Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-wxvwp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T00:02:48.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Euesperides (Benghazi): preliminary report on the spring 2003 season

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2015

Andrew Wilson,
Paul Bennett,
Ahmed Buzaian,
Ted Buttrey,
Vanessa Fell,
Ben Found,
Kristian Göransson,
Abby Guinness,
Jamal Hardy and
Kerry Harris
...Show all authors
Andrew Wilson
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Oxford, England
Paul Bennett
Affiliation:
Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury, England
Ahmed Buzaian
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Garyunis University, Benghazi, Libya
Ted Buttrey
Affiliation:
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England
Vanessa Fell
Affiliation:
English Heritage, Centre for Archaeology, Fort Cumberland, Portsmouth, England
Ben Found
Affiliation:
Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury, England
Kristian Göransson
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Lund, Sweden
Abby Guinness
Affiliation:
Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury, England
Jamal Hardy
Affiliation:
Sandwich, Kent, England
Kerry Harris
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Southampton, Southampton, England
Richard Helm
Affiliation:
Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury, England
Alette Kattenberg
Affiliation:
Department of Geoarchaeology, Vrije Universiteit and Amsterdam Archaeologisch Centrum, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Geoffrey Morley
Affiliation:
Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Canterbury, England
Keith Swift
Affiliation:
St Peter's College, Oxford, England
William Wootton
Affiliation:
The Queen's College, Oxford, England
Eleni Zimi
Affiliation:
The Open University, Athens, Greece
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article reports on the fifth season of the ongoing project at Euesperides (Benghazi). Excavation in Area P'confirmed a date of 261-250 BC for the destruction of the penultimate phase and the construction of the final phase, with mosaics of mixed pebble and irregular tesserae. An inscription was discovered on the mosaic of the penultimate phase; and some rooms of the preceding phase were investigated. In Area Q the dismantling of the street sequence continued, together with the investigation of houses fronting the street, and the evidence for the lines of different phases of the city defences. Outside the line of the latest defences, excavation in an ancient quarry ditch revealed a refuse deposit rich in ceramics and organic materials. In Area R the rooms surrounding the courtyard were defined, and the latest phases of Murex purple dye production were investigated. At the request of the Municipality and the Department of Antiquities of Benghazi, evaluation trenches were cut to assess the impact of proposed developments on the archaeological remains south and east of the city.

Study of the finds also continued. Work began on reconstructing the design of the final phase mosaic in Area P, the central motif of which was probably a dolphin, within a wave-crest surround. Analysis of the coarsewares demonstrated that between 40-60% of third-century BC coarsewares at the site were imported, many from areas of the Punic world; this suggests active and regular trading networks. Study of the amphorae revealed that forms of Corinthian B amphorae were produced at Euesperides.

Information

Type
Archaeological Reports
Information
Libyan Studies , Volume 34 , 2003, pp. 191 - 228
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Libyan Studies 2003

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Agora IV = Howland, R. H. 1958. The Athenian Agora, vol. 4, Greek lamps and their survivals, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Agora XXIX = Rotroff, S. I. 1997. The Athenian Agora, vol. 29, Athenian and imported wheelmade tableware and related material, 2 vols, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Agora XXX = Moore, M. 1997. The Athenian Agora, vol. 30, Attic Red-figure and White-Ground Pottery, Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Bruneau, P. 1972. Exploration archéologique de Délos 29: Tes mosaïques, Paris.Google Scholar
Boeselager, D. von. 1983. Antike Mosaiken in Sizilien: Hellenismus und römische Kaiserzeit, 3 Jahrhundert v. Chr. - 3 Jahrhundert n. Chr., Rome.Google Scholar
Buzaian, A. M. and Lloyd, J. A. 1996. ‘Early urbanism in Cyrenaica: new evidence from Euesperides (Benghazi)’. Libyan Studies 27: 129–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Corinth VII = Risser, M. K. 2001. Corinth, vol. 7, part 3, Corinthian Conventionalizing Pottery, Princeton N. J.Google Scholar
Dunbabin, K. M. D. 1978. ‘The pavement fragments and their typology’. In Excavations at Carthage 1976 conducted by the University of Michigan. Carthage TV, edited by Humphrey, J.. Ann Arbor: 169–80.Google Scholar
Dunbabin, K. M. D. 1994. ‘Early pavement types in the west and the invention of tessellation’. In Fifth International Colloquium on Ancient Mosaics held at Bath on September 5-12, 1987, Ann Arbor: 26–40.Google Scholar
Edwards, G. R. 1975. Corinth VII, Part III, Corinthian Hellenistic pottery. Princeton, N.J.Google Scholar
Johannowsky, W. 1982. ‘Considerazioni sullo sviluppo urbano e la cultura materiale di Velia’. Ta Parola del Passato 37: 225–46.Google Scholar
Jones, G. D. B. 1983. ‘Excavations at Tocra and Euhesperides, Cyrenaica 1968-1969’. Libyan Studies 14: 109–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, G. D. B. 1985. ‘Beginnings and endings in Cyrenaican cities’. In Cyrenaica in antiquity (BAR International Series 236), edited by Barker, G. W. W., Lloyd, J. A. and Reynolds, J. M.. Oxford: 27–41.Google Scholar
Koehler, C. G. 1992. ‘A brief typology and chronology of Corinthian transport amphoras’. In Les amphores grecques. Tes problèmes de l'évolution du métier et de la commerce dans l'antiquité, edited by Kac, V. I. and Monakhov, S. J.. Saratov: 265–83.Google Scholar
Laronde, A. 1987. Cyrène et la Libye hellénistique. “Tibykai Historiai”: de l'époque républicaine au principat d'Auguste (Études d'Antiquités africaines), Paris.Google Scholar
Laronde, A. 1990. ‘Les Phéniciens et la Cyrénaïque jusqu'au IVe siècle avant J. C.’ Semitica 39: 7–12.Google Scholar
LIMC = Ackermann, H. C., Gisler, J.-R., Kahil, L (eds). 1981-. Lexikon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae, Zürich.Google Scholar
Lloyd, J. A., Bennett, P., Buttrey, T. V., Buzaian, A., El Amin, H., Fell, V., Kashbar, G., Morgan, G., Ben Nasser, Y., Roberts, P. C., Wilson, A. I. and Zimi, E. 1998. ‘Excavations at Euesperides (Benghazi): an interim report on the 1998 season’. Tibyan Studies 29: 145–68.Google Scholar
Lancel, S. 1985. ‘Les pavimenta punica du quartier punique tardif de la colline de Byrsa’. In Cahiers des Études Anciennes 17: 157–77.Google Scholar
Moore, R. E. M. 1968. ‘A newly observed stratum in Roman floor mosaics’. American Journal of Archaeology 72: 57–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morel, J.-P. 1981. Céramique Campanienne: Tes formes, Rome.Google Scholar
Olynthus XIII = Robinson, D. 1950. Excavations at Olynthus, vol. 13, Vases found in 1934 and 1938, Baltimore.Google Scholar
Ramón, J. 1995. Las ánforas fenico-púnicas del Mediterraneo central y occidental (Publicacions Universitat de Barcelona, Collecció Instrumenta 2), Barcelona.Google Scholar
Riley, J. A. 1979. ‘The coarse pottery from Berenice’. In Lloyd, J. A. (ed.) Excavations at Sidi Khrebish Benghazi (Berenice) (Supplements to Libya Antiqua, 5), Tripoli, vol. 2: 91–467.Google Scholar
Salzmann, D. 1982. Untersuchungen zu den antiken Kieselmosaiken von den Anfängen bis zum Beginn der Tesseratechnik, Berlin.Google Scholar
Samothrace VII = McCredie, J. R., Roux, G., Shaw, S. M., Kurtich, J. 1992. Samothrace, vol. 7, The Rotunda of Arsinoe, Princeton N. J.Google Scholar
Whitbread, I. 1995. Greek Transport Amphorae: a petrological and archaeological study (BSA Fitch Laboratory Occasional Paper 4), Athens.Google Scholar
Will, E. L. 1982. ‘Greco-Italic amphoras’. Hesperia 51: 338–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, A. I., Bennett, P., Buzaian, A. M., Fell, V., Göransson, K., Green, C., Hall, C., Helm, R., Kattenberg, A., Swift, K. and Zimi, E. 2001. ‘Euesperides (Benghazi): Preliminary report on the Spring 2001 season’. Tibyan Studies 32: 155–77.Google Scholar
Wilson, A. I., Bennett, P., Buzaian, A. M., Buttrey, T., Göransson, K., Hall, C., Kattenberg, A., Scott, R., Swift, K. and Zimi, E. 2002. ‘Euesperides (Benghazi): Preliminary report on the Spring 2002 season’. Tibyan Studies 33: 85–123.Google Scholar