Tenea D. Johnson

Tenea ( el, Τενέα) is a municipal unit within the municipality of Corinth, Corinthia, Peloponnese, Greece. The municipal unit has an area of . Until 2011, it was a municipality whose seat was in Chiliomodi.

The modern city is named after ancient Tenea, established approximately SE of Corinth and NE of Mycenae shortly after the Trojan War. According to Pausanias, Tenea's founders were Trojan prisoners of war whom Agamemnon had allowed to build their own town. The name Tenea is styled upon Tenedos, the founders' home town, whose mythological eponym was the hero Tenes. Tenea and Rome, according to Virgil's Aeneid, had in the years following the Trojan War produced citizens of Trojan ancestry. Under the leadership of Archias in 734 or 733 BC, Teneans and Corinthians established the joint colony of Syracuse in Sicily, the homeland of Archimedes.

History

Strabo mentions Tenea:

as does Pausanias:

Tenea was the most important place in ancient Corinthia after the city of Corinth and its port towns; it was situated 60 stadia south of Corinth, according to Pausanias, hence the southern gate of Corinth was called the Teneatic. Stephanus of Byzantium describes Tenea as lying between Corinth and Mycenae. Pausanias says that the Teneatae claimed descent from the inhabitants of Tenedos, who were brought over from Troy as prisoners, and settled by Agamemnon in this part of Corinthia; and that it was in consequence of their Trojan origin that they worshipped Apollo above all the other gods. Strabo also mentions here the temple of Apollo Teneates, and says that Tenea and Tenedos had a common origin in Tennes, the son of Cycnus. It was at Tenea that Oedipus was said to have passed his childhood. It was also from this place that Archias took the greater number of the colonists with whom he founded Syracuse. After the destruction of Corinth by Lucius Mummius Achaicus, Tenea had the good fortune to continue undisturbed, because it is said to have assisted the Romans against Corinth. We cannot, however, suppose that an insignificant place like Tenea could have acted in opposition to Corinth and the Achaean League; and it is more probable that the Teneatae were spared by Mummius in consequence of their pretended Trojan descent and consequent affinity with the Romans themselves.

Archaeological findings

Ruins of ancient Tenea are one kilometre south of Chiliomodi. Some archaeological finds are housed in the Archaeological Museum of Ancient Corinth. The most famous find, the Kouros of Tenea (c. 550 BC), found near Athikia in 1846, is in the Munich Glyptothek. It is a great example of 6th century BC Greek sculpture and of the so-called Aeginetean or archaic smile.

In 1984, archaeologists discovered a sarcophagus of the Greek early archaic period containing the skeletal remains of what had been a high-society woman along with offerings. A lost ancient city built by Trojan War captives has been found, Greek officials say
The Washington post, 2018-11-13.

In 2013, archaeologists surveyed a site in the area and, encouraged by pottery and other small finds, began excavating. They said that “The concentration of ceramics and architectural remains… were the reasons that led us to the excavation of the site,” In 2017, they found a trove of riches while digging up what had been a dual-chambered burial ground at the Tenea site. In 2018, they found “proof of the existence of the ancient city” of Tenea led by Elena Korka near the village of Chiliomodi. An image of the excavation site depicts stone walls, clay and marble floors, about 200 rare coins, the remains of what were probably houses from the settlement. During the excavation, seven burials with vases and jewelry were revealed dating to the Roman and Hellenistic periods. Besides, skeletons of a woman and an infant were found. According to Elena Korka, Tenea’s cutting coins was the indicator of its complete independence. In 2019, a complex of massive baths, roughly , was discovered in Tenea, dating back to the Roman times between the end of 3rd to mid-1st century BC.

Subdivisions

The municipal unit Tenea is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):
* Agionori
* Agios Vasileios
*Chiliomodi
* Klenia
* Koutalas (Koutalas, Mapsos, Spathovouni)
* Stefani

Historical population

See also

* List of traditional Greek place names

References

External links

Kouros of TeneaStrabo, Book 8Gallery
and description n Greekof monuments in and around Tenea.
* Korka, Eleni; Lefantzis, Michalis; Corso, Antonio
Archaeological Discoveries from Tenea.
''Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of articles. Vol. 9.'' Ed: A. V. Zakharova, S. V. Maltseva, E. Iu. Staniukovich-Denisova. Lomonosov Moscow State University / St. Petersburg: NP-Print, 2019, pp. 172–179. ISSN 2312-2129

{{Corinth div

Populated places in ancient Corinthia
Former populated places in Greece
Cities in ancient Peloponnese
Locations in Greek mythology
Populated places in Corinthia
Populated places established in the 2nd millennium BC
Trojan colonies
Greek city-states