Zagora (Andros)

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Zagora is a Geometric Age settlement on the island of Andros in Greece . The current name of the place is of Slavic origin and means something like "Beyond the mountains". The ancient name of the place is unknown.

The settlement was laid out in a unique founding act, which, with the help of ceramic finds, dates back to the second quarter of the 8th century BC. Can be dated BC. Presumably it was an outpost of the Euboian city ​​of Eretria . Around 700 BC The place was abandoned by its inhabitants, but without any violent external influence. A drought at the end of the 8th century BC may have led to it. To a task of the settlement. A temple in the village, on the other hand, appears to be around 550 BC. To have been used.

Since Zagora after 700 BC It has never been settled again, it is considered to be one of the best-preserved and best-researched geometric settlements in Greece.

location

The place is on a small plateau by the sea, on the west coast of Andros. This plateau slopes steeply on almost all sides, only in the east it was connected to the mountains by a headland. There was a wall here so that the whole place was easy to defend. There are a few bays by the sea that probably served as the port of Zagora. The place has no water, so it had to be brought from far away, and rainwater also seems to have been collected next to it. The difficult water supply was probably one of the main reasons why Zagora was abandoned relatively early.

The place

Zagora consisted of a row of houses built close together, mostly composed of several rooms and courtyards. It is difficult to identify certain types. Building material was mostly slate, with the floor of the rooms made of rammed earth and the roof of wooden beams. Larger rooms were supported by wooden pillars.

In the middle of the settlement, a temple was found in an open space, which was about 7.6 mx 10.4 m in size. However, it was only created after the population had left the settlement. Inside there was an approximately 5.9 x 6.3 m main room and an anteroom. The main room was supported by four columns and the anteroom by two columns. Perhaps Athena was worshiped as a deity here .

The largest house in the settlement was located near the temple. Their head may have lived here. In the center of the house was a 51 m² hall, which was surrounded on three sides by stone benches. There was a relatively large amount of richly decorated ceramics in the house. The finding of spindle whorls in the main room indicates that women also lived and worked here.

In the east of the settlement there was an approximately 140 m long defensive wall that reached from ravine to ravine and protected the settlement. So far only one gate has been discovered.

exploration

The settlement has been systematically excavated by a Greek-Australian team since 1967.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ekschmitt 1986, p. 11.
  2. ↑ a b A. Cambitoglou, JJ Coulton: Ἀνασκαφαὶ Ζαγορᾶς Ἄνδρον . In: Ephemeris . 1970, p. 154 ff .
  3. ↑ J.-P. Descoeudres: Zagora on the island of Andros - an Eretrian trading company? In: Ancient Art . tape 16 , 1973, p. 87-88 .
  4. ^ Karl-Wilhelm Welwei : Greek history . Schöningh, Paderborn 2011, ISBN 978-3-506-77306-7 , pp. 65 .

literature

  • Alexander Cambitoglou : Zagora, Andros . In: Archeology . tape 23 , 1970, pp. 303-309 .
  • Alexander Cambitoglou , James J. Coulton, Judith M. Birmingham, John Richard Green: Zagora I. Excavations of a Geometric Settlement on the Island of Andros, Greece . Sydney University Press, Sydney 1971. (Reprinted in Athens 1992 by the Athens Archaeological Society)
  • Alexander Cambitoglou, James J. Coulton, Ann Birchall, John Richard Green: Zagora II. Excavation of a Geometric Town on the Island of Andros, Greece . Athens Archaeological Society, Athens 1988.
  • Werner Ekschmitt : Art and Culture of the Cyclades, Part II: Geometric and Archaic Time . Mainz 1986, ISBN 3-8053-0900-7 , p. 11-25 .

Coordinates: 37 ° 46 ′ 27 ″  N , 24 ° 51 ′ 56 ″  E