THERMOS
Aitolia, Greece.
Located on a
mountain plateau above the NE end of Lake Trichonis,
34 km from Agrinion, near the modern village of Kephalovryso, the site was settled in the Late Bronze Age.
Described as place or topos (Polyb. 5.7.8), the Classical
site was the center of Aitolian worship and the meeting
place of the Aitolian League, where annual magistrates
were elected and large market fairs held (Polyb. 58.4ff).
Some time after the invasion by Antipater and Krateros
in 323 B.C. the site was organized in its present form as a
fortified temenos. Twice ravaged by Philip V of Macedon, in 218 and 206 B.C. (Polyb. 5.9; 11.7.2), the site continued in use until the reduction of the League in 168 B.C. and perhaps longer. This is attested by a number of
inscribed monument bases of the 2d c. B.C. found within
the temenos. The discovery of graves of the 1st c. B.C.
over some of the public buildings indicates that the site
was no longer the League center at this time.
Excavations have uncovered a large temenos 340 m
long and 200 m wide, laid out at the base of Mt. Mega
Lakkos. It is enclosed on three sides by a massive fortification wall with square towers at intervals of 42 m. The
main entrance to the enclosure, guarded by two round
towers, lies at the SW corner. A second smaller entrance
lies near the NE corner of the temenos. Within the enclosure near the main entrance is a long stoa facing N, which runs parallel to the S peribolos wall at a distance of 35 m from it. Only partially excavated, the stoa has
buttressed foundations along the S side, eight columns
across the narrow E and presumably also across the W
end. To the SE of the stoa near the SE corner of the enclosure is a large rectangular building 20 x 26 m with a
three-stepped crepidoma and a broad porch on the N
side. Although the interior is as yet unexcavated, the
building has been identified as the meeting house or
bouleuterion of the League. In front of the porch is
a row of statue and stelai bases. A broad avenue 25
m wide, framed to E and W by long stoas, extends N
from the bouleuterion. The E stoa, which runs along
the base of the mountain slope, is 173 m long with
Doric columns across the W face. Behind the stoa to the
E is a strong retaining wall, and between wall and stoa
were found many roof tiles and terracotta antefixes. The
W stoa is ca. 185 m long with buttressed rear wall, Doric
columns on its facade, and bases for an interior colonnade. In front of both stoas are many monument bases
of primarily 3d c. B.C. date, undoubtedly those destroyed
by Philip V in his two attacks on the site. Near an exedra
located before the middle of the E stoa were found six
fragments of a trophy commemorating the victory of the
Aitolians over the Gauls in 279 B.C. The fragments preserve elliptical shields, tasseled cloaks, and armor. Pausanias (
10.18.7) describes a similar monument depicting armed Aitolia erected at Delphi. Just N of the W stoa
there is a small fountain in polygonal masonry built about
a natural spring. At the N end of the long avenue near
the NE quarter of the temenos is the Temple of Apollo
Thermios. The identification is known from an inscribed
bronze stele found beneath the floor, a record of a treaty
between Aitolians and Acarnanians to be set up within
the temple. Oriented N-S, the temple is Doric peripteral
with 5 x 15 columns. The stylobate and lowest drums of
eight columns are preserved intact. The cella consists of
a long narrow naos without pronaos, and opisthodomos.
A single row of columns runs down the central axis of
the cella. Since no fragments of a stone superstructure
were found, the entablature must have been of wood, the
cella walls of mudbrick. Among the reused blocks incorporated into the foundations was a fragmentary inscription of the mid 3d c. B.C., which thereby dates the temple in this form to the latter part of the century, presumably
after Philip's second sack in 206 B.C. The 3d c. temple
represents a remodeling of an earlier temple having the
same plan and dimensions, also of mudbrick and wood
on stone foundations. Part of the foundations were incorporated into the W pteron of the later structure. To this earlier building belongs an elaborate series of terracotta revetments found scattered about the temple site.
These include roof tiles, simas, at least two series of
antefixes decorated in relief with human busts, a sphinx
acroterion and 10 fragmentary metope plaques with
painted representations. The plaques are less than a m
in height or in width, with two tangs projecting from the
upper edge for socketing into the overlying cornice. Decoration is confined to the center of the plaque, framed on
two sides by a broad border of painted rosettes. Among
the representations are Perseus with the head of Gorgo,
a hunter (Herakles?) with boar and fawn, and Chelidon
and Aidon about to dissect Itys. The pictorial style of the
metopes indicates that the building was erected late in
the 7th c., ca. 630-610 B.C. It is therefore one of the earliest developed Doric temples known and a monument of
primary importance for our knowledge of the history of
Greek architecture. The second, more advanced series of
antefixes with bearded men and silenes attest to a partial
remodeling of the roof in the second half of the 6th c.
B.C. Generally considered to be a product of Corinthian
workmanship, the temple is more probably a product of
local workshops, perhaps under Corinthian influence. The
metopes are inscribed in a mixed alphabet which may
well be Aitolian and are executed in local clay. The
simas, moreover, are crowned with antefixes in a manner unknown to date at Corinth. Beneath the archaic
temple is a still earlier building of Geometric date, the
so-called Megaron B, a long three-roomed structure with
slightly different axis, surrounded by an elliptical colonnade. Although often identified as a chieftain's house, the building enclosed thick layers of ash, containing burnt animal bones, pottery, and several bronze votive statuettes, and it was undoubtedly also a temple. Beneath
Megaron B and to the N of it were found several houses
of Late Mycenaean date, part of the earliest settlement
which occupied the site. Immediately E of the Hellenistic
temple is a retaining wall incorporating reused blocks
from a Doric stoa, as a fragmentary inscribed epistyle
reveals. Nearby to the E is a smaller temple, a small rectangular cella with double colonnade across the S facade,
identified by an inscription found nearby as that of
Apollo Lyseios. Painted terracotta metopes found within
the temple with representations of the Charites, Iris, and
the Centaur Polos, may belong to its original construction in the late 7th c. To the NW of the main temple near the NE entrance to the temenos is a small, poorly preserved structure tentatively identified as a Temple of
Artemis. To it have been assigned several architectural
revetments. A few isolated foundations were uncovered
outside the temenos to the SE. Best preserved is a small
fountain possibly of the 3d c. It is well built in ashlar
masonry with five spouts and is fed by a terracotta drain
from a source within the sanctuary.
Most of the finds from the excavations are located in
a small museum on the site. A few of the best preserved
metopes and roof tiles are in the National Museum of
Athens.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
G. Soteriades,
Praktika (1897) 18-21;
(1898) 104-10; (1899) 57-66; (1901) 34-37; (1902) 49-52; id., “Anaskaphai en Thermo,”
ArchEph (1900) 161-212; (1903) 71-96; (1905) 55-100; id., “The Greek Excavations at Thermos,”
Records of the Past I (1902)
172-81; G. Kawerau & Soteriades,
AntDenk 2.5 (1902-8)
1-8, pls. 49-52a; K. Rhomaios, “Erevnai en Thermo,”
Deltion 1 (1915) 225-84; 2 (1916) 179-89; id.,
Praktika
(1931) 61-70; H. Payne, “On the Thermon Metopes,”
BSA 27 (1925-26) 124-32; L. H. Jeffery,
Local Scripts of
Archaic Greece (1961) 225-27; H. Drerup, “Zu Thermos
B,”
Marburger Winkelmann-Programm (1963) 1-12.
N. BOOKIDIS
