AIGOSTHENA
(Porto Germano) Greece.
In the Megarian sphere,
Aigosthena was situated on the
slopes of the Kithairon in a deep inlet of the Gulf of
Corinth, on the road between Boiotia and the Peloponnesos.
Xenophon recorded the battles that took place here in
378 B.C. and the presence of the army of Archidamos,
and mentioned the inaccessibility of the site (
Hell.
5.4.18; 6.4.26). The fort is also mentioned by Pausanias
(
1.44.5). Along with Megara,
Aigosthena formed part
of the Achaian League in 244, was then ceded to Boiotia
for a brief time, and re-entered the League after the
second Macedonian war. The interior circuit protecting
the acropolis and the entire encircling wall of the city
are among the best examples of Greek military architecture. The acropolis is to the E, defended by a mighty
polygon of wall which is well preserved, particularly on
the E and NE sides. Eight large square towers in the wall
served as bulwarks. There was an entrance to the W and
a rear entrance to the E. Each tower consisted of two
rooms and could be entered from the circuit wall by
means of a stairway. The N and S sides of the fortification walls extend, toward the sea, into the two arms.
Large square towers defend the curtain wall here also.
On the N side there are eight additional towers, while
the wall and the towers on the S side have mostly disappeared.
The whole fortification system is built of hard local
limestone (a quarry is identifiable inside the city walls)
and in conglomerate rock, and shows two different techniques. One is an irregular trapezoidal technique with a
squared face, datable to the 5th c.; the other is regular
isodomic with the face perfectly squared, datable to the
4th c. (several scholars, however, attribute the latter to
the beginning of the Hellenistic age). The few Roman
constructions on the inside of the city walls did not alter
the fortifications.
Very few monumental remains have been discovered in
the area of the city. A small Byzantine church was built
on an apsidal Early Christian basilica (25.15 x 20.38 m)
with three large aisles. Against the S side of the basilica
was a quadrangular baptistery.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
E. F. Benson,
JHS 15 (1895); Head,
Hist.Num.; R. L. Scranton,
Greek Walls (1941); N.G.L.
Hammond,
BSA 49 (1954); A. K. Orlandos,
Ergon 1954
(1955); A. W. Lawrence,
Greek Architecture (1957);
M. Bollini,
ASAtene 41-42 (1963-64); K. Ghiannoulidou,
Πλάτων 16 (1964).
N. BONACASA
