Athenian Agora - 2021
Informations Générales
Numéro de la notice
18405
Année de l'opération
2021
Chronologie
Mots-clés
Espace commercial - Habitat - Sépulture - Installation hydraulique - Citerne - Inscription - Revêtements (mur et sol)
Nature de l'opération
Institution(s)
Localisation
Toponyme
Agora antique, Athenian Agora
Agora antique, Athenian Agora
Notices et opérations liées
Description
Athenian Agora. John McK. Camp II (ASCSA) reports on work conducted in 2021 on the sections north of modern Adrianou Street, the Painted Stoa, and the orthostate enclosure tentatively identified as the Leokoreion.
Classical Commercial Building
Further detailed digging was carried out under the Classical Commercial Building in the northwest part of the area (Section BZ) (Fig. 1). The primary goal was to explore further the later archaic remains, perhaps of houses or shops, which underlie the Classical building. Fills consisted of deposits of broken pottery dating to just before and after the Persian destruction of the city in 480/479 BC. As has been so common in this area at these levels, more than a dozen ostraca appeared, carrying the name of Xanthippos and others who were probably candidates in the 480’s BC. Traces of the floors of the various rooms were sampled and the micromorphology will be studied by Dr. P. Karkanas, director of the Wiener laboratory. Beneath the late archaic levels excavations were also carried out in layers full of fragmentary pottery, mostly of the 8th century BC; a round cutting and reaching the water table both suggest that we may be at the top of a well (J 1: 19). With Well J 1: 12 of the 8th and 7th centuries just to the north, and well K 1: 5 a few meters further east in the late 9th century (Hesperia 68, 1999, pp. 266-267), the evidence is accumulating that the area was used for habitation in the Iron Age, after several centuries as a burial ground.
A handsome stray find was made by Nikos Vasilopoulos in the eastern part of the section (BZ 2315) (Fig. 2) It is the upper part of a small marble gravestone. Inscribed across the top: [. . .] Α Σ Χ Ρ Η Σ Τ Ο [.]. Below there is the relief of the upper part of a man at the left, seated in a chair and facing right, toward a standing woman, who is facing left. Brian Martens notes that the brevity of the inscription, with no patronymic or demotic, suggests that the seated individual may have been a slave, as does the second word (‘useful’). Letter forms and the carving of the two figures point to a date in the 4th century BC.
Stoa Poikile, Western half
Excavations were also carried out in the western half of the Stoa Poikile. (Section BΘ West) under the supervision of Laura Gawlinski and Vassia Dimitrakopoulou. Here the team opened two small areas below the levels of the later Byzantine houses in order to locate and check the state of the stoa floor, which lies at ca. 52.40 m. above sea level (Fig. 4).
In the western trial trench, the team recovered a rubble fill which included a half dozen fragments of a smashed up inscription of the Roman period (Fig. 5). The fragments preserved enough to determine that part of the text consists of lists of names in columns and we could read the full names of Metrodoros and Dioteimos. No traces of patronymics or demotics are clearly recognizable, though the lists are most likely to concern ephebes or prytaneis.
Also cleared was more of two adjacent rubble walls, running SW-NE within the stoa. Their levels suggest they are appreciably earlier than the house walls of the 10th century AD. Presumably they are walls of the late Roman period (4th/5th AD?), built when someone began using rubble walls to subdivide the interior open space of the Stoa. This trend was noted at the extreme east end of the stoa, where blocking walls were built between the columns of both colonnades and the back wall (Hesperia 84, 2015, pp. 480-493 and especially fig. 7 on p. 477). The latest examples at the western end do not align with either of the colonnades, interior or exterior, and though their orientations are close, neither follows the older classical lines.
These walls, and a large extent of disturbance a few meters to the east, suggest that later activity has eliminated most traces of the original stoa floor in this area.
Section BΘ East (= ‘Leokoreion’). (Fig. 4)
The area around the orthostate enclosure was supervised by Nick Seetin, assisted by Katia Pikouni. Small trenches were laid out against the north wall of the enclosure, both inside and out. Cleaning in 2021 revealed three new inscriptions on the sides of a large statue base found in 2018, built into the east wall of the Roman tank and described in Hesperia 89, 2020 (Block a = I 7668 = BΘ 418) p. 636 and figs. 47 and 42.
A close parallel for the layout and arrangement of this piece is IG II2 1749 (= Agora XV, No. 38 = EM 10517). H. 0.46 m., W. 0.78 m., Th. 0.78 m., also with an oval cutting in the top for the attachment of a marble statue. Like the afreomentioned block, there are inscriptions on both sides. The inscription on the front of No. 1749 does not identify the statue, but is a prytany list of 341/0 BC of the tribe of Aigeis. On both sides are decrees of the tribesmen, honoring various officials and individuals with praise and olive crowns, matched by similar references on both sides of I 7668, including tribesmen’s decisions to award crowns, though the crowns awarded on our block are of gold.
The small, well-cut letters suggest that the inscriptions of I 7668 were also carved in the 4th century BC. When the front face and its inscription(?) are exposed, it is likely that an archon’s name will allow for a greater degree of precision as to the date.
The fact that three inscriptions were inscribed on the two sides of I 7668 suggests that the statue which stood on the base was of some importance. Their recognition also strengthens the theory that the original location of all three blocks (and the 6 or 7 inscriptions they carry) was an area or sanctuary administered by the tribe of Leontis. All three new inscriptions are honorific, recording crowns of considerable value awarded to individuals by a tribe rather than the demos of Athens, and two of the three recipients can be shown to have been members of the tribe of Leontis.
Classical Commercial Building
Further detailed digging was carried out under the Classical Commercial Building in the northwest part of the area (Section BZ) (Fig. 1). The primary goal was to explore further the later archaic remains, perhaps of houses or shops, which underlie the Classical building. Fills consisted of deposits of broken pottery dating to just before and after the Persian destruction of the city in 480/479 BC. As has been so common in this area at these levels, more than a dozen ostraca appeared, carrying the name of Xanthippos and others who were probably candidates in the 480’s BC. Traces of the floors of the various rooms were sampled and the micromorphology will be studied by Dr. P. Karkanas, director of the Wiener laboratory. Beneath the late archaic levels excavations were also carried out in layers full of fragmentary pottery, mostly of the 8th century BC; a round cutting and reaching the water table both suggest that we may be at the top of a well (J 1: 19). With Well J 1: 12 of the 8th and 7th centuries just to the north, and well K 1: 5 a few meters further east in the late 9th century (Hesperia 68, 1999, pp. 266-267), the evidence is accumulating that the area was used for habitation in the Iron Age, after several centuries as a burial ground.
A handsome stray find was made by Nikos Vasilopoulos in the eastern part of the section (BZ 2315) (Fig. 2) It is the upper part of a small marble gravestone. Inscribed across the top: [. . .] Α Σ Χ Ρ Η Σ Τ Ο [.]. Below there is the relief of the upper part of a man at the left, seated in a chair and facing right, toward a standing woman, who is facing left. Brian Martens notes that the brevity of the inscription, with no patronymic or demotic, suggests that the seated individual may have been a slave, as does the second word (‘useful’). Letter forms and the carving of the two figures point to a date in the 4th century BC.
Stoa Poikile, Western half
Excavations were also carried out in the western half of the Stoa Poikile. (Section BΘ West) under the supervision of Laura Gawlinski and Vassia Dimitrakopoulou. Here the team opened two small areas below the levels of the later Byzantine houses in order to locate and check the state of the stoa floor, which lies at ca. 52.40 m. above sea level (Fig. 4).
In the western trial trench, the team recovered a rubble fill which included a half dozen fragments of a smashed up inscription of the Roman period (Fig. 5). The fragments preserved enough to determine that part of the text consists of lists of names in columns and we could read the full names of Metrodoros and Dioteimos. No traces of patronymics or demotics are clearly recognizable, though the lists are most likely to concern ephebes or prytaneis.
Also cleared was more of two adjacent rubble walls, running SW-NE within the stoa. Their levels suggest they are appreciably earlier than the house walls of the 10th century AD. Presumably they are walls of the late Roman period (4th/5th AD?), built when someone began using rubble walls to subdivide the interior open space of the Stoa. This trend was noted at the extreme east end of the stoa, where blocking walls were built between the columns of both colonnades and the back wall (Hesperia 84, 2015, pp. 480-493 and especially fig. 7 on p. 477). The latest examples at the western end do not align with either of the colonnades, interior or exterior, and though their orientations are close, neither follows the older classical lines.
These walls, and a large extent of disturbance a few meters to the east, suggest that later activity has eliminated most traces of the original stoa floor in this area.
Section BΘ East (= ‘Leokoreion’). (Fig. 4)
The area around the orthostate enclosure was supervised by Nick Seetin, assisted by Katia Pikouni. Small trenches were laid out against the north wall of the enclosure, both inside and out. Cleaning in 2021 revealed three new inscriptions on the sides of a large statue base found in 2018, built into the east wall of the Roman tank and described in Hesperia 89, 2020 (Block a = I 7668 = BΘ 418) p. 636 and figs. 47 and 42.
A close parallel for the layout and arrangement of this piece is IG II2 1749 (= Agora XV, No. 38 = EM 10517). H. 0.46 m., W. 0.78 m., Th. 0.78 m., also with an oval cutting in the top for the attachment of a marble statue. Like the afreomentioned block, there are inscriptions on both sides. The inscription on the front of No. 1749 does not identify the statue, but is a prytany list of 341/0 BC of the tribe of Aigeis. On both sides are decrees of the tribesmen, honoring various officials and individuals with praise and olive crowns, matched by similar references on both sides of I 7668, including tribesmen’s decisions to award crowns, though the crowns awarded on our block are of gold.
The small, well-cut letters suggest that the inscriptions of I 7668 were also carved in the 4th century BC. When the front face and its inscription(?) are exposed, it is likely that an archon’s name will allow for a greater degree of precision as to the date.
The fact that three inscriptions were inscribed on the two sides of I 7668 suggests that the statue which stood on the base was of some importance. Their recognition also strengthens the theory that the original location of all three blocks (and the 6 or 7 inscriptions they carry) was an area or sanctuary administered by the tribe of Leontis. All three new inscriptions are honorific, recording crowns of considerable value awarded to individuals by a tribe rather than the demos of Athens, and two of the three recipients can be shown to have been members of the tribe of Leontis.
Auteur de la notice
Michael Loy
Références bibliographiques
Unpublished field report, ASCSA.
Légende graphique :
localisation de la fouille/de l'opération
localisation du toponyme
polygone du toponyme Chronique
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Date de création
2022-09-30 10:11:25
Dernière modification
2022-09-30 10:11:41
Figure(s)
Fig. 1/ Plan 1
Fig. 2/ BZ - Grave stele
Fig. 3/ ΒΘ West - Fragments of inscription dated to the Roman period
Fig. 4/ Plan 2
Fig. 5/ .
Fig. 6/ “New Style’ Athenian drachma, silver, but with a high content of bronze
Fig. 7/ Head of terracotta figurine of Eros