Patras - 2010

Patras, 20 Pantokratoros St. (property of Aik. Theochari). Artemis Maniaki (ΣΤ ΕΠΚΑ) reports on a rescue excavation that discovered remnants of buildings and hydraulic installations of the Roman and Late Roman periods (Figs. 1-2). In particular, 7 areas were identified.

Area 1: Roman Building. This construction has 2 phases. Wall 5 belongs in the first phase and retains evidence of frescoes. The E part of Area 1 preserves a floor, which was probably used as a cistern or workshop. The second phase (still Roman) is defined by Walls 6 and 7.

Area 6: adjacent and to the S of Area 1. It was not possible to trace the use of this space. It preserved a section of floor of thick plaster that was located in its NW corner. In E corner of the area, there was a section of a channel (Channel 2) located.

Area 4: is a narrow, elongated space of the Roman period. A small section of floor made of small brick fragments, slabs of white stone, and vestiges of white plaster was found. This floor was in use before the construction of the walls that define this area.

In the SW part of the property, 9 walls of more recent and modern periods that were founded on the Roman remains were removed. In the N section of the property there are two more Areas (2 and 3). In Area 3 there was a small cistern with hydraulic plaster and a outflow outlet, and also a well (no longer extant) 1 m to the E of the cistern.

Close to the pedestrian area of Pantokratoros St. a cist grave of the Roman period was discovered. The covering of the grave and the top section of its lateral sides were constructed of bricks and mortar placed horizontally. The grave was empty. The E part of the property, E of Wall 2, was probably an open space because 3 drains and 2 deposits were discovered and a section of a storage pithos. Finds from the interior of the pithos: several sherds of utilitarian vessels, a fragment of a base of a Hellenistic kantharos, fragments of an edge-tile.

Small finds from the excavation: pottery mainly of late date, some Hellenistic and Roman finds, modern coins.

[Entry created by E. Strazdins]