Table Of ContentPost-Herulian Athens
PAPERS AND MONOGRAPHS OF THE FINNISH INSTITUTE AT ATHENS VOL. I
POST-HERULIAN ATHENS
Aspects of Life and Culture in Athens
A.D. 267-529
Edited by
Paavo Castrkn
HELSINKI 1994
@ Suomen Ateenan-instituutin s$$tiij (Foundation of the Finnish Institute at Athens) 1994
ISSN 1237-2684
ISBN 95 1-95295-2-7
Printed in Finland by Vamnalan Kirjapaino Oy, Vanlmala 1994
Contents
Foreword and Acknowledgements
Epigraphic Conventions
Periodicals and Abbreviations
General Aspects of Life in Post-Herulian Athens
Paavo Castrkn
Life and Administration of Late Roman Attica in the Light of Public
Inscriptions
ElAki Sirorlet1
The Athenian Empress Eudocia
Jrrlia but mat^
The So-Called Library of Hadrian and the Tetraconch Church in
Athens
Arju Karivieri
The 'House of Proclus' on the Southern Slope of the Acropolis:
A Contribution
Arju Karivieri
The Closing of the Neoplatonic School in A.D. 529: An Additional
Aspect
Glcntlur uf Hullstriir~i
Bibliography of Ancient Authors
General Bibliography
General lndex
List of Illustrations
lllus~raito ns
Foreword and Acknowledgements
by Paavo Castrkn
Foreword
The first research project of the Finnish Archaeological Institute at Athens, established
in 1985, is the Late Antiquity in Athens, that is the period between the Herulian raid of
A.D. 267 and the closing of the Academy by Justinian in A.D. 529. We chose this subject
for several reasons. First, Finnish classical scholarship had already some experience in
studying the problems connected with Late Antiquity in general' and especially with the
eastern part of the Roman Empire.2 Secondly, there did not seem to be much competition
in this field, since the Late Antiquity of Athens is a rather poorly known period.
Especially in the 1980's, when the massive work of Miss Alison Frantz3 had not yet
appeared, there seemed to remain a great number of unanswered questions concerning
life, culture and society in Athens in the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. Since then other
interesting studies have appeared? and we are glad if our activity has in part helped to
awaken this interest.
A team of Finnish postgraduate students started the work in 1986. As is our custom,
the members of the team represented different fields of classical scholarship: there were
two philologists, one of whom, Dr. Vappu Pyykko, already had a thorough knowledge
of contemporary literary sources and was especially interested in studying the activity of
Athenian rhetorical and philosophical schools in the third and fourth centuries
(unfortunately, her study will not be published in this volume), and the other philologist,
Mr. Erkki Sironen, Lic. phil., whose task was the study of the Late Roman Attic in-
scription~T.~h ere was also a historian, Julia Burman, M.A., who, as a scholar with an
interest in women's studies, was especially keen in studying the intriguing persotra of the
Empress Eudocia. An archaeologist, Arja Karivieri, M.A., started out studying the
building history of some important late constructions, and the present Director of the
Finnish Institute at Athens, Professor Gunnar af Hallstrom, a theologian, studied the
problems connected with the closing of the Academy in A.D. 529.
The purpose of this sort of teamwork in our archaeological institutes abroad is to give
postgraduate students from Finnish universities an opportunity to start their international
scientific activity in relatively safe company: in the numerous seminars the problems of
every participant are treated more widely, and the participants are expected to go through
their material also from the point of view of other colleagues.
Furthermore, this was a means of starting the scientific activity of the new iustitute in a
realistic way, without excessive expenditure or bureaucracy. That the work lasted much
E.R.S undwall(l915): id. (1919);i d. (1922): Mickwitz (1932); id. (1933); id. (1936); Bruurl(1966);
id. (1991), with a complclc bibliography of the aulhor on pagcs 201-205.
See e.g. Zilliacus (1935); id. (1943);i d. (1949);i d. (1953): id. (1967).
Frdnlz (1988).
E.g. Fowdcn (1990); Riiglcr (1990) iind, most rcccotly, Gregory (1993). r.R. 143-144.
His cornprehcnsivc cditioa of Latc Roman Attic i~lscriplio~ilss d uc lo iII)lXi~ri n 1lc;ir futurs.
longer than expected is principally due to the fact that the authors had to complete their
articles at home in Finland in addition to other activities.
At first we had in mind to accomplish just a fairly complete description of the last
pagan revival of Athens in the fifth century. It soon became clear, however, that this was
not possible without considering the preceding period immediately after the Herulian raid
of A.D. 267, because it was not always clear, whether the Heruli or the Visigoths had
caused the damage which was being repaired in the beginning of the fifth century. We
could not, however, write a comprehensive history of Post-Herulian Athens either, since
we could not study thoroughly all of the relevant material in various museums and
storerooms. This was mostly because of our lack of time, since the Greek, American and
German archaeological authorities always helped us in a most kind and generous way.
There were many intriguing problems concerning Late Antiquity in Athens which
interested us. We asked, for instance, how did the Herulian raid effect the social,
intellectual and economic life of Athens and how long after the raid did it take to return to
more or less normal activity. What was the actual role of the so-called Post-Herulian
Wall, since it was constructed relatively late and since it could not possibly enclose all the
activities practised in Athens in the fourth century. What was the real role of the "Library
of Hadrian"? Was the Agora area really left in ruins for more than a century after the raid
by the Heruli when at the same time luxurious villas were built in its immediate
neighbourhood? Was Athens in the fourth and fifth centuries really nothing but a town of
philosophers and beekeepers, as some rhetorically coloured6 or biased contemporary
sources7 claim, or did she still have other sources of wealth as well? When and to where
did the rich landowners of the second and early third centuries disappear? What was the
function of the so-called Palace of the Giants? Was it something extraordinary or just one
of the many luxurious late villas which we know from other parts of the Empire? How
long did the temple of Ares exist in the Agora, as the "Palace of the Giants" still seems not
to encroach on its area in the fifth century? How thorough was the raid on Athens by
Alaric and his Visigoths in A.D. 395/6? Some of these questions were already answered
by Miss Alison Frantz in her book on Late Antiquity in the Athenian Agora; we have tried
to answer some of the remaining questions in the light of contemporary sources including
the inscriptions, which for the first time have been studied and interpreted as a group, and
recent excavations as far as we have had knowledge of them. To some of these questions
we have presented several possible answers* since I have not tried to make the theories
set forth independently by my colleagues uniform. But many questions still remain open
for us or others to answer at a later stage. In my opinion it is important, however, to ask
these questions and not to accept anything as an unquestioned fact unless its reliability has
been checked.
E.vpo~rrror orius nlundi CI grr~trrrt~5i2 .
7 Synesius. Epi~roIue1 36.
8 See below. page 11, Sironen's inscription no. 33. with notes. and Bunnnn. Chapter
