Trizina (Troezen)

Owing to some confusion with when retail life begins in Nafplio on a Saturday, we weren't able to leave as early as we intended, which was going to make it physically impossible reasonably to see what we wanted today before the 3:00pm closing time of every important site.  So, I scrambled to assemble new destinations, and today was loosely defined as "East".

Our last trip we had already seen Epidauros Asklepios (and by mistake, the lesser known, but still possessing a significant ampitheatre, Epidauros) which still left Troezen, which I had identified on Google Maps, and Asine, which remained a locational mystery.

Now, like most of the Level 4 ancient Greek sites, there is not just a locked fence around the site, but also a church located within 500m of the site, which is often easier to find on Google maps than the ancient site of whatever.  Today's church happened to be Byzantine, not modern, and was independently an archaeological site, for those so inclined, and was about 15m from the Asklepion of Troezen and a Temple of Hippolytos.  However, as often happens when one system of religion is replacing another, it is not just ideological, but physical.  As in Korinthos, many of the stones and columns of the city/temple were "borrowed" for the new basilica.

So, I begin with pictures of the theft, and end with what remained.  I envision the first photo like the game of finding the panda in the field of cats.  There are at least 4 fluted columns that I counted, two smaller ones imbedded in the walls, and two larger column drums, plus myriad ~ 2'x4'x1' blocks that were probably part of the walls or epistyles.

This a plan for the site, which gives this a little more perspective.

Plan of the Asklepeion of Troezen:

1 = Propylaea
2 = Small temple with sacred grove
3 = Altar
4 = Wide temple
5 = Side entrance
6 = Nymphaeum
7 = Baths
8 = Entrance to the main building
9 = Peristyle
10 = Dormitory
11 = Drain
12 = Temple of Hippolytus

13 = Byzantine basilica

(See https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Plan_of_Asclepeion_of_Troezen.png)

And here are the foundational remains of the Temple of Hippolytos.  I honestly think if they could have pried the stones from the ground, they would have but this temple was a little further away. 

And the remains of the Asklepion, a complex of buildings which was a center of healing.

Water channel from temple

Dormatory to the left, temple in the center, water channel to the right.

Altar.  Basilica looming in the background like a ravenous stone-eating monster.