The Apollo Klarios Sanctuary: August 13-21, 2008

The research in the church located on the location of the temple of Apollo Klarios was centred to the west of the actual building. The original intention was to check the location of the original entrances both to the temple and the later church. For this purposes, two trenches were laid out, one in the prolongation of the entrances of the church, one just next to an Augustan portal which is still in situ. The first trench uncovered part of the limestone pavement of the atrium of the church. The present day space is bordered on three sides, north, east and south, by rubble walls. It is not yet certain whether this reflects the original situation or whether it is the result of later alterations. The pavement itself also underwent later changes, including the replacement of part of the slabs by a brick floor and the dismantling of other sections. In a final phase, a low wall was added just in front of the church entrance. This consisted of several architectural fragments, including columns bases and a column capital, connected with mortar. In the collapse layer covering the atrium, a collection of architectural fragments carrying a decoration of lion heads were found. They must also have belonged to the original temple and must have collected near the church entrance for decorational purposes.

In the second trench near the original Augustan entrance, we only removed the collapse layer, which in this area was only 0.40 m thick. The remains of this area again obviously belonged to a much later period in time. Reused architectural fragments integrated into the soil included part of the original temple temenos. The trench was bordered in the east by a later rubble wall including a wide door, which in its turn was blocked at a later moment in time. The southern border of the trench was formed by a very long (3.60 m) block, which also displayed traces of wear and could also have functioned as doorsill.

Finally, a sounding was laid out in the area were the slabs of the atrium have been removed. In this trench, deposits dating back to Augustan times were encountered. They consisted of ash layers with a large amount of ceramics. In all likelihood, these represent the leftovers of sacrifices once brought in the temple.