Korinthos 1999 Overview

TWO PRE-HISTORIC SITES AT THE EAST END OF THE GULF OF KORINTHOS
James Fossey

The present three-year project will publish the results of two old excavations around the East end of the Gulf of Korinthos in Central Greece. The excavations have in common that, in addition to having been directed by the same archaeologist, they both brought to light extensive material of Bronze Age date. Vouliagmeni, Perakhora was excavated in 1965 and 1972; the site produced important sequences of Early Bronze Age I and II deposits as well as evidence for re-occupation in both the Late Bronze Age and the Archaic period. Khóstia, on the South coast of Boiotia, was excavated in 1980 and 1983 and revealed plentiful deposits of Early and Late Bronze Age date as well as sparse amounts of material from the intervening Middle Bronze Age; it also illuminated the sort of developments which may have followed on the collapse of the Late Bronze Age civilisation having produced an entire "Dark Age" town on a neighbouring hill.

The site of Khóstia, located approximately 60 km West-South-West of Thebes, about one km inland above the coast of the Gulf of Korinthos (fig. 1.1), lies at an altitude of 200 meters above sea level upon a flattened area and surrounding slopes near the end of a rocky spur advancing Southwards from the base of Mount Helikon's Palaiovouno massif, from which it is separated by a shallow saddle. For most of its existence, the settlement appears to have been a small town or a village, although it had the status of a city during the Hellenistic period, since the diagnostic remains visible on its surface, including those dated to prehistoric times, extend over an area of around 4.45 hectares (Fossey, 1981: 12); this surface area corresponds to the maximum extent reached by the site during the long history of its occupation. During the Bronze Age the settlement extended probably over only part of this area.

The site has been known for a long time, but has been only sparingly visited by scholars, following Leake's report at the beginning of the 19th century (Fossey, 1981: 1 & 11); commentaries about it are few and generally brief. Gomme (1911-12: 205), Frazier (1913: V.134) and Philippson & Kirsten (1951: 456) signal its location, while Philippson & Kirsten (1951: 687) also mention the presence there of Middle Helladic material. The earliest study, itself relatively short, devoted specifically to the ruins visible on the surface of the Kástron is due to Busing & Busing (1972: 74-87). The only well preserved remains belong exclusively to the historical period (Hellenistic to Late Roman); they consist of an important circuit wall enclosing most of the settled area. The few wall segments surviving to any appreciable height explain the modern toponym of Kástron, specifically Kástron Khostion, the "Kástron of Khóstia" usually applied to it locally. Fossey (1981: passim, especially 62-70 and figs 15-21; 1988: 187-194) provides a detailed description of the architectural features of the circuit. These walls, as well as a limited amount of literary and epigraphic documents relevant to the historical city, have been the main focus of interest for most scholars until now and have allowed them to equate the site with the small Boiotian city of Khorsiai (for the main bibliography of the site see Fossey, 1988: 188; see also Roesch, 1965: 56-58, and Roesch, 1970).