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Athenian Twilight: A.D. 267–600*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2012

Extract

The excavations that have been conducted since 1931 by the American School of Classical Studies in the Athenian Agora have illumined virtually all phases in the development of the civic centre from its modest beginnings in the time of Solon to its dramatic end in the third century of our era. The exploration has also made it possible to trace the history of habitation in the area from Neolithic times down to the present day. One of the periods for which the excavations have yielded especially abundant documentation is late antiquity, more specifically the centuries from the third through the sixth. The new evidence has led to the correction of various misapprehensions that had arisen because of the paucity of evidence previously available for the study of this period. The results are the more interesting because our detailed knowledge of what happened in the Agora now helps in understanding contemporary developments in the city as a whole. Athens in fact has become a useful ‘case history’ for the study of the actual way in which ancient civilization went to pieces in one of the best known and most characteristic communities of the ancient world.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Homer A. Thompson 1959. Exclusive Licence to Publish: The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies

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Footnotes

*

This paper was read before the Joint Meeting of Greek and Roman Societies at Cambridge on 14th August, 1958.

References

1 The Excavation reports have appeared regularly in Hesperia, the journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. A succinct account of the results is given in Athenian Agora: a Guide to the Excavations, Athens, 1954.

2 The best existing account of the period is still Wachsmuth, W., Die Stadt Athen im Altertum, I, Leipzig, 1874, 703724Google Scholar; but this breaks off with Justinian. Judeich, W., Topographie von Athen,2 Munich, 1931, 103112Google Scholar carries the story down to modern times, though in more summary form. A book by John Travlos, now in the press, on the history of the development of the city plan of Athens will be particularly valuable for the study of the period with which we are here concerned.

3 Zosimos 1, 29; Zonaras XII, 23; Synkellos p. 381.

4 The principal sources are quoted by Wachsmuth, o.c. 707 f. Cf. also Alföldi, A., CAH XII, 721723Google Scholar.

5 Synkellos p. 382. For evidence of disturbances at this time in the area of the Dipylon cf. Kübler, , Jahrbuch 67, 1952, 100102Google Scholar. Extensive adjustments in the fortifications of Eleusis have recently been brought into connection with the Herulian incursion: Travlos, Πρακτικά 1954 (1956), 69 f. The fortification wall of re-used material around the Altis at Olympia, previously dated in the fifth or sixth century, now proves to be of the second half of the third century; it is regarded as a measure for the defence of the central buildings of the sanctuary at the expense of the outlying structures which were demolished to provide stone: Kunze, , Gnomon XXVII, 1955, 221Google Scholar. The abrupt termination of the record of officials at Olympia in A.D. 265 had long ago been attributed to the Herulian invasion by Dittenberger and Purgold: Olympia v, Inschriften 137. For evidence of Herulian destruction at Corinth cf. Broneer, Corinth I, IV, The South Stoa 1954, 134.

6 Wachsmuth, o.c. 709.

7 Wachsmuth, o.c. 707 f.; Judeich, o.c. 104.

8 Thompson, , Hesperia XIX, 1950, 31141, especially p. 134CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Hesperia XVIII, 1949, 228.

10 The fragments of marble roof-tiles, not yet published, were found in clearing the south foundation trench of the Hellenistic building immediately to the north of the temple. The piece of sculpture for which the date of destruction is best documented is one of the heads from the east central akroterion: Hesperia VI, 1937, 376 f; XVIII, 1949, 235 f.; AJA XL, 1936, 407 f.

11 Hesperia XVII, 1948, 169, 178, 192; XVIII, 1949, 217 f.; XXVI, 1957, 100 f.

12 For characteristic groups of coins cf. Hesperia XVII, 1948, 192; XVIII, 1949, 218; XXVI, 1957, 101; XXVII, 1958, 155 f. The general statistics through 1949 are given by M. Thompson, Athenian Agora II: Coins from the Roman through the Venetian Period, Princeton, 1954, 2, 83 f.

13 Athenian Agora: Guide 71 f., no. 33. For the earlier literature cf. Judeich, o.c. 165.

14 In 1958 the line of approach to the Propylaia was altered so as to pass between the Beulé Gate and the Nike Bastion.

15 This plan is reproduced by the kind permission of its author, John Travlos; it will appear as Plan no. VI in Travlos' forthcoming book on the history of the development of the city plan of Athens.

16 Cf. Hesperia XXVIII, 1959, 95 f. This stretch of the wall was freed of debris and made more accessible in the summer of 1958.

17 Hesperia IV, 1935, 329–334.

18 Mommsen, A., Athenae Christianae, Leipzig, 1868, 99 f.Google Scholar; Kambouroglou, , Ἀθηνᾶ v, 1893, 322324Google Scholar; Soteriou, Εὐρετήριον τῶν μεσαιωνικῶν μνημείων τῆς ‘Ελλάδος Α’ Ἀθηνῶν 48 ff.; Orlandos, , Ἀρχεῖον II, 1936, 207216Google Scholar; Deichmann, , Jahrbuch LIV, 1939, 131, 134Google Scholar, fig. 15; Dinsmoor, Observations on the Hephaisteion (Hesperia: Supplement v, 1941) II.

19 I. 90. 3; 93. 1.

20 IG II2, 5199, found at the Church of St. Demetrios Katephori, i.e. in the line of the east side of the new enclosure; 5200, found at the Church of the Panagia Pyrgiotissa, i.e. at the south end of the Stoa of Attalos in the line of the west side.

21 Wachsmuth, o.c. 723, note 3; Judeich, o.c. 108, 165Google Scholar; Parsons, , Hesperia XII, 1943, 250Google Scholar, n. 159. The great variety of opinion is due in part to the fact that the wall underwent repeated repairs and scholars have not always distinguished among the various periods.

22 Hesperia VII, 1938, 332.

23 de Aedific. IV, 2.

24 Hesperia XXVIII, 1959, 95, pl. 14a.

25 IG III,2 3818 (ante med. saec. v post) honours one Plutarch who had three times paid the cost of getting the sacred ship up to the Acropolis.

26 Pausanias I, 17, 2: Judeich, o.c. 353, f.; R.E. Wycherley, Athenian Agora III: Testimonia, Princeton, 1957, 142–144.

27 Guidi, G., ‘Il Muro Valeriano a S. Demetrio Katiphori e la questione del Diogeneion,’ Annuario IV–V, 19211922, 3354Google Scholar; Judeich, o.c. 379; Dow, S., ‘ΟΙ περι τὸ ΔιογένειονHarv. St. Cl. Phil. LXIII, 1958, 423436Google Scholar.

28 The ephebic inscription I, 231 from the Agora excavations was dated by its first editor after A.D. 267 on the ground that it must be at least five years later than IG II2, 2245 for which at that time the preferred date was A.D. 262—3. (Oliver, J. H., Hesperia II, 1933, 505511Google Scholar; XI, 1942, 71–74). Since, however, IG II2, 2245 may now be placed in A.D. 254–5 (Moretti, L., Studi Publicati dall' Istituto Italiano per la Storia Antica XII, 1953, 202 f.Google Scholar; I owe the reference to J. H. Oliver) there is room for I, 231 between A.D. 260 and 267. A date in this interval would accord well with the unusual freshness of the stele, which is best explained on the supposition that the inscription had stood for only a short time before the holocaust of A.D. 267. I have profited from discussion of this problem with J. H. Oliver and O. W. Reinmuth, both of whom now accept the pre-Herulian date for I, 231.

29 Epist. 136 (Epistolographi Graeci, ed. Hercher, R., Paris, 1873)Google Scholar; cf. also Epist. 54.

30 Hesperia XXIII, 1954, 33.

31 Wachsmuth, o.c. 715.

32 For the late rebuilding of the Metroon, cf. Hesperia VI, 1937, 195202Google Scholar; of the Bouleuterion, ibid. 171 f. The corresponding chapter in the history of the Tholos presents some uncertainties; cf. Hesperia Supplement IV, 1940, 136 f. A deposit of earth, c.0·40 m. thick, found above the ancient floor of the building yielded pottery and coins that ran down to c. A.D. 400. In the original publication this deposit was assumed to be connected with the final abandonment of the building. It now seems more probable that the earth supported a floor, perhaps of terracotta tiles, to be connected with a reconstruction dating from the early years of the fifth century.

33 Cf. n. 18 above.

34 Hesperia xx, 1951, 284 f.; XXVIII, 1959, 102 ff.

35 Hesperia XIX, 1950, 134–137; Athenian Agora: Guide 59–63.

36 Ἐργον τῆς Ἀρχαιολογικῆς 1955, Athens, 1956, 5–12.

37 de Aedific. IV, 2. For evidence of the repair of the outer circuit on the Pnyx hills in the time of Justinian cf. Thompson-Scranton, , Hesperia XII, 1943. 373376Google Scholar.

38 Hesperia VI, 1937, 197.

39 Harrison, E. B., Athenian Agora I: Portrait Sculpture, Princeton, 1953, 71Google Scholar. Various ancient works of art were carried away from the region of the Agora at this time. Bishop Synesius, writing c. A.D. 400, reports that the paintings of the Stoa Poikile had been removed by a proconsul (Epist. 54, 135); though there is no explicit indication of time, the context suggests that the removal had occurred recently. Fragmentary blocks thought to be from the Stoa Poikile have been found built into a wall of the fifth century A.D. (Hesperia XIX, 1950, 329); this may imply that the Stoa, having survived the destruction of A.D. 267 at least in part, was dismantled in the fifth century. The stelai with elephants reported to have been carried off by Theodosius II (A.D. 408–450) from the Temple of Ares in Athens to Constantinople may have been found on the site of the temple in the course of the extensive building operations of the early fifth century (Kodinos, Georgios, Περἰ ἀγαλμάτων στηλῶν καἰθεαμάτων τῆς Κωνστανοπόλεως, 47, 14Google Scholar; Athenian Agora III: Testimonia 54, no. 116).

40 Drawn by Piet de Jong and not previously published.

41 Similarities with such great residences of the late Roman period as that at Piazza Armerina in Sicily might be taken to suggest that the Athenian building was an official residence. There is nothing to suggest, however, that a residence on such a scale was required in Athens at this time for either municipal or imperial officials.

42 Akademy, Lykeion, Kynosarges.

43 Philostratos, , Vitae Sophistarum II, 5, 4Google Scholar; 8, 3–4.

44 Athenian Agora I: Portrait Sculpture no. 64.

45 Wachsmuth, o.c., 709–721; Judeich, o.c. 105 f. Of particular interest in relation to the Agora statue is the fact that Herculius, praefectus praetorio Illyrici A.D. 410–412, was honoured with statues erected by two sophists, Plutarch and Apronian (IG III2, 4224, 4225); one may assume that the sophists or their studies had benefited in some way through the good offices of the prefect. IG III2, 4227, a fragmentary statue base bearing an inscription of similar import and dating from the fourth or fifth century A.D., was found ‘apud Gigantes’, i.e. at the entrance to the Gymnasium in the Agora.

46 Eunapius, , Vitae Sophistarum 483, 5Google Scholar (Julianus); cf. also Himerios, , Orat. 18, 3Google Scholar.

47 Hesperia V, 1936, 70–90; Forbes, R. J., Studies in Ancient Technology II, Leiden, 1955, 92 fGoogle Scholar. For the steadily increasing introduction of water-mills towards the close of the third century in those parts of the Empire where climatic conditions ensured streams of constant flow see L. A. Moritz, Grain-mills and flour in classical antiquity, 1958, 136 ff. I owe the reference to Professor I. A. Richmond.

48 Of over 400 legible coins recovered from the ruins of the water mill the latest are five of the Emperor Justin II (A.D. 565–578) (Hesperia v, 1936, 88). A house to the east of the Tholos, built at the turn of the fifth and sixth centuries, was damaged but subsequently reconditioned in the late sixth century; the latest coins associated with the damage are eleven of Justin II and one of Tiberius II (A.D. 578–582) (Hesperia Supplement IV; The Tholos of Athens and its Predecessors, 1940, 124 f.). A suite of rooms at the SE corner of the gymnasium complex would seem to have suffered at the same time; although the numismatic evidence is not so precise, there is a close correspondence between the pottery and lamps from the destruction debris of this area and that from the buildings mentioned above.

Similar evidence points to contemporary destruction at Corinth, where again the latest relevant coins are of Justin II and Tiberius (Scranton, R. L., Corinth XVI, Mediaeval Architecture, Princeton, 1957, 8Google Scholar; cf. also 27 f. for a summary and bibliography of the recent discussion as to the authors of the damage).

The ample evidence produced by the excavations of Professor G. A. Soteriou at Boeotian Thebes indicates that the city was violently destroyed by barbarian incursions beginning about the middle of the seventh century and that thereafter it lay desolate (Ἀρχ. Έφ., 1929, 8 f.).

49 Gregorovius, F., Geschichte der Stadt Athen im Mittelalter I, Stuttgart, 1889, 212 ff.Google Scholar, 292; Judeich, o.c. 106.

50 The lamps of the Roman period from the Agora are being prepared for publication by Miss Judith Perlzweig, the terracottas by Miss Clairève Grandjouan. I owe much to repeated discussion of the material with these two colleagues. The corresponding material from the excavations at the Dipylon has recently been treated in an illuminating article by Kübler, K.: ‘Zum Formwandel in der spätantiken attischen Tonplastik’, Jahrbuch 67, 1953, 99145Google Scholar.

51 Hesperia XVIII, 1948, 182; Hackin, J., Nouvelles Recherches archèologiques à Begram, Paris, 1954, fig. 430Google Scholar.

52 Hesperia VII, 1938, 353; VIII, 1939, 243.

53 e.g. Hesperia XVII, 1948, 183, pl. 63, 3; XXI, 1952, 110, pl. 30 b.

54 Hesperia IV, 1935, 337, fig. 25.

55 Hesperia XXII, 1953, 56, pl. 17 c.

56 Hesperia XVII, 1948, 183; pl. LXIII, I.

57 Hesperia II, 1933, 191 f.; VII, 1938, 357, fig. 46.

58 Life of Proklos 30.