Field Notes

008

Looting Crimea

A Once-Thriving Greek City on the Black Sea

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the site of ancient Panticapaeum, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, has become more and more accessible to archaeologists—and vandals. A thriving black market in looted antiquities is threatening to destroy the remains of the Greek city.

Located on the Crimean peninsula near a narrow strait connecting the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov, Panticapaeum (modern Kerch, in the Ukraine) prospered from trade in wheat and other goods. In 438 B.C. the region was conquered by the Spartocids, a Thracian tribe influenced by Greek culture, who ruled the Crimea from Panticapaeum for over 300 years.

The city thrived under the Spartocid dynasty. Some scholars estimate that during the fourth and third centuries B.C. Panticapaeum supported a population of 40,000 people, making it one of the largest cities in the Greek-speaking world. The city’s gold coinage and magnificently furnished rock tombs suggest that it was also one of the wealthiest.

A 6-foot-high relief carving (above) from the Spartocid period was recently uncovered in the city. Probably dating to the fourth century B.C., the carving shows the Greek harvest goddess Demeter seated on a chariot and greeting an as-yet-unidentified Spartocid king.

Because the Demeter relief was found by archaeologists, it will likely end up in the Kerch Museum, a dilapidated building on the outskirts of the city. The museum already houses a scattered collection of 2,000 Greek reliefs and stelae, along with numerous ancient gold objects—which, because there are no funds to display them safely, remain stored in a vault.

But even immurement in the Kerch Museum may be preferable to another fate awaiting ancient Panticapaeum. With rising unemployment in the region (salaries average about $50 a month) and waning police control, looting is a growing problem. Last year, a fourth- to third-century B.C. necropolis containing 70 graves was destroyed by vandals. Crimean antiquities and Scythian gold are being illegally excavated and smuggled out of the region, making their way to Kiev and Moscow and eventually turning up in New York and London.

009

The Terme Suburbane, Finally

More Fun in Pompeii

After 50 years of excavation and restoration, Pompeii’s Terme Suburbane (Suburban Baths) are at long last open to visitors.

One of seven bathing complexes known from ancient Pompeii, the two-story structure was located near the main entrance to the city. The Terme Suburbane were originally frequented by people coming into the city from outlying areas—hence the name of the baths.

This complex contained hot, warm and cold baths, along with a temperature-controlled swimming pool. Bathers would first enter the warm bath, or tepidarium, before moving on to the caldarium, where they would relax in scalding hot water. Following a massage or exfoliation treatment (in which dead skin was removed with a blunt scraper), bathers would proceed to the frigidarium for a refreshing plunge in a cool bath. Unusual for a Roman spa, the Terme Suburbane did not have separate dressing rooms for men and women. The locker area, where patrons stored their personal goods, was decorated with bawdy frescoes—including a rare image of female homosexuality. Although tourist brochures bill the bath as Pompeii’s “Red Light Spa,” scholars suggest that the pleasures of the flesh available here were not principally carnal.

009

What Do You Know About the Ammonites?

1) The floruit of the Ammonite Kingdom came during

a) the Middle Bronze Age (2200–1550 B.C.)
b) the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 B.C.)
c) the Iron Age (1200–582 B.C.)
d) the Hellenistic period (332–37 B.C.)

2) The Ammonite language is closely related to

a) Hebrew
b) Edomite
c) Phoenician
d) all of the above

3) How far is Amman, the ancient Ammonite capital, from Jerusalem, the most important city of the Ammonites’ bitter rivals, the Israelites?

a) more than 500 miles
b) 250 miles
c) about 150 miles
d) less than 50 miles

4) The Ammonites are often referred to in which of the following sources?

a) the annals of Assyrian emperors
b) Babylonian king lists
c) the Turin Erotic Papyrus
d) the Hittite archives from Hattusa

5) In the Bible, how did King David capture Rabbath Ammon (the Amman Citadel)?

a) by smashing the city wall with a battering ram
b) by seizing the Ammonite reservoir
c) by attacking at night with elite forces
d) all of the above

6) During the Hellenistic period, Amman was renamed

a) Antioch
b) Alexandria the Small
c) Philadelphia
d) Ptolemaea

7) The standing ruins on Amman’s Citadel mainly date to

a) the Iron Age
b) the Persian and Hellenistic periods
c) the Byzantine period
d) the Roman and early Islamic periods

8) In the seventh and eighth centuries A.D., Amman was ruled by what Islamic power?

a) the Umayyad Caliphate in Damascus
b) the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad
c) the Fatimid Dynasty in Cairo
d) the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul

9) Why is much of ancient Amman still unexcavated?

a) Jordanian law forbids the excavation of Islamic remains
b) modern buildings occupy the site
c) archaeologists have decided it’s not worth the effort
d) seismic activity makes excavation too dangerous

Answers

1)c, 2)d, 3)d, 4)a, 5)b, 6)c, 7)d, 8)a, 9)b

009

OddiFacts

Arab-ish

The flowering of science and mathematics in the medieval Islamic world had a great impact on the English language. Many mathematical terms we use today were borrowed from Arabic: algebra (al-Jabr), algorithm (Al-Khawarizmi), zenith (cenit), azimuth (al-sumut) and cipher (sifr), or zero. Our medical vocabulary owes a similar debt to the Arabic scholarship that entered Europe mainly through Spain and Sicily: elixir (al-Aksir), alcohol (al-kohl), alchemy (al-kimiya), camphor (kafur), aorta (avarta), pancreas (bankras) and peritoneum (baratene).

Looting Crimea