KISAMOS - 2007

Kisamos. S. Markoulaki (ΚΕ' ΕΠΚΑ) reports on the continuation in 2007 of the excavation of a Rom town house or villa on the Stimadoraki plot. Situated on the W side of the anc. settlement, towards the harbour, only a part of this enormous structure, the largest of its sort yet uncovered here, lies within the plot’s borders.
Set against the paved E−W road (decumanus) and entered from the same into a lobby (fauces), that part of the edifice excavated is divided into 2 zones by a N−S wall (24.5m l.) at right angles to the road. W of the wall lies the W wing and to the E is the peristyle courtyard. In the W wing, parts of 8 rooms were revealed. Four to the S had earth floors and were relatively ordinary; 4 to the N had more splendid functions, as the multi-coloured mosaic pavements show. As well as interesting geometric patterns, figured scenes exist. The southernmost has various symbols with masks and at the centre a Medusa; that to its N, larger still, shows the retinue of Dionysos. An E−W corridor comes next, permitting internal access to these reception room suites: though damaged, its use of glass-paste tesserae creates much colour − a man with a wreath and a Muse are depicted: 2 names survive, in their endings only. The last room at the N has a representation of Eros with garlands in a flower-filled meadow. Preliminary study places the mosaics in the L2nd−E3rd Ct AD on stylistic grounds.
The peristyle courtyard is bordered by a stoa, presumably with a garden (viridarium) at its centre. Parts of the W and S colonnade exist: 10 column settings (at intervals of 2.5m, reduced to 2m at the N) for the first, with one extant only at the S. The colonnade is 2.9m w. at the W and 3.5m at the S. Nothing of the columns is preserved (probably they were of wood), nor of their stylobates. They were set on stone blocks (0.5m²): lime plaster was poured fresh into square pits dug down below the floor before the blocks were positioned. Below the floor a lead pipe of small di. ran diagonally across the yard. The structure was probably built in the L2nd−E3rd Ct AD, although concrete evidence of coins or other firmly datable material is at present lacking as excavation has not gone deep enough.
The villa had a 2nd phase of use involving important alterations that mark its decline as a structure: cross-walls divide up the large yard so that more people could be accommodated, albeit at a lower standard of living. The columns were removed and their bases covered over when the earth floor was raised. A small opening in the large N−S wall allowed access to the W wing. A floor of clay plaques and a small oven are preserved on its interior. The room with the Muse and that with Eros are also given earth floors. The first became a cellar, connected to the peristyle yard, whose amphorae were smashed in the building’s destruction: under a layer of fallen roof tiles was a human skeleton, with another located by a wall in the converted yard.
A coin hoard of sesterces of Gordian III was retrieved on a floor of the 2nd phase; other coins of the 2nd half of the 3rd Ct AD show the alterations to have been undertaken after the M3rd Ct.
The final destruction, responsible for the 2 fatalities, can be assigned to the general stratigraphical horizon associated with massive earthquake of 365 AD. This levelled Kisamos.