Αρχαίο στάδιο Κω

Ancient Stadium of Kos stands in the western archaeological zone of Kos, Greece, as a Hellenistic venue built in the second century BCE. The stadium stretches about 180 metres long and 30 metres wide. Its surviving structure combines Doric and Ionic architectural elements, while the original seating occupied only the eastern side. Roman builders later added seats along the western side, changing the arrangement of this athletic setting.

Athletes competed here in events honouring Zeus and Athena, drawing people from across Kos and beyond. The stadium formed part of a wider complex with a gymnasium, thermae, paved Roman roads, and public spaces. Nearby, the gymnasium covered roughly 200 by 120 metres around an open, colonnaded courtyard. Medieval abandonment left the western archaeological zone buried until excavations revealed much of its stonework during the twentieth century.

Rudolf Herzog identified the starting line, or aphesis, near the end of the nineteenth century. Italian archaeologists later uncovered western travertine seats during excavations in the 1920s and 1930s. Most original seats have disappeared, but foundations and structural elements still survive after more than two thousand years. A nearby house preserves a huge mosaic showing Zeus carrying off Europa in the form of a bull.