Gortina Agorà- Scavi 1996-1997

In 1996 and 1997, a century after the excavations conducted by F. Halbherr, new soundings were conducted in the Greek agora at Gortyna as part of the activities of the Italian Archaeological School at Athens, and with the permission and cooperation of the 23th Ephoria of Antiquities of Heraklion. The excations started from the western edge of the agora, by the Mitropolianos torrent, where F. Halbherr and L. Pernier had discovered three parallel walls. A few targeted soundings, conducted stratigraphically, allowed three phases to be identified in the so-called double stoa, which delimitated the area to the north of the agora in the II-I centuries B.C., and was rebuilt in the Trajanic era, and lasted until late Antiquity. It represented a monumental wing of the square, which was perhaps also delimited on the west side by another wing of this imposing structure. The north wing, which we brought to light, was more than 70 meters (230 feet) long, had an interior coonnade of 14 Ionic columns, and probably 25 Doric columns on the front. The excavations also uncovered significant patches of the agora's Roman period pavement and, below it, that of the Hellenistic period. The ancient agora had been obliterated with a fill that was more than a meter (3,3, feet) thick, which provided us with abundant materials of the Byzantine period. The material included plain and imported pottery, lamps, amphorae, coins, and provides us with a vivid picture of Gortyna's life in its final stages around the VII-VIII centuries A.D.