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Monument at Artemisium


ScottOden

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Greetings! This is my first post to your excellent forum; I was directed here by Russell Whitfield, who swears this enclave can answer all my ancient Greek questions. Here we go:

 

In the Penguin Classics edition of Plutarch's Life of Themistokles, there is mention of a monument at Artemisium: "This stone, if you rub it with your hands, gives off the color and odor of saffron." Is this monument still in existence, and is there any indication when it was erected?

 

Many thanks, in advance!

 

Best,

 

Scott Oden

 

www.menofbronze.com

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I've had quick search around and haven't found any other sources mentioning this monument or any evidennce that it still exists today.

 

Plutarch description.....

.

Artemisium is a part of Euboea above Hestiaea,

Edited by Gaius Paulinus Maximus
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Well well ! The author of the excellent Memnon and the fine Men of Bronze himself graces us with his presence ! UNRV is getting better frequented every day ! We just lack Mr Sidebottom and Pressfield and we'll have all the current great writers of novels in the ancient time ! (I don't know yet if Mr Fabbri's Vespasian Tribune of Rome is good so I won't add him to the list).

 

As for your specific question, I've not found any public domain information on digs on land betwen Artemisio and Asminio, the small villages of northern Eubea which now sits on top of the ancient ?????????. The place is more know for the underwater excavations that took place nearby, and the monument might well have been more at the end of the cape than in the city.

 

One source of information you might want to check (and to which I don't have access in my private library) is the Real Encyclopaedie Pauly-Wissowa, RE 2/2 "Artemision 1" (reference given by the Oxford Classical Dictionary 3

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Thanks, Gaius and Bryaxis!

 

Bryaxis, I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed Memnon and Men of Bronze! Memnon remains my favorite of the two. I've been plugging away at Serpent of Hellas (which is now due out in 2013, sadly) and was suddenly struck by the notion to turn away from a straightforward, linear narrative style and embrace something more akin to an ancient Greek Canterbury Tales: a decade (perhaps?) after the battle of Artemisium, a young man whose father was killed in that action journeys to the site to witness the dedication of the monument; along the way, he learns the tale of the battle -- and of Themistokles -- through a series of encounters with those who survived, from the young Athenian who lit the warning beacon on Skiathos, to Abronichus who sailed the message-boat between Thermopylae and Artemisium, to a priestess of Artemis who helps remember the dead.

 

Since I can find nothing concrete on the monument at Artemisium, I'm thinking of having it dedicated at the same time as the monument at Thermopylae, which will probably mean I'll have to shorten the time frame for my protagonist's journey from a decade after the battle to just a year or two after.

 

Anyway, my thanks for your help!

 

Best,

 

Scott

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  • 1 month later...

The site was located in 1869 by John Turtle Wood financed by the British Museum. Only a single column still exists I don't know if it smells like saffron but it looks white to me.

My link

Edited by Tribunicus Potestus
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No Tribunicus, you speak about Ephesus' Artemision, in Turkey, while we were looking for a place of the same name in Euboea (Greece) famous for the naval battle that took place there.

Thank you for that clarification.

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Would this be the right area? My link

 

The Civil engineer and architect's journal, Volume 22 By William Laxton speaks on the "Color and Fragrance of Saffron" at the temple and equates it to other coatings and colorings of ancient architecture.

Edited by Tribunicus Potestus
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This must be it. My link Amarysia Atemis.

Edited by Tribunicus Potestus
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No, probably not :) It is on the right island, but can't be the Artemision linked to the monument searched for by Scott Oden for it is not linked to the sea battle : we know that the Artemision we're looking for is on the northern tip of the island, somewhere around a place called today Artemisio. All the ancient sources do indeed put the battle there, as well as the commemorative building that was later erected on the spot. The site your article speaks of is much too far to the south : Thermopylae would have been flanked if that were the spot of the sea battle, and the Persian would not have needed to go around the island and fall prey to the tempest otherwise.

 

cf. too : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Artemisium

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No, probably not :) It is on the right island, but can't be the Artemision linked to the monument searched for by Scott Oden for it is not linked to the sea battle : we know that the Artemision we're looking for is on the northern tip of the island, somewhere around a place called today Artemisio. All the ancient sources do indeed put the battle there, as well as the commemorative building that was later erected on the spot. The site your article speaks of is much too far to the south : Thermopylae would have been flanked if that were the spot of the sea battle, and the Persian would not have needed to go around the island and fall prey to the tempest otherwise.

 

cf. too : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Artemisium

I am sorry, I did not mean that this was the temple but just that it was in the right area. I was unclear and it is my fault.

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