07/02/2008
KAMBOHORIA OF IOANNINA/ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES AND MONUMENTS
- Kastritsa:
Kastritsa cave, on the southeastern shore of Pamvotida, bears traces of settlement of the early paleolithic age (20,000 years before the present). The area was settled right up to the early iron age. The part of the castle that is preserved today at the top of the hill (the name Kastritsa comes from the Greek for castle = kastro), is part of strong fortifications of the late classical years, which some experts identified as Tekmonas, the city of the tribe of the Molossi of Ipiros. Kastritsa was abandoned in the 6th century AD.
*archeological site, prehistoric cave, acropolis, classical age, hellenistic period, Byzantium
- University Campus:
In the area of the University Campus, archeological digs have recently uncovered building remains and an extensive graveyard of an unwalled settlement that was settled from the archaic period to the classical period.
*archeological site, graveyard, unwalled settlement, archaic period, classical period
- Gardiki:
There are marked traces of Passarona, the ancient capital of the state of the Molossi, on the Gardiki hill. On the peak, the remains of a settlement of the 5th century BC and a wall (length 800m) that enclosed it. At the foothills, the ruins of the Areiou Zeus temple which was built in the 4th century BC and was supported on all sides by collonades of the Ionian style, with a pronaos and a sancturary and dimensions 19.3x11m. Here king and subjects swore to Zeus that they would obey the laws. If the king disobeyed the laws he would lose power. The guarantor of the liberties of the people was the so-called archon, second in rank after the king, elected by all the tribes of the Koino ton Molosson pact and bore the title Protector of the Molossi. At the end of the 3rd century BC, king Pyrrus, transferred the capital from Passarona to Ambracia (Arta). The sanctuary of Zeus was burned down by Emilius Paul in 167 BC. In the Roman age it was repaired and functioned some years, as the findings indicate (stone capitals and statue). Later it was abandoned and turned into a graveyard.
*archeological site, walled city, temple, classical age, hellenistic age, roman age
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