#tenea

By Jessica Bateman

“It was a baking hot summer’s day and I was in a car driving through the dramatic hills and lush vegetation of the Peloponnese in Greece. “Look at this whole plain,” my driver, Eleni Korka, said, gesturing out the window. To our left was a huge, flat area, covered in olive trees and scrub bushes. Where it ended, the earth transformed sharply into forested mountains.”

“The city of Tenea covered this whole place,” she told me. “It’s above sea level and there’s a cool breeze, so the summer palace would probably have been built here.” She pointed to a traditional restaurant tucked under a distinctive, almost square-shaped hill. “And this taverna is built under a watermill,” she said.”

When Greek archeologist Eleni Korka and her team discovered some of the remains of a housing settlement, hundreds of coins and jewelry in the early autumn last year, they knew they had a made a historic discovery linking the wealthy ancient city of Tenea, founded by prisoners of the Trojan War, to Ancient Corinth and Mycenae.

Tenea, as a city, was established after King Agamemnon brought over from Tenedos Trojan prisoners, Korka told New Europe during a visit to the archeological site, while noting that Agamemnon established Tenea at a very strategic point where it could protect Mycenae from invaders or maybe other enemies that would try to attack Mycenae.

The most recent excavation unearthed cemeteries from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and, for the first time, remnants of the city.

Archaeologists in Greece believe they have found the lost city of Tenea, thought to have been founded by captives of the legendary Trojan War.

They said they had discovered the remains of a housing settlement, jewellery, coins and several burial sites in the southern Peloponnese area.

Until now, archaeologists had a rough idea of where the city might have been located but had no tangible proof.

The items date from 4th Century BC to Roman times.

Excavation work around the modern-day village of Chiliomodi began in 2013, and "proof of the existence" of Tenea emerged in work carried out in September and early October this year, officials said.

Narrative on the finding of Tenea. Pretty incredible find.

It was a baking hot summer’s day and I was in a car driving through the dramatic hills and lush vegetation of the Peloponnese in Greece. “Look at this whole plain,” my driver, Eleni Korka, said, gesturing out the window. To our left was a huge, flat area, covered in olive trees and scrub bushes. Where it ended, the earth transformed sharply into forested mountains.

“The city of Tenea covered this whole place,” she told me. “It’s above sea level and there’s a cool breeze, so the summer palace would probably have been built here.” She pointed to a traditional restaurant tucked under a distinctive, almost square-shaped hill. “And this taverna is built under a watermill,” she said.

Greece has countless ruins to visit and historical sites to explore, all of which are priceless archaeological treasures. However, some discoveries made in the last decade are so spectacular that they have forever changed our understanding of history.