Kos – Ancient Cos – Stadium, Port Baths and northern sites

Stadium, Port Baths and northern sites
(These sites are of secondary interest, but give a sense of the extent of the ancient settlement.)

Steps and a pathway up the south side of the foricae building, followed by a left-turn into Makari­ou Street, lead past the remains of houses of the Roman period on Galias Street, between Makari­ou and Tsaldari Streets, and further north to an area surrounded by apartment blocks, where there are vestiges of other public thermae. The collapsed vaults on the ground, constructed of cemented rubble core, suggest a date after the 2nd century earthquake. The low walls nearby which haphazardly combine earlier, dressed Hellenistic masonry with rough in-fill, would appear to have been hastily erected even later—perhaps after the earthquake of 469 ad. Further to the north of here, in a plot between the harbour front and Irodotou Street, are more thermae, referred to as the Port Baths, which again incorporate much earlier material in their construction. Part of the harbour walls are visible in the north corner of this area. Two blocks inland to the west of here (between Omi­rou and Megalou Alexandrou Streets), has been located a temple to Demeter which, though still in use in Roman times, had a Mycenaean predecessor on the same site. It has been identified by the terracotta figurines found in the vicinity.
   In the declivity which occupies the entirety of two blocks across the street between Megalou Alexandrou and Tsaldari streets is the site of the 2nd century ad ancient stadium. This was rectangular in shape (180 x 30m) and did not possess the usual semicircular sphendone at one end. The marble starting block can be seen beside the church of Aghia Anna at the north end, and some of the stone seating at the southern end.