Book Description

The book examines the glazed pottery (11th – 17th c. AD) brought to light during the rescue excavation conducted by the 1st Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities in 1972 at the “Hagioi Theodoroi” site in Akronauplia. No systematic archaeological research had been undertaken in the area until that time, despite Nauplion’s importance in the history of the north-eastern Peloponnese. The glazed pottery represents many different categories. Besides various categories of Byzantine pottery, most common during the middle Byzantine period, imports of Italian glazed wares dominate the material recovered from Akronauplia which pertains to the period following the Venetian occupation of Nauplion (1389-1540). The study of the varieties of imported wares from this excavation offers interesting evidence on the different types of pottery encountered at Akronauplia between the 11th and 17th centuries, on the commercial links between the upper city of Nauplion and regions in the eastern and western Mediterranean, and on the changing patterns of pottery importation from various areas, reflecting Nauplion’s multi-cultural character –which is also implied by the written evidence– as a result of the specific historical and political circumstances. With regard to the geographical distribution of Italian wares in parts of the Aegean during their Latin occupation, the findings from Akronauplia add to our as yet incomplete knowledge of the complex network of exchanges then in place.