AMARYNTHOS I
Denis Knoepfler, Décret du Peuple d’Érétrie pour des magistrats militaires exposé dans l’Artémision. Enquête sur le développement des honneurs civiques et sur l’histoire de l’Eubée au temps des Diadoques (323–278 av. J.-C.).
AMARYNTHOS I presents the edition of an inscribed stele discovered in 2019 in the Sanctuary of Artemis at Amarynthos near Eretria, on the island of Euboea in Greece. Despite the considerable damage it has suffered, this is the only known inscription that explicitly refers to the location of Amarynthos and its related hieron. The inscription provides definitive proof that the site explored by Swiss and Greek archaeologists can indeed be identified with the long-sought sanctuary of Artemis Amarysia.
The stele, dated to around 300 BC, belongs to a specific category of honorary decrees that is scarcely attested in Euboea. It rewards a college of five magistrates from the city. The first edition of the text provides insights into the intricate history of Euboea during the Diadoch period (323-278BC) and sheds new light on a number of controversial issues, including the contribution of Eretria to the reconstruction of Thebes and the political career of the Eretrian philosopher and statesman Menedemus. A detailed chronological table allows the reader to situate these events within the broader context of Mediterranean history over the course of approximately fifty years.
The three substantial appendices have two main objectives. First, to restore to Amarynthos a number of wandering stones that were probably removed from the ruins of the sanctuary at some point in the past. Second, to review the historical geography of this stretch of the Euboean coast. This will help to explain why the hieron of Amarynthos, unlike other sanctuaries located in the urban area, was apparently spared during the Persian attack on the city of Eretria in 490 BC.
2024, 1 volume of 336 pages in French with summaries in French, German, English and Greek. Paperback, 22x30cm, 50 color illustrations and plans. Co-published by ESAG and inFolio.
ISBN 978-2-88968-171-6 (print), 978-2-9701702-3-5 (digital), DOI 10.5281/zenodo.13825934
About the author
Denis Knoepfler, an archaeologist, epigraphist and historian of ancient Greece, held the position of Professor of Classical Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Neuchâtel from 1984 to 2008. He subsequently held the Chair at the Collège de France entitled Histoire et épigraphie des cités grecques from 2003 to 2014. It was at his instigation that the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece initiated the search for the sanctuary of Artemis at Amarynthos, on the island of Euboea in Greece, which ultimately led to the identification of this important place of worship in 2017.