Il linguaggio architettonico della Tessaglia in età tardo-classica ed ellenistica: considerazioni preliminari a partire dal caso di Skotoussa

Ongoing archaeological research in the Thessalian city of Skotoussa is bringing to light evidence of important public buildings, which help to outline a gradual process of monumentalisation of the urban landscape started in the second half of the 4th century BC. The architectural elements found during both excavations and systematic intra-site survey offered significant clues about the treatment of the Doric and Ionic orders in the late Classical and Hellenistic periods, which allow us to formulate the first considerations on the workers and their skills, as well as on the exploitation of local raw materials in the city building programs. The paper analyses these data in relation to the evidence of Doric and Ionic buildings of other Thessalian centres, attempting to define, at least in broad terms, the characteristics of the local architectural culture of the period. Comparisons with the contemporary testimonies of Macedonia show significant differences, according to which it seems legitimate to maintain that the workers active in Skotoussa in the early Hellenism developed an autonomous language, of Peloponnesian origin and with very limited Macedonian influences.