Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquity

Autores
Peña Monné, Jose Luis; Sampietro Vattuone, Maria Marta
Año de publicación
2023
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
At the foot of Mount Helicon, in Boeotia, Central Greece, is located the Valley of the Muses, traversed by the Askris River. The valley was known in the Antiquity as the location of the Sanctuary of the Muses, where every four years festivals (Mouseia) were held in honor of the muses. It was also the place of birth of the poet Hesiod. Therefore, even today it retains a special mythical appeal. At that time, the humidity provided by the mountain massif surrounding the valley should have helped to create an ideal landscape to stimulate poetic inspiration and literary and musical creativity. In the words of Pausanias ‘Helikon is one of the mountains of Greece with the most fertile soil and the greatest number of cultivated trees. The wild-strawberry bushes supply to the goats sweeter fruit than that growing anywhere else’. He also spoke of the existence of a ‘holly forest’ in the area of the Sanctuary. It is difficult to recognize this special environment at present at the head of the valley and on Mount Helicon, where the Muses Sanctuary was located and to imagine the magnetism of the area as a meeting point for such a particular artistic activity. This is because the imprint left by the complex process of subsequent human occupation of the area generated profound changes in the landscape of the valley, also extensive to nearby areas. Besides, only a few remains of the theater and the Sanctuary of the Muses as well as such ancient settlements of the surroundings, as Askra and Thespies, are lying under present crops or scrub. Much archaeological and geoarchaeological information about these historic sites and landscapes however has been recovered since 1978 due to the Boeotia Project directed by John Bintliff and Anthony Snodgrass.
Fil: Peña Monné, Jose Luis. Universidad de Zaragoza. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras; España
Fil: Sampietro Vattuone, Maria Marta. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Laboratorio de Geoarqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
Materia
GEOARCHAEOLOGY
HOLOCENE
LAND DEGRADATION
KARST
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/223022

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spelling Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquityPeña Monné, Jose LuisSampietro Vattuone, Maria MartaGEOARCHAEOLOGYHOLOCENELAND DEGRADATIONKARSThttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6At the foot of Mount Helicon, in Boeotia, Central Greece, is located the Valley of the Muses, traversed by the Askris River. The valley was known in the Antiquity as the location of the Sanctuary of the Muses, where every four years festivals (Mouseia) were held in honor of the muses. It was also the place of birth of the poet Hesiod. Therefore, even today it retains a special mythical appeal. At that time, the humidity provided by the mountain massif surrounding the valley should have helped to create an ideal landscape to stimulate poetic inspiration and literary and musical creativity. In the words of Pausanias ‘Helikon is one of the mountains of Greece with the most fertile soil and the greatest number of cultivated trees. The wild-strawberry bushes supply to the goats sweeter fruit than that growing anywhere else’. He also spoke of the existence of a ‘holly forest’ in the area of the Sanctuary. It is difficult to recognize this special environment at present at the head of the valley and on Mount Helicon, where the Muses Sanctuary was located and to imagine the magnetism of the area as a meeting point for such a particular artistic activity. This is because the imprint left by the complex process of subsequent human occupation of the area generated profound changes in the landscape of the valley, also extensive to nearby areas. Besides, only a few remains of the theater and the Sanctuary of the Muses as well as such ancient settlements of the surroundings, as Askra and Thespies, are lying under present crops or scrub. Much archaeological and geoarchaeological information about these historic sites and landscapes however has been recovered since 1978 due to the Boeotia Project directed by John Bintliff and Anthony Snodgrass.Fil: Peña Monné, Jose Luis. Universidad de Zaragoza. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras; EspañaFil: Sampietro Vattuone, Maria Marta. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Laboratorio de Geoarqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaArchaeopress2023-12info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/223022Peña Monné, Jose Luis; Sampietro Vattuone, Maria Marta; Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquity; Archaeopress; Journal of Greek Archaeology; 8; 12-2023; 279-2982059-4674CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://archaeopresspublishing.com/ojs/index.php/JGA/article/view/2361info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-03T09:56:28Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/223022instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-03 09:56:28.391CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquity
title Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquity
spellingShingle Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquity
Peña Monné, Jose Luis
GEOARCHAEOLOGY
HOLOCENE
LAND DEGRADATION
KARST
title_short Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquity
title_full Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquity
title_fullStr Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquity
title_full_unstemmed Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquity
title_sort Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquity
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Peña Monné, Jose Luis
Sampietro Vattuone, Maria Marta
author Peña Monné, Jose Luis
author_facet Peña Monné, Jose Luis
Sampietro Vattuone, Maria Marta
author_role author
author2 Sampietro Vattuone, Maria Marta
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv GEOARCHAEOLOGY
HOLOCENE
LAND DEGRADATION
KARST
topic GEOARCHAEOLOGY
HOLOCENE
LAND DEGRADATION
KARST
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.5
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv At the foot of Mount Helicon, in Boeotia, Central Greece, is located the Valley of the Muses, traversed by the Askris River. The valley was known in the Antiquity as the location of the Sanctuary of the Muses, where every four years festivals (Mouseia) were held in honor of the muses. It was also the place of birth of the poet Hesiod. Therefore, even today it retains a special mythical appeal. At that time, the humidity provided by the mountain massif surrounding the valley should have helped to create an ideal landscape to stimulate poetic inspiration and literary and musical creativity. In the words of Pausanias ‘Helikon is one of the mountains of Greece with the most fertile soil and the greatest number of cultivated trees. The wild-strawberry bushes supply to the goats sweeter fruit than that growing anywhere else’. He also spoke of the existence of a ‘holly forest’ in the area of the Sanctuary. It is difficult to recognize this special environment at present at the head of the valley and on Mount Helicon, where the Muses Sanctuary was located and to imagine the magnetism of the area as a meeting point for such a particular artistic activity. This is because the imprint left by the complex process of subsequent human occupation of the area generated profound changes in the landscape of the valley, also extensive to nearby areas. Besides, only a few remains of the theater and the Sanctuary of the Muses as well as such ancient settlements of the surroundings, as Askra and Thespies, are lying under present crops or scrub. Much archaeological and geoarchaeological information about these historic sites and landscapes however has been recovered since 1978 due to the Boeotia Project directed by John Bintliff and Anthony Snodgrass.
Fil: Peña Monné, Jose Luis. Universidad de Zaragoza. Facultad de Filosofía y Letras; España
Fil: Sampietro Vattuone, Maria Marta. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales e Instituto Miguel Lillo. Laboratorio de Geoarqueología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina
description At the foot of Mount Helicon, in Boeotia, Central Greece, is located the Valley of the Muses, traversed by the Askris River. The valley was known in the Antiquity as the location of the Sanctuary of the Muses, where every four years festivals (Mouseia) were held in honor of the muses. It was also the place of birth of the poet Hesiod. Therefore, even today it retains a special mythical appeal. At that time, the humidity provided by the mountain massif surrounding the valley should have helped to create an ideal landscape to stimulate poetic inspiration and literary and musical creativity. In the words of Pausanias ‘Helikon is one of the mountains of Greece with the most fertile soil and the greatest number of cultivated trees. The wild-strawberry bushes supply to the goats sweeter fruit than that growing anywhere else’. He also spoke of the existence of a ‘holly forest’ in the area of the Sanctuary. It is difficult to recognize this special environment at present at the head of the valley and on Mount Helicon, where the Muses Sanctuary was located and to imagine the magnetism of the area as a meeting point for such a particular artistic activity. This is because the imprint left by the complex process of subsequent human occupation of the area generated profound changes in the landscape of the valley, also extensive to nearby areas. Besides, only a few remains of the theater and the Sanctuary of the Muses as well as such ancient settlements of the surroundings, as Askra and Thespies, are lying under present crops or scrub. Much archaeological and geoarchaeological information about these historic sites and landscapes however has been recovered since 1978 due to the Boeotia Project directed by John Bintliff and Anthony Snodgrass.
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023-12
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/223022
Peña Monné, Jose Luis; Sampietro Vattuone, Maria Marta; Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquity; Archaeopress; Journal of Greek Archaeology; 8; 12-2023; 279-298
2059-4674
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/223022
identifier_str_mv Peña Monné, Jose Luis; Sampietro Vattuone, Maria Marta; Geoarchaeological evidence of landscape degradation in the Valley of the Muses (Boeotia, Greece) during classical antiquity; Archaeopress; Journal of Greek Archaeology; 8; 12-2023; 279-298
2059-4674
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://archaeopresspublishing.com/ojs/index.php/JGA/article/view/2361
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Archaeopress
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Archaeopress
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instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
reponame_str CONICET Digital (CONICET)
collection CONICET Digital (CONICET)
instname_str Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.name.fl_str_mv CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
repository.mail.fl_str_mv dasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.ar
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