Chios: A Conference at the Homereion in Chios, 1984

389 Pages·1986·22.623 MB·English

by  John Boardman, C. E. Vaphopoulou-Richardson

CHIOS
A CONFERENCE AT
THE HOMEREION IN CHIOS
1984

CCIHIIlOS
A CONFERENCE AT
THE HOMEREION IN CHIOS
1984
EDITED BY
JOHN BOARDMAN
AND
C. E. VAPHOPOULOU-RICHARDSON
CLARENDON PRESS . OXFORD
1986
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British Library Cataloguing in Publicalion Data
Chios: a conf,rmce al the Homereioni n Chios 1!)84.
1. Chios Island ( Gmcr)
I. Boardman, John II. Vaphopoulou-RichardsonC, . E.
9J!/.13 DF901.K55
ISBN <>-i_q-814864-X
Libra~,·o f CongressC atalogin.tfi n Publication Data
Main entry under titlt.
Chios: a cu,ifrrtnct at lht Homertion in Chios, 1_</IJ.
lncludts index.
1. Chios Island (Cruce )-Anliquitin-rnngrenes.
2. Chios Island (Cruce )-Hislo~v--Con,f!,resm. 3. Gmk
liltralurr--Gruce-Chios lsland-HiJ/ory a11d
criticism-Con,[frtS.ffS.4 . Homtr-critici.rm and
interprtlation-Cm1grnus. 5. Art-Grurr--
C:hio.l,·s land-Congrr.uts. 6. Greue--Anliquitin -
CongrtSJts.I . Boardman, John, 1927-·
II. Vaphopoulou-Richardson,C . E.
DF261. C44C45 1g86 938 85-216o4
ISBN <>-1.g-814864-X
Printrd in Great Britain
at thr Aldtn Prm. O.iford
FOREWORD
IN many Parliamentary assemblies it is customary for the first meeting after a general
election to be presided over by the oldest member, the doyend 'dge. This graceful practice
was no doubt uppermost in the mind of the editors of the proceedings of the Conference
on Chios when they proposed that the preface should be contributed by someone whose
archaeological connections with the island go back to 1938. I am most grateful to them
for this privilege.
To be invited to write on the subject of Chios is more than a privilege. It becomes a
pleasure, not only because it is one of the most beautiful ofislands but because of its great
significance to history, art, and literature. Nothing can equal the splendour of its debut
on the world stage as the birthplace of Homer, the first and still the greatest of European
poets-for in a preface it is permissible to take one's private opinions for a run. I am glad
that the deep-seated Chian tradition has been reinforced by the authority of Professor
Wade-Gery, whose pupil I was at Oxford, and that it is benevolently regarded by a fair
number of modern scholars.
The papers devoted to Homer at the conference are witness to the continued interest
in 'the blind man ofChios'; in one of them Professor Rhomaios traces back the origins of
the local stories about him to a respectable antiquity. If you go to Volissos even now you
will be told that he lived there and at Vrontados his name has for many centuries been
continuously though erroneously associated with an open-air Archaic sanctuary. The
conference itself met in the splendid modern institute, the pride of the town of Chora,
whose name is the Homereion.
Two other writers, who would be sufficient to establish the fame of some other island
less favoured by the Muses, are duly honoured in these proceedings: Ion and
Theopompus. Ion probably regarded himself as fortunate to live in what he did not
know was the fifth century Be; but for the sake of his fame with posterity he was unlucky
in finding himself a contemporary of Sophocles and Euripides. The Alexandrians
relegated him to the second eleven of Attic dramatists and the Byzantines decided not to
preserve him. In the ingeniously eloquent paper by Sir Kenneth Dover printed here he is
at least rehabilitated as a philosopher and credited with inspiring the form of the
Platonic dialogue. Theopompus is a much less attractive character and the best that
could be said of him was that he was as readable as a good journalist.
In the visual arts Chios can claim some delicate ceramics, a pair of sculptors in the
Archaic period, and an outstanding Classical gem-carver. I am sorry-if I may be
permitted to give one further short run to a personal opinion-that no effort was made to
claim the four horses of St Mark's in Venice for Chian art. The only written evidence
from Constantinople, before the Venetians looted them, states categorically that they
were brought from Chios by Theodosius II. This unique provenance is unlikely to have
been invented.
The history ofChios, with the notable exception of the massacres of 1822, appears to
be one of almost unparalleled prosperity. The causes of this may be sought not only in the
fertility of the island but in the spirited intelligence and industriousness ofits inhabitants.
vi Foreword
By the end of the sixth century BC, as Professor Carl Roebuck makes clear in his paper,
they had formed a wealthy and populous community whose citizens were skilled in
seafaring and commerce, politically stable, and courageous in war. It is a character
which they have maintained for two and a half millennia. The Chians have always been
moderate in their politics and avoided extremes. They have also shown themselves
adaptable in difficult circumstances. Under the Ottomans, for instance, no other
Christian community was so favoured, partly because of their monopoly of the mastic
which was in great demand in the Seraglio. In the Greece of today they enjoy an almost
Aberdonian reputation for cautious sobriety and for commercial talents. In Britain they,
and the people from the adjoining Oenussae islands, are particularly prominent among
the shipping community, for their seafaring skill has stayed with them and flourished
down the centuries. The Chian community in London, which was first established
shortly after the massacres of 1822 and in part as a result of them, has retained a strong
attachment to the island home of its ancestors. Many benefactions attest their patriotic
munificence.
The connection of the British School with Chios began with Winifred Lamb's
excavations at Kato Phana in 1934. In 1938 Edith Eccles excavated the Neolithic cave
under the church at Ayio Gala; in the same year I spent five months in the island from
March to July making a preliminary survey of sites that the School might consider
excavating. Because of the Second World War that was not possible until 1951-5, when
Sinclair Hood and John Boardman carried out a series of excavations at Emporio in the
south-east of the island. These uncovered an Early Bronze Age fortified settlement, an
archaic town and sanctuary, and a late Roman basilica and fortress. The results are of
the greatest importance, in particular because they illuminate an extremely obscure
period of Ionian history. They have contributed both to the cultural heritage ofChios
and to the reputation of the British School. It should be recorded that all these activities
from 1938 onwards were subsidized by Dr Philip Argenti, a member of the London
Chian community, whose other benefactions include the Argenti Museum in Chora and
the publication of many scholarly works on the history of the island.
My final privilege and duty is to explain the circumstances of the conference and to
express the gratitude which the participants feel towards the organizers. It took place in
the Homereion Cultural Centre. This is a magnificent building in the central square of
Chora, the capital of the island. It is built of marble in a fluent modern style well adapted
to its site, with a conference room equipped for simultaneous translation as well as a
theatre, a library, and exhibition galleries. The whole institution was a gift to the people
of Chios made by Michael X ylas ( 1900-82), a leading Chian shipowner. His widow,
Stamatia Xylas, has continued to carry on her husband's work. She has been assisted in
it by her daughter and son-in-law, Matrona and Nicholas Egon; the participants had
reason to be grateful to them for their tireless attention to the details of organization and
for the entertainment provided. They are also indebted to John Boardman, the
Chairman, to Jenny Richardson, the Secretary, and to Vasilios Lambrinoudakis, who
was in charge of the arrangements made in Athens.
Besides the generous hospitality of the Xylas family there was the pleasure of being in
Chios in the month of April, when the wild tulips are in flower under the olive-trees. I
have called Chios one of the most beautiful of islands, but I ask myself whether my
memories of forty-seven years ago may not perhaps be illuminated by a light that derives
Forewordv ii
most of its intensity from the passage of time. So let me finish with a quotation from the
diaries of a young Irishman, the Earl of Charlemont, who visited Chios in 1759; they
were not printed till 1984 after lying two centuries in manuscript:
I cannot quit this island without indulging myself with a few words respecting its incomparable
beauty. The centre of it is wholly occupied with a very high mountain, the roots of which are
partly cultivated with corn, cotton, mulberries and vineyards, and partly covered with wood,
above which the summits rise in the most romantic terms, consisting of nothing but bare rocks,
and mixing their massy tops with the incumbent clouds. From its foot to the seashore is an
inclined plain, thick planted with the most luxuriant orange, lemon and citron groves,
interspersed with numberless country houses, built of hewn stone, neat, elegant and designed
with taste. Nothing indeed could be more enchanting than our prospect at leaving this island.
The sun shone bright. The mountain was illuminated. The orange groves and villas, for the space
of thirteen miles on either side of the city, appeared as one continued village interspread with the
most beautiful gardens, contrasting the wood and the rocky mountain which rise behind them,
and form the most inimitable background.
SIR DAVID HUNT

EDITORIAL PREF ACE
THE articles printed here have been lightly adapted and supplied with footnotes by their
authors from the papers delivered at the Conference in Chios in April 1984. The editors
have translated papers in Greek, French, and German, that by Dr Kyrieleis being based
on translations supplied by Nano Hagg-Marinatou and Berit Wells. Editors and authors
are indebted to those persons and institutions named in the figure captions or notes for
photographs and drawings and permission to use them. The drawings for Dr E.
Yalouris' article were prepared by Marion Cox.
The quality of this publication owes much to the diligence of the Oxford University
Press and to a generous subsidy from Matrona and Nicholas Egon.
J.B.
C. E. V.-R.