ASINE
Argolid, Greece.
On the coast ca. 8
km SE of Nauplia and a little over one km NE of Tolon.
Prehistoric settlement with remains dating from the
Early, Middle, Late Helladic, Protogeometric, and Geometric periods. Deserted about 700 B.C., it was again
inhabited from shortly after 300 B.C. in Hellenistic and
Roman times. The site is mentioned by Homer, Strabo,
Ptolemy, and Pausanias.
Remains were uncovered on the acropolis, in the lower
city, in a field NE of the acropolis, and on Mt. Barbouna.
The acropolis and the lower town were surrounded by a
Hellenistic fortification wall provided with towers. A city
gate leads to the lower town remodeled in Roman and
Venetian times. There is a Hellenistic oil or wine press
on the top of the acropolis.
Architectural remains from Early and Middle Helladic,
Late Helladic III, Geometric, Hellenistic, and Roman
times were found. Notable are two Early Helladic houses
with absidal ends, a Roman bath, a great reservoir belonging to the Hellenistic or Roman period, and burials
from various periods consisting of cists, pithoi, shafts or
earth-cut graves. House G is an important Late Mycenaean building consisting of at least nine rooms, one of
which had two column bases and a cult ledge in one
coiner.
There are Mycenaean tombs on the NE and N side of
Mt. Barbouna. Seven Mycenaean chamber tombs, a Geometric pit tomb, and three Hellenistic shaft tombs were
investigated, but many more tombs were traced. Geometric stone-settings were excavated on the S side of the
hill and an archaic building, perhaps a Temple to Apollo
Pythaios, mentioned by Pausanias, was found on the
uppermost terrace of Mt. Barbouna.
Early and Late Mycenaean, Protogeometric, and Geometric habitation remains and tombs of Middle Helladic,
Protogeometric and archaic date were found in recent
excavations in a field NE of the acropolis. Early Mycenaean and Geometric house walls were also uncovered
on the lowest slope of Mt. Barbouna, just opposite the
acropolis. Traces of an extramural cemetery of the
Middle Helladic period were found on the same slope.
The principal finds are in the Nauplia Museum, in Uppsala, and in the Museum of Mediterranean Antiquities
in Stockholm.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
E. Curtius,
Peloponnesos (1852) II
167ff; H. Schliemann,
Tiryns (1886) 48ff; J. G. Frazer,
Paus. Des. Gr. V (1898) 601ff; L. Renaudin, “Note sur
le site d'Asiné en Argolide,”
BCH 45 (1921) 295ff; A. W.
Persson, “Recherches préliminaires en vue de fouilles
suédoises,”
BLund (1920-21) 17ff; id., “Aperçu provisoire des résultats obtenus au cours des fouilles d'Asiné faites en 1922,”
BLund (1922-23) 25ff; O. Frödin & Persson, “Rapport préliminaire sur les fouilles d'Asiné 1922-1924,”
BLund (1924-1925) 23ff; Persson,
Asine (1931); Frödin & Persson,
Asine: Results of the Swedish Excavations 1922-1930 (1938)
MPI; R. L. Scranton,
Greek Walls (1941); N. Valmin,
Vid vinrött hav, 2d rev. ed. (1953)
11-25; R. Hägg, “Geometrische Gräber von Asine,”
Opus. Athen. 6 (1965) 116ff; C. G. Styrenius & A. Vidén, “New Excavations at Asine,”
AAA 4 (1971) 147-148; S. Dietz, “Kistegrave fin en første graesk storhedstid—en foreløbig meddelelse fra udgravningerne i Asine,”
Fra Nationalmuseets arbejdsmark (1971) 57-70; I. & R.
Hägg, “Excavations in the Barbouna Area at Asine, 1,”
Boreas 4.1 (1973) with bibliography on pp. 14-15; R.
Hägg, “Die Gräber der Argolis, 1. Lage und Form der
Gräber,”
Boreas 7.1 (1974) 47-56.
Hom.
Il. 2.560;
Strab. 8.4.4, 8.6.3, 8.6.11, 8.6.13,
8.16.17; Ptol. 3.16.20;
Paus. 2.28.2, 2.36.4-5, 3.7.4, 4.8.3,
4.24.4, 4.27.8, 4.34.9-12;
Diod. Sic. 4.37.2; Herodian 1.
333L; Nic. Dam. 38 (FHG 3.376).
P. ÅSTRÖM
