ISTHMIA - 2009

Construction debris from the Archaic Temple of Poseidon showed that the wall blocks were finished when hoisted into place. A block was identified as belonging to a stone floor in the pteron at the east end of the building, installed probably in the second half of the sixth century BC. A stylobate block, adjacent but not in situ, has a cutting on its rear edge for a floor slab or other stone fitting.

Examination of materials from the construction of the Classical Temple of Poseidon and its subsequent rebuilding after the fire of 390 BC indicates that the temple was almost entirely rebuilt, re-using earlier fragments wherever possible. Its condition when robbed in the fifth century AD was clarified. Patterns of stone robbing found during the 1954 excavations were traced from the excavation notebooks.

A section drawing through the Antonine Temple of Palaimon was prepared. The entrance to the passage leading to the adyton lay at the floor level of the precinct surrounding the temple: the passage vault would have risen almost 3m above the entrance, confirming the high, narrow shape of the opening depicted on Corinthian coins of the period.

In the Rachi settlement, study of the terracotta architecture and roof tiles revealed a class of tile manufactured in Corinthian fabric but comparable to Laconian in shape and size. Since the two systems were incompatible, some houses must have had Corinthian roofs, while the Corinthian-type Laconian tiles could only be used for Laconian-type roofs, perhaps in a combination with true Laconian tiles.

Continuing study of material from the Roman bath, the area east of the Temenos (the East Field) and the Byzantine Fortress, was accompanied by cleaning and study in these areas (Fig. 1). Further conservation of the mosaics of the Roman bath (especially rooms VI and XII) was undertaken (Fig. 2). The cleaning and stabilization of old trenches south of the Roman bath and east of the Temenos continued. Undocumented building remains traced in trenches from the 1970s comprise the foundations of two parallel Roman walls apparently from a colonnaded peribolos adjoining the Roman bath to the south (Figs 3-4).

The Hexamilion Outworks project continued investigation of a large Early Roman complex just north of the bath. The walls of this structure rest on Classical foundations, and several construction periods can be identified. This complex is evidently different from the large Doric-style structure to the northeast.