AEGAEUM28 Annales d'archeologie egeenne de l'Universite de Liege et UT-PASP EPOS RECONSIDERING GREEK EPIC AND AEGEAN BRONZE AGE ARCHAEOLOGY Proceedings of the 11th International Aegean Conference / lIe Rencontre egeenne internationale Los Angeles, UCLA - The J. Paul Getty Villa, 20-23 April 2006 Edited by Sarah P. MORRIS and Robert LAFFINEUR Universite de Liege Histoire de l'art et archeologie de la Grece antique University of Texas at Austin Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory 2007 Illustration: on cover pages: Palace of Nestor at Pylos, the Lyer-player fresco (watercolor Piet de Jong) Courtesy of the Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati D-2007 0480 33 Printed in Belgium by KLIEMO SA B4700 Eupen Publie avec l'aide financiere du Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique - FNRS All rights reserved. No part of this book 'may be reproducted in any form without written permission of the editors: R. LAFFINEUR, Universite de Liege, Service d'Histoire de l'art et d'archeologie de la Grece antique, Quai Roosevelt lb, B-4000 LIEGE (Belgique) Th.G. PALAIMA, Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory, The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Classics, WAG 123, AUSTIN, Tx '78712-1181 (U.S.A) THE SITE OF MITROU AND EAST LOKRIS IN "HOMERIC TIMES"* The area of East Lokris on the North Euboean Gulf is surprisingly prominent in Homer's Iliad, in contrast to its low status as a backwater in later historical times (PI. LX). East Lokris is the home of not one but two important Homeric heroes: Patroclus and Ajax "the lesser," son of Oileus. 1 Patroclus is said to have been born in Opoeis (Il. 18, 324-327 and 23,84-90). Ajax hailed from Thronion (Eur., IA 262-264) or Naryx (Strabo 9, 425), but reigned in Opoeis.2 In the Catalogue of Ships (Il. 2, 484-759) the Lokrians led by Ajax contribute 40 ships, which puts them among the largest contingents of Central Greece (ll. 2, 527-535, 681-694). They are, moreover, listed in a prominent fourth place, after Boeotia, the Minyans, and Phokis. The Lokrians' prominence in the Catalogue is somewhat at odds with their decidedly lesser status in the rest of the Iliad. Unlike the other Greeks they do not possess bronze helmets, shields or spears, but fight with bow and sling (ll. 13,685-700). Ajax the lesser himself is described as "linothorax," with a corselet of linen-an epithet rarely used for a hero in the Iliad. In contrast, the other Achaeans are frequently described as having bronze armor.3 Since the Lokrian fighting style to all appearances relied on lightness and mobility, a linen corselet would have allowed Ajax to move fast. Indeed he is admired for his speed in running and for fighting superbly with the spear, usually side by side with his namesake, the greater J\iax.4 Like his troops, Lokrian Ajax has a second-tier status among the Greek heroes: he has no weight in the council, and at times does not display great heroic character. He has a silly quarrel with Idomeneus during the funerary games for Patroklos, and then falls in the dung during the foot­ race, to everyone's amusement (Il. 23,473-498 and 23, 778-784). More seriously, at the fall of Troy he is the one who drags Kassandra together ,,,ith Athena's image from the altar, bringing Athena's wrath upon the Greeks (Iliou Persis). On his return home he perishes in a shipwreck through a stupid boast-a most ignominous fate for a Homeric hero (Od. 4, 499-511). How does this relatively prominent, but at the same time contradictory, image of the Lokrians in the Homeric epics compare to the archaeological record? More importantly, if there is a correspondence, with which archaeological period(s) do these characterizations best agree? A very broad definition of the term "Homeric period" will be adopted here. Most authors today follow Finley's view that the majority of the Homeric epics are to be situated after the Mycenaean palatial period, in the Late Helladic IIIC period and Early Iron Age.s It is also * I very much thank Jeremy B, Rutter and Eleni Zahou for reading earlier versions of this manusnipt and providing valuable comments, Any remaining shortcomings in this article are entirely mine. The results of the Mitrou excavations presented here are the product of the dedication and enthusiasm of our 2004 and 2005 teams, for which I cannot thank them enough. The Mitrou project is made possible by financial contributions of the University of Tennessee, the Greek Archaeological Service, the Institute of Aegean Prehistory, t.he Loeb Classical Library Foundation, and other donors. W. KULLMANN, Die Quellen der Ilias (l960) 72-73. G.S. KIRK. The Iliad: ii, Commentary, Vol. I: Books 1-4 (1985) 201-203. 2 Nary'X is identified with a site north of Kamena Vouda: F. DAKORONIA, "Homelic Towns in East Lokris. Problems ofIdentificalion,~ Hesperia 62 (1993) 117.]. TOEPFFER, S.v. "Aias Oiliades," RE (1894) cols. 935- 939. Patroclus is said to have fled as a boy to Phthia, where he was raised and became Achilles' friend: E. WOST, s.v. "Patroklos," RE (1949) col. 2275. 3 Chalkochitonon, used 24 times in the Iliad: KIRK (supra n. 1) 202. Since Ajax is never mentioned as having bronze armor, I with Sarah Morris, this volume, and Malie-Louise Nosch, this conference, that the linen corselet must been his outer protection and not an undergarment. 4 ]. LATACZ, Homers mas. Gesarntkommentar, II.2 (2003) 168-169. 5 See]. BENNET, "Homer and the Bronze Age," in New Companion to Homer 511-514 and 1. MORRIS, "Homer and the Iron " in New Companion to Homer 535-539 for brief discussions and literature. Key arguments against situating the epics in the Mycenaean palatial period (LH IIIA2-B) are Homer's depiction of Greek society as being led by a warrior aristocracy keen on legitimizing itself through heroic deeds and emphasis 244 Aleydis VAN DE MOORTEL widely agreed that the Catalogue of Ships is among the latest passages added to the Iliad.6 On the other hand, studies of archaeological correlates by Sherratt, Morris, and others concur with philological research by Ruijgh and West in concluding that there is a considerable time-depth in parts of the Homeric epics, its earliest elements going back to at least the beginning of the Late Bronze Age.7 In view of the wide range of dates possibly covered by the Homeric epics, it seems best to begin our archaeological overview of East Lokris in the Late Helladic I phase and end it ca. 700 B.C. A well-trodden and obvious path of inquiry is the identification of settlements mentioned by Homer with known archaeological sites. The Catalogue of Ships makes mention only of East Lokris, located opposite the island of Euboea; for an unknown reason it omits West Lokris. Eight place names are listed: Kynos, Opoeis, Kalliaros, Bessa, Sarphe, Augeiae, Tarphe, and Thronion (11.2,527-535). The later geographer Strabo informs us that the limits of East Lokris are at Halai in the east and Thermopylae in the west (Strabo 9.4.2).8 Various suggestions have been made by modern authors regarding the identification of Homeric Lokrian settlements, but the only prehistoric place name identifiable with some certainty is Kynos.9 It is widely believed that Kynos corresponds to the archaeological site of Pyrgos on the coast of Livanates (PI. LX). Archaeological remains at this site indeed include Early Iron Age material and go back to at least the Middle Helladic period. However, Dakoronia, the excavator of Pyrgos, believes that this site is too small to represent all of Kynos. She proposes instead that the name Kynos referred to both Pyrgos and the much larger settlement of Livanates-Palaiokastra, located 3.5 km inland from Pyrgos, which it would have served as a harbor. lO The location of Opoeis is less certain, but it seems reasonable to identify it with historical Opous, which must have been located somewhere in the Atalante area. l ] Given the uncertainties surrounding the topography of Homeric place names, it is preferable to study the archaeological record of East Lokris on its own terms for the evidence it provides for the characteristics of local Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age society and its periods of prosperity and decline. This evidence will then be compared with Homer's characterization of the Lokrians. Intensive archaeological research in East Lokris is a relatively new phenomenon, starting in 1973 with the creation of the 14th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities at Lamia. Thanks primarily to the efforts of its dynamic long-term ephor, Fanouria Dakoronia, and her successors, we are now in a position to discuss the archaeological record of East Lokris in "Homeric" times.12 However, this record is far from comprehensive. Field work carried out by the 14 th Ephorate has focused chiefly on rescue excavations of tombs, most of them plundered, and the results are known primarily from short reports published in the Archaiologikon Deltion.13 on ancestry; cremation burials; scarcity of writing and absence of references to Linear B texts; reference to Phlygians but never to Hittites. 6 For a recent discussion and bibliography, see O. DICKINSON, "The Catalogue of Ships and All That," in MELETEMATA 207·210. 7 E.S. SHERRA.TT, '''Reading the Texts': Archaeology and the Homeric Question," Antiquity 64 (1990) 807·824; S. ;\fORRIS, "A Tale of Two Cities: The Miniature Frescoes from Thera and the Origins of Greek Poetry," AJA 93 (1989) 511·535; Cj.