A terracotta Gorgoneion antefix (decorated end of a roof tile)
of the "horrid type" with a "beard".

According to the museum labelling, around 580 BC, although the
official guide book (see note in Medusa part 3) states 620-600 BC.

Found in 1914 at the Archaic Temple of Hera Akraia, on the Mon Repos estate, Corfu,
in the area now known as Palaiopolis (Παλαιόπολης, Old City), the site of the ancient
city Korkyra (Κόρκυρα), a colony of Corinth. This antefix was made about the same
time as the Gorgon pediment of the nearby "Temple of Artemis" (see part 3),
during or just after the rule of the Corinthian tyrant Periander (circa 627-585 BC).

Mon Repos Museum, Corfu. Inv. No. MR 730.
Formerly in the Corfu Archaeological Museum.

A terracotta Gorgoneion antefix of the "horrid type".

2nd half of the 6th century BC. From Korkyra (Corfu), a colony of Corinth.

A terracotta Gorgoneion antefix of the "beautiful type".

4th century BC. From Corfu.

An Archaic painted terracotta Gorgoneion antefix of the "horrid type".

6th century BC. Found in the Archaic level, near the foundations of the later Eastern
Stoa of the Agora, Eretria, Euboea, central Greece, during excavations by the Swiss
School of Archaeology in Greece, 1979-1980.

The antefix is intact, including the covering tile at the rear, and in very good condition,
with fresh-looking colour. As far as I am aware, this is the only Archaic Gorgoneion
antefix on Euboea, and the only one I know of in this part of central Greece. Despite
its age, condition and rarity, it seems it has not so far attracted much attention from
scholars. A very fragmentary 5th century BC Gorgoneion antefix is kept in the
Chaironea Archaeological Museum, Boeotia (Inv. No. 412), but it has no certain
provenance and no information or photos of it have ever been published. [5]

This antefix decorated an unknown building which may have been destroyed
when the invading army of Persian King Darius I sacked Eretria in 490 BC
(see History of Stageira & Olympiada part 4).

Painted Gorgoneion antefix from the Sanctuary of Chthonic Deities,
Akragas (Agrigento), Sicily. Around 520 BC.

One of a number of antefixes discovered during
excavations at the sanctuary in 1953-1955.

Semicircular marble antefix with an incised Gorgoneion, originally decorated with paint.
From the Oikos of the Naxians (House of the Naxians) in the Sanctuary of Apollo, Delos.

Around 575-560 BC. Height 18 cm, width 29 cm.

Delos Archaeological Museum, Greece. Inv. No. A 7682.

Terracotta antefix with a bearded Gorgoneion "in a seashell". 6th century BC.

A shell-frame terracotta antefix with the head of a woman.

Made in Campania, Italy. 5th century BC. Height 36.0 cm.

Allard Pierson Museum, Amsterdam. Inv. No. 3594.

A terracotta antefix with a Gorgoneion surrounded by lotus flowers.

From Campania, Italy. Around 540 BC. Height 39.0 cm.

Displayed in 2020 as part of an exhibtion dedicated to the Egyptian god Bes,
with whom Medusa has often been compared: "The Greek Medusa resembles
Bes because she is sticking out her tongue; she is also often combined with
dangerous snakes." From the exhibition labelling.

A terracotta Gorgoneion antefix from the Athens Acropolis.

6th century BC.

The ancient Thracian city of Oesyme (Οίσύμη) was located on the North Aegean coast, near the modern settlement of Nea Peramos, just to the west of Kavala (ancient Neapolis), opposite the island of Thasos. It was mentioned by Homer as Aisyme (Αίσύμη), the birthplace of Kastianeira (Καστιάνειρα), "lovely as a goddess", one of the wives of King Priam of Troy (The Iliad, Book 8, lines 253-343).

In the second half of the 7th century BC it became one of the coastal colonies of Thasos and part of the Thasian Peraia. The city's acropolis was on a fortified hill and had an Archaic temple, perhaps dedicated to Athena, which was replaced in the early 5th century BC. Oesyme also had a sanctuary dedicated to the Nymphs. Following the conquest of the city by Philip II of Macedonia around 350 BC, it was renamed Emathia (Ημαθία), after the ancient name for Macedonia and its mythical founder hero.

The German archaeologist Carl Fredrich (1871-1930) visited Thasos during his archaeological tour of the northeastern Aegean April-December 1904, on behalf of the Königliche Akademie der Wissenschaften (Royal Acadamy of Sciences). His reports on Philippi, Imbros and Thasos were published in 1908. The report on Thasos was illustrated by the image above, after a drawing by "Herr Lübke (Berlin)", probably Max Lübke.

Fredrich mentioned that he owned the antefix, which he described as Ionian and of "the old snakeless, bearded type with the wide-open eyes", and compared it to the motif on the early coins of Neapolis (Kavala), "the daughter city of Thasos". "The irises of the eyes and teeth are white, lips, gums and tongue red, the rest is black."

So far I have not discovered what happened to this antefix or its present location. It does not appear to be in the Berlin State Museums. Since Carl Fredrich died in Stettin (since 1945 Szczecin, Poland), perhaps it is there.

Source: G. Fredrich, Thasos, in Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung, Band 33, pages 215-246, Tafel X. Beck und Barth, Athens, 1908. At the Internet Archive. The volume also includes Fredrich's articles on Philippi and Imbros.

Another similar, more complete antefix from Thasos, dated to the third quarter of the 6th century BC, was in the State Museums Berlin (Inv. No. 94153) until 1945 when it was taken to Russia as war booty along with thousands of artefacts (see also the "Victoria of Calvatone" on the Nike page). It is now exhibited in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow. Inv. AT 3423 (724). Height 17.7 cm, width 28 cm.

The sparse remains of Ancient Abdera (Άβδηρα) are spread over a large area on the Aegean coast of Western Thrace in northeastern Greece (today part of the decentralized administrative region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace), east of Kavala, around 16 km east of the Nestos River, 22 km south of Xanthi, and northeast of the island of Thasos. It has been suggested that sometime before the 7th century BC it may have been a Phoenician settlement or trading post, like its namesake Abdera on the south coast of Spain. [9]

A Greek myth attributed the name Abdera to the divine hero Abderos (Ἄβδηρος) of Opus in Lokris (central Greece), a son of Hermes (although Pindar wrote that he was a son of Poseidon and Thronia, and Photius claimed he was the brother of Patroklos, companion of Achilles). He was also said to have been the lover (ἐρώμενος, eromenos, loved one) of Herakles and helped him in his Eighth Labour, to capture the four man-eating Mares of Diomedes, king of the Thracian Bistones. Herakles drove the horses into the sea and left Abderos to look after them while he went to fight the Bistones. However, while he was away Abderos was devoured by the horses. After taking revenge by feeding Diomedes to his own mares, Herakles founded the city of Abdera near the tomb of Abderos, where athletic games (ἀγῶνες, agones), consisting of boxing, wrestling and the pankration were held in his honour, while horse races were naturally excluded. [10]

Around 656-652 BC colonists arrived from the Ionian city of Klazomenai (Κλαζομεναί, today Urla, Turkey), 32 km southwest of Smyrna (Σμύρνα; today Izmir, Turkey). According to Herodotus their leader was Timesios (Τιμήσιος), who was later revered as the hero founder (κτίστης, ktistes). However the colony failed to prosper due to attacks by local Thracian tribes. [11] Recent archaeological and pathological investigations have revealed that around 80% of the 7th century BC graves so far discovered were those of infants and young children, many of whom are thought to have died as a result of malaria. The local swampy conditions of the plain on which Abdera stood may thus have contributed to the colony's failure.

A century later, around 545 BC, came settlers from Teos (Τέως, today Sığacık, Turkey), an Ionian neighbour of Klazomenai, fleeing the Persians who had conquered the East Greek city states of Anatolia. It is said that among the refugees was the famous lyric poet Anacreon (Ἀνακρέων, circa 573-495 BC). They appear to have dealt more successfully with the Thracians and their environment, and the town prospered, celebrated in poetry as "Abdera, the beautiful colony of the Teians" (Ἄβδηρα καλὴ Τηίων ἀποικίη). The poem quoted has been ascribed to Anacreon. The Theban poet Pindar (Πίνδαρος, circa 518-438 BC) who praised Abdera, with its "... plentiful vines and bountiful fruits", in his second Paean, apparently commissioned by the city. [12]

Abdera earned well from its agriculture and fishing, and as a port it also profited from the trade between the Thracian hinterland and other Greek cities of the northern and eastern Aegean Sea. As has recently been discovered, it also smelted iron and produced its own pottery. It also produced several poets and philosophers, including Democritus and Protagoras.

After surviving attacks by Thracian tribes as well as invasion by the Persians, Abdera became the most important city in Aegean Thrace, and as an ally of Athens it contributed 15 talents to the First Delian League (see History of Stageira and Olympiada part 5), the third highest tribute. [13] Later, it was subject to the Macedonians then the Romans. Its fortunes waned during the Roman and Byzantine periods, although it survived under the name Polystylon (Πολύστυλον, many columns), corrupted during Ottoman times to Bulustra.

Today the pleasant village Άβδηρα, pronounced Avdira in modern Greek, is 6 kilometres inland from the sprawling archaeological site of the ancient city. In 1950 the first excavations of Abdera were directed by the Kavala-born archaeologist Dimitris Lazaridis (Δημήτρης Λαζαρίδης, 1917-1985). The finds were kept in the Kavala Archaeological Museum and then the Komotini Archaeological Museum. The Archaeological Museum of Abdera was built in the village in the 1990s and opened its doors to the public in 2000. The exhibition, on two floors, contains local finds dating from the 7th century BC to the 13th century AD. It is one of Greece's finest small museums, and well worth a visit before exploring the site.

The top fragments of two ceramic antefixes, each with
a relief of a Gorgoneion at the base of a palmette.

From ancient Abdera, Thrace, northeastern Greece. 4th century BC (?).

In line with the modern exhibition design concepts adopted by many museums, exhibits in the Abdera Archaeological Museum are grouped thematically (private life, public life, religion, state organization, children, etc) rather than strictly chronologically, and in some cases diverse artefacts from different periods are displayed together without individual labelling. These two antefixes are displayed among a number of others and are labelled simply: "Antefixes. 5th c. BC - Roman period." An information board states that the Corinthian method of roof tiling was the most usual in Abdera, with flat pan-tiles and ridged cover tiles (see photo below).

Several exhibits have been found and handed in by local people over many years, and in some cases a special printed card with the donor's name has been placed next to the object. This is excellent. It does mean, however, that the archaeological context of an object is often lost.

So far I have found little information about these antefixes or the sima (above), or indeed many details about other archaeological finds from Abdera. Similar antefixes, dated to the 4th century BC, have been found at the archaeological site at nearby Molyvoti (Μολυβωτή), thought to be the location of ancient Stryme (Στρύμη), a colony of Thasos (part of the Thasian Peraia) founded in the 6th century BC. The remains of two large neighbouring buildings there have been excavated: one has been dubbed by archaeologists "the House of Hermes" after a gemstone found there, and the other "the House of the Gorgon" because of the discovery of several terracotta antefixes. These buildings have also been dated to the 4th century BC.

From the few published photos I have found so far, the Gorgon antefixes from Molyvoti appear almost identical to these from Abdera. At Abdera pottery kilns and moulds have been found, proving that ceramics were produced here, even though the quality of most surviving objects is rather poor. Whereas no evidence of pottery production has yet been found at Molyvoti. Could it be that the inhabitants purchased their ceramics from Abdera?

One of a number of Gorgoneion antefixes found in the southern sanctuary of Poseidonia. They are thought to have decorated smaller temples and thesauri (θησαυροί, plural of thesauros, θησαυρός, treasury, storehouse) built soon after the foundation of the city.

Five of the antefixes are exhibited in the Paestum museum. Each is of a different form and type, and the museum label suggests that they are displayed more-or-less in chronological order (see the other four in the photos below). The depictions of the Gorgon are successively less horrid.

One of several Gorgon antefixes of various styles (see another below) connected with different phases of construction on the acropolis of Selinous from the foundation of the city (circa 650-628 BC), to around the period of the building of Temple C (circa 540-510 BC). Other antefixes found there depict heads of Silenos and a youthful male.

Read more about Selinous on Demeter and Persephone part 1.

In the late 19th century, when discussing architectural terracottas discovered in Sicily, the archaeologist Reinhard Kekule von Stradonitz wrote:

"Of plastic figurative terracottas for architectural use, the most numerous are antefixes. Of these, naturally, the most uptil now come from Selinus. However, I know of others from Lilybaion, Motya, Gela, Kamarina, Syracuse and Naxos. The commonest representation is the Medusa head, which appears in various forms, including the later characterless forms. After these come Silen or Satyr heads and undefinable female heads."

The powerful city of Gela (Γέλα), on the south coast of Sicily, was founded circa 688 BC by Dorian Greek colonists from Rhodes and Crete, around 45 years after the foundation of Syracuse. According to Thucydides (History of the Peloponnesian War, Book 6, chapter 4), around 108 years later (circa 582-580 BC) the Geloans founded Akragas (Ἀκράγας, today Agrigento), further west along the coast. The modern town was founded as Terranova di Sicilia by Emperor Frederick II in 1233 AD, and renamed Gela in 1928.

There are a number of antefixes of this type, known as "gorgone con krobylos", including three in Gela Archaeological Museum; the best preserved is Inv. No. 8411. All show the Gorgon wearing a wide, curved headdress or stephane (crown) above rows of black curls and the elaborate krobylos (κρώβυλος) hairstyle popular during the Archaic period, as well as large round earrings with concentric circles.

One fragment from Gela, on which the paint has been well preserved, shows the strong colours used, including "rouged" cheeks. [15] The face is quite human, although to the modern eye with something of a cartoon or clown character. There are no snakes, wrinkled nose or fangs, in fact the teeth are in perfectly even rows. The faded paint in this example suggest a faraway, distance look in the eyes, although the Gela fragment belies this illusion. However, this is not a glance that would petrify or even scare the viewer.

One of an number of Etruscan architectural terracottas, including four Gorgoneions, displayed in the museum on a very high shelf, and therefore difficult to see for most visitors. The individual exhibits are not labelled, and not all are to be found in the Collections section of the museum's website.

1. Clay, pottery, ceramics, earthenware and terracotta

In English Ceramic objects are often described as "clay" (in German Ton), but this is technically incorrect. Clay is the raw material, but when it is fired at high temperatures in a kiln, it is transformed chemically and physically into a permanently hard substance. Although baked clay products are generally referred to "pottery", they include a large variety objects which are not pots or vessels, including tiles, antefixes, plaques and statues. The word ceramic, derived from the Greek κέραμος (keramos, pottery or pottery clay), has become the accepted word to describe objects made of fire-hardened clay, as in ceramic art and ceramic artist.

2. Protome

A protome (Greek, προτομή, foremost or upper part of something; from the verb προτέμνειν, protemnein, to cut off the front) is a depiction of the head, bust or forepart of an animal, human or fabulous creature, usually a frontal view, in art and architectural decoration, on utensils, coins, etc.

The earliest known use of the word was by the English doctor, clergyman, antiquarian and natural philosopher William Stukeley (1687-1765), who also pioneered the archaeological investigation of Avebury and Stonehenge. The word protome was used - without explanation - in:

William Stukeley, The family memoirs of the Rev. William Stukeley, M.D., and the antiquarian and other correspondence of William Stukeley, Roger & Samuel Gale, etc., Volume III, pages 56 and 61 (extracts from diary entries for September 1737 and July 1739). Publications of the Surtees Society, Volume LXXX for the year 1885. Durham, London, Edinburgh, 1887. At the Internet Archive.

3. Etruscan ceramic tile roofs

"Roof terracottas from southern Etrutria and Latium
Since the 7th century BC, the Etruscans roofed their buildings with clay tiles like the Greeks. The roof fringes were decorated with colourful, ornamental and figure-shaped terracottas. Antefixes on the cullis were formed in the shape of heads or masks. Clay figures crowned the gables and roof ridges, Caere was one of the centres of this terracotta production."

Exhibit label in the Altes Museum, Berlin.

4. "Gorgoneion" antefix from Thessaloniki

5. Eretria antefix

See the report (in German) of the excavations at Eretria, 1979-1980, by the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece:

Clemens Krause, Eretria: Ausgrabungen 1979-1980. In: Antike Kunst, 24. Jahrgang, Doppelnummer (1981), pages 70-87, particularly page 78 and Tafel. 12, 1. Vereinigung der Freunde Antiker Kunst, Basel, Switzerland. PDF available as a PDF document at the website of the Swiss School of Archaeology in Greece.

Of the fragmentary Gorgoneion antefix in the Chaironea Archaeological Museum, Boeotia (Inv. No. 412), only the top of the head, left eye and part of the left cheek have been preserved. The piece has no firm provenance, it has never been published, and no photograph has been published. Because it is in the Chaironea museum, it is taken as likely that it is from Boeotia.

6. Beautiful type Gorgoneion antefix from Taranto

The antefix is now in the Collezione Archeologica Paolo Orsi of the Museo Civico di Rovereto, Italy.

See: Ingrid Krauskopf, Gorgo, Gorgones, nu. 108b. In: Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC). Band 4, Zürich/München 1988.

7. Shell-frame antefixes

Professor Birgitta Lindros Wohl reported that in 1995 there were around 59 Gorgon antefixes of a number of sizes and minor variations, some fragmentary, on display in the Museo Provinciale Campano, Capua, with a further unspecified number in storerooms.

See: Birgitta Lindros Wohl, A Campanian Gorgon Antefix, in The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal, Volume 24/1996, pages 13-20. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California, 1997. At jstor.org.

The terracotta shell-frame antefix from Campania now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, is dated around 550-500 B.C. Preserved height 27.5 cm, width 37 cm. Inv. No. 75.AD.107.

Below is a list of some of the Campanian shell-frame Gorgon antefixes in other museums. All examples are dated around 550-500 BC (some 575-500 BC), are described as Etrusucan and having been found at Casilinum, most with surviving traces of red, black and white colour:

National Archaeological Museum, Naples. Inv. No. 21581.

Museo Artistico Industriale, Rome. Inv. Nos. 9 and 26.

British Museum. Inv. Nos. 1877,0802.5 (Terracotta B596) and 1877,0802.4 (Terracotta B597).

Antikensammlung, Berlin State Museums. Inv. No. TC 7154.

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen. Inv. Nos. H 30 and H 30a.

Historisches Museum Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main.

Two are recorded in the Palazzo Chigi, Siena.

8. The Gorgon antefixes from Thasos

For further information about the antefix in the Pushkin Museum, see:

Акимова Людмила Ивановна (Akimova Ludmila Ivanovna), 35. АНТЕФИКС С МАСКОЙ ГОРГОНЫ МЕДУЗЫ (Antefix with the mask of the Gorogon Medusa). Part of the online catalogue of the A.S. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, in Russian (250 artefacts from the museum's collection, organized into 12 sections).

Akimova mentions another antefix from Thasos, perhaps Fredrich's fragment illustrated above, which she believes is in the Berlin State Museums: "The closest analogy to the monument is another, somewhat worse preserved antefix, which also originates from Thasos (from the area of ​​the Temple of Hercules and Prytaneus) and now kept in the Antique Collection of Berlin."

Very little has been published on the Gorgon antefixes from Thasos, and I have yet to find a comparison of the three mentioned here. The example in the Thasos museum is mentioned in the Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC) Volume 4, 1, but the entry is typical of many academic publications in that it unhelpfully terse and the bibliographic references lead the reader to outdated publications which contain little further information about the subject.

"47. Tonantifixe. Thasos, Mus. Vom Herakles-tempel und vom Prytaneion. Fredrich, C., AM 33, 1908, 245 Taf. 10; Daux, G., Guide de Thasos (1968) 103 Abb. 49; Belson II 99-101 EG 26-27. - 3. Viertel 6. Jh. v. Chr. - Typ verwandt 31. Ohrringe, Hauer."

LIMC IV, 1, Eros-Herakles, Gorgo and gorgones, No. 47, page 292. Artemis & Winkler Verlag, Zurich, Munich and Dusseldorf, 1988. At the Internet Archive.

A photo of the antefix in the Thasos museum, taken in the 1960s by the German photographer, art historian and archaeologist Konrad Helbig (1917-1986), can be seen on the website of the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library), along with an equally terse description:

9. Abdera and the Phoenicians

The Phoenician origin and name of Thracian Abdera appear to be speculation, based on the statement of the Greek geographer Strabo that the Abdera (Ἄβδηρα, today Adra, Almería province) on the south coast of Spain was founded by Phoenicians like its neighbour Malaka (Μάλακα, today Malaga) and New Carthage (Καρχηδὼν ἡ νέα, today Cartagena).

"After these comes Abdera, founded likewise by the Phoenicians."

Strabo, Geography, Book 3, chapter 4, section 3. At Perseus Digital Library.

However, I have yet to find any substantiation of this claim elsewhere. The place on the Iberian Peninsula Strabo called Abdera does indeed appear to have been a Phoenician foundation, but he may have been using a Greek version of the name. There does not appear to be a satisfactory etymology for the Phoenician name, either historical or mythical, perhaps due to the present-day lack of evidence concerning the language. I have heard of no archaeological evidence of Phoenician habitation at Thracian Abdera, although much of the area remains unexcavated.

10. Abderos, Herakles and the Mares of Diomedes

Varying versions of the myth of the Mares of Diomedes, the Eighth Labour of Herakles, and the involvement of Abderos, were related by a number of ancient authors. Hyginus (Fabulae, chapter 30), wrote that Abderos was a slave of Diomedes, and even gave the horses male names: Podargus, Lampon, Xanthus, and Dinus. See also:

Apollodorus, Library, Book 2, chapter 5, section 8. At Perseus Digital Library.

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Book 4, chapter 15, sections 3-4. At Bill Thayer's LacusCurtius website.

11. Timesios of Klazomenai and the foundation of Abdera

Herodotus, Histories, Book 1, chapter 168

Eusebius places his colony in the 31st Olympiad, around 656-652 BC.

Plutarch mentioned a colony founder named Timesias (Τιμησίας), who is thought to be the same person. It was the custom for potential colonists to consult an oracle (usually taken to have been the Oracle of Pythian Apollo at Delphi) before embarking on their risky enterprise.

"But is impossible for a friend not to share his friend's wrongs or disrepute or disfavour. For a man's enemies at once look with suspicion and hatred upon his friend, and oftentimes his other friends are envious and jealous, and try to get him away. As the oracle given to Timesias about his colony prophesied:

'Soon shall your swarms of honey-bees turn out to be hornets.'

So, in like manner, men who seek for a swarm of friends unwittingly run afoul of hornet's nests of enemies."

Plutarch, On having many friends, section 7. At Bill Thayer's LacusCurtius website.

It has been suggested that the honey-bees turned hornets were the local Thracians, who at first seemed friendly to the colonists but later turned on them.

From Plutarch and Aelian (Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός, Claudius Aelianus, circa 175-235 AD) we also hear of a ruler called Timesias of Klazomenai (Τιμησίας δ᾽ ὁ Κλαζομένιος or Τιμησίας ὁ Κλαζομένιος), a virtuous man who suddenly decided to leave his city, imagining or realizing that he was hated by the people after he accidentally overheard a schoolboy say, "I'd like to knock the brains out of Timesias."

Plutarch, Praecepta gerendae reipublicae (Precepts of statecraft), section 15. At Perseus Digital Library.

Aelian, Varia Historia, Book 12, chapter 9. At topostext.org.

12. "Abdera, the beautiful colony of the Teians"

Strabo, Geography, Book 14, chapter 1. At Perseus Digital Library.

Pindar's second Paean has survived only in fragments. It is thought to have been commissioned by the Abderitans to celebrate their festival of Apollo Derenus and to commemorate a victory in battle against Thracians at a nearby place below Mount Melamphyllon (Ὄρος Μελαμφυλον, Black Leaves; Paean 2, 59-63). The commemoration may have become part of the festival celebrations.

See: Ian Rutherford, Pindar's Paeans: A Reading οf the Fragments with a Survey of the Genre, pages 262-264 and 270-272. Oxford University Press, 2001. At the Internet Archive.

It is not clear from the poem fragments when this battle took place, and although Pliny the Elder also mentioned Melamphyllos as one of the mountains of Thrace, there appear to be no other mentions of such a battle in surviving ancient literature.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, Book 4, chapter 11, section 50. At Perseus Digital Library.

An information board in Abdera Archaeological Museum displays a chronological "Table of historical events" in Greek and English. Under 545 BC is the following entry:

13. Abdera and Athens

The historian Diodorus Siculus described how the Athenian general Thrasybulus sailed to Abdera to secure its allegiance during the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and its allies (408 BC).

"After this, sailing to Abdera,​ he brought that city, which at that time was among the most powerful in Thrace, over to the side of the Athenians."

Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, Book 13, chapter 72, section 2. At Bill Thayer's LacusCurtius.

14. Archaeological artefacts from Abdra and Molyvoti

On my most recent visits to archaeological sites and museums in Macedonia and Thrace (2023-2024 including Polygyros, Olynthus, Komotini, Xanthi, Abdera, Kavala, Philppi, Drama) I was dismayed to find that there are no guide books on sale to visitors. The Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports seems to have given up producing the once excellent series of guide books to sites and museums published by its Archaeological Receipts Fund (TAP), although the old editions are still available at those larger sites/museums with shops. Apart from a few publications covering its more prestigious sites such as the Athenian Acropolis, the Ministry seems to have abandoned print altogether. It now seems unlikely that new editions to existing books will appear, or that new volumes will be commissioned. The chances of commercial publishers filling in the market gap are also diminishing, particularly for locations off the main tourist trails. The trend, of course, is increasingly away from print and towards electronic publications, websites and apps. Unfortunately, the official electronic publications remain rudimentary, inadequate and often unreliable.

Fortunately, some archaeologists as well as other scholars and experts kindly make their articles - and sometimes even entire books - freely available online. This is especially welcome to independent researchers, since academic publications are very expensive, and often unavailable to those without access to institutional libraries. Admittedly, some academic articles make for pretty dry reading and are not aimed at the general public, but can offer valuable information, ideas and insights for anyone interested in a particular subject. Recently I have been diving through several such publications dealing specifically with the history of Thrace, and hope to add new information to the articles on this website as time goes by.

Recent excavations at Molyvoti have been organized under the auspices of the Molyvoti, Thrace, Archaeological Project (MTAP), a collaboration between the Ephorate of Antiquities of Rhodope and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA). Some of the results of their work have been published online, with hopefully more to follow soon.

In order to present its findings online MTAP has developed a web database, WebDig, on the website of Princeton University. A great idea, but its scope and implementation remain basic, with a very 1990s interface and obscure academic method for displaying queries and results. I am not sure if it is still being maintained or updated.

https://mtap-database.princeton.edu/

Having said all that, I did manage to find the record of one antefix with Gorgoneion of the type also found at Abdera, with a good photo and some basic information:

T024 Artifact - Antefix
Identifier: T024
Category: Terracotta
Locus: Locus L14-069 - Late Roman fill
Source: House of Hermes

https://mtap-database.princeton.edu/app_main.html#

15. Gorgoneion with krobylos from Gela

See: Marina Castoldi, Vera da cisterna con Gorgoneia da Gela, Numismatica e antichità classiche (Quaderni Ticinesi), XXXIX, 2010, pages 61-76.

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