Isthmia Excavation 1932-1933: Season 1933
Excavation: Research excavation
Jenkins's trial excavation at Isthmia, begun in 1932, was completed in 1933. The Byzantine fort which had been regarded as the temenos of Poseidon was thoroughly examined with the following results:-the earliest settlement there goes back to the first century A.D.; this continued till the third century. In the sixth century Justinian built a fort on the site to hold the eastern extremity of his great trans-Isthmian wall. The only pre-sixth-century part of the walls now existing is a Roman arch of the first century, which was included in the circuit wall to form the north-east gateway. A Roman head of the third century was found built into the foundations of a Byzantine house. Areas to the west were examined, and yielded remains of the first and third centuries. In the area proposed by Fimmen as the site of the classical temenos, only Roman walls were found, the large limestone blocks lying on the surface not being connected with any traceable foundations: not one classical sherd was found here. The banks of the Kyras Vrysi ravine, however, produced traces of an extensive archaic and classical settlement, which has been much damaged by subsequent occupation and earthquake. Excavation in a very small area produced sherds of Geometric, Protocorinthian, Corinthian, Attic and Roman pottery; also a votive terracotta of the late sixth century B.C. and a piece of painted revetment of the late fifth.
Active in 1933.