Pella
After our day off, it was nice that we had a full day of schedualing on Friday. Stella, our professor, was not able to come with us, so we hopped on the bus and kinda just hoped that everything would go alright. It did, so there was nothing to worry about there! Pella was about an hour and a half ride from Dion, the longest yet. Once we got there, we waited around for about 10 minutes before the professor there met up with us. Once again, he was the archaeologist in charge of the site that we were seeing, and once again we were granted acess to areas of the site which are roped off from the public. So far, I think this has been my most favorite visit yet.
There was a small museum there, and the Professor took us around and told us some interesting facts about all of the artifacts there. The first thing, and most intersting thing, that we saw was a painting from the inside of a building. Basically, what they people of Pella did at that time with their walls was use plaster to sculpt out the walls to look like they had columns and a second floor. The paint on the plaster had also remained, so you could still see the colors that they used. Each part of the wall was specialy painted to look like a particular type of stone, or in the case of the upper floor it was painted blue like the sky. The sculpting came in to make indentations to imitate brinks and other architectual details.
The next really interesting artifact that we saw there was a curse written on a scroll which was found in the ground. It said (in ancient greek of course):
Of Thetima and Dionysophon this ritual wedding and the marriage I bind by a written spell, as well as (the marriage) of all other women (to him), both widows and maidens, but above all of Thetima; and I entruts (this spell) to macron and to the daimones. And were I ever to unfold and read these words again after digging (the tablet) up, only then should Dionysophon marry, not before; may he indeed not take another woman than myslef, but let me alone grow old by the side of Dionysophon and no one else. I implore you: have pity for [Philla], dear daimones. [for I am indeed bereft] of all my dear ones and abandoned. But please keep this (piece of writing) for my sake so that these events do not happen and wretched Thetima perishes miserable. [---] but let me become happy and blessed. [---]"
() indicates something has been added for understanding, and [] indicates the translation of the text is unsure. Basically the inscription says "Don't let my husband marry anyone else unless I dig up this paper and read it aloud.", which of course the writer would never do.
The last thing of great interest that we saw at the museum were the mosaics. Pella has some of the best preserved mosaics in Macedonia (which is the ancient kingdom which covered modern northern Greece). The first one we saw was of Dionysus holding his thyrsus (a type of wooden staff with flowers on top) riding a leopard. The others were smaller, and had different themes to them, including one with a female centur, and one with a male and female centur. There was also a small mosaic of a griffon attacking a deer, which would have been used as sort of a door mat for people to wipe their feet on. All of these mosaics were the originals, and there were copies out on the site of all of them. There were also originals out on the site which had been left there from earlier digs. They are in the process of building a new museum in Pella, and when that is completed the originals will all be in the museum, and all of the mosiacs found in the site itself will be copies.
Once we had finished our walk through the small museum, we went to the lower part of the site, which is currently inaccessable to the site. The professor we were with talked about how the layout of the site was with grided roads and some of the dimensions of the roads. He also showed us how to recognize the different buildings that we saw and some of the archetextual details, such as the clay piped that were used for the circulation of water through the town, a rare structure for the time (apx. 300 BC). We were also able to see some of the largo pithoi (storage vessals) that had been used at the site, as well as the roof tiles which had collapsed. Pella was abandoned when a large earthquake hit, so many of the buildings were destroyed. The other thigns which he showed us how to recognize from the buildings were the layout of the homes as well as the difference between foundation walls, doorways, and walls which would have been visable in the ancient times. We also saw a few wells.
The water system in Pella consits of main pipes of stone which ran under the N-S roads. The water was connected to the homes using clay pipes. Corners were made using stones, which I though was pretty cool. The entire town is set on a slope, so the water naturally ran down the slope. They also had spots where they would have large pithoi (the storage vases, remember?) which had a pipe coming in one side and then another pipe coming out the other side, but lower. This allowed for all the silt to drop to the bottom of the pithoi and the clean water to come out the other side. I was pretty impressed by this.
After a short break, we were brought around more of the site by one of the PhD candidates who worked at the site. First he brought us to the bath house of Pella. Now, I must note here that this was also a very unique part of the site. Most bath houses date to the Roman period and were Roman baths. This bath house actually dated to the Helenistic period, which was a few hundred years before the Romans had taken over the area. So, this bath house was actually a predicessor to the Roman bath houses. The bath house had 3 pools to it: one hot, one warm, and one cold. They kept the baths hot by raising the floor off of the ground and burning a fire in the open space underneath. There was also an area for individaul baths. This was a very small room, maybe about the size of a living room. In it were about 10-12 individual seats which had a small rounded area in the middle of the seat for about a bowl full of water. This was all the water that was allowed for individual bathing. There was anorther room which had been originially built liike this, but had then been raised and altered so that there was just a floor
The lower part of the site is built on top of a burial ground, and the bath house was part of this. We were allowed to come in and see some of the grave goods which allowed them to recognize what type of person was burried and how they were burried in relation to the person.
Then we moved up to the upper part of the excavation, which is open to the public, and got to see some of the rich houses and the mosaic floors that were inside the rooms. We also got to walk around where the ancient agora was. You could still see the workshops and distinguish the front and back rooms. They were lucky enough to still find some of the goods in the workshops, which is one of the indications that there was an earthquake. Had the residents known ahead of time the city would be abandoned, they would have taken their trade goods with them. The archaeologists found a lot of different types of nuts, as well as residue from meat in the pithoi there.
Once we had finished walkiing the majority of the site (we didn't go to the palace), we went back to the lower part of the site and sat around the Professor's office. He showed us a lot of the terra cotta figurines that they found, as well as the molds. He also showed us how to recognize which gods and goddesses the terra cottas represented by their features. For example, if you have a female figure and she is nude, she is most likely Aphrodite. Or if it's a young boy with holes in his back, the holes are likely for wings, which means the figure is Eros (the greek Cupid). We also got to handle the artifacts: terra cotta figurines, pots, some large bronze statue pieces (an arm and a horses leg), as well as a coin that they had found.
We were all very disappointed that 2:00 came so quickly. But, we reluctantly left (with fresh picked cherries in hand, a present from the professor) and got on the bus. Overall, I think this was definatly my favorite part of the trip so far.
~Kristyg
There was a small museum there, and the Professor took us around and told us some interesting facts about all of the artifacts there. The first thing, and most intersting thing, that we saw was a painting from the inside of a building. Basically, what they people of Pella did at that time with their walls was use plaster to sculpt out the walls to look like they had columns and a second floor. The paint on the plaster had also remained, so you could still see the colors that they used. Each part of the wall was specialy painted to look like a particular type of stone, or in the case of the upper floor it was painted blue like the sky. The sculpting came in to make indentations to imitate brinks and other architectual details.
The next really interesting artifact that we saw there was a curse written on a scroll which was found in the ground. It said (in ancient greek of course):
Of Thetima and Dionysophon this ritual wedding and the marriage I bind by a written spell, as well as (the marriage) of all other women (to him), both widows and maidens, but above all of Thetima; and I entruts (this spell) to macron and to the daimones. And were I ever to unfold and read these words again after digging (the tablet) up, only then should Dionysophon marry, not before; may he indeed not take another woman than myslef, but let me alone grow old by the side of Dionysophon and no one else. I implore you: have pity for [Philla], dear daimones. [for I am indeed bereft] of all my dear ones and abandoned. But please keep this (piece of writing) for my sake so that these events do not happen and wretched Thetima perishes miserable. [---] but let me become happy and blessed. [---]"
() indicates something has been added for understanding, and [] indicates the translation of the text is unsure. Basically the inscription says "Don't let my husband marry anyone else unless I dig up this paper and read it aloud.", which of course the writer would never do.
The last thing of great interest that we saw at the museum were the mosaics. Pella has some of the best preserved mosaics in Macedonia (which is the ancient kingdom which covered modern northern Greece). The first one we saw was of Dionysus holding his thyrsus (a type of wooden staff with flowers on top) riding a leopard. The others were smaller, and had different themes to them, including one with a female centur, and one with a male and female centur. There was also a small mosaic of a griffon attacking a deer, which would have been used as sort of a door mat for people to wipe their feet on. All of these mosaics were the originals, and there were copies out on the site of all of them. There were also originals out on the site which had been left there from earlier digs. They are in the process of building a new museum in Pella, and when that is completed the originals will all be in the museum, and all of the mosiacs found in the site itself will be copies.
Once we had finished our walk through the small museum, we went to the lower part of the site, which is currently inaccessable to the site. The professor we were with talked about how the layout of the site was with grided roads and some of the dimensions of the roads. He also showed us how to recognize the different buildings that we saw and some of the archetextual details, such as the clay piped that were used for the circulation of water through the town, a rare structure for the time (apx. 300 BC). We were also able to see some of the largo pithoi (storage vessals) that had been used at the site, as well as the roof tiles which had collapsed. Pella was abandoned when a large earthquake hit, so many of the buildings were destroyed. The other thigns which he showed us how to recognize from the buildings were the layout of the homes as well as the difference between foundation walls, doorways, and walls which would have been visable in the ancient times. We also saw a few wells.
The water system in Pella consits of main pipes of stone which ran under the N-S roads. The water was connected to the homes using clay pipes. Corners were made using stones, which I though was pretty cool. The entire town is set on a slope, so the water naturally ran down the slope. They also had spots where they would have large pithoi (the storage vases, remember?) which had a pipe coming in one side and then another pipe coming out the other side, but lower. This allowed for all the silt to drop to the bottom of the pithoi and the clean water to come out the other side. I was pretty impressed by this.
After a short break, we were brought around more of the site by one of the PhD candidates who worked at the site. First he brought us to the bath house of Pella. Now, I must note here that this was also a very unique part of the site. Most bath houses date to the Roman period and were Roman baths. This bath house actually dated to the Helenistic period, which was a few hundred years before the Romans had taken over the area. So, this bath house was actually a predicessor to the Roman bath houses. The bath house had 3 pools to it: one hot, one warm, and one cold. They kept the baths hot by raising the floor off of the ground and burning a fire in the open space underneath. There was also an area for individaul baths. This was a very small room, maybe about the size of a living room. In it were about 10-12 individual seats which had a small rounded area in the middle of the seat for about a bowl full of water. This was all the water that was allowed for individual bathing. There was anorther room which had been originially built liike this, but had then been raised and altered so that there was just a floor
The lower part of the site is built on top of a burial ground, and the bath house was part of this. We were allowed to come in and see some of the grave goods which allowed them to recognize what type of person was burried and how they were burried in relation to the person.
Then we moved up to the upper part of the excavation, which is open to the public, and got to see some of the rich houses and the mosaic floors that were inside the rooms. We also got to walk around where the ancient agora was. You could still see the workshops and distinguish the front and back rooms. They were lucky enough to still find some of the goods in the workshops, which is one of the indications that there was an earthquake. Had the residents known ahead of time the city would be abandoned, they would have taken their trade goods with them. The archaeologists found a lot of different types of nuts, as well as residue from meat in the pithoi there.
Once we had finished walkiing the majority of the site (we didn't go to the palace), we went back to the lower part of the site and sat around the Professor's office. He showed us a lot of the terra cotta figurines that they found, as well as the molds. He also showed us how to recognize which gods and goddesses the terra cottas represented by their features. For example, if you have a female figure and she is nude, she is most likely Aphrodite. Or if it's a young boy with holes in his back, the holes are likely for wings, which means the figure is Eros (the greek Cupid). We also got to handle the artifacts: terra cotta figurines, pots, some large bronze statue pieces (an arm and a horses leg), as well as a coin that they had found.
We were all very disappointed that 2:00 came so quickly. But, we reluctantly left (with fresh picked cherries in hand, a present from the professor) and got on the bus. Overall, I think this was definatly my favorite part of the trip so far.
~Kristyg