131-136

The excavations at Dion in 1994 and the relief with the nabla

• Παντερμαλής, Δημήτριος

A. Exploration of the monumental fortification wall continued this year also with long trenches at both north and south. The fill was of its usual character except for a number of finds from a late repair of the wall. Among these is affine torso from a small statue of Dionysos. In the hellenistic theatre excavation of the stage building was continued. In the odeion of the baths exploratory trenches were opened in order to verify the building phases. In the agora sector the search for earlier buildings continued. Parallel to its north section, it was ascertained that the large building which was found is a bath complex. Excavation was carried out also in the sector of the hydraulis (hydraulic organ) where 21 storage amphoras were found, many iron objects and sculpture fragments. Productive also were the trenches in the central basilica and the cemetery basilica and in the temenos of Demeter as well. Particularly significant were the finds from the sector at Zosa, on the southern edge of the city. In the big hall of a house of the end of the 2nd century A.D., three table legs and the marble slabs of the table were found. One of these is decorated with a representation in relief of Dionysos reposing, the second shows the group of Zeus as aswan in an erotic embrace with Leda, while the third represents a hybrid form with the head of a lion and lion’s feet. The workmanship is extraordinarily fine. The group of Leda shows characteristics of the Neoattic workshops. B. The relief with the nabla Found below a fill of 2,5 m., near the road that led from the west gate of the fortification wall and ran in the direction of Olympos, was a practically square grave relief including the tenon. The representation is most unusual. Rather than portraits only two hands are shown in a gesture of a handshake, the one on the left belongs to a woman and has a bracelet, the one on the right is that of a man. It shows the well-known greeting theme of the grave monuments. Beneath the woman’s hand, illustrated in large size, is a musical stringed instrument. Beneath the man’s hand is a key, a stylos, a fluted ink -well and an open papyros. Discernible on its flat surace is a text of eight lines. Above the hands are two inscriptions in Latin. Above the man’s hand the inscription explains that a key is pictured and that he wrote a book believing totally in her. At the left, likewise above the hand of the woman, the inscription says that he carved a nabilium because throughout her life she was dedicatedto the Muses. The nabilium or nablium in Latin, nabla, nablas, naulos, naulon, naula in ancient Greek and nebel in Hebrew, was a musical stringed instrument that according to Sopatros of Paphos (see Athenaios IV. 175) was of Phoenician origin. Although there are quite a few ancient references to the instrument, there is no description that making the identification of the nabla with a specific instrument possible. Now, for the first time, we have on the relief of Dion both name and illustration of the instrument. The rectangular frame of the nabla is formed by two little columns that join an epistyle. There the six strings end, which are fastened with pieces of fatty leather to the pegs in the cross-bar as on comparable musical instruments. The strings run down to end at the tail-piece (χορδοτόνον), a box with a moveable cover as shown by the hinges. Totally unexpected is the presence of two more strings running parallel to the little columns. At their base they have each a fluke, probably fortuning them. On one of these is a musical key. Finally, visible at the lower part of the instrument is a taut surface that evidently formed the sound box. It is notonly the appearance of the nabla that is unusual, resembling as it does the harp and large kitharon. The sound as well apprears to have been strange since it was as if it came from the human larynx; it was «laryngophonos» as Sopatros writes. In his Politica (Vili 6,7) Aristotle wrote that the nabla along with two other instruments, the pandoura (three-stringed lute) and the trichordon (triple-stringed instrument), demanded special knowledge and skillful hands, «requirements of the surgical profession».In the discussion of musical instruments in the Deipnosophistai of Athenaios (VIII, 175d), they remember a phrase of the comic poet Philemon, who extols the nabla, saying that it is the best instrument for pleasant company. The Hebrews not only knew the nabla but they used it to accompany psalms in their synagogue. Ovid, in his Ars Amatoria, speaking of the appeal of musical instruments such as the lyre of Orpheus which moved both rocks and hearts, or Arion’s lyre which enchanted the silent dolphins, wrote that then ablium is an instrument made with wisdom, the very best one can have for pleasant moments. The musicians who played the nabla were known as nablistes.An ancient inscription in Macedonia mentions a woman who is a nabliste (Heuzey- Daumer, Mission Archeol. de Macedoine no. 10). She too belonged to a thiasos of the Muses just as the anonymous lady of the grave relief.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Δίον, Πιερία, συνέδρια

Περιέχει σχέδια και εικόνες