Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 30.1/2024 (2025)

Periplus to the Unknown. The Greek Conquest of the Black Sea and the Origin of the Amazon Myths

Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 30(1), pp. 5-36. ISSN 12242284, 2024

The aim of this paper is to address the colonisation of the Pontus in relation to the Amazon myths. An attempt will be made to clarify the difficulties in identifying both the initial contacts between the Greeks and the ancient steppe nomad peoples in that region and the origin of the Amazon myths on the basis of the apparently more egalitarian lifestyle of those societies 2. Similarly, the intention is to offer an explanation for the presence of iconographic pieces of an Amazon character in that liminal space. The Amazon kingdom, regardless of whether it has been located preferably in the southern Pontus or less frequently in its northern or eastern reaches, was undoubtedly connected with the Black Sea. Even though those myths are rooted in a time long before the period in which the region was colonised by the Greeks, they formed part of it, as occurred with many other accounts dealing with the Argonauts, Medea and so forth, with the mission of exploring those distant lands, bringing them closer to the Greek world and facilitating their control, as well as converting them into essential elements for identifying the 'other' and, by extension, Hellenic culture itself.

The Emergence of the Replica Model? An Analysis of the Question of the ‘Copies of Rome’ in Late Republican Colonization Through Three Case-Studies

Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 30(1), pp. 117-138, 2024

The debate around the replica model of Roman colonization has traditionally been focused on the early to mid-Republican colonial foundations in Italy. In this context, scholars have, in the last decades, rightly challenged the former orthodoxy to assert that these colonies were not, as was previously assumed, replicas of Rome. These same scholars, however, have often stated that these replicas were the result of later Republican and imperial colonial practices that emerged in this period. This paper puts this assumption of the ‘emergence of the replica model’ to the test to show that this is not the case. Through an examination of the elements of the replica model, as well as a series of three case-studies (Corinth, Urso, and Pompeii), the present work will show that there is no evidence to suggest a replica model in the colonies of the Late Republic and Early Empire, but rather, at most, an inspiration taken from Roman institutions that can hardly be identified with the traditional arguments of the simulacrum

ABSTRACTS BOOKLET: G. Aristodemou, From Rivers to Gods. Highlighting the importance of rivers as gods, as seen through their representations in art during the Roman Period in the regions of Macedonia and Thrace.

7th International Congress οn Black Sea Antiquities. The Black Sea: Hub of Peoples and Cultures (8th c. BC – 5th/6th c. AD), International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, 26-30 Sept. 2022, 2022

This study evolves around water cults in the regions of Macedonia and Thrace. Particularly, it examines the presence and significance of River Gods in these regions during the roman period as detected through archaeological material and art representations.The worship of river deities reflects the important role of water for the provincial towns of roman Macedonia and Thrace, and the need of the local communities to address those deities who supported their life sustainability. Water is comprehended not only as a natural element defining human space and activities, but also as a carrier of a wide range of connotations and symbolisms and as a highly influential factor shaping environments, common identities and human behaviour.

"The coins found at the excavations of Amasya/Oluz Höyük, 2009–2013", Sixth International Congress on Black Sea Antiquities, Constanta – 18-22 September 2017

The coins found at the excavations of Amasya/Oluz Höyük, 2009–2013 . Oluz Höyük (Yassı Höyük - Tepetarla Höyüğü) is located on the western part of the city Amasya which is in the central Black Sea Region of Turkey. The mound lies on the fertile Geldingen plain, from the south of which an important tributary of the Yeşilırmak river (ancient Iris), the Çekerek (ancient Skylaks) passes. During the archaeological excavations at Oluz Höyük which were carried under the direction of Prof. Şevket Dönmez between 2009 and 2013, 90 coins (one gold, five silver, 84 bronze) were discovered, dating from the last quarter of the 4th century BC to 48 BC. A great majority of them (70) belong to the Hellenistic kingdoms: 13 Macedonian (Alexander the Great and Philippos III Arrhidaios), two Bithynian (Prusias II Cynegus), 55 Pontic (Mithradates VI Eupator). The coins of the Macedonian kingdom are from the mints of the cities of Amphipolis, Sardis, Colophon, Miletus/Mylasa and Salamis. Aside from the Pontic coins, which were minted of bronze, those of Amisos constitute thelargest group with 41 examples, while five coins of Amastris and only one each from Sinope and Panticapaeum were identified. Among the other 11 coins, three, dated to the Roman Republican period, give the names of Roman moneyers: Caius Curiatius filius Trigeminus (135 BC), C. Cornelius Lentulus Clodianus (88 BC) and Lucius Procilius filius (80 BC). The remaining eight coins which are dated to the 2nd–1st centuries, are known to have been minted in Apameia (Kelainai), Cyzicus and Sardis. All of this numismatic material adds new information to the Hellenistic history of Oluz Höyük as well as the Pontic region.

Dexippus and the Gothic Invasions: Interpreting the New Vienna Fragment (Codex Vindobonensis Hist. gr. 73, ff. 192v–193r) [Journal of Roman Studies 2015]

Journal of Roman Studies 105 (2015), 203-226

This article presents an edited Greek text, English translation, and analysis of a new historical fragment, probably from Dexippus’ Scythica, first published by Gunther Martin and Jana Grusková in 2014. The fragment, preserved in a palimpsest in the Austrian National Library, describes a Gothic attack on Thessalonica and the subsequent preparations of the Greeks to repel the barbarian force as it moved south into Achaia. The new text provides several important details of historical, prosopographical and historiographical significance, which challenge both our existing understanding of the events in Greece during the reign of Gallienus and the reading of the main literary sources for this period. In this article we look to secure the Dexippan authorship of the fragment, identify the individuals named in the text, and date the events described in the text to the early 260s A.D.

The Memory of the Greco-Persian Wars, in: M. Lagogianni-Georgakarakos (ed.), Glorious Victories. Between Myth and History. National Archaeological Museum, Exhibition Catalogue (Athens 2020) 218-243.

M. Lagogianni-Georgakarakos (ed.), Glorious Victories. Between Myth and History, 2020

, 349F) reports that the Athenians celebrated Artemis on the 16th of the month Mounichion (March / April), because the goddess appeared on Salamis in the form of full moon giving the victory to the Greeks. Although the date is incorrect since the naval battle took place in the month Boedromion (September / October), we know from ephebic inscriptions that during the Hellenistic period, at least, boat races were conducted, whereas in

"Aresterion to Nike", in M. Lagogianni-Georgakarakos, Glorious Victories. Between Myth and History (Athens 2020) 212-217

Roman Architecture and Urbanism

2019

Romulus showed great forethought. .. Even back then he must have divined that the city would one day furnish the seat and home of a mighty empire. In all probability, no other city located in any other part of Italy could have more easily secured such extensive power. Cicero De Rep 2.5.10

Wanda Papaefthimiou The impact of the Persian Wars in the Hellenistic and Roman Period

Ministry of Culture and Sports Archaeological Resources Fund, 2020

The impact of the Persian Wars in the Hellenistic and Roman Period

Commemorating Victory: Representations of Nike and victories in competitions on Attic stone votive monuments, 2020, 178-197

M. Lagogianni-Georgakarakos (ed.), Glorious Victories. Between Myth and History, Exh. Catalogue (National Archaeological Museum, October 2020 – March 2021), Athens , 2020