The city of Aigio in Greece’s Peloponnese celebrated the newly refurbished archaeological museum worthy of its ancient past on Sunday.
The museum is housed in a restored building believed to have been built by German architect Ernst Ziller in the nineteenth century. Ziller, who later acquired Greek citizenship as Ernestos Tsiller, left his own eternal, and magnificent, imprint on Athens and other Greek cities by designing some of their most iconic buildings.
The Aigio Museum houses important archaeological discoveries from the extensive excavations for the Olympia Odos highway and the new railway line.
“Aigio and the region of Aigialeia have an uninterrupted cultural wealth, from the Neolithic era to the present day, and have all the potential to become a reference destination in the context of cultural tourism,” Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said.
“The preservation, protection and promotion of our cultural heritage is an obligation and a priority for us,” she added.
Headless statue of Artemis at Aigion Museum
A headless female statue from the second century BC, which archaeologists believe was a representation of the ancient Greek goddess Artemis, is one of the most impressive exhibits.
In Greek mythology, Artemis is one of the twelve Olympians, the most important deities in the ancient Greek pantheon. She is the daughter of Zeus, king of the gods, and Leto, a lesser-known Greek goddess. Her brother was Apollo, god of the Sun and light.
New archaeological discovery west of Aigio
Earlier in December, excavations in a little-known ancient Greek town west of Aigio uncovered an ancient building and a wealth of gold antiquities that archaeologists believe were part of the town of Rypes, referenced by the ancient Greek geographer Pausanias.
Aigio, or Aegium, the capital of the Achaean League
Aigio, or Aegium, was a town and polis (city-state) of ancient Achaea, and one of the twelve Achaean cities. It was situated on the coast west of the river Selinus.
The city stood between two promontories in the corner of a bay, which was considered the greatest harbor in Achaea next to that of Patra. It is said to have been formed out of a union of seven or eight villages and was already mentioned in the Homeric Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad.
When the neighboring city of Helice sank into the sea following an earthquake in 373 BC, Aigio annexed its territory and became the chief city of the Achaean League. When the League dissolved later in the same century, however, Aigio came for some time under Macedonian rule.
Eventually, the Achaean League was refounded by the cities of Dyme and Patras in 280 BC, and the citizens of Aigio, taking courage to expel the Macedonian garrison, joined in 275 BC. From this time on, Aigio served as the capital of the Achaean League.
