Opuscula 16 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. All content available with open access. The Palamas Archaeological Project. A preliminary report of the 2022 fieldwork conducted by the ongoing Greek–Swedish archaeological field programme in Palamas, region of Karditsa, Thessaly By Maria Vaïopoulou, Robin Rönnlund, Fotini Tsiouka, Johan Klange, Derek Pitman, Rich Potter, Ian Randall, Harry Manley, Elisabet Schager, Sotiria Dandou & Lewis Webb Abstract This paper presents the preliminary results from the 2022 fieldwork of the Palamas Archaeological Project, an ongoing Greek–Swedish collaboration in the region of Karditsa, Thessaly. Working over the course of two separate field seasons, the project team conducted aerial, architectural, fieldwalking, and geophysical surveys at a number of sites within the survey area, including at the important multi-phase fortified settlements at Metamorfosi and Vlochos. Limited excavations were also conducted at the latter site, producing new evidence for the Hellenistic and Early Byzantine phases of the ancient city, including a probable cemetery. The work continues to add to the knowledge of the archaeology of the region, highlighting the long and dynamic history of human habitation in western Thessaly. Bibliographical information Maria Vaïopoulou, Robin Rönnlund, Fotini Tsiouka, Johan Klange,…

Opuscula 16 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. All content available with open access. The New Swedish Cyprus Expedition (The Söderberg Expedition): Excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke autumn 2021 and spring 2022. Preliminary results By Peter M. Fischer & Teresa Bürge with contributions by Rainer Feldbacher, Kirsi O. Lorentz, Bianca Casa, Natalie M. Branca, Yuko Miyauchi, Sila Kayalp, Maria Nectaria Antoniou, Svetlana Gasanova, Valentina Vassallo, Rahaf Orabi, Panagiotis Ioannou & Sorin Hermon Abstract In 2021 and 2022, the 13th and 14th seasons of excavations at the Late Bronze Age site of Hala Sultan Tekke were carried out in Area A, and as a result of these investigations numerous tombs were found. These tombs were threatened by farming. Four magnetic anomalies, indicated in the 2017 survey magnetometer map, were investigated. They represent three tombs, L198, TT, and UU, and the probable Offering Pit SS-S. The minimum number of individuals (MNI) in Pit Tomb L198, which contains only secondary burials, is six. They are associated with 21 ceramic vessels of which a few were imported from Anatolia. Chamber Tomb TT was completely excavated and contained a minimum of 25 individuals and 78 objects. Among these are 47…

Opuscula 15 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. Dissertation abstracts 2020–2022 Samuel Douglas | Scripta Imagine. Buildings, transformations, and rhetorical ekphrasis in Statius’ Silvae, Uppsala University 2022. ISBN 978-91-506-2938-5. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-470916 Georgia Galani | Imprints of Roman Imperium. Bronze coinages in the Republican eastern provinces, Stockholm University 2022. ISBN 978-91-7911-722-1. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-199245 Fanny Kärfve | Greeting the visitor. A contextualising study of fauces-mosaics in Pompeii, Lund University 2022. ISBN 978-91-89415-13-3. https://portal.research.lu.se/sv/publications/greeting-the-visitor-a-contextualising-study-of-ifauces-imosaics- Tuomo Nuorluoto | Roman female cognomina. Studies in the nomenclature of Roman women, Uppsala University 2021, ISBN 978-91-506-2858-6. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-429760 Christopher Nuttall | Seascape dialogues. Human-sea inter­action in the Aegean from Late Neolithic to Late Bronze Age, Uppsala University 2021. ISBN 978-91-506-2910-1. https://doi.org/10.33063/diva-457245 Hampus Olsson | Cultural and socio-political development in south Etruria. The Biedano region in the 5th to 1st centuries BC, Lund University 2021. ISBN 978-91-89213-91-3. https://portal.research.lu.se/sv/publications/cultural-and-socio-political-development-in-south-etruria-the-bie Cecilia Sandström | Encountering environments. Natural conditions for subsistence and trade at Monte Polizzo, Sicily, 650–550 BC, Gothenburg University 2021. ISBN 978-91-8009-406-1. http://hdl.handle.net/2077/67599 Fredrik Sixtensson | Dēmokratia.The prehistory of a word in relation to the Greek typology of constitutions, Uppsala University 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-455670 Oda Elisabeth Wiese Tvedt | Plato’s Republic on democracy. Freedom, fear and tyrants everywhere, Uppsala University 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-456529 Myrto Veiko | Spatial paths to holiness. Literary “lived…

Opuscula 15 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. Book reviews Elisabet Göransson | M. Fontaine, ed., How to tell a joke. An ancient guide to the art of humor. Marcus Tullius Cicero. Selected, translated, and introduced by Michael Fontaine (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Readers), Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press 2021. 292 pp. ISBN 9780691206165 (hardcover), ISBN 9780691211077 (ebook). https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691211077 https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-15-08 Ulla Rajala | G. Cifani, The origins of the Roman economy. From the Iron Age to the Early Republic in a Mediterranean per­spective, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2021. 450 pp., 68 ills. ISBN 9781108478953 (hardback), 9781108781534 (online). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108781534 https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-15-09 Lars Karlsson | C. Prescott, A. Karivieri, P. Campbell, K. Göransson & S. Tusa, eds., Trinacria. ‘An island outside time’. International archaeology in Sicily, Oxford: Oxbow Books 2021, 192 pp., 16 pls. ISBN 9781789255911. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv24q4z4h https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-15-10 Ann-Louise Schallin | B. Eder & M. Zavadil, eds., (Social) Place and space in early Mycenaean Greece. International discussions in Mycenaean archaeology, October 5–8, 2016, Athens (Mykenische Studien, 35), Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences  Press 2021. 626 pages. ISBN13: 978-3-7001-8854-4. https://doi.org/10.1553/978OEAW88544 (open access) https://doi.org/10.30549/opathrom-15-11 Bibliographical information ‘Book reviews’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom)…

Opuscula 15 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. Human-environment dynamics in the ancient Mediterranean. Keywords of a research field By Erika Weiberg & Martin Finné Abstract Human-environment dynamics in past societies has been a major field of research in the Mediterranean for a long time, but has grown significantly following the increase in the number and quality of palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental records in the last two decades. Here we sketch the outline of this field of research based on 1,531 author keywords from 280 peer-reviewed articles published in 78 different scientific journals during 2016–2021. Sourced from the Web of Science, the selected studies cover the time span from the Neolithic to the Roman period across the Mediterranean and provide a large number of entry points for the interested reader regardless of their prior knowledge and specific interests. The results make evident the breadth and interdisciplinary nature of this research and show that it is possible to approach questions of human-environment dynamics in many and diverse ways. Among other things, our overview outlines the importance of temporal and spatial scales, as well as the elusive nature of causality,…

Opuscula 15 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. Memorial sculpture in the Protestant Cemetery at Rome.  New discoveries and an inventory of identified works By Nicholas Stanley-Price Abstract The funerary sculpture in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome, the heart of Catholicism, has been little studied. A new inventory of monuments lists over 130 works for which the sculptor, architect or bronze foundry, either Italian or non-Italian, has been identified. Many new identifications, often based on previously unrecorded inscriptions, have brought to light the work of well-documented foreign sculptors who had settled in Rome either temporarily or permanently. Several elaborate monuments were evidently commissions from wealthy relatives or friends of the deceased, but a greater number were contributed by artistic family members or by other fellow artists. In these frequent cases, a desire to commemorate a relative or personal friend, rather than financial gain, would have been the primary motivation. Bibliographical information Nicholas Stanley-Price, ‘Memorial sculpture in the Protestant Cemetery at Rome. New discoveries and an inventory of identified works’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom) 15, Stockholm 2022, 189-219. ISSN: 2000-0898. ISBN:…

Opuscula 15 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. The Basilica Sempronia and the Forum Romanum By Henrik Gerding & Nicolò Dell’Unto Abstract The authors of this paper reinvestigate the remains of the Basilica Sempronia, situated below the Imperial Basilica Julia in Rome. By combining the information from the original excavation with a new 3D digital documentation, new observations are made and previous interpretations reassessed. The present remains are discussed in relation to the contemporary built environment, as well as to preceding and following phases. It is argued that the Basilica Sempronia was an elongated hall with closed lateral walls and interior supports. It was erected on a podium that raised the building above the surrounding streets on all sides except the west. The Augustan renewal of the Basilica Julia entailed vast foundations works, which had a huge impact on the site. However, evidence of an intermediate phase indicates the existence of a building complex that merged the previous basilica with the Tabernae Veteres, partly preserving their original dimensions and orientations. This intermediate basilica complex comprised a large paved unroofed surface at an elevated position, possibly a peristyle…

Opuscula 15 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. Late Etruscan tripod thymiateria By Örjan Wikander Abstract This article is a further development of questions raised in my review of Laura Ambrosini’s magisterial Thymiateria etruschi in bronzo (2002), and it is mainly based upon material gathered by her. Whereas I mostly agree with Ambrosini’s conclusions, the discussion includes some dissent concerning production centres (Chiusi and Tarquinia in particular), chronology (beginning and end-date of production), and the function of the censers. Otherwise, a series of case studies clearly confirms the basic correctness of Ambrosini’s division of the thymiateria by different production centres. The article also expands my earlier views on the varying modes of production and the possible importance of Roman leges sumptu­ariae for the southern limit of thymiateria diffusion. Except for that, the investigation reveals no traces of influence from the Roman wars and the contemporaneous romanization, but perhaps of the importance of the stands for family status and cultural identity. Bibliographical information Örjan Wikander, ‘Late Etruscan tripod thymiateria’, Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome (OpAthRom) 15, Stockholm 2022, 105-156. ISSN: 2000-0898. ISBN: 978-91-977799-4-4….

Opuscula 15 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. Roman and Early Byzantine evidence from the area of Palamas. A preliminary report of the ongoing Greek-Swedish archaeological work in the region of Karditsa, Thessaly By Maria Vaïopoulou, Robin Rönnlund, Fotini Tsiouka, Johan Klange, Derek Pitman, Sotiria Dandou, Rich Potter, Lawrence Shaw, Lewis Webb, Stelios Ieremias, Ian Randall & Harry Manley Abstract This paper presents preliminary results of the Palamas Archaeological Project relating to the Late Roman and Early Byzantine periods in the study area in western Thessaly, Greece. These periods are comparatively understudied in Thessaly, and the aim of this work is to highlight the extent of the material and the potential of investigating the archaeology of Late Antiquity in the region. The work was centred on excavations and survey at the site at Vlochos, alongside architectural survey at the neighbouring site on Kourtikiano hill. The paper also presents studies into Late Roman and Early Byzantine material found during cleaning at Vlochos. Additionally, an unpublished inscription spoliated in a church in nearby Palamas is presented. The results show a dynamic and detailed range of Late Antique activity in…

Opuscula 15 is published by the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome. Distributed by Eddy.se AB. View volume at ERIH PLUS. The New Swedish Cyprus Expedition (The Söderberg Expedition): Excavations at Hala Sultan Tekke 2020 and 2021. Preliminary results By Peter M. Fischer & Teresa Bürge, with contributions by B. Placiente Robedizo, C. Eriksson, K.O. Lorentz, N.M. Branca, B. Casa, Y. Miyauchi, S.A.M. Lemmers, S. Kayalp, V. Vassallo, S. Florindi, S. Gasanova, S. Hermon, L. Avial Chicharro, E. Peri & B. Clark Abstract In 2020 and 2021, the eleventh and twelfth seasons of excavations at the Late Bronze Age city of Hala Sultan Tekke were carried out in the cemetery of Area A. Based on indications provided by a large-scale magnetometer survey, two tombs exposed by intensive farming were located, Tombs RR and SS. The excavation of Tomb RR, which had started in 2018, was concluded. The total minimum number (MNI) of skeletons in this tomb, of which most were incomplete and disarticulated, is estimated at 137. In addition to clay figurines, seals and scarabs, objects of ivory, as well as jewellery of gold, silver, bronze, faience and carnelian, the inhumations are associated with more than 100 intact or complete ceramic…