ARCHEOLOGY
Tholos
The tholos tomb at Orchomenos, also known as the "Treasury of Minyas" after the dynast who ruled there during the Mycenaean period, is of a type and size (14m. in diameter) that links it to the "Treasury of Atreus" at Mycenae. In addition to the standard features of a dromos and large inner chamber, it features an additional side chamber (3.79 x 2.75m. x 2.40m. high) accessible from the main room. Initially discovered with its roof caved in, the side chamber was later found to have a ceiling decorated by four large slabs of schist, carved in shallow relief with spirals and interconnecting designs, and bordered by rosettes. The lavish decoration of the ceiling was mimicked in relief on the gypsum slabs that were used as veneering for the walls of the chamber. These slabs were imported to the site, possible from as far away as Crete.
The larger main chamber of the tholos is accessed by the dromos, or traditional masonry-lined entrance passage, and entered through a doorway, or stomion, 5.46m high and 2.43-2.70m wide. Found hammered into the large ashlar blocks that constitute the high, corbeled walls of the tomb were bronze nails, presumably used to affix attachments at regular intervals around the chamber. Similarly positioned nails were found in the walls of Mycenae's "Treasury of Atreus."
The tholos, which was looted in antiquity, today houses a Roman Imperial altar in the middle of the main chamber. Neither the upper reaches of the walls, nor the beehive-like top of the tomb are preserved, but the original trimmed bedrock floor of hard limestone, single massive lintel block still in place over the main entrance, and the magnificently decorated ceiling of the inner chamber still convey the grandeur of this royal burial place.
Circuit walls and "keep"
The vast stretches of "long walls" that run up the slope from east to west towards the acropolis of ancient Orchomenos encircle the remains of an ashlar structure, the so-called "keep," at the apex of the hill. The oldest sections of the walls are built using polygonal masonry; in other sections large, irregular blocks were used. The later sections were build using polygonal masonry for the outer facing of the wall. This combination constitutes most of the extensive circuit walls that run up the south and north sides of the ridge. In places, extensive repair to this style is apparent. In contrast, the "keep," today preserved as a tower-like fortress accessible by a steep stairway, is built of solid, uniformly ashlar masonry.
The fortifications, two meters thick on average, have been dated to the 4th century BC, but there is some poorly preserved evidence of an earlier section of the wall, dating to the 7th century BC at the bottom of the slope. The walls surround a series of terraces upon which other structures, both contemporary and later, were built. Transverse walls running across the ridge connect the 'long walls' in three places. The highest of these walls is pierced by gates leading to the most prominent feature of this citadel, the "keep." Towers at irregular intervals along the 'long walls' project slightly outward from the line of fortifications, which surround a progressively narrower area of the hill as they climb both sides of the ridge towards the fortress perched atop Akontion's eastern summit.
Mycenaean palace
The remains of a Mycenaean palace have been found in the low-lying area at the eastern foot of Mt. Akontion. In the early 1970s, just west of the narthex of the 9th century AD church of the Panaghia Skripou, Th. Spyropoulos discovered remains suggestive of the central megaron unit characteristic of Mycenaean palatial architecture, decorated with a wall fresco strikingly similar to the well-known Boar Hunt fresco from Tiryns. Other scenes, including depictions of human activities such as battles and hunting at a miniature scale, were found long ago by German excavators and are on display at the nearby Chaironeia Museum.
Pottery
Pottery found at Orchomenos suggests virtually uninterrupted occupation from Neolithic to Roman Imperial times. Perhaps most notable in the pottery record at the site is the discovery of the fine gray ware Schliemann dubbed "Minyan Ware" after the legendary founder of the site's mythical royal family. This ceramic class, characteristic of the Mainland Greek Middle Bronze Age (ca. 2050-1650 BC), is a valuable time marker that was recognized as such by Schliemann already during his initial excavations at Orchomenos. Excavators also found an example of a depas amphikypellon, a distinctive two-handled goblet of Early Bronze Age date that Schliemann found in large quantities at his excavation at Troy.
Other
Temple of Asklepios: The remains of this Hellenistic, 6 x 11 peripteral Doric temple are located on the second terrace on the slope of Akontion, and measure 11.5 x 22 m.
Theatre of Orchomenos: Located at the base of Mt. Akontion's eastern slope, this structure of ca.300 BC has twelve well-preserved rows of stone seating. Its location between the tholos tomb and the church of the Panaghia Skripou afforded a panoramic view of the western end of Lake Kopaïs in antiquity.
Bibliography
Buck, Robert J. A History of Boeotia. Edmonton, Alberta, 1979.
Fossey, John M. Topography and Population of Ancient Boiotia. Chicago, 1988.
Greek Ministry of Culture. "Troy, Mycenae, Tiryns, Orchomenos." Heinrich Schliemann: The 100th Anniversary of his Death. Athens, 1990.
Roesch, P. "Orchomenos, Boiotia, Greece," in the Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites (PECS). Princeton (1976): 654.
Schliemann, H. Orchomenos. Leipzig, 1881.
Suggested readings
Bulle, H., and E. Kunze. Orchomenos I-III, Verlag der Bayerische Akademie der Wissenshcaften. München, 1908 (vol.I), 1931 (vol. II), 1934 (vol. III).
Fossey, J. M. "The End of the Bronze Age in the South West Kopais," Euphrosyne 6 (1973-74): 7-21.
Hope Simpson, R., and O.T.P.K. Dickinson. A Gazetteer of Aegean Civilisation in the Aegean Bronze Age. Goteborg, 1979-.
Kenny, E. J. A. "The Ancient Drainage of the Copaïs," Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and Anthropology 22 (1935): 189-206.
Knauss, J. "Arkadian and Boiotian Orchomenos, Centres of Mycenaean Hydraulic Engineering," in E. De J. H. Allen, "The Environmental Conditions of the Kopaïs Basin, Boeotia during the Post Glacial with Special Reference to the Mycenaean Period," in J. Bintliff (ed.), Recent Developments in the History and Archaeology of Central Greece [BAR International Series 666]. Oxford (1997): 39-58.
Lauffer, and Hennig, Real-Enzyclopädie der classischen altertum-swissenschaft, s.v. Orchomenos, (1974): 290-335.
Mountjoy, P. "Orchomenos V: Mycenaean pottery from Orchomenos, Eutresis, and other Boeotian Sites." Verlag der Bayerische Akademie der Wissenshcaften, Heft. 89, München (1983): 11-47, 109-113.
Pelon, O. Tholoi, tumuli et cercles funéraires. Paris, 1976.
Schachter, Albert. Cults of Boiotia. Bulletin supplement / University of London, Institute of Classical Studies: no. 38, v. 1-4.
Spyropoulos, Th. "To Anakritoro tou Minyou eis to Boiotikon Orchomenon." Athens Annals of Archaeology (1974): 313-325.
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