Naxos

This marble piece, found in the city of Naxos in Sicily, was first published in 1985 by Margherita Guarducci. The dedicatory inscription to the goddess Enyo, a very ancient warrior deity also worshipped in the Cyclades in the Aegean and at Cyrene in North Africa, and the letter forms point to Cycladic Naxos, indicating a close connection between the two Naxos. This piece is now kept in the Archaeological Museum of Syracuse.

The coins of Naxos are among the oldest issued in the Greek West. The recurring theme is the head of the god Dionysus on the obverse and Silenus drinking from a cup of wine on the reverse. These were the emblems chosen by the authorities of Naxos for their coins. It should not be assumed that the cult of Dionysus was automatically present in the city. However, it is worth saying that the reference to the fertility of the land and to vine-growing in these images may have been a wish expressed by the city for this condition to be fulfilled. It is worth remembering that Naxos lay at the entrance to a fertile plain, nourished by the lava of the volcano Etna.

The inscribed pottery fragments were all found in the harbour installations of Naxos. Almost all date from the 5th century BC. These graffiti, made on already finished vessels, are largely trade marks, marks of ownership and references to the symposium. There are also graffiti recording votes in the context of political decisions in the city (ostraka)

Several arulae, small private altars made of stone or clay, have been found at Naxos.

Fragmentary pottery from Naxos. Pottery has been called the "curse of archaeology": whole pieces and fragments are extremely numerous in all excavations of Greek cities, which always makes the research needed to interpret them very laborious. But its documentary potential is enormous. Not only do we learn how vessels were part of the daily life of the Greeks, but through them we can detect religious rituals; we can assign specific functions to buildings that archaeology reveals only in outline; we can date entire spaces by the occurrence of certain types of vessel, and so on. We can even date the different phases of occupation of a site through the precise study of pottery styles and shapes. Sometimes a single fragment can transport us directly into ancient society.

Many of the pottery fragments found at Naxos come from a sacrificial pit (bothros) excavated in houses of the Archaic period. It is interesting to note that these first houses were built over huts or other remains of the Iron Age "Thapsos culture" in Sicily. Among these fragments there is Corinthian, Euboean and Phoenician pottery.

Bronze armour: helmet. Here too it is interesting to observe how knowledge is conveyed differently in black-and-white and in colour images. Which brings us closer to material reality? What impression is conveyed by photographs of the object alone, fragmented and out of its context of use?

Pottery has been called the "curse of archaeology": whole pieces and fragments are extremely numerous in all excavations of Greek cities, which always makes the research needed to interpret them very laborious. But its documentary potential is enormous. Not only do we learn how vessels were part of the daily life of the Greeks, but through them we can detect religious rituals; we can assign specific functions to buildings that archaeology reveals only in outline; we can date entire spaces by the occurrence of certain types of vessel, and so on. We can even date the different phases of occupation of a site through the precise study of pottery styles and shapes. Sometimes a single fragment can transport us directly into ancient society.

As with pottery, at most Classical sites terracotta statuettes are always very numerous. Toys, portable ritual objects, ornaments, architectural decoration: terracottas are objects frequently found in archaeological contexts. Usually made in moulds, there are numerous statuettes reproduced from the same matrix.

Numerous plans of the city of Naxos are shown here. The point is to show how a city, which is necessarily a three-dimensional reality, is represented in flat form and in very varied ways. Some show the urban grid by period of development; others focus more on the sacred areas, others highlight the size of the blocks, others record the distribution of objects in space, and so on. Together they form a body of documentation that helps us understand how the inhabitants organised activities in the space of a city.

The urban grid of Naxos was orthogonal, roughly N-S and E-W. In fact there are two superimposed plans, an older one and a more recent one, with a slight difference in orientation between them. Black volcanic stone was widely used in building walls. Quite significant is the fact that many street corners were marked with larger square stones, perhaps with some ritual meaning.

There is always a debate about Greek urban grids: were they built from a street-layout design or from a specific measurement of blocks? An interesting topic with several interpretative strands, including philosophical questions.

The urban grid of Naxos was orthogonal, roughly N-S and E-W. Black volcanic stone was widely used in building walls. Quite significant is the fact that many street corners were marked with larger square stones, perhaps with some ritual meaning.

Views of the Bay of Naxos. Note the good topographical position chosen for the city.

Kilns for firing terracotta or ceramic objects installed inside the temenos of the Archaic sanctuary.

The circular kiln was probably used for firing pottery vessels and the rectangular kiln for firing tiles.

Spaces used as work areas are often identified by waste from the objects produced, by objects discarded because they were defective, and also by the presence of moulds or other tools. In this sample of images we can see all these examples. The concentration of amphorae in a space next to the naval arsenal of Naxos may also suggest the existence of a commercial agora near the harbour.

Sanctuary on the other side of the Santa Venera stream, to the west and outside the city walls.

Location of an extra-urban sanctuary beyond the Santa Venera stream on the Scalia property.

At Naxos a 7th-century BC temenos dedicated to Aphrodite was excavated, in which an altar, remains of the various phases of the temple (7th and 6th centuries BC) and several pottery kilns can be distinguished. This temenos lies at the southern edge of the city, bordering the wall itself. Two entrances to the sacred area have been identified: a larger, more monumental one to the north (propylon) and a simpler one to the south. This sacred area is also associated with one of the gates (gate 3) in the walls, which opens precisely onto the Santa Venera stream and the area not enclosed by the wall. We should remember that this gate could have provided the link with the extra-urban sanctuaries beyond the Santa Venera stream, which lie roughly in the same direction.

Located near Capo Schisò, the small Archaic temple C documents religious life in the early days of the apoikia of Naxos. It lies in the oldest layer of the city (8th century BC)

Building techniques are elements that make it possible to date a building, identify trade routes for raw materials, and gauge the degree of technological complexity reached by a human group. The excavations at Naxos show numerous construction details of great importance for our knowledge of Greek society between the 8th and 4th centuries BC.

Roofs, pediments and façades in the public architecture of Naxos often received painted clay decoration. The eaves of the roofs ended in tiles adorned with heads of sileni, gorgons or other figures, called antefixes; painted bands adorned the upper part of the walls; the pediments were painted in bright colours.

Naxos has been extensively excavated and today many sectors of the ancient city can be visited by ordinary tourists. Other sectors remain beneath the modern town of Giardini Naxos. Underwater surveys have also been carried out off the coast at Naxos, revealing important aspects of the harbour installations.

One aspect of the archaeologist's work is to record the proportions of the various finds at an archaeological site. In this case the proportions of the various types of amphorae found in the naval arsenal of Naxos are calculated, pointing to the origins of the city's imports. Other graphs help us visualise the distribution of structures in space.

When laying out a city, a grid organising its space, the question of water supply and drainage could not be overlooked. Clay pipes and drainage channels of cut stone have been found in abundance in Greek cities. Whether feeding water to cisterns and wells or draining rainwater and/or wastewater, piping was a fundamental element in the functioning of a city.

Numerous houses have been excavated at Naxos as the streets and roads were uncovered. Residential structures from the time of the foundation to the Hellenistic period have thus been detected. Internal plans of residences have been recovered, showing how the small everyday cosmos of the inhabitants was organised. It is very interesting to note here how the archaeologist works, interpreting and/or recovering the function of spaces from simple rows of stones. These, together with finds of pottery, fragments of tiles, work tools and instruments of religious ritual, even allow archaeologists to hypothesise the height and shape of the houses.

Iron Age buildings at Naxos, streets and corners of the first Greek installations at Naxos.

These maps clearly show the geographical position of Naxos, initially located on a small peninsula enclosing a bay. From the time of the foundation the harbour lay well inside the bay.

The harbour of Naxos has been extensively excavated, both on land and under water. The archaeological documentation recovered is enormous, showing how a Greek harbour functioned in the Classical period. It should be explained that few ancient Greek harbours have been excavated as extensively as that of Naxos. Here the installations of a real naval arsenal were discovered, with space for building and housing ships. On the basis of the archaeological finds, numerous reconstructions have been made, such as those seen in these images.

The small museum at the archaeological site of Naxos preserves the objects found during the excavations, presented in an educational way for visitors.

Naxos had walls from the Archaic period. Built of black volcanic stone, many stretches can be identified today when visiting the site. Likewise, many gates have been identified in these walls, linking the most densely populated area with the surrounding area. On the south-west side, next to the sanctuary and temenos of Aphrodite, tower structures have been identified in the wall. These photographs show that, although walled, the city was not isolated from the territory outside the walls, since entire plateiai led directly to the gates. It is also worth noting that on the south side a gate in the city walls opened directly into the sanctuary of Aphrodite.