Preface and Acknowledgments

The antiquities of the ancient Greek world, scattered throughout the regions surrounding the Mediterranean and Black seas, are best known from the sites where the Greeks lived, worked, worshiped, and played. Some of those sites have never been excavated; others have been more or less thoroughly investigated. None is completely excavated. None has yielded its last secrets.

At Nemea less than half of the ancient site has been uncovered. Thus a guidebook that offers an overview of the site and its history may well be proved wrong the next time the pick goes into the ground. Nonetheless, Nemea—like many other sites—has by now given enough of itself that we may offer such a guide with some confidence in its accuracy. Moreover, it is in the very nature of human knowledge that corrections and additions often are (and should be) required; this will undoubtedly be true at Nemea.

What we now know of Nemea has resulted directly from excavations by the University of California at Berkeley which have taken place since 1974 under the direction of the undersigned. It has also resulted from the efforts of many individuals, most of them connected with the University, during that period. These individuals, too numerous to list here, can be found in the first footnote of every preliminary report in the journal Hesperia (see the Bibliography). They have made real contributions to our understanding of Nemea, frequently in difficult conditions.

This book is likewise the result of a cooperative effort. A group of graduate students at the University of California, past and present, have made direct contributions: Ana M. Abraldes, Dr. Darice Birge, Alison Futrell, Michael Goethals, Dr. Lynn Kraynak, Mark Landon, and Jeannie Marchand are listed in the Contents at the entries that each of them wrote. (The remaining entries were written by the undersigned.) This list, however, does not reveal how the editing process, largely the responsibility of the undersigned, benefited from the careful reading of each contributor and the lively discussions to which each contributed. Professors Mary Sturgeon, Homer Thompson, and David Young and James Clark, Director of the University of California Press, made useful suggestions. The text has been improved substantially by the careful copyediting of Stephanie Fay. The design is the work of Laurie Anderson. Other members of the University of California Press staff have also been helpful, particularly Jane McKinne, Steve Renick, and Deborah Kirshman. In addition, the drawings of Martha Breen (Figs. 31, 35, 41, 53, 60, 64, and 65) and Katerina Sklere (Fig. 54) help us to understand the ancient situation.

The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, under whose aegis and on whose behalf the University of California at Berkeley has worked at Nemea, is to be thanked and congratulated for its help with the Nemea project. When the Managing Committee of the American School resolved in December 1968 that Nemea should be a priority of the School, the process began the results of which are embodied in this book.

Finally, the Ephoreia of Antiquities at Nauplion, the Archaeological Service of Greece, and the Ministry of Culture have all worked closely with the University of California and the American School in the excavations at Nemea. The visitor enjoying the museum and the archaeological park at

Nemea benefits from the work of these institutions and their representatives.

STEPHEN G. MILLER
FEBRUARY 2, 1989