User:Zde/Fira

Ancient Thera = Doric Thira (Fira), town around the top of Mesa Vouni, since 9th century BC. Most of the ruins of Ancient Thira date from the Hellenistic era, but there are also extensive Roman and Byzantine remains. Buildings from different periods are mixed together throughout the site along one main street, which is intersected by smaller streets.

Oficial websiteː http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/3/eh352.jsp?obj_id=2454

  Page in statu nascendi

General views

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Slope of Sellada

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Finds from the Slopes of Sellada

From cemeteries at the Slopes

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Before entrance to the city

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Sanctuary of Aphrodite

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Finds from Sanctuary of Aphrodite

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Heroon of Artemidoros

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Church of Agios Stefanos

The church, which survives today and is dedicated to Agios Stefanos, is built on the ruins of an Early Christian basilica, probably dated to the mid 6th century AD. The basilica was three-aisled, with a double narthex and an apse at its middle aisle. Along its northern side, there was an oblong adjacent structure with a small apse. After its destruction, probably due to an earthquake, the church of Agios Stefanos with two vaulted aisles was built on its ruined middle aisle. Constructed with ancient architectural members, mainly from the basilica, the church is dated to the 8th or 9th century AD., when the inhabitants of Thera, as well as of the other islands, suffered from the invasions of Arabs and their constructions were rough and modest, contrary to those belonging to the Early Christian centuries. The two Christian monuments are eloquent witnesses of the inhabitation of the city even after the ancient times.

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Ancient city

Temenos of Artemidoros

The temenos was founded in the mid 3rd c. B.C. Its founder and priest Artemidoros of Apollonios from Perge of Pamphylia, driven by a dream that he saw, settled in his old age in Thera. For the activity he developed, founding sanctuaries and embellishing the city, he was honoured twice with an olive wreath and was granted the right of the citizen of Thera. The open-air sanctuary was chiseled out of the rock by Artemidoros himself: altars, relief decorations and numerous inscriptions, mainly epigrams for the honoured gods and for Artemidoros, cover the front side of the rock, whereas statues decorated the place; this is also where the resolutions of the demos of Thera in honour of Artemidoros were placed. From the right to the left, three steps with inscriptions in honour of Hecate and Priapos are carved, as well as the altars of the Dioskouroi, Omonoia and the gods of Samothrace, the eagle of Zeus Olympios, the lion of Apollo Stephanephoros -the throne of the goddess Tyche in the front - and the dolphin of Poseidon Pelagios. The set is completed by the portrait of Artemidoros depicted wearing a wreath; in the surrounding inscription he expresses his wish that his name remains immortal in eternity.

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North Agora

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Basilike Stoa

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Finds from Basilike Stoa

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Theatre

Hellenistic platform, Scene buildilning of Roman period, Byzantine completion.

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Sanctuary of Apollo Pythios

Three-aisled basilika built on the ruins of the Temple, probably in the ca. 6th century AD.

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Southwest area

Sanctuary of Apollo Karneios

The south end of the crest where the central street ended, away from the noisy centre of the city, constituted, from the time of its foundation, an important cult centre. Apollo Karneios held a prominent position in the area, with a sanctuary and a big artificial terrace for his annual festival, the Karneia.

The cult of Apollo Karneios, God of the Dorians, dominated the religious life of the inhabitants of Thera throughout antiquity. The sanctuary in honour of the God was erected at a conspicuous place in the city, probably in the 7th c. B.C. The area of the sanctuary was defined by an impressive enclosure with an entrance from the sacred way decorated with a small propylon. Today only the traces of the propylon remain on the rocky ground. The areas of the sanctuary are developed in a line. The entrance opens at the central court; two footprints, engraved on the threshold of the entrance, witness until today the passing of a worshipper. On the right side of the courtyard, there is a building of undetermined use, while on the left side, in a higher level, there is the temple with its forecourt. Two magnificent entrance gates led from the court to the forecourt of the temple, which was decorated with a mosaic floor in the 3rd-2nd c. B.C. The temple, a simple oikos with a flat roof, comprised the pronaos, the cella and two side rooms, probably adyta. Among the four columns that supported the roof of the cella must have been placed the god´s acrolithic cult statue.

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Heroon and Church of Anunciation

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Other in southwest area

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Gymnasium of Ephebes

A great number of inscriptions of the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD indicate the use of the building, however, the small number of construction remains do not allow an interpretation or accurate chronology of its different areas constructed gradually. The natural cave (?) place of cult since the Archaic times (?) which was transformed into a sanctuary dedicated to Hermes and Hercules, patron divinities of the gymnasium, constituted the core of the facility. The areas of the gymnasium were organized around a big courtyard, where led a stone-paved stepped street. Building remains survive only on the north and east side of the courtyard, as its south part has crumbled to a large extent down the steep slope. Its north side consists of two spacious rectangular rooms that open at the courtyard, while the east side consists of smaller rooms and a circular structure, probably the aleipterion, mentioned on an inscription, that is, a heated structure, where the ephebes bathed and anointed their bodies with oil before and after the exercise. The gymnasiarch was responsible for the running of the gymnasium, assisted by the hypogymnasiarch. According to epigraphic evidence, contests in the nude were carried out, which comprised the events of wrestling and pankration. On the exposed sections of bedrock near the gymnasium multiple inscriptions with names of the ephebes are found.

There is a fine view over the site from the large Terrace of the Festivals, where boys danced naked to honor Apollo (the performance was called the Gymnopaediae). This is likely related to the phallic-centered graffiti visible nearby, which dates from the Archaic to Roman period.

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Finds from Gymnasium

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Sanctuary of Egyptian gods

Hellenistic, 3rd century BC

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Other finds from Ancient Thera

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To main page: SANTORINI (= THERA, THIRA, FIRA)