195-201

The Louloudies excavation 1995

• Μαρκή, Ευτέρπη

The episcopal complex at Louloudies, where excavations have been going on since 1993, is a four-towered fortress measuring 80 x 90 m, which was founded when Theodoric’s Goths settled in Pydna and five other Macedonian cities in 479 in exchange for lifting the siege of Thessaloniki. A basilica and a bishop’s palace have been excavated in the complex, which was originally delimited by porticoes, two of which have been traced along the W and S sides, while a third is visible on the N side. It preserved its original layout until Justinian’s time, when it lost its fortified aspect and expanded. The palace was now extended to the W and the basilica rebuilt; and a large group of wine-presses was set up in the NW area, consisting of five rooms. There was an oil press to the NE of it, which has yielded the cistern in which the olives were washed and the marble basin in which they were crushed. The complex was destroyed by a severe earthquake after the mid-6th c.; the basilica was now reduced to the nave and the bishop’s palace was abandoned. A row of rooms was built to the E of the palace, only to be destroyed by another earthquake; but the raised floor level indicates that they were repaired. The walls of the complex began to collapse at the end of the 6th c. and workshops were built on the ruins. It was then that a large pottery kiln was built, together with three glass-making furnaces, some wells, a marble workshop, and a smelting furnace. The site was abandoned c. the mid-7th c. and the inhabitants probably moved to the site of modern Kitros, taking all the usable architectural elements from the basilica with them.

• History and Archaeology

• Ανασκαφές (Αρχαιολογία)

Πιερία, συνέδρια

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