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Ancient Fortress of Oinoi, site Lefka, Municipality of Mandra-Eidyllia

Ancient Fortress of Oinoi, site Lefka, Municipality of Mandra-Eidyllia

The ancient municipality of Oinoi is mentioned by Herodotus as one of the "most distant municipalities of Attica". According to Thucydides, at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, in 431 BC, when the Spartans invaded Attica, Oinoi was the first settlement to be besieged, but not occupied. Most likely the inhabitants of Oinoi had taken refuge inside the ancient fortress, whose construction dates back to classical times.

Ancient Iera Odos (Sacred Way), Municipalities of Egaleo, Chaidari, Aspropyrgos, Elefsina

Ancient Iera Odos (Sacred Way), Municipalities of Egaleo, Chaidari, Aspropyrgos, Elefsina

The Iera Odos was the main road in antiquity. It started from the Holy Gate of the wall of Athens, in the area of Kerameikos, and ended in Elefsina, in the Sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone. The worship procession to Eleusis passed through the Iera Odos. Before entering the sanctuary, the procession of the faithful rested and regrouped in Pompeion. Along the ancient road there were gardens, fruit trees, rural sanctuaries, shrines, cemeteries, funerary monuments. The Iera Odos was also an important trade route that connected Athens with the Peloponnese and central Greece.

Ancient Road, Attiki Odos side road, Municipality of Acharnes

Ancient Road, Attiki Odos side road, Municipality of Acharnes

Here is the main route linking the city of Athens with the deme of Acharnai, uncovered between 2000-2002 during the construction of the Attiki Odos motorway and the Suburban Railway. The initial construction phase of the ancient road dates to the classical period (5th century BC), and it appears to have remained in use right up to modern times.

Ancient Theatre of Acharnai. Municipality of Acharnes

Ancient Theatre of Acharnai. Municipality of Acharnes

The existence of a theater in Acharnes was known from two inscriptions that had been found earlier in the area and today are kept in the Epigraphic Museum and the Archaeological Collection of Acharnes. The Ancient Theater of Acharnai was revealed accidentally in 2007 during the excavation for the construction of a building on a private plot at 21 Salaminos Street, in the center of the modern Municipality. The construction of the theater dates to the 4th century BC, while the site was in use until Roman times.

Ancient Tower of Oinoi, Municipality of Mandra-Eidyllia

Ancient Tower of Oinoi, Municipality of Mandra-Eidyllia

Next to the Old National Road Athens - Thebes, at the height of the modern settlement of Oinoi (Mazi), the northwestern corner of an ancient quadrilateral tower is preserved. It is maintained at a height of 14m. and it is estimated that it had a total of four floors. Dates back to the 4th c. BC. The Tower, which had a supervisory and defensive character, should be associated with the ancient road Athens - Eleusis - Thebes, as well as with other monuments of the respective period that exist in the area, such as the Ancient Fortress of Oinoi, Eleftherai and Panaktos, as well as with the ancient circular tower on the hill Velatouri.

Arcaeological Site of Monastery of Daphni, Municipality of Chaidari - UNESCO World Heritage Monument

Arcaeological Site of Monastery of Daphni, Municipality of Chaidari - UNESCO World Heritage Monument

The Monastery of Daphni lies to the west of Athens, almost half-way along the ancient Sacred Way to Eleusis. According to Pausanias, in this area was the ancient sanctuary of Apollo Daphnaios which was destroyed during the invasion of the Goths in 395 A.D. The first monastery was erected on the sanctuary site in the 6th c AD and was enclosed by strong defensive walls, almost square in plan. The Catholicon was a three-aisled basilica which stood in the center of the courtyard. Along the inner NE side of the walls, two-storied buildings were constructed, containing the cells of the monks. A refectory and a second block of cells were attached to the north wall of the enclosure.

Archaeological Site of Aigosthena, Porto Germeno, Municipality of Mandra-Eidyllia

Archaeological Site of Aigosthena, Porto Germeno, Municipality of Mandra-Eidyllia

“...remoteness has preserved for us a Greek fortified town

in better condition and greater completeness than any other...

a place, for those who have seen it, to marvel at and return to”  

                                                                                E.F. Benson, 1895

Archaeological Site of Eleusis. Municipality of Elefsina

Archaeological Site of Eleusis. Municipality of Elefsina

The sanctuary of Eleusis was one of the most important worship centers of the ancient world. Within its area developed, from the Mycenaean Age to the end of the 4th c. AD,  the cult of goddess Demeter and her daughter, Persephone, which is associated with the cultivation of land, vegetation, fertility, and the Eleusinian Mysteries, for which she claimed absolute secrecy.

 

 

Church of Agios Athanasios, Eleonas, Municipality of Megara

Church of Agios Athanasios, Eleonas, Municipality of Megara

The Church of Agios Athanasios belongs to the architectural type of the simple four-column cruciform inscribed domed church. The dating of the fresco of Agia Kyriaki in the first half of the 13th c. provides an ante quem dating of the monument.

Church of Agios Georgios, site Orkos, Eleonas, Municipality of Megara

Church of Agios Georgios, site Orkos, Eleonas, Municipality of Megara

The Church of Agios Georgios is located at the site "Orkos" or "Abatzades" in Eleonas, very close to the tunnels of the ancient aqueduct that fed the "Fountain of Theagenes", in the city of Megara. The church dates back to the 12th century and today survives in a semi-ruined condition.

Eleonas, Municipality of Megara

Eleonas, Municipality of Megara

The Eleonas of Megara is spread out overgrown with centuries-old olive trees, among which are still preserved the Byzantine churches of Eleonas that the travelers of the 17th century saw on their journey.

«Returning to Megara, we took our horses and went three or four miles north,
to a ruined town called Paleochori, where we saw six or seven churches,
built, as I found out, from the ruins of some older buildings.
In there we found ancient inscriptions»

George Wheler and Jacob Spon, travelers, 1676

Fortification Wall Dema, Ano Liosia, Municipality of Phili

Fortification Wall Dema, Ano Liosia, Municipality of Phili

1) Dema Wall. It is located 3km west of the center of Ano Liosia, in the saddle between Parnitha and Mount Egaleo, which was the widest passage from the west to the Athenian plain. The name Dema is newer and means link (bundle) of Egaleo with Parnitha.
2) A Circular tower-observatory is located at the top of the hill Pyrgarthi, 180m. east of the Dema wall.
3) "Back Wall". It is located about 225m. east of the Dema Wall and parallel to it.

Fortress of Eleutherai, site Kaza, Municipality of Mandra-Eidyllia

Fortress of Eleutherai, site Kaza, Municipality of Mandra-Eidyllia

The archaeological site of Eleutherai encompasses part of the lowland and rocky hill, where the ancient fortress, known as Gyftokastro, stands. Eleutherai was allegedly the birthplace of Dionysus, who founded the homonymous city and was thus called Dionysus Eleuthereus. Originally a Boeotian city, Eleutherai went over to Athens in the sixth century BC. Strategically located on the borderline of the Athenian territory, with control over the narrow passage between Athens and Thebes and overlooking the plain of Oinoe, Eleutherai was part of the Athenian defence network in the fourth century BC.

Fortress of Fyli. Municipality of Fyli

Fortress of Fyli. Municipality of Fyli

Fortification work of the 4th century B.C. which controls the mountain pass between Attica and Viotia. It is located about 1000m. southwest of the place where the ancient municipality of Fyle is located.

Monastery of Osios Meletios Kithaironos, Oinoi, Municipality of Mandra-Eidyllia

Monastery of Osios Meletios Kithaironos, Oinoi, Municipality of Mandra-Eidyllia

The Monastery of Osios Meletios, one of the most important monastic complexes in the country, is located SE of Mount Pastra of Kithairon and is about 2.5 km east of the settlement of Oinoi. The history of the monastery is strongly connected with the action of Osios Meletios the Younger, who was the reformer of the ascetic life in Greece.

Roman Farmhouses, site Agia Triada, Municipality of Megara

Roman Farmhouses, site Agia Triada, Municipality of Megara

On the north slope of the peninsula, near the small Christian temple of the Holy Trinity, walls of the late archaic period are preserved, probably associated with a watchtower. During the Roman period, two Farmhouses were built in the same area. The largest of the two was set greatest on and around the archaic structure, thus he more modest farmhouse stands at the NW of the archaic structure

Sanctuary of Aphrodite at Daphne, Municipality of Chaidari

Sanctuary of Aphrodite at Daphne, Municipality of Chaidari

In the middle of the way to Eleusis, the Iera Odos met the Sanctuary of Aphrodite (today in the area of Chaidari, shortly after the Monastery of Daphni). The sanctuary is well known from a reference by the Greek traveler Pausanias who identified it during his course to Eleusina. The Sanctuary was in use from the classical to the Roman period.

 

Tholos tomb of Acharnai, Municipality of Acharnes

Tholos tomb of Acharnai, Municipality of Acharnes

The Mycenaean tholos tomb at Acharnai (or the so called tholos tomb of Menidi) was excavated by the German Archaelogical Institute in 1879, under the supervision of the Greek Government’ s Ephorate of Antiquities. It’s the best preserved tholos tomb in Attica. The tholos tomb at Acharnai is the latest in Attica, dating to the 14th-13th cent. B.C. It was built to receive the members of the elite families of the region.

Tomb of Kar, beginning of ancient Scironian Odos, Municipality of Megara

Tomb of Kar, beginning of ancient Scironian Odos, Municipality of Megara

West of the city of Megara and next to the National Road, on a hill at the beginning of the ancient Skironian Odos, the foundations of a large circular building are preserved, which is probably related to a tower - observatory that controlled the passage of Skironidos road and ensured the safety of passers-by in times of war. This monument has also been identified as the tomb of Kar, after the legendary king of Megara.

Tomb of Sophocles, Varymbombi, Municipality of Acharnes

Tomb of Sophocles, Varymbombi, Municipality of Acharnes

The funerary monument, known as the “Tomb of Sophocles” in Varymbombi, was excavated in 1888 by L. Münter, director of the royal estate of Tatoi and constitutes without doubt a very well-preserved example of a family tomb of the Classical Age. Although the identification of the burial mound in Varymbombi with the tomb of Sophocles seems probable, it has not yet been confirmed by the archaeological evidence.

Tower-Fryktoria of Limiko, Parnitha, Municipality of Acharnes

Tower-Fryktoria of Limiko, Parnitha, Municipality of Acharnes

In the area of Loimikos, in the northern part of the mountain range of Parnitha, there is a fryktoria-observatory of the first half of the 4th c. BC, known as Loimikos Tower. The purpose of its establishment must have been the surveillance of the road that came from the plain of Tanagra and led from the eastern passages to Athens.

Tower-Fryktoria, Mount Egaleo, Municipality of Petroupoli

Tower-Fryktoria, Mount Egaleo, Municipality of Petroupoli

Remains of a circular tower - fryktoria, with a diameter of 5.50m. and a height of 1.50 m., and its precinct at the top of Zacharitsa (altitude 452 m.) of Mount Egaleo in Petroupoli. It was built in order to receive messages from the west and send them to Athens and vice versa, as well as to monitor the wider area.

Towers of Vathychoria, Municipality of Mandra-Eidyllia

Towers of Vathychoria, Municipality of Mandra-Eidyllia

The Vathichoria villages, Mikro Vathichori and Megalo Vathichori, are located on Mount Patera in an inaccessible area where traces of household, rural settlements, and towers can be found. The circular tower located north of Megalo Vathichori is one of the best preserved monuments of antiquity and is part of a series of at least six towers. The towers of the Vathychoria, belonging to the 4th century B.C. defense system of the Megarian region, guarded that mountain road in order to ensure safe passage for the armies from the Peloponnese to Boeotia.

Αδριάνειο Υδραγωγείο, Ολυμπιακό Χωριό, Δήμος Αχαρνών

Αδριάνειο Υδραγωγείο, Ολυμπιακό Χωριό, Δήμος Αχαρνών

     Η κατασκευή του Αδριάνειου Υδραγωγείου της Αθήνας ξεκίνησε από τον αυτοκράτορα Αδριανό (117-138 μ.Χ.) και ολοκληρώθηκε από τον διάδοχό του Αντωνίνο Ευσεβή (138-161 μ.Χ.). Η κεντρική του αρτηρία αποτελείται από υπόγεια σήραγγα λαξευμένη στο φυσικό έδαφος, ύψους π. 1,20μ - 1,60μ και πλάτους 0,50μ. Το έργο κατασκευάστηκε με τη διάνοιξη 465 φρεατίων κατά μήκος της χάραξης με μέγιστη διάμετρο 1,40 μ. και βάθος από 10μ. μέχρι 42 μ., που απείχαν μεταξύ τους 33-37 μ. 

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