Archaeology Odyssey

The standard view is that the Propylaea was not finished because of the Peloponnesian War. I believe that construction was stopped because the northeast wing could not be built without modifications to the central building and the northwest wing.

By the time the Propylaea was constructed, the Acropolis itself was no longer fortified. After the Persians departed, walls were constructed to encompass much of Athens, not just the Acropolis.

Almost half of the frieze was removed by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century and placed in the British Museum in London. See Jacob Rothenberg, “Lord Elgin’s Marbles: How Sculptures from the Parthenon Got to the British Museum,” Archaeology Odyssey, Spring 1998.

Plutarch, the Roman historian, reports that Phidias had been advised by Pericles to make all the gold on the statue removable so that it could be weighed and accounted for, in the event the sculptor was accused of theft; indeed, such a charge was brought, so the plan was indeed well-advised.

See the following Origins columns in Archaeology Odyssey by Denise Schmandt-Besserat: “Signs of Life” (describing how writing evolved from counting), January/February 2002; and “One, Two ... Three” (describing the development of counting), September/October 2002.

In Our Mutual Friend (1864–65), Charles Dickens satirized this kind of British Victorian smugness in the character of Mr. Podsnap, who “with his favourite right-arm flourish ... put the rest of Europe and the whole of Asia, Africa, and America nowhere.”

See the following articles in Biblical Archaeology Review: Mordechai Cogan, “Sennacherib’s Siege of Jerusalem,” January/February 2001; William H. Shea, “Jerusalem Under Siege: Did Sennacherib Attack Twice?” November/December 1999; Dan Gill, “How They Met: Geology Solves Longstanding Mysteries of Hezekiah’s Tunnelers,” July/August 1994.

On the possible relation between Tarshish and Spanish Tartessos, see the following articles in Archaeology Odyssey: Ricardo Olmos, “Warriors, Wolves and Women: The Art of the Iberians,” May/June 2003; and Sebastian Celestino and Carolina Lopez-Ruiz, “Sacred Precincts: A Tartessian Sanctuary in Ancient Spain,” November/December 2003.