Opuscula 8 (2015) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. Books reviewed in Opuscula 8 (2015) Anton Bonnier | E. Mackil, Creating a common polity. Religion, economy, and politics in the making of the Greek koinon (Hellenistic Culture and Society, 55), Berkeley, Los Angeles & London, University of California Press 2013, xvii + 593 pp. ISBN 9780520272507. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-08-09 Maria Mili | I. Polinskaya, A local history of Greek polytheism: Gods, people and the land of Aigina 800–400 BC (Religions in the Ancient Greek World, 178), Leiden, Brill 2013, xxviii + 690 pp. ISBN 978-90-04-23404-8. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-08-10 David Westberg | P. Ceccarelli, Ancient Greek letter writing: A cultural history (600 BC–150 BC), Oxford, Oxford University Press 2013, xviii + 435 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-967559-3. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-08-11 Otto Linderborg | E. Carawan, The Athenian amnesty and reconstructing the law. Oxford, Oxford University Press 2013, 310 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-967276-9. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-08-12 Adam J. Goldwyn | Daughters of Hecate: Women and magic in the ancient world, ed. K. B. Stratton with D.S. Kalleres, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2014. 552 pp. ISBN 0-19-534271-2. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-08-13 Bibliographical information ‘Book reviews’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom)…

Opuscula 8 (2015) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. Terenz’ Hecyra—Spiel der Voreiligkeiten By Gregor Maurach Abstract Rashness was one of the most urgent themes and most poignant reproaches in Greek experience and reasoning from the 5th century BC onwards: Thucydides complained of rash actions during the Peloponnesian War that led to disaster; Sophocles showed Deianeira rashly sending the lethal garment to her husband on his return with Iole, and Plato made his Socrates expose the rashness of his interlocutors’ assertions again and again. Small wonder, then that Comedy, especially the New Comedy, seized upon this all-pervading deficiency, as can be seen for example in Menander’s Perikeiromene and Epitrepontes, where impulsive young men nearly destroy their lives by acting and judging precipitately. Roman Comedy naturally followed suit, for example Terence in Heautontimorumenos as well as in his Hecyra, where he followed Apollodorus: time and again his characters assert what they do not know for certain and time and again they act according to unwarranted assumptions, a pivotal theme that hitherto seems to have been underrated. Bibliographical information Gregor Maurach, ‘Terenz’ Hecyra—Spiel der Voreiligkeiten’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes…

Opuscula 8 (2015) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. The Swedish Jordan Expedition 2014 at Tall Abu al-Kharaz. Preliminary results from Areas 12 and 13 By Peter M. Fischer & Teresa Bürge Abstract In previous seasons excavations have concentrated on the periphery of the city of Tall Abu al-Kharaz, a multi-period tell in the Central Jordan Valley. Tall Abu al-Kharaz flourished from the Early Bronze to Islamic times, from roughly 3200 BC to the 10th century AD. The main object of the field work in 2014 was to investigate the area around the geographical centre of the city (Area 12). Preference was given to further investigation of the Iron Age sequence, i.e. the period from the 12th to the 7th centuries BC (local Phases IX–XV). Another task was to extend the excavations in the northern part of the city, Area 7, which produced essential information on the Iron Age, towards the south (Area 13) in order to generate a coherent picture of Iron Age occupation in the city’s northern half. Domestic structures and a system of fortified walls were uncovered. The rich find assemblage confirmed connections with the Cypriote…

Opuscula 8 (2015) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. Loom weights in Archaic South Italy and Sicily: Five case studies By Hedvig Landenius Enegren Abstract Textiles are perishables in the archaeological record unless specific environmental conditions are met. Fortunately, the textile tools used in their manufacture can provide a wealth of information and via experimental archaeology make visible to an extent what has been lost. The article presents and discusses the results obtained in a research project focused on textile tool technologies and identities in the context of settler and indigenous peoples, at select archaeological sites in South Italy and Sicily in the Archaic and Early Classical periods, with an emphasis on loom weights. Despite a common functional tool technology, the examined loom weights reveal an intriguing inter-site specificity, which, it is argued, is the result of hybrid expressions embedded in local traditions. Experimental archaeology testing is applied in the interpretation of the functional qualities of this common artefact. Bibliographical information Hedvig Landenius Enegren, ‘Loom weights in Archaic South Italy and Sicily: Five case studies’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom) 8, Stockholm 2015,…

Opuscula 8 (2015) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. Cutting the Gordian knot. The iconography of Megaron 2 at Gordion By Susanne Berndt Abstract This article examines the incised drawings of Early Phrygian Gordion, and in particular those of Megaron 2. Aspects of their iconographic and archaeological contexts are taken in to consideration, as well as literary sources and especially the story of the Gordian knot. The focus of the study is a series of incised labyrinths, which have hitherto not been recognized as such, but which are of particular interest for the analysis of this building. The myth of Theseus and the Minotaur in the labyrinth helps to throw light on both the images of Megaron 2 but also on the story of the Gordion knot, and how these are interlinked with each other. It is suggested that Ariadne’s ball of thread and the Gordian knot are two different expressions of a similar concept; both represent sovereignty provided by a Goddess. Megaron 2 seems to have been a building that was intimately connected with both the king and the Phrygian Mother Goddess. Bibliographical information Susanne Berndt, ‘Cutting the…

Opuscula 8 (2015) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. Two new Proto-White Painted ware vases of the pictorial style from Palaepaphos, Cyprus By Vassos Karageorghis & Efstathios Raptou Abstract The publication of two Proto-White Painted ware pictorial style vases found at the necropolis of Palaepaphos-Skales in Cyprus is preceded by a discussion of several issues relating to this style which appeared early in the 11th century BC. In recent years scholars have expressed conflicting views about the origin of the silhouetted pictorial motifs (birds, quadrupeds, human figures etc.), which appear next to the linear geometric decoration on such vases, usually amphorae and kraters. Some have expressed the view that the influence comes from Syria. Here it is proposed that the silhouetted figures of Proto-White Painted ware are derived from a Cypriote style with both local and Aegean characteristics, which developed in the 12th century BC. The pictorial motifs of this style, drawn both in outline and silhouette, are combined with linear geometric motifs, also in panels. In Proto-White Painted ware the pictorial motifs become rare and small. In order to be distinguished from the dominant linear geometric motifs they…

Opuscula 8 (2015) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. The New Swedish Cyprus Expedition 2014. Excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke. Preliminary results. By Peter M. Fischer & Teresa Bürge. With contributions by B. Stolle, I. Trinks, L. Mazzotta, L. Recht, A. Lindqvist & D. Kofel. Abstract The initial aim of the project—the search for the oldest city of Hala Sultan Tekke—continued in 2014. Geophysical methods were used, which led to the discovery of new city quarters, and a broadening of the research objectives, to include revealing the total extent of the city. The GPR survey indicated a huge stone compound of at least 50 m × 40 m to the west of a probable street. Excavations continued in Area 6 West, where in 2013 a domestic and industrial compound was excavated as part of a hitherto unknown city quarter. The 2014 field work exposed stone-built structures and rich find contexts with locally made and imported pottery, numerous tools and several items of gold and silver jewellery. The violent destruction of the most recent layer of occupation, Stratum 1, which had been observed during previous seasons, was once again confirmed….

Opuscula 8 (2015) is now available for purchase and free download at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. The Charitonidis Class: A group of large Athenian Late Protogeometric skyphoi By John K. Papadopoulos Abstract This article assembles and publishes a group of distinctive large Athenian Late Protogeometric skyphoi. Aspects of shape and decoration are fully discussed, so too the evidence for establishing the date of the group, as well as their distribution. The group, if not the potter, is named after the man who published two complete examples of the class from the South Slope of the Athenian Acropolis: Serapheim Charitonidis. Bibliographical information John K. Papadopoulos, ‘The Charitonidis Class: A group of large Athenian Late Protogeometric skyphoi’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom) 8, Stockholm 2015, 7–26. ISSN: 2000-0898. ISBN: 978-91-977798-7-6. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-08-02

All content available with open access, use links below. Printed edition distributed by eddy.se AB at Bokorder.se. Also available at Amazon.com, Bokus.com and Adlibris.com. View this volume at ERIH PLUS. Contents John K. Papadopoulos | The Charitonidis Class. A group of large Athenian Late Protogeometric skyphoi Peter M. Fischer & Teresa Bürge | The New Swedish Cyprus Expedition 2014. Excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke. Preliminary results. With contributions by B. Stolle, I. Trinks, L. Mazzotta & L. Recht, A. Lindqvist & D. Kofel Vassos Karageorghis & Efstathios Raptou | Two new Proto-White Painted ware vases of the pictorial style from Palaepaphos, Cyprus Susanne Berndt | Cutting the Gordian knot. The iconography of Megaron 2 at Gordion Hedvig Landenius Enegren | Loom weights in Archaic South Italy and Sicily. Five case studies Peter M. Fischer & Teresa Bürge | The Swedish Jordan Expedition 2014 at Tall Abu al-Kharaz. Preliminary results from Areas 12 and 13 Gregor Maurach | Terenz’ Hecyra – Spiel der Voreiligkeiten Book reviews Bibliographical information Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom) 8, Stockholm 2015. ISSN: 2000-0898. ISBN: 978-91-977798-7-6. Softcover, 196 pages. https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-08.