Ancient Thouria, Ellenika - 2015

Thouria. X. Arapogianni (ASA) reports on excavation of the sanctuary of Asklepios and also in the Ellenika location.

The rock-fall at the Asklepieion in 2014 which had prevented work there occasioned the installation of a new roof. Debris was removed from the western part of the excavated area making it easier to view the ruins. It was possible to study better parts of the sanctuary and the stoa, which had not been uncovered throughout its entire length, and to protect them from rocks. Finds from the Asklepieion included Hellenistic ceramics, figurines, part of a catalogue of ephebes, coins, stamped tiles, a medical tool and a sherd with an incised dedication to Asklepios (Fig. 1).

At Ellenika, apart from the lower part of a structure characterised as a peribolos the previous year, the lower part (euthynteria) of a structure made out of rectangular poros blocks was found (Fig. 2). Outside the west side there was an open stone water channel with a basin for cleaning the water that fell from the building’s roof; the superstructure of the building was perhaps of mudbrick. Inside, after its abandonment and destruction in the late Roman period, 11 burials without offering had been made. Finds from the second building included a number of Hellenistic sherds, heads of figurines, loomweights and a bead of rock crystal.