Hellenistic city of Trypitos

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Archaeological site of the Hellenistic city

The Hellenistic city of Trypitos ( modern Greek Ελληνιστική πόλη του Τρυπητού Ellinistiki poli tou Trypitou ) refers to an archaeological excavation site in the east of the Greek island of Crete . It is located in the municipality of Sitia in the Lasithi regional district , about 1.8 kilometers east of the city of Sitia ( Σητεία ). The excavation site is named after the small Trypitos peninsula , on which the remains of the Hellenistic city ​​were discovered.

Location and history

The Trypitos peninsula is located on the south side of the Bay of Sitia . It protrudes about 280 meters from the north coast of Crete into the Aegean Sea . Its narrowest point is just over 100 meters. The name of the peninsula, Trypitos ( Τρυπητός 'perforated'), sometimes also Karavopetra ( Καραβόπετρα 'boat stone '), is derived from a 30 meter long, 5.50 meter wide and 5 meter high man-made rock cut on the east side of the headland. In Hellenistic times it served as a shipyard , into which medium-sized boats could be pulled out of the water on a ramp with a 15 to 30 degree incline. Cuts in the rock surface indicate the earlier existence of a wooden bolt for fastening the ship. The wooden parts of the shipyard building have not been preserved.

Room Alpha 8 (Α8)

It is known from 1960 that the owner's cultivation of the peninsula caused damage to the remains of the Hellenistic city. From 1987 to 1989 and from 1994 to 1998 systematic excavations were carried out under the direction of Nikos Papadakis of the Ephoria for Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities , which were not resumed after his death in 2000. To date, the ancient city has not been fully excavated. It was built on terraces and extended over the entire peninsula. In the south, a massive 1.80 meter wide fortification wall separated the settlement from the interior of the island. It stretched from the rock cut in the shipyard to the bay on the west side of the headland. Some buildings bordered the protective wall to the north. To the north, the individual buildings are interrupted by three cobbled streets. The individual houses are grouped between them to form closed building units.

During the excavations, the houses of the Hellenistic city were grouped into different assemblies or complexes, Alpha (Α), Beta 1 (Β1), Beta 2 (Β2), Gamma (Γ), Delta (Δ) and Epsilon (Ε). The complexes Α, Γ and Δ lie from east to west on the former fortification wall, while the complexes Β1, Β2 and Ε connect to the north of the complex Α. The latter are separated from south to north by the paved streets Alpha (Α), Beta (Β) and Gamma (Γ), which run in an east-west direction. Based on the finds, the Hellenistic settlement was dated to the beginning of the 3rd century BC. Until the middle of the 2nd century BC. Dated. It existed for about 75 to 100 years and was not repopulated after its destruction. Their downfall comes with the destruction of Praisos by Hierapytna in 146 BC. Related. During the excavations, coins with the inscription ΠΟ were found that are otherwise unknown from Cretan or Aegean sites. There are speculations that Trypitos could have been the independent Polis Eteia ( Ητεία ) as well as Polichna or Polichne ( Πολίχνη ), the port of Praisos mentioned by Herodotus .

  • Excavation site

  • Complex alpha (Α)

  • Street Alpha (Α)

  • Complex Beta 1 (А1)

  • Complex epsilon (Ε)

literature

  • Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan: Domestic Assemblages from Trypitos, Siteia: Private and Communal Aspects . In: Kevin T Glowacki, Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan (Ed.): Stega. The Archeology of Houses and Households in Ancient Crete (=  Hesperia Supplement . Volume 44 ). The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2011, ISSN  1064-1173 , pp. 409-419 ( digitized [accessed February 22, 2017]).
  • Chrysa Sofianou: Loomweights: Use and Manufacture at Trypitos, Siteia . In: Kevin T Glowacki, Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan (Ed.): Stega. The Archeology of Houses and Households in Ancient Crete (=  Hesperia Supplement . Volume 44 ). The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2011, ISSN  1064-1173 , pp. 421-430 , JSTOR : 41363170 .
  • Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan: Domestic Pottery from Trypitos Siteias in East Crete . In: Ζ ' Επιστημονική Συνάντηση για την Ελληνιστική Κεραμική . Aigio, Athens 2011, ISBN 978-960-214-989-8 , pp. 549-560 (English, digitized [accessed February 22, 2017]).
  • Chrysa Sofianou: The Loomweights of the Hellenistic Settlement at Trypitos, Siteia . In: Iris Tzachali, Eleni Zimi (Ed.): Textiles and Dress in Greece and the Roman East: A Technological and Social Approach . Ta Pragmata, Athens 2012, ISBN 978-960-98261-2-9 , p. 77-88 (English, digitized version [accessed on February 22, 2017]).
  • Kalliopi Baika: Setaea / Etis (Seteia, Trypitos) . In: David Blackman, Boris Rankov (eds.): Shipsheds of the Ancient Mediterranean . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2013, ISBN 978-1-107-00133-6 , pp. 518-524 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
  • Elisabeth Mlinar: Fortified cities, settlements and other fortification structures in Crete from the Archaic to the end of the Hellenistic period . tape 1 . University of Vienna, Vienna 2014, Trypitos / Poseidonia (?), P. 120–121 ( digitized [PDF; accessed on February 24, 2017] dissertation).

Individual evidence

Find from Trypitos
  1. ↑ a b c Archaeological Site in Trypetos of Siteia. Description. Ministry of Culture and Sport (Greece), accessed February 22, 2017 .
  2. ↑ Chrysa Sofianou: The Loomweights of the Hellenistic settlement at Trypitos, Siteia . In: Iris Tzachali, Eleni Zimi (Ed.): Textiles and Dress in Greece and the Roman East: A Technological and Social Approach . Ta Pragmata, Athens 2012, ISBN 978-960-98261-2-9 , p. 77 (English, digitized version [accessed on February 22, 2017]).
  3. ↑ a b Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan: Domestic Pottery from Trypitos Siteias in East Crete . In: Ζ ' Επιστημονική Συνάντηση για την Ελληνιστική Κεραμική . Aigio, Athens 2011, ISBN 978-960-214-989-8 , pp. 549 (English, digitized version [accessed on February 22, 2017]).
  4. ↑ a b Kalliopi Baika: Setaea / Etis (Seteia, Trypitos) . In: David Blackman, Boris Rankov (eds.): Shipsheds of the Ancient Mediterranean . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2013, ISBN 978-1-107-00133-6 , pp. 518 (English, limited preview in Google Book search).
  5. ↑ Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan: Domestic Assemblages from Trypitos, Siteia: Private and Communal Aspects . In: Kevin T Glowacki, Natalia Vogeikoff-Brogan (Ed.): Stega. The Archeology of Houses and Households in Ancient Crete (=  Hesperia Supplement . Volume 44 ). The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2011, ISSN  1064-1173 , pp. 410-412 ( digitized [accessed February 22, 2017]).

Web links

Commons : Trypitos  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 35 ° 11 '55.8 "  N , 26 ° 7' 47.8"  E