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Fieldwork on aerial discoveries in Attica and Rhodes. Part II. Ancient field systems on Mt. Hymettos, near Athens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 November 2011

John Bradford
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Extract

The scene of my inquiries in Attica in 1955 was the coastal plain south of Athens, on the very doorstep of the city. The background was formed by the magnificent profile of Hymettos, with its long, impressive, but not forbidding skyline. The bare rounded mountain sides are steep but towards the foot they give place to gentler slopes composed of soil washed down from above; and even the narrow plain itself is tilted towards the sea. The soil of this zone is notably rich, terra rossa and rendzina—some of the best soil near Athens. The importance of this fact would have been as obvious to ancient farmers as it is to those who today are restoring large-scale cultivation to the zone.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 36 , Issue 3-4 , October 1956 , pp. 172 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1956

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References

page 172 note 1 See Soil Map of Attica, 1: 100,000, by I.A. Zvorykin and P.J. Saul, 1948.

page 173 note 1 These are talus slopes with a fair depth of soil—a piedmont belt of fans below the scarp face of Mt. Hymettos.

page 173 note 2 Strabo, Bk. IX, i, 21

page 173 note 3 This supersedes the earlier and conflicting hypotheses of Milchhoefer, &c. Mr. Eliot's advice on the situation of the demes has been most helpful, and it is hoped that his conclusions will be published in full. Grateful acknowledgement is also made to the British School of Archaeology at Athens, and to Professor Homer Thompson, for assistance in my work.

page 173 note 4 See Hondius, , Annual of the British School at Athens, 1919–1921, pp. 151–60, ‘A new inscription of the deme Halimous’ (found when the present coastal road from Phaleron to Vouliagmene was being built—which is as recently as 1921).Google Scholar

page 173 note 5 The presence of a number of Mycenaean graves points to an early settlement of this spot, while other remains testify that occupation lasted into late Roman and early Byzantine times. The problem about the theatral decrees related to Aixone has now been solved: they were reported as found ‘in vico Trachones’. But this was misleading, for in the nineteenth century the whole of the district from Tráchones to Vari belonged to the single Tráchones estate. The term has no topographical precision.

page 173 note 6 Mr. Eliot reports a large Classical village at the spot called Palaiochori (see map in Polemon, 1929, fig. 55). There are numerous remains of houses and the surface pottery ranges from sixth century B.C. to Roman. The site is situated just north of a convenient little bay which has, or had, salt pans—thus agreeing well with the designation ‘Halai’ Aixonides.

page 174 note 1 Cf. an earlier study by Guiraud, P., La propriété foncière en Grèce usqu'à la conquête romaine, 1893, esp. pp. 181 seq. and 458 seq.Google Scholar

page 174 note 2 The Pirnari valley is the long valley cutting into Hymettos north-east of Glyphada.

page 175 note 1 Supplementary to its anti-erosion rô1e, terracing in Mediterranean lands also serves another basic function—i.e. to assist the natural conservation of water by slowing-down the run-off of rain water, so giving it time to sink into the soil.

page 175 note 2 On the plain the surplus stones are chiefly gathered into mounds. Many of them have been termed tumuli, but there is considerable difference of opinion about the origin and use of such stone mounds (Antiquity, 1954, p. 207).

page 175 note 3 These substantial earthworks would also make good ‘shadow sites’, for oblique air photos taken in a slanting light.

page 177 note 1 ‘Studies in South Attica; the Salaminioi at Porthmos’, Hesperia, x 1941, pp. 163–91.Google Scholar

page 178 note 1 An air view showing the remains of these fields and the ancient road can be studied in my book Ancient Landscapes. This photograph is a valuable record, for this sector of the road, which was one of the best along its whole course, has since been largely covered with new houses.

page 178 note 2 Dodwell described this part of the plain as being ‘covered with bushes’. Tours through Greece in 1801 and 1805–1806, i, 556.Google Scholar

page 178 note 3 Aixone was a relatively large and important deme. The Karten von Attika recorded extensive traces of buildings for a distance of over 1,200 yds. But it seems probable that the village in Classical times stood a little distance from the sea (like other Attic coastal demes in this period) and lay near the ancient main road—only spreading down to the coast in late Hellenistic and Roman times.

page 179 note 1 Compare remains of ancient terracing, which continue in use, Exploration Archiologique de Delos, Fasc. IV, i, fig.58.

page 180 note 1 For example, cf. I.G. ii, 2; 2492 (Editio Minor). This refers to a forty years' lease of land in the area of Aixone, but it cannot be related to any definite position. From the terms of the inscription it is clear that this land would support vines, olives, and corn. I am grateful to Professor A. Andrewes for help in studying this inscription.