The Agora of Kleonai

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Torsten Mattern
• Subject Area: Classical, Roman, Christian and Islamic Archaeology
• Term: from 2018 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 407897158

Between 2010 and 2011 fieldworks at Kleonai (Peloponnes) uncovered the south-east corner of a square with two roads, parts of a late-roman Christian basilica and other buildings. The use of this area started in classical times with a stoa (?). This building was only partially excavated, but on its southern, inner wall, large numbers of fragments of the wall decoration were found. A late Roman basilica and their later re-use as a chapel showed the end of the use of the area. The significance of the area is shown also by three exedras with multiple lines of inscripition, partially erased in the middle of the 2nd century B.C. The re-used parts of the exedras were concentrated at the apse of the basilica, which should indicate their original position. It can be assumed, that the enlargment of the city and the use of this area as an agora is closely connected with the destruction of Myceneae and the deportation of its inhabitants to Kleonai in 465/4 BC.The purpose of the application is to finish the fieldworks and to start the publication. This includes the uncovering of the stoa (?), the road and the basilica, and the recovering of the wall plaster.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants