Olympia - Kronio site sanctuary - 2011

Olympia - Kronio site sanctuary. Georgia Emm. Hadji reports on the continuation of the excavation within Ancient Olympia, which had revealed some architectural remnants during the construction of the water supply infrastructures of municipalities and communities of S. Ilia (“VI Subproject Bypass of Ancient Olympia”).  The project continued in the context of the Olympic Botanical Garden, with which the excavation was adjacent towards the NE. The building that came to light had a rectangular plan, oriented (E/NE-W/SW). It was dated during the Roman times.

The building included three consecutive rectangular spaces. The excavation inside the building uncovered rectangular stone blocks of coquina stone, which belonged to an earlier building. The subject building had a similar floor plan and was slightly smaller, in relation to the supernatant building, in order to give the impression that it was “engulfed” within it.

In the right side of the entrance of space A, a coquina-stone square pedestal was found in an oblique position, broken on both sides. The embankment of the land, dating back to Roman times, produced a marble inscription in two parts, small marble sculptures, and several coins, mainly silver (figs. 1-3).
Similar findings were located in space B, and in space B1, two walls that formed a corner awere the only ones in the building having masonry according to the fishbone style. The rest of the space contained several fragmented architectural members (figs. 4,5).
In the E side of space Γ there was an entrance to space B. Several oil lamps, a sherd of a sealed tile (the sealing read ΔΙΟ…), several silver coins, spoons, pins, a bronze scraper etc. were amongst the findings. There were architectural remnants in this room as well, amongst which was the foot of a marble offerings table.

Of the subject building, only one area of space Γ was excavated, with two trial trenches. A bronze inscription with fixing holes was the main finding. Many metal objects were also found in the layers covering the foundations of space Γ (bronze trays and mirrors, silver and bronze plates, bronze jewelry etc.) (figs. 6-8).

The building was probably in use since the Archaic times. The large number and the variety of the findings (clay, bronze, glass, stone architectural members, sculptures, coins and inscriptions), as well as the preservation, over the centuries, of the same orientation (E/NE-W/SW, in both visible construction phases) indicate that this was a public building, a new sanctuary. This would have been very close to Altea, which meant that it could be a source of valuable information for the topography of Zeus’ sanctuary. The assumptions were further validated by an inscription on the bronze base of a mirror, which referred to the chthonic female goddess of fertility and childbirth, Eilithyia (fig. 8).

[Entry created by E. Kourti]