Our first weekend trip brought us north to Thermopylae, Dimini, Demetrias, and Lamia, all sites we visited from our home base in Volos.
Thermopylae, named for the hot springs in the area, is the site of a narrow pass that facilitated land passage between north and central/southern Greece. This pass had strategic significance for military movement, providing a wide, flat passage that large forces could pass through, and was the site chosen by the Greeks (led by King Leonidas of Sparta) for their battle against the Persians (led by Xerxes) in 480 BC given its defensibility. The historian Herodotus dramatically describes the battle, noting the bravery of the grossly outnumbered Greeks (modern historians estimate 100,000 to 6 or 7,000), who he writes proved that “human beings are many but men are few” (Histories, 7.210). While they already had many thousands more troops than the Greeks, the Persians also gained access to another pass, Anopaea, which gave them further advantage, and on top of this, some of the Greek troops – the Phocians – retreated.
We also discussed the dramatic change in coastline at Thermopylae since antiquity – a motif that reappeared at multiple sites throughout the weekend – brought about by the Spercheios river pumping silt into the sea and pushing the coastline further out. While today, the coastline is several kilometers from the Phocian wall (constructed near where the battle took place), at the time of the battle the coastline would have been no more than a couple hundred meters from the wall.
At Dimini, a late Neolithic and Bronze Age site, the shoreline would have been one kilometer closer to the settlement, making this a much more coastal area than it is today. There was a public-facing structure with a main hall (called the Megaron), and the economic structure consisted of animal husbandry, agriculture, fishing and maritime trade. Archaeologists also found spondylus shells, which were used to make jewelry. Here we discussed what Alex described as proto social complexity and developing hierarchies, shown through distinct household groups – evidenced by individual hearths and the lack of one central storage space – and the controlled access created through the concentric circles that composed the site. We also talked about the potential significance of this layout in terms of reconsidering the “traditional picture” of the Greek Neolithic (7000 – 3400 BC) as a period of peaceful coexistence: why would this settlement have this kind of access hierarchy built into it if the inhabitants were not concerned about some kind of threat? In their case study, Warfare in Neolithic Thessaly, Runnels et al. outline potential threats as competition for resources including water, grazing rights and arable land (Hesperia 78).
Evidence for developing hierarchies continued into the Late Bronze Age, when the Tholos tomb was constructed. This monument in the landscape consisted of a dromos (entryway) and thalamos (chamber) built by stacking slightly overhanging slabs of stone on top of each other from a circular base until a dome formed and a keystone was placed at the top. The construction of this tomb would have required an organized team of laborers to cut and transport the several-ton blocks, demonstrating an investment in people power, and the funeral performances associated with the tomb would have served as expressions of the power of the family.
Beyond these and the many other site visits this weekend, we also drove up into the mountain town of Portaria on Saturday and enjoyed stunning views, fresh spring water from fountains throughout the town, and many puppies and cats!
