Thorikos
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Thoricus
)
Thorikos or Thoricus (
Lavrio
.
History
The site was inhabited from the
Early Helladic period (3rd millennium BC) and of silver (now exhausted) from 1500 BC.[2] Mycenaean tholos tombs (15th century BC) and a Late Mycenaean installation (12th century BC), probably connected with the mines in the area, have been uncovered. The finds are housed in the National Archaeological Museum, Athens.[3]
It continued to be a place of importance during the flourishing period of Athenian history, as its existing remains prove, and was hence fortified by the Athenians in the 24th year of the Peloponnesian War.[4] It was 60 stadia away in distance from Anaphlystus upon the western coast.[5]
There were significant town walls and a
Makronisi (Macri) provides natural protection.[2] The settlement was destroyed by Sulla in 86 BC, and though it was reinhabited in Roman times, and visited by Pausanias
, it was permanently abandoned in the 6th century's disorders.
In myth
Thoricus, in the
Homeric Hymn to Demeter (probably 7th century BC) is mentioned by the goddess, who is disguised as an old woman, as her landing place when she had been unwillingly brought from Crete. Thoricus directly faces Crete to the south, across the open Aegean Sea. Thoricus is celebrated in mythology as the residence of Cephalus, whom Eos (Roman Aurora) carried off to dwell with the gods.[6] It has been conjectured by Christopher Wordsworth, with much probability, that the idea of Thoricus was associated in the Athenian mind with such a translation to the gods, and that the "Thorician stone" (Θορίκιος πέτρος) mentioned by Sophocles,[7] respecting which there has been so much doubt, probably has reference to such a migration, as the poet is describing a similar translation of Oedipus. Cephalus is also said to have died at Thoricus.[2]
Remains
The ancient city's centre and its
smiths' workshops (many dating from the 7th–4th century BC). A small temple, perhaps dedicated to Hygieia, next to stoas with benches. There was an unusual Double Stoa built in the late 5th century BC.[8] Inscriptions have identified the large Doric temple (late 5th century BC) as a telesterion for the cult of Demeter and Kore, the "Maiden" her daughter Persephone.[3] The temple was initially explored by the Society of Dilettanti of London in 1817. In April 1886, Walter Miller conducted the first modern excavation of the site, seeking the theatre.[9] Modern archaeology here has been largely connected with the Belgian School in Athens.[10]
See also
References
- ^ Archaeological Site of Thorikos: Overview
- ^ a b c Wordsworth, Christopher (c. 1839). Athens and Attica. John Murrary. pp. 211–216.
thoricus.
- ^ a b "Thoricus (Thorikos)". Archaeological Atlas of the Aegean. Archived from the original on 2013-02-17.
- ^ Xenophon. Hellenica. Vol. 1.2.1.
- ^ Xenophon, de Vect. 4 .43.
- ^ Apollod. 2.4.7; Eur. Hipp. 455.
- ^ Sophocles, Oed. Col. 1595.
- ^ Miles, Margaret M. (2015). "The Vanishing Double Stoa at Thorikos and its Afterlives". In Margaret M. Miles (ed.). Autopsy in Athens. Recent Archaeological Research on Athens and Attica. Oxford: Oxbow Books. pp. 163–180.
- ^ "Papers of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens". University of Michigan Library. 2005. Retrieved April 20, 2008.
- ^ "Thorikos". Belgian School at Athens. Retrieved 2020-09-12.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Thoricus". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
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