The Corinth-Albanian connection

Sat 23 August

Looking at a map of Greece, the obvious place to look for an important city is at the narrow isthmus that joins the Peloponnesian peninsula with the mainland. And in fact this is the location of one of the great ancient centers of Greek civilization, Corinth. Early in its history a wall of giant boulders was built across the isthmus, and it was an obvious line of defense for the Greeks who dared to stand up to Persian might. How often the armies and ambassadors of Sparta and Athens traversed this crossing!
More often it was a conduit for goods and ideas, not only between northern and southern Greece but also between the eastern and western Mediterranean. Journeys by sea were far more efficient than overland travel and the isthmus that straddled the Aegean sea and Corinthian gulf was the obvious shortcut between east and west, especially as rounding Cape Malea (the southern tip of the Peloponnese) was notoriously dangerous. Corinthian pottery is one of the hallmarks of the renaissance of Greek prosperity in the 8th and 7th centuries BCE; the lions and griffins and other fantastic animals that are its characteristic decoration were inspired by eastern iconography. Corinth then exported its interpretation of oriental ideas further west to Italy and Sicily and north to the Black Sea, where it founded colonies and sent its pottery. Corinthian influences can be traced in the elaborate terracottas of the early Etruscan civilization and in legend a Corinthian man fathered one of the kings of early Rome. Ancient texts tell of attempts to cut a canal across the isthmus. None succeeded but the Corinthians did build a long-used track for dragging ships or their cargo overland.

The name itself tells us that the Corinthians successfully managed their interests in the gulf that gave access to the west. They actively protected their conduit of prosperity. The great war between Sparta and Athens, Thucydides tells us, was sparked by competitiveness for control of the colonies at the western fringes of the gulf. In spite of the Atheno-centric bias of the surviving ancient texts, it is clear that modern-day Corfu and the Albanian coast across it were vital elements of Corinthian economy and politics.
Corinthian fortunes waxed and waned over the centuries. In antiquity, we see it highlighted again in the convoluted machinations of 4th-century Greek politics, and then again, much later, in Paul’s epistles. Archaeology complements the written records. Excavations in Corinth itself but even more so in its colonies and the people and places with which it traded tell us unintended, unedited stories of Corinth’s history and interactions with a wider world.

All this is by way of introducing our shipwreck, for its primary cargo was Corinthian amphoras. An amphora is a fired ceramic (terracotta) container with two handles and a fairly narrow mouth and usually with a base that is not flat, i.e. this is a container that is not designed to stand flat, its primary purpose must have been transport. It was probably designed for transporting oil or wine, but it could carry anything that poured or was viscous. At Uluburun (Turkey) where we excavated a ship that sank in the 13th century BCE, we found one amphora filled with glass beads and many that contained terebinth resin. Just like modern liquor bottles, amphora shapes are readily distinctive, although they are often characteristic of a place and time rather than a commodity. Archaeologists who work with amphoras can readily identify where and when an amphora was made based on the shape of its rim, handles, body, and toe. One hypothesis for the unwieldy (from a land-based point of view) shape of an amphora’s base is that it was designed for stacking in curved hulls and it is certainly true that we find many, many amphoras on the seabed and in port cities. In looking for ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean, it is most often amphoras that we indicate we have found one. And it is these humble remainders that we rely on as signposts for the date and ports of call of the shipwreck.

The amphora assemblage found by RPM during their 2007 survey consists primarily of “Corinthian B/Corcyraean” amphoras. The details of their shape indicate that they date to the early 3rd century (ca. 285-260 BCE). As you might be able to guess from the designation for this amphora type, these were made in more than one location — Corinth and Corcyra (Corfu), but also perhaps other locations. A second type of amphora found on the site is more closely associated with Corinth. Directly or indirectly, this ship has some connection with Corinth.

OK, this time at least I got started talking about the wreck and what we are doing there. Now that I have started, I promise to keep on track. More wreck talk asap…