663-680

Argilus, five years of excavations

• Μπόνιας, Ζήσης Ι.
• Perreault, Jacques Y.

Argilus is the most easterly of the five colonies of Andros in northern Greece. It was founded in 655/4, on a strategic site at the east extremity of Ma­ cedonia, where it was able to exploit the rich hinterland as far as Mt Dysorus and Lake Prasias, controlling the exit from the valley of the Strymon. As a result of its position, it was the first Greek colony to come in contact with the Thracian tribes of the surrounding area, and in this sense research into the city, and especially into the earliest years in its history, is most instructive. We are learning about the way in which the Thracian population was approached and its gradual Hellénisation, about the way in which a colony was organised, about the features of the mother-city which were retained in the colony, about contact with the cultural trends of the area, about the influences which the colony exerted and those to which it was subject.The city was located on a low hill at the spot known as Palaiokastro, 4 km. to the west of the Strymon estuary, by the side of an open bay which was presumably its port. The city cemeteries lay to the east and west, with houses occupying the south side of the hill, facing out to sea. The city wall has come to light at a point near the sea, and seems to have surrounded the city following the line of the brow of the hill.Excavations at ancient Argilus, carried out by the Kavala Ephorate of Classical Antiquities in association with the Canadian Archaeological Institute via the University of Montreal, began in 1992. Digging has now taken place in five seasons, revealing parts of the urban fabric of the ancient city with private and public buildings, stone-paved streets and systems for water drainage at the foot of the hill, in the flat part of the city as far as the sea and on the summit of the acropolis. The earliest pottery discovered dates back to the period in which the colony was founded, while the earliest buildings were constructed in the mid-sixth century BC. The city flourished in the Archaic period. When the Athenians appeared in the area and founded nearby Amphipolis, it lost its ‘living-space’, and by the end of the third century BC it had ceased to exist. Significant historical events such as the passing of Xerxes’ Persians in 480 BC and Philip’s victorious advance in 357 can be traced in the strata of the city. After its destruction by Philip, only the acropolis of Argilus seems to have been inhabited. Here, excavation has begun of a large square building which was probably the seat of a member of the royal Macedonian retinue in the early Hellenistic period

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Περιέχει εικόνες