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The Restoration Project of Hellenistic Agorà
of Kos: the Anastylosis of a Section of the
Eastern Colonnade and the Musealization of
the Archaeological Area
rossana netti, Politecnico di Torino
The hellenistic agorà of Kos
The large complex of the Agorà of Kos came to light in the southwestern
area of the so-called “Walled City”, the medieval fortified
district destroyed in the 1933 earthquake and subsequently excavated
by Luciano Laurenzi, replaced by Luigi Morricone 1 in 1935.
The excavation brought to light the northernmost part of the agorà,
but, as time passed, other areas, belonging to the same monument,
were identified further south, as far as to include some religious
buildings - the Dionysus’ altar and the Attalids’ temple 2 - placed at
a distance of more than 200 meters from the northern sector. Kos’s
would therefore be one of the largest agoras of the ancient world.
Situated in the centre of the ancient city, at the intersection of two areas
of the urban assemblage, the Eastern one, with its checkerboard
like implant and regular blocks, and the Western one, corresponding
to the Acropolis, rotated, considering the first one, presumably
for topographical reasons, the agorà is structured according to the
Hippodamian urban principles.
More complex is the complete and detailed reconstruction of the
planimetry, based on assays and excavations carried out in isolated
points of the city.
The archaeological remains document the succession of different
constructive phases: the construction of the square probably began
in the fourth century BC, after the foundation of the city in 366,
while the last phases of occupation of public spaces can be traced
back to the Byzantine age.
The agora was the subject of a full reconstruction between the late
third and the early second century BC when the whole city of Kos
reached the stage of its heyday, as it was completely renewed of the
square were entirely built of marble, using the chromatic contrast
between white marble and black-blue marble, a choice that is characteristic
of several monuments from the same period. 3
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