Agia Paraskevi
of Arachamitai

• Introduction

• Reports

2011

Hellenistic Building

Site

Deity

AGIA PARASKEVI OF ARACHAMITAI

Report of work conducted in 2011

The Deity and the Sanctuary

Part of the roof tiles of RB I were stamped. The fragments so far found all seem to belong to two different, fairly long stamps. The first stamp is 31x3.8 cm large and consists of 19 letters. One intact stamp of this type is preserved together with more than ten fragments. The letters are only faintly legible and all of them are not visible even in the intact stamp, which reads: ΑΡΤ[.]ΜΙ[..]ΣΛΥΚΟΑΤ[-]ΔΟΣ. However, a comparison with two fragmentarily preserved stamps of the same type (ΑΡΤΕΜ[.]TΟ[.]ΛΥΚΟΑ[.....] and [.......]ΟΣΛΥ[........]), ascertains the full reading, which is:  Ἀρτέμιτος Λυκοάτιδος, i.e., “belonging to Artemis Lykoatis".

The second stamp is less common; so far only four fragments belonging to this type have been found. The stamp is at least 17.5x3.5 cm large, although the length on the basis of the preserved letters probably was around 30 cm. The beginning of the text can be reconstructed on the basis of two fragments (ΔΕΣΠΟΙΝ.... and ...ΝΑΣΑΚ...) as reading Δέσποινας ΑΚ..., i.e., belonging to Despoina AK.....

Artemis appears only once with the topographical epithet Lykoatis and that is in the small Mainalian polis Lykoa/Lykaia, which is known from Pausanias’ description of the route from Megalopolis along the river Helisson to the plain and mountain of Mainalos (Paus. 8.36.5-8). The stamps prove without doubt that Lykoa/Lykaia was located at Agia Paraskevi of Arachamitai, a fact that in a significant way redraws part of the ancient Arcadian topography, as it implies that the Arachamitai valley is identical with the valley of Mainalos and the Agios Elias mountain is the Mainalos mountain.

The Late Hellenistic Building

Observations on the Rest of the Site