Agios Vasileios (also spelled Ayios Vasileios or Ayios Vasilios; Greek: Άγιος Βασίλειος) is the site of a Mycenaean palace, located near the village of Xerokambi in Laconia, Greece. It was discovered after a Linear B tablet was found accidentally on the slope of a hill, near the Byzantine chapel of Agios Vasileios (St. Basil), in 2008; two more tablet fragments were found in a survey conducted the same year.[1] Excavations, carried out by the Archaeological Society of Athens and directed by archaeologist Adamantia Vasilogamvrou, began in 2009 and have brought to light a palace complex with a large central courtyard with colonnaded porticos along the sides. This palace was first constructed in the 17th-16th BCE, destroyed in the late 15th-early 14th century BCE, rebuilt, and finally destroyed again in the late 14th or early 13th century BCE. Finds include an archive of Linear B tablets, kept in a room adjacent to the colonnade; cult objects such as figurines made of clay and ivory; a collection of twenty bronze swords; and fragments of wall frescoes.[2][3][4] The discovery of Agios Vasileios was chosen by the 2013 Shanghai Archaeology Forum as one of its 10 most important archaeological discoveries worldwide.[5]
Άγιος Βασίλειος | |
  Shown within Greece | |
| Location | Laconia, Greece |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 36°58′45″N 22°28′42″E / 36.97917°N 22.47833°E |
| Type | Settlement |
| History | |
| Founded | 17th-16th BC |
| Abandoned | 14th-13th BC |
| Periods | Bronze Age |
| Cultures | Mycenaean Greece |
| Site notes | |
| Condition | Partly buried |
References
edit- ^ Aravantinos, Vassilis L., and Vasilogamvrou, Adamantia (2012), ‘The first Linear B documents from Ayios Vasileios (Laconia)’, in Carlier, Pierre, de Lamberterie, Charles, Egetmeyer, Markus, Guilleux, Nicole, Rougemont, Françoise, and Zurbach, Julien (eds) Études mycéniennes 2010. Actes du XIIIe colloque international sur les textes égéens. Sèvres, Paris, Nanterre, 20-23 septembre 2010 (Pisa/Roma: Fabrizio Serra), 41-54
- ^ "Σημαντικά ευρήματα σε δυο ανασκαφές στη Λακωνία". www.culture.gov.gr. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
- ^ Karadimas, Nektarios (2016), "Agios Vasilios in Lakonia", The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, p. 1, doi:10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah30180, ISBN 978-1-4443-3838-6, retrieved 2020-12-22
- ^ Vasilogamvrou, Adamantia (2013). "Rulers of Mycenaean Laconia: New Insights from Excavations at the Palatial Settlement of Ayios Vasileios near Sparta". Chinese Archaeology.
- ^ "MAJOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES". Shanghai Archaeology Forum. Retrieved 2020-12-22.