Be-Kos It's Worth It

The normally placid shores of the world of Classical Archeology were awash with excitement today as scholars worldwide began to digest the consequences of the groundbreaking findings published for the first time in Volume LXIII: North Eastern Kos - the latest in the series of Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium on the Archeology of the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Symposium - attended strictly by invitation and so open only to the finest minds in the field - is renowned for its ability to throw up new findings or at least to shed new light on old ones (last year Professore Nelle Ombre (Università di Genova) even managed to shed old light on new findings and was excluded this year as a result). This year is certainly no exception.

Professor Theophrastus Eftadaktyla and his "assistant" Ms Marina Pote-tin-Kyriaki have at last revealed details of their excavations in the Old City of Kos and in doing so uncovered the hitherto shadowy world of the legendary Τηρθπιεcιον (Thrupiecion) about which so much has been written and yet so little is known.

The status of the Τηρθπιεcιον - myth or reality, architectural thoroughbred or functional mongrel - has remained in doubt ever since its existence was first proposed in the early 2000s. [Up until that time, many scholars had believed it was merely a kind of temple - a sacred space without definitive form.] As Symposium President Professor Katalávete Oataprágmata famously said at the 2015 Συνέδριο Ανατολικών Μεσογειακών σπιτιών και κήπων (Eastern Mediterranean Homes and Gardens Conference): “...our knowledge of the exact design and functionality of the Thrupiecion will remain tantalisingly sketchy - as well as ontologically disputatious - until and unless an intact (or near perfectly preserved) Thrupieceum can be found and excavated”. Professor Theophrastus Eftadaktyla and his "assistant" Ms Marina Pote-tin-Kyriaki seem to have taken that as a challenge: and a challenge which - in a fertile "coming together" - they have met triumphantly.

After digging for almost two seasons, the "Hans and Lotte Haas of the Trowel, Bucket and Brush" [Unique Dorset Archeologists] have finally proven not only the existence of the Thrupiecion, but also its form and function, establishing in the process a remarkable continuity from pre-Hellenistic times and through the emergence of the fully-fledged Thrupiecion of Classical Greek antiquity into the Roman period during which the modified Thrupieceum achieved its highest status amongst worshippers of the Thrupecian Apollo. All is now revealed in The Thrupiecion [in the Ancient City of Kos] and anyone with an appetite for dusty stones, scattered blocks, wild surmises and dubious extrapolations should be sure to check it out tout suite.

A digital copy of Professor Theophrastus Eftadaktyla's (and his "assistant" Ms Marina Pote-tin-Kyriaki's) full report can be accessed HERE

Following the publication of The Thrupiecion [in the Ancient City of Kos] interest in Professor Theophrastus Eftadaktyla and his "assistant" Ms Marina Pote-tin-Kyriaki has increased significantly. The Professor and his finds feature on the cover of this month's Unique Dorset Archeologists.