Koroni
A large building, 4.8 N of modern Koroni, which was probably “the villa of a rich man or a gymnasium,” can be dated in the Early Imperial period. It had three rooms, while a fourth room was situated ca. 30 m farther to the E. In the first room (5.7 m each side) a superb mosaic was discovered, which is now preserved in the Benakeion Museum at Kalamata. The stones of the mosaic vary in size, shape, and color. In the center of a simple sixfold frame was a quadrangular field (3.1 x 3.1 m) divided by plaited borders into a central circle, four semicircles, and four quarter circles, the last in the corners. In the central circle are depicted a Satyr, a panther, and, between them, Dionysos. In the four surrounding semicircles are painted scenes from the amphitheater (bull with gladiator), lion with gladiator, the scene of a tigerhunt, and a hunter (ill-preserved). Between the central circle and the corners are square fields with theatrical masks hung from red ribbons (two male, one female, one lost) while in the NW, SW corners are painted kantharoi surrounded by branches, and in the NE a running female panther. The fourth one (SW), probably occupied by another panther, is entirely lost. The mosaic themes of the other rooms form ornamental compositions.
BIBLIOGRAPHYM. N. Valmin, The Swedish Messenia Expedition (1938) 467-75I; D. Levi, Antioch Mosaic Pavements (1947) 42; B. Kallipolitis in Deltion 17 (1961-62) A, 14, n. 12; M. Chatzidakis, in Deltion 22 (1967) 19ffI; P. Themelis, in ibid. 206I.
G. S. KORRÉSca. 30 km W-SW of Kalamata. Koroni was a town under Mt. Mathia (now Lycodemon), on Koronaeus Bay in the NW part of the Messenian Gulf. It is generally accepted (except for one scholar who believes that the present Koroni occupies the site of the ancient one) that Petalidi village corresponds to the site of ancient Koroni. Petalidi Bay is the safest of all Peloponnesian ports and was called “port of the Achaeans.” Parts of the ancient dock can still be seen in the sea. The older name of Koroni was Aipeia (Paus. 4.34.5) or Pedasos (Strab. 8.360). The name of the town refers to the Boiotian Koroneia whence came the founder Epimelides, who fortified the city ca. 365 B.C. The poros wall was 1.5 m thick and 2 km long.
In the 2d c. B.C. Koroni was either autonomous (191) or associated with the Achaean League or Sparta. The earliest known coins of the city with the head of Athena and the inscription ΑΧΑΙΩΝ ΚΟΡΩΝΑΙΩΝdate from this period.
On the acropolis hill and outside of the village have been found the foundations of the fortification wall and of various buildings, as well as sarcophagi, inscriptions, and sculptures. Classical remains have been found especially on the NE side of the acropolis, including five Doric capitals possibly belonging to a small temple of Early Classical date. Near the village were ruins of baths and an aqueduct, and 10 km to the NW are remains of Roman baths. On the acropolis in Pausanias' lifetime there was a bronze statue of Athena holding a bird. There was a bronze statue of Zeus the Savior in the agora, and temples of Artemis Paidotrophos (Children's nurse), of Dionysos and Asklepios, with marble statues of Dionysos and Asklepios.
BIBLIOGRAPHYHead, Hist. Num. 433; Pieske, Korone, RE 11, 1422-24; R. Valmin, Etudes topographiques sur la Messénie ancienne (1930) 175ff; id., BLund (1934-35) 44ff; R. Hope Simpson, BSA 52 (1957) 249, fig. 10; A. Philippson & E. Kirsten, Die griech. Landschaften III (1959) 396; Der kleine Pauly III, c. 308-9 (EM.).
G. S. KORRÈS