ARTICLES | 2026
The distribution of the Late Helladic IIIA-B ivory helmeted heads
Talanta XL-XLI (2008-2009) [2010]: 7-24.
Ivory artifacts, produced by the specialized palatial workshops during the Late Helladic IIIA-B (14th-13th century BC) were found in great numbers and in a variety of areas within the Aegean region. A small group of them consists of representations of the head and neck of male individuals that wear the boar’s tusk helmet. This type of helmet was a popular iconographic motif in the Aegean iconographic repertoire of the Late Bronze Age.I misteri del disco di Festo
Annuario della Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene LXXXVII (2009) [2010]: 191-207.
Since its discovery, the Phaistos Disc has been the object of thousands of attempts to decipher it, none of which is convincing. The author, having dealt for over 45 years with ancient Aegean scripts, has received over 300 proposals of interpretation of the text. Thus, we should ask the basic question: Is it possible to achieve a decipherment of the Phaistos Disc?Osservazioni su forme e luoghi del culto in età micenea
Annuario della Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene LXXXVII (2009) [2010]: 169-189.
Some aspects concerning the articulation of Mycenaean cult practices in relation to different social groups are considered. In particular, the problem of the wheel-made female figurines which played an important role in the sanctuaries of the Mycenaean citadels such as Mycenae, Tyrins, Phylakopi, is dealt with.La direzione di Doro Levi
Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente LXXXVII (2009) [2010]: 105-115.
Based also on personal experience, we try to sketch the complex figure of Director Levi, “restorer” of the School after its unfortunate closure during the Second World War. In particular, we stress the personality of the man, the organizer, the person who accomplishes things, and the teacher.Guido Libertini direttore della Scuola di Atene alla vigilia del conflitto italo-ellenico (1939-1940)
Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente LXXXVII (2009) [2010]: 91-104.
Guido Libertini became Director of the Italian School of Archaeology at Athens in 1940, after the removal of Alessandro Della Seta for racial reasons, in a difficult moment because of the coolness of the Greek-Italian relations on the eve of the war between the two countries.Eubea, terra promessa: Luigi Pernier e la ricerca di uno scavi fuori di Creta
Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente LXXXVII (2009) [2010]: 79-90.
This is a small chapter in the one-hundred-year history of School, which is linked with the faltering steps at the beginning and which gives us food for thought of ‘political’ type. The newly-appointed director L. Pernier arrives in Athens in November 1909 and already between late 1909 and 1910 the Ambassador of Italy in Athens, Marquis Carlotti di Ripabella, who was particularly interested in archaeology, tried to cut him off from his Cretan root. Beyond his personal bent for archaeology, Marquis Carlotti was especially interested, for reasons of national pride and prestige, in ensuring that the newly-founded School, like its existing counterparts, was a field of activity in Greece (with which Crete had not yet been united). Between late April and early May, Pernier travelled together with the diplomat to northern Euboea, even though F. Halbherr (who had been informed of the venture) had tried to persuade him otherwise.Luigi Pernier: direttore “pel bene e l’avvenire”
Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente LXXXVII (2009) [2010]: 69-77.
The Italian School of Archaeology at Athens was born at a difficult moment both from the historical point of view of the Italian military participation in the Eastern Mediterranean and from the more specific political one of academic machinations and complicated bureaucracy. The fundamental stages of this genesis involved personalities who created the history of Italian archaeology and made an important contribution to the international discipline, such as Luigi Pernier, first Director of the School, who is linked in the archaeological bibliography with the Minoan palace of Phaistos, in Crete.Federico Halbherr and Knossos
Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente LXXXVII (2009) [2010]: 43-67.
The article examines the political and scientific importance of Federico Halbherr’s excavation at Knossos in October-November 1885. It is one of his first excavation, just a year after his arrival in Crete. His excavation that is often overlooked in the history of research at Knossos, lasted 10 days, during which Halbherr revealed significant Roman and Christian walls, parts of at least one peristyle domus, a mosaic with the representation of the four seasons, a basilica and a church.La Scuola Archeologica di Atene nell’ambito della politica estera italiana tra XIX e XX secolo
Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente LXXXVII (2009) [2010]: 17-40.
The article reviews the publications in the last two decades on this topic. Indeed, the perspectives and the proposals of a previous study phase have been radically renewed. The field is open to necessary new research, on the condition that old nationalistic schemes are overcome forms. The general historical contexts related to Italy and Greece between the 19th and the 20th century are examined, and the recent publications on archaeology in liberal Italy and during the fascist regime are discussed.Memories of Myrtos
Aegean Archaeology 9, 2007-2008 [2011]: 121-133.
Recently Krzysztof Nowicki, a colleague taking part in an archaeological excavation at Karphi in the mountains of Crete in 2008 directed by his wife, Saro Wallace, made some remarks in an email to my husband, Peter Warren, on running an excavation in Crete.The Late Minoan II goblet: Some aspects of ceramic change at Early Final Palatial Knossos reconsidered
Aegean Archaeology 9, 2007-2008 [2011]: 105-119.
This paper presents a re-reading of previously published evidence from Kastri on Kythera which compels us to reconsider the mechanisms by which Mycenaean ceramic traits such as the goblet spread to Crete. Possible links between Minoan goblets from the final Neopalatial levels at Kastri and a Marine Style goblet from Knossos are examined and the implications of such links for the date of the initial appearance of this shape on Crete are considered. Attention is drawn to the pronounced indigenous character of salient aspects of the Minoan goblet and the Minoan version of the Ephyraean Style.A new look at the Mavrospelio “Kourotrophos”
Aegean Archaeology 9, 2007-2008 [2011]: 91-103.
A small, LM IIB–IIIA terracotta figural group from the Mavrospelio cemetery near Knossos has long been accepted as the one example of kourotrophic iconography from Bronze Age Crete. This figurine shows a skirted female holding aloft a small male by the knees.A view of MM IIIA at Phaistos: Pottery production and consumption at the beginning of the Neopalatial Period
Aegean Archaeology 9, 2007-2008 [2011]: 49-89.
The article investigates aspects of pottery production and consumption at Phaistos during Middle Minoan (MM) IIIA. After the excavations carried out by Pernier and Levi, our knowledge of MM III has seen significant progress over the last decade helping us to look at the role of the palace in this period as well as allowing the ceramic sequence of MM IIIA and MM IIIB to be distinguished. In particular, owing to the rich series of MM IIB and MM IIIA pottery deposits at the site, it is now possible to differentiate on stratigraphic and stylistic grounds an Early from a Mature MM IIIA phase.The Alatzomouri Rock Shelter: Defining EM III in Eastern Crete
Aegean Archaeology 9, 2007-2008 [2011]: 35-48.
A small cave filled with pottery and other Minoan artifacts was discovered by road construction near Pacheia Ammos. The small site, excavated by the 24th Ephorate under the direction of Stavroula Apostolakou, yielded a large assemblage of pottery. The assemblage is of great interest for the stylistic development of East Cretan White-on-Dark Ware because it comes from an early stage in the development when the complicated curvilinear motifs of this style had not yet appeared.