Salamis: the Department of Antiquities excavations (Karageorghis, Dikigoropoulos)

Directed by

• Vassos Karageorghisgymnasium, theatre, necropolis1952–1974
• Andreas I. Dikigoropoulosco-director at the gymnasium; Basilica of St Epiphanios1952–1959
• Demos Christoutheatre and amphitheatre area1973–1974
• Arthur Hubert Stanley Megawgeneral direction as Director of Antiquities1952–1959

Team

• W. Grünhagen
• T. Dupree
• Andreas Georghiou
• A. Pieridou1957

• Department of Antiquities of CyprusSponsor
• Brock UniversityPartner
• American Wheat Aid CommissionFunder
• Greek Government grantsFunder

1. 1952

   First Department campaign of excavation and anastylosis: west stoa fully cleared, parts of east and south; eight marble columns re-erected; late reconstruction not before the 5th c. AD; marble head found; inscription naming a gymnasiarch identifies a gymnasium.

   Directed by A. I. Dikigoropoulos, V. Karageorghis[3]

2. 1953

   Clearance and anastylosis continued: a Ptolemaic base naming a gymnasiarch, a ring-stone of Hyllos; east colonnade of the 2nd c. AD and later marble colonnades (up to 24 columns re-erected), glass-mosaic walls, last modifications dated to Heraclius or later; a limestone kore torso found.

   Directed by A. I. Dikigoropoulos, V. Karageorghis[4]

3. 1954

   Services divers explored the sea defences: northern breakwater linked to a reef and a second harbour over two miles north (located with T. Dupree's yacht Kerynia); an archaic terracotta head in boulder construction; no evidence of submerged city. East stoa fully cleared (portico of an East Building); north annexe and tank excavated; central sand mound removed, podium found; second-century statues (Apollo, Nemesis, Asklepios, Zeus); inscription of Trajan; octagonal room with tank and hypocausts suggesting later bathing use. Re-examination of the east end corrected published plans: lateral apses, passages, a 6th-c. synthron, geometric mosaics in north apse, sacristy annexe cleared.

   Directed by A. I. Dikigoropoulos, V. Karageorghis[9]

4. 1955

   Palaestra paved in opus sectile in the Christian period; seven more marble columns of the south stoa re-erected, one painted with a supplication; octagonal tank room cleared with a dump of marble statues (Hygeia, Herakles, Aphrodite, Artemis); marble-lined swimming tank in the south annexe; south rooms excavated; dedication to Ptolemy V; archaic and Geometric-period sherds deeper down.

   Directed by A. I. Dikigoropoulos, V. Karageorghis[14]

5. 1956

   Resumed re-examination: intermediate aisle colonnades, subdivision of outer aisles, annexes with staircases for galleries; marble-lined tomb possibly of St Epiphanios; medieval chapel and an annexe reused as a church; Arab-period city wall with a tower. Start on the large East Building, cleared of sand ~25 ft deep to reveal massive walls and vaults; a semi-dome exedra mosaic with Apollo; east stoa pavement of Justinian-era marble; a drain with four statues (Satyr and Hermaphrodite, Meleager, two Aphrodites); stratigraphy shows an earlier Hellenistic building under the Augustan portico.

   Directed by A. I. Dikigoropoulos[15]

6. 1957

   Limits of the building laid bare and principal rooms excavated: a 43 m vaulted north room with exedrae, a central hall 18.8 m long (a Byzantine tepidarium with hypocaust and painted niche), plaque inscription of Justinianic date, an octagonal ante-room with a river-god statue; uncut capitals reassembled; the palaestra possibly an apodyterium. Over life-size marble female head in a Hera Ludovisi manner, found in the debris of the late wall. Church built after the basilica's destruction on an annexe site, with synthronon on earlier mosaic, rebuilt c. 900 with domes and a narthex enclosing the probable tomb of St Epiphanios; further work on the late wall confirmed a mid-7th-c. date.

   Directed by V. Karageorghis, A. I. Dikigoropoulos[16]

7. 1958

   Seventh campaign at the Gymnasium: monumental baths with a 30 x 10 m hot room (sudatorium) with hypocaust, praefurnium and vaulted corridors; Hellenistic origin, imperial plan, Justinian repairs; annex of St Epiphanius Basilica with mosaic; epigram naming Valerius found.

   Directed by V. Karageorghis[20]

8. 1959

   Karageorghis excavated at Salamis through repeated seasons, with further clearance of the Gymnasium and the Roman theatre. Earliest remains east of the basilica were a bath; west limits of the narthex defined; a spacious building south; the late city wall confirmed as post-mid-7th c. Author's campaign at the Gymnasium bath's 'Main Building' (sand 2–3 m deep), continuing in January 1960; soundings in a hollow SW of the Gymnasium found one of the largest Roman theatres (orchestra 27.5 m), two building phases, a terracotta New Comedy mask; two statues just emerging. Directed by A. I. Dikigoropoulos: annex alongside the south aisle, narthex and atrium limits, opus sectile floor, marble font, cross-shaped heated basin (baptistery or bath), long mosaic corridor, chapel; two trenches confirmed the city wall was built after the mid-7th-c. Arab raids over an aqueduct; Ohnefalsch-Richter's 1882 villa re-cleared. Autumn 1959: main room of the Gymnasium bath cleared; the theatre first excavated (eight lower rows, stage building, headless statues incl. Melpomene and Mnemosyne); Dikigoropoulos reexamined the Roman villa dug in 1882 (two sudatoria, exedra mosaic, 5th c. AD).

   Directed by V. Karageorghis[1], [21]

9. 1960January-early May 1960; October-November 1960

   Two campaigns cleared the auditorium and orchestra (27 m diameter) with nine cunei, drain, paving, thymele; pedestals with inscriptions to Commodus (AD 189) and Antistius Sabinus; Apollo Musagetes found; outer auditorium wall traced. Orchestra and cavea cleared (eight rows of seats left; 27.5 m orchestra), part of the proskenion with a trial trench; marble statues of Melpomene, Mnemosyne, Apollo Musagetes and a nude figure; Commodus and Antistius Sabinus dedications; theatre ruined by 332 and 342 earthquakes. Autumn season found the outer auditorium wall in the south parodos.

   Directed by V. Karageorghis[21], [22]

10. 1961January-April and October-November 1961

    Two campaigns on the stage building of the Roman theatre: proskenion and frons scaenae cleared, later constructions in the proskenion, north parodos finished, cavea diameter 105 m; theatre dated to Augustus, repaired after AD 76–77 quakes; finds include cuirassed imperial marble statues, inscriptions of Servius Sulpicius Pancles and Hadrian, and a first mention of an amphitheatre at Salamis. Spring and autumn: skene front wall with nine niches and a proskenion 40 m long investigated; statues of (?) Claudius, a colossal (?) Hadrian, Heracles and Eros; inscriptions naming Pancleus, who rebuilt theatre, gymnasium and an amphitheatre after AD 76/7; theatre original at end of 1st c. BC.

    Directed by V. Karageorghis[21], [25]

11. 1962spring 1962

    Spring 1962 excavation of a second 'royal' built tomb near the 1957 one: ashlar chamber with gypsum plaster, 6.1 m facade, 9.25 m dromos. Looters left Cypro-Archaic I pottery and an engraved silver bowl (double decoration, Phoenician-Egyptian). Dromos held sacrificed human attendants, two horses with a chariot, five amphorae; funerary ritual compared with Homer's Patroclus. Two campaigns of about two months (spring and autumn) clearing the gymnasium baths caldarium (29 x 14 m), a vaulted cistern 24 x 4.4 m, sand removal between gymnasium and theatre, and half the theatre's cavea substructures (outer wall 3.8 m thick, 16 openings, 17 radial walls). Roman marble sculpture incl. an Aphrodite torso.

    Directed by V. Karageorghis[27]

12. 1963most of the year except summer

    General survey: Department excavations continued at Salamis, Kition, the Paphos mosaic villa, Kourion Stadium and Yialousa basilica; three tombs dug at Idalion; Dikaios retired in summer; theatres restored at Salamis, Kourion, Soloi; French mission finished its 16th Enkomi campaign. Sand removal between theatre and gymnasium: soundings under the cavea show pre-theatre Hellenistic habitation; seven rooms behind the stage wall; two vaulted cisterns; a xystos (stadium-like gallery) of which 90 m were traced; a colonnaded paved street; aqueduct; and a large curved wall tentatively the amphitheatre.

    Directed by V. Karageorghis[35]

13. 1964March-June 1964

    First campaign (March-June) cleared about thirty rock-cut chamber tombs, mostly looted, of the 7th-5th centuries BC; Attic-style skyphoi, a Proto-Attic SOS amphora with graffito, cremation pyres on dromos fill with offerings, horse skeletons, child jar burials and boundary walls around tombs. Four more tombs (two with built chambers) in the area dug in 1957 and 1962; Tomb 19 with horse skeleton; Tomb 31 intact with two horses, gold diadems with chariot scenes; Tomb 47 with 19 m dromos, built chamber, two harnessed horses with gold-leaf blinkers, and three later chariot teams. Trench through the 10 m high tumulus (first dug 1896) found a brick pseudo-tholos on top, an empty chamber, and a dromos with remains of two chariots, four horses with bronze gear and breastplates, lotus standards, amphorae with egg shells and a syllabic e-la-i-wo (olive oil), an iron sword, spearhead, quiver and bronze shield. Five rooms behind the south stoa cleared, destroyed by 4th-century quakes; a large semicircular latrine of about 44 seats with water channels, fountain; marble satyr or Pan torso; bearded marble head of Septimius Severus' time; a semicircular exedra behind the west stoa.

    Directed by V. Karageorghis[36]

14. 1965spring 1965

    North sudatorium nearly cleared (30 x 11 m, vaulted, semicircular east front), praefurnium and hot-air ducts, remodelling in early Christian times, and a small room with marble-lined basin beside the frigidarium. Second royal tumulus (10 m high, 52 m circle) explored; earlier robber galleries missed the tomb; a mud-brick stepped platform with charcoal cavity found, fourth-century BCE or later; headless limestone statues in the fill. Large Hellenistic-Roman loculi tomb found by accident: antechamber and chamber with clay sarcophagi, about 300 objects: painted lagynoi, glass, lamps (Herakles and Cerberus, Zeus Ammon), silver snake ornaments, gold myrtle crown, coins Ptolemy I to Constantine. Further rock-cut chamber tombs 7th-4th c. BCE; child jar burials, funerary pyres with seeds, fruit and shells, an inscribed tomb 33 with a Phoenician name and Anatolian patronym in syllabic Greek, and hasty 4th-century pit burials with arrowheads. Dromos (28 m) excavated: a built royal tomb with propylon, original gabled chamber, later vaulted addition; two skeletons of chariot horses with bits in the dromos; 7th-century pottery; Roman colonnaded propylon; early Christian sliding door and cist.

    Directed by V. Karageorghis[38]

15. 1966spring and autumn 1966

    Looted monolithic chamber with a 20 m dromos and pi-shaped propylon; Roman reuse with loculi. Dromos held four chariots with horse skeletons from two burials, Assyrianising horse harness, iron firedogs with ship ends, spits, two bronze cauldrons with griffon and Hathor protomes, two ivory-covered thrones, a bed, footstool, ivory plaques; pottery and food remains. First burial late 8th c. BC. Two long seasons (spring and autumn): north sudatorium cleared with a wall mosaic niche, central hall (caldarium) with niche mosaics, lime kiln, south sudatorium with a new niche mosaic of Eurotas, Leda and the swan, fresco of Hylas and the Nymph cleaned; buttresses against the north wall, latrines for eight, marble statue fragments. The Enkomi tumulus completed: a 11.5 x 17 m mud-brick platform (exedra) with a stone-and-brick mound over a great pyre; ash layer with gilded clay alabastra, bronze and iron strips, spear heads, strigils, gold leaf rosettes, carbonised grain and nuts, and fragments of life-size baked-clay statues (five heads) on wooden stakes (16 post holes); interpreted as a cenotaph, late 4th century BC.

    Directed by V. Karageorghis[39]

16. 1967

    Built Tomb 80 (2.40 x 2.15 m, vaulted, painted lotus and rosette decoration, Evelthon coins, silver and gold jewellery, c. late 6th c.) plus six looted rock-cut tombs; at least two further looted built tombs near T. 47, 50, 79. About forty more rock-cut tombs excavated, mostly looted, in use from Cypro-Geometric I to the 5th c.; notable T. 105 (9.85 m dromos), T. 85, T. 84 (sacrifice space, SOS amphorae), T. 60 intact, T. 13 (gold, Eros intaglio); pyres and child jar burials; end of first phase of necropolis excavation.

    Directed by V. Karageorghis[41]

17. 1968early spring and late autumn 1968

    Two seasons (spring, late autumn): northern limit of the Gymnasium sought and rooms behind the north and south palaestra stoas cleared; debris from earthquake-destroyed baths, a marble Meleager or Hermes torso, Hellenistic inscribed bases (strategos Diogenes honouring gymnasiarch Stasikrates), three lime kilns, oil-store jars, a propylon, and a late Priapus statuette in alabaster.

    Directed by V. Karageorghis[43]

18. 1969

    Work in the south praefurnium of the Gymnasium baths, symmetrical with the north; rooms behind the north stoa of the palaestra fully cleared; restoration of the central sudatorium hypocaust yielded marble statue fragments (boy with cock or goose, hand of Asklepios, eagle head).

    [44]

19. 1970

    Volunteer student team uncovered part of the east outer curved wall (1.70 m wide) and radial supports of the elliptical Roman amphitheatre.

    [45]

20. 1971

    Excavation limited to the area behind the theatre's stage building to find the western limit, in view of a cultural reuse scheme. A group of Canadian and American students under Department patronage continued the previous year's small excavation as a practical archaeology course.

    [46]

21. 1972

    Large part of the semicircular outer retaining wall of the theatre cleared, with sand and debris removed for performances; Brock University students of the Department-sponsored practical course continued work at the amphitheatre. Two rock-cut tombs exposed by building work and excavated by the Department: Tomb 117 Cypro-Classical with Plain White jugs and a clay shield model with moulded Medusa decoration; the other Roman, 1st-2nd century AD.

    [47]

22. 1973

    Another part of the theatre's outer circular retaining wall exposed, and a row of late Roman shops along a street between theatre and amphitheatre.

    Directed by D. Christou[48]

23. 1974

    Outer wall of the theatre cleared to street level; inscribed plaque dedicated to Ptolemy 'the God'; new rooms of the Byzantine stoa linking gymnasium and theatre.

    Directed by D. Christou[2]

1. 1.A. H. S. Megaw, 1953, Archaeology in Cyprus, 1952.
2. 2.V. Karageorghis, 1960, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1959.
3. 3.V. Karageorghis, 1963, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1962.
4. 4.2019, Salamis of Cyprus: History and Archaeology from the Earliest Times to Late Antiquity.
5. 5.A. H. S. Megaw, 1954, Archaeology in Cyprus, 1953.
6. 6.A. H. S. Megaw, 1955, Archaeology in Cyprus, 1955.
7. 7.A. H. S. Megaw, 1956, Archaeology in Cyprus, 1956.
8. 8.V. Karageorghis, 1959, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1958.
9. 9.V. Karageorghis, 1967, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1966.
10. 10.A. Foulias, 2019, The Basilica of Saint Epiphanios: Architecture and Chronology.
11. 11.A. H. S. Megaw, 1954, Archaeology in Cyprus, 1954.
12. 12.A. H. S. Megaw, 1957, Archaeology in Cyprus, 1957.
13. 13.P. Dikaios, 1962, Archaeology in Cyprus, 1959–61.
14. 14.V. Karageorghis, 1961, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1960.
15. 15.V. Karageorghis, 1962, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1961.
16. 16.V. Karageorghis, 1964, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1963.
17. 17.V. Karageorghis, 1971, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1970.
18. 18.V. Karageorghis, 1973, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1972.
19. 19.V. Karageorghis, 1974, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1973.
20. 20.V. Karageorghis, 1975, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1974.
21. 21.V. Karageorghis, 1969, Salamis in Cyprus: Homeric, Hellenistic and Roman.
22. 22.V. Karageorghis, 1965, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1964.
23. 23.V. Karageorghis, 1966, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1965.
24. 24.V. Karageorghis, 1968, Chronique des fouilles et découvertes archéologiques à Chypre en 1967.
25. 25.1966, Sculptures from Salamis - V. Karageorghis: Sculptures from Salamis, i..