Arabises
| PK | C7271 |
| TITLE | Arabises |
| WGS84 | 39.207213° N, 22.45888° E |
| Accuracy | Unknown |
| LAT/LON | 39.207213, 22.45888 |
| LON/LAT | 22.45888, 39.207213 |
| DMS | 39° 12' 25.9668" N | , | 22° 27' 31.968" E |
| W3W | sinister, vitals, tallest |
| UTM | 34 S, 625960.45, 4340785.45 |
| EGSA87 | 366789, 4340616 |
| Elevation m | 524 |
| Elevation feet | 1719.2 |
| Region | Phthiotis |
GENERAL SITE TYPE Artifacts
TYPE
1. Artifacts. CAPSBLOG, ' ... areas of human activity, especially near Arabises which yielded Mycenaean, LHIIIC, EIA and Archaic/Classical material.'2. Fortress. Stählin [1926], 170 ' ... ein kleines Kastraki ... '
3. Hab. Stählin [1926], 176 Philippson quotes Stählin to this effect: A small prehistoric and cyclopean ruin ...
4. Wall. Stählin [1926], 176 Philippson quoting Stählin: '"kyklopische" Ruine ... '
5. Wall. Stählin [1926], 170 ' ... uber einer Quelle in der Flur Arabises (Άρáμπισες) mit fast ganz zerstörten, stark geböschten, kyklopischen Mauern von 4,20 m Dicke um einen oben abgeplatteten niedrigen Hügel.'
PERIOD (High Chronology)
1. Prehistoric: (4000 BC - 1190 BC)
2. Late Helladic: (1700 BC - 1050 BC)
a. CAPSBLOG: , ' ... which yielded Mycenaean, ... '
b. Stählin [1926]: 170, ? ' ... kyklopischen Mauern von ... '
3. LH IIIC: (1190 BC - 1060 BC)
a. CAPSBLOG: , ' ... areas of human activity, especially near Arabises which yielded Mycenaean, LHIIIC, EIA and ... '
NOTES
1. The website for CAPS has no page divisions or subsection headers.
2. In the early part of the last century Friedrich Stählin visited this part of Phthiotis and reported:
"In a lovely, park-like, valley near Kutseli there lies, one half hour west of that town over a spring in the territory of Arabises, a little fortied site ('Kastraki') with walls that are heavily overgrown and nearly destroyed. They are 4.2 m. thick (and) on the top of a low flattened hill. I even found a prehistoric sherd there. Around (bei) this valley are, perhaps, those Phthiotidian mountains for which Pliny (IV, 29) supplies a sequence of (poetic) names: Nymphaeus, Buzygaeus, Donacoesa, Bromiaeus, Daphusa, Chimarone, Athamas, Stephane."[1].
Stahlin's remarks are picked up in Philippson [1950] 176 who says:
""-- In the park-like lovely valley near (bei) Kutselir" (officially H. Antonios), which runs north-east from a ridge down to the Enipeus lies a small prehistoric and 'Cyclopean' ruin in the territory Arabises, above a spring west of the town (Dorf). Stählin (p. 170) reports a 'Nature park' in the area, which Pliny describes."
So to find the territory of Arabises requires that we know where the village Kutselir lies. Accepting the authority of Philippson, Simpson, and others, Kutselir is Hagios Antonios (F6497)[2]. This little village lies nestled in a small valley, surrounded by a jumble of mountains and it is traversed by a stream, the Kotsilorema (retaining the name Kutselir from former times), which flows north east into the Enipeus. The area to the W of this town is the district of Arabises. The specific location to which Stählin refers is most probably the little hill at the marker. It is exactly W of H. Antonios and at least 25 minutes walking distance so it fits the parameters that Stählin has provided. An alternative location is the little hill just to the NE of ours but it lies to the NW of the town and is no more than a 10 minute walk.In recent years this area has been the object of investigation by the Central Achaia Phthiotis Survey (or CAPS) and the 15th EPA. Their primary focus has been the Kastro of Kallithea (C5203) but they spent their pilot year of 2019 in an 'intensive survey of cultivated fields in the Kampos area, north of the Kastro, an area known as Arabises near Aghios Antonios'.[3] It was in this area that they report finding material: '... specific areas of human activity, especially near Arabises which yielded Mycenaean, LHIIIC, EIA and Archaic/Classical material.'[4]
Footnotes- Stählin [1926] 170. Pliny's text (actually IV, 15) reads "montes phthiotidis nymphaeus, quodam topiario naturae opere spectabilis, buzygaeus, donacoessa, bromiaeus, daphusa, chimarone, athamas, stephane." == "The mountains of Phthiotis are Nymphæus, once so beautiful for its garden scenery, the work of nature; Busygæus, Donacesa, Bermius, Daphusa, Chimerion, Athamas, and Stephane."
- Simpson [1981] 170, 'H 55 Ayios Antonios (formerly Koutseli): Holeva Trypa'
- From the CAPS website which is here.
- Idem.
Bibliography
- Philippson [1950]: Philippson, Alfred, Die Griechischen Landschaften; Der Nordosten der Griechischen Halbinsel; Teil I Thessalien und die Spercheios-Senke, Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main. 1950.
- Pliny, Historia Naturalis, IV, chap. 15 (8) which is online here
- Simpson [11981]: Simpson, Richard Hope, Mycenaean Greece, INSTAP Press, 1981.
- Stählin [1926]: Friedrich. Stählin, Das hellenische Thessalien, Verlag von J. Engelhorns Nachf. in Stuttgart. 1926. It can be found online here.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. CAPSBLOG: null. null, '', Online here.
2. Philippson [1950]: Philippson, Alfred. Die griechischen Landschaften Band 1. Der Nordosten der griechischen Halbinsel, Band I, Teil 1. Thessalien und die Spercheios-Senke. Eine Landeskunde. Frankfurt am Main, Vittorio Klostermann., '', pg. 176.
3. Stählin [1926]: Stählin, Friedrich. Das hellenische Thessalien. Verlag von J. Engelhorns Nachf. in Stuttgart, '', pg. 170.
Online here.