Carl W. Blegen: Personal and Archaeological Narratives
6
www.lockwoodpress.com LOCKWOOD PRESS CARL W. BLEGEN is the most famous American archaeologist ever to work in Greece, and no American has ever had a greater impact on Greek archaeology. Yet Blegen, unlike several others of his generation, until now has found no biographer. In part, the explanation for this must lie in the fact that his life was so multifaceted: not only was he instrumental in creating the field of Aegean prehistory, but Blegen, his wife, and their best friends, the Hills (“the family”), were also significant forces in the social and intellectual community of Athens. Authors who have contributed to this book have each researched one aspect of Blegen’s life, drawing on copious documentation in the United States, England, and Greece. The result is a nontraditional biography that sets Blegen and his closest colleagues in the social and academic milieu that gave rise to the discipline of classical archaeology in Greece. NATALIA VOGEIKOFF-BROGAN is Doreen Canaday Spitzer Archivist at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. JACK L. DAVIS is Carl W. Blegen Professor of Greek Archaeology at the University of Cincinnati. VASILIKI FLOROU is an independent researcher with a particular focus on archaeology and cultural heritage management issues. CARL W. BLEGEN PERSONAL & ARCHAEOLOGICAL NARRATIVES edited by Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan • Jack L. Davis • Vasiliki Florou CARL W. BLEGEN Vogeikoff-Brogan • Davis • Florou
Transcript of Carl W. Blegen: Personal and Archaeological Narratives
www.lockwoodpress.com
LOCKWOOD PRESS
CARL W. BLEGEN is the most famous American archaeologist ever to work in Greece, and no American has ever had a greater impact on Greek archaeology. Yet Blegen, unlike several others of his generation, until now has found no biographer. In part, the explanation for this must lie in the fact that his life was so multifaceted: not only was he instrumental in creating the field of Aegean prehistory, but Blegen, his wife, and their best friends, the Hills (“the family”), were also significant forces in the social and intellectual community of Athens. Authors who have contributed to this book have each researched one aspect of Blegen’s life, drawing on copious documentation in the United States, England, and Greece. The result is a nontraditional biography that sets Blegen and his closest colleagues in the social and academic milieu that gave rise to the discipline of classical archaeology in Greece.
NATALIA VOGEIKOFF-BROGAN is Doreen Canaday Spitzer Archivist at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
JACK L. DAVIS is Carl W. Blegen Professor of Greek Archaeology at the University of Cincinnati.
VASILIKI FLOROU is an independent researcher with a particular focus on archaeology and cultural heritage management issues.
CARL W. BLEGENPERSONAL & ARCHAEOLOGICAL NARRATIVES
edited by Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan • Jack L. Davis • Vasiliki Florou
CAR
L W. BLEG
ENVogeikoff-Brogan • D
avis • Florou
CARL W. BLEGEN
Carl and Elizabeth Blegen
CARL W. BLEGENPERSONAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL
NARRATIVES
edited by
Natalia Vogeikoff-BroganJack L. DavisVasiliki Florou
LOCKWOOD PRESS2015
CARL W. BLEGEN PERSONAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL NARRATIVES
Copyright © 2015 by Lockwood Press
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and record-ing, or by means of any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Re-quests for permission should be addressed in writing to Lockwood Press, PO Box 133289, Atlanta, GA 30333 USA.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014949385
ISBN: 978-1-937040-22-2 (hardcover)
Cover image: AN2003.147.29, by Piet de Jong, cartoon of Carl W. Blegen © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
Back cover image: The Blegen house on 9 Ploutarchou, now the seat of the J. F. Costopoulos Foundation. Photo Lambros Papanikolatos, J. F. Costopoulos Foundation.
Frontispiece: Carl W. Blegen, ca. 1930. Photo ASCSA Carl W. Blegen Papers, Blegen Library Archives. Elizabeth Pierce Blegen, ca. 1930. Photo ASCSA Elizabeth P. Blegen Papers, Blegen Library Archives.
Cover design by Susanne Wilhelm.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.
Contents
Illustrations vii
“On His Feet and Ready to Dig”: Carl William Blegen 1Jack L. Davis and Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan
The Life of Carl W. Blegen from a Grass Roots Perspective 17Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan
From the Mud of Peirene to Mastering Stratigraphy: Carl Blegen 39in the Corinthia and Argolid
Ioulia Tzonou-Herbst
The “Govs” of Mycenaean Archaeology: The Friendship and Collaboration of Carl W. Blegen and Alan J. B. Wace as Seen through Their Correspondence 63
Yannis Fappas
The Blegens and the Hills: A Family Affair 85Robert L. Pounder
“Islanders vs. Mainlanders,” “The Mycenae Wars,” and Other Short Stories: An Archival Visit to an Old Debate 99
Yannis Galanakis
The House at 9 Ploutarchou Street: A Grape Arbor and a Dense Shadow of Beautiful Meetings 121
Vasiliki Florou
Και εἰς ἀνώτερα: The Govs in the 1930s 147Elizabeth W. French
Carl Blegen and Troy 157Brian Rose
“His Eyes Took on a Far Away Look When He Spoke of Pylos”: Carl Blegen and the Excavations at the Palace of Nestor as Seen in the Greek and Foreign Press 177
Nektarios Karadimas
Blegen and the Palace of Nestor: What Took So Long? 209Jack L. Davis
Contributors 231
Index 233
v
