Die Basilike Stoa an der Agora von Thera

Rekonstruktion ihrer Entwicklung auf Basis stratigraphischer Grabungen

Abstract

The Basilike Stoa in Thera is known from several inscriptions found in situ which document repairs in the Trajanic and Antonine periods. The long, closed hall with a central internal colonnade is one of the city’s few monumental buildings, located at the agora. Its construction date is debated in scholarship, proposed dates ranging from the early 3rd century B.C., when the Ptolemies had a naval base in Thera, to the Augustan period when the city presumably revived after some 120 years of stagnation. This paper aims at clarifying the construction date and history of the Basilike Stoa, based on stratigraphic excavations carried out in 1992. Three trenches that were dug at the western and eastern external walls of the Stoa are discussed in detail, and the pottery from the most important trench is presented. The latter, trench 92 C, was located in Street F to the west of the Stoa and yielded a dense sequence of features that are attributed to seven phases. It is shown that the Stoa was certainly built in the 2nd century B.C., most likely before the Ptolemies abandoned their naval base in 146/145 B.C., and that its west wall was almost completely rebuilt in the early Imperial period. The building on the western side of Street F, the so-called Phallos House, had a similar, if even more complex history, and the pavement in the street was renewed three times. In contrast, no evidence of the Trajanic and Antonine repairs of the Stoa were identified in any of the three trenches. The reconstruction of the Stoa’s history provides an important contribution to assessing the urban development of ancient Thera, which is generally little known because very few stratigraphic excavations have been carried out and published so far.