ANCIENT SIKYON - 2008

Ancient Sikyon. Ph. Balla (Athens) publishes a part of the Hellenistic (post 303 BC) city cemetery excavated on the coastal plain in 1966 at the 21.614km stage of the Corinth-Patras motorway, then under construction.

Thirty-three tombs were excavated (20 of which were simple cist containing single inhumations and dating to the second and first centuries BC), plus a displaced burial, an enchytrismos, and a pyre.

A Π-shaped funerary monument (built in the mid third century) consisted of an open ‘court’ defined by isodomic walls preserved to four courses (at the level of the krepis, estimated at 7.8 x 4.35m). The superstructure is not preserved. Inside, a tomb structure (4 x 3.6m) built onto the rear wall was divided into two burial compartments which held the burials of at least five individuals dating from the late third to the last quarter of the first century BC (plus displaced bones from older burials). Beneath this, two chambers defined by the walls of the monument also contained burials.

Two successive graves were found in the west compartment of the tomb structure. The older (AX) a stone larnax covered with two slabs, contained two inhumations. The first was accompanied by a stone vessel, two lagynoi, an unguentarium, lamp, pyxis, phiale, two Lydian amphoriskoi (all of late third- to second-century date), and metal items (a needle, ring, mirror disc, lead aryballos, earring, lance or arrowhead, and an iron dagger): the second held a frying pan, carbonised material round the cranium, and nails probably from a wooden bier. An iron strigil, a phiale, and 32 astragaloi cannot be ascribed to either individual. The overlying tile grave (AVI) had two use phases: the lower contained many scattered cranial and bone fragments, a small bowl, an unguentarium, and bronze fragments. The upper contained a single inhumation with a late second- to early first-century globular vessel, fragments of a bronze object, and much carbonised material along the east side of the tomb. In the east compartment, grave AVII (second half third- to second-century) contained one inhumation with two lagynoi, a lopas, an unguentarium two Lydian amphoriskoi, a bowl, a pyxis and lid, a lamp and a strigil.

To the west of the tomb structure lay a late fourth- to early third-century pyre with vases, bronze sheet, gilded terracotta beads and a bronze coin of Sikyon (a full account of the pyre and the vase types represented in published by K. Krystalli-Votsi alongside Ph. Balla’s report). South of the pyre and west of the funerary monument were two stone-built cist graves with stone cover slabs (AXI and AXXI); one held a strigil and a coin. Grave AXI contained an extended inhumation with a phiale, small skyphos, lamp, two amphoriskoi and a strigil. Tomb AXXI, immediately to the west contained an inhumation with two amphoriskoi, two pyxides, two lamps, an unguentarium, a small kotyle and bronze fragments. To the east of the tomb structure, a third cist grave (AIX) contained an inhumation with a lekanis and lid, a lidded pyxis, two amphoriskoi, four lamps, a lopas and a miniature vase. These three graves were contemporary with each other and with the pyre, but earlier than those inside the tomb structure (they were preserved when the structure was built).

South of the funerary monument, part of an ancient road ran east-west, with wall foundations and a covered stone water channel. At least two building phases predated the funerary monument.

West of the monument, in 3.5 x 3m area between the west retaining wall of the monument and a further wall, was a cist tomb, a displaced burial, and nine simple cists cut into the bedrock (in six cases covered with tiles). All contained single inhumations in extended position unless otherwise noted. AV, a tile-covered rock-cut cist of the end of the second – early first century, contained an inhumation in squatting position, plus a lidded chytra, two unguentaria, a kyathos, phiale, relief bowl, a bone pin, and six female terracotta figurines. To the north, the second-century BC displaced burial AXII had three crania among the bone, a phiale and small bowl, an unguentarium, two lamps, a pyxis lid, and two kalpis/hydriae. The tile-covered rock-cut grave AXIII lay below AXII, and contained two unguentaria, a pyxis lid, a lamp and a coin. The second-century graves XIII and XV should probably be considered together as the tomb of a single individual, with a lidded pyxis, miniature phiale, one–handled bowl, Lydian amphoriskos, lamp, miniature vessel, and a bronze fragment. One metre west of the monument lay the cist grave AXIV (covered with tile and limestone slabs), with second-century grave goods comprising three lachrymateria, two amphoriskoi, a lidded lekanis, lamp, skyphos, canteen, and lopas, a bronze nail, strigil and bronze fragment. Rock-cut cist AXVII, which lacked a cover, was just west of AXIV. It contained a Lydian amphoriskos, a lopas, lamp, one further vessel, and a strigil. Beneath this tomb lay the rock-cut cist AXVIII (missing a cover), with a lopas, two Lydian amphoriskoi, four lamps, a pyxis, small bowl, chytra, lagynus, and unguentarium, all of the first half of the second century. A further rock-cut cist AXX lay beneath AXVIII, and contained a lidded chytra, two lamps and a lopas. West of grave AXIV lay the rock-cut tile-covered cist AXVI (noting the re-use of a painted tile among the covertiles) with a kalpis/hydria over the cover, and an unguentarium, two miniature Lydian amphoriskoi, seven lamps, a pyxis, phiale, lopas, relief bowl and lagynus, plus iron fragments. Grave AXIX to the west, probably rock-cut and tile-covered, contained two miniature Lydian amphoriskoi, a pyxis, two lamps, an unguentarium, a phiale, lopas and bronze fragments. Beneath AXIX lay the rock-cut, tiled-covered cist AXXII, with two Lydian amphoriskoi, a pyxis, two lamps, a lopas, a coin, an ivory plaque, and bronze and iron fragments. Walls of an earlier building were exposed beneath this grave, which were likely contemporary with the burials found north of (and destroyed by) the monument.

To the north, by the back face of the monument, was a group of five tombs (three tile-covered cists and two with no preserved cover, containing the inhumations of four adults and a child). B1, the child burial, contained a kantharos, lopas, lekanis, globular unguentarium, and a small sword dating to the second half of the first century BC, plus nails (probably from the bier) and bronze fragments. At a slightly greater depth lay a row of three graves: BV (second- to first-century) contained pottery (a trefoil-mouthed oinochoe, lagynus, lopas, unguentarium, pylis, small bowl, lamp, and two Lydian amphoriskoi), a gold danake in the mouth, and fragments of iron and bronze; BIII (late second- or early first-century) contained a gold danake in the mouth, plus pottery (an unguentarium, chytra, two Lydian amphoriskoi, a lidded vessel, a lamp, and a small bowl), a bronze needle, a bronze coin, six nails, a gold sheet and a bronze fragment; BIV (end first-century BC to early first-century AD) contained two unguentaria, a large lidded open vessel, a chytra, gold sheet, a lead vessel, a bronze bowl, bronze sheet and bronze and iron fragments, two nails and a sea shell. Grave BVI (second half second-century to early first-century) lay below BV and contained a large lidded open vessel, a chytra, three unguentaria, a lamp, a strigil, and bronze and iron fragments.

East of the monument lay 13 tombs in total (six tile-covered simple cists, a simple cist covered with tiles and a limestone slab, four cists with limestone cover slabs, a sarcophagus, and one built tomb). Tomb AVIII, a rock cut cist of the second half of the second century, was set against the east wall of the monument: it was covered with spolia including a grave stele, and had one pot as an offering on the west side. The cist contained on the east side a cranium with associated bone, a lamp and a mass of iron, and on the north (0.3m deeper) an undisturbed inhumation with two pyxides, two unguentaria, two lagynoi, two Lydian amphoriskoi, a small bowl, three further pots and one unspecified offering. The cist AXXIV, to the east, had one cover slab in secondary use: in the north of grave were two crania and associated bones with a bowl, pyxis lid, small bowl, prochous, unguentarium, lamp, iron dagger or strigil, and carbonised material. A previous burial phase (second half of the second-century), below this, had a single inhumation with a gold danake at the mouth, plus five unguentaria, two skyphoi, three small phialae, two lamps, a pyxis, two miniature Lydian amphoriskoi, a relief bowl, and nails from the bier. A wall lay 2.1m east of the monument, and to the north of it, grave AIV (a cist built of small unworked stone and tile, containing a single inhumation with three unguentaria, a coin, and nails, dating to the first half of the first century BC): outside the grave, in the northeast corner, was a cranium together with sherds. A group of eight graves lay to the northeast of the monument, beyond the wall (and west of a further wall which had five cuttings probably for grave stelai). Grave BII, a stone sarcophagus (the contents of which were disturbed), contained two crania and a few other bones, four globular unguentaria, two lamps, two strigils, and two pieces of iron sheet, dating to the second half of the second/early first century BC. Grave AII (end second- to early first-century), immediately to the east, was a cist with stone cover slabs which contained a lopas, lidded lekanis, small skyphos, amphora, two unguentaria, two Lydian amphoriskoi, two lamps, a comb, nails, and burnt wood. Grave AIII was a built cist with second-century pottery. BVII, a tile-covered cist, contained a single inhumation with a very little non-diagnostic pottery. Cist grave BX contained three gold danakes (one of which was placed on the mouth), a lidded chytra, lamp, lagynus, kyathos, miniature alabastron, two unguentaria, and a peg. The second half second-century cist grave BXI lay below BX: one vessel was placed on the cover slab, while the grave contained a gold wreath on the cranium of the deceased, two lamps, three unguentaria, a lopas, two lagynoi, a gilded bronze bracelet with snake-head terminals, a nail and bronze fragments. West of graves BX and XI, a lead kalpis contained bone: below this was a built cist grave BIX containing two bones, a little pottery and an iron knife. Few details of cist tomb BVIII were recorded. Grave AXXIII was a rock-cit cist parallel to the wall east of the monument (which was cut to hold the grave stele): a kalpis/hydria and a bronze item were placed over the cover tiles, with a skyphos immediately below them, and accompanying the burial a lidded lopas, a small bowl, Lydian amphoriskoi, three lamps, an egg and a strigil. No details are recorded of the tile-covered grave AI.