News - Report on the Koumoundouros Hill survey

Fig. 1 Before and After Pictures of the Tower.

Fig. 2 The Tower, as excavated in 1935.

Fig. 3 Kerry pointing while Noah shoots. No detail escapes the survey team!

Fig. 4 Kerry, Ioannis and David checking the results of the survey on site.

Author: Mads Møller Nielsen

The ancient coastal fortifications of the Piraeus are the oldest and most prominent physical reminder of the position the city held in antiquity.

They represent a unique example of military engineering, spanning a period of more than 500 years, beginning in 527-510 BC when Hippias fortified a part of the Piraean peninsula, to 86 BC when the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla destroyed the city’s fortifications in his war with Mithridates.

Piraeus again prospered in the 2nd century AD, particularly during the reign of Hadrian and the Antonines, but it is uncertain whether any parts of it were refortified at the time.

Almost 2500 years ago Aristotle considered it somewhat dishonourable for someone to seek refuge behind a wall, but he found the issue of whether or not a polis should have a fortification important enough to warrant discussion (Politics VII.11.5-12, 1330b-1331a).

It may seem obvious to us today that city walls and coastal fortifications, despite their huge costs, would have been completely rational defensive investments in antiquity, particularly in light of the many wars between neighboring city-states.

Nevertheless, Plato thought it was unnatural, and actually reviled Themistokles, Kimon and Perikles for having ‘glutted Athens with harbours and dockyards and walls and tribute and rubbish of that sort’ (Laws 778d4-779a7; Gorgias 519a).

With our work on the hill of Koumoundouros we have taken one more essential step in analysing the ancient fortifications in Piraeus, and understanding this glut of man-made refuges.

The initial stage of our work focused on the cleaning and inspection of a large round tower, and wall (Fig. 1).

The tower had been excavated in 1935 (Fig. 2), but further archaeological material has been uncovered due to the removal of the older ‘Villa Koumoundouros’ upon construction of the Yacht Club (N.O.E), and the archaeological importance has only now been documented.

Furthermore, the precision with which we can now record the archaeological remains is very high compared to what was possible at the time of the earlier excavation. Every little detail found during inspection of the remains is registered by the survey team: One person will hold a target at points on the structure which is being “drawn”, and another person operates a “Total Station” to register the exact location of each of these points (Fig. 3).

This process continues until the structure has been completely surveyed in 3 dimensions. The data is then downloaded to a CAD (Computer Aided Design) Program which connects the registered points by lines to create a wire frame drawing of the surveyed structure. This is then checked by the survey team in order to make sure that nothing is missing (Fig. 4).

Initially the tower was dated to the late sixth or early fifth century BC because of the type of its construction. This means that it could perhaps be a tower built by Hippias as he fortified the Mounichia hill.

Alternatively, it could have been built by Themistokles in his efforts to secure Athens after the Persian raids. Other alternatives might appear as we continue our work. In the following weeks of post-processing and research, we will try to find the answers we seek regarding the fortifications’ origins, date and purposes, while we also continue the survey on other parts of the Koumoundouros Hill. More on that later!

The team: Bjørn Lovén, Sigrid Rasdal Eliassen, Mads Møller Nielsen,Richard Anderson, Ioannis Triantafillidis, Kerry Jones, David Williams and Noah Mamis