ARGURA
Thessaly, Greece.
A city of Pelasgiotis, in antiquity identified with Homeric Argissa (
Il. 2.738;
Strab. 9.440; Steph. Byz. s.v.). It was on the left bank of the Peneios river, supposed to be 40 stades (ca.
7 km) from Atrax (
Strab. 9.438). This has long been
considered an ancient site at a prehistoric mound (Gremnos or Gremnos Magoula) about 7 km W of Larissa,
just on the left bank of the Peneios. This identification
was denied by Stählin, who placed Argura at an ancient
site at Gunitza, ca. 8 km W of Gremnos Magoula, but
the Gremnos-Argura identification has recently been reasserted by Franke and Milojćić. The history of the city
is virtually unknown.
The prehistoric mound has been half carried away by
the river. It served as the acropolis of the ancient city,
which is otherwise in a flat plain. Excavations on the
mound in 1955-58 turned up sherds from the Geometric
through Roman periods as well as prehistoric. One well
found in 1956 contained Classical, another early Hellenistic, pottery. A fragment of an early Classical terracotta revetment found on the mound may indicate the
presence of a temple, perhaps to Artemis, to whom an
inscription was found in the excavations. A test trench
on the N side of the mound produced parts of two
archaic-Classical buildings. Right at the river's edge below and a little to the E of the mound are a few courses
remaining of a tower constructed of large rectangular
blocks, which was built over the remains of an earlier one
of polygonal masonry, and seems itself to have been rebuilt. It is conjectured that this was a late archaic tower
rebuilt in the 4th c. B.C. From the mound the course of
two concentric city walls can be seen to the NE and W,
about 350-450 m away from the mound. The inner one
is possibly archaic or Classical; the outer, Hellenistic.
Investigations within the lower city area in 1958 turned
up sherds of the 6th c. B.C. through the Hellenistic period,
and some scanty remains of a public building and houses.
The agora of the ancient city may have been in the flat
area immediately to the E of the mound. Objects from
the excavations and some found by chance are in the
Larissa Museum.
A tumulus (Skismeni Magoula) ca. 2 km NW of
Gremnos Magoula and 1 km N of the river was partially
excavated in 1958-59. Under the edge of the mound were
three stone sarcophagi, close to each other and radiating
from the center of the mound. These were plain, and had
each been lined with a wooden coffin, one of which was
well preserved and contained fragments of clothing and
a pillow along with the skeleton. One of the others contained a lekythos of the 4th c. B.C. No trace of a built
tomb or other grave was found in the center of the
mound. Between Gremnos Magoula and Skismeni Magoula was a Hellenistic necropolis on the road leading
towards Gunitza. This was investigated in 1955 and 1958
and yielded a few objects. Some 70 m W-SW of the
Hellenistic necropolis one of the Classical period was
discovered in 1958. To the N of the road to Larissa from
Gremnos Magoula, 2 km E of the mound, is a group
of eight tumuli (Pente Magoules), perhaps Hellenistic
grave mounds, but so far uninvestigated. By the road at
this point Leake noted some ancient foundations and
blocks, and a piece of a Doric column (chord of flute
6 inches).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
W. M. Leake,
Nor. Gr. (1835) III 367;
IV 534; A.J.B. Wace & M. S. Thompson,
Prehistoric
Thessaly (1912) 54f; F. Stählin,
Das hellenische Thessalien (1924) 99-100; V. Milojćić,
AA (1955) 191-219
MI; (1956) 166-79
I; P. Franke, “Eine Bisher Unbekante Thessalische Münze aus Argura,”
AA (1955) 230-36; H. Biesantz,
AA (1957) 37-51
PI; (1959) 74-76.
T. S. MAC KAY
