137-144

Excavation at Dion

• Παντερμαλής, Δημήτριος

In the area of the sanctuaries, excavations have been conducted to the north and north-west of the Roman theatre, in the Hellenistic theatre, in the Sanctuary of Demeter, and around the Sanctuary of Aslepius. In the first sector we found strong walls belonging to the foundations of buildings of the Hellenistic period. They are built of ashlar and rubble upon the axes of Hellenistic buildings found during earlier exploratory digs. Some of the walls very probably belong to the same building, a large structure of the 3rd c. B.C. It was in this area that were found the two inscriptions which stood in the Temple of Olympian Zeus. In the Hellenistic theatre, «Charon’s passage» (leading directly under the stage) was cleared and explored. The most important find here was a solid bar of lead 0,75 m long stamped with what is probably the head of Heracles. The presence of layers of finds to the west of the later enclosure around the Sanctuary of Demeter is certain evidence that in its early phase the sanctuary’s site extended further west. To the east of the Sanctuary of Asclepius, a straight wall 3-3,6 m wide was located and excavated to a considerable depth for a distance of more than 120 m. Furthersouth, near the Stoyannos Mill, the wall meets a tower and changes course. It may bethe old enclosure of Dion’s sanctuaries. At the north end of the wall was found a Marblehead of almost life size, an original work of the 4th c. B.C. with the same typological features as heads of Asclepius (PI. 3). Technical details, however, suggest that itmay belong to a relief, which is a possibility that has yet to be investigated. The exploration of the cemetery basilica’s atrium begun last summer, continued,and revealed walls and architectural members brought down by an earthquake. Excavation of the wall continued this year too in the south-west corner of the enclosure, and yielded clear fresh details of the stratigraphy of the earth fill. In the centre of Dion town, the following sites were excavated: Paliouria, to the south-west of Basilica A, where a large Hellenistic wall had been located. This year’s finds confirmed the dating of a wide horizon to the 4th c. B.C. and after. It is too early to say whether or not it is the ground plan of a building. The Shield Monument, where thw site was cleared and a careful stratigraphical investigation conducted in an effort to establish the monument’s date and use. The agora, where further ashlar walls were uncovered, probably belonging to public buildings in and around the agora. The area where the main street is being widened, where exploratory sections revealed impenetrable layers of destruction and perfectly preserved floors of houses of the 2nd and early 3rd cc. AD. The Villa of Dionysus, where this year the east section of the baths was investigated. A room with an apse at the east end was uncovered roughly in the middle of the long side of the large central chamber. Its floor is paved with marble tiles and is lower than the floor of the central chamber. It was probably the cold bath chamber. At some later point a small recess in the north wall was filled in and various casual structures were erected on the floor. Near the recess were two pieces of a sculpture; they were found to belong to the torso of a male statue discovered in 1982 incorporated in the wall near the praefumium in the west section of the baths. This was probably its original site. A tiny male torso was also found (0,13 m high) of outstanding artistry and workmanship. The vestige of an object which survives under the arm of the nude torso, together with an elliptical mark on the right buttock strongly suggest that this is a statue of the famous Farnese Hercules (PI. 1). It is worth stressing that, despite the dramatic miniaturization of the colossal original, the «little» Heracles of Dion is a copy of a very high standard with artistic forms that are strongly reminiscent of works of the late 4th c. BC. Amongst the countless copies of the Farnese Hercules, this one also stands out for its close resemblance to other known works by Lysippus (PI. 2).The next chamber to the north, much smaller than this one, had a heated floor and a similar recess, almost back-to-back with the apse. A small chamber to the south with a mosaic floor led to a built rectangular basin. The excavations have also uncovered the building’s south-west chamber, which has a hypocaust. It is rectangular in plan (6,10X4,30 m) and identical to the next chamber but one to the west. Hence the south wing of the villa’s baths has two pairs of rooms, alternately rectangular and apsed (Fig. 1).Participants in the 1991 excavations at Dion were: Associate Professor T. Stefanidou-Tiveriou, Assistant Professor S. Pinyatoglou, G. Karadedos (lecturer in architecture),A. Mendzos (lecturer), and the archaeologists E. Benaki, K. Vastelli, S. Kremydi, I. Vassiliadou, M. Zabelaki, A. Prinou, S. Tabaki and P. Christodoulou.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Δίον, Πιερία, συνέδρια

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