Olynthus
Ὀλυνθος | |
Location | Olynthus, Central Macedonia, Greece |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°17′46″N 23°21′14″E / 40.296°N 23.354°E |
Type | Settlement |
Part of | Chalcidian League |
Length | 1500 |
Width | 400 |
Area | 60 ha (150 acres) |
History | |
Founded | 7th century BC |
Abandoned | 318 BC |
Site notes | |
Archaeologists | David Moore Robinson, Mary Ross Ellingson |
Condition | Ruined |
Ownership | Public |
Management | 16th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities |
Public access | Yes |
Website | Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Tourism |
Olynthus (
The city flourished between 432 BC and its destruction by Phillip II of Macedon in 348 BCE. It was finally abandoned in 316 BCE. Excavations were conducted across four seasons, spanning from 1928 to 1938.[4] Artefacts found during the excavations of the site are exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Olynthos.
History
Olynthus, son of Heracles, or the river god Strymon, was considered the mythological founder of the town. The South Hill bore a small Neolithic settlement; was abandoned during the Bronze Age; and was resettled in the 7th century BC. Subsequently, the town was captured by the Bottiaeans, a Thracian tribe ejected from Macedon by Alexander I.
Following the Persian defeat at
Olynthus became a Greek polis, but it remained insignificant (in the quota-lists of the
from 454 to 432).In 432 King
After the end of the
In this year Sparta was induced by an embassy from
When the
Though the city was extinguished, through subsequent centuries there would be men scattered through the Hellenistic world who were called Olynthians.
Topography and archaeology
Due to its proximity to the ancient city of Potidaea and the presence of some inscriptions, the British adventurer William Leake reasoned that the site of Olynthus was at the village of Agios Mamas, seven kilometers south of the actual location.[7] This viewpoint was shared by a number of scholars, including Esprit-Marie Cousinéry, but was challenged in the early twentieth century by Adolf Struck and English archaeologist Alan Wace, among others. Wace in particular found no evidence of an ancient settlement at Agios Mamas, Leake had evidently not visited there himself, and that the inscriptions were taken from stones found at Potidaea by local residents. Utilizing descriptions provided by Thucydides and Xenophon, he reasoned that Olynthus must actually lie further north near the village of Myriophyton.[8] In 1915, Wace conducted a preliminary survey of the area in hopes that the British School of Athens might pursue an excavation, but nothing came of it.[9]
On February 17, 1928, David Moore Robinson and a large team of archaeologists and workmen began excavations at Olynthus in collaboration with the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.[10] They found that the ancient city extends over two hills that detach from a small coulee and possess an area ca. 1500 m long and 400 m in width. Robinson conducted three additional excavations in 1931, 1934, and 1938, publishing the results in fourteen volumes.[11] Some of his writing was later found to have been plagiarized from another excavator, Mary Ross Ellingson.[12] The excavation had uncovered more than five hectares of Olynthus and a portion of Mecyberna (the harbor of Olynthus). On the North Hill this hurried pace proved relatively harmless due to the simple stratigraphy of an area of the city occupied only for 84 years and subjected to a sudden, final destruction; but the data from the South Hill was badly muddled. Nonetheless, the work was excellent for its time, and remains supremely valuable. Much of the stratigraphy of the North Hill has been reconstructed by Nicholas Cahill (University of Wisconsin).[13] The site is now in the charge of Julia Vokotopoulou, and the XVI Ephorate of Classical Antiquities.
The Neolithic settlement is located in the edge of the southern hill and was dated in the 3rd millennium BC.[14] The houses were built by stone blocks and had one or two rooms. The pottery that was found was the typical of that period comprising monochrome ceramic vases. The end of this rural settlement was abrupt and is placed around the 1st millennium.
The
The
Both the archaic and classical city were protected by an extended land wall. Parts of the foundations of the wall were revealed in the north hill and elsewhere, but they are not enlightening on which method was followed for their construction. Archaeologists suppose that it was built with
As it concerns the public buildings, the agora is placed in the south edge of the north hill, near the eastern gate, along with a public fountain, an arsenal and the city's parliament building (Βουλευτήριον). There is a small museum featuring artifacts recovered from Olynthus, and the whole archaeological site is open to public tours during daylight hours.
Notable people
- Callisthenes (c. 360-328 BC), historian
- Ephippus (4th century BC), historian
- Euphantus (4th century BC), philosopher
- Sthennis (4th century BC), sculptor
- Stratis, an ancient Greek historian[15]
Modern Olynthos
The modern village, formerly Myriophyton, now called Olynthos or Nea Olynthos, sits on a small plateau on the western side of the river Olynthios or Resetenikia (in ancient times known as Sandanus), across from the ruins of the ancient city.
See also
- List of ancient Greek cities
- Grain grinding wheel
Notes
- ^ Liddell-Scott-Jones s.v. ὄλονθος.
- ^ Borza, E., M. Willoughby, R. Talbert, J. Åhlfeldt, J. Becker, A. Rabinowitz, T. Elliott, DARMC, J. Bartlett, S. Gillies (22 December 2021). "Places: 491678 (Olynthos)". Pleiades. Retrieved September 13, 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ W. Smith. 1854. "Olynthus." Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0064%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DO%3Aentry+group%3D3%3Aentry%3Dolynthus-geo
- ISBN 978-0-203-83057-4.
- ^ Sprawski, Sławomir (2010). "The Early Temenid Kings to Alexander I". In Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (eds.). A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 139.
- ^ "Nicholas Cahill, Philip's Destruction of Olynthus". Archived from the original on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2008-10-28.
- ^ Leake, Martin (1835). Travels in Northern Greece. Vol. III. Gilbert & Rivington. p. 154.
- S2CID 128992107– via JSTOR.
- ISBN 0-691-05549-1
- ^ Robinson, David M. (January–March 1929). "A Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Olynthos". Archaeological Institute of America. 33 (1): 53–76 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Robinson, David M. (December 1952). "OLYNTHUS: — The Greek Pompeii". Archaeological Institute of America. 5 (4): 228–235 – via JSTOR.
- ^ Johns Hopkins University; George Emmanuel Mylonas (1952). Excavations at Olynthus: The Neolithic settlement, by G.E. Mylonas. Johns Hopkins Press.
- ISBN 978-0-300-13300-4.
- ^ The Johns Hopkins University Press -.; Milford, H. -. (1929). Excavations at Olynthus: Part 1; the Neolithic Settlement. Johns Hopkins University Press.
- ^ Suda, Sigma, 1179
References
- public domain: Edward Mewburn Walker (1911). "Olynthus". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Liddell & Scott, Greek-English Lexicon. (1889/1996). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
- George Grote, A History of Greece, London, 1862. 74–108.
- Charles Rollin, Ancient History. (1844) Philadelphia: John B. Perry.
- Nicholas Cahill, Household and City Organization at Olynthus; Olynthus at Perseus
- Raymond Dessy, Exile from Olynthus.
- 1929–1952. David M Robinson; George E Mylonas. Excavations at Olynthus. (Johns Hopkins University studies in archaeology, no. 6, 9, 11–12, 18–20, 25–26, 31–32, 36, 38–39.) 14 v. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. WorldCat
Sources
- Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (2011). A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1444351637.
- The chief passages in ancient literature are the Olynthiac Orations of Demosthenes, and Xenophon, Hell. v. 2.