BURIED CITIES

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 April 1935, Page 4

BURIED CITIES

NEW FINDS IN GREECE

In 1918 the Bulgarian armies near Luke Ochrida. which is now situated on the Greek-Yugoslav bejrder, discovered a series of tombs of the late sixth century B.C. which contained an astonishing wealth of pure Hellenic bronze armour, vessels, and ornaments, and a 'rich group of gold and silver ornaments and funeral furnishings, writes Stanley Casson in the “Manchester Guardian.” This group of tombs has already become famous. In 1930 and 1932 the Yugoslav authorities made a further investigation on more scientific lines and were rewarded by the finding of further rich tombs as good as the first. They have also uncovered the site of a city near by. Now, in their turn, Greek archaeologists, aroused by the discovery that the equipment of the most artistic period of early Hellenic culture was widely used in lands which had hitherto been considered as wholly barbaric at that date, have, carried out a systematic survey of their side of the frontier south of Monastir, near the Greek town of Florina, in the area between the lakes of Prespa and Ostrovo. Their assumption that the finds near Lake Ochrida. were not an isolated hoard has been justified. For at a site near the town of Florina excavations have revealed the ruins of an ancient city which the excavators identified as the city of Heracleia Lyncestis. Hitherto the Yugoslav town of Monastir has laid claim to this title. Masonry of the fourth century B.C. and imported vase fragments of fine Hellenic type showed that the city belonged to the full Hellenic period. Remains of the .sixth century were not in fact found, but the excavations were largely superficial.

STRATEGIC POINT

The position of Heracleia is at one of the most vital strategic points in the difficult mountain countrv of Upper Greece, the region that in ancient times .was the eastern province of Illyria, hard by the border of Macedonia. It must have been near the sit,e of-this ancient city that Brasidas the Spartan organised his famous retreat back to the Vardar plains; indeed, it is possible that the place “Lyncus,” to which Brasidas marched means the city itself and not the district.

Further research in the same region has revealed the existence near the town of Siatista, some thirty miles south, of a. series of hill fortresses defended by immense stone walls made of rough stones. The distribution of these forts along the Haliacmon Valley and the absence in their neighbourhood of any important ancient town force the investigators to conclude that they are much more ancient than might be suposed. They are attributed to the dawn of Hellinic history, to a period about 1000 B. C., and are thought to represent, the strongholds of one of the waves of Hellenic or Doran invaders into Greece. The strong suggestion is that these hill forts illustrate an early stage in the descent on Greece and mark a. period at which the invaders were forced to consolidate their position in a dangerous and hostile land, where communications were not easy. From Aniphipolis, on the Struma, further discoveries illustrate the history of Eastern Macedonia. The British company now engaged on draining the Struma Valley marshes has in the course of its work discovered a. curious obstruction in the bed of the river near the site of Aniphipolis, itself long known and fully identified. A heavy obstruction was found below the level of the stream; it turned out to be a solidly-constructed barrier made of various stones and masoned blocks. Its total length was nearly fifty yards.

OLD BUILDINGS

After removal the various stones were brought to the surface and seen to consist largely of architectural fragments from ancient buildings, of tomb-stones, and of various portions of carved or inscribed stonework. Twentyfour inscribed stones in all were found. Most of them were tombstones, but one was a massive statuebasis which bore an inscription of fifteen lines and had held a statue of the Roman Emperor Caracalla. The purpose of this obstruction in the river was apparently to break the force of stormwater in the river before it reached a bridge. On this supposition a. bridge was sought for. and evidence appeared a. little lower downstream in the shape of the actual dedicatory plague of the bridge. It records the buildint: of the* bridge in the early years of the reign of Tiberius by a procurator Tarins Rufus, a man who had served under Augustus at Aeiium and who was known to the Emperor. The da.to of the dam across the river is much later, for the latest inscription in ii was- of the fourth century A.D.

In Athens itself an unusually fineexample of a sixth-century sculpture has been found in the course of city improvements. It is a mounted rider of the typo known as “Pre-I’ersian.” A slender youth sits astride a horse. The sculpture is hardly more than a substantial fragment, for the heads of horse, and rider are missing and the horse's legs also are gone. But it is a better equestrian statue than any in tlra Acropolis Museum. It was carved during the last quarter of the sixth century B.C. and is in the manner of the slender horses of the Acropolis Museum. Ono of these Acropolis horses in the .Museum (No. 700) is well preserved and retains a leg of its rider; the new example shows the greater part of the body of tho ridiz