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Archaeologists Investigate Ancient Greek Temenos on Black Sea Island
Popular Archaeology ^ | Monday, January 19, 2015 | editors

Posted on 01/21/2015 6:44:51 AM PST by SunkenCiv

A team of archaeologists are discovering new finds on a tiny island just off the Black Sea coast near Sozopol, Bulgaria -- finds that may shed additional light on the location and features of a lost temple to Apollo erected by Archaic Greeks in the late 6th century BCE.

Epigraphic sources document that a temple to Apollo was raised on an island near the ancient Greek colony of Apollonia Pontica, which is located near present-day Sozopol. But there has been no evidence to suggest where the temple was actually located -- until recently, when an archaeological team under the direction of Kristina Panayotova of the National Institute of Archaeology and Museum, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, unearthed a fragment of East Greek pottery with an inscription dedication to Apollo.

The ancient temple was famous for another reason: It was here, in front of the temple, where a colossal 13-meter high bronze statue of Apollo was raised and dedicated to the Apollo letros (the Healer), the patron deity of Apollonia Pontica...

Panayotova's teams have been conducting excavations at the site since 2009, and have thus far uncovered evidence of Greek settlement here going back as far as the 7th century BCE and a late 6th-early 5th century BCE Archaic Greek temple complex which may be the lost temple of Apollo. Other finds included remains of a temple from the 4th century BCE Hellenistic period; an ancient Greek tholos; an ancient Greek copper foundry; an early Byzantine basilica and necropolis; two ritual pits from the Archaic period containing numerous artifacts; several early Christian 5th century CE graves; structures dated to the Archaic period; and many other finds.

(Excerpt) Read more at popular-archaeology.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: apollo; blacksea; godsgravesglyphs; temenos
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To: SunkenCiv

The bellicheat hoplite was stealing the signals of the pagano hoplite.


21 posted on 01/21/2015 2:13:56 PM PST by colorado tanker
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To: colorado tanker

The skiplite and jumplite bas-relief didn’t survive, alas.


22 posted on 01/22/2015 6:16:45 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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Travel in the Ancient World
by Lionel Casson
A gifted faker name Alexander founded an oracle in a backwater on the south shore of the Black Sea. Here, for stiff prices, a talking serpent he had rigged up answered questions for the local hayseeds... (p 135)

23 posted on 01/22/2015 6:24:50 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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