Samuel Verdan, Eretria XXII. Le sanctuaire d’Apollon Daphnéphoros à l’époq

Abstract

The work under review, the twenty-second installment of the Eretria series, reflects a revised version of the A.'s prizewinning doctoral dissertation, defended at the University of Lausanne in the autumn of 2011. The principal objective of the volume is twofold: first, to offer a synthetic presentation of the Geometric structural and artifactual remains uncovered during the Greek and, subsequently, Swiss campaigns conducted intermittently over the span of roughly one century in and around the sanctuary of Apollo Daphnephoros; and, second, to revisit existing theories on the origin and development of the sanctuary and to advance a new interpretation. 2 Verdan provides, by way of introduction (p. 27-35), a concise historical overview of fieldwork at and research on the sanctuary. Ever since Konstantinos Kourouniotis' inaugural campaigns (1899-1911), excavations have uncovered abundant material, principally ceramics, as well as architectural remains dating to the Geometric period. The archaeological record from this period, albeit rich, presents certain challenges for the A.'s study: the finds from the Greek excavations are published only in brief reports; this situation is exacerbated by the (irretrievable?) loss of much of Kourouniotis' unpublished records during his flight from Smyrna in 1922; 1 and the documentation of these and the earliest Swiss campaigns left gaps in our knowledge about the structural remains, stratigraphy, and precise find spots of certain material assemblages. While the A. takes full account of the finds from the Greek excavations, the bulk of his evidence Samuel Verdan, Eretria XXII. Le sanctuaire d'Apollon Daphnéphoros à l'époque ...