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4.50 €

BRAZIERS FROM ATHRIBIS (NILE DELTA)

Author(s): Anna Południkiewicz / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Graeco-Roman Egypt; Athribis; Tell Atrib; pottery; braziers; lugs; Dionysiac iconography

Portable braziers were used for cooking and heating food. Hellenistic braziers are distinguished by a rich relief decoration placed on the lugs for holding a pot with food. The collection from Athribis presented in this paper consists of nine decorated lugs, one decorated ventilation opening, and one complete brazier, discovered during the work of the Polish-Egyptian mission in well-stratified layers.

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EMPRESS AND AFRICAN: TWO FEMALE IMAGES ON TERRACOTTA OIL LAMPS FROM THE RED SEA PORT OF BERENIKE

Author(s): Iwona Zych / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: oil lamp; Berenike; Red Sea trade; Byzantine empress; African; venationes; Tunisian workshops; ARS; imitation

Two early sixth-century terracotta oil lamps from Berenike are an indirect witness to the sources of trade (and the people involved in the commerce) that passed through the Red Sea port. Oil lamps made of clay were rarely a commodity for sale, yet they traveled inconspicuously, part of the personal luggage or a luxury item, more a souvenir or a gift than a traded item. In a harbor like Berenike, a melting pot of different cultures and tastes, their presence reflects the major and minor players on the local commercial scene. These two special pieces, one absolutely unique in terms of the iconography of its decoration, showcase the individual preferences of their otherwise anonymous owner: on one hand, a belief in the protective power of the image of a Byzantine empress in fifth and sixth century Mediterranean society and, on the other, a taste for the exotic, a portrait head of an African woman (?), expressed in craft work.

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HORUS AND SETH REVISITED. AN INCIDENT ON THE NILE DESCRIBED BY A ROMAN POET

Author(s): Adam Łukaszewicz / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Egypt; Dendera; Ombos; crocodile; Horus; Seth; Juvenal

In their descriptions of Egypt, ancient writers mention conflicts inspired by religious differences. Strabo writes that the inhabitants of Tentyra (Dendera) differ from the rest of Egyptians, since they hate the crocodile most of all the animals. Juvenal states that in his time, during a conflict between two neighbouring towns, Tentyra and Ombos, one of the Tentyritae was captured by the enemy party and eaten raw. The aggressors were the Tentyritae. They were defeated by the inhabitants of Ombos and lost one of their fellow citizens. It seems that the Ombitae, who by the second century AD no longer practiced human sacrifice, found in the battle an opportunity to commit a cruel act of ritual cannibalism. The struggle between the worshippers of Seth (Ombos) and those of Horus (Dendera) seems to be inspired by the legend of the assassination of Osiris by Seth who dismembered his brother’s body, and the vengeance of Osiris’ son Horus. Horus had an important place in the religious life of Dendera. The Ombitae were worshippers of the crocodile, the animal of Seth. Horus appears in Egyptian iconography in various forms, including Harpocrates (“Horus the infant”). In the Roman period Seth is often represented as a crocodile. An echo of the mythical struggle between the Egyptian deities still survives in some modern works of art. In a square of the city of Warsaw there is a sculpture by Stanisław Jackowski (1887–1951) showing a little boy fighting with a crocodile, which should be interpreted as Harpocrates, the young Horus, in a struggle with Seth in his animal form.

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A NUBIAN LADY IN CYPRUS

Author(s): Nancy Serwint / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Cyprus; Marion; terracotta; votive; Nubia; sanctuary

Since 1993, a team from Princeton University has been working in Cyprus, excavating Marion, one of the ancient city kingdoms, and its successor city, Arsinoe. During exploration, two sanctuaries, dating to the Iron Age, were discovered, each containing an extraordinary number of votives, with terracotta sculptural offerings numbering over 30,000 fragments. In the earlier sanctuary, dedicated to a female deity who had affinities with a Near Eastern fertility goddess, a remarkable, nearly life-size terracotta female head was recovered, which had originally belonged to a full-length statue. The head is striking because it displays a unique physiognomy that markedly differs from facial features of other female votive sculpture dating to the latter half of the sixth century BC. Entirely made by hand, the hair and details of the Marion head find their closest parallels in representations of Nubians. That a life-size votive statue representing a foreigner was dedicated in a Cypriot sanctuary is unusual, although ancient sources record that during the sixth century Ethiopians were resident on the island. After the Pharaoh Amasis had acquired control of Cyprus in 570 BC., Ethiopian administrators were appointed, and the Marion head might be a dedication offered by a foreign bureaucrat or his wife.

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NEA PAPHOS, FONDATION CHYPRIOTE OU LAGIDE? NOUVELLES CONSIDÉRATIONS SUR LA GENÈSE DU PORT ET DE LA VILLE

Author(s): Claire Balandier / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Paphos; city foundation; harbour; katoikia; city walls; Nikokles; Ptolemy

Nea Paphos is generally considered to have been founded by Nikokles, the last king of Paphos. Some scholars have proposed that Ptolemy may have founded the new city ca. 312 BC or after 294 BC. In this paper, the author tries to analyse and summarise the different proposals and suggests another hypothesis, namely that the foundation was not the result of a global scheme but instead, of different steps. Nikokles seems to have created the harbour, Ptolemy may have established a military settlement (katoikia), and then, once becoming king, and after taking control of the island again from 294 BC onwards, may have encouraged the development of the city. Is it possible that the Antigonids playeda role in the development of its harbour when they controlled the island between 306 and 294 BC. Nevertheless, it is only after Paphos becomes the seat of the Ptolemaic strategos in the early second century BC, probably after the Ptolemaic fleet was withdrawn from the Aegean in 145 BC, that Nea Paphos is protected by a strong city walls with perhaps another protected harbour in front of the North West gate: the intra muros city seems to have been enlarged and reshaped as a small version of Alexandria in Cyprus, until its destruction by an earthquake in the last quarter of the first century BC and its rebuilding under Augustus’ auspices.

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THE EVOLUTION OF THE RELIGIOUS TOPOGRAPHY OF PAPHOS UNDER THE REIGN OF NIKOKLES

Author(s): Yannick Vernet / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Cyprus; Paphos; Nikokles; ancient religion; divinities; religious policy; religious topography

Nikokles, the last Paphian king, marked the history of Cyprus beyond the kingdom of Paphos. During his reign, ca. 325/321–311/309 BC, he tried to take advantage of the troubled political context in the Mediterranean area resulting from so-called Wars of the Diadochi. Paphos saw a lot of transformations and innovations under Nikokles who was a very active sovereign. This is especially illustrated by how religion was deeply linked to secular power. The religious activity of the last Paphian king is particularly visible through the inscriptions which form the main source of this paper. The cult evolution as well as the sacred topography of the kingdom of Paphos are analysed in order to show how crucial they were for the ideological and political plan of Nikokles. The study of this religious policy leads us to the question of the real ambition of the king and his possible role in the foundation of the future Nea Paphos.

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IN SEARCH OF PTOLEMAIC PALACES...

Author(s): Monika Rekowska-Ruszkowska / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Ptolemaic residences; Ptolemais; Palazzo delle Colonne; Nea Paphos; Fanari hill

The article aims to present one of the most famous residences of the ancient world known as Palazzo delle Colonne in Ptolemais, in Cyrenaica. Even if the initial designation “palace” seems slightly exaggerated, the building’s layout, the stylistic criteria of the architecture and decoration as well as historical factors permit the building to be interpreted as an authentic palace understood as the seat of a Ptolemaic official of some importance or even a temporary residence of a Ptolemaic ruler, Ptolemy VIII or/and Ptolemy IX. As such, it is of paramount interest in the search for and research on the Ptolemaic palace(s) in Nea Paphos.

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INSCRIPTIONS DISCOVERED DURING THE WORK OF THE POLISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL MISSION IN KATO (NEA) PAPHOS

Author(s): Adam Łajtar / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Cyprus; Nea Paphos; Greek inscriptions; Flavian emperors; city personifi cations

The article showcases eleven stone inscriptions found during the work of the Polish archaeological mission in Kato (Nea) Paphos. The inscriptions, mostly fragmentarily preserved, occurred in secondary contexts in different areas of the Villa of Theseus, House of Aion, and Hellenistic House. They can be dated between the second century BC and the second/third centuries AD on palaeographic grounds. The lot includes fragments of honorific inscriptions, the titulus of a statue showing a personifi cation of the city of Paphos, an owner’s signature (?), and an epitaph.

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LES FIGURES DE RHÉTORIQUE ET L’ANTITHÈSE DANS LA NARRATION ALLÉGORIQUE DE LA MOSAÏQUE DE LA MAISON D’AIÔN À PAPHOS (CHYPRE)

Author(s): Marek Tycjan Olszewski / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Roman visual art; Roman mosaics; ancient rhetoric; antithesis; allegory; Pagans and Christians; Cyprus; Late Antiquity

The author observes that the mosaic of the House of Aion (Nea Paphos, Cyprus) employs rhetorical figures in its iconographic program, including analogy, personification, allegory, and, in the first line, antithesis. The rhetoric and its figurative language is a constant element of speeches and writings since the fifth century BC until almost the fifth century AD. Yet, this method of reasoning, argumentation and persuasion is also used in the narrative and polemical language of Roman iconography. The paper is a “case study” of the employment of rhetorical methods in the Roman visual art and especially in Roman mosaics.

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ΤΑ ΚΥΠΡΙΑΚA. THE COLLECTION OF CYPRIOT ANTIQUITIES IN THE JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY IN CRACOW

Author(s): Ewdoksia Papuci-Władyka / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Cypriot antiquities; antiquities collections; Jagiellonian University

This article offers a description of the collection of Cypriot antiquities in the possession of the Jagiellonian University Institute of Archaeology in Cracow. It gives a concise history of the collection together with information about the state of its publication, and characterises three categories of objects represented in it, namely pottery, terracotta figurines and stone sculptures.

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A PHOENICIAN BEARDED MALE MASK FROM TEL AKKO

Author(s): Martha Risser,Rachel Ben-Dov,Ragna Stidsing,Jane C. Skinner,Michal Artzy,Ann E. Killebrew / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Phoenicia; mask; Akko; metalworking; Phoenician cult

A ninth-century Phoenician mold-made terracotta mask of an idealized, bearded adult male was found recently during archaeological excavations at Tel Akko. Similar masks have been found at other sites in the Levant and on Cyprus. The context of the Akko mask is a secondary fill in the area of the tel with a long tradition of metalworking. Items recovered with the mask include fragments of figurines and other cult-related items, as well as pottery. This paper provides a discussion of the mask, its archaeological context, and ways in which it may have been used.

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HELLENISTIC VESSELS FROM THE PHOENICIAN SANCTUARY IN CHHIM (CENTRAL LEBANON)

Author(s): Urszula Wicenciak / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Hellenistic vessels; Phoenicia; Chhim; Lebanon

Chhim is located in the foothills of central Lebanon, 10 km to the east of the Mediterranean coast and about 20 km north-east of Sidon. During the Roman and Byzantine periods, the area of Chhim was one of the most active production centres of olive oil and wine in the central Phoenician area. The results of the fieldwork carried out in the area of Chhim and the analysis of the pottery recovered during this work demonstrated that the site had not been regularly settled until the turn of the eras. Fragments of Hellenistic vessel forms found underneath the second century AD temple should be linked to the religious practices that took place there in the period prior to the establishment of the settlement.

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THE ROMAN TEMPLE IN CHHIM, LEBANON: THE ARCHITECTURAL DECORATION OF THE FAÇADE

Author(s): Krzysztof Jakubiak / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Lebanon; Roman temple; architectural decoration; bas-reliefs; shrine

The Roman temple in the Lebanese village of Chhim has an interesting architectural decoration with a symbolical meaning. Analysis of the ornaments of the façade clearly shows that the temple was rearranged at least twice. The final phase involved bas-reliefs that arguably indicate that both Phoenician and Syrian inspirations co-existed in the Lebanese mountains under Roman rule.

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QUELQUES COROPLASTIES DE PALESTINE AUX MOTIFS DE COMBATS

Author(s): Jean-Baptiste Humbert / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Philadelphia/Amman; citadel; mould; votive plaque; gladiators; combatants; circus games; funerary rituals

A fragment of a ceramic mould discovered in the Roman strata of the citadel of Amman (ancient Philadelphia) provides opportunity to present several erratic images of gladiators known from the Near East. The mould shows two gladiators, more properly secutors, in combat. Other examples, found in Gaza (a figurine of bone and a fragment of a lamp disc), represent gladiators and scenes of equestrian combats. The author makes the hypothesis that the gladiatorial combats, with which one originally celebrated the death of a soldier, produced a popular iconography, desacralized but connected with the funerary sphere.

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KHIRBET SARA (JORDAN), 1983

Author(s): François Villeneuve / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Jordan; Sar; Ammonite; tower; Roman period; sanctuary; Ayyubid; Mamluk; village; arcade; arcosolia; sarcophagi

Khirbat Sara is an important multiperiod archaeological site west of Amman, where Jolanta Mlynarczyk started a project in 2018. The author surveyed it 35 years earlier, after exploration by archaeologists in 1881, 1904 and 1937. This paper includes a description of the ruins, their environment, their architecture and the surface pottery. Three main phases are suggested: a late Ammonite (sixth/fifth century BC or later) agricultural estate around a strong square tower (“Qasr al-Sar”); a Roman sanctuary with significant decoration; an extensive Ayyubid / Mamlouk village.

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WALL PAINTINGS, WALL MOSAICS, AND MARBLE WALL REVETMENTS IN EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCHES OF THE SOUTHERN LEVANT

Author(s): Julia Burdajewicz / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: wall paintings; wall mosaics; marble wall revetments; decorative pavements; Early Christian churches; Levant; prices; raw materials; workmanship

This paper examines the underexplored subject of the wall decorations of Early Christian churches. In its first part, the evidence of the presence of wall paintings, wall mosaics, and marble wall revetments in Early Christian churches of the Levant is presented. For each of the listed sites, the type of paving employed is considered. From this juxtaposition of recorded types of wall and floor decorations emerge two principal decorative schemes: one involving wall paintings coupled with opus tessellatum, the other featuring wall mosaics combined with marble wall revetment and pavements. It is proposed that both aesthetic and monetary reasons account for the development of these two schemes and that the choice of either of these schemes reflects the prominence of the church or the wealth of the patron. The value of particular types of decorative techniques considering both the costs of materials and of the workmanship is examined in the last section of this paper.

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THE BYZANTINE AND EARLY-ISLAMIC PERIODS AT DEIR AZIZ: A METHODOLOGICAL QUESTION OF PERIOD IDENTIFICATION BETWEEN SURVEY AND EXCAVATION

Author(s): Chaim Ben David / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Deir Aziz; Golan; survey; Early Islamic; Late Roman Red Ware

Settlement history of ancient sites can be determined through both archaeological survey and excavation. However, survey results and excavations results often provide differing data, especially concerning time periods, and particularly when it comes to Early Islamic-period sites. This article examines pottery from the Hellenistic through the Ottoman periods recovered in the ancient settlement of Deir Aziz, east of the Sea of Galilee. The main focus is on the absence at Deir Aziz of Early Islamic-period pottery types in the survey, in contrast to the excavation, where these types constituted a signifi cant quantity of the finds. The article highlights the salient difference between the excavation and the survey at Deir Aziz in the quantity of cooking bowls of form 1E and the ratio of Late Roman Red Ware to local Byzantine period pottery. Additional sites with similar results in the Golan and Galilee are also presented, along with a comparison with the numismatic evidence. The significance of the difference between excavation and survey results at Deir Aziz in understanding the site’s settlement history are discussed, as well as the methodological significance of this study for other sites and regions.

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OIL LAMPS ATTRIBUTED TO THE GAMOS WORKSHOP FOUND IN PTOLEMAIS, CYRENAICA

Author(s): Maria Jaworska / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Gamos workshop; terracotta lamps; Cyrenaica; Crete

During almost ten years of Polish excavations in Ptolemais (Libya), a signifi cant number of terracotta lamps from the Roman Imperial period have been discovered. While searching for supra-regional parallels, it appeared that most of the analogies were found on Crete within a group of locally produced lamps attributed to the workshop of Gamos, operating in the second century AD. This led to an attempt to collect information on all known forms and decorative motifs attributed to the above-mentioned workshop. The finds from Ptolemais presented here constitute an important group in light of still on-going discussion on the provenance, functioning and distribution of lamps signed ΓΑΜΟΥ, and in a broader context, provide a glimpse on the relations between both parts of the province.

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RHIZON – CAPITAL OF THE ILLYRIAN KINGDOM – SOME REMARKS

Author(s): Piotr Dyczek / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Rhizon; Illyria; Ballaios; fortifi cations; palatial complex

Archaeological excavations (carried out by the University of Warsaw Centre for Research on Antiquity of South-Eastern Europe) on the site of ancient Rhizon/Risinum (modern Risan in Montenegro) brought to light a great amount of small finds, often of unique character, which testify to the importance and richness of this town in Hellenistic times. Equally important was the discovery of architectural remains, which show that Rhizon played a major role in the third century BC, perhaps that of a capital of the Illyrian Kingdom. Rhizon seems to have been especially connected with King Ballaios. A large, 4656-coin hoard, mostly representing his mint, not only demonstrates the wealth of some of the town’s inhabitants, but also the existence of a developed monetary system at that time. The importance of Rhizon is further confirmed by Cyclopean walls encircling the Lower Town, and the palatial complex, most probably built in the third century BC and remodelled at the end of the same century.

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HELLENISTIC HOUSING IN WESTERN TANAIS

Author(s): Marcin Matera,Tomasz Scholl / Language(s): English,French / Publication Year: 0

Keywords: Tanais; Western Tanais; Polish excavations; Hellenistic period; housing

Since 1999, the archaeological expedition of the Centre for Research on Antiquity of South-Eastern Europe and the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw have conducted excavations in the western part of Tanais, a Greek city located near the mouth of the Don River. Up till now, ca. 1300 square metres have been investigated, which resulted in unearthing Hellenistic architectural remains – fortifications and walls and floors of residential buildings. The paper is an attempt of a detailed description of the architectural complexes unearthed in this part of the town. A comparison with the results of earlier Russian excavations is also made.

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