This past summer I spent two weeks in Greece with Ellie Simon and Eila Planinc under the guidance of Professor Jake Morton. Our research focused on the Athamanians, a Greek ethnic group that lived in the Pindus Mountains from 375 to 170 BC. Despite being a rural and fairly isolated group, the Athamanians rose to prominence thanks to their intimate knowledge of the mountain passes in which they resided, a knowledge that became invaluable as larger imperial powers such as Macedonia and Rome found themselves in need of guidance when crossing the Pindus. Generals and Kings offered military alliances and rewards in exchange for Athamanian protection as they traversed the mountains. Our primary goal was to better understand these people, the limits of their territory, their history, and their role in greater military conflicts of the period. Each student also focused on an individual question. I chose to examine the role of Amynander, an Athamanian King mentioned frequently in the surviving literature.
We began preparing for our project in the spring by studying the basics of Modern Greek and reading primary and secondary sources discussing Athamania. This provided each of us with the background knowledge we needed to hit the ground running when we arrived in Greece. This prep work certainly paid off, as our days in the Pindus were packed full of driving, hiking, and exploring, with little time for extra reading. Most of our days were spent driving the winding and beautiful roads of the Pindus. Traversing these mountains is a lengthy journey, even via car in the 21st century, and we had many sites to visit spread across the vast mountain range. These long stretches of road provided ample opportunity to soak up the views of the mountains and consider the terrain in the context of our various research questions. We not only visited archaeological sites, but also local museums which housed artifacts from the digs in the area. Our other main activity was hiking. I use the word “hiking” loosely, as to reach these rarely visited archaeological sites we had to bushwhack, scale large rocks, and army crawl through brambles. Sometimes we were quite successful, finding walls and the remains of towers. Other times our efforts were fruitless, and all we found at the end of our journey were scattered roof tiles and mountain views. Nonetheless these trips were still insightful, allowing us to see the visibility from what were likely once Athamanian fortresses and consider the implications for Athamanian military strategy, neighborly relations, and limits of their territory.
After an intense two weeks, we returned home to upload our notes and photos, continue researching our individual projects, and reflect on all that we learned. I learned and thought a lot about the Athamanians as a whole and the military strategies of King Amynander, but I also learned a lot about modern Greece. This was my first time visiting the country and I was blown away by the beauty of the terrain and the rural mountain villages. I also learned a lot about how to effectively read maps and new ways to consider terrain and visibility in the context of ancient military strategy. Finally, I learned that Greek food is AMAZING! I look forward to hopefully visiting Greece again one day and to continuing my work on Amynander and the Athamanians.