Plataiai in Boiotia: A Preliminary Report of the 1996-2001 Campaigns

by Vassilis Aravantinos, Andreas Konecny, and Ronald T. Marchese

Hesperia, Volume 72, Issue 3
Page(s): 281-320
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3182023
Year: 2003
VIEW ONLINE

ABSTRACT:

Recent research at Plataiai in southern Boiotia by the Plataiai Research Project (1996-2001) has added substantially to our knowledge of the site's history. Inhabited since the Neolithic period, Plataiai was protected by fortifications from the early 5th century B.C. onward. Under the aegis of King Philip II the settlement area was greatly enlarged. The circuit wall was shortened by the insertion of a diateichisma during Hellenistic times, and the city laid out along an orthogonal grid. The settlement remained in this form until Late Roman times when a new fortification wall again constricted the perimeter. Occupation continued until medieval times, when Plataiai was abandoned, replaced by two smaller villages nearby.