Marathovounos: the Department's basilica excavation

In 1962 the Department of Antiquities investigated the remains of an Early Christian basilica at Petrera, north of Marathovounos, after surface finds of architectural fragments. The work was directed by A. Papageorghiou¹.

The church had three aisles and measured 21 by 14 m, with a western narthex and a projecting eastern apse. The excavators cleared the surrounding walls and two stylobates. Piers and columns separated the aisles from the central nave, and hard-plaster bases were found in situ¹. The reported finds were architectural blocks, carved chancel slabs, stone window-grille fragments and plaster architectural members, and the basilica was said to have been restored twice before it was completely destroyed¹. Doria Nicolaou reports that two intact stone chancel screens were found; she argues that their decoration and execution support an early seventh- to eighth-century date, though such screens are often dated to the sixth century². K. Nicolaou's survey of 1961 to 1966 gives the basilica a date in the fifth to sixth century A.D., citing Apostolos Varnavas 1964³.

A smaller building to the east was also divided into three aisles, and the excavation notice left its use unresolved¹. Rania Michail describes it, about 25 m southeast of the basilica, as a possible baptistery, noting that the identification rests on architectural form, proximity to the basilica and a supposed baldachin, and that the evidence does not establish its function securely⁴.