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Excavations in Byzantine castles of Western Macedonia

• Μουτσόπουλος, Νικόλαος Κ.

The castle of Loggas is located in the northern part of the prefecture of Castoria, on a hillock at a short distance from the lake and the city of Castoria. It is, essentially, a fortified refugium which was built during the Romanperiod to protect the neighboring settlements of stockbreeding (vlachic) populations. The excavation revealed the perimetric wall of the castle which, on the eastern side, is reinforced by a single tower of rectangular plan (Π1).The excavation also revealed two spaces of a residence in the S. W. corner of the fort (K1 and K2), while the stratigraphic sections yielded an abundance of data concerning the everyday life of the settlement (ceramics of the period)and certain buckles. During the 10th century the exterior fortifications of the castle were completed and reinforced. This time the wall was not constructed of lime concrete, like the previous wall of the Roman period, but of simple rubblework and it was much thicker(1.50-2.20 m.). In our opinion this was the fort that was captured and destroyed by the armies of Basil II in the spring of 1017.In the southern interior part of the fortifications, the most level, we had already excavated an aisle less, evidently timber-roofed, church built of adobe with articulated exterior wall construction. Its entrance is located in the western wall and the apse of the bema is encaged within a small, rectangular open space where we noticed several infant sepulchers. The original settlement of the Roman period, about whose history and life we know almost nothing, was reinforced, most probably during the Justinianian period, with a strong tower built of limeconcrete (Π1), approximately inthe middle of the eastern wall. Afterwards came raids of barbarians the capture of the fort and the destruction of the settlement. It is next to impossible to estimate the length of the period during which the fortified settlement was deserted. However, the depth of the superimposed material, as the stratigraphic sections revealed, proves that the settlement had been abandoned for a very long time. The second and last stratum of fire was probably the result of the military operations of 1017.(I. Scylitzes, Σύνοφις ιστοριών, ed. Ioannes Thurn, Berolini 1973, p. 355:«and he had laid siege to the castle called Loggas.... and after the capture the castle was burnt down by the king»). As a matter of fact, even the ceramic ornaments, which are «lackluster» and primitive, belong to a time period ending in the 10th century.*The castle of Setena, another refuge of the revolutionary viscount Samuel was destroyed by Basil II during his next expedition. In the castle, besides Samuel’s own palace, there were large storehouses full of corn (I. Skylitzes, op. cit. p. 356, 36-38). We located the place where the castle stood by following the route which probably took the armies of the emperor. Very near the Achlada of today, in the prefecture of Fiorina, whose old name was Setina, an almost impassable road goes north and after 4 kms endsat a place called «Kaleto». There, the ruins of a medieval castle can be seen ona hill whose northern side lies near the Geropotamos river (Stara reka, and, inolder times, Slatka reka).The sides of the hill are very steep all around except for the western side,which, for this reason, had been fortified more strongly. Somewhere there, at a place in the southwest, was probably the gate of the fortified settlement. At a short distance, towards the east, on a natural mound, exactly over theriver, we located the medieval cemetery of the original settlement, and, especially the one belonging to the early Christian phase of construction, as it was proved by the study of the graves and the numismatic data at the placecalled «Grobiste».Very important was, also, the discovery of an aisleless, timber-roofed church built of adobe, which was constructed at the entrance of the 10thcentury, probably in the place of an older religious building. Around the midbyzantine church with a narthex, there was another cemetery dating to the same period. Based on the coins which were discovered under the threshold of the door between the narthex and the church, in a grave which was discoveredin this place (twelve silver Venetian coins of Ranieri Zeno: 1253-1268) we ascertained that the church had survived until a much later period. This church was also coated with a surface of white limecement, like the one in the castle of Loggas and the walls of the castles. The stratigraphic sections on the acropolis of the castle revealed useful evidence. In the upper layers we discovered the familiar «lackluster» ceramics and in the lower layers, pots of the early Christian, Roman and earlier periods. In this case, too, based on marble gravestones and other artifacts of the Roman and the Hellenistic period, which had been earlier discovered on the hill, and others which had already been transported to the village, nowadays housed in the Archaeological Museum of Fiorina, we believe that it was aMacedonian settlement of Lyngos, which prospered near the auriferous gravels of the river (Geropotamos-Slatka reka), and flourished through the Roman period. We noticed that the settlement resumed its activity around the 10thcentury and its walls were reinforced exactly as in the case of the castle of Loggas. Even after its destruction by the armies of Basil II, in the spring of1017, it did not disappear but continued to exist; this is suggested by the fact that it is mentioned, among the other neighbouring places, in the episcopal register of the bishop of Moglena (Setina) (Not. 29). On top of the hill «Kaie», which dominates the NW side of the isle of St. Achilleios, in the lake of Micri Prespa we excavated the castle mentioned by I.Skylitzes (op. cit. B. 469. p. 359, 39-42). This is the castle built by Basil II after his return from Ahrida in 1017, and to which he gave the name «Constantion». The plan of the castle is ellipsoidal (70 x49). At its northern point, there is a rectangular tower and in the center a small dromic church whose foundations have been preserved. This is the second castle built by the emperor Basil II during the final phase of his expedition that ended in the suppression of the rebellion of viscount Samuel and the consolidation of the Byzantine supremacy in the area. The holy castle, also mentioned by I. Skylitzes, the so-called «Vasilida» islocated across the border, in Albanian territory, on a rugged and almost impassable path which goes from Ahrida to the lake of Megali Prespa

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)
• Πολιτισμός, Βυζαντινός

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