AJA 129.1 - January 2025

Current Issue: January 2025 (129.1)

The American Journal of Archaeology (AJA) is one of the world’s most distinguished and widely distributed journals devoted to archaeology and has set the standard for archaeological scholarship since 1885. The AJA publishes original research on the diverse peoples and material cultures of the Mediterranean and related areas. Learn more.

The Colossal Archaic Naxian Statues in the Sanctuary of Apollo on Delos

Left hand of marble statue, two views. Archaeological Museum of Delos A4094. Sample for analysis was taken from the inner edge near the break to the wrist (W. Martini).

By Kenneth Alan Sheedy and Scott Pike

This article presents data from the stable isotope analysis of marble from five fragments of sculpture and a massive base that together are said to comprise the remains of the statue on Delos known as the Naxian Colossus. This key work in the early history of monumental Greek marble sculpture has attracted the attention of travelers since the 15th century (Buondelmonti, Cyriacus of Ancona). Plutarch’s testimony that the great andrias of the Naxians was knocked...

The Trojan Ketos on the Hesione Vase: Iconography, Paleogeography, and Osteology

Column krater depicting Herakles, Hesione, and the Trojan Ketos, ca. 575–550 BCE, from Caere. Boston, Museum of Fine Arts 63.420, acq. 1963 (© 2024 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston).

By Stephen Croft

This archaeological note proposes that the animal skull appearing on the Hesione Vase (Museum of Fine Arts Boston 63.420) and often identified as a Miocene giraffid belongs to an equid. The imagery of the sixth-century BCE vase is examined in relation to the iconographic tradition of the Lernaean Hydra and the ketos (sea monster). The paleogeography of the Corinthia and comparative osteology of the skull are considered. The possibility is raised that the skull belongs to...

Beyceğiz Tumulus: A Middle Phrygian Cenotaph near Gordion

Entrance to the 2013 robber tunnel into the tumulus as found, with Vahap Kaya handing one of the Middle Phrygian sherds from the spoil heap to Gordion Museum guard İbrahim Bolat, with Mehmet Akalın of the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara (Z. Utğu).

By Richard F. Liebhart, Braden W. Cordivari, Lucas Stephens, Mustafa Metin and Elspeth R.M. Dusinberre

The Beyceğiz Tumulus, 11.5 km east of the Phrygian capital of Gordion, was the target of multiple looting attempts, prompting a salvage excavation from 2013 to 2017 by the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara in partnership with the Gordion Archaeological Project. Remote sensing indicated a chamber-shaped anomaly near the tumulus center, which became the focus of excavation. The anomaly turned out to be a stone platform built on bedrock, which proved to be the ce...

The Sanctuary of Apollo Hyperteleatas in Laconia: A Central Perioikic Cult in the Malea Peninsula

Bronze statuette of Apollo Hyperdexios, early fifth century BCE, ht. 9.2 cm. Athens, National Archaeological Museum 7599; acq. 1893 (courtesy Hellenic National Archaeological Museum/Hellenic Ministry of Culture).

By Nicolette Pavlides

The aim of this article is to investigate the local religious habits of the perioikoi (dwellers around), the free populations living in small city-states (poleis) in Laconia and Messenia during the Archaic and Classical periods, when Laconia was under Spartan control. As a case study, I examine the sanctuary of Apollo Hyperteleatas, located beside the Molaoi Plain in the Malea Peninsula of Greece. The discussion considers the sanctuary of Apollo Hyperteleatas fr...

Byzantium in “Africa”

View of the entrance to Africa and Byzantium, on view 19 November 2023 to 3 March 2024 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (A.-M. Kellen; courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art).

By Risham MajeedAvailable as Open Access

A major exhibition displacing Europe as the engine that shaped global Christianity is a moment to savor. Africa and Byzantium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York presented northern Africa as a sophisticated and equal partner in the fabrication of visual status in late antiquity instead of as it has customarily been seen, as a derivative province in the Roman world. It drew a general public’s attention to the constitutive role played by lands south of...

Shipwreck Assemblages and Network Analysis: Reconstructing the Furniture Trade in the Mediterranean Using First-Century BCE Shipwrecks

Form III fulcra with a double spur from the Fourmigue C shipwreck (ca. 80–60 BCE): a, frame with a bust of Artemis (ht. of bust 10.3 cm) and a horse protome with a panther skin (ht. 17 cm); b, frame with a bust of Silenus and a mule protome (Baudoin et al. 1994, pls. 1a, 1b, respectively; P. Foliot and A. Chene; courtesy Centre Camille Jullian, CNRS).

By Carrie E. Atkins

Elite Romans residing in opulent villas in central Italy during the first century BCE are generally viewed as the main consumers driving the trade in luxury goods. However, evidence from shipwrecks shows this is not the full picture. This article utilizes assemblage theory and network analysis to examine relationships between luxury furniture and shipwreck assemblages in the Mediterranean in the first century BCE. It starts first with discussion of couches (klinai) and t...

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