Notes on the Topography of Eresos
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Wilfrid Laurier University Scholars Commons @ Laurier Ancient Studies Faculty of Arts 7-1-1994 Notes on the Topography of Eresos Gerald Schaus Wilfrid Laurier University, [email protected] Nigel Spencer Institute of Archaeology Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/ams_faculty Recommended Citation Schaus, Gerald and Spencer, Nigel, "Notes on the Topography of Eresos" (1994). Ancient Studies. 5. https://scholars.wlu.ca/ams_faculty/5 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty of Arts at Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Ancient Studies by an authorized administrator of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Notes on the Topography of Eresos GERALD P SCHAUS AND NIGEL SPENCER Abstract Phanias. It is situated in the southwestern "prong" This paper is a tripartite study of the topography of of the irregularly shaped northeast Aegean island the of Eresos in southwest Lesbos, polis addressing (fig. 1). The western part of the island is composed three specific problems. The first part provides a of volcanic deposits that have since become topographical discussion of the previously ignored deeply chora of the Archaic polis, considering the possible dissected to form a series of deep, winding valleys definition of the marginal areas of the polis territory. and torrent beds, leading to coastal plains of varying The second part is a reexamination of the evidence for sizes.' Four high outcrops of rock have been left, the ancient shoreline at Eresos and the of the position forming the mountain ranges of Ordymnos (512 acropolis in relation to the coast. The third section dis- m), Kourouklo (589 m), (606 m), and cusses the extensive remains of ancient agricultural Polyphos terracing on the hills around Eresos and comments Routphas (673 m) (fig. 2). These four ranges to- on their relevance for the local wine industry in gether constitute a great impediment to communi- antiquity.* cation in the west of the island (even today), and although the modern road network skirts the high- INTRODUCTION: THE ENVIRONMENT OF est areas, it is still forced to wind up and down steep SOUTHWEST LESBOS gradients to link the villages. The upland soil cover- age has suffered greatly from valley-cutting and Eresos, one of the five independent city-states on deposition. Such processes have led to large areas of Lesbos in the Classical period, is noted most often western Lesbos being reduced to bare rock, and it as the birthplace of Sappho, Theophrastos, and has little use except as marginal summer pasturage * This article is the result of separate research by the suggestions and advice improved the piece immeasurably. two authors. The first part is drawn from the doctoral C. Grant Head, Alexis Young, Amalia Kyriacou,John Par- thesis of N. Spencer, while the last two sections, on the rish, and other members of the Canadian group to visit ancient shoreline and agricultural terracing, represent the island in 1991 helped in many ways with fieldwork fieldwork and research carried out by G. Schaus in the necessary for the last two sections. Robert Fowler offered southwest of the island over the last several years. The helpful advice with Greek passages in those two sections of authors would like to thank the British Academy, the So- the article. We wish also to thank the anonymous AJAre- cial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Can- viewers for their helpful comments and suggestions. ada, and Wilfrid Laurier University for research funding, The following abbreviationsare used: including a Senior Research Fellowship from the last, and Koldewey R. Koldewey, Die antikenBaureste der the British School at Athens and the Canadian Archae- Insel Lesbos(Berlin 1890). Institute in Athens for Air ological logistical support. pho- Kontis I.D. Kontis, Ao0flog Kat r were the Air Photo Mttpa- tographs provided by Archive, atartnK? rntg (Ancient Greek University of Keele, and permission to publish them was Cities 24, AthensIHEptoX! 1978). the British of Defense the granted by Ministry through Laskaris G. Laskaris, "Ta XEUecavaTl;g ap- Archive, and the U.S. of Defense, Defense Department Xc•cag EpEoou," Lesbiaka3 (1959) Intelligence Agency. 67-74. In Lesbos, we would like to the acknowledge coopera- Papazoglou I. Papazoglou, Ioropia t tg EpEuooP tion of Aglaia Archontidou-Argyri, the Ephor of Antiq- (Athens 1981). in us to out our uities, allowing carry work. Other Paraskeuaidis P.S. Paraskeuaidis, Ot I7Epttjyiregyta members of the Ephoreia staff who are to be thanked rn (Athens 1983). include Lilian Adoflo2 Acheilera and Eleni Bomboulaki. Many of 1 For the geology of the island see Greece3 (Naval Intel- the in Lesbos archaiophylakes helped by offering their ex- ligence Division, London 1945) 493-97, fig. 128; K.D. tensive of the we would knowledge island; like to thank Jones, "AnOutline of the Geology of the Islands of Mytilini Roumeliotis. Michailis especially Sophoklis Bathrokoulis, and Chios," in A.S. Campbell ed., Geologyand Historyof the former of mayor Skalochori, provided additional Turkey,13th Annual Field Conference,Petroleum Exploration source material. Hector and Caroline Williamsgenerously Society of Libya (Tripoli 1971) 275-82; G.M. Choutzaiou, shared their and in the archaeol- roi knowledge experience OT)l yei[t ioKOhcLtdog Aorpov," of the "YI•u[poxfi TIqig vlroo' ogy island. We owe a special debt to Pamela Schaus Mytilini1 (1981) 85, map 2; I.K. Whitbread, The for her work on the Application maps that accompany the article. A. of CeramicPetrology to the Study of AncientGreek Head Transport assisted with fig. 8. John Barron, Jan Sandars, Lin Amphoraewith Special Reference tothe Study of CorinthianAm- Foxhall, and Lenz all read Jane Francis, John drafts of the phoraProduction (Diss. Univ. of Southampton 1986) I 235- first section of this article in one form or another, and their 36, II fig. 33; Kontis 13-15. 411 AmericanJournal of Archaeology98 (1994) 411-30 412 GERALD P SCHAUS AND NIGEL SPENCER [AJA98 Methymna Q Lesbos %Antissa •O 5 5Arisbe GULF SKALLONI yrrh Eresos a Mytilene GULF na GERAS4 0 10kmr Contour Interval 100m Fig. 1. Ancient cities of Lesbos. (P Schaus) for sheep and goats.2 Cultivation is primarily limited cation, however, based at least partly on the tradi- to the coastal plains, where cereals, vegetables, and tional ecclesiastical boundaries between these two fruits are grown; a few olive trees are supported in areas, lacks support and is reexamined below.3 areas of upland terracing immediately surrounding Discussions of the history and archaeology of Er- the inland villages. Many of the upland terraces are esos have not been numerous. Notable among these now abandoned, together with the rest of the mar- are studies by the 19th-century German travelers to ginal land, and only the coastal river plains are in- the island, A. Conze and R. Koldewey, both of whom tensively cultivated. described the visible antiquities and produced maps In antiquity, two city-states shared the western of the valley and site of Eresos;4 the summary article part of the island, Antissa to the north and Eresos to by L. Biirchner for RE;5 a discussion of the harbor the south. The borders between the two have been at Eresos by K. Lehmann-Hartleben;6 G. Laskaris's difficult to ascertain because of terrain and lack of brief description of the antiquities, including valu- archaeological and literary evidence. I.D. Kontis able comments on the harbor and temples of the placed them along an arc from Sigri (Cape Sigreion) city;7 Kontis's collection of information on the antiq- on the west coast to Apothekai on the Gulf of Kalloni uities from the entire area of the city-state in his at a radius of about 10-15 km from the ancient ekistical study of Lesbos;8 a recent compilation on coastal town of Eresos (fig. 2). His proposed demar- the history and remains of Eresos by I. Papazoglou 2 An indication that the present degraded landscape is 12-15; Koldewey 22-26, pls. 8-10. not the result of recent very geomorphological phenom- 5 RE 6.1 (1907) 420-21, s.v. Eresos (L. Biirchner). ena is given by the French traveler Philippe du Fresne, 6 K. Lehmann-Hartleben, Die antikenHafenanlagen des who in noted 1573 that the far west of the island was Mittelmeeres(Klio Beiheft 14, Leipzig 1923) 76-77 n. 5, 103 "barren, rocky and deserted," Paraskeuaidis25. n. 1, 104, plan xiii, 254 cat. no. 89. 3 Kontis 127-28, 318 figs. 18-30. 7 Laskaris 67-74. 4 A. Conze, Reise auf der Insel Lesbos(Hannover 1865; 8 Kontis 318-39. repr. Amsterdam 1982) 27-39, title page pl., and pls. 2, 1994] NOTES ON THE TOPOGRAPHY OF ERESOS 413 Ancient Antissa 0M 80 raara 0GULF Skala Ereso of ,, * Tower/ Enclosure (polygonal) KALL NI thek * Coursed Polygonal Tower * Isodomic Tower 0 5km / Kontis'proposed Antissa/Eresosboundary ,'Kontis' proposed Antissa/Eresos boundary Fig. 2. Enclosures and towers around Eresos. (P Schaus) based often on Koldewey and the reports of the the first concerns the chora of Eresos and its possible Greek Archaeological Service in ArchDelt;9and two limits. The importance of outposts situated along doctoral dissertations, by R. Levang'l and N. routes into the valleys controlled by Eresos is dis- Spencer," which concern the Roman and pre-Clas- cussed in light of the archaeological evidence. The sical period on Lesbos, respectively, with important second issue concerns the line of the coast in rela- sections on the history and archaeology of Eresos. tion to the ancient city. Evidence for the shift of the Very little actual excavation has been carried out coastline since antiquity is examined next. In the in the area other than work on two Early Christian third section we comment on the extensive system basilicas published by A.