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Modern Description: Directly across Ippokrátous Street from the Ficus trees, an opening in the mediaeval bastion, leads through a stand of pines and palms to the eastern entrance of the open area of the excavations of the Agorá, first scientifically explored by Rudolf Herzog in 1900, and then properly cleared and dug after the severe earthquake of 1933 by Italian archaeologists. The Greek Archaeological Service continues the work today.
Everything here dates from after 366 BC, when the new city of Cos was founded and fortified on this site by the synoecism of the island's pre-existing cities. The destruction wrought by several earthquakes, especially in 5 BC and 142 AD, has given rise to over-building and redesigning of many elements in this area in ancient times. The ancient port penetrated substantially further inland than the present one, meaning that this area was much closer to the waterfront (north) than it now is. The area visible here represents approximately 4–5% of the extent of the city in its heyday.
The site is bisected longitudinally along the east–west axis (the line of the pathway directly ahead as you enter) by an intermittently visible, 4th century BC city wall—the one that protected the city on the northern, harbour side: this means that what lies to the left (south) was inside the enceinte, while the remains to the right lay outside. This outside area was, nonetheless, protected by arms of wall which extended from the enceinte to either side of the harbour. (The eastern arm runs along the line of the fencing to the right of the entrance.) In its southwestern corner, this area reveals just the northern tip of the ancient city's large, open central square, or agora proper. This extended a further 200–300m to the south, and is being revealed piecemeal in other areas of excavation in the adjacent streets of the modern town.
The best preserved stretch of the 4th century BC walls, built in rusticated, isodomic blocks and provided with regular runs of steps leading to the top from inside, is visible heading southeast into the corner (back left) of the site. These walls originally continued west along the right-hand side of the central, axial pathway of the area. The wide angle of the turn here indicates that these walls in their entirety must have enclosed a very large area. Immediately within the walls (the area to the left, between the axial pathway and Ippokrátous Street) was a dense conurbation of stores, workshops, taverns and bakeries, typical of the activity that would be expected in proximity of the port. The six barrel-vaulted storage warehouses, which stand higher than anything else, have survived destruction because their internal spaces easily served the purpose of churches in later centuries. The logical division of the area into insulae or blocks divided by streets is clear: at important points, such as on the corners of the blocks, the foundations of a bakery or tavern, and a food shop are visible, with the base of a brick oven and buried pithoi for storage of food-stuffs.
Further west, at the edge of the site, the corner of the agorá square proper is visible, cut across by the modern street and a projection of unexcavated land around the tiny church of Aghios Konstantínos. This would have been an extensive, marble-paved space with colonnades of Doric columns fluted only in the upper half of their height; it would have stretched more than 200m to the south from here. A couple of its columns and entablature have been re-erected. The agora was badly damaged in the earthquake of 142 AD, after which it was rebuilt with a monumental entrance in a style and building technique which was typically Roman: the bulky vaulted arches in opus caementicium (Roman cemented brick), still with vestiges of stucco decoration, which are heaped in ruins just to the north, come from this gateway building which stood atop a flight of steps. Further to the north lie carved decorative elements—the size, clarity and depth of the drill-cutting, typical of work of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. There are a number of column drums, some completed and some obviously just delivered, still with the architects' section incised on them to guide the masons where and how to cut the fluting. These are interesting and highly informative pieces.
The remains on the north side of the axial pathway, i.e. outside of the original north city wall, are of a different, predominantly sacred, nature.
Wikidata ID: Q38281772
Trismegistos Geo: 2796

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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