Plataiai. Archäologie und Geschichte einer boiotischen Polis

Description

Plataiai, in SW-Boiotia, is famous above all for the events which took place in its vicinity in theautumn of 479 B.C. This victory of the Greeks over the Persian army, in concert with the Battleof Salamis, was an event of the utmost significance for European history and is often the topic ofmodern scientific analysis. Nevertheless, the ancient polis which gave its name to the battle hasbeen overlooked by modern historians and all the more by archaeologists, in a rather curious way.The Plataiai Project was consequently inaugurated in 1996 in order to gain a better understandingof the history and chronology of this ancient place.Results from the investigations have made it possible to establish a settlement sequence forPlataiai; this sequence spans seven millennia, from the Middle Neolithic Age to the modern era.Plataiai is situated in a relatively secure location on the lower slopes of Mt. Kithairon where thefirst settlers established a small hamlet. The site continued to be inhabited in a nearly unbrokensequence into historical times. During the formative period of Classical Hellas Plataiai developedinto an independent polis. The town became entangled in the internecine struggles of 6th and 5thcentury B.C. Greece and suffered accordingly. Plataiai was twice destroyed and depopulated asa result of the wars between Athens, Sparta and Thebes. Only a final shift of the political andstrategic focusses under Philip and Alexander helped secure the existence of the town. DuringHellenistic times and the time of the Roman Empire Plataiai remained undisturbed.Plataiai’s existence during the 6th, 5th and 4th centuries B.C. is documented mainly by wayof surface finds and its earliest known fortification. In addition to the discovery of fragmentarydwellings from the 6th century B.C., small scale excavations appear to have uncovered a cultdeposit from the same period. The main characteristics of Plataiai in the late 4th century B.C.and beyond consist of an ambitious extension of the settlement, structured internally along an orthogonalgrid of urban blocks and roads which was protected by an extended belt of fortifications.Geophysical survey has helped to locate and document the main urban monuments, such as theAgora, the precinct of Dionysos, the Temple of Hera, and other public buildings, in addition to anextended area covered by private dwellings, some of truly impressive size. The evidence of suchlarge buildings confirms, beyond a doubt, that several very wealthy families existed in Plataiai,who made good use of their dwellings to express their social and political status.Late Antiquity seems to have severely curtailed Plataiai’s prosperity. Urgent military threatsled to the building of an emergency fortification which re-used the building materials of manyHellenistic and Roman structures. Nevertheless, a bishopric at Plataiai, a note in Procopius’ deaedeficiis and the remains of several churches at the site prove that the town still existed during thereign of the emperor Justinian, whereas it is possible that the site was abandoned after this time.Only from the 11th and 12th centuries A.D. onwards does the surface material again corroboratethe existence of a settlement at the site. The modern village of Kokla was renamed Plataies duringthe 1920s and thus continues the tradition of the ancient polis right into the 21st century A.D.