1. Name and place
According to the word’s etymology, the name Xeronomi means that the land of the village is dry, although it is surrounded by a large arable valley.
The location where Xeronomi lies is interesting, since it borders with cities and places, such as Thisvi, Thespiai, Mount Helicon with the Valley of the Muses, with a centuries’ long presence and history. Near Xeronomi are situated also the seaport of Thespiai, the port of ancient Kreusis and the ancient city of Tipha or Siphai, that is modern-day Alyke. This strongly-fortified city stretches to the southeast of the Domvraina bay. Actually, almost in the middle of the route from Xeronomi to Alyke lies a watch tower.
From the harbour quarters fifth-century-A.D. pottery has been collected marking the existence of a settlement in the region during that period, and indication thus that maritime commercial transactions were probably still carrying on, attested already since the Mycenaean period in the area.
North of Xeronomi, where a small river flows, lies the ancient Donakon, a name meaning a place full of reeds. It is said that the spring where Narkissos fell in love with the reflection of his own image and finally died because of this love, lies there, too.
In the same region is situated the abandoned village of Tatiza or Tatatzi, where remains of secular buildings and a church of Hagia Triada (Holy Trinity) have been located. The assumption, however, that Donakon is identified to Tatiza cannot be verified with absolute safety taking into consideration the current available evidence. In the surrounding area pottery has been found, dating from the Early Helladic to the Byzantine period. In the bibliography it is mentioned that the inhabitants of this village moved to modern-day Xeronomi and finally its area was used for cultivation. Actually, according to oral traditions of the inhabitants the reason to abandon their village was that it was overtaken by the «shadowing» which was responsible for the death of children and the extermination of the herds. This report may carry the memory of a disease that inflicted upon the region in an earlier period.
2. Archaeological data from Xeronomi
From the region of Xeronomi, as well as from nearby Tatiza, a good number of inscribed stone architectural members have been collected. They are mainly funerary altars of the 2nd- 3rd A.D. with relief depictions of the horseman-hero (Thracian hero) motive. On three of them Christian symbols have been inscribed dated to the 7th c., in order to be used probably as building material for an unknown basilica of the early Christian period situated somewhere at the nearby area of Xeronomi.
A few stone members lie still in the courtyard of the parish church, dedicated to the Birth of Theotokos. These are four pieces cut from unfluted column shafts and an early Christian rectangular pedestal with an inherent column base. The latter is decorated on one side with a relief cross-monogram and the apocalyptic letters Α and Ω under the horizontal cross arm.
The modern church, of large dimensions, is built right on top of an older one which was destroyed shortly before the mid 20th c. Unfortunately, there is no secure evidence regarding the original church, yet it is possible that this place could be associated with the unknown early Christian basilica from which some members survive, dated to the same period.
3. The remains of the church of Saint George
3.1. General remarks
Remains of a church known as the church of Saint George, inside a small community grove full of pine trees, where quite recently a small church dedicated to the same saint has been erected.
It owes its name to the late-Antique funerary altars that existed in the area and were used as building material for its erection. The depictions of horsemen adorning one of its facades were understood as portraying this particular military saint who is depicted in a similar iconographic type. These stones pieces, made of local limestone, were carried away from the area in the 1970s and moved to the Archaeological Museum of Thebes, where they are kept.
The location of the remains of the church was known to the inhabitants of Xeronomi as well to 19th-century travelers who passed from the region. However, the archaeological research was not conducted until the years 2001 and 2003 by the 1st Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities.
According to what was proved by research, it is a graveyard church, preserving two building phases (second and third phase) going back to the middle Byzantine times, and erected over the remains of a pre-existing edifice, dated to the early Christian period (first phase). The wall masonry of the buildings which were erected with a small or larger chronological distance to each other, preserves clear differences in the way they were constructed and the materials used for their construction.
The north and south church walls are based right upon those of the previous building, which function as foundations, so both buildings have the same width internally.
Actually, small parts of the north and south walls from the first phase which were preserved to a greater height were embedded and formed part of the wall masonry for subsequent building phases, signifying that the pre-existing edifice had a special meaning for the region.
3.2. Late Roman – early Christian edifice (first building phase)
The original edifice, which was embedded later into the middle Byzantine church, is erected on the east-west axis. It is a long rectangular building which ends in a large semicircular apse in the west, with an opening a little smaller than the width of the building. On the partially surviving coat layer of its inner wall surface, horizontal and diagonal lines of different directions have been traced with a trowel.
For its erection undressed local limestones have been used, of relatively small dimensions. They are bound together with a rose-colored mortar whereas the applying of brick stones on the joints is sporadic.
Parts of the walls have been unearthed outside the north and the south side of the building. They are vertical to its long side-walls and they are an indication for the existence of annexes and other auxiliary rooms connected with its use and function. It is probably a private house and can be characterized as a villa.
3.3. Middle Byzantine church (second and third building phase)
The main church belongs to the category of transitional cross-in-square church, and, based on its architectural morphology, can be ascribed chronologically to the first half of the 10th c.
It is almost square in ground plan and ends in three semicircular apses in the east, of which the central is larger and slightly projecting.
The wall masonry is formed by local stones and the reuse of older material. On the southwestern dividing wall, for example, a funerary altar is embedded with the inscribed name (Μ;)ΕΛΑΝΙΠΠΙΔΑΣ. On the joints many brick stones have been applied, ina diagonal or vertical position, embedded with the aid of plenty of white mortar. The exterior face of the apses is adorned with a series of brick stones in triangular order and with channels in the form of the letter X inside a rectangular on the surface of the coat layer. Its interior is accessed through an auxiliary entrance on the south wall and three more entrances on the west side of the church, which correspond to three aisles. These three openings served the communication with the narthex which was added a little later on the west of the church.
The narthex is tripartite, following the arrangement of the main church, and is rectangular in ground plan. In its wall masonry a large use of brick stones is attested, placed with certain care.
During the archaeological research in the years 2001 and 2003, burials were unearthed outside the church as well as in the area of the narthex. Actually, the burials were centered on the interior of the western part of the previous edifice, since its remains were visible and used as a kind of grave precinct.
4. Burials
Outside and inside the church have come to light twenty six tombs dated to the 10th-12th c. Most of them are common cists, namely tombs with stone-built sides holding the body of the dead, and covered with stones slabs. Very few of them are covered with tiles, but all of them included infant burials.
The bone material comes from more than fifty humans, the large part of which involves children, most of them under the age of four.
Among funeral gifts were found many glass beads, rings, earrings, a glass bracelet and three crosses. Most of the metal jewelry is made of bronze, while only two silver objects were retrieved, a ring and an earring, and two iron crosses. The rings are mainly adorned with ribbons and free endings and bear a spotted decoration. The earrings are simple, link-shaped, some of them adorned with bronze beads, except of a gilded one, decorated with the filigree technique.
Interesting is the finding of an iron nail in two cases of minors’ burials, both in the same location, upon the body’s chest, probably related to the high percentage of infant mortality, suggesting an apotropaic use, as maybe did the two iron crosses, too.
During the reuse of most of the tombs of this assemblage absolute respect was shown towards the previously buried bodies and their grave objects. The attention with which the translation was applied speaks for the existence of tied family relations among the dead of most of the tombs.
The existence of the remains of the church of Saint George and the large number of grave objects accompanying the burials, reveal that, during the middle Byzantine period, in the area of modern-day Xeronomi lived an organized community. The socio-economic stratification of its members, however, can not be verified with safety, taking into consideration only the burials’ assemblage of the church of Saint George. Nevertheless, the burials of the church, with their relevant homogeneity on the grave objects and the fact that these are mostly made of low quality materials, present a human society of a rather middle economic level.
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