Megalopolis: Ausgrabungen auf der Agora 1991-2002

Abstract

Excavations in the agora of Megalopolis were resumed by the author in 1991. The work concentrated on the late. classical and Hellenistic building remains with the scope of a better understanding of their original appearance, and of resolving the problems of their chronology which have been under discussion since they were first discovered. Thus, the dates of the stoa of Philip and the sanctuary of Zeus Soter can now, finally, be established to the third and fourth quarters, respectively, of the 4th century B.C. by stratigraphical, epigraphical and additional stylistic evidence. Large part of the stoa of Aristodamos (built 2p2 to 252 B.C. and completely restored about 200 B.C., apparently by Philopoimen) was uncovered for the first time, showing a two-room basement in its southern wing. On the west side of the square there came to light a previously unknown, tripartite building complex consisting i.a. of a large council hall and a long and narrow pillar-court with rows of offices. It is identified as the 'Government's Palace' of the city-state, housing the different boards of the boule, the damiorgoi and perhaps the polemarchos. Built shortly after the foundation of the town, it underwent an extensive rebuilding after the destruction by Kleomenes III in 222 B.C. Adjoining it was an annex-sanctuary of Zeus (Homarios?) including the state hearth of Megalopolis where a donation of the historian Polybios is testified by tile-stamps.