Dartmouth College Dartmouth Digital Commons Open Dartmouth: Published works by Dartmouth faculty Faculty Work 1-2002 Aphrati and Kato Syme: Pottery, Continuity, and Cult in Late Archaic and Classical Crete Brice L. Erickson Dartmouth College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa Part of the Classics Commons Dartmouth Digital Commons Citation Erickson, Brice L., "Aphrati and Kato Syme: Pottery, Continuity, and Cult in Late Archaic and Classical Crete" (2002). Open Dartmouth: Published works by Dartmouth faculty. 3695. https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/3695 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Work at Dartmouth Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Dartmouth: Published works by Dartmouth faculty by an authorized administrator of Dartmouth Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HESPERIA 7I (2002) A P H RATI AN D Pages4I-90 KATO SYME POTTERY,CONTINUITY, AND CULTIN LATEARCHAIC AN D C LAS S I CA L C RE T E ABSTRACT The analysisof ceramicsfrom Aphrati sheds valuable new light on the his- toryofthis Cretansettlement and on its relationshipwith a nearbyrural sanc- tuaryat Kato Symein the LateArchaic and Classicalperiods. It has long beenheld thatAphrati was desertedfrom ca. 600 to 400 B.C. A potteryde- posit fromthe domesticquarter, however, now supportsoccupation of the city duringthis period.A ceramicclassification system is presentedand the morphologicaldevelopment and absolutechronology of severalkey shapes atAphratiand Kato Syme are plotted. Historical implications ofthe ceramic evidenceare also explored. To date,the mostimpressive finds of the historicalGreek periods from Aphrati,the site of a polisin EastCrete (Fig. 1), consistof gravegoods fromthe Geometric and Orientalizing burial ground excavated by the Ital- iansin the 1920sunder the direction of DoroLevi.1 On thebasis of mag- nificenttomb furnishings, Levi inferredthe existenceof an important 7th-centurysettlement at Aphrati. With few exceptions, none ofthe mater- ial fromLevi's excavations commands a datelater than the 7th century. Forthis reason, Levi concluded that Aphrati suffered a majorreversal af- ter ca. 600 s.c.2 Basedon this conclusion,historians have presupposed a majordisruption of cultat the nearby rural sanctuary at Kato Syme com- mensuratewith the presumedbreak in occupationat Aphrati.Didier Viviers,following the preliminaryconclusions of the sanctuary'sexcava- tor,Angeliki Lebessi, notes a progressivediminution of offeringsat the sanctuaryin the courseof the 6th century.Viviers interprets this phe- nomenonas the effectof a widespreadeconomic decline of the area,with 1. Levi 1927-1929,p. 528. the exceptionof a 5th-centuryinscrip- to Hoffmann(1972, pp. 42-44), the 2. Levi 1927-1929,p. 528, followed tion,IC I v 4, whichrecords a dedica- latestexamples of inscribedbronze by Boardman1982, p. 227;Watrous tionmade to Athena.Levi (1927-1929, armorfrom the Aphratihoard, dis- 1982,p. 23; Huxley1994, p. 128.The pp.22, 37) reportsfinding a stray cussedbelow, date to ca.600-575. epigraphicalrecord at Aphratigives Argivesilver coin in the courseof his Viviers(1994, pp. 241-244) briefly littleindication of subsequentactivity excavations,dated by him to the third summarizesthe archaeologicaldis- in the 6th or followingcentury, with quarterof the 5th century.According coveriesat Aphrati. American School of Classical Studies at Athens is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Hesperia ® www.jstor.org F i ' , 7s I 1 E r I w ts t: 1 - . co o 0 5 10 15 2t) Milas 1) 5 10 15 ZQ tS 3{) Kilometree; Figure1. Map of Crete.After Talbert 2000, map 60 APHRATI AND KATO SYME 43 particularlysevere repercussions for the sanctuary.3 From Viviers' perspec- tive,the root cause lies in a reorganizationof the territories of Biennosand Dattallain responseto the growthof theirpowerful neighbor, Lyktos. Viviersattributes the supposedabandonment of Aphratito Lyktianag- gression.His reconstructionfurther holds that the sanctuary at KatoSyme fell out of use as a resultof the politicalsubjugation of Biennosand the absorptionof its territoryby Lyktosca. 600 B.C. When andhow this processof territorialexpansion came about, if indeeda "policy"of Lyktianaggression existed in the firstplace, remain mattersof dispute.4The acknowledgeddifficulty of identifyingand accu- ratelydating the post-Minoanceramics from Kato Syme has impeded previousefforts to assessthe developmentof the sanctuaryin theArchaic andClassical periods, and to clarifythe historyof settlementin thispart of Crete.Whether the lacunae in thearchaeological record reflect histori- calreality or a problemof archaeologicalperception is opento question. Specialistsworking at individualsites on Cretehave noted breaks in the ceramicsequence between ca. 600 and 400 B.C., buthave made no effortto assemblethe ceramicevidence from across the islandto forma compre- hensivepicture of localor regionaldevelopments.5 Without established ceramicsequences, all othercategories of archaeologicalevidence lack a chronologicalanchor.6 The presentarticle is intendedto establisha sequenceof shapesand anabsolute chronology for pottery at the sanctuary.The catalogueentries includeall diagnosticexamples from Kato Syme, and can thereforebe regardedas a comprehensivepublication of its LateArchaic and Classical pottery.My presentationof the findsfrom Kato Syme and Aphrati treats thepottery from both sites together in a chronologicalfashion. I proposea regionalmodel of consumptionaccording to whichpotters from Aphrati suppliedthe sanctuaryat KatoSyme with a continuousseries of drinking cupsof a characteristicshape and pale brown fabric between ca. 600 and 400.A domesticdeposit from Aphrati provides an invaluable chronologi- calpoint of referencefor this sharedlocal ceramic tradition. Contrary to the acceptedpicture of Cretandecline, this collection of potterydemon- stratescontinuity of activityat boththe sanctuaryand settlement. I fur- therargue that around 400, Lyktos,a rivalpolis, replaced Aphrati as the 3. Regardingthe fateof the sanctuary territoryto the southcoast of Cretetook Knossosis somethingof an exception;see in the 6th century,Viviers (1994, p. 256) placeat the endof the 3rdcentury. Viviers below,n. 127.Morris (1998, pp. 66-68) concludes:"Le sanctuaire n'est pourtant (1994,pp.252-259), Watrous (1982, discussesthe problemof potteryidentifi- paslaisse a l'abandon."The traditional pp.22-24), andHaggis (1996, pp.415, cation. identificationof the site at Aphratias 419, n. 117) arguethat the processbegan 6. The resultspresented here stem ancientArkades has recently been chal- in the 6th century.Van Effenterre and froma morecomprehensive study (Erick- lengedby Viviers(1994, p. 257),who Gondicas(1999, pp.136-137) examine son 2000) of the islandpottery styles offersthe alternativeidentification of the evidencefor political dependencies ca.60>400 B.C. I limitmy discussion Dattalla. of Lyktos. hereto Aphratiand neighboring sites. 4. Chaniotis(1996, pp. 3-5, 13-16) 5. Kanta's(1991, p.500) summaryof While coinsmight be expectedto provide regardsthe formationof powerfillCre- the currentstate of knowledgeof the Cre- a reliablechronological anchor, most Cre- tancity-states with sizableterritories as tanceramic record deserves repeating: tanpoleis did not beginminting until the a creationof the Hellenisticage. Van <<the6th and5th centuryB.C. pottery secondhalf of the 5th century,if not later; Effenterreand Bougrat (1969, pp. 36-37) fromCrete has not beenpublished or see Le Rider1966, pp. 173-174. proposethat the expansionof Lyktian studiedand is virtuallyunknown." 44 BRICE L. ERICKSON chiefsupplier of potteryat the sanctuary.In the finalsection I addressthe historicalimplications of mystudy by focusing upon Cretan cult practice as a reflectionof territorialconflict, arguing for an expropriationof the frontiersanctuary by Lyktos ca. 400 B.C., a fulltwo centuries later than the dateadvocated by Viviers. EXCAVATION AND CONTEXTS APHRATI Evidencein supportof continuedoccupation at Aphrati comes in theform of a potterydeposit from a housein the domesticquarter of the ancient cityexcavated by the GreekArchaeological Service (Fig. 1). Lebessipro- videsa planof the buildingin the preliminaryreport of herexcavations conductedin 1969.7The house'sdestruction sealed a layerof debrisover theremains of oneof its floors.Among the debriswas recovered a host of intacthigh-necked cups, representatives of a previouslyunknown Classi- cal Cretanceramic tradition. The discoveryof thesecups in association withdatable lamps (85-88), discussed below, places the destruction of the housewithin the narrowchronological limits of ca.425 and400 B.C. The size of this deposit,its remarkablepreservation, and the presenceof un- usuallygood evidence for its datecombine to makeit a potentialcorner- stoneof Cretanchronology in the 5th century. KATOSYME Excavationsconducted by the GreekArchaeological Service under the directionof Lebessiin 1972discovered on the remotesouthern flanks of Mt. Diktenear the modernvillage of KatoSyme a smallopen-air sanctu- arydedicated jointly in the Hellenisticperiod to Aphroditeand Hermes (Fig.1).8 This identificationis basedupon secure epigraphical sources in conjunctionwith the character of thefinds. The earliest signs of cultactiv- ity at KatoSyme date to the MiddleMinoan IB period.9The sanctuary 7. Lebessi(1973, p. 459, fig.2, experiencedits greatestpopularity during the LateMinoan period,