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The role of the octagon in the complex of Galerius and its relation with the large south peristyle courtyard

Αρχαιολογικά χρονικά

• Καραμπέρη, Μαριάννα

In 1950 Ch. Makaronas excavated the Octagon, a luxurious centralised building with a diameter of 30 m. in the south-west part of the complex of Galerius, which gave rise to much dispute about its date and function. The stratigraphy of the monument suggests that after a very short life it was destroyed by earthquake. During a rescue excavation in the 1960s, its biconch, elliptical antechamber, of monumental dimensions was uncovered; after the destruction of the building, this was converted into a cistern that continued to function up to the 14th c. An excavation in 1995 brought to light a strong stylobate, an access-way, and two monolithic granite columns, indicating that the antechamber communicated directly, by way of a porch, with the large south peristyle courtyard, which was excavatedby Makaronas in 1957, and from which comes the marble arched lintel with the bust of Galerius.Beneath the octagon and its antechamber, as beneath the rest of the complex, dense building phases were located of late Helle- nistic-early Roman times, and an extensive, thick destruction level, due to an earthquake in the 2nd c. AD and an extensive fire in the middle of the 3rd c. AD.The octagon - antechamber - large south peristyle courtyard group belongs together with the rest of the building complex, faces the sea, and was designed for official gatherings and ceremonies. It belongs chronologically to the second period of Gale- rius’s residence in the city (AD 308-311), and the work on it was probably not completed by the time of his death.

• History and Archaeology

• Αρχαιολογία

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