The goal of this study is the presentation and evaluation of settlement patterns in the region between the Minoan palatial centres of Knossos and Malia, mainly on the north coast of Heraklion, during the second millennium BCE. The approach is based on new archaeological data from large- and small-scale rescue excavations and supervised digging activities in the context of public or private construction projects. Existing archaeological knowledge of this particular region is also taken into consideration. Following a chronological sequence, a Prepalatial (Middle Minoan [MM] IA) long wall, which is located 250 m south of the hill of Paliochora at Amnissos and belongs to a wider architectural planning of access control from the coast of Amnissos to the hinterland, is presented along with a contemporary rural installation in Stalida. An extensive settlement in the area of the Amirandes Hotel in Kato Gouves is dated mainly to the Protopalatial period and shows close affinities with Malia. Of the same date and cultural orientation is the extensive occupation near Agriana, which continues to exist in the early Neopalatial period. The Minoan settlement at Kastri in Chersonesos is dated to MM IIIB, while an earlier Protopalatial phase was also identified. A number of other sites in the district of Gouves are dated to Late Minoan (LM) III. A unique example of continuous habitation from LM IB to LM IIIB was excavated near the local primary school in Gournes. The decrease of sites in MM IIIB–LM IA and the scarcity of LM IB settlements, in contrast to the density of Protopalatial installations, confirm the centralisation of the habitation model during the late Neopalatial period, probably due to the expansionist policy of Knossos. However, the balance of power of the two palatial centres over the region under discussion shifted through time, with Malia having control of most of the area during the Protopalatial period and Knossos expanding its influence during the Prepalatial, Neopalatial and Final Palatial periods.

Two barrel cylinders bearing a royal inscription belonging to King Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC) were found by chance on the surface of Tell Al-Uhaimir, which includes the remains of the ziggurat of the ancient city of Kish. Both cylinders bear the same text, which relates to the restoration work of the ziggurat é.u6.nir.ki.tuš.maḫ, whose name means “House, temple-tower, exalted abode” and is dedicated to the god Zababa and the goddess Ishtar. This is the first foundation text documenting the construction works of King Nebuchadnezzar II to restore the ziggurat of the god Zababa in Kish.

Plutarch considers that the texts of the classical tradition with which young people come into contact from a very young age have many flaws, in terms of the ideology, the moral issues they deal with, the standards they project, and the decision-making they demonstrate. His admission of this is also the reason that leads him to devote a large part of his treatise to investigating the nature of poetry and how readers and teachers can correct, evaluate, and make positive use of the moral phenomena found in it. For him, poetry has a purely moral–pedagogical character as it exerts a direct influence on the human soul and mind. This last statement of his is confirmed in an undeniable way in practice, as the entire educational world recognises literature as the most suitable means of education and training. In ‘How to study poetry’, the philosopher does not want to moralise or manipulate the reader’s thinking, but rather give them the opportunity to decide for themselves the actions they will take to achieve the ultimate reading pleasure and benefit. In the present article, his pedagogical concepts meet with modern literary theories in a unique way, which makes reading them an interesting process.

This memoir of John Ellis Jones, best known for his contributions to the Classical archaeology of rural Attica, traces his early studies in North Wales, his first encounters with Greece in the early 1950s, his family life, and the teaching posts he held at the University of Leicester (1957–8) and at the University College of North Wales (now Bangor University) – the latter for 37 years until his formal retirement in 1995, after which he continued to support Classics in North Wales for many more years. His important contributions to the archaeology of Classical Greece, especially rural Attica, are outlined, together with an example of the distinctive artwork with which he embellished his copious publications. Also highlighted are his many contributions to the archaeology and history of North Wales. The memoir is accompanied by a complete bibliography of his publications, many in Welsh.

This article uses the assemblage of surface-survey ceramics collected in the 2021 and 2022 West Area of Samos Archaeological Project (WASAP) field seasons to discuss the landscape structure and networking patterns (internal and external to the island) of Archaic through Byzantine south-west Samos. Collected in the basin of Marathokampos with intensive field pedestrian methods, a subset of a dataset of 1303 ceramics is discussed alongside the environmental context of their findspots. Spatial analysis is used to identify 15 ‘Areas of Interest’ in the landscape, densely populated by surface ceramics. The ceramic assemblage is interpreted in the framework of the Samian pottery production, to evaluate the entanglements of south-west Samos in regional and extra-regional trade networks. The main fabric groups are discussed and the range of types compared to material from the Hera Sanctuary and other parts of Samos. This leads to the surprising picture of a mostly inwards-looking island economy. Through the ages the assemblage is by far dominated by local productions, and the very few long-distance imports reflect more indirect trade contacts than an actively maintained, extensive trade network.

Excavations at the Agora of Amathous, Cyprus, were carried out between 1977 and 2003, initially under the auspices of the Department of Antiquities and the direction of Michael Loulloupis, and subsequently by the French School at Athens, under the direction of Jean-Paul Prête. While the plans and chronological phases of the Agora’s buildings have been successfully reconstructed, the rich assemblage of architectural decorations – exceptionally well preserved – has yet to be thoroughly studied. The remarkable state of preservation and completeness was the primary motivation for undertaking the current research, which aims to identify the fragments of architectural decoration with their respective stoas. The reconstructed decorative program significantly enhances our understanding of historical Cypriot architecture, illuminating the influence of Alexandria and other Mediterranean centers on architectural trends. It highlights how agoras were framed with colonnaded stoas that combined traditional elements with innovative designs, revitalizing the architectural landscape of Cyprus in the Hellenistic and Roman periods.

This paper examines the Catarinella Askos in order to explore the funerary culture and social dynamics of the elite in Hellenistic-Republican Daunia. The vessel, found in Lavello (Basilicata) but produced in the city of Canosa (Apulia) in the late 2nd/early 1st c. BCE, depicts an elaborate funerary ceremony with a procession, music, and mourning rituals. The paper contextualizes the images by linking them to material evidence of Canosan funerary practices. It aims to reconstruct the sensory experiences of those who attended and performed at funerals, including aspects of staging and movement, gesture and utterance, and sensation and emotion. By demonstrating how these multimodal spectacles served as arenas for social distinction, competitive consumption, and political consolidation among elite families during Roman hegemony, the paper argues for the resilience of Italian elite culture and social structures rooted in the pre-Roman period.

This contribution presents a tight body of evidence – hoards of medieval coins found during archaeological investigations in churches in a confined area of southern Albania in close proximity to Phoinike – whose formations and abandonments date to within a decade or so of one another in the central years of the fourteenth century. A detailed numismatic analysis of the represented coin issues, principally deniers tournois of Arta and soldini of Venice, and of the hoards themselves, allows the authors to draw monetary and historical conclusions. One of the hoards defines in a decisive manner the pattern of coin production at Arta for about a decade after 1323. The presented evidence highlights the administration and the commerce of the territory, and its geo-strategic fate in the face of serious pressures which came to bear on it from all sides during the 1330s and 1340s. The main protagonists in this story are the lords and despots in Epiros of the house of Kephallenia, Zakynthos, Leukas, and Ithaka; the Angevins of southern Italy who had important holdings in the area, especially the island of Kerkyra; and the Byzantine and Serbian empires which took control respectively in the fourth and fifth decades of the fourteenth century.

Medical prescriptions from ancient Mesopotamia occasionally provide instructions for patients to seek out the sanctuaries of deities in order to gain good fortune. Though these statements have been discussed since the 1960s, their exact function in the healing process remains unclear. The recent discovery of additional related symptom descriptions provides an opportunity to re-evaluate the function of seeking out places of worship in ancient medical therapy. This article collects and examines relevant prescriptions to contextualise and incorporate them properly into our reconstruction of medicine in the first millennium B.C.E. By analysing the terminology employed, particularly the word aširtu, referring to a place of worship, as well as the phrase dumqu/damiqtu amāru “to see good fortune”, indicating that seeking out places of worship could alter a patient’s fortune, the paper proposes that such instructions were intended to circumvent inauspicious days for healing. Alternatively, the visits may have granted the patient auspicious omens for diagnostic-prognostic purposes. Finally, the article discusses the context of the individual manuscripts to assign the practice of their contents to the two primary medical professions, namely the asû and āšipu.

Monkeys kept as exotic pets by wealthy Romans have hitherto been determined as African species exclusively, specifically Barbary macaques, in the few documented cases of monkey skeletons. This has now been revised following the discovery of three dozen burials of Indian macaques from the first two centuries CE at the animal cemetery of the Red Sea port of Berenike. The special status of these primates among other buried companion animals, mainly cats and some dogs, is suggested by grave goods including restraining collars, apparent status markers like iridescent shells and food delicacies, and kittens and a piglet as the monkey’s own pets. The Berenike material is the most comprehensive source to date for the socio-cultural context of keeping exotic pets. It suggests a resident Roman elite, possibly associated with Roman legionary officers posted at the harbor. The monkey burials from Berenike also provide the first zooarchaeological evidence of trade in live animals from India.