18/05/2019- G.Ackermann- Participation au colloque Destructions, Survival, and Recovery in Ancient Greece


Guy Ackermann, membre suisse de l'EFA, participera au colloque international  "Destructions, Survival, and Recovery in Ancient Greece" organisé par E. M. Harris et S. Fachard à l'ASCSA du 16 au 18 mai 2019.
Il donnera sa communication "The three sieges of Eretria during the Hellenistic period and their impact on the town’s development" le 18 mai à 10h15.


Voir le programme du colloque


Résumé de la communication
Three significant sieges impact the history of Eretria during the Hellenistic period. The first is its capture of the city by the Macedonian army of Antigonos Gonatas in 267 BC, at the beginning of the Chremonidean War. In 198 BC, in the course of the Second Macedonian War, the Roman troops lead by L. Quinctius Flamininus and their Pergamene allies launched an attack upon the city and expelled the Macedonian garrison. The last siege took place in 86 BC at the time of the First Mithridatic War and was followed by the destruction of the city. 
Livius (XXXII, 16, 10-17) and Pausanias (VII, 8, 1) record the capture of Eretria by the Romans in 198 BC, but the two events of 267 and 86 BC remain assumptions based on literary and epigraphic data (Diog. Laert., II, 127; FGrHist 434, F22, 10; Plut., Sylla, 11, 5; Florus, I, 40, 8; Appian, Mithr., 29). Many archeologists working on the site often tried to link destruction layers or monetary hoards with these three tragic events (Auberson – Schefold 1972; Ducrey – Metzger – Reber 1993; Ducrey 2001; Reber 1998; Schmid 2000a; Schmid 2000b; Thémélis 1980; Valavanis 1991). However, if these sieges really happened, were they necessarily followed by arsons and rubble in sanctuaries, public buildings, and residential areas ?
In order to make progress on these issues and to estimate the physical impact of warfare on the city, I re-examined the dating of the closed ceramic deposits to question their connections with these three dramatic events for my doctoral thesis (Ackermann 2018). The results revealed that there is no clear evidence for destruction by the Macedonian army in 267 BC. That being said, there are some clues about turmoil around the middle of the 3rd century, possibly connected to the short-lived kingdom of Alexander son of Krateros (251-245/4 BC) (Kalligas 1983; Knoepfler 2001; Picard 1979; Thémélis 1984). Results also show that only a section of the city was ruined by the Romans in 198 BC, and not its entirety as it was previously believed (Auberson – Schefold 1972). However, a violent arson is now clearly identified in the center of the city and dated in the early 1st century BC, although it remains impossible to charge Sylla’s or Archelaos’ troops for these ravages. 
After presenting the evidence, I will summarize these results and offer a continuous archaeological and historical narrative for Hellenistic Eretria. I will challenge commonplaces on decline, recovery and prosperity phases, and draft the evolution of occupation in the different quarters of the town through a spatial analysis of chronological markers (pottery, amphoras and coins). The large and densely inhabited town of the late 4th and early 3rd centuries mutated to a reduced land occupancy characterized by scattered houses. The sparse and patchy look of Late Hellenistic Eretria is the plausible result of the consecutive sieges endured by the population. Only some dwellings were rebuilt, so that ruins and vacant plots became common in the city landscape. After the violent arson of 86 BC, the Eretrians survivors operated a strategic withdrawal on the Acropolis until the Early Imperial period.

References (choice)
Ackermann, G. 2018. La céramique d’Erétrie à l’époque hellénistique. Une chrono-typologie au service de l’histoire d’une ville grecque entre la fin du IVe et le Ier siècle av. J.-C., unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Lausanne.  
Auberson, P. – Schefold, K. 1972. Führer durch Eretria. Bern.
Ducrey, P. – Metzger, I. R. – Reber, K. 1993. Eretria VIII : Le Quartier de la Maison aux mosaïques. Lausanne. 
Ducrey, P. 2001. « La Porte de l’Ouest à Érétrie et les opérations navales romaines de 200-198 av. J.-C. », in Zona Archeologica : Festschrift für Hans Peter Isler zum 60. Geburtstag, edited by S. Buzzi et al., 115-126. Bonn. 
Kalligas, P. G. 1983. « Ἀνασκαφὴ στὴν Ἐρέτρια, 1981 », AEph 122, 106-136.
Knoepfler, D. 2001. Eretria XI : Décrets érétriens de proxénie et de citoyenneté. Lausanne. 
Picard, O. 1979, Chalcis et la Confédération eubéenne. Étude de numismatique et d’histoire (IVe – Ier siècle), BEFAR 234. Paris.
Reber, K. 1998. Eretria X : Die klassischen und hellenistischen Wohnhäuser im Westquartier. Lausanne.
Schmid, S. G. 2000a. « Sullan Debris from Eretria (Greece) ? », RCRF Acta 36, 169-180. Abington.
Schmid, S. G. 2000b. « A Group of Early Hellenistic Pottery from a Well in Eretria », E’ EλλΚερ, 361-372. Athens.
Thémélis, P. G. 1980. « 13. Ανασκαφή Ερέτριας », PAE 1980, 79-102.
Thémélis, P. G. 1984. « 20. Ανασκαφή στην Ερέτρια », PAE 1984, 212-228.
Valavanis, P. D. 1991. Παναθηναϊκοί αμφορείς από την Ερέτρια. Συμβολή στην αττική αγγειογραφία του 4ου π.Χ. αι. Athens.