Skotoussa: The excavation at the Ηellenistic public building (Sector A), 2014-2017

The paper presents the preliminary results of the excavation of an Hellenistic public building located in the eastern sector of the city, in front of the East city gate of Skotoussa. Archaeological research, started with a test trench by the Ephoria of Larissa (Dr Sophia Karapanou), was resumed by the University of Messina in 2014. To date, three rooms have been identified along a north-south axis, two of which have been systematically excavated in the following years, whereas the northern room couldn’t be excavated because of its poor state of preservation. In the middle and southern rooms the strata of the collapse of the roof and the walls were better preserved; excavation has brought to light the floor of the two rooms, which in the middle one was composed of small river pebbles bound with mortar, placed on a preparation layer of limestone. Numerous architectural elements have been found, that allow a first reconstruction of the interior layout of the building. In particular, the southern hall had a Corinthian colonnade placed around a central square space, perhaps hypaethral. The character of this arrangement, along with the discovery of fragments of sculptures and other marble artefacts, leaves no doubt about the public and perhaps cultic nature of the building.