Ancient Greek 'backwater' actually a bustling metropolis, research shows
The discovery of a street grid and various cultural objects could shift the historical narrative of Thessaly.
A fragment of red-figure pottery from the late 6th century BC, possibly by Attic painter Paseas.
SIA/EFAK/YPPOA
In Thessaly, the unassuming ruins at Vloch贸s can be found settled among sprawling plains. Perhaps drawing from the rustic beauty of the Greek countryside, academics long assumed that this region was dotted by simple rural dwellings in the days of antiquity. But when archaeologists finally explored Vloch贸s, they found something entirely different: evidence of a sophisticated city.
The ruins, which were discovered at least 200 years ago, bear a modest face. The site encompasses about 100 acres of rocky terrain, studded only with the scattered remains of walls, towers, and gates. But when researchers from the Vloch贸s Archaeological Project (VLAP) mapped the site with ground-penetrating radar in September, 鈥� complete with a street grid, town square, various coins, and pottery 鈥� buried beneath the surface.
These preliminary results represent a considerable shift in the historical narrative of ancient Thessaly 鈥� from 鈥渂ackwater鈥� rags to cultural riches. In doing so, they may also provide some insight into an inclination to underestimate the sophistication of ancient people.
There can be a certain arrogance that comes with modernity. As computers become increasingly powerful and portable, it becomes harder to imagine a world in which we navigated by stars and hand-drawn maps, rather than GPS.
The History Channel鈥檚 鈥淎ncient Aliens,鈥� for example, attributes humanity鈥檚 most notable historical achievements to benevolent extraterrestrials. This show is compelling, despite its absurdity, because it鈥檚 predicated on a common disbelief: that humans simply couldn鈥檛 have done it alone.
鈥淚t鈥檚 true that we tend to underestimate the incredible mobility of people in the past,鈥� Stephen Scully, a professor of classical studies at Boston University, tells 海角大神 in a phone interview. 鈥淟ong before Marco Polo, contacts between the East and West were being made through trade routes. Villages weren鈥檛 always so isolated and static. It was a very vast world, much broader than we tend to think.鈥�
鈥淚n Homer, you find references to people like the Laestrygonians," he adds. "They live half the year in light, and the other half in darkness, harboring their ships in narrow channels between cliffs. It sounds very much like an exaggerated description of a fjord. Did Homer visit them? No, but these stories are somehow transmitted.鈥�
So too was Vloch贸s overlooked. Greek authorities were long familiar with the Thessalian ruins, but inaccessible terrain and a lack of literary references to the region deterred serious exploration. When archaeologists from the local Ephorate, the University of Gothenburg, and the University of Bournemouth decided to examine the area, there had been no previous systematic surveys performed on the site.
鈥淭hessaly is rarely mentioned in ancient literary sources, which has lead to the erroneous conclusion by some that it was unimportant or 鈥榖ackwards,鈥欌�� lead researcher Robin R枚nnlund, a PhD student in archaeology at the University of Gothenburg, tells the Monitor in an email. 鈥淎ny scholar studying this wonderful region would tell you the same thing: it was not a backwater, but an important and influential part of the ancient world.鈥�
Though the oldest objects discovered on site were from about 500 BC, the city apparently flourished in the late fourth and third centuries of that era. It was abandoned some time later, perhaps due to the Roman conquest of the area, but a vibrant culture appears to have sprung up around the time of Alexander the Great, who ruled from nearby Macedonia.
鈥淭hat things in Thessaly would be expanding under Alexander makes some sense,鈥� Scully says. 鈥淎lexander spread his influence all over the Mediterranean and all the way to India, but there was always a base in Macedonia.鈥�
The discovery of a city at Vloch贸s may provide further evidence that the region as a whole, which was once thought to be sparsely populated, was a cultural center despite its relatively remote location.
鈥淭he preliminary results strengthens the notion that the region was a rich and prosperous one in antiquity, with proper cities benefiting from the fertile plains surrounding them,鈥� R枚nnlund says.
VLAP has chosen not to remove artifacts or physically excavate the site. A few surface finds, such as stray coins, will be housed at the Archaeological Museum of Karditsa. The international team plans to return to Vloch贸s in 2017 for further research.
鈥淥ne of the great splendors of archaeology is that the past is continually being discovered,鈥� Scully says. 鈥淎s new technologies are developed and archaeological discoveries are made, we can reconstruct how we imagine the past.鈥�