Archaeological Museum of Gytheion

  Until 1996, the museum was housed in the neo-classical building of the Town Hall, which was rebuilt in 1891. The museum will soon be transferred to the town's old Girls' School, a neo-classical building which is currently being restored.
  The original collection was established 80 years ago, with the contributions of certain antiquarians, inhabitants of Gytheion. The exhibition halls were organised in 1980.
  The exhibition of the museum includes representative works of the flourishing trading city of Gytheion and the other cites of the League of the Eleutherolakones.
  Among the exhibits are the following collections:
•Finds from excavations, collections and gifts, from the ancient city of Gytheion.
•Finds from field surveys in Lakonian Mani (areas of Gytheion and Oitylon)
•Collection of inscriptions with important documents concerning the political and social history of the area during the Roman conquest.
  The most important items of the museum are:
Stele crowned with a ram's head from the ancient city of Las (modern community of Chosiari, in Mani). It is a zoomorphic representation of god Karneios (Apollo), dated to the Archaic period (inv. no. 130).
Fragment of a relief, of the type called "Lakonian hero reliefs". An enthroned figure is represented, along with a standing worshipper. It comes from the ancient city of Las and dates to the Archaic period (inv. no. 87).
Rectangular plaque with an inscription on the cymation reading "to Aphrodite, crowned with violets". It was found at Dichova, in Mani, where there was a sanctuary, probably of Aphrodite. Dated to the Archaic period (inv. no. 105).
Votive relief, dedicated to a healer god (Machaon ?). A leg is pictured, from the middle of the thigh to the sole; the inscription "... dedicated it" is preserved. From the ancient Kaine polis or city of the Tainarioi (modern villages of Alika and Kyparissos, in Mani). Dated to the Late Hellenistic period (3rd century B.C.). (inv. no. 123).
Portrait of the philosopher Epicure, dated to the Roman period. It copies a work dated to the 4th century B.C. (inv. no. 120).
Statue of the dynamic Spartan epistates "hegemon" Gaius Julius Eurykles, represented as Hermes. On the base there is a bilingual inscription in Greek and Latin. It was dedicated by favoured Roman merchants and bankers of the Lakonian coast. It was found in the city of Gytheion, between the ancient theatre and the Agora, and dates to the Roman period (inv. no. 3).
Sarcophagi with a variety of representations. They form a remarkable thematic unity which attests the high financial status of a certain group of the ancient society in Gytheion and Eleutherolakonia. Dated to the Roman period.
Sacred Law. It refers to the festivals of Gytheion: the Kaisareia, in honour of Julii emperors and the Eurykleia, in honour of Gaius Julius Eurykles and his son. It was found at Gytheion and dates to A.D. 15 (inv. no. 47).
Funerary epigram possibly referring to the invasion of the Goths in A.D. 269. The deceased young warrior who sinks in the sea recalls the great times of Hellenism, with which he combines his own struggles against the coming barbarism (inv. no.63).
Bust of an unknown lady of Gytheion, dated to the 4th century A.D. The eyes were inset (inv. no. 7).
Larger than life head, probably of Emperor Constantine the Great (A.D. 307-337), in the symbolic representation of the deified Sol Invictus. It is dated to the period of the Tetrarchy, perhaps a little before A.D. 312.