it was a city and port both multicultural and yet a classic Ionian Greek Polis too! However like Ephesus silting turned it from a major port to a declining backwater now in ruins near the modern Turkish village of Balat.

Odd that the Romans who could drain lakes and build canals and breakwaters for their ports never turned their engineering skills to divert the silt behind dykes.

Of the ancient note that Smyrna now Izmir is still a port but it lies in a narrower river valley in which the river flows straight with less silt buildup.

Back to Miletus home of philosophers and the Milesians.

They had a double agora and no not because the Romans expanded the agora area building a forum next to the Greek agora as happened in many cities.

While the bay marked D was the primary port the other bays and coves were probably used too by fishermen. However with the silt buildup moving the shore line closer and closer what was once a sheltered bay with great anchorage and clear views of any enemy fleets became an indefensible site. 

Poor Miletus conquered by geography!

The nearby fertile riverlands that attracted Greek colonists  ended up becoming a bane instead of a blessing!

The Hills of Athens

When you're building city walls in a pre artillery culture and don't have to worry about cannon fire from heights having mountains and hills around your city can be useful .

Athens had the advantage of a range of hills to the west that could be used as wall foundations, the Pynx, the Museion, the Areopagus, Kolonos, with the Acroplis rising in the midst of the city and the low rise of Ardettos which may have had a spring of water.

Lycabettos was outsid eof the city walls in ancient times.

Further to the south west Piraeus once a island was built around two hills then linked to the city by the Long Walls.

If you read the previous post you know Attica as a whole was protected by mountains.

Once again think about how geography and history are linked.

Think about environment as well as artifacts.

The Mountains of Attica

Have a look at this map of Attica.

Geography does effect history. This map doesnt show all of the small foothills within Athens city walls. If all the foothills were included the city would look like it was surrounded by a shape more like a triangle than a rectangle.

There's only two major passes from Boeotia and the road to Corinth is coastal so any invasion force arriving by land would be quite visible. The Athenians wisely built a series of hill forts and watch towers.

Consider also that you need flat land for cereal crops.

The Athenians had an abundance of hills and sloping sites. No wonder they turned to olive cultivation and imported grain and had military forces dominated by hoplite infantry and the navy.

Been to modern Greece. Some coastal plains under cultivation NOW were swamps lakes or wetlands in the past or had irregular rainfall.

Geography and history are linked.

Next the Hills of Athens.