is recent news of the discovery of the famous Altar of the Twelve Gods, a monument in ancient Athens wanted the tyrannical dynasty of Pisistratus: 522-521, mostly in a. C., was a fence bounding a sacred area in the Agora, the center of which there was an imposing altar dedicated to the deities of the pantheon of Athens. It was so important that it was calculated from the distances to other cities, as well as in Roman times, the miliarium aureum indicated, in the Roman Forum, the zero point from which sprang the streets of the Empire. Both works have come down to us piecemeal: the milestone because of the ravages of time, because the altar for the most part buried beneath a modern railway.
It was precisely in connection with the work to the railway network by the ISAP, the local company that manages the transport, during the renovation of the venerable line-Kifissias Piraeus, to enable the discovery, among the modern districts of Thisseio and Monastiraki, where there extended in ancient Agora, the significant monument: the discovery of the Altar could, according to the Greek archaeologists, even change the topography of ancient Athens as we know it.
The railway was built in the late nineteenth century, when it still did not know the extent of the Agora or you had no idea what could there, it was not until 1934 that the American School came to, close to the railway embankment, a few remains - still visible, though given the hidden location - identified by the entry found on the base of a statue sculpted by this Glaukos on commissioning 'aristocratic Leagros, in "honor of the twelve gods."
"The value of the Altar, from archaeological point of view, about the history of the Agora, combined with new evidence emerging from the excavations, it is clear to scientists," said Angelos Matthaiou, Secretary of the Epigraphic Society of Greece, and then added that "all new discoveries have not yet been fully understood, and this can not happen in a short time [...] need more studies, not only to understand the history of the altar itself, but also to understand the history of the Agora in its early period. " But it is time to be missed: the ISAP is not willing to suspend its work, rather urges that can be concluded as soon as possible, given the huge influx of commuters who are interested in the station. It is the eternal dilemma that affects urban sites grew seamlessly, just like Rome, dealing with construction problems and difficulties, the third metro line, that the very center the city's oldest goes to interfere with. The compromise, which is necessary and indispensable - fairly or unfortunately - between ancient and modern, in fact, it costs time and money, especially in the cost of redesign: el'Isap, a state-owned company that is going through a terrible economic crisis, may not have sufficient funds.
"We owe it to ourselves, our children, to the rest of the world and especially to Western civilization in its broadest sense, with its roots here," said the archaeologist Androniki Makri, backed by that Matthaiou reinforcements "would be to admit, as a company, we were not able to do our duty, we have allowed others to impose our way of managing the legacy of the ancients, abandoning it to those who have bought success with the promise of a return material. "
We'll see how it will end.
source: www.archeorivista.it
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