KASSOPE
Greece.
Located in SW Epeiros,
above the modern village of Kamarina. The city was
apparently the result of a
Συνοικισμός of the Kassopaians
in the 3d c. B.C. although some earlier remains, notably
roof tiles, may indicate prior settlement on the site.
Kassope may not have been severely damaged in the destructions attendant on the Roman conquest. In any
event, there is evidence that it flourished at least up to
the founding of Nikopolis. The site of the ancient city
is extensive: its circuit wall has been calculated to be
2800 m long. A large theater, a smaller theater in the
agora, the foundations of a temple, and the remains of a
grid plan agora have been recorded.
A portion of the city has been excavated. Most interesting is a large building (33 x 30.3 m) constructed of
ashlar and polygonal masonry, with upper courses built
of baked brick set into a wooden superstructure. The
building contains 17 rooms grouped around an interior
courtyard, with an entrance through an 18th room which
served as a doorway for the building on the S. The courtyard was surrounded by a colonnade of 26 octagonal
Doric columns. There was also an upper story in the
building on three of its four sides, perhaps allowing
enough space for a total of 30 rooms. The rooms in the
upper story must have been accessible by wooden ladders, while those on the lower one show some evidence
for hearths and foundations for tables. The building has
been identified as a katagogeion or guest house, and
apparently some destruction in the 1st c. B.C. was followed by repairs.
A street 4 m wide runs to the S parallel to the katagogeion; to the SE lies the small theater, and to the SW
a rectangular building so far unexplored. On the other
side of the street is a long Doric stoa (63.1 x 11.3 m)
which faces N; its construction is similar to that of the
katagogeion. Opinions differ as to dates: 1) the katagogeion is placed in the first half of the 4th c., primarily
on the basis of early roof tiles, and the katagogeion in
the 3d c.; 2) the stoa and the katagogeion are more or
less contemporary, constructed in the second half of the
3d c. when the agora itself was laid out.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
W. M. Leake,
Travels in Northern
Greece (1835) 244-53
P;
RE 10 (1919) 2332-34
(Bürchner), Suppl. vol. 4 (1924) 879-80; S. I. Dakaris,
Ἀϝασκαφὴ ἐις κασσωπὴν-πρέβεζης,
Praktika (1952) 326-62
PI; (1953) 164-74; (1954) 201-9; (1955) 181-86;
N.G.L. Hammond,
Epirus (1967) passim
MPI;
Der kleine
Pauly (1969) 149.
W. R. BIERS
