DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.47233#0117
CHAP. Υ.Ί
THE AGORA.
101
CHAPTER V
THE AGORA.
When the excavations of the British School at Megalopolis were begun in 1890, it was
expected that the work for the most part would be confined to the investigation of the
remains of the ancient town, and more particularly to finding and clearing the site of the
Agora. It was natural that it should be so ; for in the first place Pausanias has left us a fuller
description of the Agora of Megalopolis than in the case of any other Greek city except
Athens and Elis, and secondly the column drums and architectural fragments scattered over a
considerable area to the north of the river Helisson, which here runs in a sinuous and constantly
changing course through a deep, wide and stony bed, seemed to point to a field with
considerable possibilities for the excavator. Thus it was that on Tuesday, March 20th,
digging began at the only visible point where the remains showed any order, viz. west of the
new high-road from Megalopolis to Karytaina, and about 270 paces north of the river-bed.
It seemed probable that here or hereabouts was the spot in which Leake detected rows of
columns ‘ in situ.’ During two and a half days’ work the western end of the Stoa of Philip
was unearthed, and the double row of columns, which had at first attracted our attention,
was found to belong to what Mr. Schultz has here separately described as ‘ Remains of
later structures south-west of the Stoa of Philip.’ But though the land here belongs to
Government, having been in Leake’s time a Turkish spahilik and probably confiscated
to the new Hellenic state, it was found impossible to pursue our excavations further, as we
were destroying a springing crop of corn, and the tenants, finding that Government was not
likely to compensate them, naturally objected to the continuance of our work. Fortunately
however for us the small occupiers in that neighbourhood do not crop the soil continuously
but leave it fallow every other season; and the greater part of the land on the south bank of
the river being at the time unsown, our operations were transferred to the Theatre with the
very satisfactory and valuable results elsewhere recorded. Work was resumed at the beginning
of November, 1890, on the Agora site and lasted till the middle of December. It was how-
ever an unwise choice of seasons, and the autumn rains not only altogether prevented the work
for at least a third of the whole time but rendered it very difficult and expensive for the
rest. The land slopes down gradually to the river-bed and is very wet, at that season of the
year especially, as the water is steadily draining through the soil from the low hills that lie
behind the northern extremity of the Agora. Though it was left for subsequent work
to establish some of the results here recorded, the main part of the excavation was done in
the autumn of 1890. That work consisted mainly of the partial clearing of the great Stoa,
which the lucky discovery of an inscribed tile has proved to be, as we had supposed from
the first, the Stoa of Philip, and of the entire clearing of the foundations of a building
which is beyond doubt the Temenos of Zeus Soter. These two buildings are the subject of
papers by Mr. R. W. Schultz, and into the details of their construction I shall therefore not
enter.
The judgment of Ludwig Ross, that excavation on this site would be interesting for
the history of architecture but would fail to find many works of art, has been justified ;
for our excavations were singularly unsuccessful as regards ‘plunder.’ It appears that the
successive inhabitants of the spot have long since destroyed most of the objects of art and
D D
THE AGORA.
101
CHAPTER V
THE AGORA.
When the excavations of the British School at Megalopolis were begun in 1890, it was
expected that the work for the most part would be confined to the investigation of the
remains of the ancient town, and more particularly to finding and clearing the site of the
Agora. It was natural that it should be so ; for in the first place Pausanias has left us a fuller
description of the Agora of Megalopolis than in the case of any other Greek city except
Athens and Elis, and secondly the column drums and architectural fragments scattered over a
considerable area to the north of the river Helisson, which here runs in a sinuous and constantly
changing course through a deep, wide and stony bed, seemed to point to a field with
considerable possibilities for the excavator. Thus it was that on Tuesday, March 20th,
digging began at the only visible point where the remains showed any order, viz. west of the
new high-road from Megalopolis to Karytaina, and about 270 paces north of the river-bed.
It seemed probable that here or hereabouts was the spot in which Leake detected rows of
columns ‘ in situ.’ During two and a half days’ work the western end of the Stoa of Philip
was unearthed, and the double row of columns, which had at first attracted our attention,
was found to belong to what Mr. Schultz has here separately described as ‘ Remains of
later structures south-west of the Stoa of Philip.’ But though the land here belongs to
Government, having been in Leake’s time a Turkish spahilik and probably confiscated
to the new Hellenic state, it was found impossible to pursue our excavations further, as we
were destroying a springing crop of corn, and the tenants, finding that Government was not
likely to compensate them, naturally objected to the continuance of our work. Fortunately
however for us the small occupiers in that neighbourhood do not crop the soil continuously
but leave it fallow every other season; and the greater part of the land on the south bank of
the river being at the time unsown, our operations were transferred to the Theatre with the
very satisfactory and valuable results elsewhere recorded. Work was resumed at the beginning
of November, 1890, on the Agora site and lasted till the middle of December. It was how-
ever an unwise choice of seasons, and the autumn rains not only altogether prevented the work
for at least a third of the whole time but rendered it very difficult and expensive for the
rest. The land slopes down gradually to the river-bed and is very wet, at that season of the
year especially, as the water is steadily draining through the soil from the low hills that lie
behind the northern extremity of the Agora. Though it was left for subsequent work
to establish some of the results here recorded, the main part of the excavation was done in
the autumn of 1890. That work consisted mainly of the partial clearing of the great Stoa,
which the lucky discovery of an inscribed tile has proved to be, as we had supposed from
the first, the Stoa of Philip, and of the entire clearing of the foundations of a building
which is beyond doubt the Temenos of Zeus Soter. These two buildings are the subject of
papers by Mr. R. W. Schultz, and into the details of their construction I shall therefore not
enter.
The judgment of Ludwig Ross, that excavation on this site would be interesting for
the history of architecture but would fail to find many works of art, has been justified ;
for our excavations were singularly unsuccessful as regards ‘plunder.’ It appears that the
successive inhabitants of the spot have long since destroyed most of the objects of art and
D D