Context and Date of S9
Since the investigations of the western two-thirds of the structure are clearly useless for establishing a date, the eastern end, in time partially demolished to make way for the S23 Late Building, provides what evidence can be gleaned for S9’s construction date. The bulk of the fill west of the S23 Late Building overriding S9 consists of a thick layer of St. 2 earthquake demolition fill, a very hard-packed reddish-brown argillaceous soil, containing a heavy concentration of smashed building materials as well as discarded artifacts dating as late as the 3rd century A.D. This rests on a thin (ca. 0.25 m. thick) layer of moist red argillaceous St. 3 on top of which rest S9’s south wall and northeast corner walls. D14/E14, 1, 3 here produced black glaze ceramics mixed with considerably later sherds, including locally manufactured wares dating to the 2nd and 1st century B.C. and some Eastern Sigillata A wares assigned to the same period. Based on this evidence, the S9 Enclosure probably dates no earlier than the century B.C. It may in fact be slightly later to judge from its apparent use of blocks once part of the later Archaic peribolos which was, as we have seen, superseded during the early Imperial period by Wall T10.
Plate 10. G2 entranceway from the west.
Stepped Entrance (G2) to Middle Sanctuary
The last addition to the Middle Sanctuary attributable to this period is the stepped entrance (G2) providing communication between the western half of the Lower Sanctuary and the Middle Sanctuary. The entrance is located in grid square Gl5/F15 15 m. east of the Middle Sanctuary’s northwest corner (Fig. 1 and Pls. 6, 10).102
Based on what we currently know, the G2 entrance provided the only internal access route between the sanctuary’s two levels, and persons who wished to circulate otherwise between levels would have been forced to go outside the sanctuary’s east and west peribolos walls. The entrance was ruined by an earthquake and was found at the time of its partial clearance to be totally plugged with fallen blocks. A number of broken roof tiles lay scattered over the east corner of its top step, directly in contact with its stone tread, which would seem to indicate that the entrance remained in effective use down to the A.D. 262 earthquake.
Discovery of its existence occurred late in the sanctuary’s excavation (1977), and for this reason, only those parts associated with the core of the retaining wall system (T11/T12) separating the two levels of the sanctuary were cleared. G2’s extension north down onto the floor of the Lower Sanctuary and south beyond the inner faces of the retaining walls must await future investigation. While accurate in what it represents, the entrance plan should therefore be regarded as incomplete.
The door’s width from jamb to jamb measures 2.30 m.; including the jambs, 3.40 m. The upper step, best interpreted as a threshold, was made from three separate blocks, ca. 0.20 m. high. A packing of earth and rubble raised its overall height to ca. 0.40 m. The original depth cannot be determined. Rectangular cuttings, ca. 0.10 m. deep, at either end secured wooden uprights used to carry the missing door or doors. A low pad of stone at the west end, 0.06 m. above the level of the surrounding step, bore the weight of the corner of the door when swung shut. The door would have opened south, swinging beyond the inner faces of the T11 and T12 retaining walls.
The lower step was aligned with the outer faces of the retaining wall. Its western two-thirds was badly damaged by the earthquake, but enough of the block at its eastern end survives to indicate its existence. It height was again ca. 0.40 m. More steps must have continued the line of the stairs north.
A small block set against its southeast corner may be part of a late repair.
Two headers were used to line the edges of the door and originally may have carried what were its actual jambs. The western header, 0.90 by 0.50 m., has slipped forward and lies partially buried in earthquake topple north of Wall T12. The eastern header, 1.03 by 0.45 by 0.36 m., survives more or less in situ undisturbed.
No convincing evidence survives for how the entrance was covered. Some form of arch would have been appropriate; a single corbel stone found nearby on the Lower Sanctuary’s surface may have had something to do with the otherwise lost arrangement. No stratigraphical evidence was recovered for G2’s construction period, which must, in the absence of anything more conclusive, therefore be associated with the erection of the two flanking retaining walls.
Figure 7. Plan of the S10 Portico Chamber.
Upper Sanctuary Additions
It is during the early Imperial period that we first become aware of the dominant character that the Upper Sanctuary (Fig. 1)103 is to assume within the design of the total sanctuary, thanks mainly to the construction of the large colonnaded Southwest Building (S17) across its western half. Other elements added during the same period include an open-air access corridor paved with mosaic (S22) laid out in front of the Southwest Building, and a Portico Chamber (S10), also furnished with a mosaic floor, set up directly north of the F2 Fountain House. A doorway (G6) through the rear wall (T1/ T8) of the Middle Sanctuary provided entry from the lower level to the open-air access corridor.
Over in the eastern half of the Upper Sanctuary, the east-west wall (W3), tentatively associated with some form of Hellenistic entry to the eastern half of the sanctuary’s upper level, appears to have undergone no alteration and otherwise continues to display a somewhat puzzling identity. Its eventual replacement by a colonnaded propylaeum (S20) took place after A.D. 115 when the sanctuary underwent a new phase of development.
Finally, a substantial votive dump (S18) contained by rubble walls was established in the upper southwest corner immediately outside the walled confines of the sanctuary proper. The rubble Wall W28 may mark its northern extension.
S10 Portico Chamber
Occupying what appears to be the upper southwest corner of the Middle Sanctuary, the S10 Portico Chamber (Figs. 1, 7, 8) is in actuality part of the Upper Sanctuary.104 Its poorly preserved penta-style Ionic colonnade faced south in the direction of the S17 Southwest Building. Our understanding of certain details of its plan is hampered by the lack of excavation across most of the eastern two-thirds of its interior. The situation is complicated further by its northeast and east walls having been pushed out of alignment, presumably by earthquakes, leaving the original position of the southeast corner as well as its relationship to the pre-existent F2 Fountain House difficult to determine. It seems probable, but not certain, that the latter had fallen out of active use by the time the Portico Chamber came into use. Moreover, the eastern half of the structure’s north wall is hidden behind a later terracing (S25)105 that effectively impedes any direct observation of its outer face.
Figure 8. Elevation of the S10 Portico Chamber’s southern colonnade looking north.
If we can assume that S10’s east wall (T16), built on top of the Classical period peribolos W8 without benefit of clamps, originally lay parallel to the west wall, the resulting structure would have had a rectangular plan, ca. 9.80 m. east-west by 5.60 m. north-south (Fig. 7). It opened onto the open-air walkway