Preliminary Notices on the Discovery of a Planned Classical Town near Kyparissia, Gortynia

Abstract

This paper presents the evidence for the discovery of a regularly planned town of the classical period near modem Kyparissia in southwestern Arkadia. For the first time in the archaeology of Arkadia, a planned town has been uncovered that predates the synoecism of MegalopoIis in the 4th century B.C. Based on a thorough presentation of the archaeological data, the author challenges previous argumentations concerning synoecism in ancient Arkadia, attempts a reconstruction of the urban plan of the newly discovered town and assesses its identification with urban centres mentioned in historic and ancient periegetic sources.