Guide of Eastern Macedonia & Thrace

The excavation research conducted in the city of Maroneia in the late 1960’s brought to light important monuments and architectural complexes. Although they have suffered severe damages, these architectural and other finds are valuable sources of information on the way urban, social and religious life was organized.
The fortification of the Classical city of Maroneia has a length of 10 kilometres, enclosing a broad area (400 hectares) extending from the coast to the acropolis on the mountaintop of Ismaros. The square wall of isodomic masonry is made with carved stones. S. Reinach, a French archaeologist who visited the site in 1880, mentioned that some sections of the walls were as high as 12 metres while now are only 2 metres tall. However, it is preserved in a good condition, and several square and circular towers are visible. The city fortification dates to the 4th century BC, and its harbour was probably constructed in the same period.
The only, so far, known sanctuary in the region, possibly dedicated to god Dionysus, dates from the 4th century BC. It is a structure with cella and a wide antechamber, while two ancillary buildings are preserved to its north and south sides. A clay mask of Dionysus was found in the Sanctuary, now exhibited in the Komotini Archaeological Museum.

The theatre was constructed during the Hellenistic era and systematically excavated between 1981 and 1988. The theatre has a capacity of 5000-6000 seats and contained stone seats, perhaps two walkways, or diazomas with 9 tiers of seats, or kerkides. During Roman times, the theatre underwent various modifications that affected mostly the skene, the proskenion, the parodoi, the orchestra and less the cavea. At that time, the theatre obtained stone panels required by other spectacles, like animal fights. Now, three rows of the stone cavea are preserved together with the central and the horseshoe-shaped conduit of the orchestra that carried the torrent’s water away from the skene and the building of the Roman skene.

Apart from the Sanctuary of Dionysus, the excavations in the SW side of the ancient theatre revealed three important buildings of the 4th century BC. The existence of an impressive wall retaining the terrace, or anderon, over which stood the buildings, denotes how important were these edifices.
There is also a noteworthy large house dating to the late 4th – early 3rd centuries BC. It was a two-storey edifice probable belonging to some rich aristocrat. It covers an area of about 640 square metres and the buildings that enclose two courtyards are arranged in two groups:
a) The andron, which is the chamber where the host received his guests, had a mosaic floor and contained a storage room for the earthenware jars, or pitheon, and a peristyle court.
b) The gynaikonitis consisted of the house with the hearth, bathroom, kitchen, treasury and bedrooms on the upper storey, as well a courtyard and the quarters for the slaves and the animals.
Apart from the andron’s mosaic floor, there are some impressive imitations of marble revetments painted with high quality materials and beautiful colours, all coated with wax that would set off the colours. The fine structures and the precise plans of the houses lead to the conclusion that they were designed with modulus. The room arrangement of house and the general layout that distinguished private from public spaces is an implicit expression of social structure and lifestyle during the late Classical times.

Among the remnants of the Roman city of Maroneia there is a well-preserved monumental double gate with three arched apertures on each side, which was situated near the harbour and perhaps led to the city forum, or agora. This gate was probably built in honour of Adrianus who visited Maroneia in 124-125 AD.

Northeast of the propylon, the archaeological investigation brought to light part of a large complex dating to the early 3rd century AD. The two oblong (perhaps public) buildings with superstructure, basement and a row of piers in the centre, might have been related to the commercial activity of the harbour or formed part of the Agora building complex.

The uncovering of a marble-paved path that included a subterranean drainage system supports the theory that it was the connecting road between the propylon and the Agora.