65-80

Kisamos : The topography of an ancient city in western Crete

Αρχαιολογικά χρονικά

• Πωλογιώργη, Μέλπω

This study deals with Kisamos, an ancient city, which lay in the innermost part of the gulf of Kisamos, the ancient name of whichwas Myrtilos, in the western part of Crete and on the northern coast, in the same place, where the modern town Kastelli Kisamou orKisamos lies (F i g. 1). The results from the excavations at Kastelli (from 1966 to the beginning of 1983) indicate that here during the Roman period an important city flourished, whose construction had begun in the 1st century A.D. The prosperity of the city and the wealth of its inhabitants are obvious from the wonderful and colourfulmosaics on the floors of some houses, the luxurious public baths, the construction of a main drainage and water system and the existenceof a theater and amphitheater (F i g.2), according to Onorio Belli, etc. The fertility of the region and the commercial harbor, within walking distance to the west, in the place called “Mavros Molos” (Black Mole), played their role in the development of the city. The Roman cemetery lay in the immediate vicinity of the city (F i g. 2, Nos 31,32,33, 34, 35). During the excavations a large number of graves were discovered including, apart from common tile-graves, cist-graves and burials in vessels, and some monumental familytombs, of which four types can be distinguished. Most of the tombs were plundered, but in a few cases some gold jewels were found. The earliest tombs belong to the first half of the 1st century A.D., the latest to the second half of the 2nd century' and to the early 3rd century A.D. One cist-grave of the last quarter of the 4th century B.C. was found at some distance from the cemetery of the Romancity (F i g. 2, No 36). Around the middle of the 4th century A.D. the buildings of Kisamos seem to have been destroyed, possibly because of an earthquake. But life in the city continued afterwards during all the following historical periods. From the site of Kisamos at Kastelli some finds of Hellenistic date came to light (only a few sherds and a few coins of other cities), butnone were found in a clear Hellenistic context. The one late Classical grave also lies at a short distance from the Roman remains. From the above we are led to the deduction, that the Kisamos of historical times, before the Roman conquest of Crete, was on the hill Selli, about 2 km to the west of Kastelli, where remains of the 4th century and of the early 3rd century B.C. have been discovered in the past. Kisamos was not an autonomous city, as we conclude from the fact that it did not cut its own coins. No coins that might be attributedto Kisamos have been found during the excavations.It is possible that the neighboring Polyrrhenia, a.strong inland city-state, controlled Kisamos, which lay on Selli, and that it usedits harbor until the time of the Roman conquest. During the Roman period, in which enforced peace and security prevailed over theconflicts and competitions of the Cretan States, Kisamos moved to the level site of modern Kastelli, and newly organized, it developed into a flourishing city.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Τοπογραφία, Δυτική Κρήτη

Το άρθρο περιέχει εικόνες., Το κείμενο αυτό αποτέλεσε ανακοίνωση στο Γ' Συνέδριο του Συλλόγου Ελλήνων Αρχαιολόγων στους Δελφούς, 29 Μαρτίου-1 Απριλίου 1984. Ευχαριστώ θερμά τον Έφορο Γ. Τζεδάκι για την άδεια μελέτης του υλικού από τις ανασκαφές στο Καστέλλι Κισάμου και την Έφορο Η. Ζερβουδάκη για τις υποδείξεις κατά τη συγγραφή του κειμένου. Εκτός από τις καθιερωμένες συντομογραφίες χρησιμοποιούνται και οι ακόλουθες:Sanders: I.F. Sanders, Roman Crete. An Archaeological Survey and Gazetteer o f Late Hellenistic, Roman and Early Byzantine Crete, Warminster, Wilts, England 1982.Savignoni: L. Savignoni - G. Dc Sanctis, Esplorazione archeologica delle provincic occidentali di Creta, MonAnt XI (1901), σ. 286 κ.ε.Θεοφανείδης: Β.Δ. Θεοφανείδης, Ανασκαφικαί έρευναι και τυχαία ευρήματα ανά την Δυτικήν Κρήτην,ΑΕ 1942-44, Παράρτημα, σ. 1 κ.ε.Guarducci: Μ. Guarducci, Inscriptiones Crcticae, II, Roma 1939, σ. 94 κ.ε.