MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ARTS Department of Archaeology and Museology Classical Archaeology CRETAN MARITIME ACTIVITIES IN THE HELLENISTIC PERIOD Master’s Diploma Thesis Bc. et Bc. Iveta Navrátilová Supervisor : Mgr. Věra Klontza, Ph.D. Brno 2016 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. ____________________ I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Věra Klontza for her help and suggestions with my thesis and for believing in me during my studies. I would like to give special thanks to Dr Conor Trainor for his willingness to consult with me the pottery assemblage from Knossos and Priniatikos Pyrgos. My thanks belong also to my friends for their endless support. And finally to my friend Klára – thank you for being there for me in the past year. I will remember it forever. Table of contents Table of contents ............................................................................................. 4 List of illustrations .......................................................................................... 6 Figures ........................................................................................................ 6 Plates ........................................................................................................... 7 1. Introduction ................................................................................................ 9 2. Hellenistic Cretan poleis and harbours ..................................................... 12 2.1 Historical overview ............................................................................... 14 2.2 Gazetteer of harbours ....................................................................... 16 2.2.1 Itanos ........................................................................................ 16 2.2.2 Trypetos ..................................................................................... 18 2.2.3 Lato (pros Kamara)..................................................................... 20 2.2.4 Phalasarna ................................................................................. 21 2.2.5 Ierapytnian hegemony ................................................................ 25 2.2.5.1 Istron and Priniatikos Pyrgos .................................................. 26 2.2.5.2 Mochlos .................................................................................. 30 2.2.6 Conclusions ............................................................................... 31 3. Transport amphorae ................................................................................. 33 3.1 Knossos............................................................................................ 37 3.2 Phalasarna ....................................................................................... 40 3.3 Trypetos ........................................................................................... 41 3.4 Mochlos ............................................................................................ 43 3.5 East Cretan Cream Ware (ECCW) ..................................................... 45 3.6 Ierapetra .......................................................................................... 46 3.7 Agios Nicholaos ................................................................................ 49 3.8 Priniatikos Pyrgos ............................................................................ 50 3.9 Conclusions ..................................................................................... 57 4. Crete in context of the maritime trade routes ............................................ 60 4.1 Maritime routes ................................................................................... 62 4.2 Shipwrecks and cargoes....................................................................... 65 4.2.1 Kyrenia shipwreck and its replica .................................................. 67 4.2.2 Antikythera shipwreck ................................................................... 70 4.2.3 Addendum ..................................................................................... 71 5. Conclusion ................................................................................................ 72 6. Resumé ..................................................................................................... 77 6.1 Krétské poleis a přístavy ............................................................... 79 6.2 Transportní amfory ....................................................................... 80 6.3 Námořní trasy ............................................................................... 81 Abbreviations ................................................................................................ 84 Bibliography ................................................................................................. 85 Online sources ........................................................................................... 95 Plates ............................................................................................................ 96 List of illustrations Figures 1. Map of Hellenistic sites in Crete (author), p. 8. 2. Plan of the Itanos site (Coutsinas 2010, 197 ), p. 17 . 3. Plan of buildings on the site of Trypetos (Vogeikoff-Brogan 2011, 410 ), p. 19 . 4. Plan of the site Phalasarna (Hadjidaki 1988, 470 ), p. 23 . 5. Reconstruction of Ierapytna’s expansion (Gallimore 2015, 25 ), p. 26 . 6. Plan of sites in the Mirabello Bay with Priniatikos Pyrgos and Nisi Pandeleimon (Hayden 2004, Fig. 23), p. 27 . 7. Possible location of Ierapytna’s harbour (Gallimore 2015, 14 ), p. 29 . 8. Plan of the Mochlos site (Vogeikoff-Brogan 2014, Fig. 3), p. 31 . 9. Chart presenting the various imports on Cretan sites (author), p. 35. 10. Marangou-Lerat’s AC7 type (Marangou-Lerat 1995, Pl. 1), p. 37. 11. First type of amphora from Trypetos (Vogeikoff-Brogan, Nodarou and Boileau 2008, 329 ), p. 41. 12. Second type of amphora from Trypetos (Vogeikoff-Brogan, Nodarou and Boileau 2008, 329 ), p. 42 . 13. Koan amphora from Mochlos (Vogeikoff-Brogan 2014, Fig. 25), p. 44. 14. ECCW type 1 amphora from Mochlos (Vogeikogg-Brogan 2014, Fig. 23), p. 45. 15. Hellenistic types of amphorae distinguished by A. Marangou-Lerat (Empereur et al 1992, 645 ), p. 47. 16. ECCW amphora from Ierapetra (Gallimore 2011, 609 ), p. 48. 17. Marangou-Lerat’s AC6 type (Marangou 1995, Pl. 22), p. 49 . 18. AC6 type amphorae from Stavros and Potamos cemetery in Agios Nicholaos (Vogeikoff-Brogan and Apostolakou 2002, 419 ), p. 50. 19. Plan of Priniatikos Pyrgos trenches from 2005–2006 (Hayden – Tsipopoulou 2012, 509 ), p. 53. 20. V. R. Grace’s amphorae from Alexandria (1) and Koroni peninsula (2) (Grace 1963, 323 ), p. 53. 21. Scheme of the main sea routes, directions of imports (arrows) and hypothetical routes of the Antikythera and Kyrenia shipwreck with the way around Levantine (dots, by author), p. 62. 22. Wind directions around the island of Crete (Davis 2008, 299 ), p. 64. 23. Kyrenia II fully-loaded with amphorae (kyreniaship.org), p. 68. 24. Reconstruction of the Kyrenia ship (Katzev 2005, 77 ), p. 69 . 25. Distribution of ancient shipwrecks (Parker 1992, Fig. 4), p. 71. Plates Priniatikos Pyrgos assemblage 1. Rhodian amphora 2. Stamped Rhodian amphora handle 3. Amphora type AC6 4. Toes from transport amphorae from Knidos (1) and of unknown provenance (2); double-barrelled handle (3) 5. Hellenistic amphora tip knob Fig. 1: Map of Hellenistic sites in Crete 8 1. Introduction When the overarching narrative is less clear, when the processes of new state formation are lost in the mists of time, when the most important city of the period (Alexandria) is nearly entirely absent from the historical record, and with such great diversity in state size and organization, Hellenistic trade can be dismissed as a kind of “little tradition” compared to the “great tradition” of Roman trade […]. (Manning 2015, 101 ) Maritime trade routes might seem to be an invisible mark in the ancient history and economics. However, archaeology helps to bring the information about them back to light by tracking the imports unearthed on various sites. The most valuable information lay in the hands of nautical archaeologists. Since the discovery of the Antikythera shipwreck in 1900 the underwater surveys revelaed significant results about sunken ships and the trade of their cargoes. The island of Crete was in the past overlooked by historians and scholars, while research was focused mainly on the Cretan Bronze Age. The previous situation partially relied on the writings of ancient authors, such as Polybius, who supported the theory that Crete was only a periphery, a pirate nest with nothing to recommend besides the efficient mercenaries. Therefore we are still facing the problem of insufficient research and lack publications about this topic. Despite the fact that many publications take into account the historical part of the matter, the archaeological ones are almost absent. Fortunately in 9 the last couple of years the situation of the pottery research getting better, mostly thanks to the extensive work of N. Vogeikoff-Brogan and S. Gallimore, who published new results about sites in the East Crete. Still, from the archaeological point of view, several ancient sites inhabited in this period remain nearly silent, such as Olous and generally sites situated in the south- western part of Crete. The aim of the presented thesis is