The Fred Winter Collection

Rome, "vertical" of buttress archess on S side of SS. Giovanni e Paolo (Professor Fred Winter, 1978)

The Fred Winter Collection

Rome, Aqua Claudia, three preserved sections on the Caelian of the branch to the Palatine (Professor Fred Winter, 1978)

Defending the ancient cities of the north!

From the early Archaic through the end of the Classical periods for a Greek city-state to be an independent, viable political entity it needed to be economically self-sufficient and able to defend its citizens and its territory from neighboring, opportunistic poleis. The defense of the city-state depended upon a trained citizen army and well-built and maintained fortification walls around its urban core. Over time as military tactics evolved and new military siege technologies were developed the wall and gate systems became more complex and substantial. At some point, however, in the 4^th century BC many poleis no longer had the military or financial resources to continue to participate in this “arms race”, which was driven to a great extent by the rise of Macedon as a regional and supra-regional power. The late Frederick E. Winter (University of Toronto) studied masterfully these trends in fortification systems that were directly linked to the political and economic developments over the centuries.

The study of Greek fortifications systems is a lively topic of research these days by a new generation of archaeologists and architectural historians from Europe and North America. In Canada one of the rising practitioners of what may be termed “toichology” is Keven Ouellet, one of the Institute’s Elisabeth Alföldi-Rosenbaum Fellows this academic year. He is a doctoral candidate at the Centre d'études classiques, Université de Montréal. On Wednesday, March 22^nd at 19:30 in the Library of the Institute Keven will give an Institute Lecture entitled, “Les défenses de la Grèce du Nord: architecture, géographie, histoire et phénomènes régionaux aux périodes archaïque, classique et hellénistique”. The lecture, in French, is based on the research for his doctoral dissertation.

As Keven relates, “du VIIIe au VIe siècle av. J.-C., les Grecs ont colonisé la côte nord de la mer Égée, de la rive orientale du golfe thermaïque jusqu’à l’embouchure de l’Évros. Situées souvent en territoire hostile, dans une région aux richesses multiples qui suscitaient les convoitises, ces cités naissantes se sont rapidement dotées de systèmes défensifs pour assurer leur sécurité. Plus précisément, l’objectif de cette communication est de résumer les visées de ma thèse de doctorat qui se présentent ainsi : 1) étudier la géographie de la région afin de mieux comprendre la distribution du territoire ainsi que la manière dont il était défendu ; 2) situer les ouvrages défensifs dans le contexte de l’histoire politico-militaire de la région. Il s’agira donc ici d’analyser les effets des mouvements politiques et militaires (présence perse, avancée macédonienne, ingérence athénienne, expansion thasienne, conflits thraces, etc.) sur le développement des systèmes de défense. 3) Il s’agira également de répertorier, décrire, dater et illustrer topographiquement la totalité des ouvrages défensifs du nord de la Grèce. 4) Finalement, nous tenterons d’analyser les techniques de construction, les particularités stylistiques et les formes des différentes structures défensives. L’objectif visé ici est de mieux apprécier l’héritage culturel et les influences régionales dans la mise en place et la construction des systèmes de défense. Bien que cette thèse n’en soit qu’à ses balbutiements, certaines théories concernant les systèmes de défense du Nord de la Grèce peuvent déjà être mises de l’avant.”

A bientôt!
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

 Beneventum, Arch of Trajan, face-on and angle views of country face (Professor Fred Winter, 1978)

The Third CIG Book Sale is almost over! Who was the Czech architect Vaclav Seyk?

From time to time the Library of the Institute amasses a quantity of duplicate books, monographs and journal issues, mostly the result of donations and the acquisition of newer editions. When the bookshelves in the Institute’s office are overflowing we put the lot up for sale to the highest bidders. This iteration of the Sale started in January and continues until the 31^st of March. We are currently selling over 200 books and monographs, plus 200 or so periodical volumes. The spreadsheet with the list of items for sale is accessible via: http://www.cig-icg.gr/sites/default/files/CIG-BookSale2017.xls. The process is simple: you connect to the link; peruse the contents of the list and email booksale@cig-icg.gr to make a bid on those items you wish dearly to own. In early April Jonathan will notify the lucky new owners. You can then come to the Institute to pay for the books and take them away. If this, is not convenient we can send them to you after you pay online (+ postage and handling charges). Money talks! Every book can walk!

This is a win-win undertaking! You get the books, monographs or journal issues that you have always longed to have in your personal library at a reasonable cost and the Institute’s Library gets additional funds to purchase more reference works (in French, English and Greek) and books and monographs in the areas that we focus on such as Boeotian studies, archaeological theory and methods, bioarchaeology, archaeological science, Thessalian studies, etc. So don’t be left out! Make your bids now as you have only three weeks to enter the auction!!!

The Czech architect Vaclav Seyk

In the late 19^th and the earlier 20^th centuries the foundations of Greek archaeology as we know it today were laid. For the first time, in a systematic fashion, the predecessor cultures/periods to that of the “Classical Period” were revealed, especially on the island of Crete. This age of discovery of the prehistoric and pre-classical periods is remembered mostly now by the directors of these major excavations, such as H. Schliemann, A. Evans, H. Boyd, R.C. Bosanquet, C. Blegen, and P. Demargne, to name a few. Their colleagues, especially their architects, are usually referred to in modern scholarship only in footnotes. Without the talents and the insights of the trained architects, however, the architectural remains uncovered would have been unintelligible.

On Monday, March 13^th at 19:00 Professor Giorgos Vavouranakis (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Dr. Tomáš Alušík (Charles University, Prague), and Dr. George Manginis (Benaki Museum, Athens) will give a lecture entitled, “The role of architects at the dawn of prehistoric research in the Aegean: The case of Vaclav Seyk”. This lecture in English is the next installment of the 2016/2017 Lecture Program of the Syllogos Filon tou Istorikou Archeiou tis Archaiologikis Yperesias.

Vaclav Sejk or Seyk was of Czech origin. He lived in the second half of the 19^th and the beginning of the 20^th centuries and his name is linked to the beginnings of archaeology as a discipline in Greece. He made the architectural drawings for the excavations at Lato, Gournia and Palaikastro in Crete, as well as the topographical plan of Sparta and conducted fieldwork in the Troad. The present lecture aims to illuminate Vaclav Sejk’s life, which is connected to the Russian-Turkish War of 1878, the Ottoman Empire before the Young Turk Revolution, the Bulgarian pan-slavism, the Great War and the independence of Czechoslovakia during the Inter-War period. In addition, it assesses his work in relation to the wider epistemological framework of the period and illuminates this relatively unknown personality in Greek - and particularly - prehistoric archaeology.

The lecture will be held at 19:00 in the Library of the Canadian Institute in Greece (Dion. Aiginitou 7 – Ilissia). The public is welcome.

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director

The Fred Winter Collection

Morgantina, stepped area between S and N levels of the agora (Professor Fred Winter, 1978)

Where's the ancient mall???

The limited number of architectural building types that are encountered in the excavation of Archaic and Classical Greek cities and sanctuaries tend to fall into well-known broad functional categories: religious, public and domestic. Most of these buildings types have been known for over a century. Generally, there are few surprises here. The one aspect of ancient Greek life that has been neglected more often than not relates to the economy, especially production and commercial activities. This lack of attention is probably the result of why and where archaeologists generally choose to excavate within the line of a city’s fortification walls. The rural territory of a polis is often overlooked as well.

One building type, the stoa, probably comes to mind, however, when the commercial life of a city state is mentioned. There is a presumption in Greek archaeology that the stoa was the standardized design for all commercial buildings. This belief most likely arose from the building type’s spectacular architectural development in the Hellenistic period. However, before the conventional use of the stoa in public commercial architecture of the Hellenistic period, shops were not consistent in their architectural design.

On Wednesday March 8^th at 17:30 in the Library of the Institute Tania Contrucci, an M.A. candidate in the Centre d'études classiques at the Université de Montréal will give a lecture entitled "Where’s The Mall?: Identifying Commercial Structures in the Archaic and Classical Greek world". This event is part of the Winter/Spring 2017 program of the Athens Association of Friends of the Institute.

The recent discoveries of a series of long, rectangular buildings made of a number of similar-sized rooms set in a row at the site of ancient Argilos in Macedonia have raised the question of their probable functions. Tania will use in her lecture archaeological evidence and architectural form to focuses on the different examples of Archaic and Classical public structures in an attempt to support the identification of these enigmatic structures as commercial shops. If she is on the right interpretive track, then these buildings are the ancient precursors of the ubiquitous contemporary Canadian architectural feature, the “strip mall”!

Cordially,
David Rupp
Director