Isthmia - 2025

Corinth - Isthmia. Jon M. Frey (Mischigan State University) reports on fieldwork conducted at Isthmia in 2025, under the auspices of the ASCSA.

The 2025 geophysical survey was limited to three areas. In the western “Sacred Grove” area, possible wall traces were detected, although modern irrigation lines obscured the results. East of the Temple of Poseidon, GPR identified numerous anomalies suggesting further structures, while a clear east–west strip along the temple’s central axis may represent the open route described by Pausanias. Near the Fortress, another possible feature was detected south of the modern cemetery, but further investigation was prevented by vegetation and restricted access.

Excavation in Trench 2025-1, beside the Byzantine fortress, revealed a furnace and remains of a heated bath complex beneath the later fortifications. The furnace contained evidence of heating installations, including tubulus tiles, marble revetment, glass, brick and tile. Ceramic evidence dates the destruction of the building to the 4th century AD, probably when the Byzantine fortifications were constructed. The area was subsequently levelled and later incorporated into a medieval roadway. Trenches 2025-2 and 2025-3 confirmed the southwest corner of a previously identified building north of the Roman Bath. The remains include a possible Roman Imperial-period cistern with a diamond-tile floor and a furnace that appears to have heated the adjacent room. Finds of tegulae mammatae and diamond-shaped tiles indicate that the structure formed part of an earlier bathing complex that was later demolished and remodelled. A possible stone repair to the hypocaust system was also identified.