Thalamai Excavation 1905
Evaluation: Trials
The first site examined by the British School at Athens in Laconia was that of Thalamai by G. Dickins. The site is on the west coast, famous in antiquity for its oracular shrine of the Goddess Ino and the sacred spring mentioned by Pausanias. The site was determined to be outside the village of Koutiphari. At the site, a spring consisting of a modern vaulted chamber where the water wells up and then flows out across a sunken court which is in part enclosed by a wall of fine Hellenic masonry. Trial trenches showed traces of ancient occupation around the spring. However, the area had been ransacked for stone in the Middle Ages. The countryside is studded with little Byzantine churches, often built of ancient blocks where G. Dickins discovered and photographed sculptured marble blocks. A few inscriptions were gleaned - one, an archaic dedication to Asclepius, gives a new form of his name. However, no new light was thrown on the cult of the local goddess.
Active in 1905.
Dickins, Mr Guy
1905. Annual Meeting of Subscribers. BSA 11: 309-319. Direct link
Dickins, Guy. 1905. Laconia. III. Thalamae. 2. Inscriptions. BSA 11: 131-136. Direct link