DISMA sub-project was a pilot case study carried out by Eastern Attica Prefecture in collaboration with the Centre for the Assessment of Natural Hazards and Proactive Planning (CANaH)- NTUA, within INTERREG IIIC -NOE framework during the period 2005 - 2007. The role of Disaster Archaeology in the Hazard Assessment of Heritage was determining, having as a main scientific result, the elaboration of a GIS platform for the natural & cultural patrimony, as well as a breakthrough method of hazard evaluation (IESO technique). The argumentative role of digital photographies in the procedure was very important, here is a small portofolio (photos taken by Dr Amanda Laoupi) from the two main case study areas, Brauron and  |
| DISMA 2005 - 2007 |
On the coast beneath the settlement of Ramnous, two harbours on both sides of fortified area, were built during ancient times, northerly (West Port) and southerly (East Port). The area was selected as one of the most significant location for the control of nautical routes to the Euboian Golf and the North Aegean. One of the most prominent among the ancient athenian demes, Rhamnous was situated in N.E. Attica, on the Euboian gulf, lying 39km NE of Athens and 12.4km NNE of Marathon. Evident human activity in the area dates from Neolithic Times. The excavated settlement includes country houses, cultivated and pasture land, the fortress, quarry & workshops, wall, towers & gates, pier, 2 ports, gymnasium, theatre, acropolis, public buildings, various temples, remains of houses, roads & many grave enclosures, the Archaic temple of Nemesis (as a chthonian and rural deity) destroyed by the Persians and two temples forming the most important sanctuary of that divinity in ancient Greece (5th cent. B.C.). Final destruction of area occured in A.D. 399. First excavation took place in 1813. Other excavation periods took place in 1880, 1890-1892, 1958 and 1975 up to now. The earliest known structure of the temple dedicated to the rural deity of Nemesis, dates to the early 6th century and is known only by its terracotta roof tiles of Laconian type. The late 6th BCE Temple of Nemesis was distyle in antis in plan and built with poros stone. This temple was probably destroyed by the Persians in 480 BCE. The site of this temple remained in ruins until the larger late 5th BCE temple was built to replace it. In the early 5th BCE, a small temple (6.15 by 9.9m) was built immediately south of the ruins of the late 6th BCE temple. Pottery found under the temple dates no later than the early 5th BCE. Based on the dedicatory inscriptions on two marble seats of the 4th century BCE that were sited on the porch, the smaller temple is thought to have been jointly dedicated to Nemesis and to Themis. The destroyed late 6th BCE poros temple was functionally replaced by a 6x12 Doric peripteral temple in the late 5th century BCE measuring 10.05 by 21.4m. The famous statue of the goddess stood within the cella of the temple and was around 4m high. The Roman historian and connoisseur Varro rated it the finest example of Greek sculpture (Pliny). Photo shooting of the upper area by Amanda Laoupi
 |
| RAMNOUS - THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE. Northern Attica |
The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiation ceremonies held for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis (SW Attica) in ancient Greece. Of all the mysteries celebrated in ancient times, these were held to be the ones of greatest importance. These myths and mysteries were probably passed to Greece during the Mycenean period (c.1800-1200 B.C.) and it is believed that they were established in 1500 B.C. Some scholars argued that the cult of Demeter & Persephone (Eleusinian Mysteries) was a continuation of a Minoan goddess worship. Karl Kerenyi (Dionysos:Archetypal image of indestructible Life, part I iii - The Cretan core of Dionysos myth, Princeton University Press, 1976, pp. 89 & 90) asserts that Persephone was originally the nameless Mistress of the Labyrinth (po-ti-ni-ja) identified in Linear B tablets dated to 1450-1400 B.C. and found at Knossos in Crete. The Greater Mysteries took place in Boedromion (the third month of the Attic Calendar (falling in late Summer) and lasted ten days. Julian, the last pagan emperor of Roman Empire, was also the last emperor to be initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. Today, the sacred archaeological site lays next to the most polluted areas of  |
| ELEUSIS - ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE. SW ATTICA |
Cape Sounion (Άkron Soúnion; Latin: Sunium promonturium; Venetian: Capo Colonne) is a promontory located 69 km SSE of Athens, at the southernmost tip of the Attica peninsula in Greece. Cape Sounion is noted as the site of ruins of an ancient Greek temple of Poseidon, the god of the sea in classical mythology. The remains are perched on the headland, surrounded on three sides by the sea. The ruins bear the deeply engraved name of English Romantic poet Lord Byron. According to legend, Cape Sounion is the spot where Aegeus, king of Athens, leapt to his death off the cliff, thus giving his name to the Aegean Sea. The earliest literary reference to Sounion is in Homer 's poem the Odyssey. Archaeological finds on the site date from as early as 700 B.C. Herodotus tells us that in the sixth century B.C., the Athenians celebrated a quadrennial festival at Sounion, which involved Athens' leaders sailing to the cape in a sacred boat. The original, Archaic Period temple of Poseidon on the site, which was built of tufa, was probably destroyed in 480 B.C. by Persian troops during Xerxes I 's invasion of Greece (the second Greco-Persian War). Although there is no direct evidence for Sounion, Xerxes certainly had the temple of Athena, and everything else, on the Acropolis of Athens razed as punishment for the Athenians' defiance. After they defeated Xerxes in the naval Battle of Salamis, the Athenians placed an entire enemy trireme (warship with three banks of oars) at Sounion as a trophy dedicated to Poseidon. The later temple at Sounion, whose columns still stand today, was probably built in ca. 440 B.C. This was during the ascendancy of Athenian statesman Pericles, who also rebuilt the Parthenon in Athens. In 413 B.C., during the Peloponnesian War against the Spartans, the Athenians fortified the site with a wall and towers, to prevent it from falling into Spartan hands. However, not long after, the Sounion fortress was seized from the Athenians by a force of rebel slaves from the nearby silver mines of Laurium. Photo shooting by Amanda Laoupi
 |
| SOUNION. THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE - S. ATTICA, GREECE |
A high wall surrounds the buildings, the catholicon (main church), the refectory, the bathhouse and the cells, so that, even today, they seem quite well protected. In its original design, there were two entrances, the main entrance on the eastern side and a larger one on the other side. The monastery was built on the ruins of a lay building.
The catholicon and the bathhouse are the original 11th century buildings whereas the narthex and the bell tower, as well as St. Anthony's chapel are additions dated after the Turkish occupation. The buildings are all disposed around a courtyard. The catholicon was on the eastern side, the refectory and the kitchen, on the western side and the bathhouse, which was transformed into the monastery's olive oil extractor during the Turkish rule, and, finally, the monks' cells in front of which there was an open arcade.
Photo shooting by Amanda Laoupi
 |
| BYZANTINE MONASTERY OF KAISARIANI |
A series of Byzantine monasteries were built on the slopes of Mount Hymettus. Among them was Asterion Monastery (10th cent), an exceptionally beautiful building, overlooking Attica from an altitude of 545 meters (1,770 feet) from a cavity on one of the slopes.Photo shooting by Amanda Laoupi
 |
| ARCHANGELS ASTERION MONASTERY - mt Hymettus, Attica |
The site of Thorikos was inhabited from the Neolithic Age (4th millennium BC). Thoricus was the mining centre of the Laureotica. There is evidence of lead extraction from the Early Helladic period (3rd millennium BC) and of silver (now exhausted) from 1500 BC. Mycenaean tholos tombs (15th century BC) and a Late Mycenaean installation (12th century BC), probably connected with the mines in the area, have been uncovered. The finds are housed in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. There were significant town walls and a postern. The town's harbour was to the south of the acropolis; the island of Makronisi (Macri) provides natural protection.The ancient city's centre and its acropolis are on Velatouri hill and the theatre (ca. 525-480 BC) is a significant survival. The town was closely packed with irregular building of houses and smiths' workshops (many dating from the 7th-4th century BC). A small temple, perhaps dedicated to Hygieia, next to stoas with benches. The large Doric temple (late 5th century BC), may have been a Telesterion for the cult of Demeter and Persephone. In April of 1886, Walter Miller conducted the first excavation of the site, seeking the theater.
Photo shooting by Amanda Laoupi
 |
| ANCIENT THEATER OF THORIKOS - S. ATTICA |
Photo shooting by Amanda Laoupi
 |
| Archaeological Museum of Brauron |
