Late Antiquity: A.D. 267-700 (Athenian Agora 24)

249 Pages·1988·51.39 MB·English

by  Alison Frantz

Roman Lamp. Circa A.D. 600 (L 1494, twice actual size)
"Athena Promachos strides away with grim determination,
turning her back on this whole crew of saints and martyrs."
H. A. Thompson
THE ATHENIANA GORA
RESULTS OF EXCAVATIONS
CONDUCTED BY
THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS
VOLUME XXIV
LATE ANTIQUITA.D. Y2:6 7-700
BY
ALISON FRANTZ
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY
HOMER A. THOMPSON AND JOHN TRAVLOS
THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES AT ATHENS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
1988
PUBLISHED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE GETTY GRANT PROGRAM
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Frantz, Alison.
Late Antiquity, A.D. 267-700.
(The Athenian Agora; v. 24)
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Athens (Greece)-History. 2. Athens (Greece)-Antiqui-
ties. 3. Athens (Greece)-Antiquities, Byzantine. 4. Greece-
Antiquities. 5. Greece-Antiquities, Byzantine. I. Thompson,
Homer A. II. Travlos, John, 1908- III. American School of
Classical Studies at Athens. IV. Title. V. Series.
DF287.A23A5 vol.24 [DF922] 938'.5 s 88-7525
ISBN 0-87661-224-9 [938'.5]
TYPOGRAPHY BY THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF CLASSICAL STUDIES PUBLICATIONS OFFICE
C/O INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY, PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
PLATES BY THE MERIDEN-STINEHOUR PRESS, MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BY THE TOWN HOUSE PRESS, SPRING VALLEY, NEW YORK
MEMORIAE
CAROLI RVFI MOREY
RERVM AESTIMATORIS
ANTIQVARVM
AEVI OBSCVRI ILLVMINATORIS
EXPERTI IN STVDIIS MEDIAEVALIBUS
LITTERARVMQVE HVMANIORVM PROPVGNATORIS
DEVOTE DICATVM
The confusion of the times, and the scarcityo f authentic memorials,
oppose equal difficultiest o the historian, who attempts to preserve a
clear and unbroken thread of narration. Surroundedw ith imperfect
fragments, always concise, often obscure, and sometimes contradic-
tory, he is reduced to collect, to compare, and to conjecture:a nd
though he ought never to place his conjecturei n the rank of facts, yet
the knowledgeo f human nature, and of the sure operationo f its fierce
and unrestrainedp assions, might, on some occasions,s upply the want
of historicalm aterials.
EDWARDG IBBON
PREFACE
The paucity of literary documentationf or the history of Athens during the six centuriesf ollowing
the Antonine period, and the physical destructiono f most of the buildings, whether by war, negli-
gence or natural decay, have combined to wrap these centuries in an obscurity that is only now
beginning to be penetrated. The decline in the strategic importance of the Province of Achaea
brought with it a similar decrease in the power of the provincet o exert financial pressure on the
central government,a nd few historians found it necessary even to mention the city of which the
chief remindersw ere the ancient works of art that now embellishedC onstantine'sn ew capital.
Few new literary sources have come to light since Gibbon led the way in plumbing the depths of
the basse epoque, and although modern scholarshipm ay attack his historicalj udgments, he alone
has providedt he wealth of leisurely detail, derivedf rom primarys ources,w hich make his work the
delight of the readera nd a boon for the scholar.N o apology is made for unquestioningr eferencest o
Gibbon's own accountso f peripheral interest and for acceptingw ith gratitudet he ease with which
he has made it possible to follow back to their sometimes obscure sources statementsw hich may
have a direct bearing on the matter in hand.
A century after Gibbon the German scholarsG regorovius,W achsmuth,a nd finally Judeich col-
lected referencest o and interpreteda lmost all known passages relating to Athens, and these testi-
monia have formed the backboneo f all subsequentw ritings on the subject,s o that until recently it
could be said, in Gibbon'sw ords in anotherc ontext, "all that learning can extract from the rubbish
of the dark ages is copiously stated ... ."
The meager literary framework is now gradually being filled out through the archaeological
discoverieso f the past few years:b y the systematice xcavationo f the AthenianA gora and the area of
the Dipylon, and by the vigilance of the Greek ArchaeologicalS ervice in recordingt he remains of
ancient buildings unearthed during modern building operations. The objectiveo f this book has
been to correlate the literary and archaeologicala spects of the subject and so to present as full a
picture as possible of Athens in Late Antiquity.
From the end of the 3rd century the Agora of classical times no longer had any significancea s a
separate entity within the city; therefore it can now be intelligible only as a part of Athens as a
whole. But, except for the Agora and the areas of the Dipylon and Olympieion, almost all the
ancient city lies under the modern (PI. 1). In the course of new constructionb its and pieces of
ancient buildings, walls, streets, and graves are continually coming to light, but only sporadically,
and it is seldom possible to follow them to their limits. Furthermore,t hey are usually promptlya nd
permanentlyc overedu p once they have been recorded.H ope of recoveringt he completep lan of the
city is no less elusive than is the vision that the lost historieso f Dexippus and Eunapius will one day
emerge from obscurity. In spite of these limitations it has been consideredn ecessary to take into
account the whole of the ancient lower city, however sketchily it must be presented, in the full
knowledge that topographicalt heories may be made obsolete at any moment but in the hope that
future investigatorsm ay find here some basis on which to build. In this survey, except in specific
instances, little account has been taken of movable finds of Late Antiquity from the excavation.
Special studies of the Agora series have already been devotedt o the coins, pottery, terracottaf ig-
urines, and lamps (see the Bibliography).
The problem of transliterationf amiliar to all classical scholarsi s further complicatedb y dealing
with a Greek provincew ithin the Roman Empire. At one extreme, names from classical antiquity
viii PREFACE
in general call for a Greek spelling. At the other, names of Roman emperorsd emandt he Latin form
even when they are of Greek origin, e.g. Theodosius. In the middle ground subjectivityr eigns, and
inconsistencyi s claimed as a right.
The death of my collaboratorJ ohn Travlos has deprivedt he book of some detailed descriptions
and drawings which had been projectedt o fill out the architecturala spects of this survey. He had,
however, completed all the most important drawings. The most serious lack in the text was the
architecturald escriptiono f the large "Palaceo f the Giants"i n the middleo f the Agora, for which he
had drafted a preliminary version. On the basis of this, Homer Thompson, who had followed in
detail the excavationa nd investigationo f the building from start to finish, has kindly provideda n
expanded, revised, and updated description,w ith a new interpretationo f its purpose, which ap-
pears as Chapter V. Travlos' contributionst o the text are the short section on the water supply in
Chapter III and the full descriptiono f the Post-Herulian Wall which appears as an Appendix.
This bare listing in no way doesj ustice to his invisible contribution.W e exchangedv iews over the
years on all aspects of the subject.H e was generousw ith his knowledgea nd keen in his judgment.
The finished producti s poorer without his final work, but his influence throughoutw ill be recog-
nized by all who knew him. He was a reveredc olleague and a faithful friend.
That the excavationo f the Agora has been a corporateu ndertakingf rom the beginningi s evident
from the numbero f colleaguesw hose help it is a pleasuret o acknowledge.A bovea ll, thanks are due
to Homer A. Thompson who, as Field Director, championedt he rights of Late Antiquity and from
his command of the whole span covered by the excavations contributedt oward putting this late
period in a new perspective.I am also indebted to T. Leslie Shear, Jr. for permissiont o include
some material uncovereds ince he assumedt he Field Directorshipi n 1968. The field notebooksk ept
by the scholarss upervisingt he various sectionso f the excavationsh ave been the primarya nd some-
times the only source on which the present study of the Agora materiali s based. Opinions and even
words of others have been freely used, and it is hoped that any unconsciousp lagiarism will be
accepted as a tribute. The excavators charged with the chief areas under discussion were John
McK. Camp II, Margaret Crosby, G. Roger Edwards, Richard H. Howland, James H. Oliver,
Arthur W. Parsons, Henry S. Robinson, RebeccaW . Robinson,D orothy B. Thompson, Homer A.
Thompson, Eugene Vanderool, Frederick 0. Waage, and Rodney S. Young. Grateful acknowl-
edgment is made to Elizabeth G. Caskey, Fred S. Kleiner,J ohn H. Kroll, D. M. Metcalf, the late
George C. Miles, and Margaret Thompson for invaluablen umismatich elp; also to John W. Hayes
for his wisdom on Roman pottery.
Thanks are due to the directorso f the museums of Athens for many facilities:t he late George
Sotiriou,M anolis Chatzidakis,a nd Paul Lazaridesi n the ByzantineM useum; Nicholas Yalourisi n
the National ArchaeologicalM useum; the late John Miliadis and George Dontas in the Acropolis
Museum; Markellos Mitsos and Dina Peppas-Delmouzoui n the EpigraphicalM useum.
In Athens over the years the late Anastasios Orlandos was always generous with his time and
counsel, as were other memberso f the Greek ArchaeologicalS ervice:A ngeliki Kokkou,D emetrios
Pallas, the late John Papadimitriou,t he late Stylianos Pelekanidis, Photios Petsas, Nicholas Pla-
ton, Eustathios Stikas, the late John Threpsiades, and the late Nicholas Verdelis.
The substance of this book has been enriched by conversationa nd correspondencew ith Javier
Arce, Timothy Barnes, Judith Binder, Graeme Clarke, SlobodanC urciic,J ohn Dillon, Noel Du-
val, Garth Fowden, Frank Gilliam, Andre Grabar, Timothy Gregory, Christian Habicht, Chris-
topher Jones, Ernst Kitzinger, Richard Krautheimer, Paul Lemerle, Arthur H. S. Megaw,
FranSoisP aschoud,K enneth Setton,J ean-Pierre Sodini, and Sir Ronald Syme. Special thanks are
due to Glen Bowersock,w hom I have consultedo n many points. He has read my manuscript,m ade
PREFACE ix
many constructives uggestions, and deliveredm e from some egregious errors. He is not, however,
responsiblef or any that remain.
Financial support from the American Philosophical Society (1977 and 1984) and the National
Endowment for the Humanities (1976) is gratefully acknowledged.M y debt to the Institute for
AdvancedS tudy, where much of this text was written, is inestimable,f or hospitality extending far
beyond my one year as a member. A generous grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust has met a sub-
stantial part of the costs of publication.
The photographso f Agora material are from the files of the Agora Excavations,t he work suc-
cessively of Hermann Wagner, Alison Frantz, James Heyle, Eugene Vanderpool,J r., Robert K.
Vincent, and Craig Mauzy. Air views were taken by J. W. and E. E. Myers in May, 1975. The
rest, unless otherwise specified, are by the undersigned. Almost all the prints, sometimes from
recalcitrantn egatives,o we much to the skill of Nicholas Restakis,t he Agora'sd arkroomt echnician
for many years. For assistance of other kinds I am indebtedt o Margot Camp and Jan Diamant,
secretarieso f the Agora Excavation,a nd, in Princeton,t o Enid Bayan for typing and to Marian H.
McAllister and the staff of the School Publications Office for skill and forbearancei n seeing the
manuscriptt hrough final stages.
All dates, unless otherwise specified,a re of the Christian era.
The dedicationo f this volume to the memoryo f Charles Rufus Morey is an inadequatee xpres-
sion of gratitudef or leading me into the then almost unchartedr ealm of Late Antiquity and for con-
tinuing help and encouragementt hrough the remainingy ears of his life.
1988
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE .................... .... .. .. .. .. vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XV
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix
I. INVASIONS AND THEIR AFTERMATH
THE PRE-HERULIAN THREAT (A.D. 254-267) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
THE HERULIANIN VASION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
HISTORICAALC COUNTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
PHYSICALD AMAGE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
THE POST-HERULIAWN ALL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
II. RECOVERY
POST-HERULIANA THENS (A.D. 267-300) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
THE AGORA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
III. FROM DIOCLETIAN TO THE VISIGOTHIC INVASION
DIOCLETIANT O JULIAN THE APOSTATE( A.D. 284-361) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
CONSTANTINE AND ATHENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
THE REFLORESCENCE OF THE SCHOOLS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
THE PROGRESS OF CHRISTIANITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
THE CITY OF ATHENS AND ITS BENEFACTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
JULIAN AND THE REOPENING OF THE TEMPLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
THE BUILDINGS . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . 24
THE RECONSTRUCTION OF OLD BUILDINGS FOR OFFICIAL USE . . . . . . . . . 24
THE POMPEION AND THE PANATHENAIC WAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
W ATERWORKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . 29
WATER SUPPLY (by John Travlos) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
DRAINAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
BATHS . . . . . . . .. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
LATRINES . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
PRIVATE HOUSES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
HOUSES ON THE AREOPAGUS: ARCHITECTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
HOUSES ON THE AREOPAGUS: WATER SUPPLY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
"HOUSE OF PROCLUS" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
HOUSES ON THE AREOPAGUS: IDENTIFICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
HOUSES ON THE AREOPAGUS: CHRONOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
ATHENS IN A.D. 396 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
ALARICI N GREECE (A.D. 396) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
THE THREAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
DESTRUCTION IN THE AGORA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
xii TABLE OF CONTENTS
IV. PROSPERITY,D ECLINE, AND DISASTER (A.D. 396-582)
PROSPERIT(YA .D. 396-450) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
THE TIMEO FT HEN EOPLATONIST. S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
REVIVAL AFTER ALARIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
STATE OF THE FORTIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
REHABILITATIOONFP UBLICB UILDINGS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
NEW CONSTRUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
BUILDINGA CTIVITYO FH ERCULIU.S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
THE RISE OF THE CHRISTIAN CITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
LEGISLATION FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY . . . . . . . . . . 69
CLOSINGO FT EMPLES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
CONVERSION OF SECULAR BUILDINGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
FIRSTC HRISTIANC HURCHES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
DECLINE(A .D. 450-529) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
THE REMOVAL OF WORKS OF ART TO CONSTANTINOPLE . . . . . . . . . . . 74
THE OBELISKO FT HEODOSIU. S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
"ABOUT THE ELEPHANTS" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
THE ATHENAP ROMACHO.S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
THE VANDALSIN ATHENS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
LITERARYE VIDENCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
ARCHAEOLOGICEAVLID ENCE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
THE STREET OF THE LIBRARY OF HADRIAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
THE BEGINNING OF INDUSTRIALIZATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
BRONZE FOUNDRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
WA TERM ILLS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
DISINTEGRATIONA ND DISASTER( A.D. 529-582) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
THE REIGNO FJ USTINIAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
NEW CONSTRUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
PRIVATEH OUSES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
SHOPS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
NEW COMMERCIALC ONSTRUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
DECAY OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
CONVERSION OF TEMPLES INTO CHURCHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
THE SLAVIC INVASION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
V. THE PALACE OF THE GIANTS (by Homer A. Thompson)
EXPLORATION AND IDENTIFICATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
LOCATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
OVERALL PLAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
STATE OF PRESERVATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
CONSTRUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 98
NORTHC OURT. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
PASSAGE FROM THE NORTH COURT TO THE SOUTH COURT . . . . . . . . . . 102
SOUTH COURT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
SOUTHEAST COURT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
BATH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107