Want to visit the National Museum of Athens? Click here
Troy
The Troy that appears in the Homeric poems was long regarded as a purely legendary city, but in 1870 the German archaeologist Heinrich Schleimann began excavations that unearthed the actual stone walls and battlements of an ancient city on the mound called Hissarlik ("Place of Fortresses"), about 6.5 km (about 4 mi) from the Aegean Sea and equidistant from the Dardanelles. Schliemann's excavations were continued after his death by his assistant, Wilhelm Dörpfeld (1853–1940), whose work in 1893 and 1894 threw new and important light on Schliemann's discoveries. Between 1932 and 1938 new excavations were carried on at the site by the University of Cincinnati, under the direction of the American archaeologist Carl Blegen (1887–1971). On the mound of Hissarlik, the following successive settlements have been determined: Troy I, an early settlement with a wall built of small stones and clay, its date being perhaps about 3000 bc; Troy II, a prehistoric fortress, with strong ramparts, a palace, and houses, dating from the 3d millennium bc; Troy III, IV, and V, prehistoric villages successively built on the debris of Troy II during the period from 2300 to 2000 bc; Troy VI, a fortress, including a larger area than any of the preceding settlements, with huge walls, towers, gates, and houses dating from 1900 to 1300 bc or later; Troy VIIA, a reconstruction of Troy VI, built in the later part of this period after the city had been destroyed by an earthquake; Troy VIIB and VIII, Greek villages, of simple stone houses, dating from about 1100 bc to the 1st century bc, and Troy IX, the acropolis of the Graeco-Roman city of Ilion, or New Ilion, with a temple of Athena, public buildings, and a large theater, and existing from the 1st century bc to about ad 500.
Schliemann discovered the first five settlements and identified Troy II with the Homeric Troy. Dörpfeld's discoveries, confirmed by Blegen, proved that the Homeric Troy must be identified with Troy VIIA, which was destroyed by fire about the traditional date of the Trojan War.
An article from Funk & Wagnalls® New Encyclopedia. © 2006 World Almanac Education Group. A WRC Media Company. All rights reserved. Except as otherwise permitted by written agreement, uses of the work inconsistent with U.S. and applicable foreign copyright and related laws are prohibited.
Architectural Illusions
When the architect Ictinus and the sculptor Phidias designed the Parthenon in the middle of the 5th century BC, they used a few optical illusions-visual magic tricks-to make the lines of the temple appear perfectly, majestically straight. Each of the building's columns has a slight bulge in the middle, known as an entasis, and each one is wider at the bottom than at the top. This makes the columns look straight, even and graceful. Likewise, the marble floor is thicker in the center than at the building's edges and its long steps are bowed, so that from a distance the temple's front seems to be a perfectly horizontal line.
Other ancient builders used similar tricks. For example, the Library of Celsus in Ephesus was squeezed onto a narrow lot, but the building looks much wider than it is because its center columns are taller than those on the outside. And although the four minarets on the plinth of the Taj Mahal look perfectly vertical from a distance, they actually tilt slightly away from the building. There's an optical illusion on the inside of the tomb, too: its walls are decorated with elaborate calligraphy that grows larger as it inches upward, so the letters look the same size from every angle.
Parthenon Marbles Threatened by Pollution
"There are still 17 original metopes (sculpted plaques) which must be protected because they can no longer endure atmospheric conditions," Acropolis site supervisor Alexandros Mantis said on Friday.
Mantis has proposed that the endangered sculptures be replaced by replicas and kept safe in a new museum located below the Acropolis that is scheduled to open in September.
He singled out 14 plaques on the Parthenon's western facade which are in a "pitiful" condition, plus two more on the northern side.
One of them is the so-called "Annunciation" plaque featuring two goddesses, which was spared by early Christians when the temple was turned into a church around 600 AD.
Athens' most recogniseable landmark and part of the ancient Acropolis citadel overlooking the city, the Parthenon dates back to the golden age of Athenian democracy which began in the fifth century B.C.
Few sculptures dating from the Acropolis' creation are still on-site, having been gradually removed by Greek archaeologists in the last 30 years during restoration works.
The famous Caryatids, statues of young women that acted as pillars to the Erechtheion temple, were themselves removed in 1979.
The issue was discussed last week by the Greek archaeological council
But the council is frequently split and this case was no exception.
"Mr. Mantis has stated his position but the archaeological council has not ruled on the issue," said Maria Ioannidou, the archaeologist heading the Acropolis restoration project (YSMA).
"A relevant study must be carried out and an international conference must be held on the issue to reach a decision," she said.
The culture ministry's head of ancient monument restoration, Dimosthenis Giraud, also advised caution.
"A detailed study of the issue is necessary," he said.
Skeptics say that removing the Parthenon's last original sculptures would strike a jarring note with hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit the monument every year.
There is also debate over how the move will affect Greece's case with the British Museum for the return of the Parthenon Marbles, the priceless friezes removed in the early 19th century by Lord Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire which ruled Greece at the time.
 Getty Images |
One of a Kind |
The British have long accused Greek authorities of taking poor care of the vulnerable monument that was exposed to decades of air pollution.
Mantis insists that protecting the sculptures will strengthen Greece's case to have the Parthenon Marbles repatriated from London.
"We must protect our heritage at all costs," he said.
A total of 92 metopes once adorned the Parthenon's outer Doric frieze, the oldest sculptures on the temple dedicated to Athens' patron goddess Athena.
Depicting scenes of battle between gods and giants, men facing centaurs and Amazons, and
In addition to the changes wrought on the temple when it was turned into a church, it was badly damaged during a Venetian siege in 1687 when a cannon ball exploded in the Turkish powder magazine stored inside the Parthenon.
The First Railway
The Greeks built the world's first railway, known as the Diolkos, across the Isthmus of Corinth during the sixth century B.C. The Diolkos (the word means "haul-over") carried marble, timber and other goods between western Greece and the Aegean Sea, sparing ships the hazardous journey around the Peloponnesian peninsula.
Skeleton Shows Ancient Brain Surgery
A Greek team discovered the skeleton at an ancient cemetery in Veria, with the skull including an injury that led them to conclude the surgery had been performed.
AP Photo/Greek Culture Ministry|
Hidden History |
"We think that there was a complex surgical intervention that only an experienced doctor could have performed," said Ioannis Graikos, the head of the archaeological dig.
"Medical treatment on the human body in the Roman Veria is part of a long tradition that began with Hippocrates up to Roman doctor Celsus and Galen," he said, cited in the Ta Nea newspaper.
Hippocrates is believed to have lived in the fifth century BC, Celsus between 25 BC to 50 AD, and Galen from 131 to 201.
The procedure believed to have been carried out was a trepanation, an ancient form of surgery to address head injuries or illnesses.
In 2003, Greek archaeologists discovered a man's skull in a tomb on the Aegean island of Chios from the second century B.C. that had also undergone a trepanation.
The patient was believed to have lived a number of years after the operation.
Another trepanation was discovered in 2006 in Thrace on a young woman from the eighth century B.C., believed injured by a weapon.
Ancient Gold Mask Found in Bulgaria
The mask, discovered over the weekend, was found in the tomb along with a solid gold ring engraved with a Greek inscription and the portrait of a bearded man.
|
"These finds confirm the assumption that they are part of the lavish burial of a Thracian king," said Margarita Tacheva, a professor who was on the dig near the village of Topolchane, 180 miles east of the capital, Sofia.
Georgi Kitov, the team leader, said that they also found a silver rhyton, silver and bronze vessels, pottery and funerary gifts.
"The artifacts belonged to a Thracian ruler from the end of the 4th century B.C. who was buried here," Kitov added.
According to Kitov, the Thracian civilization was at least equal in terms of development to the ancient Greek one.
The Thracians lived in what is now Bulgaria and parts of modern Greece, Romania, Macedonia, and Turkey between 4,000 B.C. and the 8th century A.D., when they were assimilated by the invading Slavs.
In 2004, another 2,400-year-old golden mask was unearthed from a Thracian tomb in the same area.
Dozens of Thracian mounds are spread throughout central Bulgaria, which archaeologists have dubbed "the Bulgarian valley of kings" in reference to the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt, home to the tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs.
AP Photo |
Sweet Chariot
An archaeologist works around a 1,900-year-old well-preserved chariot at an ancient Thracian tomb near the village of Borisovo, some 180 miles east of the Bulgarian capital Sofia. The archaeologist Daniela Agre said her team found the four-wheel chariot during excavations near the village of Borisovo. |
Nearly 2,000-Year-Old Chariot Unearthed in Bulgaria
Daniela Agre said her team found the four-wheel chariot during excavations near the village of Borisovo, around 180 miles east of the capital, Sofia.
"This is the first time that we have found a completely preserved chariot in Bulgaria," said Agre, a senior archaeologist at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
She said previous excavations had only unearthed single parts of chariots -- often because ancients sites had been looted.
At the funerary mound, the team also discovered table pottery, glass vessels and other gifts for the funeral of a wealthy Thracian aristocrat.
In a separate pit, they unearthed skeletons of two riding horses apparently sacrificed during the funeral of the nobleman, along with well preserved bronze and leather objects, some believed to horse harnesses.
The Culture Ministry confirmed the find and announced $3,900 in financial assistance for Agre's excavation.
Agre said an additional amount of $7,800 will be allocated by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences for an initial restoration and conservation of the chariot and the other Thracian finds.
The Thracians were an ancient people that inhabited the lands of present day Bulgaria and parts of modern Greece, Turkey, Macedonia and Romania between 4,000 B.C. and the 6th century, when they were assimilated by the invading Slavs.
Some 10,000 Thracian mounds -- some of them covering monumental stone tombs -- are scattered across Bulgaria.
The Colossus of Rhodes, Greece
In contrast to the pyramids, the colossus was the shortest lived of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Completed in 282 B.C. after taking 12 years to build, the Colossus of Rhodes was felled by an earthquake that snapped the statue off at the knees a mere 56 years later.
The towering figure—made of stone and iron with an outer skin of bronze—represented the Greek sun god Helios, the island's patron god. It looked out from Mandráki Harbor on the Mediterranean island of Ródos (Rhodes), although it is no longer believed to have straddled the harbor entrance as often shown in illustrations.
|
|
Ancient Greece-Interactives read from eyewitnesses
