Roman and Early Christian city at the east end of the plain of the Veneto, c. 90 km north-east of Venice and 5 km from the Adriatic coast. Founded as a Roman colony in 181
Article
Franz Rickert
Article
Pamela Gutman and Pierre Pichard
Kingdom on the east coast of the Bay of Bengal existent from at least the mid-4th century
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T. F. C. Blagg
[now Orange]
Roman town in south-west France, 7 km east of the river Rhône. It is famous for its theatre and triumphal arch. The Roman colony of Arausio was founded c. 35
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Giovanna Tedeschi Grisanti
(Rome)
A three-vaulted structure, dedicated in AD 315, which stands between the Caelian and Palatine hills, on the triumphal way from the Circus Maximus to the Arch of Titus (see fig.). Inscriptions on both north and south faces of the arch (on the part of the attic storey above the central span and on the entablatures over the side openings) record that it was erected by the Roman people after the victory of Constantine over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge (28 Oct AD 312) in gratitude for his first decade as emperor and as a votive offering for his second. Contemporary literary sources, however, make no mention of the arch, and the first extant reference to it is in the anonymous Carolingian Itinerary of Einsiedeln (Einsiedeln Abbey).
The Arch of Constantine faces north and south, and both of these longer sides are articulated by four Corinthian columns in yellow Numidian marble, with four pilasters and statues fronting the flat-topped attic storey. It is the largest triumphal arch to survive intact (h. 20 m, w. 25 m), with a central opening measuring 11.45×6.50 m and openings either side of 7.40×3.35 m. Its elevation is entirely of marble, except for the brick fill of the attic storey. Part of the material for its construction was, however, obtained from Flavian buildings. Even the sculptures vary in date. Among those of Constantine’s own period are the reliefs on the eight tall plinths for the columns. Those of the south façade depict Victories with trophies and barbarian prisoners, as do the two outer plinths of the north façade. The inner plinths flanking the central opening (north) depict Victories writing on shields, and further Victories bearing trophies appear with Genii of the Seasons in the spandrels of the central arch, while river gods occupy those of the side openings. The historical frieze running round most of the arch just above the side openings is also of Constantinian date. On the west side, six panels illustrate the ...
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R. J. Brickstock
The study of Man’s past by means of his material remains. Archaeology provides the only record of ancient culture prior to the appearance of written documents (around 3000
The history of archaeology is commonly seen in terms of great discoveries, for example the tomb of Tutankhamun in Egypt, the lost Mayan cities of Central America or the Terracotta Warriors in China. More important, however, is the progression of ideas that has allowed a better appreciation of what the remains of past societies can reveal. Such Greek and Roman writers as ...
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E. Sapouna-Sakellarakis
[Arkhanes]
Site in northern Crete 15 km south-east of Herakleion. Occupied in Neolithic times, it flourished in the Minoan period (c. 3500/3000–c. 1500
Article
Michael Ryan
Treasure hoard (now in Dublin, N. Mus.) discovered in 1868 within the rath (circular earthwork) called Reerasta Rath, near Ardagh in Co. Limerick, Ireland. The objects were buried slightly less than 1 m deep and partly protected by an upright stone. The hoard consists of a splendid two-handled chalice, a smaller bronze chalice, and four gilt silver brooches. The probable dates of manufacture range from the 8th century
The silver chalice (h. 178 mm; max diam. 195 mm) has a broad, almost hemispherical bowl, a copper-alloy stem cast in three parts, and a large, sub-conical foot with a broad, flat foot-ring. A band of filigree ornaments and gem-set enamel studs girdles the bowl below the rim. Below this are two applied medallions with filigree and enamels. The strap handles spring from applied escutcheons decorated with enamel, filigree, and granulation. The stem carries superb cast gilt ...
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Pierre Aupert
Principal city in the Argolid, southern Greece. It was built around the Larissa and Aspis hills dominating the Argive plain, about 8 km from the sea, and flourished throughout Classical antiquity. The modern town occupies the site of the ancient city. Argos was a major power in the Peloponnese from the Bronze Age. Rivalry with Sparta culminated in King Pheidon’s victory in the 7th century
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D. Evely
[Arkalokhori]
Minoan sacred cave in central Crete, which flourished c. 1650–c. 1425
The earliest, scanty remains are ceramic and date from the periods Early Minoan
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M. S. Drower
[anc. Gr. Hermonthis; Copt. Ermont]
City in Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile, some 10 km south of Luxor. It was at first called Iunu-Shema (Egyp.: ‘the southern Heliopolis’) and Iunu-Montu (Egyp.: ‘Heliopolis of the war-god Montu’), from which subsequent names derive. It was the capital of the fourth nome (administrative province) of Upper Egypt throughout the Old Kingdom (c. 2575–c. 2150
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Ismail Hijara
Prehistoric site in northern Iraq situated c. 6 km north-east of Nineveh and 9 km east of the River Tigris. Its low mound (120 m in diameter and 11.5 m high) was excavated by Max Mallowan in 1933 and by Ismail Hijara in 1976. These excavations show that Arpachiyah was occupied during the Halaf (c. 5200–c. 4500
The Halaf settlement is represented by a deposit 7.5 m deep occupying the whole site. On the basis of the finds in this deposit a framework for the classification of Halaf pottery was first established, which has since been elaborated. Arpachiyah provides most of the evidence for the Halaf sequence and is therefore a key site for comparative studies with other sites. Such an accumulation presumably reflects a lengthy occupation and may represent the full extent of the Halaf cultural period. It is the only site so far to yield a wide range of stratified pottery of the Early Halaf period....
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János M. Bak
Modern term for the dynasty that ruled Hungary until 1301. Their name is derived from the chief of the Magyar tribal alliance, Prince Árpád (reg 896–907). During the four centuries of their reign (which included 5 princes and 21 kings, half of whom were buried in the now destroyed basilica at Székesfehérvár), the country became a Christian kingdom with a social and political order similar to its western neighbours. The art and architecture of the age was influenced mainly by Italian and French models with some Byzantine elements. The castle (after 1241, archiepiscopal palace) in Esztergom has significant remains from the 10th to 12th centuries. It was excavated and partly restored in the early 21st century. The west door, the porta speciosa of Esztergom Cathedral is decorated with marble intarsia in a French-influenced, Byzantine style (c. 1190) and is one of the few surviving figural monuments (now in the Esztergom Castle Museum). After the Mongol invasion of ...
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John M. Russell
[Turk.: ‘lion-stone’ ; anc. Hadatu]
Site in Syria, c. 35 km north-east of Til Barsip on the Harran–Euphrates road. It was an Assyrian town: its ancient name, preserved in two inscriptions from the site, is mentioned elsewhere only in the ‘Harran Census’ (7th century
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Marcella Frangipane
[ Malatya]
Site in eastern Turkey, in the Malatya Plain on the right bank of the River Euphrates. It is a large artificial mound (h. c. 30 m) formed by the superposition of successive dwellings from about the 5th millennium
Excavations in the southern area of the mound have revealed a stratified succession of four monumental public buildings of mud-brick at a depth of c. 8 m; radiocarbon dating has suggested that these structures were built c. 3300–3000
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V. Ya. Petrukhin
(Illarionovich)
(b Vygolevo, Tver’ Province, Dec 5, 1898; d Leningrad [now St Petersburg], July 29, 1972).
Russian archaeologist and art historian . He began studying archaeology at the Archaeological Institute in Petrograd (now St Petersburg) in 1921 and subsequently at the University in that city. He became a postgraduate student in 1926, then joined the staff of the State Academy for the History of Material Culture, where he studied aspects of Old Russian art, including the miniatures of the Königsberg (Radziwill) Chronicle (St Petersburg, Acad. Sci., Lib.). He became a professor in 1935 and was appointed head of the faculty of archaeology at Leningrad State University in 1949. He was director of the Institute for the History of Material Culture from 1938 to 1945 and curator of the State Hermitage Museum from 1951 to 1964. His most important works deal with the history, archaeology and art of the Scythians, Slavs and Khazars and include a study of the Hermitage’s collection of Scythian art (1970); he also conducted research into the Scythian–Siberian Animal Style. He directed excavations of numerous ancient and early medieval monuments in the Don region, the Ukraine and the northern Caucasus, including excavations of the Khazar Sarkel fortress (Rus. Belaya Vezha). The art of medieval nomads is discussed in his monograph on the history of the Khazars....
Article
Keith Eggener
(b Mexico City, 1916; d Mexico City, Mar 2, 1999).
Mexican architect. Noted for his minimalist modern houses, Artigas was the most prolific designer working at the Jardines del Pedregal, the Mexico City district developed after World War II by Luis Barragán. The son of the army general and Mexico City police chief Francisco Artigas Barbedillo (1884–1961), Artigas attended school in Mexico City until his family moved to Cotija, Michoacán, during the 1920s. Cotija’s colonial and vernacular buildings would influence some of his later work. Returning to the capital, he entered the Escuela Nacional de Ingeniería, but dropped out after one year, opting to travel and study architecture informally on his own. In California the work of Richard Neutra and other Modernists impressed him greatly. His earliest buildings were private houses in Culiacán, Sinaloa, beginning in 1942. By 1950 he had returned to Mexico City and begun work on the first of many houses in the Pedregal district. Over the next decades Artigas worked extensively in Mexico, designing offices, hotels, houses, urban renewal projects, and schools (when he headed CAPFCE, the Comité Administrador del Programa Federal de Construcción de Escuelas, ...
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Ruth Olitsky Rubinstein
(b Staines, Oct 14, 1874; d nr Raynes Park, Surrey, May 15, 1931).
English archaeologist and collector . He began his study of Classical archaeology at Winchester; his father moved to Rome in 1890, and during holidays they explored the Campagna with the archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani. Having read Classics at Christ Church, Oxford (1898), he became the first student at the British School at Rome in 1901 and its director in 1906. His earliest articles, on the topography of the aqueducts and roads of Rome and the Campagna, were later developed into books. Tomassetti listed 323 publications (including excavation reports) by Ashby on the Campagna, many of them pioneering works. Ashby’s studies of 16th-century and later drawings of Roman monuments include his publication (1904, 1913) of the Coner Sketchbook (London, Soane Mus.), while his interest in Renaissance collections of ancient statues enabled him to identify works that had once stood in the Villa d’Este at Tivoli (1908) and led him to produce a bibliographical analysis of the engravings by Giovanni Battista de Cavalieri and his followers (...
Article
Geoffrey Waywell
(b Ilford, June 22, 1894; d Peebles, Feb 25, 1988).
English archaeologist . One of the most distinguished Classical scholars of the 20th century, specializing in Greek and Roman sculpture, he was equally well-known for his skills as an administrator and teacher. He was appointed Assistant Curator of Coins at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, in 1922, leaving the post to become Director of the British School in Rome in 1925. Tempted by the opportunity of proximity to the British Museum collections and library, Ashmole returned to England in 1929 to take up the Yates Chair of Classical Archaeology at the University of London (1929–48), soon arranging a transfer to the university of the museum’s collection of plaster casts. As Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum (1939–56), he was largely responsible for the eventual display of the Elgin Marbles in the Duveen Gallery. He returned to Oxford in 1956 as Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology, from which post he retired in ...
Article
Robin Hägg
[now Kastraki]
Coastal site in the north-eastern Peloponnese in southern Greece, 8 km south-east of Navplion. Centred around an easily defended rocky promontory (acropolis), the settlement is remarkable for its long, almost uninterrupted history of habitation, from at least c. 4000
On the north-west slope of the acropolis there was an almost continuous habitation: especially remarkable are an apsidal house of the Early Helladic period (...
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Iain Browning
[now Bilkis]
Site in southern Turkey of a Greek and Roman city that flourished c. 100