IOANNINA, Kastro - 2010

Ioannina, Kastro. The 8th EBA reports the results of excavation undertaken to investigate the pre-Ottoman, Byzantine and antique phases of fortification of the Kastro (fig. 1). Sections of the Byzantine wall and towers were found along the perimeter road around the fortifications, incorporated into Ottoman works (fig. 2). Inside the stoa to the west of the main gate of the Kastro, where the Late Byzantine fortification is visible, excavation revealed that the Late Byzantine wall was founded on a Hellenistic wall which also had a tower beneath its Byzantine counterpart by the gate on Philanthropinon Street (fig. 3). Finds indicate that the Kastro was already occupied during the Classical period (fifth century BC).

Inside the Kastro, on the slopes of the northern acropolis between the Ottoman Souphari Serrai, the library and the bath, excavation revealed settlement remains of the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and post-Byzantine periods. The Hellenistic and Roman structures, plus a few tombs, lay on the upper part of the slope. A probably Roman two-roomed structure had a coarse mosaic floor and built benches (fig. 4). Byzantine remains, with coins and pottery of the 11th-14th century are mostly in the southeast part of the excavation area. In post-Byzantine times, when the northern acropolis was given over to Ottoman religious and public buildings (the Aslan Pasha mosque, medreses, kitchens, baths, and later the library), the area was levelled and the settlement layout renewed with new houses on a common alignment with the public buildings. The poor archaeological finds of the post-Byzantine period contrast with the references in historical sources to a fortified city, reinforced in the late 11th century by the Norman Bohemond, parts of which are preserved on the inner acropolis. The strong Kastro, which is largely due to the interventions of Michael I Komninos-Doukas in the first decade of the 13th century with partial reinforcement in the following century (chiefly by Thomas II Preljubović), was incorporated into the inner face of Ali Pasha’s fortification, with sections visible (and excavated) along the west side, on the north acropolis (the gate and tower), and on the south side.

The IB’ ΕΠΚΑ reports the discovery, in the course of rescue excavation on two building plots, of building foundations and a road which formed part of the Hellenistic settlement in the later Kastro.