Archaeology @ Copenhagen U. Thinking about Greek Islands, Ancient Prisons, & Digital Humanities. Bouncing between 🇬🇷 🇩🇰 🇬🇧
Mar 4 • 8 tweets • 4 min read
The Colossus of Apollonas, Naxos 1835 & today 🗿🇬🇷
After 189 years, one thing is for certain: this statue is still BIG!
But who does this enormous sculpture depict, when was it made, where was it meant to go, & why was it abandoned in the quarry?
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The Colossus of Apollonas is the largest marble sculpture from the ancient Greek world, measuring over 11.5 meters tall!
Carved out of a single block of stone, it was abandoned and left in the quarry atop this hill on the north coast of Naxos, in the Greek Cyclades.
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Jul 10, 2022 • 12 tweets • 6 min read
A visit to the Greek island of Melos means beautiful beaches, picturesque villages, & some of the most amazing #archaeology in the Cyclades!
This sea-battered rock is Phylakopi, one of the most important Bronze Age sites in #Greece, let’s explore why!
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Located on Melos’s rugged north coast, Phylakopi was occupied from the Early Bronze Age (2300 BCE) until the collapse of the Bronze Age 1200 years later.
Throughout, it was an important site of trade, connecting mainland Greece with Crete & the rest of the Cyclades!
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Jul 12, 2021 • 13 tweets • 7 min read
Tucked away in a church on the Greek island of Syros is this amazing little icon, painted by a 20-year-old El Greco! 🇬🇷🏝️
It may look traditional, but there's much more to this icon than meets the eye. Let's take a closer look in this #THREAD!
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#greece#art2/ The painting was hiding in plain sight until 1983, when an archaeologist from Chios spotted a faint signature on a badly damaged icon!
Christ & the Virgin were covered in worked silver & years of smoke, varnish, scented oils, & plenty of repainting had left it barely legible!
Jul 5, 2021 • 12 tweets • 6 min read
The Greek island of Sifnos is famous for its silver mines & beautiful beaches, but it's also home to one of the most important Mycenaean settlements in the Cyclades!
Let's visit Agios Andreas, the most interesting site you've never heard of!
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#Greece#Archaeology#Sifnos2/ Founded in the 12th c. BCE, Agios Andreas is a large, heavily fortified settlement with a dense urban plan.
Perched on a hilltop high above Apollonia–the modern capital of Sifnos–it offers spectacular views of the entire east side of the island, & the neighboring islands!
Jun 28, 2021 • 13 tweets • 7 min read
What was life like on a Cycladic island over 2,500 years ago?
Take a digital tour through Vryokastro, the ancient capital city of the island of Kythnos, with the archaeologists who know it best!
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#greece#archaeology#cyclades#travel2/ We met up with Alexandros Mazarakis Ainian & his team from @uth_gr who have been excavating the ancient city of Kythnos since 2002.
Combining survey, excavation, & underwater archaeology, they’re doing some of the most interesting work on the Greek islands today!
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Jun 26, 2021 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
After two weeks of exploring Kythnos, I’ve become very fond of this little island in the middle of the Aegean!
From beautiful beaches to friendly villages, Kythnos has a lot to offer. Let’s explore its history with a #thread of some amazing sites!
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#greece#archaeology2/ The history of Kythnos begins on this little promontory, over 10,000 years ago!
Excavations here at Maroulas have revealed one of the only Mesolithic settlements in the Aegean, some of the earliest human activity in the whole region!
Jun 22, 2021 • 13 tweets • 7 min read
What is the #archaeology like on all these tiny islands in the Aegean?
Follow this #THREAD to join us on the Small Cycladic Islands Project. We’re visiting a brand new island today & I can’t wait to see what awaits us!
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#greece 🇬🇷 #SCIP2021#island2/ Today, we’re boating out of Panagia Kanala on Kythnos to visit the island of Piperi, 9km to the southeast.
From afar, the Piperi seems like a steep rock sticking out of the sea, w/ little vegetation, water, or evidence of human activity. I’m sure we’ll find something, though!
Apr 7, 2021 • 9 tweets • 6 min read
For 2,300 years, aqueducts have carried fresh running water to the city of Rome. You know these marvels of Roman engineering as long arched bridges or underground tunnels, but what are they like on the inside?
Let’s climb into the Aqua Traiana! 🇮🇹🏛⛲️
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#rome#Archaeology2/9 Unlike the other aqueducts in Rome, the Aqua Traiana begins at the volcanic Lago Bracciano to the city’s northwest.
Commissioned by the emperor Trajan, the 33km aqueduct began delivering water to Rome in 109 CE, an event that was commemorated on one of Trajan’s coins!
Mar 31, 2021 • 17 tweets • 12 min read
In many ways, the outskirts of Rome are more spectacular than the ancient city itself.
From 2,000 year old roads to towering aqueducts, follow this thread to join 4 archaeologists on a long-overdue walk along the beautiful Via Appia!
#rome#archaeology#ClassicsTwitter#italy
The Via Appia Antica, or Appian Way, is one of the earliest examples of a Roman highway. Beginning in the Roman Forum, it runs southeast all the way to the southern Italian city of Brindisi on the Adriatic Coast!
But we’re starting our walk much closer to home!
Mar 17, 2021 • 16 tweets • 19 min read
Today marks twelve months of on-again, off-again lockdown in Athens.
Want to know what this crazy year has been like in Greece from an archaeologist’s perspective? Check out this 12(ish) tweet #thread!
We had only covered one half of the island when we had to pulled plug and hoped on the next ferry back to Athens...
Mar 12, 2021 • 13 tweets • 7 min read
Statues break...a lot.
We’re all familiar with Ancient Greek sculpture missing arms, legs, or heads. But why do these busts look like they’ve been battered, broken, & burned? Let’s explore some peculiar Hellenistic sculpture from Kalydon in this #THREAD!
#greece#archaeology2/ You may know about Kalydon from its mythological boar hunt. Before the Trojan War, Artemis sent a legendary boar to ravage the Aetolian countryside. The local hero Meleager was joined by some of the most famous heroes in Greece, and the huntress Atalanta struck the first blow!
Feb 3, 2021 • 17 tweets • 10 min read
The Torlonia Marbles are on display for the first time in 50 yrs & yesterday I had the chance to see them!
A masterpiece collection with an incredible history, read on for a #THREAD on the exhibition, the collection, & some of my favorites!
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2/17 What’s all the fuss about? When Alessandro Torlonia dissolved the Museo Torlonia in 1976, one of the most famous collections of ancient sculpture disappeared from public view.
Now, 92 of the 620(!) sculptures from the collection are on display at the Museo Capitolini!
Jun 14, 2020 • 12 tweets • 9 min read
Music accompanied nearly all aspects of Ancient Greek life: religion, funerals, the harvest, military marches & of course poetry! Today’s #MuseumsUnlocked#thread highlights archaeological evidence for Greek #music & an excellent regional museum!
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The study of Ancient Greek music is a large field on its own, with scholars focusing on everything from musical theory to notation and everything in between!
Songs are preserved in texts and inscriptions like these from Sounion, Vrasna, & Volos, each with its own notation style!
Jun 8, 2020 • 9 tweets • 6 min read
If you’ve ever visited #Amman, you’ve definitely caught a glimpse of the colossal Temple of ‘Hercules’ standing tall on ancient acropolis. The architecture is amazing, but who was the temple actually for & was it ever finished?
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The Amman citadel is an amazing site & I hope this thread inspires some visits! Occupied since the Neolithic period, the citadel is marked in some way by every phase of Jordan’s history.
It’s also home to an amazing archaeological museum, featuring an even wider range of finds!
May 19, 2020 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
After two long months, Greek archaeological sites are officially reopening! The only way to celebrate is a visit to the Acropolis of #Athens, but things aren’t quite the same. Here’s a tour of the *empty* Acropolis!
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Usually packed with endless trains of your groups, the Propylaea was as quiet as a mouse! New barriers have been installed to reduce contact, but everything else looks endlessly familiar!
May 10, 2020 • 12 tweets • 11 min read
Sudan is an amazing place & today’s #MuseumsUnlocked is a wonderful celebration of its museums & archaeological sites! Here are my favorites from the National Museum, updates on our current @brownarchaeolog excavations at Uronarti & more!
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The National Museum of Sudan is an absolute treasure & one of my favorite museums on the planet. Established in 1971, the museum sits on the south bank of the Blue Nile & houses an amazing diachronic collection of Sudanese archaeology
May 8, 2020 • 10 tweets • 7 min read
If you know Plaka, you know the Lysikrates monument! Known as a wonderful example of Late Classical ingenuity, the afterlife of this monument is *far* more interesting! Here’s a thread on sculpture that’s seen a lot!
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The Lysicrates Monument was one of many dedications along the so-called Street of the Tripods, which connected the Theater of Dionysus (here in a great 1913 photo) with the Agora. These dedications were made by choregoi, wealthy Athenians who financed theatrical & choral events
Mar 28, 2020 • 8 tweets • 5 min read
If you like volcanoes, beaches, Mycenaeans, & Ptolemies, Methana is for you. In October, a handful of us from the @ASCSAthens took a trip where we hiked from site to site, learned a little, & swam a lot. Here’s a thread in the hopes that we get back soon!
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The volcanic peninsula of Methana projects into the Saronic Gulf from the Argolid & is the site of one of my favorite landscape studies in Greece. The directors of the Methana Survey nailed it in titling their book “A Rough & Rocky Place,” but don’t get the idea that it’s all bad