Le basileion d'Oria? Découvertes récentes sur l'acropole du centre messapien

Recent renovations in the palace of the Bishop, on the hill of Oria have revealed some remains of a magnificent proto-Hellenistic building, including a figured pebble mosaic with the attack a lion to the deer. The mosaic was made with imported materials. Its high style finds comparison only in Greece with the mosaic of the Hellenistic palaces in Athens, Eretria, Corinth and especially in Pella in Macedonia. We can assume that it was done in the last third of the fourth century by Greek artists, as part of an massive building located of the acropolis of the city Messapian. The presence at Oria of a pebble mosaic of an artistic level unparalleled in the Southern Italy, can be compared to what we read in Strabo (6, 3, 6) about the existence in the city of a basileion, that is the royal palace, one of the ancient rulers. All this reflects an important role played by Oria at the time of Italian expedition of Alexander the Molossian, king of Epirus and in the treaties concluded by him with the Messapians.