Following a general overview of the discoveries and the institutions involved, it highlights how it is possible to distinguish several distinct periods: 1) 1890-1950: an initial, immediate incorporation into courses on the history of classical art, as the first chapter in the study of Greek art, though this interest waned between the two world wars; 2) 1950-1980. Ventris’s decipherment sparked profound interest, which, however, focused primarily on textual documentation and its historical implications. This led to a series of important monographs, the founding of the Mycenaean Seminar in Rome, and subsequently the Institute of Mycenaean and Aegean-Anatolian Studies at the CNR, as well as the establishment of specific chairs dedicated to Mycenaean philology or Aegean history. 3) 1980-2000. The first chairs of Aegean Archaeology (with various denominations) were established in Catania and Pisa, followed by others in Udine, Venice, Florence, Lecce, etc. 4) 2000-2024. The classification of academic disciplines, which started in those years, the study of Aegean civilisations was categorised under philological subjects (as indicated by the assigned code: L-FIL/01), and it was not until 2014 that its archaeological component was partially recognised. 5) 2024 present. With Ministerial Decree 639/2024, the process is completed with the removal of the scientific disciplinary sector L-Fil/Let-01 from the Scientific Disciplinary Group for Archaeology and Aegean Civilisations, and its retention within the Scientific Disciplinary Group for Greek Language and Literature. This decision, whilst administratively understandable, nevertheless represents an epistemological stance that equates the study of Aegean civilisations solely with philology. This decision would lead to the definitive abolition of the Aegean archaeology sector in the 2024 reform and its reintegration into the sectors of Prehistory or Classical Archaeology. This development took place whilst research into Aegean prehistory had, since the 1990s, been undergoing a profound transformation in which the analysis of material evidence, archaeometry and surveys opened up chronological perspectives that would have been unthinkable within a purely textual approach. The reasons for this evolution lie in the strong influence exerted by scholars such as Pugliese Carratelli and Gallavotti in shaping the discipline’s outlook, in the absence of a fruitful relationship between fieldwork in the Aegean and teaching in Italy, at least until the 1980s; and, finally, in the inability of Italian archaeologists themselves to produce wide-ranging works capable of providing a picture of the Aegean world based on material evidence. The article concludes with some observations on the future of the discipline.
L’Archeologia egea in Italia. Bilanci e prospettive di una disciplina accademica
Pietro Maria Militello
2026-01-01
Abstract
Following a general overview of the discoveries and the institutions involved, it highlights how it is possible to distinguish several distinct periods: 1) 1890-1950: an initial, immediate incorporation into courses on the history of classical art, as the first chapter in the study of Greek art, though this interest waned between the two world wars; 2) 1950-1980. Ventris’s decipherment sparked profound interest, which, however, focused primarily on textual documentation and its historical implications. This led to a series of important monographs, the founding of the Mycenaean Seminar in Rome, and subsequently the Institute of Mycenaean and Aegean-Anatolian Studies at the CNR, as well as the establishment of specific chairs dedicated to Mycenaean philology or Aegean history. 3) 1980-2000. The first chairs of Aegean Archaeology (with various denominations) were established in Catania and Pisa, followed by others in Udine, Venice, Florence, Lecce, etc. 4) 2000-2024. The classification of academic disciplines, which started in those years, the study of Aegean civilisations was categorised under philological subjects (as indicated by the assigned code: L-FIL/01), and it was not until 2014 that its archaeological component was partially recognised. 5) 2024 present. With Ministerial Decree 639/2024, the process is completed with the removal of the scientific disciplinary sector L-Fil/Let-01 from the Scientific Disciplinary Group for Archaeology and Aegean Civilisations, and its retention within the Scientific Disciplinary Group for Greek Language and Literature. This decision, whilst administratively understandable, nevertheless represents an epistemological stance that equates the study of Aegean civilisations solely with philology. This decision would lead to the definitive abolition of the Aegean archaeology sector in the 2024 reform and its reintegration into the sectors of Prehistory or Classical Archaeology. This development took place whilst research into Aegean prehistory had, since the 1990s, been undergoing a profound transformation in which the analysis of material evidence, archaeometry and surveys opened up chronological perspectives that would have been unthinkable within a purely textual approach. The reasons for this evolution lie in the strong influence exerted by scholars such as Pugliese Carratelli and Gallavotti in shaping the discipline’s outlook, in the absence of a fruitful relationship between fieldwork in the Aegean and teaching in Italy, at least until the 1980s; and, finally, in the inability of Italian archaeologists themselves to produce wide-ranging works capable of providing a picture of the Aegean world based on material evidence. The article concludes with some observations on the future of the discipline.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
