Late Classical - Hellenistic Fortifications in Epirus : Fourth to Second century BC

This dissertation based on five published papers examines the military architecture of the Late Classical and Hellenistic fortifications of Epirus. The sites are scattered all over ancient Epirus, which in today’s geographical terms consists of the northwestern corner of Greece and the southernmost part of Albania. The work consists of the preface, five papers that were published in volumes of the peer-reviewed publication series Papers and Monographs of the Finnish Institute at Athens, plus three appendices. Four articles were published in the final volumes of the Thesprotia Expedition, an interdisciplinary project carried out between 2004 and 2010 with the aim of writing the diachronic history of the Kokytos River Valley in Thesprotia in the northwestern corner of Greek Epirus. Paper IV is an accepted manuscript that is based on a paper given at the Greek Architecture workshop at the Finnish Institute at Athens in May 2014, which is to be published in the proceedings of the workshop. Papers I and II concentrate on two nearby forts in the Kokytos Valley, These papers explore the fortifications and the building date of the enceintes through field observations and excavation results. Paper III examines the walls of Elea, the main ancient settlement of the same valley, with the aim of dating the construction time of the enceinte. The fourth paper examines the coverings of the gates and posterns of Epirote fortified sites, which consisted of either corbelling or self-supporting true arches. The last paper examines the development of different enfilading methods consisting of right-angled offsets of the wall trace known as indented trace, towers, and large catapult batteries. As the papers were written between 2008 and 2016, some of the information within is outdated and erroneous in light of newer research. Thus, the Preface of the work aims to correct those issues. The first chapter offers an overview of the geography, history and research history, both of Epirus and Greek fortifications. The next chapter outlines the various methods of dating fortification walls, and analyzes their problems and suitability for dating Epirote sites. Chapter 3 presents the different fortification types in Epirus, the component parts of wall circuits, as well as masonry and small details. The aim is to provide an up-to-date framework for dating the Epirote fortifications. In Chapter 4 all the sites discussed in the papers are presented, the information is re-evalued using the above-mentioned framework. Chapter 5 is the Conlusion where all is brought together. Appendix I is the Index of Sites, listing all of the site names and aliases mentioned in the text and Papers I–V. Appendix II is a listing of the fortified sites of Epirus and their UTM coordinates, set in accompanying map sheets with a short compilation of the military architecture of the site. Appendix III is a re-evaluation of the reconstruction drawing of the tower of Agios Donatos thirteen years after the original study.

Grantor dc:publisher

Helsingin yliopisto

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Suha, Mikko

• arkeologia

Statement dc:rights

• Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
• This publication is copyrighted. You may download, display and print it for Your own personal use. Commercial use is prohibited.
• Publikationen är skyddad av upphovsrätten. Den får läsas och skrivas ut för personligt bruk. Användning i kommersiellt syfte är förbjuden.

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10138/335876

OAI record oai:identifier

https://helda.helsinki.fi/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Ahelda.helsinki.fi%3A10138%2F335876