Culture and Sports Minister Constantinos Tassoulas on Tuesday visited an archaeological dig in the Mets district of central Athens, where archaeologists last week unearthed a section of stone inscription identified as belonging to a temple dedicated to ‘Zeus Meilichius’ in Agrotera.

The minister was shown around the dig by the head of the antiquities service Eleni Banou and the head of the excavation Georgios Mihalopoulos, accompanied by the general director for antiquities Maria Vlazaki.

The dig was started in 2010 and in February this year discovered the foundations of a Classical-era building, possibly a temple. The subsequent discovery on June 17 of a fragment of a dedicatory pillar with the inscription ‘Διι Μει[λιχίωι]’ confirmed ancient literary sources, such as Thucydides and Aristophanes, referring to the temple of a Zeus Meilichius in the area known as Agra or Agrai in antiquity.

Sections of dedicatory inscriptions found in the same area in previous years also confirm the latest inscription.

A culture ministry announcement said that Tassoulas had asked for the excavation of the area to be speeded up so that all the necessary data will be collected and a complete picture concerning the site will emerge.