Megalopoli History

Megalopoli (or Megalopolis) was founded in 371-370 B. C., after Epameinondas, a general from Thiva – Thebes) persuaded the inhabitants of many dispersed small villages in Arcadia to live together in one bigger town that would be easier to defend. This city was in fact repeatedly attacked by the Spartans, unsuccessfully though.  It reached a high level of welfare and mynted its own coins.  The city was abandoned in 223 B.C. and was taken and destroyed by the Spartans after its inhabitants had left.  In 208 B.C., Filopimin, general of the Archaic Confederacy, had Megalopolis built again and reconstructed with building material from ruined Sparta (188 B.C.).  A new series of coins were minted then.  See, for example, the photo of a Triobol Coin (182-168 B.C).  (Laureate head of Zeus left / Pan seated left, holding lagobolon; eagle on knee, with monogram).  Exactly when the city was abandoned again is not known.  The town declined during the Late Roman period, while during the Middle Ages its inhabitants were dispersed to nearby settlements.

The exact site of the ancient city was located in 1890 by English archaeologists.  The excavations unearthed the theater (4th century B.C., the biggest one in Ancient Greece, rumored to have had  40,000 seats), as well as the ancient Agora, remains of the walls, the Thersileion Bouleuterion with 67 pillars and the temple (11.5 meters ? 5 meters), the Philippeian arcade, the Myropolidos Stoa (=arcade), and some sculptures. In 1990, Profs. Lanter and Spyropoulos started new excavations at the ancient Agora.  Restoration works in the ancient theater are soon to take place.