Lefkandi

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Lefkandi on the Lelantine Plain

Lefkandi (also Levkanti , Greek Λευκαντί ( n. Sg. )) Is a village on the Greek island of Evia . It is the coastal town of the small town of Vasiliko , which is about 5 km away and belongs to the municipality of Chalkida , and is located at the mouth of the Lilas River, about 14 km southeast of Chalkida, which is now the largest city on the island. The landscape of Lefkandi lies on the southern edge of the fertile Lelantic plain and on the west coast of the island on the Gulf of Evia . Nowadays the place lives mainly from tourism.

Due to archaeological finds on the hill near the place called Xeropolis ( Greek  Ξερόπολις “dry city”), Lefkandi is of great importance for ancient studies for research into early Greek times. Three necropolises were identified whose graves contain ceramics from the late Mycenaean to the Protogeometric period, suggesting a continuous settlement of the associated place.

There is no ancient name for Lefkandi. It is possibly identical to the mythical Argoura ( Greek Αργούρα ) mentioned by Demosthenes . Regardless of the ancient name, however, it is very likely the mother city of Eretria , the ancient Eretria mentioned by Strabo ( Greek παλαιὰ Ἐρέτρια ).   

archeology

The excavations at Lefkandi by the Antiquities Service Athens together with the British School at Athens began in 1964. Six necropolises were discovered and cuts were made in the area of ​​the Xeropolis. The finds caused a stir early on because they brought important new knowledge about the “ Dark Ages ” and were associated with the Homeric epics . The archaeologists showed a continuous settlement since the 3rd millennium BC. After. In the 16th century BC Lefkandi was a prosperous Mycenaean settlement. After the destruction of the Mycenaean cities around 1200 BC The settlement continued continuously and even experienced an upswing.

The remains of an approximately 50 × 15 m building with the graves contained therein, the so-called Heroon , which was discovered in 1980, occupy a special position in the area of ​​the excavation site . The end of the 10th century BC The house, which was built in BC, had a row of posts in the middle that served as a support for a roof structure. While the eastern narrow side is rectangular in the floor plan, the house closes off with an apse to the west . Post holes running around the building suggest the presence of a canopy. Overall, the floor plan of the building is strongly reminiscent of preforms of Greek temple architecture , such as those found in thermos , for example . The two graves are in the middle of the house. The northern grave contained the bones of four horses. In the southern grave, however, the skeleton of a woman and a bronze urn with the burned remains of a man were found. The grave goods were very rich for the time. Among other things, the woman was given gold jewelry and an iron knife and the man an iron sword with them in the grave. The lack of traces of living indicate that the house was probably only used for the purpose of burying both people. The entire house, which was probably still unfinished, was torn down after the burial and filled into a tumulus . That would point to one of the typical heroa as described in Homer . However, it is not clear whether the house was not also used as a residence or for other purposes, possibly an anaktoron , before the burials . This was followed by a burial ground for the upper social class of the nearby settlement in the 9th century.

Overall, the Lefkandi finds suggest that despite the collapse of the Mycenaean palace culture , economic decline and migration phenomena after 1200 BC, it was There were also places with settlement continuity. There was a break on the Xeropolis only around 1100. The figuratively decorated ceramics, the burial of the dead, which were covered with large pithoi , indicates the immigration of new residents. Towards the end of the 11th century there was another enormous boom, which made the place catch up with the city of Athens. In addition, the discovery of a house of this size, which was atypical for the time, shows that as early as the 10th century BC A strengthening upper class is to be expected, which was also able to accumulate considerable funds for their needs. The finds prove a rich trade relationship with Attica, the Middle East, Cyprus and Egypt, which indicate contacts with the Phoenicians .

Around 825 BC The grave burials stop. Lefkandi was founded around 800 BC. Badly destroyed by fire and decimated in its population. The rapid rise of the former port city of Eretria began practically at the same time . Around 700 BC BC Lefkandi was once more destroyed and finally abandoned. Presumably it was the hostile destruction of the city by Chalkis in the Lelantic War .

Lefkandi and Homer

Peter Blome made the very charming comparison of the archaeological findings of the Heroon of Lefkandi with the cremation of Patroclus described by Homer in several articles. Carla M. Antonaccio followed him in this. Many of the funeral rites described by Homer cannot be captured archaeologically, at most iconographically , but this has not yet been possible for this early period. Peter Blome sees the ekphora by the four horses inhumierten confirmed two of them were still holding the iron bridle in his mouth. You should have pulled the hearse. In the Patroclus burial described by Homer, the four horses are also burned. In Homer only cremation is documented as a type of burial, in Lefkandi there is also inhumation . The grave goods were not burned as described by Homer. From this it was concluded that one no longer understood the meaning of the funeral rites. A widow's death was also considered at the women's burial, but this is due to insufficient excavation findings and is therefore doubtful. The crater found near the grave could point to the extinguishing of the fire with wine ( Iliad 23, 250; 24, 791) , but this is also very vague. The bronze amphora of the cremation of the 30 to 45 year old man finds its clear parallel in Patroclus' golden phiale (Iliad 23, 243, 253), Hector's golden larnax (Iliad 24, 795) and Achill's golden amphora ( Odyssey 24, 74). The amphora from Lefkandi is said to have been a Cypriot work that was 100 to 200 years old, so it was of great value. During the cremation in Lefkandi, the corpse was wrapped in a cloth, which in turn has its parallel in Homer's description of the cremation of the hectare (Iliad 24, 796). The tumulus (burial mound) also corresponds to Homeric custom.

literature

  • Mervyn R. Popham, L. Hugh Sackett, Petros G. Themelis: Lefkandi I. The Iron Age. Thames and Hudson, London 1979, 1993, ISBN 0-500960-14-3 .
  • Mervyn R. Popham, Peter G. Calligas, L. Hugh Sackett: Lefkandi II. The Protogeometric Building at Toumba. Part 1: The pottery. Thames and Hudson, London 1990, ISBN 0-904887-09-X . Part 2: The Excavation, Architecture and Finds. Thames and Hudson, London 1993, ISBN 0-904887-11-1
  • Alexander Mazarakis Ainian : From Rulers' Dwellings to Temples - Architecture, Religion and Society in Early Iron Age Greece (1100–700 BC). Paul Åström Förlag, Jonsered 1997.
  • Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe (ed.): Time of Heroes - The "dark centuries" of Greece 1200–700 BC Chr. Catalog of the exhibition at the Baden State Museum in Karlsruhe, October 25, 2008-15. February 2009. Primus, Darmstadt 2008, ISBN 978-3-89678-389-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Denis Knoepfler: Argoura. Un toponymous eubéen dans la Midienne de Demosthène. In: Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 105, 1981, pp. 289-329 ( online ). In contrast, however, Claude Bérard: Argoura fut-elle la "capitale" des futurs Érétiens? In: Museum Helveticum 42, 1985, pp. 268–275 ( doi : 10.5169 / seals-32633 ).
  2. ↑ Strabo X 1.10.
  3. ↑ Popham, Sackett 1980, pp. 363-365.
  4. ↑ Popham, Sackett 1980, pp. 367-368.
  5. ↑ Peter Blome: Lefkandi and Homer. In: Würzburger Yearbooks for Classical Studies NF 10, 1984, pp. 9–21. Ders .: The dark centuries - brightened up. In: Joachim Latacz (Ed.): 200 years of Homer research. Retrospect and Prospect. Stuttgart / Leipzig 1991, ISBN 3-519-07412-5 , pp. 45-60.
  6. ^ Carla M. Antonaccio: Lefkandi and Homer. In: Homer's world. Fiction, tradition, reality. Bergen 1995, ISBN 82-991411-9-2 , pp. 5-27.
  7. ^ Uni Frankfurt ( Memento from June 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive )

Coordinates: 38 ° 24 ′ 45 "  N , 23 ° 40 ′ 31"  E