Νιχώρια | |
 | |
  Shown within Peloponnese | |
| Location | Messenian Gulf |
|---|---|
| Region | Peloponnese |
| Coordinates | 37°0′12″N 21°54′46″E / 37.00333°N 21.91278°E |
| Type | Tholos tomb and settlement |
| Area | 5 |
| History | |
| Abandoned | 1100BC |
| Periods | LHIIIA:2 |
| Cultures | Mycenaen |
| Satellite of | Pylos |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | Ruined |
| Ownership | Ministry of Culture and Sport (Greece) |
| Public access | Yes |
Nichoria (Greek: Νιχώρια) is a site in Messenia, on a ridgetop near modern Rizomylos, at the northwestern corner of the Messenian Gulf.[1] From the Middle to Late Bronze Age it cultivated olive and terebinth for export.[2] During the Helladic period it was part of the Mycenaean civilisation.
Nichoria reached its greatest extent (5 hectares) in LHIIIA:2, and even sported a royal Pylos-style megaron; although it was always smaller. Nichoria became subordinate to Pylos and lost the use of its megaron.[3]
Toward the end of LH IIIB, the palace at Pylos knew Nichoria under the name of TI-MI-TO A-KO.[4] Nichoria was a major outpost of Pylos's "Trans-Aigolaia" province. According to Palaima, "it occurs on ten tablets that relate to: bronze working, six standard items of regional taxation, bronze recycling for weaponry production, coastal defensive arrangements, gold, landholdings, livestock, male personnel, and rather intensive levels of flax production";[5] and "during the late Bronze Age as much as 10% of the total surface land might have been devoted to olive growth".[2]
Controversy remains over how to transliterate "TI-MI-TO A-KO" into Greek. "TI-MI-TO" has been interpreted as themittos, for "border", comparing Knossos's term "O-U-TE-MI" as a religious ou themis ("not allowed," literally "not set down, in this case 'by law'"). Palaima contrarily reads O-U-TE-MI as a description of furniture, ou termis ("no 'termis', i.e., border or edge"). For Palaima, interpreting the "TI-MI-TO" element in "TI-MI-TO-A-KO" as the genitive of Greek 'themis' is problematical. In Mycenaean, an alternation of i for e is found in words of pre-Greek, not Greek, origin. (Compare Artemitos vs Artimitei.) This would fit taking TI-MI-TO as "tirminthos", for the terebinth tree (pistacia terebinthus) which served as sources for scented resin. "A-KO" meanwhile could mean "agos" for "holy ground" or more likely "agkos" for "hillside" or "glen".[6]
Nichoria was destroyed in the same event which claimed the main palace at Pylos.[citation needed]
The University of Minnesota Messenia Expedition under William Andrew McDonald surveyed the area in the 1960s, and began excavating Nichoria in 1969.[7]
- ^ Jack L. Davis and Susan E. Alcock, Sandy Pylos: An Archaeological History from Nestor to Navarino (University of Texas Press, 1998: ISBN 0-292-71595-1), pp. 139, 167.
- ^ a b Palaima (2000), p. 17.
- ^ Davis and Alcock (1998), pp. 127-128.
- ^ Shelmerdine (1981).
- ^ Palaima (2000), p. 10.
- ^ Palaima (2000), pp. 11 & 14.
- ^ Davis (1998), p. 139.