155-172

Excavations in the settlement and the cemeteries of ancient Lete : an initial appraisal

• Φίλης, Κώστας

The building remains and parts of the cemeteries that have been coming to light in recent years at Lete, in association with the historical sources and the epigraphical evidence, enable us to venture a comprehensive presentation of the city’s development. Surface investigations undertaken in the wider area by the Department of Archaeology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki located Archaic pottery from the site of the ancient city. These data were confirmed by excavations on the site of the city’s organised cemetery, which uncovered graves of the same period.That the city was inhabited in the 5th century has been proven by the discovery of a midden, which was discovered in the course of an excavation carried out in advance of work on the Egnatia motorway and contained fragments of pointed amphoras, mainly from Mende and Corinth.The 4th century is represented mainly by grave assemblages, which include vessel shapes of the Attic Kerameikos and local imitations of these. Epigraphical evidence shows that the city had an organised urban structure in the Hellenistic period. Its development was probably connected with Kassander’s policy. A section of the fortifying wall uncovered at the north end of the city probably also belongs to this period. The sanctuary of Demetra and Kore was established in the same period, while the Derveni cemetery, which presents a variety of sepulchral monuments and important grave goods, attests the presence of a local landowning aristocracy.Recent excavations in the plain and the surrounding foothills uncovered building remains which prove that the area was continuously inhabited from the 3rd century BC to the 6th century AD. This picture is confirmed by investigations in the city’s cemetery.The continuing influence of Lete is reflected in the fact that one of the gates in Thessalonike’s west wall was known as the “Letaian Gate” in the Byzantine period.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία

νεκροταφεία, Λαγκαδάς, συνέδρια

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