Kleidi Samikon - Sanctuary of Poseidon - 2022

Kleidi Samikou - Sanctuary of Poseidon. Erofili Kollia (Ephorate of Antiquities of Ilia) and Birgitta Eder (Österreichisches Archäologisches Institut) report on the excavations at Kleidi Samikou, carried out from 22 August to 30 September, as part of a new research project at the Sanctuary of Poseidon at Kleidi Samikou (2022-2026).

Excavations follow geophysics work carried out in 2017, 2018 and 2021, the upper part of the walls as well as a number of ceramics were found 20cm bellow the surface, and the walls were revealed up to a depth of 0,5m, at the beginning of the phreatic zone. The walls are 0,80m thick throughout. In square B4, a trend across the northwestern side of the wall revealed the lower end of the wall, 0,90m lower than the upper end (Fig. 1). These walls are the foundation of a building made of limestones of different sizes and shapes.Thick layers of tiles fill the space amongst the walls (Fig. 2). Sherds, such as the large Laconian tile suggest a dating to the Archaic Period. In light of current evidence, however, it is not possible to determine if these tiles were part of the original building, but it is rather unlikely that they were part of a roof that fell. 

Based on this ongoing excavation and previous geophysics work in the Kleidi-Samiko valley, indicate a large building facing N-W and S-E, with two large and two smaller inner rooms. They suggest a sacred building with a pronaos and an opisthodomos or an adyton. Its characteristic long structure (9,40 x 28m) as well as other Archaic tiles and the fragment of a marble perirrhanterion (Fig. 3) help date the structure to the Archaic Period.

The ongoing excavation at Kleidi confirms that this structure is the Sanctuary of Poseidon, which has been suggested by various scholars in the past, located at the foot of the ancient acropolis of Samiko. According to Strabo VIII the sanctuary of Poseidon was an important cult centre of the amphiktyony of Triphylia.