The Kastro of Kallithea in its Historical context.

Paper at the 1st International Conference of the History of Thessaly

Larissa, 9-11 November 2006

Athanasios Tziafalias, Margriet J. Haagsma, Sofia Karapanou, Sean Gouglas

1st slide: title

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We would like to begin with thanking the organization of this conference for the opportunity to present preliminary results of our ongoing project at the site near the modern village of Kallithea here in Thessaly. Our paper will present the most important results of the project thus far, and attempt to contextualize these results by embedding them in the larger history of Thessaly and of Achaia Phthiotis in particular.

The archaeological project at Kallithea started in 2004 as a synergasia between the 15th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities at Larissa and the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. The goals of the project are to examine the political, social and economic organisation of the city in relation to its larger geographic environment. Three major questions the project tries to answer are how the city developed over time, what role it played in the changing political situation in Achaia Phthiotis during the late 4th century and early 3rd century BCE and how and why the city was eventually abandoned. We therefore study the history and dates of occupation of the site, the spatial layout of the city and analyze the distribution of artefacts and architecture. The goal is to finalize the project with a comparative analysis of the survey results with the broader context of Classical and Hellenistic sites in the region and the surrounding landscape.

2nd slide: The site from the North

Kastro Kallithea is located in Achaia Phthiotis -in Thessaly - on a high knoll that closes off the coastal plain of Almiros (point out) in the west and is bordered by the Othris Mountains in the south.

Our primary written sources are rather silent about the early history of this region and if it is mentioned at all, then often in terms of mythology. According to Herodotus and Thucydides the Thessaloi living in these regions arrived in the era after the Trojan war and overcame the original Pelasgians who were henceforth doomed to work as serfs. Thessaly became divided into four so-called Tetrads: Hestiaeotis, Pelasgiotis, Thessaliotis and Phthiotis occupying the four large fertile plains. The outlying regions are Perrhaebia, Magnesia, Dolopia and – neighbouring on Phthiotis - Achaea Phthiotis. These regions occupy a more varied terrain, often comprising small plains surrounded by hills and mountainous areas.

Achaea Phthiotis is one such outlying area and it consists of the relatively small coastal plain of Almiros surrounded by various ranges of hills bordered by the Othris Mountains in the south.

3rd Slide: Achaia Phthiotis with cities

Our site -Kastro Kallithea- here on the map, is surrounded by a number of other Classical poleis among which Halos, Phthiotic Thebes and Pharsalos. (Point out)

The city of Pharsalos was a major player in the history of Thessaly. It was the capital of the region Phthiotis (point out) and when Aleus the Red reportedly united Thessaly in a union of emerging cities in the 7th century BCE, Phthiotis and with it Pharsalos became the seat of one of the powerful families in Thessaly, the Echekratidae. This aristocratic landowning family wielded their power at a time when the city of Pharsalos extended its influence beyond the boundaries of the tetrad Phthiotis and annexed much of the neighbouring perioecic region of Achaea Phthiotis. The Echekratidae’s dominance lasted until Orestes, then head of the clan, was expelled from the city in 457 BCE. In 395 BCE the city came under the rule of Larissa and in 374 BCE under that of Jason of Pherae. In 346 BCE, Philip II, the Macedonian king who would conquer the Greek mainland 8 years later rewarded Pharsalos for its loyalty with the territory of Halos, which gave Pharsalos access to the sea. In 302 BCE, Demetrius Poliorketes took that territory away and gave it back to Halos.

In the second half of the 4th c. BC Pharsalos started building heavy fortification walls and -although the city never underwent a extensive archaeological study- probably a new city plan was laid out in this period.

Less is known about Phthiotic Thebes, the city located in the north of the Almiros plain. According to the literary sources, it added a number of smaller towns to its territory in the 4th century. It too was fortified in the later 4th century BCE and Kassandros garrisoned the town during his military stand-off with Demetrius Poliorketes who had settled with his army in the southern part of the Plain, near the town of Halos. The two withdrew without a fight, but Demetrios came back several years later to found a new city, Demetrias, somewhat to the north that would change Phthiotic Thebes’ status and diminish its importance as a trading post close to the sea. In the late 3rd century BCE, Phthiotic Thebes became the base of marauding Aetolians until Philip V of Macedon defeated them, enslaved its population and replaced it with Macedonians, renaming the city Philippou.

From a historical point of view, even less is known about Halos, the city in the south of the Almiros plain. Herodotus tells us that it was located near the sea and that it housed an interesting sanctuary dedicated to Zeus Laphystios. Demosthenes complains about how the city of Athens neglected its ally, Halos, in 346 BCE, when the city was taken by Philip II of Macedon and its territory given to Pharsalos. Sources referring to the military confrontation between Kassandros and Demetrios Poliorketes, mentioned above do not mention Halos specifically, but the director of the Halos project, Reinder Reinders has proposed that it was Demetrios Poliorketes in 302 BCE - then was facing his opponent in the north at Phthiotic Thebes - who built New Halos nearby the abandoned old city, destroyed by Philip II in 346 BCE

Slide: Excavations at New Halos

This is a shot taken in 1993 of the Dutch excavations of one of the houses. In the background, -making clear the intervisibility between most sites of Achaia Phthiotis - we can see our site: Kallithea (point out).

Slide: map of Achaia Phthiotis

Surviving written sources are silent about our site and hence we call it by its modern name: the Kastro at Kallithea. Wedged in between Halos and Pharsalos, no author that wrote about this area mentions a town that could possibly refer to our town.

Nonetheless, there are some – not wholly conclusive - indications for its identity. Two inscriptions refer to a territorial conflict between a number of towns in this area, including one named Peuma. Friedrich Staehlin, the German scholar who visited the area in the early 20th century, proposed that the site could be Peuma or Peumata, based on the topographical details provided in these inscriptions.

Slide: Peuma Coin.

In Halos and on our site bronze coins are also found with the name Peumata. Since Peumata minted coins, it must have been a relatively wealthy and influential city.

Slide: Achaia Phthiotis

Thusfar, we have not found any additional evidence to confirm the ancient identity of the site. No inscriptions have been found, and although one of the eight coins recovered to date is indeed from Peumata, that is hardly conclusive. In the final analysis the actual name of this site is less important to us than an analysis of role area in the larger spectrum of habitation patterns in Achaia Phthiotis. Obviously, however, we would like to confirm definitively that this site is Peuma, as this would allow us to incorporate in our studies the important inscriptions mentioning Peuma’s territorial conflicts with its neighbours.

I will now summarize the results of our research briefly, before moving on to some concluding remarks on the history of the Kastro at Kallithea.

Slide: City plan

The visible archaeological remains at our site consist of fortifications and wall foundations of public buildings and houses. The western summit of the hill functioned as an acropolis which was demarcated by a large circular fortification wall. The external enceinte runs around the two hilltops and provided entrance to the city by way of two major gates. The surface area of the city, measured in relation to its defensive walls, is ca. 34 ha.

The city is heavily defended, as usual with Thessalian cities during this time. The enceinte and two internal fortification walls –the diateichismata- running from the acropolis to the external enceinte were intersected with towers every 40 to 60 meters and the site counts a total of 49 of them. In addition, the external enceinte further contains 3 posterns and a number of water channels (point out).

Slide: City gates with reconstruction of east gate (2 slides)

Both city gates, an eastern and a western one, as well as the enceinte are very well preserved. Here we see a slide of the eastern city gate with a photograph of the current situation, and a reconstruction of the same gate, based on detailed study and measurements of the foundations.

Slide: City plan with streets (2006)

Based on the total station measurements taken of the abundant architectural remains inside the fortification walls we concluded that the city was laid out according to an orthogonal grid plan. It consisted of at least nine avenues east west and nineteen streets running north south forming regular sized housing blocks. The housing blocks could contain approximately 6 houses each, separated by small alleys, The regularity extends to the area to the west of the Diateichismata and also includes the area with public buildings in the centre of the site.

Slide: City Plan with activity areas

Based on the surface survey of site in which we systematically collected artefacts, we can conclude that especially the northeastern and part of the western area were in use for habitation. An area for metalworking was identified on the eastern slope of the site and remnants of cult activities were found in the central area and on the western slope.

Slide: Public Area/Agora

This area with public buildings can be identified as an agora. It consists of an open space surrounded by a number of buildings with heavy foundations. On the northern side of the agora we could identify a stoa.

Slide: Reconstruction of stoa.

On the eastern and southern side we measured in three structures that could be identified as public meeting places or shops. Here we see building 4 in reconstruction.

Slide: Reconstruction of Building 4

Just south of the agora a small shrine was identified which awaits further investigation in 2007.

Slide: Shrine with reconstruction

Over the past summer our team excavated a number of test trenches at various locations on the site, yielding tantalizing results. The trenches excavated in the buildings in the ancient agora revealed that they suffered from sudden collapse, sometimes accompanied by intense fire, in the Early Hellenistic period, probably early 3rd Century BCE.

Slide: Arrowheads

Arrowheads found in the test trenches on the site may indicate that this collapse had a military cause and we plan to investigate this further by future excavation.

Slide: House plans

Various houses at the site have been investigated more closely as well, such as this one labeled building 10 which we researched this summer.

Slide: Plan of site with location building 10

The building is large: it measures 19.45 x 14.60 meters and consists of at least five to six separate rooms or areas. The courtyard is represented by a large area facing the South. In the SW part of the house is a room which may have functioned as an entrance hallway giving access to the courtyard. North of the courtyard two small rooms are situated and one more room is located in the N-E corner of the building. This last room protrudes southward into the courtyard, thus creating a space between courtyard and the two small northern rooms, which could be interpreted as a pastas. Single-entrance courtyard houses of this type, with a pastas, are well-known from Olynthus.

Survey and a test trenches in building 10 yielded a variety of material found in this house, such as coins and mould made bowls.

Slide: Mold made bowls found in House 10

Interestingly, the material indicates that the housing area on the east slope was most likely in use for a longer period of time than the area of the agora. The mould made bowls would indicate that occupation lasted until the end of the 3rd century BCE.

The trenches also revealed small pieces of brightly coloured plaster (white, brown and bright yellow) originally covering the interior walls of the building, some of it still in situ.

We have decided to excavate Building 10 over the next two seasons because this house can serve as a fruitful comparison with the modest contemporary houses excavated for instance at Halos. The preliminary finds - decorated pottery, wall plaster – as well as the house’s size suggest a higher standard of living and may indicate a more highly stratified society with a different socio-economic organisation than in other contemporary cities in this part of Thessaly.

Conclusion

On the basis of the lay out of the city, its architecture and the finds observed we can conclude that the earliest remains on our site are represented by a probably Classical fortified Acropolis. This acropolis was complemented by the construction of an extensive defensive system of fortification walls surrounding a regularly planned city sometime in the course of the later 4th or early 3rd Century BCE. This city consisted of specialized areas of defense, economic activities, ritual activities and habitation. It is tempting to relate the fortifications and city lay out to the tumultuous political events in the second half of the 4th century BCE, as those events probably generated the investment necessary for the building activities observed.

Of particular interest in this regard is the loyalty which the city of Pharsalos, located just 16 km. to the east, showed to Philip II of Macedon from the time Philip became ruler of Thessaly in 352 BCE. As mentioned, he awarded Pharsalos the territory of one of Pharsalos’ enemy cities, Halos, which was besieged by him in 346 BCE, thus providing Pharsalos with access to the sea.

Slide: Achaia Phthiotis with the two poleis territories of Halos and Pharsalos

The kastro of Kallithea is located exactly in between Halos and Pharsalos at an important crossroads between the cities of Pharsalos, Meliataia and the sea. Pharsalos is known to have had a number of dependent poleis surrounding its territory and it is most likely that our site was initially one of those. The location of the Kastro would have provided Pharsalos with an excellent base from which to control the important transport route from the Pagasitic Gulf to Pharsalos and vice versa, until that access was taken away by Demetrios Poliorketes in 302 BCE. It is suggestive that the central area of the city appears to have been destroyed after a sudden event in the earlier part of the 3rd century BCE.

Based on a relatively high number of so-called Megarian bowl fragments we assume that the site was at least partly inhabited in the course of the 3rd century BCE, and indeed it might have served as an Aetolian stronghold, just as Phthiotic Thebes. The Kastro was more sparsely inhabited after the end of the 3rd century BCE, and apparently completely abandoned after the early 2nd century BCE, which coincides with the diminished role of the Aetolian League in this part of Greece and the increasing hostilities between the Macedonians and the Romans.. To date, no Roman sigillata wares were found on the site.

We are still in the early stages of any attempt to gain a fuller understanding of this site, but the results so far are rich and promising. In Kastro Kallithea we have a strategic fortified town, comparable in size to the lower city of New Halos, that like New Halos appears to have played a key role in some of the pivotal events of the later 4th and early 3rd c. BC that transformed Thessaly. Our written sources for these events are sketchy, and the coordinated analysis of sites like ours, Halos, and others, will do much to enhance our understanding of the social, economic, and yes, also political, changes in the region at this time. Furthermore we have, in Kastro Kallithea, the largely intact plan of a late Classical and early Hellenistic rural Greek town, with the potential to offer a wealth of information on the daily life of Greeks in Thessaly in this fascinating, but still poorly understood period of transition.

Thank you.