DOI article:
Waldstein, Charles; Washington, Henry Stephens; Hunt, W. Irving: Discoveries at Plataia in 1890
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.8678#0288
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DISCOVERIES AT PLATAIA.
zantine churches, Churches Nos. I, IV, V, VII and VIII being the
richest in them. The greater number are Roman architectural pieces,
architraves, capitals and bases, etc. There are some Greek slabs and
other marbles, some with inscriptions, all built into the church-walls,
and some reworked into Byzantine forms. A few fragments of white
marble, small pieces of cut and sculptured work, are found on the
ground on the northwest part; and to the east of Church No. I lies a
portion of a Roman plain white marble column. The two springs of
Megale Brysis to the west and of Kondati Brysis to the east have
walls made of ancient fragments of white marble. All this marble
is much like the Pentelic, but undoubtedly comes from a much nearer
quarry.
I will close with a few remarks as to the different periods of set-
tlement of the plateau. As already stated, it seems probable that the
extreme southern end was the earliest citadel, if not the only part
occupied before the time of the battle of Plataia. Then, later, a town
was built lower down in the northern part (the upper citadel probably
being abandoned), the upper cross-wall being built for its defense.
This town very probably covered the whole of the plateau to the
north of the wall. The apparently greater age of the walls to the
east and west makes it seem likely, however, that the whole plateau
was inhabited and fortified before the shrinkage within the upper
cross-wall, which is probably of about the time of Alexander. At a
much later date, in Byzantine times perhaps, the lower cross-wall
was rather hastily and carelessly built to surround the much shrunken
town. The fact that the ground inside this wall is deeply covered
with tiles, etc., and the number of house-walls, point to the conclusion
that a densely populated town once occupied this part of the plateau.
The great number of churches on and in the immediate vicinity of
the plateau, ten in all, also tends to prove the same, and is a circum-
stance important in the later history of the place, and one which may
explain the great scarcity of white marble, this probably having been
burned to make mortar.
Henry S. Washington.
Tarragona, Spain,
May 23, 1890.
\
DISCOVERIES AT PLATAIA.
zantine churches, Churches Nos. I, IV, V, VII and VIII being the
richest in them. The greater number are Roman architectural pieces,
architraves, capitals and bases, etc. There are some Greek slabs and
other marbles, some with inscriptions, all built into the church-walls,
and some reworked into Byzantine forms. A few fragments of white
marble, small pieces of cut and sculptured work, are found on the
ground on the northwest part; and to the east of Church No. I lies a
portion of a Roman plain white marble column. The two springs of
Megale Brysis to the west and of Kondati Brysis to the east have
walls made of ancient fragments of white marble. All this marble
is much like the Pentelic, but undoubtedly comes from a much nearer
quarry.
I will close with a few remarks as to the different periods of set-
tlement of the plateau. As already stated, it seems probable that the
extreme southern end was the earliest citadel, if not the only part
occupied before the time of the battle of Plataia. Then, later, a town
was built lower down in the northern part (the upper citadel probably
being abandoned), the upper cross-wall being built for its defense.
This town very probably covered the whole of the plateau to the
north of the wall. The apparently greater age of the walls to the
east and west makes it seem likely, however, that the whole plateau
was inhabited and fortified before the shrinkage within the upper
cross-wall, which is probably of about the time of Alexander. At a
much later date, in Byzantine times perhaps, the lower cross-wall
was rather hastily and carelessly built to surround the much shrunken
town. The fact that the ground inside this wall is deeply covered
with tiles, etc., and the number of house-walls, point to the conclusion
that a densely populated town once occupied this part of the plateau.
The great number of churches on and in the immediate vicinity of
the plateau, ten in all, also tends to prove the same, and is a circum-
stance important in the later history of the place, and one which may
explain the great scarcity of white marble, this probably having been
burned to make mortar.
Henry S. Washington.
Tarragona, Spain,
May 23, 1890.
\