Loutraki - Katounistra - 2016

Loutraki - Katounistra. Zoe Aslamatzidou-Kostourou (Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports), Sotiris Raptopoulos (Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports) and Konstantinos X. Tziabasis report the following:

The 2012-2016 excavations at the Roman villa of Katounistra in Loutraki (Corinthia) revealed six further rooms and confirmed the structure’s absolute symmetry on the W-E axis (as well as the N-S axis). The shallow cavities of the room with the niches (Room 27) may indicate industrial use; two of the niches were later used as tombs (a funerary amphora was found inside one of them). Seven rooms of the adjacent bath were also excavated, revealing a marble bathtub, a bathtub of stone/brick masonry, a third bathtub linked to a water channel, and a three-niche piscina. South of the villa, the north, east, and west walls of a vast rectangular courtyard that stretches the entire length of the villa were investigated. Along the north wall were added a central double-aisled staircase, which leads to the villa, with mortar-covered floor, three rooms carved into the soft bedrock, and a fresco decoration. Traces of similar decoration were also noted on the two other courtyard walls. The pottery of the 2012-2016 excavations dates to the period from the 1st c. BC to the 6th c. AD, with much of it belonging to the 5th c. AD.