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Ancient Asine. [Handout\/Culture Ministry]<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
A Swedish-Greek underwater survey off a Mycenaean acropolis in the Peloponnese made famous by Nobel Prize-winning poet George Seferis is producing new insights on harbour-building techniques following rising sea levels in late antiquity.<\/p>\n
A Culture Ministry statement Wednesday said last year\u2019s research at Asine, near Tolo in the Argolid, concentrated on structures standing on a large, man-made sunken platform discovered in recent years in relatively shallow waters under the acropolis.<\/p>\n
Attempts to date the roughly square structures by pottery found between the stones were inconclusive, but the ministry said they seem to post-date the apparently Roman-era platform that was probably a breakwater. With the passage of time and the rise in sea levels, this became submerged.<\/p>\n
The square structures were likely the foundations of later piers built on the submerged breakwater to allow continued use of the harbor structures, the ministry said. It\u2019s believed that the stones were originally contained in wooden crates that rotted away, leaving the stones in rough piles.<\/p>\n
Asine was inhabited from the 6th millennium BC \u2013 when the acropolis hill was probably an island \u2013 through Mycenaean times, when its Cyclopean defensive walls were built, and most of antiquity until the 5th century AD. During World War II it was fortified by occupying Italian troops who destroyed many of the building remains.<\/p>\n
Excavations were began by Swedish archaeologists in 1922 following an initiative by Swedish Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf, who explored the site in 1920. A visit by Seferis in 1938 resulted in \u201cThe King of Asine,\u201d one of his best-known poems.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The underwater survey was carried out in late September and early October 2025, as a collaboration between the ministry and the Swedish In\u00adsti\u00adtute at Athens and Stock\u00adholm Uni\u00adver\u00adsity, with par\u00adtic\u00adi\u00adpants from the Uni\u00adver\u00adsity of Gothen\u00adburg and the com\u00adpany Nordic Mar\u00aditime Group.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The \u00a0five-year pro\u00adject started in Oc\u00adto\u00adber 2023, and aims to investigate the underwater structures with a view to re\u00adlating them to the set\u00adtle\u00adments on land.<\/p>\n![\"archaeologists-probe-sunken-harbor-remains-at-site-that-inspired-seferis-poem0\"](\"https:\/\/www.ekathimerini.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2._.jpg?1775054740656\")