A Report From Nemea, Greece

Stephen G. Miller

Although Professor Miller is on sabbatical leave this academic year and, not surprisingly, is spending the year in Greece, he recently returned to present his annual lecture to the Friends of Nemea and the University community (January 31,1995). The 1994 season at Nemea -where excavations began in 1974 - was particularly memorable because July 6 marked the Opening of the Ancient Stadium of Nemea as an Archaeological Park, which is now a remarkable site to visit by the public. The archaeological excavations of the past two decades have yielded enormously interesting and important information about the stadium, and about the entire fabric and set-up of the ancient games. The July 6 opening was thrilling, to say the least, and included six foot races run by groups of both boys and girls. As Professor Miller reported in his annual letter to the Friends of Nemea: "that which cannot easily be conveyed is... the sense of life that came back to the stadium, and the thrill of watching the black-robed judges set in motion the first race of 10-12 year olds who - clad in white chitons - burst from the starting line as the reconstructed hysplex mechanism fell to sprint down the track". As well, the drinking fountain - in the form of the Nemean Lion - was installed at the entrance to the Archaeological Park, along with a bronze plaque which reads "Archaeological Park of the Ancient Stadium of Nemea - Work of the University of California at Berkeley, 1974-1994", and along with a planting of many flowers with a very Blue and Gold centerpiece of marigolds and blue bladder gentians! The following excerpt from Professor Miller's letter provides us with additional information on the research and on the future archaeology at Nemea:

"After a period of recovery from the dedication of the stadium, our more typical work at Nemea went on. This, of course, deals with the final publications, and the preparation of the illustrative material to accompany them. With the help of M. Miller and J. Parsons, I have been able to check every graffito on the walls of the tunnel entrance of the stadium. These will comprise a most important part of the stadium volume and it is extremely important that we get these difficult-to-read scratchings recorded correctly. And so they now are with the help of Jeff Burden who inked in the corrected readings on the drawings of the graffiti that we had originally done longer ago.

In the meantime, work on other volumes has progressed, and my colleague Robert Knapp [U.C. Berkeley, Professor of Classics] indicates that the volume on the coins from the excavations at Nemea should be ready shortly after that on the stadium. We are hopeful that this time next year both volumes will be in press.

The other major effort has been the preparation of the application to the American School of Classical Studies at Athens for renewed full-scale excavations at Nemea..." This request, Professor Miller now writes, has been approved for the period of 1997-2001. We look forward to more exciting discoveries as well as the continued reporting and publication of original and important archaeology from Nemea!!