KEPHALLONIA - Fiskardo - 2000

Fiskardo, Roman cemetery. A. Sotiriou (then Στ' ΕΠΚΑ, now Director, ΛΕ' ΕΠΚΑ) reports the excavation of a funerary peribolos and a small area northeast of it (Fig. 1).

Funerary peribolos 2, oriented northeast-southwest, is rectangular with loosely built walls (noting a central part in opus testaceum) preserved to 1.5m high, a paved floor and a monumental entrance. (Fig. 2) . It contains three tombs. Tomb XX is a semi-subterranean built cist, set into a pit. Tombs XVIII and TXIX are sarcophagi set on low bases close to the walls and with relief sculpture on the visible sides: the interiors of both were explored in 1993. Both date to the second to third century AD. The sarcophagus in tomb XVIII was missing its southeast short side and half of the long side: the surviving part of the cover has a relief of a reclining woman. Depicted on the long side is the rape of Persephone with Artemis, Athena, Persephone, Pluto and two other forms. The cover of the sarcophagus in tomb XIX had relief tiles with a central hole: the main side had a male figure between two Nikai, joined by garlands adorned with fruit and birds; the space above the right garland had a female head, and one infers a similar figure above the left garland. The short sides were decorated with bucrania, garlands and rosettes.

In the northeast area, three built cists (tombs XLV−XLVI) contain bronze coins, glass and pottery vessels, lamps, strigils, small metal objects and a pair of silver earrings.

The cemetery continues under the modern road for some 150m. Excavation began in 1997, and the results can be summarized as follows. Fourteen graves belong to two funerary periboloi. The form of the tombs and the rich grave goods indicate that they belong to prominent families. The overall total of graves discovered can be categorized as follows: 13 are overground built cists, 17 are built cists set into pits in the bedrock, three are monumental (set on bases, with doors and vaulted ceilings), five are tile graves set into the cists or pits, one is a simple pit into which the bier was set, seven are tentatively identified as enchytrismoi and four are monolithic sarcophagi (two with relief sculpture). The ancient settlement is located at Tigania, although its identification with ancient Panormos remains uncertain.