Peloponnese Peninsula

            The ancient city of Geronthrai was conquered by Spartan king Telekos (c. 760 to 740 BC), although today it is now called Geraki.  Geronthrai is almost 30 km southeast of Sparta and about 30 km inland from the Peloponnese peninsula’s eastern coast.  While it was not a major city in ancient Greece, it served as source of stone for building projects.  Locals would have to farm and fish for food since the rocky hard was hard to farm (Ridley, “Economic Activities,” 291).

            While no big monuments stand as a beacon for tourists, Geronthrai serves as an archeology cite with excavations of ancient walls and pottery, although it does not seem open to the public. When the site was discovered in 1905, archeologist found some artifacts from the Neolithic period, but it was not until the 1990s when “researchers from the University of Amsterdam... found clay seal and coins” ("Geraki, Lakonia.").  Elizabeth Landgridge-Noti examined excavated pottery for clues into society during the Hellenistic period (c. 300 BC to 100 AD) that Geronthrai would have been active.  The pottery indicated the city received visitors from foreign areas, who brought different styles of pots, which were blended with local pottery styles. Locals used pottery “such as the flat-bottomed pan and the one handled mug.”

              Archeologist also used the walls that surrounded the acropolis of Geronthrai.  Stuart MacVeagh Thorne’s paper “The Walls of Geraki” use the remnants of walls to understand the city. There were six distinct styles of wall, which reflected the change of architecture through periods of history. While the walls were sometimes used for defense, they were more often used as boundaries for dividing land for ownership of fields. Overall, the all the evidence found at Geronthrai is an excellent example of a small town and community during the Hellenistic period in ancient Greece history.