On the western slope of the Gortsouli hill, in the area of ancient Mantineia, a temple from archaic times is preserved, the revelation of which significantly illuminates our knowledge of the history of Mantineia before the 5th century BC.
Gortsuli hill is identified by modern research with the Ptolin mentioned by Pausanias (8, 8, 4), the prehistoric, that is, the citadel of Mantineia. According to tradition, Ptolis was founded by Mantineas, the mythical grandson of the progenitor of the Arcadians, Pelasgos.
During the archaic period, Ptolis emerged as a central holy place of the Mantineans, who still lived in comas in the plain that surrounded the hill. The movable finds from excavations and exploratory cuts on the hill indicate that the area has been inhabited since prehistoric times, but no traces of buildings have been identified to date. The systematic investigation of the temple showed that there was outdoor worship in the area, without interruption since the end of the 8th century BC until the 6th century BC. Attempts to establish the first religious building on the site probably began in the second half of the 7th century, but construction work was interrupted, after the western foundation gave way and collapsed due to the steep slope presented by the specific location. The newest church was founded in the third quarter of the 6th century. BC, close to the first but at a distance of 0.70 m. further east and operated until the 3rd c. BC.
In general, the two buildings show close similarities, belong to the category of archaic "houses" and are distinguished by the characteristic elongation of the B-S axis. The entrance to both is on the south narrow side. The oldest temple is divided, like the newest, into a vestibule, nave and sanctuary and has internal dimensions of approximately 14.60 x 4.65 m. For the construction of the newest temple, with internal dimensions of 14.25 x 4.70 m, it was used partly the foundation of the former. The lower parts of both buildings were constructed from layers of unworked slabs of the local limestone without any binding material, while the superstructure was probably brick. The walls of the second temple were preserved in some places up to a height of 0.80 m.
Interesting tributes were found inside the temple. The most important group consists of clay figurines exclusively of female figures, which present an impressive variety of types. They date from the 7th to the early 5th century BC and they suggest that Artemis was worshiped in the area as the protector of vegetation and gardener. Among the idols, imposing draperies of considerable height stand out, a type that appears for the first time in the sanctuary of the western slope. Among the other findings of the excavation, it is worth mentioning a unique set of iron forks in terms of volume and preservation, which repeat in terms of typology the copper forks, which were also found in abundance in the temple. Characteristic examples of these tributes are exhibited today in the Archaeological Museum of Tripoli.
Source: MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND SPORTS
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