Abstract
The Ph.D. thesis scrutinizes the ancient fortified installations on the northern islands of the Dodecanese complex in the Aegean (Greece), namely Fournoi, Agathonisi, Farmakonisi, Arkioi, Leipsoi, Patmos, and Leros. These islands being geographically associated with the Ionian Metropolis of Miletus became known in modern research as Milesian islands. The presence of the city-state of Miletus and Milesian garrisons on the islands during the Classical and Hellenistic period, when the islands were institutionalized into a distinct deme of the Milesian state, is attested through inscriptions. Three types of construction are the most characteristic on the Milesian islands: towers, forts, and fortified settlements. A great variety of masonry styles is on display covering a chronological range from the late Classical to the late Hellenistic period, eras when the evolution in siege warfare and artillery, had a great impact on the design and construction of fortifications in the Mediterranean w ...
The Ph.D. thesis scrutinizes the ancient fortified installations on the northern islands of the Dodecanese complex in the Aegean (Greece), namely Fournoi, Agathonisi, Farmakonisi, Arkioi, Leipsoi, Patmos, and Leros. These islands being geographically associated with the Ionian Metropolis of Miletus became known in modern research as Milesian islands. The presence of the city-state of Miletus and Milesian garrisons on the islands during the Classical and Hellenistic period, when the islands were institutionalized into a distinct deme of the Milesian state, is attested through inscriptions. Three types of construction are the most characteristic on the Milesian islands: towers, forts, and fortified settlements. A great variety of masonry styles is on display covering a chronological range from the late Classical to the late Hellenistic period, eras when the evolution in siege warfare and artillery, had a great impact on the design and construction of fortifications in the Mediterranean world. Further constructional particularities that could suggest a Milesian style on fortifications have not been identified. However, the constructional and topographic analysis points to the exclusion of the Fournoi island complex from the Milesian group. The Fournoi cluster seems to have formed along with the islands of Samos and Ikaria a military network for monitoring sea routes by the end of the 4th c. and the beginning of the 3rd c. BC. The topographical deployment of the installations on the Milesian islands, the initiative behind their construction, as well as their importance for the Milesian defensive system and rural settlement pattern are topics that this study highlights. A notably interesting feature is intervisibility between the Milesian installations both in the insular environment of the Aegean and in the mainland Asia Minor coast. In particular, viewshed analysis documents that each fortified site is intervisible with at least two other fortified installations either on the islands either in the Milesian chòra. In an era of political turmoil for the region, since most cities and territories switched hands or alliances and maritime networks were constantly disrupted by piracy, the presence of the fortified installations links undoubtedly with a centralized effort to impose unity and hierarchy to rural areas, a tendency documented also in the mainland territory of Miletus, aiming both in protecting the rural population from potential sea- and coastal threats and in promoting agricultural activities and trade. The fortified installations could serve as observatories, places of refuge, and defense in case of jeopardy. However, these activities co-existed in the majority of cases with agricultural ones, since workshops, storerooms, and other evidence for productive activities best attest. For their abandonment, it seems that the frame of the Pax Romana rendered fortifications superfluous, and the means of agriculture and the architectural forms had changed at such a degree that fortified installations and the way of living they represented became obsolete from the 1st-2nd century A.D.
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Abstract
Costituisce lo scopo della presente ricerca Ph.D. il capilare studio degli insediamenti delle antiche fortificazioni delle isole settentrionali dell’arcipelago del Dodecaneso nel Mar Egeo e specificamente delle isole di Furni, Agatonisi, Farmacionisi, Lipsi, Archi, Patmo e Lero. Le suddette isole, essendo geograficamente legate alla Metropoli della Ionia, Mileto, furono note nell’ antichita come Sporades.
Nelle isole Milesie si conservano resti di varie opere di fortificazione. Tre sono i tipi più rappresentativi della costruzione: torri, fortezze, insediamenti fortificati e cascine fortificate. Una varietà si osserva anche nei tipi delle murature, che può coprire un arco di tempo compreso tra l’epoca tardo classica e l’epoca tardo ellenistica, periodo in cui l’evoluzione dell’arte dell’assedio e dell’artiglieria ha avuto una grande influenza sulla pianificazione e la costruzione delle fortificazioni nel mondo mediterraneo.
La disposizione topografica degli siti fortificati nelle ...
Costituisce lo scopo della presente ricerca Ph.D. il capilare studio degli insediamenti delle antiche fortificazioni delle isole settentrionali dell’arcipelago del Dodecaneso nel Mar Egeo e specificamente delle isole di Furni, Agatonisi, Farmacionisi, Lipsi, Archi, Patmo e Lero. Le suddette isole, essendo geograficamente legate alla Metropoli della Ionia, Mileto, furono note nell’ antichita come Sporades.
Nelle isole Milesie si conservano resti di varie opere di fortificazione. Tre sono i tipi più rappresentativi della costruzione: torri, fortezze, insediamenti fortificati e cascine fortificate. Una varietà si osserva anche nei tipi delle murature, che può coprire un arco di tempo compreso tra l’epoca tardo classica e l’epoca tardo ellenistica, periodo in cui l’evoluzione dell’arte dell’assedio e dell’artiglieria ha avuto una grande influenza sulla pianificazione e la costruzione delle fortificazioni nel mondo mediterraneo.
La disposizione topografica degli siti fortificati nelle isole Milesie, la quale enfaticamente mette in evidenza lo sviluppo di una rete, le ragioni per cui vengono eretti, nonché l’importanza che hanno per il sistema difensivo di Mileto e per il modello di insediamenti rurali durante l’età ellenistica costituiscono argomenti che verranno analizzati da questa ricerca. Le conclusioni di questo studio contribuiranno felicemente alla migliore comprensione dell’architettura fortificata dell’epoca ellenistica nelle isole del Mar Egeo.
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