Ancient Corinth - 2021
Informations Générales
Numéro de la notice
18406
Année de l'opération
2021
Chronologie
Mots-clés
Nature de l'opération
Institution(s)
Localisation
Toponyme
Korinthos, Corinth
Korinthos, Corinth
Notices et opérations liées
Description
Ancient Corinth. Christopher Pfaff (ASCSA) reports on excavations conducted in 2021, comprising two trenches adjacent to the single test trench dug in 2020.
Excavations in the Northeast of Theater Area
Three main phases are represented by the finds from this year’s excavations: Late Byzantine, Late Antique, and Roman. Beneath the modern plow zone, excavation revealed more of the Byzantine north-south road that was revealed in the three previous seasons. In a small area, the removal of Byzantine layers of road metal brought to light the underlying Roman road layers with four successive terracotta pipelines (Fig. 2). This evidence raises the possibility that this road, which links the area of the theater to the south with the Gymnasium and Asklepieion to the north, was part of the urban plan of Corinth from its founding as a Roman colony. The confirmed existence of this road also offers potentially significant evidence for interpreting Pausanias’ itinerary through this part of the city in the 2nd century A.D.
To the west of the north-south road, last year’s excavations had uncovered the southeast corner of a rectangular room (the “marble room”) lined with benches and paved with white marble slabs. This year’s excavations revealed more of this room, which now has an exposed length (north-south) of 6.8 m. and width (east-west) of 3.8 m (Fig. 3). The context and function of this room have not yet been determined, but its importance is now more amply demonstrated by the discovery that its floor incorporated an opus sectile pattern of framed circles, which makes use of white Pentelic marble, green Karystian marble (Cippolino), and red limestone breccia from Chios (Portasanta). The relationship of the east wall of this room to the adjacent north-south road indicates that the room was built against preexisting Roman road layers and that the floor level within the room was about 1.3 m below the exterior ground level. The date of construction of the marble room is not yet securely fixed, but the evidence assessed thus far points to the 3rd century or later. New finds from the fill over the floor support the conclusion reached last year that the room was destroyed and filled in during the 7th century (Figures 4-5). This fill, which included a combination of building debris, pottery, and glass vessels, included a small fragment of inscribed marble revetment, which may refer to Gaius Curtius Benignus Iuventianus, a highly honored Corinthian, who is known from a previously discovered inscription to have served as a theocolos of Jupiter Capitolinus and an Imperial priest of Neptune (Fig. 6).
To the south of the marble room, a large lime-working pit was discovered. This pit, whose bottom and sides were coated with the lime that had evidently been mixed in it, contained a concentration of building debris (especially tiles and marble revetment), which was thrown into the pit when it went out of use. The latest datable finds in the pit point to the 7th century. If, as seems likely, the pit was created for the purpose of mixing lime for a nearby construction project, it is tempting to suggest that the lime was destined for the mortar used in a possible rebuilding of the marble room. Part of the east wall of the marble room and a still later wall (wall 18) that extends southward from the marble room fell victim to stone plundering in the 12th century, as is confirmed by Late Byzantine pottery (including fine sgraffito, measles ware, and glaze-painted wares) in the associated robbing trench (Fig. 7). Late Byzantine activity in the area was also confirmed by an extensive dumped fill that overlay the late antique fill above the floor of the marble room and by a circular structure of unknown function, ca. 3.10 m in diameter, located directly south of the marble room; of the circular structure nothing but the foundation trench and some rough stones that may be remnants of the foundation were found in situ (Fig. 8). Finally, a small isolated pit located southwest of the circular structure produced the most unexpected find of the season: an intact Late Byzantine or Frankish grenade of the type used in warfare for propelling incendiary material against an enemy (Fig. 9). How it came to be buried here is an intriguing question that cannot yet be answered.
Excavations in the Northeast of Theater Area
Three main phases are represented by the finds from this year’s excavations: Late Byzantine, Late Antique, and Roman. Beneath the modern plow zone, excavation revealed more of the Byzantine north-south road that was revealed in the three previous seasons. In a small area, the removal of Byzantine layers of road metal brought to light the underlying Roman road layers with four successive terracotta pipelines (Fig. 2). This evidence raises the possibility that this road, which links the area of the theater to the south with the Gymnasium and Asklepieion to the north, was part of the urban plan of Corinth from its founding as a Roman colony. The confirmed existence of this road also offers potentially significant evidence for interpreting Pausanias’ itinerary through this part of the city in the 2nd century A.D.
To the west of the north-south road, last year’s excavations had uncovered the southeast corner of a rectangular room (the “marble room”) lined with benches and paved with white marble slabs. This year’s excavations revealed more of this room, which now has an exposed length (north-south) of 6.8 m. and width (east-west) of 3.8 m (Fig. 3). The context and function of this room have not yet been determined, but its importance is now more amply demonstrated by the discovery that its floor incorporated an opus sectile pattern of framed circles, which makes use of white Pentelic marble, green Karystian marble (Cippolino), and red limestone breccia from Chios (Portasanta). The relationship of the east wall of this room to the adjacent north-south road indicates that the room was built against preexisting Roman road layers and that the floor level within the room was about 1.3 m below the exterior ground level. The date of construction of the marble room is not yet securely fixed, but the evidence assessed thus far points to the 3rd century or later. New finds from the fill over the floor support the conclusion reached last year that the room was destroyed and filled in during the 7th century (Figures 4-5). This fill, which included a combination of building debris, pottery, and glass vessels, included a small fragment of inscribed marble revetment, which may refer to Gaius Curtius Benignus Iuventianus, a highly honored Corinthian, who is known from a previously discovered inscription to have served as a theocolos of Jupiter Capitolinus and an Imperial priest of Neptune (Fig. 6).
To the south of the marble room, a large lime-working pit was discovered. This pit, whose bottom and sides were coated with the lime that had evidently been mixed in it, contained a concentration of building debris (especially tiles and marble revetment), which was thrown into the pit when it went out of use. The latest datable finds in the pit point to the 7th century. If, as seems likely, the pit was created for the purpose of mixing lime for a nearby construction project, it is tempting to suggest that the lime was destined for the mortar used in a possible rebuilding of the marble room. Part of the east wall of the marble room and a still later wall (wall 18) that extends southward from the marble room fell victim to stone plundering in the 12th century, as is confirmed by Late Byzantine pottery (including fine sgraffito, measles ware, and glaze-painted wares) in the associated robbing trench (Fig. 7). Late Byzantine activity in the area was also confirmed by an extensive dumped fill that overlay the late antique fill above the floor of the marble room and by a circular structure of unknown function, ca. 3.10 m in diameter, located directly south of the marble room; of the circular structure nothing but the foundation trench and some rough stones that may be remnants of the foundation were found in situ (Fig. 8). Finally, a small isolated pit located southwest of the circular structure produced the most unexpected find of the season: an intact Late Byzantine or Frankish grenade of the type used in warfare for propelling incendiary material against an enemy (Fig. 9). How it came to be buried here is an intriguing question that cannot yet be answered.
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 10:21:13
Dernière modification
2022-09-30 10:22:06
Figure(s)
Fig. 1/ Excavations Northeast of the Theater, area excavated in 2021
Fig. 2/ Early Roman layers of north-south road (cardo) with four pipe-lines
Fig. 3/ Opus sectile floor of the marble room
Fig. 4/ North African lamp from fill over the marble room
Fig. 5/ Late antique fruit amphora from fill over the marble room
Fig. 6/ Inscribed marble revetment
Fig. 7/ 12th-century sgraffito plate
Fig. 8/ Late Byzantine or Frankish grenade
Fig. 9/ Preliminary mounting of a wall of one of the rooms of Unit 3 east of the Theater