Emporeios, Chios

Emporeios or Kamari is a semicircular cove that is 6 km from Pyrgi. It is the port of Pyrgi.

History
Excavations and findings

The British Archaeological School of Athens, under the supervision of John Bordmann, has been excavating in Emporio since 1953.

During the excavations, a city was discovered, which was founded, as it was recently discovered, during the last centuries of the Ancient Greek era and began to flourish together with the ancient civilizations of Troy. The city, according to excavations by K. Sinclair Hood, presented cultural events such as Troy's during the 3rd and 2nd millennia PKE during the Bronze Age.

The findings and ruins of the Emporeios excavations represent not only the culture of prehistoric times, from the last years of the Neolithic Age to the Mycenaean period, but also the later period, because the city was rebuilt during the Archaic period, in the 7th century BC. H., and was finally destroyed by the Arabs, when they invaded the Aegean Sea and besieged Constantinople during the years 674-678 AD.

It is believed that the population of Emporio settled after the catastrophe in Pyrgi and the findings of the excavations of Emporio are very revealing for the culture of the periods they represented. These findings are in the museum of Chios, however it has been proposed to be transferred again to Emporeios in a separate museum.

The bay of Emporeios is protected from the south winds by a peninsula, on which the settlement of the area was founded during the Bronze Age.

On the SE slope of the rocky hill of the prophet Elijah and up to the height of the citadel, the ruins of about 50 houses of the archaic city of the 7th century BC were discovered by Hood. century. Within the wall of this settlement, the temple of Athena and the palace of the King of the place were revealed. The roads leading to the city and to their modern archaic citadel were carved or built on the rocks of the slopes of the bare hill of the prophet Elijah. Archaeological excavations have uncovered the main road, 300 meters long, in a zigzag system. The fifty houses of the settlement, the ruins of the temple of Athena and the residence of the lord in the citadel depict an image of a Greek city of the Archaic period.
View from above (commercial)

These houses make a great impression on the exceptional care that have been built and give another example of the elegance of the Greeks of those years. This settlement is proven by its ruins to be very rich. English archaeologists admit that this settlement is called Lefkonio from the white stones from which the houses were built and that it may have been the city mentioned by Thucydides [2] that during the Peloponnesian War the Athenians landed. Polyanine's strategy states that because of a city called Lefkonia or Lefkonio, the Chians are at war with the inhabitants of the opposite Eritrean Eritrea. Plutarch also refers to the women of Chios and Lefkonia in his work "Women of Virtues" [4].

Lefkonio-Lefkonia

According to ancient tradition, Lefkonio or Lefkonia was built by families who had been exiled from the main city of Chios because their members had killed the king of Chios in a quarrel that arose during a wedding symposium. The findings show that the city at that time was in contact with other Greek cities in the eastern Aegean and Corinth.

At the top of the archaic citadel, a temple of Athena and the palace of the king of the settlement were discovered, which has a simple "megroid" shape measuring approximately 18 by 6 meters. The King lived within the walls of the citadel without any other buildings besides the palace and the temple, according to the custom observed in the citadel of Athens in ancient times. The temple was about 10 by 6 meters in size. Inside this temple were found the pedestal of the cult statue of the goddess and a square offer bank. The statue of the goddess was made of wood and had nine decorative pieces of lead, which ended up in the heads of griffins and which are exhibited in the museum of Chios.

Outside the temple on the north side was the altar for the sacrifices. The altar was rectangular in shape and was concave, enclosed by a small wall. Later, after the abandonment of the houses on the southeastern slope and the development of the city near the beach of the bay, an altar without a cavity was built at the entrance of the temple. The pottery, the clay spoons ("figurines") and generally the tributes that were found in the temple of the citadel are almost all from the pottery workshops of Chios. Among the findings of the temple are lamps, plates and the lower part of a small marble statue of an archaic daughter, 15 clay statues, which represent figures of women and various others.

Excavations have shown that in the 7th century BC, when the settlement of the prophet Elijah was abandoned, another sanctuary was founded on the beach of Emporio, probably richer than that of the citadel. This sanctuary was worshiped in honor of Hera and Apollo. The findings of the sacred temple of the beach prove that this temple was built during the 7th & 6th BC. century. Pieces of a marble statue of Apollo of the 5th century BC were found on the beach of the bay. century of physical size. This temple had 4 Ionic columns of the 5th century BC. century.

Roman era

The life of the city on the beach of Emporio continues both during the Roman era and during the predominance of the Christian religion. During the reign of Justinian, a Basilica was built with a large Baptistery, for the construction of which architectural members of the pagan temple of the 5th century BC were also used. century.

In the 6th AD A Byzantine fortress with an enclosure 300 meters long and 100 meters wide was built on the rocky hill of the bay peninsula. Towards land, the fortress had three rectangular towers of different sizes and the main gate to the north side and to the bay. A smaller gate on the south side allowed the descent to the beach. The largest of the towers had an apartment inside, which served as a supply depot for the Byzantine soldiers' guard. Large pithos and wine amphorae were found in the warehouse of the tower.

Around 674-678 AD. This Byzantine fortress was destroyed, as was the Basilica with the Baptistery, by the Arabs, when they went to conquer Constantinople. When the city of Emporio was destroyed by the Arabs, the emperor of Byzantium was Constantine IV Pogonatos, who destroyed the ships of the Arabs with liquid fire in 678. The resistance of the fortress of Emporio may have contributed to the failure of the Arab plans. , who in vain for 5 years tried to conquer the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Due to the destruction of this city of Emporio, the inhabitants withdrew to the Mediterranean and to the part of today's Pyrgi. From the name Emporios, it is proved that it was a port with great commercial traffic and is justified by the export of mastic from the Mastichochoria of the Southern villages of Chios.

An inscription in a church in the area shows that the bay was called Emporeios or Emporio and before the destruction of the city by the Arabs of Caliph Moavia, the founder of the Omayyad dynasty, who attempted to conquer Constantinople.

References

NSS, Census 2001
...
Polyaenos, Strategically, Book H ', ch. 66

Plutarch of Women Aretai, ch. 3.

External links

Ministry of Culture - Commerce
British Archaeological School of Athens - Excavations in Chios [dead link] (English)

Ballance, Michael, John Boardman, Spencer Corbett and Sinclair Hood (1989), Excavations in Chios 1952–1955: Byzantine Emporio. London: Thames and Hudson (The British School of Archeology at Athens. Annual of the British School at Athens, Supplementary vol. no. 20). XII, 145 pp, 34 plates and maps.
Boardman, John (1967), Excavations in Chios 1952–1955: Greek Emporio. Oxford: Alden Press (The British School of Archeology at Athens. Thames and Hudson, Annual of the British School at Athens, Supplementary vol. no. 6). XIV, 258 pp, 98 plates.
Hood, Sinclair, with contributions by Juliet Clutton-Brock and Perry G. Bialor (1981), Excavations in Chios 1938–1955: Prehistoric Emporio and Ayio Gala. Vol. I. Oxford: Alden Press (The British School of Archeology at Athens. London: Thames and Hudson, Annual of the British School at Athens, Supplementary vol. no. 15). XXI, 425 pp., 80 plates.
Hood, Sinclair, with contributions by Juliet Clutton-Brock and Perry G. Bialor (1982), Excavations in Chios 1938–1955: Prehistoric Emporio and Ayio Gala. Vol. II. Oxford: Alden Press (The British School of Archeology at Athens. London: Thames and Hudson, Annual of the British School at Athens, Supplementary vol. no. 16). XIX, pp 425–730, Plates 81–144.

Municipal unit Mastichochoria
Municipal Community Pyrgi
Venetiko (Βενέτικο, το (νησίς))
Dotia (Δότια, τα)
Emporeios (Εμπορειός, ο)
Karynta (Καρύντα, η)
Moni Agiou Georgiou (Μονή Αγίου Γεωργίου, η)
Pelagonisos (Πελαγόνησος, η (νησίς))
Pyrgi (Πυργίον, το)
Community Armolia
Armolia (Αρμόλια, τα)
Community Vessa
Vessa (Βέσσα, η)
Community Elata
Άγιος Στέφανος, ο (νησίς)
Elata (Ελάτα, η)
Community Kalamoti
Almyros (Αλμυρός, ο)
Kalamoti (Καλαμωτή, η)
Komi (Κώμη, η)
Community Lithi
Lithi (Λιθίον, το)
Limenas Lithiou (Λιμένας Λιθίου, ο)
Community Mesta
Kalogeros (Καλόγερος, ο (νησίς))
Limenas (Λιμένας, ο)
Merikounta (Μερικούντα, η)
Mesta (Μεστά, τα)
Nisaki (Νησάκι, το (νησίς))
Trachylia (Τραχύλια, τα)
Community Olympoi
Olympoi (Ολύμποι, οι)
Community Patrika
Patrika (Πατρικά, τα)

See also: Chios (island)