Pistyros
Pistyros ( Greek Πίστυρος ), Bistiros ( Βίστιρος ) or Pisteira ( Πίστειρα ) was a fortified ancient Greek settlement in Thrace , on the north coast of the Aegean Sea, about 20 km east of present-day Kavala (in ancient Neapolis ).
Lore
The settlement is mentioned by Herodotus in the description of the Xerxes procession . Thereafter, Pistyros, which lay on the salty lake Cisteris , belonged to the island of Thasos and was probably the most recent establishment of the Thasitic Peraia , a trading post on the coastal route from Asia to the Thracian-Macedonian border. The lake, which is drained today, had a circumference of 30 stages (corresponds to about 5.5 km). The settlement also served as a starting point for the advance of the Thasites to the north into the Lekanis Mountains to break down the gold and silver ores there and smelt them.
exploration
Pistyros was discovered in 1971 by the archaeologist Chaido Koukouli-Chrysanthaki at the present-day settlement of Pontolivado near Kavala by the Ephoria Kavala and systematic excavations were carried out. Here, the northeast corner of the city wall, a small tower, a building complex and a depot find consisting of 55 silver coins from the last quarter of the 6th century BC. From Thasos and from Neapolis.
Since 2014 excavations have been carried out in Pistyros again under the direction of the Euphor of Antiquities, Dr. Stratis Papadopoulos carried out. So far, the entire city wall and the inner structure of the settlement have been examined using geophysical methods. Buildings and streets from the 2nd century BC. Were excavated. One hopes to be able to draw conclusions about Neapolis when researching Pistyros, as this is now overbuilt and therefore cannot be investigated.
description
The approximately 500 m long city wall from the 6th century BC. BC surrounds an area of almost 15 hectares . The wall is 2.60 m thick. Only in the west is it only 1.60 m thick. Originally it was 6 m high, made of Thai marble and had six towers and two gates. A paved road was found at the gate in the southwest, which presumably led to the harbor. Graffiti from archaic times can be found on the outer wall surface of the city wall . They are written in the Parian alphabet that was used on both Paros and Thasos. An inscription in honor of the god Zeus from the time of Philip II was also discovered.
history
During the 2nd half of the 7th century BC Pistyros was founded. Thracian, hand-made pottery suggests that there was a settlement here as early as the Iron Age . The city probably had access to the mines in the Lekani Mountains. Large amounts of slag and ores and also furnaces were found in the city and it was found that Pistyros lived mainly from metalworking. Through the extraction of gold, silver, copper, iron and lead, the city had achieved a certain degree of prosperity in the second half of the 6th century. This is reflected in the magnificent marble city walls and imported ceramics from Thasos, the Cyclades, Asia Minor and Athens.
480 BC Xerxes I passed the city. Pistyros was probably an independent member of the Attic League , because according to an inscription it was paid in 434/3 BC. 300 drachmas to Athens. Metal processing in the city ended in the 3rd century BC. And the population decreased quickly. In the 1st century BC It was finally given up completely.
Presumably the inhabitants of Pistyros were co-founders of the important commercial settlement Pistiros in central Thrace, today's Vetren / Bulgaria.
Web links
literature
- Konstantinos A. Dimadis : Για τη θέση της αρχαίας Πιστύρου. Ο Προυσίας είχε περάσει στη Θράκη; (About the location of ancient Pistyros. Was Prousias really in Thrace?). In: Θρακικά Χρονικά 26 (1967) pp. 111-113.
- Archaiologika analekta ex Athenon 6 (1973) pp 230-240.
- Manto Oikonomidou: Αρχαικός Θησαυρός Αργυρών Νομισμάτων από το Ποντολιβάδο (1971) (Archaic Silver Coin Treasure of Pontolivado, 1990) in Πόρα Thessalon Thessaloniki ατακατακα
- Aspasia Pavlopoulou: Thrace with Herodotus: representation of an intermediate world, studies on Herodotus history, geography and ethnography of Thrace , dissertation Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität München 2006.
Remarks
- ↑ Stephanos of Byzantium , s. vv.
- ↑ Harpocration , p. 124, 11.
- ↑ Herodotus, Historien VII, 109.
Coordinates: 40 ° 58 ' N , 24 ° 36' E