The Historical Review/La Revue Historique

Vol. 17, 2020

Olga Katsiardi-Hering (ed.), Βενετικοί χάρτες της Πελοποννήσου, τέλη 17ου–αρχές 18ου αιώνα: Από τη συλλογή του Πολεμικού Αρχείου της Αυστρίας [Venetian maps of the Peloponnese, late 17th–early 18th centuries: From the Austrian War Archive collection]

Festas Michael https://doi.org/10.12681/hr.27079

To cite this article:

Festas, M. (2021). Olga Katsiardi-Hering (ed.), Βενετικοί χάρτες της Πελοποννήσου, τέλη 17ου–αρχές 18ου αιώνα: Από τη συλλογή του Πολεμικού Αρχείου της Αυστρίας [Venetian maps of the Peloponnese, late 17th–early 18th centuries: From the Austrian War Archive collection]. The Historical Review/La Revue Historique, 17, 393-396. doi:https://doi.org/10.12681/hr.27079

http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 28/09/2021 14:06:56 | Olga Katsiardi-Hering (ed.), Βενετικοί χάρτες της Πελοποννήσου, τέλη 17ου–αρχές 18ου αιώνα: Από τη συλλογή του Πολεμικού Αρχείου της Αυστρίας [Venetian maps of the Peloponnese, late 17th–early 18th centuries: From the Austrian War Archive collection], Athens: National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation (MIET), 2018, 544 pages.

The reconstruction of the settlement the way for the development of historical patterns and the study of the distribu- demography in Greek historiography, tion of the population constitute the the Peloponnese continues to be studied major research objectives of historical systematically. geography and demography in modern Previously unused sources, renewed Greek historiography. The lack of pri- research approaches and digital tech- mary sources and their low reliability, nologies have shed further light on the until the establishment of official cen- population and the settlements of the suses after the foundation of the Greek Peloponnese from the fifteenth to the state in the 1830s, constitute the major nineteenth centuries. A study by the difficulties in the research. In addition, Greek Ottomanist Georgios C. Liako- the consecutive periods of foreign rule poulos, based on an Ottoman taxation (Venetian and Ottoman) of Greek terri- cadastre (ca. 1460–1463) compiled im- tory, as well as the fragmented geogra- mediately after the conquest of the Mo- phy of the country, contributed to an un- rea, offers unprecedented insight into equal availability of population data. The late Byzantine Peloponnesian society and Peloponnese in southwestern Greece has its economy and how they were incorpo- a greater availability of primary sources rated into the Ottoman Empire. in terms of its population compared to Moreover, from an environmental other parts of the country. Thirty-five history point of view, innovative research years since Vassilis Panagiotopoulos’ has been conducted on the Peloponnese. pioneering study on the settlements and The research involves coring in lakes and the population of the Morea,1 based on peat bogs in order to obtain palaeoenvi- the Venetian census of 1700, that paved ronmental archives, as well as develop- ing a geographical information system 1 Vassilis Panagiotopoulos, Πληθυσμός και database on the economy, agriculture, οικισμοί της Πελοποννήσου, 13ος–18ος demography and trade, derived from αιώνας (Athens: Commercial Bank of Greece documents of Byzantine, Ottoman and Historical Archive, 1985). Venetian provenance, including taxation

The Historical Review / La Revue Historique Section of Neohellenic Research / Institute of Historical Research Volume XVII (2020)

http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 28/09/2021 14:06:56 | 394 Michael Festas cadastres, land surveys and population contain a map and all the pertinent docu- censuses.2 mentation collected during the survey.5 As far as the modern history of the Within this thriving context regarding Peloponnese is concerned, the georefer- the historical demography and geogra- enced online edition of the map produced phy of the Peloponnese in the early mod- by the members of the Morea Expedition ern era, the book under review, Βενετικοί (Dépôt de la Guerre, 1852), the team of χάρτες της Πελοποννήσου, was published French scientists who conducted a thor- in 2018. Olga Katsiardi-Hering, profes- oughly documented survey of the Pelo- sor emerita of modern Greek history in ponnese (flora, fauna, archaeology, geolo- the Faculty of History and Archaeology gy, population, etc.), provides insight into of the National and Kapodistrian Uni- the built environment of the region at the versity of Athens, is the academic editor end of the Greek Revolution.3 of this impressive and massive volume. Finally, there is “The settlement net- In 1986 Katsiardi-Hering located in the work of the Peloponnese in the age of cartographic collection of the Austrian Greek Revolution” research project be- War Archive, part of the Austrian State ing conducted in the Institute of Histori- Archives, a series of original, coloured, cal Research/National Hellenic Research hand-drawn and unpublished maps dat- Foundation.4 Based on archival sources ing from the second period of Venetian (General State Archives of Greece, Benaki rule in the Peloponnese (1685–1715). Museum, Ioannis Kapodistrias Archive), The maps were moved to the Military- records (travelogues and fighters’ mem- Geographical Institute in Vienna from oirs) and data collected from the French Venice after its fall to Napoleon and its Expedition to the Morea, the research incorporation into the Habsburg Empire. programme seeks to chart the settlement These unique maps, drawn by specialised patterns of the time, as well as to present Venetian engineers, were part of a large- a cohesive and, to the greatest extent pos- scale Venetian programme to record the sible, detailed picture of the size, location territory of the Morea and to provide and ethnocultural composition of the vil- solid documentation of the productivity lages and the cities of the Peloponnese. The of each area in it, thus facilitating the im- project aims to produce a historical study perial power in terms of taxation, exploi- and to create a digital application that will tation of resources, information on the population and settlements. 2 See Palaeo-Science and History, an inde- The volume, whose publication edi- pendent Max Planck research group, 2018– tor is Costoula Sclavenitis, comprises the 2023 (https://www.shh.mpg.de/1056512/ publication of 12 large-scale maps (53 psh). sheets in all) and is accompanied by a 3 See http://pavladev.gr/moreasweb/#home. CD containing all the cartographical ma- 4 The research constitutes part of the large- terial. The volume contains 13 articles, by scale project “The Greek Revolution of 1821: Digital Archive” (https://www.rchumanities. gr/1821-act4greece/), coordinated by the 5 See http://www.eie.gr/nhrf/institutes/ihr/ Research Centre for the Humanities (RCH). protovoulia_21_IHR_NHRF/.

http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 28/09/2021 14:06:56 | Olga Katsiardi-Hering, Venetian Maps 395 historians, archaeologists, cartographers governors-general and officials is studied and philologists. by philologist Agamemnonas Tselikas in Katsiardi-Hering, in the introduction, his article “The geophysical space of the entitled “Cadastral maps of the ‘Regno di Peloponnese according to the Venetian Morea’ or ‘imperial maps’? An introduc- provveditori’s reports during the second tion”, narrates the history of the maps period of Venetian rule”. from Venice to Vienna as war booty, and Other articles focus on certain ad- examines the cartographical context with- ministrative units of the Morea under in which these maps were produced as Venetian rule. The late history professor well as the historical framework of Vene- Konstantinos Dokos, who passed away tian rule of the Morea. in 2019, examines “The map of Vostitsa” Anastasia Papadia-Lala, professor of (modern day Aigio in the northwestern modern Greek history and specialist in Peloponnese). The author examines the the history of Greeks under Venetian rule, settlement patterns depicted on the map, in her article “Society and communities in a cartographical sketch of the region, the Peloponnese during the second period thus providing a thorough examination of Venetian rule”, shapes the administra- of the territory 25 years after the publi- tive and social history of the Peloponnese cation of the Venetian Vostitsa cadas- from 1685 to 1715, presenting an over- tre, which he edited along with Giorgios view of the communal institutions imple- Panagopoulos.6 mented by Venice in the Morea. Historian Alexis Malliaris, in “The George Tolias, a historian specialised Venetian cadastral map of the territorio in the history of cartography, in “Im- of Patras (1689)”, examines the topog- ages of the administrative structure of the raphy and the geophysical environment ‘Regno di Morea’: Three Venetian manu- around the city of Patras as well as its script maps of the Peloponnese, 1692– settlement patterns and their territorial 1707”, examines three general maps of the boundaries. Historian Angeliki Panop- Peloponnese compiled by the Venetians oulou, in her article “‘Da mar a mar’: A within the context of organising the space proposition for the defence of the area of the newly possessed lands for adminis- of Corinth at the end of the 17th cen- trative and political purposes. In the next tury”, focuses on a map depicting the article, “The Venetian maps of the Pelo- fortifications of Acrocorinth, as well as ponnese of the year 1707: ‘Pianta geogra- the region’s settlements, land and water fica del Regno di Morea’ and ‘Del Regno resources, designed by the engineers di Morea’”, Evangelos Livieratos, emeri- in order to provide suggestions to the tus professor of engineering, Aristotle Venetian administration on how to en- University of Thessaloniki, examines the sure its northern border in the Morea. maps from a mathematical and geometri- cal point of view, analysing the depiction of coastline patterns which demonstrates 6 Konstantinos Dokos and Giorgios Pa- the high expertise of the Venetian sur- nagopoulos, eds., Το βενετικό κτηματολόγιο veyors. The way the geophysical space της Βοστίτσας (Athens: Agricultural Bank is represented in the reports of Venetian of Greece Cultural Foundation, 1993).

http://epublishing.ekt.gr | e-Publisher: EKT | Downloaded at 28/09/2021 14:06:56 | 396 Michael Festas

In “Reading the ‘Disegno del territo- exploited. In the second part, Katsiardi- rio d’Argos’”, historian Eftychia D. Liata Hering presents a catalogue of 57 hand- claims that the map can be considered as drawn maps of Greek regions kept at the a geophysical one defining the bounda- Austrian War Archive. ries of the inland areas and of the entire Βενετικοί χάρτες της Πελοποννήσου territorio of Argos in relation to its neigh- constitutes a major breakthrough in bouring territorii. modern Greek historiography regarding Historian Siriol Davies examines the historical demography and geography “The territory of Tripoli”, arguing for of Greece under Venetian rule. Thanks the invaluable significance of the map, to Katsiardi-Hering’s insistence and ini- which depicts data for the settlements, tiative, a valuable edition on the Venetian especially those that had been deserted, maps was brought to fruition 32 years af- that cannot be found in other histori- ter she discovered them in Vienna. cal sources. Archaeologist John Bennet, The significance of the volume is in “The territories of Modon and Nava- twofold. One the one hand, it designates rino”, sheds light on the aforementioned the importance of maps and the depic- regions, which were of great importance tions of space as part of the Serenissima’s for Venice from its very first expansionist policies in the Eastern Mediterranean, moves in the Eastern Mediterranean. The in particular in the Morea. More than author thoroughly examines the built en- a century before the production of the vironment and the settlement patterns detailed map of the Peloponnese by the in the maps. Architect Haris Kalliga, in French Expedition to the Morea, Vene- “‘Pianta di Malvasia in Morea’”, examines tian engineers had already managed to a drawing depicting the castle on the pe- produce accurate maps depicting its built ninsula of Monemvasia. The importance environment, resources and geophysical of this fortification for the Venetians re- environment. This contribution is relat- sulted in the creation of copies for dis- ed to the second aspect of the volume’s tribution to military leaders for use in importance. Thus, Βενετικοί χάρτες της warfare. Πελοποννήσου constitutes a valuable An afterword in two parts concludes source for the study of historical demog- this informative volume. In the first, raphy, settlement patterns, migration, Dimitris Belezos transcribes all the topo- environmental history, economic and nyms depicted on the maps of the An- rural history, all aspects of the so-called droussa, Leondari and Phanari territorii. human ecology in the longue durée of the Additionally, Maria Mamali examines, Peloponnesian landscape. in “The ‘catastico ordinario’ of the territorio of Fanari: A brief descriptive note”, Michael Festas a record compiled by the Venetians on the availability and the productivity of Institute of Historical Research / NHRF the region’s sources so that they could be

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