By Nigel M. Kennell
This article considers the stadium-gymnasium complex at Messene, built
in the third century BCE, as an architectural unity and as a vehicle for the
assertion of civic identity among Messenians, both young and old. Through the
published archaeological and epigraphical evidence, the discussion examines the
complex’s situation in the landscape, the east and west stoas, and the propylon
in light of this aspect of the gymnasium’s function. Special attention is paid
to the monumental Hellenistic tombs on the west and to the extensive changes
made to the west stoa in the Roman period. The results show how the remains of
the gymnasium reflect dynamic processes of remembering and forgetting, and
illustrate attempts by various elite families in the Hellenistic and Early
Roman periods to position themselves at the center of official civic memory
through changes to the building’s fabric.
ΠΗΓΗ / SOURCE: Nigel M. Kennell «Cultural History and Memory in the Stadium – Gymnasium Complex at Messene», στο American Journal of Archaeology / AJA, vol. 125, No. 4
(October 2021), sel. 505–533, DOI: 10.3764/aja.125.4.0505, Archaeological
Institute of America. ΑΡΧΕΙΟΝ
ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ, 13.9.2021.
