At the location “Chilia Spitia (Thousand Houses)” in the area of Agios Thomas of Messolonghi, where lie the ruins of a medieval village, and also on a low hill south of the Arakynthos mountain range, the ancient city of Alikyrna is to be found. It is known to have been sited between Pleuron and Kalydon. The site sits north of the National Road from Antirrio to Messolonghi, 1 km northeast of Agios Thomas and 1.4 km southwest southwest of the Monastery of Agios Simeon.
Remains of a small fortified enclosure are preserved on the western slope of the hill. The area has definitely been inhabited since the Protogeometric period, but the finds show that the town flourished mainly in the Classical and Hellenistic periods, while in Roman times it was deserted.
A large part of the ancient city and its cemetery was uncovered in an extensive rescue excavation carried out as part of the construction of the Ionian Road, on both sides of the road leading to the historic monastery of Agios Simeon. It was organised according to a regular town plan, following the Hippodamian system, with a grid of perpendicular streets delimiting the rectangular building blocks. The settlement had an excellent water supply and sewage system. A large open area in the centre of the excavated site seems to have been the Agora, around which ‘neighbourhoods’ and public and commercial buildings developed.
The excavation produced a significant number of finds, many of which testify to intense commercial activity. Ceramic kilns and moulds for the manufacture of figurines reveal a rich coroplastic production. South of the commercial centre was the residential area. In one of the houses investigated, the bathing area was revealed. Another bathhouse, of public character, included a circular hall positioned with sixteen bath-tubs off it and was decorated with elaborate pebbled mosaics.
In the south-western part of the excavation, a deposit of thousands of fragments of clay vessels and figurines was found, which were the refuse of a city sanctuary, in which Artemis and Aphrodite, as well as other deities, were probably worshipped together.
The cemetery of the city, discovered between the remains of the settlement and Kalydon, consisted of about 600 graves of various types, and was rich in finds. Among them were two ‘Macedonian’-type tombs, as well as an important funerary monument that was found in ruins, its structural material left in a heap. A funerary stele with the inscription CHARIXENO{Y} indicates that it probably belonged to the Aetolian general of that name of the 3rd century BC.
The town site was covered with a backfill for the needs of the construction of the motorway and is not visible today. Individual monuments are planned to be restored in the future in order to make them accessible to visitors. Finds from the excavations of Alikyrna and graphic and digital representations of its monuments can be seen at the Xenokrateion Archaeological Museum.
