Greece’s Culture Ministry has said that archaeologists have located the first tangible remains of the lost ancient city of Tenea that, according to tradition, was first settled by Trojan war captives after the Greeks sack of Troy.
In a statement Tuesday, the ministry said excavations from September to early October in the southern Greek region of the Peleponnese turned up “proof of the existence of the ancient city” of Tenea, which was only known up to now from ancient texts.
Lead archaeologist Elena Korka, who has been excavating in the area since 2013, told The Associated Press the team unearthed walls, door openings, floors of buildings — apparently houses — and household pottery, dating from the 4th century B.C. to late Roman times.
Excavation work also continued on the rich cemeteries surrounding ancient Tenea.
During the excavation tombs, skeletons, pottery, jewelry, cons and other items from the Hellenistic and Roman times were found.
The Ancient city of Tenea was established approximately 15 kilometres SE of Corinth and 20 kilometres NE of Mycenae shortly after the Trojan War.
Findings of ancient Tenea
It is believed that the first inhabitants were Trojans prisoners of war to whom King of Mycenae Agamemnon permitted to build their own town.
Hence the name Tenea resembles that of Tenedos, their home-town, an island opposite of ancient Troy..
Together with Rome, according to the Aeneid of Virgil, these are the two historical cities known to be associated with Trojan ancestry following the Trojan War.
Corinthians and Teneans in 734 or 733 BC under the leadership of Archias established the joint colony of Syracuse in Sicily, the homeland of Archimedes.
Ruins of Tenea can still be found one kilometre south of village Chiliomodi.
