The ProjectThe Sikyon project is a fully integrated multidisciplinary research program to study the human presence and activity on the plateau of ancient Sikyon, a city in northeastern Peloponnese between Corinth and Achaia. The project was begun in the summer of 2004 by the University of Thessaly in collaboration with the 37th Ephoreia of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, the Institute of Mediterranean Studies at FORTH, and the University of York (UK), and since 2013 continues under the auspices of the Archaeological Society of Athens. The current research follows on an extensive survey conducted between 1996 and 2002 in the ca. 360 km2 territory of the ancient city (Lolos 2011). The plateau, which rises some 3.5 km southwest of the Corinthian gulf between the Asopos and Helisson rivers, was according to the ancient sources the acropolis of the Archaic and Classical city, which was itself located on the coast. In Archaic times, when ruled by the tyrannic family of the Orthagorids, Sikyon was one of the most powerful states of the Greek world and a cradle of the arts. Its artistic reputation carried on through the Classical and Hellenistic ages thanks to such famous painters and sculptors as Pausias, Kanachos and Lysippos. In 303 BCE, Demetrios Poliorketes, son of Antigonos I, destroyed the city in the plain and transferred it to the site of its acropolis. This initiative, beyond its practical purposes, conveyed a strong political message since Sikyon-Demetrias is one of the only two cities ever founded, or more precisely refounded, by a Macedonian ruler in the Peloponnese. The city grew in its new setting during the Hellenistic and Roman periods and witnessed a golden age in the third century BCE under general Aratos, head of the Achaian Confederacy. During the Roman Empire Sikyon lived in the shadow of Corinth, which was the capital of the province of Achaia. Likewise her bishopric attested already from the late 4th century CE depended on the archibishopric of Corinth. After the collapse of the Roman Empire Sikyon appears again in sources related to Frankish possessions in the Corinthia of the 13th and 14th centuries, this time under the name of Vasilika or Vasiliko. The village of Vasiliko, which presently occupies the southeastern corner of the plateau, is often mentioned in archives of the Ottoman and Second Venetian period (15th-18th centuries). The goals of the on-going research are twofold: the primary aim is to produce a multidisciplinary study of the intra-mural area across the ages, and to trace human presence and activity from prehistoric times to the early modern era. The second and more broad-ranging aim is to investigate the plateau in its context within the landscape and thus build upon the framework of the previous extensive survey of the territory of Sikyon. In order to meet these goals, we proceeded with an intensive surface survey of the plateau (2004 to 2009), followed by large-scale excavations around the agora of the ancient city (from 2013 onwards). |
NewsJune 2023 The Central Archaeological Council, during its 6/7/2023 meeting, unanimously approved our following studies: 1) the study of effective access to the monuments of the archaeological site, drafted by the architect Dimitrios Bartzis, 2) the architectural study for the restoration and partial anastylosis of the gymnasium, also drafted by Dimitrios Bartzis, 3) the structural study for the restoration and partial anastylosis of the gymnasium, drafted by the civil engineers Nikolas Papailiou, Yannis Iliadis and Xenia Karabatsou, and 4) the study of conservation and protection of the monuments that had come to light during the old excavations of the Archaeological Society at the site, and was drafted by the team of conservators of the Revive-Art.works Company headed by Amalia Siatou with the collaboration of Anna Koukouli and Apostolis Mimigiannis. February 2022 The ceramic reference collection is posted, with representative examples of Sikyonian ceramics, both local and imported, during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. April 2021 The digital archive of the urban survey is now deposited within Zenodo (open access platform) comprising the databases, the GIS data, the geophysical data, and digital photographs from the project. The GIS archive of the extensive regional survey is also deposited. February 2021 The Central Archaeological Council, during its 2/16/2021 meeting, unanimously approved our following two studies: 1) the study of the conservation of the ancient architectural remains that came to light from 2013 to 2019, and was drafted by the conservator Amalia Siatou, and 2) the study of protection and enhancement of the ancient complex of ceramic workshops, that was drafted by the engineers Stavros Moutzourellis and Thodoris Marinis.
|
