2024-06-01 13:35:57
An vital half within the reconstruction of the monumental middle of Nikopolis is the Agora, during which a five-year excavation program is underway, with the primary findings resulting in vital conclusions concerning the space and likewise the constructing, which is more likely to have been the Metropolis Corridor , i.e. an area devoted to the imperial cult.
The primary excavation interval has already confirmed, in line with the Ministry of Tradition, that analysis on the middle of the financial, social and political lifetime of the town can considerably enrich the information concerning the structure and concrete planning of the city public house of the Roman interval, whereas it should enable the reconstruction of the monumental middle of Nikopolis and its inclusion within the common grasp plan of the consolidation of the Archaeological Park.
Throughout the framework of the five-year program, the research of the world of the Agora, which opens to the west of the Roman Conservatory, is deliberate, in addition to the excavation of varied buildings, the ruins of that are instantly associated to the Agora, which they delimit.
The earlier 12 months’s excavations targeted on a sq. constructing, west of the conservatory. The excavation each within the periphery of the constructing and in a part of its inside yielded a lot of findings and led to vital conclusions relating to the configuration of the Agora and the character of the constructing. Extra particularly, the investigation of the outer house first dropped at gentle a piece of paved ground, which, in reference to the ruins of buildings to the west, must be attributed to the outside sq. of the Agora. In truth, the ministry plans to research these ruins this 12 months. As well as, no less than two hitherto unknown additions had been recognized to the west and east of the primary constructing. Lastly, it was noticed that the constructing is positioned alongside the sting of a pure mangrove, which signifies a construction of the Agora house on two distinct ranges, a configuration that refers to – recognized from the imperial interval – examples of markets which have an “higher” and a ” down’ market.
The exploration of the constructing itself proved equally wealthy in finds. First, the monumental five-tiered propylon to the west, which can also be the one entry to the constructing, was revealed. Regardless of its fragmentary state, each its monumental character and its high quality of development are totally understood. The architectural ornament of the outer faces of the wax should even have been significantly imposing, as is clear from the quantity and number of architectural members and sculptures discovered throughout the work. The exteriors had wealthy orthomarbling, with zones lined with multi-colored marble slabs.
Equally spectacular but additionally important for the restoration of the historic growth of the monument had been the outcomes of the excavation inside it. The cuts made within the NE internal nook of the constructing first dropped at gentle part of the mosaic ground, the whole space of which must be near 350 sq. meters. The excavated half has geometric ornamental patterns with black and white tesserae and is preserved in wonderful situation.
Surprising, in line with the Ministry, was the invention, on the mosaic ground, of a synthetic and sufficiently excessive embankment, which is sealed by a second ground, this time product of second-use architectural members and fragments of marble slabs. The superimposed flooring verify the existence of two important development phases, a primary, which is related to the mosaic, and a second, throughout which the second, raised ground is constructed. The person findings in addition to the numismatic knowledge present that the 2 phases belong to the imperial interval, between the 2nd and 4th centuries AD.
Lastly, among the many numerous movable findings of this primary excavation interval, 9 sections of inscriptions are included, two of which offer data associated to the operate and character of the constructing. The primary half comes from a marble wall inscription in all probability of the 2nd century, the surviving textual content of which refers to an unidentified emperor. The second inscribed marble slab discovered embedded within the ground of Section II contained in the constructing preserves its whole textual content. This can be a votive inscription in honor of the emperors (θεοῖς σεβαστοῖς), which was devoted on the initiative of a neighborhood official (chorarchis), after the private financing (from himself) of some beneficence, which isn’t specified within the textual content.
“In conclusion, the totality of the data obtained from the observations on the structure of the constructing, the person movable finds in addition to the epigraphical and financial testimonies, enable us to revive the edifice as one of many central public buildings of the Agora, which skilled an extended life and operation throughout the imperial interval. Its actual operate can not but be decided with precision, it’s, nevertheless, attainable that we’re in an area devoted to the imperial cult, within the metropolis’s Reverence”, it’s famous in a press launch of the Ministry of Tradition, the place it’s emphasised that the excavation work of 2023 demonstrated with readability the views of the analysis program and its potential contribution to the research of the formation and evolution of the city space of Nikopolis. “The continuation of this system and the systematic investigation of the broader space of the Agora and its monuments will, on the one hand, full our image of the middle of the social lifetime of Nikopolis throughout the imperial occasions, whereas, however, it should usually enrich our information concerning the function and the evolution of the markets of Greek cities throughout the identical historic interval”, it’s famous.
The five-year program “Systematic excavation of the Agora (Discussion board) of Nicopolis” was launched with the excavation interval of September-October 2023, underneath the path of the honorary antiquities inspector Konstantinos L. Zachos. This system is applied with the sponsorship of the Hellenic Parliament and due to the private care of the Speaker of the Parliament Constantinos Tassoulas, whereas the technical help and administration has been undertaken by AMKE “Residents’ Initiative “Eytychos””.
