Cassope

Kassope (Greek Κασσώπη ) was an ancient city in north- western Greece. In the region of Epirus located can be found in Kassope an extensive findings of a late classical Greek city.

Start-up and conveyance data are very well dated. The city was not built over again in the later stages. Because it virtually admits Kassope as no literary sources, nothing definite can be said about political structure and everyday life of the Kassopeer.

Kassope lies in a valley beneath a mountain ridge and is consistently steep.

Excavation history

1805 traveled the English archaeologist William Martin Leake by the Epirus and came first to the few superficial ruins of the city Kassope. After a few days stay Leake could bring the find site with the ancient town Kassope in conjunction with some sketches and traveled in the luggage on.

In the next time only a few archaeologists visited the place described by Leake and came there again and again to the same findings. Among them also Ferdinand Noack, a famous German archaeologist and was a frequent visitor of northwestern Greece.

1952-1955 found in Kassope first excavations under the Greek archaeologist Sotiris Dakaris place, the continued 1976-1982 as a joint project of the Architecture Unit of the German Archaeological Inistituts and Greek Ephorie under the direction of Dakaris, Wolfram Hoepfner, Konstantina Gravani and Ernst -Ludwig Schwandner were.

Creation and conveyance of Kassope

The Kassopäer, a part of the tribe of Thesprotians, founded around 350 BC the city Kassope by a scheduled synoecism their laying nearby villages. This dating is based on inscriptions mention Kassopes in one of the Thearodoken lists from Epidauros, the 360 BC -355 BC dated securely.

Was leaving the city, as Augustus in 31 BC, a few kilometers south of the city Kassope Nicopolis founded and commanded the synoecism.

Landscape and economy

In the northern region around Kassope is easily accessible, today occupied for livestock Bergland, which has been already used extensively by the ancient Kassopäern. To the south, a large fertile plain to Ambracian golf and to Nicopolis follows, which was used backed by archaeological evidence for agriculture.

In the early days Kassope was probably a purely agricultural city in which only a few artisans covered the needs of the local population. With growing trade with Elischen and Corinthian colonies on the coast, especially with Pandosia, Batiai and Ambracia, the rise Kassopes that led to the Hellenistic period to increased trade with the large Greek colonies began. Occupied by these coins led economic relations have meant that Kassope one of the important Hellenistic trading node was. Especially the coins from Kassope reflect this in all its facets again.

Agricultural always self-sufficient, it lacked the Kassopäern only of good stone and mineral resources.

Cityscape and architecture

Kassope presents itself as a strip in the city Hippodamian principle, is east-west oriented and divided into 19 horizontal and two vertical lines. The main road forms the southern vertical road that leads from the west gate to the east gate and thereby leads past the Agora.

Walls and Gates

The city wall of Kassope includes the entire metropolitan area and is only there not running, where natural terrain edges make a city wall unnecessary. In the north- west and north- east are the two acropolis of the city, which were used in the siege, and the event of war as a retreat point of the population. They are both enclosed by the city walls and each have a cistern. Kassope has three goals, two of which, West and East Gate, located at the two ends of the main street. Here are the most earliest wedge stone arch of Greek antiquity. The third port is the source port, below the Agora.

Houses

The units are divided into insulae, the irregularly bordered many houses in West-East direction is always two, in north-south direction. The entrances to the houses were on the long side of the insula and thus directed to the secondary roads respectively.

The question of whether it is type houses in Kassope is more controversial. The Kassopische house in the start-up phase but has quite a typed outline. So you came from the entrance directly into a small courtyard, from which the two areas of the house went off, the public and the private. In the public part can be found storerooms, shops and the Andron, in the private sector, however, the bedroom, the bathroom ( only for some safe houses identified) and the Oikos with the hearth. The private area of the house was probably two floors, where the public had one floor.

The base of a Kassopischen house was almost 130 m². The houses were built with a base of polygonal masonry and possessed about it over a wall of mud brick. Covered were the roofs with baked bricks.

The Agora

In the southeast of the city, the agora is located. Here was the political, social and economic center of the city. As mentioned above, it can be concluded on the political order Kassopes only from the archaeological sources, which is not easier here. The building program of the Agora consists of three buildings and several honors and monuments. In the north, as a boundary to the main road can be the north stoa find a typical Northwest Greek stoa with two short ledges on the front page. To the southeast is the identified as Buleuterion construction and opposite him a building that is named by the excavators as prytaneion, but this is still controversial. In front of it is still the slightly younger, smaller Weststoa.

The sacred

In Kassope there are three, main as a sacred building. The Temple of Kassope is located northwest of the city and is called the Doric Peripteros. There are not more than the foundations of the temple to receive. Schwandner reconstructs the probably smallest Doric peripteral antiquity. As another religious building is still the Heroon of Kassope to call in the southwest of the city. This underground vault is a cult hero cities of the mythical city of Kassope a place of worship of the ancestors. To what heroes they were in Kassope can no longer be reconstructed. The Heroon shows the oldest Greek keystone vault.

The third religious building is still a building to call in the south of the city. This is identified as a sacred building, since his plan is different from all others and him no further meaning can be detected by objects found with him, so his appointment is more controversial.

The Theatre

In the north- west of the city lies the theater of Kassope, a rather poorly preserved building, which represents the typical shape of a Greek theater.

The Marktbau

North of the agora is the Marktbau of Kassope. This almost square building is divided into its interior into a place and a circumferential gear, the lean, the business premises. Previously, the Marktbau was often identified as Katagogion what can not be proven by the new finds. A designation as Marktbau is probably quite safe.

Kassope today

The ancient systems can be viewed as a starting point for visits to the site Zalongo serves regional prefecture of Preveza.