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No. 643 OCTOBER 2024 Edited by Robin Densem
HADAS DIARY – Forthcoming lectures and Events
Forthcoming HADAS Lectures:
The October and November 2024 lectures, see below, are to be held in person, face-to-face, only, in the Avenue House Drawing Room.17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE, 7.45 for 8pm. Tea/Coffee/biscuits will be available for purchase after the talk.
Tuesday 8th October 2024. Wendy Morrison (Chilterns Heritage & Archaeology Partnership) ‘Beacons of the Past Hillforts Project’.
Beacons of the Past was an exciting 4.5 year National Lottery funded project designed to conserve and discover more about the hillforts of the Chilterns landscape. It accomplished a great deal more than this and laid the foundation for a new archaeological focus for the National Landscape. Dr Wendy Morrison will report on the final years of the project, and what comes next for archaeology in the Chilterns environs.
Tuesday 12th November 2024. Peter Masters, Research Fellow Cranfield University –
‘The Battle of Barnet – new thoughts, research and surveys’
Avenue House Sunday morning working party meetings
The archaeology and heritage working sessions in the HADAS workroom at Avenue are held on Sunday mornings, from 10.30am. The sessions are open to all HADAS members and are both important and convivial. I think it would be wise to check with the committee – committee-discuss@hadas.org.uk that the session will be held before you travel as just occasionally a session is cancelled.
HADAS Christmas Party Sunday the 1st of December 2024
We will be holding the HADAS members-only Christmas party in the Salon at Avenue House from 2.30 pm on Sunday 1st December 2024. There will be a selection of seasonal food available as a finger buffet, and a quiz, raffle and cash bar. The price will be kept at the same as for last year at £20 pp. Further information and booking forms (for use by members only) will be sent out soon so please keep the date for now.
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Other societies’ events Eric Morgan with Sue Loveday.
Not all societies or organisations have returned to pre-covid conditions. Please check with them before planning to attend.
Wednesday 9th October, 2.30 pm. Mill Hill Historical Society. Trinity Church, 100, The Broadway, London. NW7 3TB. The Early Years of Newspaper Printing. Talk by Martin Bourn. Please visit www.millhill-hs.org.uk.
Friday 18th October, 7.30 pm. Wembley History Society. St. Andrew’s Church Hall (behind St. Andrew’s New Church) Church Lane, Kingsbury, London. NW9 8RZ. The Man Behind the Poster. Lord Kitchener – Life and career of a great, but controversial soldier and politician. Talk by Mick Dobson. Visitors £3. Refreshments.
Wednesday 23rd October, 7 pm. Hornsey Historical Society. Union Church Hall, Corner of Weston Park/Ferme Park Road, London. N8 7EL. T.P. Bennett and the Hillcrest Estate, Highgate. An important post-war housing development by Hornsey Borough Council. Talk by Ray Rogers – for further details please visit www.hornseyhistorical.org.uk.
Thursday 24th October, 7.30 pm. Finchley Society meeting at Avenue House, lecture on The Soane Museum by Jonty Stern. Please note that the date of 31st October shown in the September Newsletter has been brought forward.
Saturday 2nd November, 10.30 am. – 4.30 pm. Geologists’ Association Festival of Geology. U.C.L. North and South Cloisters, Gower Street, London. WC1E 6BT. Free. Lots of stalls from Geological Societies from all over the country including The Amateur Geological Society selling Jewellery, Gems, Fossils, Rocks, Minerals, Books, Maps etc. For further details please visit Festival of Geology | Geologists’ Association (geologistsassociation.org.uk).
Sunday 3rd November, 10.30 am. Heath and Hampstead Society. The Hidden Heath: Signs of the Heath’s Past. Meet at Kenwood Walled Garden (off Hampstead Lane) London, N6. Guided walk led by Michael Hammerson (Highgate Society and Archaeologist). It lasts approximately 2 hours. Donation £5. Please contact Thomas Radice on 07941 528034 or email hhs.walks@gmail.com or visit www.heathandhampstead.org.uk.
Wednesday 13th November, 2.30 pm. Mill Hill Historical Society. Address as for 9th October 2024. Putting on a show, Mill Hill Musical Theatre Company. Talk by Grant Graves and Clare Shar.
Friday 15th November, 7.30 pm. Wembley History Society. Address as for 18th October 2024. Cricklewood Tales. Mayor of Brent, Tariq Dorgues, on a history of his time in the borough. Visitors £3.
Monday 18th November, 8 pm. Enfield Society. Jubilee Hall, 2, Parsonage Lane/Junction Chase Side, Enfield, EN2 0AJ. Bruce Castle, Old and New. Talk by Deborah Hedgecock sharing old stories & new discoveries found during the current building conservation project at Tottenham’s magnificent Grade I Listed and former 16th century Manor House. Please visit https://enfieldsociety.org.uk/about-our-talks/.
Wednesday 20th November, 7.30 pm. Willesden Local History Society. St. Mary’s Church Hall. Bottom of Neasden Lane (Around the corner from the Magistrates’ Court) London. NW10 2DZ. Archaeology, Myths and Legends. Talk by Signe Hoffos (C.O.L.A.S). For further details please visit www.willesdenlocal-history.co.uk.
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The Serpent Column: Images from Delphi and Constantinople/Istanbul. Robin Densem.
The bronze column (Figure 1) of three snakes twisting around each other survives to a height of 5.35m in Constantinople, having been originally erected at and dedicated to the religious sanctuary at Delphi (Figure 7) where it stood outside and close to the east end of the Temple of Apollo there (Figure 6) from BC 478 to AD 324.
The column was hollow cast in bronze taken from weapons and armour lost by the Persians who were defeated by the Greeks at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC, stopping the Persian invasion. The column may originally have had 31 coils reflecting the 31 Greek city states named in an inscription incised onto the monument (Figure 3) that records the sources of Greek soldiers who fought at the battle. The Serpent Column had three bronze serpent heads (Figure 2) and is described in classical written sources, and it is clear that the heads had been surmounted by a gold tripod supporting a gold bowl or cauldron. The gold elements were taken and melted down by the Phocians in 355 BC and were used to pay their mercenaries. The Phocians left the column standing with its three bronze heads.
The Serpent Column with its three heads was taken from Delphi and brought to the Hippodrome in c. AD 324 by the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great to decorate the existing Hippodrome that he renovated. He had selected the ancient city of Byzantium to serve as the new capital of the Roman Empire, and the city was renamed Nova Roma, or ‘New Rome’. On 11 May 330, it was renamed Constantinople and dedicated to him.
Earlier, in 203. the Emperor Septimius Severus had rebuilt Byzantium and expanded its walls, endowing it with a hippodrome, an arena for chariot races and other entertainment.
It is estimated that the Hippodrome of Constantine was about 450 m (1,476 ft) long and 130 m (427 ft) wide. The carceres (starting gates) stood at the north-east end; and the sphendone (curved tribune of the U-shaped structure, the lower part of which still survives) stood at the south-west end. The spina (the middle barrier of the racecourse) was adorned with various monuments, including the Serpent Column which still stands in its position on the site of the spina. The stands were capable of holding 100,000 spectators.
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An archaeological excavation in 1855-1856 exposed an inscription that was scratched into the surface of the bronze. Written in the Phocian alphabet, it names thirty-one Greek cities that defeated the Persians at the battle of Plataea in 479 BC. This allowed for the column to be identified with the tripod Herodotus recorded in the 5th century BC. Later the historian Pausanias recorded that golden tripod in Delphi was missing, but the Serpent Column still existed. The golden cauldron and tripod had been removed by the Phocians (the locals of Delphi) during a war in the 4th century BC. Eusebius reported that several tripods from Delphi were moved to the Hippodrome of Constantinople during the reign of Constantine (sole Roman emperor AD 324-337) (https://www.thebyzantinelegacy.com/serpent-column accessed 25.07.2024).
Excavations have uncovered numerous water channels, and traces of lead piping were also found underneath the Serpent Column and the nearby Masonry Obelisk in the Hippodrome, indicating both monuments once served as fountains. It was probably its use as a fountain that saved it from being melted down or looted by the crusaders in 1204 – as was done to other bronzes in the Hippodrome.1
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1 https://www.thebyzantinelegacy.com/serpent-column accessed 25.07.2024
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Schoolboy finds Roman relic in country park.
A teenage boy has found a Roman relic from 2,000 years before he was born.
Amateur schoolboy archaeologist Edward Whitby, 17, found the Roman horse bridle while out on an excavation in a park at Greenfield Valley, north Wales. He was digging on the remains of a newly-discovered settlement at the 70-acre country park when he made the discovery.
Edward said: “It was amazing. I was cleaning back and from under the mud a glint of green caught my eye. That was when we realised it was an Iron Age horse mount.”
The 2,000 years old artifact was found within the remains of a newly discovered settlement that likely belonged to the Iron Age Deceangli tribe but continued into the Roman period.
SOURCE: Daily Telegraph, 25 August 2024, item edited by Stewart Wild
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With many thanks to this month’s contributors: Stewart Wild, Eric Morgan and Sue Loveday
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Hendon and District Archaeological Society
Chair Sandra Claggett, c/o Avenue House, 17 East End Road, Finchley N3 3QE
email : chairman@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Secretary Janet Mortimer 34 Cloister Road, Childs Hill, London NW2 2NP
(07449 978121), email: secretary@hadas.org.uk
Hon. Treasurer Roger Chapman, 50 Summerlee Ave, London N2 9QP (07855 304488),
email: treasurer@hadas.org.uk
Membership Sec. Jim Nelhams, 61 Potters Road, Barnet EN5 5HS (020 8449 7076)
email: membership@hadas.org.uk
Website: www.hadas.org.uk
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