at Tria Platania (43 m x 56 m,c.2,408 m^2 ), corresponds to two thirds of
the size of the main court in the early Hellenistic palace at Demetrias
(3,666 m^2 ); in the case of Komboloi, the area amounts to 22 per cent
(between a quarter and afifth) of the main court, theanaktoron,at
Demetrias.^25 The palace at Aigeai, now attributed by A. Kottaridi not just
to the second half of the fourth centurybcbut specifically to the reign of
Philip II, occupied an area of 12,500 m^2 ; the western peristyle, which the
excavator believes to have been among the earliest, if not the earliest
construction belonging to the palace, measures 41.4 m x 41.4 m, or
1,713 m^2 , which gives a useful comparative yardstick for evaluating the
country houses of well-to-do Macedonians.^26
The uneven incidence of documented rural establishments from the
first millenniumbcposes a significant challenge. How should we relate
specific evidence from these kinds of sites, which can be characterized in
some detail, with the broader spatial data, derived from surveys, whether
extensive or intensive? Extensive survey in thenomesof Thessaloniki,
Kilkis, and Chalkidike has produced a large number of recorded
locations—144 pre-Iron Age sites in thenomeof Thessaloniki alone.^27
The Langadas survey indicates a strong increase in the number of rural
sites during the Early Iron Age, with a less well-marked, if sustained,
profile in the succeeding Late Iron Age. Urban nucleations appear com-
paratively late and seem to belong to a surge in urban foci during the
Hellenistic period. The same pattern has been assumed to have existed in
the Thracian interior, particularly in the case of nascent urban centres in
east central Bulgaria, as at Kabyle and Seuthopolis (Fig. 4.7).^28 Modern
development work along the Bulgarian–Greek border; in east-central
Bulgaria,^29 and in the environs of Istanbul,^30 has produced a rich haul
of evidence that has yet to be fully analysed, published, and absorbed. In
the rapidly changing commercial environment of south-eastern Europe,
the kind of documentation currently available does not necessarily do
justice to the quality of information being conveyed in preliminary
(^25) Nielsen 1999, 268; see Davies 2005, esp. 121–3, for detailed discussion of putative unit
costs of this and similar palace structures.
(^26) Kottaridi 2011a, 304–5.
(^27) Grammenos et al. 1997.
(^28) Langadas survey: Andreou and Kotsakis 1999; Kabyle:Inventory, 893 no. 694;
L. Getov, N. Handjiyska, I. Vulchev,AOR2009 [2010] 417–19 for recent work in the
Hellenisticagoraof Kabyle; Seuthopolis:Inventory, 896, no. 657; for recent intensive survey
in the Kazanlak area, see refs Ch. 2, n.55. 29
Nikolov, Nehrizov, and Tsvetkova 2006; taking two seasons as examples, and only
first-millenniumbcsites, 17 were recorded under major road development projects in 2008
(AOR2008 [2009] 137ff.); and a further 26 in 2009 (AOR2009 [2010] 136–270).
(^30) Özdoğan 1990; Crow and Turner 2009.
150 Thelongue duréein the north Aegean