Arcesine or Arkesine (
Ancient Greek: Ἀρκεσίνη) was an ancient town on the island of
Amorgos in the eastern
Cyclades. It was one of the three main settlements on the island in antiquity.[1]
Location
The site of ancient Arkesine was identified in the 19th century from the large number of inscriptions found there.[2] It was situated on the northern coast of
Amorgos, not far from the southwestern end of the island, at a place known as Kastri, ca. 1.5 km north of the modern village of Vroutsi.[3] The most conspicuous topographical feature of the site is a steep rocky promontory overlooking the sea, on which the
acropolis of the ancient town was located. Substantial remains of the ancient circuit wall of the acropolis survive.[4]
Ancient Arkesine should not be confused with the modern village of the same name, which lies further inland, several kilometers to the southwest. At Sto Chorio near the chapel of Agia Triada, just north of the modern village, stands a small but well-preserved fort of late Classical or early
Hellenistic date, consisting of a rectangular tower with a fortified enclosure.[5]
^R. W. V. Catling and R. E. Jones, "Protogeometric Vases from Amorgos in the Museum of the British School", Annual of the British School at Athens 84 (1989), pp. 177–185, at p. 177; Georges Rougemont et al.,
"Recherches à Amorgos: Le site et le rempart d'Arkésinè", in Recherches dans les Cyclades: Résultat des travaux de la RCP 583 (Lyon 1993), pp. 97–122, at pp. 103-104; R. Talbert, ed., Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World (Princeton 2000), map 61;
TopoText place ID 368258PArk.
^The walls are described in detail in Rougemont et al., "Recherches à Amorgos", pp. 104-122, with copious illustrations.