The tholos tomb at Vapheio in Laconia was famously excavated
in 1889 by Christos Tsountas, pioneer Greek archaeologist of prehistory. The
tomb is huge, only slightly smaller than the so-called Treasuries of Atreus and
Minyas. Even at the time of excavation, it was in far worse shape than most
tombs of this type, but still gave up two glorious gold cups with beautiful
carved scenes depicting bulls in relief. Cups of this shape are now called
Vapheio Cups.
I first visited the tomb in the mid-nineties although I
don’t think I walked down to the entrance then. We visited again on the way
back from Mani in September 2011 and while Corinna fed Nausika, I took Ariadne
to her first Tholos Tomb...
 |
| The tomb, from above and the south |
The site is in pretty rough shape, despite a nicely paved walkway
going most of the distance from the road to the tomb. The fence is in the
standard Greek archaeological site fencing condition – or perhaps slightly
worse, with the “cheeky little hole” (by which I mean to render «πονηρή τρυπούλα») being large and just next to the
padlocked fence.
 |
| Shambolic fencing that even a two year old can circumvent... |
The fence closes off the tomb at the end of the dromos,
which is more than 30m long, leading up towards the stomion.
 |
| Dromos |
The stomion is in a pretty bad shape as well – it is thought
that the blocks from the tomb have been incorporated into structures in the
nearby sanctuary of Apollo Hyakinthos at Kleonae, so it is no surprise that
very little remains above the third or fourth course.
 |
| Stomion in bad shape... |
The wooden planks put up, I don’t know when, are not
surviving too well and it all looks like the tomb is going to have to fight to
make it to the 125th anniversary of the excavation in any shape worth writing
home about.
For the rest of the road trip, click:
 |
| 2011 Peloponnesian road trip |
No comments:
Post a Comment