Athens - Ancient Agora - 2025

Athens - Ancient Agora. John Papadopoulos (UCLA) and Debby Sneed (California State University) report on the third excavation season in the area beneath the former building at 14 St. Philip Street (Agiou Philippou 14) (Fig. 1).

The modern building above Section BK, built in 1860 and measuring more than 300 square meters, covered much of the central portion of the Stoa Poikile (or Painted Stoa), as well as part of a Middle Byzantine (10th to 12th centuries CE) neighborhood that once occupied the Agora. In the course of excavating deep inside one Ottoman or Early Modern pit located in the western portion of our excavation area, a block was found in situ, of the toichobate belonging to the Stoa Poikile. This was another segment of the back wall of the stoa that had been exposed at its eastern and western extents in prior excavation seasons in Sections ΒΕ and ΒΗ (Fig. 2). 

More specifically, in section BK North, several features and deposits associated with the Middle Byzantine neighborhood that once covered the whole area of the Agora were found, between and around modern foundation walls (Fig. 3). Two main Middle Byzantine construction phases were recognized: an intense building phase in the 11th to early 12th century CE, when most of the surviving structures were erected, followed by a phase from the mid-12th to mid-13th century that is characterized by repairs and modifications to existing buildings. An earlier phase, dated to the 10th and 11th centuries, is also present but is often obscured by later redevelopment. In the stratified Middle Byzantine contexts in BK North, at least four excavated baskets can be dated to the 11th to early 12th century CE building phase. Most other excavated fills—with the exception of an Ottoman-period pit and a single excavated basket in Room P—date to the later phase of occupation.

In Section BK West, excavation of Ottoman/Early Modern Pit B revealed sixteenth-century material in its upper levels and, below, what may be the bottom of the pit. The lower deposits contained mixed Protogeometric–Late Byzantine/Medieval pottery and a limestone toichobate block from the Stoa Poikile, preserved with a double T-clamp (Fig. 4). The missing adjoining fragment suggests that other toichobates from the Stoa had been removed. Further Ottoman refuse pits (G and J) were excavated in the area; these frequently cut earlier pits and contained evidence for contemporary industrial activity. The absence of associated architecture suggests that this part of the Agora was uninhabited and used for dumping during the Ottoman and Late Byzantine periods.

In Section BK South, Pit A contained three phases, from the Medieval/Ottoman period to 1964–1985, the latest represented by plastic finds. The feature probably served as a stone-lined well. Tile and rubble deposits, perhaps associated with levelling, occurred throughout the section, together with evidence for ceramic and metallurgical production. A possible tile burial of uncertain date, with an amphora neck at one end, contained no human remains. An Ottoman/Late Byzantine mudbrick furnace and ash deposit were also identified (Fig. 5). In the northeast corner, a stone-and-tile wall near Wall 20 was dated to the Middle Byzantine period by associated pottery. Pit F contained Ottoman material deposited in a single episode, including residual fifth- and sixth-century AD pottery.