Nikos Tsivikis
@ntsivikis
Late Antique and Byzantine Archaeology from outer space - Amorium and Messene excavation - Researcher at the National Hellenic Research Foundation
The clay tablet has been published with great care and detail in: Summa, D., Hallof, K., Kolia, E.-I. and Lang, F. (2022) “Homerverse auf einem Tonziegel aus der Umgebung von Olympia”, Archäologischer Anzeiger, 2, pp. 1–43 publications.dainst.org/journals/aa/...
The text is remarkable as it describes the visit of Odysseus at the pigsty of the the loyal swineherd Eumaeus during his return to Ithaca. Maybe it was created for a proud local landowner, appreciating the Homeric description of a rural estate and related it to their own Eumaeus.
Nolan's Odyssey is trending, so I look to the most remarkable Odyssey connected recent archaeological find: a Roman clay brick found in 2018 at the necropolis of ancient Olympia (Peloponnese) dating around 200 CE, its surface inscribed with the first 13 verses of Odyssey Book (Rapsody) 14!
"Διομήδης χρηστιανός" was carved above the grave of a Roman Messenian at a time when most of his fellow citizens still worshipped the old gods. Diomedes, who likely died in the late 3rd CE, was decided to boldly declare his identity on the family funerary monument among a pagan cemetery. #Messene
An unexpected discovery: a match box from Spain from the 1960s or 1970s portraying a #Byzantine Dromon, as part of a series on historical ships...
Back to Earth! So, Musk's "America Party" draws inspiration from Epaminondas & the Battle of Leuctra. Meanwhile, we're literally excavating the legacy of that era at #Messene! ✨ Our archaeological team revealing the great city Epaminondas founded.
Living the Dr. Strangelove times! The absurdity of bombing randomly explained. A masterpiece by Stanley Kubrick, brought to life by Peter Sellers.
El sueño de la razon produce monstruos (The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters / Ο ύπνος της λογικής δημιουργεί τέρατα). Francisco Goya, 1799
Early medievalists and Calvino's "Invisible Cities" a never-ending postmodern embrace. Now for Spain and North Africa "¿Ciudades invisibles? Paisajes urbanos de la Antigüedad tardía (siglos III-VIII)" www.casadevelazquez.org/es/publicaci...
Amorium is on the move! Bringing our latest insights from #Byzantine Central Asia Minor to Spain! 🇪🇸✈️ Next week at the "Suburban Landscapes, Material Contexts, and Productivity: The Mediterranean in the postclassical period (4th-8th c.)" conference organised by the University of Alcalá and @csic.es
Off to Mainz and @leizarchaeology.bsky.social for an exciting conference on Byzantine Early Medieval #Anatolia 600-900 CE presenting a paper entitled: "Towards an Archaeology of Crisis: #Amorium and the Anatolian Plateau between the 7th and 9th Century"
Wine-making in 8th/9th century Byzantine Amorium as conceived by Gemini AI.
Early Christian views of the city. Bethlehem and Jerusalem in the mosaics of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. Both Roman and Byzantine...
Si fueris Romae... (When in Rome...) #Messene is travelling to Rome this Friday 4.4.25 as I will be presenting new evidence on the Early Christian & #Byzantine archaeology of Messene at the Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana. All Roman friends are welcome to join!
Want to see some 8th-9th c. #Byzantine sarcophagi from Asia Minor connected with Iconoclasm (probably)... Don't miss the online conference 'Funerary Archaeology of Byzantine Constantinople', 16-17.01
Continuing on Anglo-Saxons who served in the #Byzantine Army from the article @helengittos.bsky.social in EHR, stuck on the imported to England Byz bronze flagons, like the one from Prittlewell, set against Byz finds from our projects like: Eleutherna (Crete) or Amorium (Asia Minor) (ours are 8th c)
Karagkiozis shadow puppet theater (καραγκιόζης/ karagöz) remains for me, even in my late 40s, one of the funniest shows.
Our excavation at #Amorium continues even in the difficult Anatolian winter. A Beylik or Early Ottoman (13th-15th c.) era bath is being currently unearthed with characteristic hypocausts even in this late date. www.aa.com.tr/tr/kultur/am...
The audience hall of a 4th century domus (civic mansion) in the city of #Messene in SW Peloponnese. A Late Antique seat of local power decorated with opus sectile and mosaic floors and a collection of older statues that were portrayed along its back wall.
Byzantine Early Medieval sarcophagi are not very well known but there seems to be a pattern of 7th and 8th century marble sarcs with vaulted lids in far away places like Amorium in Asia Minor and Ravenna in the Adriatic just missing the connecting link, that probably was Constantinople.
Right on spot on the obverse. Here it is with a fine patriarchal cross and a bit too much of floral decoration:
Presenting tomorrow 27.11.2024 on Closed Byzantine Pottery Assemblages of the 9th century from our Large Building trench in Amorium. At the "Complex Realities: Medieval Pottery Contexts in Eastern Mediterranean" International Workshop in Athens organised by @oeai.bsky.social. Join us if around!
That is a great map. Unfortunately, this one is unpublished, but maybe I should make a reference to it ASAP. But I see in your map you have the other one from Messene, that of a tourmarch of Kephalenia. Well done!
A token of medieval bureaucracy. A #Byzantine prob. 10th century lead seal from our excavation at Messene mentioning an important state administrator by the name of Moschonas
Off to Kalamata for the 4th Archaeological Work in the #Peloponnese International Meeting, and for a full session dedicated to our excavation at ancient #Messene in honor of late Petros Themelis. Check my paper on Early and Middle #Byzantine baths of the city and the change in its urban fabric.
#Byzantine #EpigraphyTuesday Ever wondered about Late Antique monasticism in South Greece. This 6th century Greek inscription from Argos mentioning a monastery (monadion/μονάδιον) is one of the very few material culture evidence we have from the entire Peloponnese before the middle ages.
Hi, everybody! I am looking for a better picture of this piece from Uşak Museum in central-west Anatolia. I had some done in film 21 years ago, but I cannot find it. Do you happen to have been there recently?
Ok, let's do something original for Bsky! In our excavation at #Messene (SW Peloponnese) we've excavated an amazing Roman mosaic in an open-air public space depicting a mysterious scene with a female person Messenia and two ass-drivers named as Attikos and Zosimos. [1/2]