Greek Farmer Finds 2,000-Year-Old Monument

[quaoar]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/10370960.htm

DEREK GATOPOULOS
Associated Press

ORCHOMENOS, Greece - A farmer tending a cotton field in central Greece has uncovered a stone monument marking the spot where the Roman army stopped a major westward offensive more than 2,000 years ago, a Greek archaeological official said Wednesday.

< snip >

The site near Orchomenos, about 75 miles northwest of Athens, was recorded by the Greek historian Plutarch. But the actual location of the long-sought monument - originally believed to stand 23 feet - was a mystery until last month, when the farmer plowing his fields stumbled upon a buried column that led researchers to uncover the monument's stone base.

< snip >

Aravantinos said the farmer who found the column delivered the remains of the column to the entrance of the archaeological institute using an earth-moving machine while the facility was closed. The farmer left no information about himself or where the column had come from.

But "this was too big to keep a secret," said Panayiotis Kravaritis, an institute official who helped find the spot where the monument once stood. "Eventually we found the farm, and the farmer led us to the spot where the monument is."

[happyslug]

1. Some information on Sulla

http://www.heraklia.fws1.com/contemporaries/sulla/

He was a butcher of his own countrymen.

[steely]

2. I find this fascinating....but I wonder what the farmer was thinking.

I suppose he meant well. :shrug: Must've been fun to try and track him down afterward.

[Inland]

4. He was thinking, "now they will come and dig up my farm".

The first instinct is to kick the dirt back over the artifact.

[Citizen Jane]

5. He probably didn't want to lose his land

By law the Greek government can seize his land and start excavating, so his attempt to remain anonymous was probably an attempt to preserve his livelihood.

[Renew Deal]

3. This can happen to anyone in Greece.

Greece is full of stuff like this. I know people that have found ancient stuff in public places. Greece is an amazing place.

[DemBones DemBones]

7. Italy's like that, too, laden with Etruscan goodies.

Like finding arrowheads or Civil War ammo around here, but older.

[Judi Lynn]

6. So interesting! Found a photo of the site......

Farmer turns up Roman trophy


MINISTRY OF CULTURE
The base of Sulla’s trophy stands among fallen pieces of the monument’s upper section. The 86 BC Battle of Orchomenos was fought close to the site of the March of 1311 Battle of the Copaic Plain, in which a Catalan mercenary army destroyed the might of Frankish Athens.

A farmer plowing his fields near the central Greek town of Orchomenos has stumbled across the marble trophy set up by a victorious Roman general following the defeat of a rebel army over 2,000 years ago, the Ministry of Culture announced yesterday.

A careful excavation turned up a large number of pieces from the monument set up on the 86 BC battlefield by Lucius Cornelius Sulla to celebrate his second victory in quick succession over Archelaos, a general of King Mithridates of Asia Minor. The fragments are in good condition, and experts believe the entire trophy — which originally stood up to 4 meters high — can be restored in situ.



http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100012_08/12/2004_50471

Hope to hear more and more about this new site at Orchomenos. The war-loving butthead Sulla sounds exactly like a criminal. Setting up a huge monument to boast of a military victory is crude and ugly. Of course he would have been an early Republican.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Great reading Bleacher's comment. You'd think the curiosity would drive the Greek people crazy, wondering just what the heck ELSE is still there to be discovered!

For anyone who's interested, the National Geographic Channel has been showing a WONDERFUL program on a new finding, some pyramids in Peru, at Caral, which have been claimed to be 5,000 years old, actually a little older than that.

Here's a small article about this fascinating discovery:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/caral.shtml

[xchrom]

8. interesting -- sulla's purge

seems so similar to bush's purge.