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Palace of Vouni
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This 137-room
palace was built on a hilltop, 250m above current sea-level, by
the Phoenician pro-Persian king of the neighbouring city Marion
to watch over the pro-Greek city of Soli, following an
unsuccessful revolt of the latter against the Persians in 498
BC. It was the headquarters of a garrison and consisted of state
apartments, large storerooms and bathrooms. In 449 BC when the
Persians were defeated and the Greek rule was established, the
ruler of Marion was replaced by a pro-Greek prince and
alterations were made, including a second storey with walls made
from mud bricks. The palace stood for over 70 years but was
destroyed by the people of Soli in 380 B.C., and was never
rebuilt.
The entrance of the original palace led to state apartments with
a main room, connecting rooms and from here, a broad stairway of
seven steps led to columned court surrounded with rooms on three
sides. Water to almost all the main rooms was supplied from the
underground cisterns cut into the living rock of the mountain,
where the winter rain was collected. The palace also housed
storerooms and bathrooms – and in some of the storerooms, you
can see the holes for amphoras.
Excavations of the palace have revealed what is described as
‘the Vouni Treasures’, which include earthenware jugs blackened
by the fire that destroyed the palace, gold and silver
bracelets, engraved silver cups, as well as hundreds of coins
with ancient seals. Also, at the top of the hill on which the
palace was built, towards the south, are the remains of a temple
built for Athena in the third quarter of the 5th century BC.
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