The Lower Town of Ancient Thasos
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A few yards E of the two gates near the naval harbour is a group of ruins, the chief of which is the Sanctuary of Poseidon entered by a path between gardens. This is a large quadrangular terrace with the remains of a circular and a square altar. At the gate of the sanctuary are two bases with inscriptions (beginning of 4C); a little in front, almost intact, is the Monumental Altar to Hera Epilimenia (Protectress of Harbours), which had an inscription (now in the Museum) reciting the sacred law forbidding the sacrifice of she-goats. |
Head and torso of a statue of Hadrian, from the Agora, ca. 130 A.D., Thasos Archaeological Museum.
To the S is the Sanctuary of Dionysos, a triangular temenos, re-explored in 1957-58, and covered again except for the remains of a 3C choregic monument. On its semicircular base are engraved the names of victors in a theatrical competition; the categories in which they competed were represented by statues; the statue of comedy is in the museum together with the colossal head of Dionysos from the centrepiece of the group.
The Agora (entered from the square by the Museum) is bordered by porticoes. Its layout has been clarified by judicious restoration of the foundations since 1955. The place was entered from the harbour by Propylaia in the NW corner, and from the town side by several passgeways which led into the South West Stoa, a Doric colonnade of 33 columns (1C AD). In the S angle of the square is a monumental Altar. The South East Stoa, also of the 1C AD, had 31 columns of which three have been re-erected at the E end. This fronted a long hypostyle gallery, entered by four doors; the wall which they pierced still stands to a height of 1.8m. Beneath the E end is the base of a Monument of Glaukos (7C BC). In the centre of the Agora the excavators have unearthed a Heroon of Lucius Caesar and another of Theogenes; and in the N angle a Sanctuary of Zeus Agoraios surrounded by a balustrade, later interrupted by a Tholos (3-2C BC). On the NE side, next to the Propylaia, is a building with projecting wings (ca. 330 BC), similar to the Stoa of Zeus at Athens; this survived to the 5C AD when it gave place to a Christian Basilica.
Outside the E angle is the unexplained flagged Passage of the Theoria (ca. 470 BC) from which came reliefs now in the Louvre, and inscriptions with lists of magistrates (in the museum). Farther to the E is the Artemision; ex-voto objects dedicated to Artemis have been recovered dating from 7C BC. The Hellenistic sanctuary had a square temenos, traced in 1959, though most of its statuary was carried off to Constantinople in 1909.
The beach of Potos in Thasos
The Museum is generally open on request by the caretaker. Central Hall (I): Colossal Kriophoros (ram-bearer; early 6C; unfinished), found in the acropolis wall; Head of Pegasus, part of the architectural decoration of the Herakleion; Torso of a kouros, found in the sea of Cape Pachys; Funerary stele (late 6C); painted terracota plaques and heads, including a frieze of riders; Head of Silinus (ca. 525 BC); Kouros of the school of Pythagoras from the Herakleion; Head of a horse from the same (ca. 460 BC), much less archaic in style. Room II (behind) contains finds from the Temple of Artemis, including a bronze statuette of the goddess and an exquisite lion's head in ivory (6C BC); boustrophedon funerary inscription of Glaukos, son of Leptine, of Paros (companion of Archilochos); fine silver coins; Archaic pottery. In the small Room III off the main hall: beautiful Attic kylix, shining as new. Room IV (front): Architectonic fragments; metope carved between triglyphs in one piece; statues of Dionysos and Comedy; inscriptions. Room V (opposite): Two heads, school of Skopas; Relief decoration of an altar to Cybele (2C AD); head of young Dionysos (3C BC); Aphrodite on a dolphine with Eros clinging to its tail; reliefs; beautiful but mutilated reclining youth; Roman imperial Heads, among them a negroid head and portraits of Claudius, Julius Caesar, and Lucius Caesar.
Outside the S corner of the Agora a paved street, uncovered for 50m, leads SW, passing a well-preserved Exedra (1C AD), the remains of an Odeion (left), and the so-called Court of 100 Flagstones. Continuing, one reaches the remains of the Triumphal Arch of Caracalla, identified by its inscriptions, and the Herakleion, or Sanctuary of Hercules.
The monumental entrance to the sanctuary was a Propylon, with a staircase, leading to the Court. On the N side is an Ionic Temple, a peripteral edifice with 6 by 8 columns surrounding a single chamber (early 5C). In front of it is a ruinous Altar. To the S, partly covered by the moden road leading to the Silinus Gate, is a building divided into rooms, which incorporated or replaced a 6C Temple in polygonal masonry. In the S corner is a Triangular Court, which had a circular monument. Farther to the S an empty site marks the Monument of Thersilochos (excavated in 1913 and filled in again).
In the village square are a few fragments of an Early Christian Basilica (?6C), probably ruined in 904 when Leo of Tripoli occupied the island. To the E of the apse is a mosaic belonging to a building of the age of Hadrian.
