Discovery of a 2,700 Year Old Portico in Greece
Contact: William Raillant-Clark w.raillant-clark@umontreal.ca 514-343-7593 University of Montreal Discovery of a 2,700-year-old portico in Greece Practicum students try to piece back together the multiple tile fragments that covered the floor of this shop in the Argilos portico. Click here for more information. A 2,700-year-old portico was discovered this summer on the site of the ancient city of Argilos in northern Greece, following an archaeological excavation led by Jacques Perreault, Professor at the University of Montreal's Centre of Classical Studies and Zisis Bonias, an archaeologist with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. In ancient Greece, the portico—stoa in Greek—was a long, open structure that often housed shops and delineated public squares from the city—the agora. "Porticos are well known from the Hellenistic period, from the 3rd to 1st century BC, but earlier examples are extremely rare. The one from Argilos is the ol...