Site details

Hagios Stephanos: Helos(?)

PK	C1093
TITLE	Hagios Stephanos: Helos(?)
WGS84	36.827094° N, 22.632481° E
Accuracy	20 m.

LAT/LON	36.827094, 22.632481
LON/LAT	22.632481, 36.827094

DMS

36° 49' 37.5384" N

22° 37' 56.9316" E

W3W	throwaway, tusks, fence
UTM	34 S, 645586, 4076935
EGSA87	377896, 4076276

Elevation m	22
Elevation feet	72.2
Region	Laconia

GENERAL SITE TYPE Settlement

TYPE

1.    Artifacts.   Taylour [1972], 246
2.    hab.   Simpson and Janko [2011], 104    '... marking Ayios Stephanos as a large 'village' at this time (LHIIIC Early, rhc).'
3.    Pottery.   Taylour [1972], 268    'The Mycenaean Pottery'
4.    Settlement.   Simpson and Dickinson [1979], 112    'The BA settlement was large...'
5.    Settlement.   Ålin [1962], 94    'Taylour und Simpson fanden hier bei Grabungen 1959-60 eine kleinere Siedlung mit Gräbern und Scherben ... '
6.    Settlement.   Simpson [1981], 105    'The Mycenaean settlement occupied an area about 160 m. in diameter, ...'
7.    Town.   Simpson [2018], 308    'Ayios Stephanos is accordingly marked as the site most likely to have given rise to the tradition of a "city by the sea" in the (Homeric, rhc) Catalogue ... '
8.    Town.   Iliad,     ' ..., and that held Amyclae and Helus, ... '

SITE SIZE

- Simpson [1981]  p. 105,  Size: 20106 sq. m.  'The Mycenaean settlement occupied an area about 160 m. in diameter, ...'

- Taylour [1972]  p. 205,  Size: 45000 sq. m.

- Simpson and Dickinson [1979]  p. 112,  Size: 20106 sq. m.  '...occupying an area approximately 160 m. in diameter.'

- Simpson [2018]  p. 307,  Size: 26500 sq. m.  ' ..., covering an area estimated as at least 26,500 m2 ... '

PERIOD (High Chronology)

1. EH: (3100 BC - 2000 BC)
    a.    Ålin [1962]: 94, ' ... und Scherben aus FH, MH und SH Zeit.'

2. EH II: (2700 BC - 2200 BC)
    a.    Simpson [1981]: 105, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIB2 C H'
    b.    Simpson and Dickinson [1979]: 112, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIIB2 C H','It was first certainly inhabited in EH II, ... '

3. Middle Helladic: (2000 BC - 1600 BC)
    a.    Simpson [1981]: 105, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIB2 C H', ' ... continuously inhabited from some time in MH until ... '
    b.    Simpson and Dickinson [1979]: 112, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIIB2 C H',' ..., and then continuously inhabited until the end of LH IIIB.'
    c.    Ålin [1962]: 94, 'Scherben reichten von MH bis IIIB.'

4. Late Helladic: (1700 BC - 1050 BC)
    a.    Ålin [1962]: 94, 'Einige dieser Gräber konnten durch Vasenfunde sicher als mykenisch festgestellt werden, ... '

5. Late Helladic I: (1700 BC - 1635 BC)
    a.    Simpson [1981]: 105, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIB2 C H'
    b.    Simpson and Dickinson [1979]: 112, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIIB2 C H'
    c.    Taylour [1972]: 268, 'The bulk of the material dates from L.H. I/L.H. II.', ' ... a Mycenaean settlement of average prosperity, evidenced in two main periods, L.H. I/II and late IIIB.'

6. Late Helladic II: (1635 BC - 1410 BC)
    a.    Simpson [1981]: 105, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIB2 C H', ' ... important stratified pottery sequence from MH to LH IIA ... '
    b.    Simpson and Dickinson [1979]: 112, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIIB2 C H'
    c.    Taylour [1972]: 268, 'The bulk of the material dates from L.H. I/L.H. II.', ' ... a Mycenaean settlement of average prosperity, evidenced in two main periods, L.H. I/II and late IIIB.'

7. LH III: (1410 BC - 1060 BC)
    a.    Taylour [1972]: 268, 'The bulk of the L.H. III material came from a single trench (Δ 3), ... '

8. LH IIIA: (1410 BC - 1315 BC)
    a.    Simpson [1981]: 105, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIB2 C H'
    b.    Simpson and Dickinson [1979]: 112, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIIB2 C H'
    c.    Ålin [1962]: 94, 'Scherben reichten von MH bis IIIB.'
    d.    Taylour [1972]: 270, 'There are very few sherds which can definitely be assigned to either part of L.H. IIIA or to the earliest part of IIIB.'

9. LH IIIA2: (1375 BC - 1320 BC)
    a.    Simpson [2018]: 307, 'Ayios Stephanos was the largest settlement here in the Bronze Age, at least until its partial destruction in LH IIIA2 Early.'

10. LH IIIB: (1320 BC - 1190 BC)
    a.    Simpson and Dickinson [1979]: 112, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIIB2 C H','The site appears to have been abandoned at the end of LH IIIB or shortly after ... '
    b.    Ålin [1962]: 94, 'Scherben reichten von MH bis IIIB.', 'Einfache IIIB-Keramik, ..., dominierte bei dieser Siedlung, ... '
    c.    Taylour [1972]: 270, 'There are very few sherds which can definitely be assigned to either part of L.H. IIIA or to the earliest part of IIIB.', ' ... a Mycenaean settlement of average prosperity, evidenced in two main periods, L.H. I/II and late IIIB.'

11. LH IIIB1: (1320 BC - 1250 BC)
    a.    Simpson [1981]: 105, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIB2 C H'
    b.    Simpson and Dickinson [1979]: 112, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIIB2 C H'

12. LH IIIB2: (1250 BC - 1190 BC)
    a.    Simpson [1981]: 105, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIIB2 C H', ' ... continuously inhabited ... until the end of LH IIIB.'
    b.    Simpson and Dickinson [1979]: 112, 'N? EH II MH LH I-IIIB2 C H'
    c.    Simpson [2018]: 307, ' ... its short renaissance from late in LH IIIB2 to the end of LH IIIC Early, ... '

13. LH IIIC: (1190 BC - 1060 BC)
    a.    Simpson and Janko [2011]: 103, '... LH IIIC Early, ...'
    b.    Ålin [1962]: 94, 'Aus IIIC stammt doch ein abgebildeter Amphoriskos mit ungewöhnlicher Halsform ... '
    c.    Simpson [2018]: 307, ' ... its short renaissance from late in LH IIIB2 to the end of LH IIIC Early, ... '

NOTES

1. Simpson [2018] 308 proposes Hagios Stephanos as the Homeric Helos: "Ayios Stephanos is accordingly marked as the site most likely to have given rise to the tradition of a "city by the sea" in the Catalogue and of a city besieged (as in the later traditions)."

2. http://www.ajaonline.org/online-review-book/684

rhc

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Ålin [1962]: Ålin, Per. Das Ende der mykenischen Fundstätten auf dem griechischen Festland. Carl Bloms Boktryckeri A.-B., Lund, 1962., 'Ajios Stefanos', pg. 94.

2. Iliad: Homer. Iliad. The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924., '2.584', Online here.

3. Simpson [1981]: Simpson, Richard Hope. Mycenaean Greece. Park Ridge, New Jersey: Noyes Press, 1981., 'E 14 Ayios Stephanos', pg. 105. Online here.

4. Simpson [2018]: Simpson, Richard Hope. Mycenaean Greece and Homeric Tradition. published online under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. 2018, 'Helos (Il. 2. 584)', pg. 306. Online here.

5. Simpson and Dickinson [1979]: Simpson, Richard Hope and O.T.P.K. Dickinson. A Gazetteer of Aegean Civilization in the Bronze Age, Vol. I: The Mainland and the Islands. Paul Åströms Förlag, Goteborg. 1979., 'C 17 Ayios Stephanos', pg. 112. Online here.

6. Simpson and Janko [2011]: Simpson, Richard Hope and Richard Janko. ‘Ayios Stephanos in Southern Laconia and the Locations of Ancient Helos’, Studi Micenei ed Egeo-Anatolici, 53, pp. 97-130, 2011, '14. Ayios Stephanos', pg. 103. Online here.

7. Taylour [1972]: Taylour, W.D.,. ‘Excavations at Ayios Stephanos’, The Annual of the British School at Athens, 67, pp. 205-270, 1972, '', pg. 246. Online here.