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II.—Excavations at Sparta, 1906: § 3—The Heroön

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Alan J. B. Wace
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Extract

South of the well mentioned above and inside the city wall a series of trial pits produced important results (P 13). At a distance of 1·80 m. from the city wall another wall was found which varies from ·50 to ·65 m. in width. Between this, which was followed for some distance, and the city wall, traces of a pavement of beaten earth came to light at a depth of 1·40 m. On the outside of the inner wall a drain was found running parallel to it. We have here, most probably, a street that followed the city wall on the inside. The depth at which it was found agrees very well with that of a similar pavement to the west of the Altar (1·82 m.). The lower level there perhaps indicates an earlier date. In any case the level of the road was raised in a later period, as proved by the tile drain referred to above. Within the inner wall we found distinct traces of a shrine, probably a Heroön. Everywhere, except in the neighbourhood of the well, where the lower strata are composed of gravel, regular stratification ranging from the Geometric age to late Greek times was distinguishable. The Greek layer, which cannot yet be divided into early and late periods, begins at an average depth of a metre. At about 1·90 m. Corinthian pottery was found, which between 2·15 and 2·45 m. was sometimes mixed with Geometric fragments. The Geometric stratum commences at an average depth of 2·30 m., and at three metres or a little deeper the soil is virgin.

Type
Laconia
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 12 , November 1906 , pp. 288 - 294
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1906

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References

page 288 note 1 It is possible that the παραπύλια damaged by the river and mentioned in an inscription (C.I.G. 1330, l. 18) were part of this wall. Unfortunately the reading, which rests on Fourmont's copy, cannot be verified. Le Bas, (Rev. Arch. 1844, p. 709)Google Scholar only saw the first four lines. Ross saw it in the same state in the Sparta Museum, which was afterwards burnt with all its contents.

page 288 note 2 Fredrich, , Athen. Mitt. 1905, pp. 229, 235.Google Scholar

page 289 note 1 Sparta Museum Catalogue, pp. 102, sqq.

page 289 note 2 B.S.A. xi. p. 86.

page 289 note 3 Athen. Mitt. 1883, Pl. XVI.; Arndt, , La Glypothèque Ny-Carlsberg, Pl. 4 AGoogle Scholar; Sparta Mus. Cat. Fig. 13.

page 289 note 4 Sparta Mus. Cat. p. 108.

page 290 note 1 Sparta Mus. Cat. No. 683.

page 290 note 2 v. Ibid. p. 104, Figs. 4, 5.

page 290 note 3 Dörpfeld, , Troja u. Ilion, ii. Beilage, 57Google Scholar; Robinson, , Am. Journ. Arch. 1906, Pl. XII.Google Scholar

page 290 note 4 Robinson, , Am. Journ. Arch. 1906, Pl. XII.Google Scholar

page 290 note 5 v. Sparta Mus. Cat. p. 112.

page 291 note 1 B.S.A. xi. p. 85, Fig. 6, 12.

page 291 note 2 Ibid. xi. p. 85, Fig. 6, 1–7.

page 291 note 3 v. p. 329.

page 291 note 4 Of the type illustrated by Furtwängler, , Aegina, Pl. 130, 9.Google Scholar

page 291 note 5 Sparta Mus. Cat. p. 223; cf. above, page 321.

page 291 note 6 v. above page 329.

page 291 note 7 Vases of this fabric have been discussed by Six, Gazette Archéologique, 1888, pp. 193 seqq. Walters, , Ancient Pottery, i. p. 226Google Scholar, Romaios, , Athen. Mitt. 1906, pp. 193seqq.Google Scholar The origin of the technique and its exact place in the history of Greek vase painting has not yet been determined; but the consensus of opinion places it in the period of transition from the black- to the red-figured style. The Spartan fragments differ from the samples hitherto known, in being pieces of large vases.

page 292 note 1 Several fragments are of the styles discussed by Watzinger, , Athen. Mitt. 1901, pp. 50seqq.Google Scholar

page 292 note 2 De Ridder, , Cat. Vases Bibl. Nat. 166Google Scholar; Le Bas, , Voy. Arch. Mon. Fig. Pl. 105.Google Scholar In the reconstructed drawings both fragments have been combined, since, thanks to the kindness of M. Babelon, a cast of the Le Bas piece has been presented to the British School at Athens. The pattern, shewn on the shield in the drawing, is indistinct on the original: see also p. 281 above.

page 292 note 3 Richards, , J.H.S. 1891, Pl. XI.Google Scholar

page 292 note 4 Sparta Mus. Cat. No. 520, Fig. 82.

page 262 note 5 Another piece, shewing the horses of the chariot on the body of the pithos, has just been found, May, 1907 [Ed.].

page 293 note 1 v. p. 302.

page 294 note 1 With them was found a sherd on which are scratched the letters ΓAΓAlD Inv. No. 2275.