Εμφανίζονται 51 τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Πληροφορίες για τον τόπο στην ευρύτερη περιοχή: "ΑΤΤΙΚΗ, ΔΥΤΙΚΗ Νομαρχία ΕΛΛΑΔΑ" .
ΑΤΤΙΚΗ, ΔΥΤΙΚΗ (Νομαρχία) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
ΕΛΕΥΣΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ, ΔΥΤΙΚΗ
Eleusis or Eleusin: Eth. Eleusinios (Lepsina). A demus of Attica, belonging
to the tribe Hippothoontis. It owed its celebrity to its being the chief seat
of the worship of Demeter and Persephone, and to the mysteries celebrated in honour
of these goddesses, which were called the Eleusinia, and continued to be regarded
as the most sacred of all the Grecian mysteries down to the fall of paganism.
As an account of these mysteries, and of the legends respecting their institution,
is given elsewhere where, it only remains now to
speak of the topography and history of the town. Eleusis stood upon a height at
a short distance from the sea, and opposite the island of Salamis. Its situation
possessed three natural advantages. It was on the road from Athens to the Isthmus;
it was in a very fertile plain; and it was at the head of an extensive bay, formed
on three sides by the coast of Attica, and shut in on the south by the island
of Salamis. The town itself dates from the most ancient times. It appears to have
derived its name from the supposed advent (eleusis) of Demeter, though some traced
its name from an eponymous hero Eleusis. (Paus. i. 38.7.) It was one of the
12 independent states into which Attica was said to have been originally divided.
(Strab. ix. p. 397.) It was related that in the reign of Eumolpus, king of Eleusis,
and Erechtheus, king of Athens, there was a war between the two states, in which
the Eleusinians were defeated, whereupon they agreed to acknowledge the supremacy
of Athens in every thing except the celebration of the mysteries, of which they
were to continue to have the management. (Thucyd. ii. 15; Paus. i. 38.3.) Eleusis
afterwards became an Attic demus, but in consequence of its sacred character it
was allowed to retain the title of polis (Strab. ix.; Paus. i. 38.7),
and to coin its own money, a privilege possessed by no other town in Attica, except
Athens. The history of Eleusis is part of the history of Athens. Once a year the
great Eleusinian procession travelled from Athens to Eleusis, along the Sacred
Way, which has been already described at length. The ancient temple of Demeter
at Eleusis was burnt by the Persians in B.C. 484 (Herod. ix.); and it was
not till the administration of Pericles that an attempt was made to rebuild it.
When the power of the Thirty was overthrown after the Peloponnesian War, they
retired to Eleusis, which they had secured beforehand, but where they maintained
themselves for only a short time. (Xen. Hell. ii. 4. 8, seq., 43) Under the Romans
Eleusis enjoyed great prosperity, as initiation into its mysteries became fashionable
among the Roman nobles. It was destroyed by Alaric in A.D. 396, and from that
time disappears from history. When Spon and Wheler visited the site in 1676, it
was entirely deserted. In the following century it was again inhabited, and it
Ad is now a small village called Lephina, which is only a corruption of the ancient
name. Eleusis was built at the eastern end of a low rocky height, a mile in length,
which lies parallel to the sea-shore, and is separated to the west from the falls
of Mount Cerata by a narrow branch of the plain. The eastern extremity of the
hill was levelled artificially for the reception of the Hierum of Demeter and
the other sacred buildings. Above these are the ruins of an acropolis. [ "Castellum,
quod et imminet, et circumdatum est templo," Liv. xxxi. 25.] A triangular
space of about 500 yards each side, lying between the hill and the shore, was
occupied by the town of Eleusis. On the eastern side the town wall is traced along
the summit of an artificial embankment, carried across the marshy ground from
some heights near the Hierum, on one of which stands a castle (built during the
middle ages of the Byzantine empire). This wall, according to a common practice
in the military architecture of the Greeks, was prolonged into the sea, so as
to form a mole sheltering a harbour, which was entirely artificial, and was formed
by this and two other longer moles which project about 100 yards into the sea.
There are many remains of walls and buildings along the shore, as well as in other
parts of the town and citadel; but they are mere foundations, the Hierum alone
preserving any considerable remains. (Leake.) Pausanias has left us only a very
brief description of Eleusis (i. 38. 6): The Eleusinians have a temple of Triptolemus,
another of Artemis Propylaea, and a third of Poseidon the Father, and a well called
Callichorum, where the Eleusinian women first instituted a dance and sang in honour
of the goddess. They say that the Rharian plain was the first place in which corn
was sown and first produced a harvest, and that hence barley from this plan is
employed for making sacrificial cakes. There the so-called threshing-floor and
altar of Triptolemus are shewn. The things within the wall of the Hierum [i. e.
the temple of Demeter] a dream forbade me to describe. The Rharian plain is also
mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Artemis (450): it appears to have been in the
neighbourhood of the city; but its site cannot be determined.
The present state of the antiquities at Eleusis is described by the
Commission of the Dilettanti, of whose researches a brief account is given by
Leake. Upon approaching Eleusis from Athens, the first conspicuous object is the
remains of a large pavement, terminating in some heaps of ruins, which are the
remains of a propylaeum, of very nearly the same plan and dimensions as that of
the Acropolis of Athens. Before it, near the middle of a platform cut in the rock,
are the ruins of a small temple, 40 feet long and 20 broad, which was undoubtedly
the temple of Artemis Propylaea. The peribolus, which abutted on the Propylaeum,
formed the exterior inclosure of the Hierum. At a distance of 50 feet from the
propylaeum was the north-eastern angle of the inner inclosure, which was in shape
an irregular pentagon. Its entrance was at the angle just mentioned, where the
rock was cut away both horizontally and vertically to receive another propylaeum
much smaller than the former, and. which consisted of an opening 32 feet wide
between two parallel walls of 50 feet in length. Towards the inner extremity this
opening was narrowed by transverse walls to a gateway of 12 feet in width, which
was decorated with antae, opposed to two Ionic columns. Between the inner front
of this propylaeum and the site of the great temple lay, until the year 1801,
the colossal bust of Pentelic marble, crowned with a basket, which is now deposited
in the public library at Cambridge. It has been supposed to be a fragment of the
statue of Demeter which was adored in the temple; but, to judge from the position
in which it was found, and from the unfinished appearance of the surface in those
few parts where any original surface remains, the statue seems rather to have
been that of a Cistophorus, serving for some architectural decoration, like the
Caryatides of the Erechtheium.
The temple of Demeter itself, sometimes called mustikos sekos, or
to telesterion, was the largest in all Greece, and is described by Strabo as capable
of containing as many persons as a theatre (ix. p. 395). The plan of the building
was designed by Ictinus, the architect of the Parthenon at Athens; but it was
many years before it was completed, and the names of several architects are preserved
who were employed in building it. Its portico of 12 columns was not built till
the time of Demetrius Phalereus, about B.C. 318, by the architect Philo. (Strab.
l. c.; Plut. Per. 13; Dict. of Biogr. vol. iii. p. 314, a.) When finished, it
was considered one of the four finest examples of Grecian architecture in marble.
It faced the south-east. Its site is occupied by the centre of the modern village,
in consequence of which it is difficult to obtain all the details of the building.
The Commission of the Dilettanti Society supposed the cella to be 166 feet square
within; and comparing the fragments which they found with the description of Plutarch
(Per. 13), they thought themselves warranted in concluding that the roof of the
cella was covered with tiles of marble like the temples of Athens; that it was
supported by 28 Doric columns, of a diameter (measured under the capital) of 3
feet 2 inches; that the columns were disposed in two double rows across the cella,
one near the front, the other near the back; and that they were surmounted by
ranges of smaller columns, as in the Parthenon, and as we still see exemplified
in one of the existing temples at Paestum. The cella was fronted with a magnificent
portico of 12 Doric columns, measuring 61 1/2 feet at the lower diameter of the
shaft, but fluted only in a narrow ring at the top and bottom. The platform at
the back of the temple was 20 feet above the level of the pavement of the portico.
An ascent of steps led up to this platform on the outside of the north-western
angle of the temple, not far from where another flight of steps ascended from
the platform to a portal adorned with two columns, which perhaps formed a small
propylaeum, communicating from the Hierum to the Acropolis.
There are no remains which can be safely ascribed to the temple of
Triptolemus, or to that of Poseidon. The well Callichorum may have been that which
is now seen not far from the foot of the northern side of the hill of Eleusis,
within the bifurcation of two roads leading to Megara and to Eleutherae, for near
it are the foundations of a wall and portico. Near Eleusis was the monument of
Tellus, mentioned by Herodotus (i. 30).
The town of Eleusis and its immediate neighbourhood were exposed to
inundations from the river Cephissus, which, though almost dry during the greater
part of the year, is sometimes swollen to such an extent as to spread itself over
a large part of the plain. Demosthenes alludes to inundations at Eleusis (c. Callicl.
p. 1279); and Hadrian raised some embankments in the plain in consequence of an
inundation which occurred while he was spending the winter at Athens (Euseb. Chron.
p. 81). In the plain about a mile to the south of Eleusis are the remains of two
ancient mounds, which are probably the embankments of Hadrian. To the same emperor
most likely Eleusis was indebted for a supply of good water by means of the aqueduct,
the ruins of which are still seen stretching across the plain from Eleusis in
a north-easterly direction. (Leake, Demi of Attica, p. 154, seq., from which the
greater part of the preceding account is taken.) The annexed coin represents on
the obverse Demeter in a chariot drawn by winged snakes, and holding in her hand
a bunch of corn, and on the reverse a sow, the animal usually sacrificed to Demeter.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΕΡΥΘΡΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ
Eruthrai: Eth. Eruthraios. An ancient town in Boeotia, mentioned by
Homer, and said to have been the mother-city of Erythrae in Boeotia. (Hom. Il.
ii. 499; Strab. ix.). It lay a little south of the Asopus, at the foot of Mount
Cithaeron. The camp of Mardonius extended along the Asopus from Erythrae and past
Hysiae to the territory of Plataea. (Herod. ix. 15, 25.) Erythrae is frequently
mentioned by other authorities in connection with Hysiae. It was in ruins in the
time of Pausanias. Leake places it to the eastward of Katzula at the foot of the
rocks, where are some foundations of Hellenic walls, together with a church containing
a Doric column and its capital.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΘΡΙΑ (Αρχαίος δήμος) ΑΣΠΡΟΠΥΡΓΟΣ
Thria, an important demus, from which the Eleusinian plain, or, at all events, the central or eastern part of it, was called the Thriasian Plain. When Attica was invaded from the west, the Thriasian Plain was the first to suffer from the ravages of the enemy. (Thriasion pedion, Strab. ix. p. 395; Herod. ix. 7; Thuc. i. 114, ii. 19.) A portion of the Eleusinian plain was also called the Rharian Plain (Parion, Hom. Hymn. Cer. 450) in ancient times, but its site is unknown.
The territory of Thria appears to have been extended as far as the salt-springs Rheiti, since the temple of Aphrodite Phila is said to have been in Thria. (Athen. vi. p. 255, c.) Thria is placed by Leake at a height called Magula, on the Eleusinian Cephissus, about three miles above Eleusis, but it is much more probable that it stood upon the coast somewhere between Eleusis and the promontory Amphiale (eita [after Eleusis] to Thriasion pedion kai homonumos aigialos kai demos: eith he akra he Amthiale, Strab. l. c.). Fiedler mentions the ruins of a demus, probably Thria, situated on the coast, at the distance of scarcely ten minutes after leaving the pass of Dhafni. (Fiedler, Reise, &c. vol. i. p.
This extract is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΜΕΓΑΡΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
Megara, Megara-orum, sometimes Megara-ae: the territory he Megaris,
sometimes he Megarike, sc. ge: Eth. Megareus, Megarensis: Adj. Megarikos.
A city in Greece Proper.
I. SITUATION. The city of Megara is situated rather more than a mile from
the Saronic gulf, in a plain about 6 or 7 miles in length, and the same in breadth,
bounded to the westward by the range of the Geraneian mountains, to the eastward
by the range which terminates in the mountains called Kerata or the horns, and
to the south by the sea; while on the north the plain loses itself in a gradual
ascent. The city stood on a low hill with a double summit, on each of which there
was an acropolis, one named Caria (Karia), and the other Alcathoe (Alkathoe),
the former probably being on the eastern, and the latter on the western height,
upon which the modern village is chiefly situated. Immediately below the city
was a port-town named Nisaea (Nisaia and Nisaia), the port being formed by an
island called Minoa. The city was connected with its port-town by Long Walls.
II. HISTORY. There were two traditions respecting the early history of
Megara. According to the Megarians, the town owed its origin to Car, the son of
Phoroneus, who built the citadel called Caria and the temples of Demeter called
Megara, from which the place derived its name. (Paus. i. 39. § 5, i. 40. § 6.)
Twelve generations afterwards Lelex came from Egypt and gave the inhabitants the
name of Leleges, whence we read in Ovid (Met. vii. 443):
Tutus ad Alcathoen, Lelegeia moenia, limes Composito Scirone patet.
Lelex was succeeded by his son Cleson, the latter by his son Pylas,
whose son Sciron married the daughter of Pandion, king of Athens. But Nisus, the
son of Pandion, disputing with Sciron the possession of Megara, Aeacus, who had
been called in as arbiter, assigned the kingdom to Nisus and his posterity, and
to Sciron the command in war. Nisus was succeeded by Megareus, the son of Poseidon,
who had married Iphinoe, the daughter of Nisus; and Megareus was followed by his
son Alcathous, who built the other citadel named after him. Such was the account
of the Megarians, who purposely suppressed the story of the capture of their city
by Minos during the reign of Nisus. (Paus. i. 39. § § 5, 6, i. 41. § 5.)
The other tradition, which was preserved by the Boeotians and adopted
by the rest of Greece, differs widely from the preceding one. In the reign of
Pylas, Pandion being expelled from Athens by the Metionidae, fled to Megara, married
the daughter of Pylas, and succeeded his father-in-law in the kingdom. (Paus.
i. 39. § 4; Apollod. iii. 15.) The Metionidae were in their turn driven out of
Athens; and when the dominions of Pandion were divided among his four sons, Nisus,
the youngest, obtained Megaris. The city was called after him Nisa, and the same
name was given to the port-town which he built. When Minos attacked Nisus, Megareus,
son of Poseidon, came from Onchestus in Boeotia to assist the latter, and was
buried in the city, which was called after him Megara. The name of Nisa, subsequently
Nisaea, was henceforth confined to the port-town. (Paus. i. 39. § § 4, 6.) But
even the inhabitants of Megara were sometimes called Nisaei, to distinguish them
from the Megarians of Sicily, their colonists (Theocr. Id xii. 27.) Through the
treachery of his daughter Scylla, Nisus perished, and Minos obtained possession
of the city, and demolished its walls. They were subsequently restored by Alcathous;
son of Pelops, who came from Elis. In this work he was assisted by Apollo. (Paus.
i. 41. § 6; Theogn. 771; Ov. Met. viii. 14) It was further related, that Hyperion,
the son of Agamemnon, was the last king of Megara, and that after his death a
democratical form of government was established. (Paus. i. 43. § 3.)
Into the value of those traditions it would be useless to inquire.
It may, however, be regarded as certain, that Megara and its territory were in
early times regarded as part of Attica; and hence Strabo accounts for the omission
of their names in the Iliad, because they were comprehended along with the Athenians
under the general name of Ionians. (Strab. ix. p. 392.) The most certain event
in the history of Megara is its conquest by the Dorians. This event is connected
in tradition with the expedition of the Peloponnesians against Athens. The Dorian
invaders were defeated by the voluntary sacrifice of Codrus; but Megaris was notwithstanding
permanently conquered, and a Corinthian and Messenian colony founded at Megara.
The pillar at the isthmus of Corinth, which had hitherto marked the boundaries
of Ionia and Peloponnesus, was now removed; and Megara was henceforth a Dorian
state, and its territory included in Peloponnesus. (Strab. ix. p. 393; Scymn.
Ch. 502.) Megara, however, continued for some time to be subject to Corinth, and
it was not without frequent straggles and wars that it at length established its
independence. Megara appears not to have become the ruling city in the district
till it was independent of Corinth, since in earlier times it had been only one
of the five hamlets (komai), into which the country was divided, namely, the Heraeans,
Piraeans, Megarians, Cynosurians and Tripodiscaeans. (Plut. Quaest. Grace. c.
17, p. 387.)
After Megara had become an independent city, its prosperity rapidly
increased, and in the seventh century before the Christian era it was one of the
most flourishing commercial cities of Greece. For this it was chiefly indebted
to its admirable situation, which gave its inhabitants great facilities for the
prosecution of commerce both by land and sea. All the roads from Northern Greece
to Peloponnesus passed through their country, while their shores being washed
by the Corinthian and Saronic gulfs, enabled them to trade both with the West
and East. Megara founded some of the earlier Grecian colonies, both
in Sicily and Thrace. In B.C. 728 it established Megara Hyblaea in Sicily, in
712, Astacus in Bithynia, in 675 Cyzicus in the Propontis, in the following year
Chalcedon at the mouth of the Bosporus, and in 657 Byzantium opposite Chalcedon.
About this time, or rather later, Comedy is said to have been invented by the
Megarians. According to the common account, Susarion, a native of Tripodiscus
in Megaris, introduced comedy into Attica. But, with the increase of wealth, the
lower orders attempted to obtain a share in the government, which had hitherto
been exclusively in the hands of the Dorian conquerors; and Theagenes, the father-in-law
of Cylon, became tyrant or despot of Megara, by attacking the rich landed proprietors
and advocating the claims of the poor. (Aristot. Rhet. i. 2, Polit. v. 4.) He
embellished the city by the construction of a beautiful aqueduct, which continued
to exist down to the time of Pausanias (i. 40. § 1). Theagenes ruled about B.C.
630--600; but he was subsequently driven from power, and Megara was for some time
torn asunder by struggles between the aristocracy and democracy. The elegiac poet
Theognis, who belonged to the aristocracy, deplores the sufferings of his party,
and complains that the poor no longer paid the interest of their debts, and that
they plundered the houses of the rich and even the temples.
About the same time the Megarians were engaged in frequent contests
with their neighbours in Attica. The chief struggle between them was for the island
of Salamis, which was at length gained by the Athenians in consequence of the
well-known stratagem of Solon. (Paus. i. 40. § 5; Strab. ix. p. 394.) The Megarians
took their share in the Persian wars. They fought with 20 ships at the battles
of Artemisium and Salamis. (Herod. viii. 1, 45.) They repulsed a body of Persians
whom Mardonius sent to ravage their territory (Paus. i. 40. § 2), and finally
3000 of their troops fought at the battle of Plataea. (Herod. ix. 28.)
After the Persian War the Megarians were involved in hostilities with
the Corinthians respecting the boundaries of their territories. This led the Megarians
to desert the Peloponnesian alliance, and unite themselves with the Athenians,
B. C 455. In order to secure their communication with Megara, the Athenians built
two Long Walls connecting the city with Nisaea; and they garrisoned at the same
time the town of Pegae, on the Corinthian gulf. (Thuc. i. 103.) But ten years
afterwards the Megarians revolted from Athens, and having obtained the assistance
of some Peloponnesian troops, they slew the Athenian garrison, with the exception
of those who escaped into Nisaea. They continued to hold Nisaea nd Pegae, but
they also surrendered these towns in the thirty years' truce made in the same
year (445) with Sparta and her allies. (Thuc. i. 114, 115.) The Athenians thus
lost all authority over Megaris; but they were so exasperated with the Megarians,
that they passed a decree excluding them from their markets and ports. This decree
pressed very hard upon the Megarians, whose unproductive soil was not sufficient
to support the population, and who obtained most of their supplies from Attica:
it was one of the reasons urged by the Peloponnesians for declaring war against
Athens. (Thuc. i. 67, 139; Aristoph. Acharn. 533.) In the Peloponnesian War the
Megarians suffered greatly. In the first year of the war the Athenians invaded
Megaris with a very large force, and laid waste the whole territory up to the
city walls. At the same time the Athenian fleet blockaded the harbour of Nisaea,
so that Megara was in the situation of a besieged city cut off from all its supplies.
This invasion was repeated by the Athenians once in every year, and sometimes
even twice; and the sufferings which the people then endured were remembered by
them many centuries afterwards, and were assigned to Pausanias as the reason why
one of their works of art had not been finished. (Thuc. ii. 31; Plut. Per. 30;
Paus. i. 40. § 4.)
In the fifth year of the Peloponnesian War (B.C. 427), the Athenians
under Nicias took possession of the island of Minoa, which lay in front of Nisaea,
and left a garrison there, by which means the port of Nisaea was still more effectively
blockaded. (Thuc. iii. 51.) Of the position of this island, and of the causeway
connecting it with the mainland, we shall speak presently. In the eighth year
of the Peloponnesian War (B.C. 424), the democratical party in Megara fearing
the return of the aristocratical exiles, who were at Pegae, entered into negotiations
with the Athenians to surrender their city to them. The Athenians still held Minoa;
and the Long Walls and Nisaea were occupied by an Athenian garrison. The Athenians
were admitted within the Long Walls by their friends in Megara, and after a siege
of two days they took Nisaea.1 Megara was saved by Brasidas, who advanced to the
relief of the city with a large Peloponnesian force, and, after offering battle
to the Athenians, which they declined, was admitted within the city. The aristocratical
exiles were now recalled, and a strict and exclusive oligarchy established, which
lasted for some time. (Thuc. iv. 66 - 74.) A few months afterwards the Megarians
captured the Long Walls from the Athenians and levelled them to the ground; but
the Athenians still continued to hold Nisaea and Minoa. (Thuc. iv. 109.) In the
truce concluded between the Athenians and Peloponnesians in the following year,
it was settled that the line of demarcation between the Athenians in Nisaea and
Minoa, on one side, and the Megarians and their allies in Megara, on the other,
should be the road leading from the gate of Nisaea near the monument of Nisus
to the Poseidonium or temple of Poseidon, and from the latter in a straight line
to the causeway leading to Minoa. (Thuc. iv. 117.)
From this time Megara is seldom mentioned in Grecian history. Its
prosperous condition at a later period is extolled by Isocrates, who says that
it possessed the largest houses of any city in Greece, and that it remained at
peace, though placed between the Peloponnesians, Thebans, and Athenians. (Isocr.
de Pac. p. 183, ed. Steph.) Megara surrendered to Philip after the battle of Chaeroneia.
(Aelian, V. H. vi. 1.) After the death of Alexander it was for some time in the
power of Cassander; but his garrison was expelled by Demetrius Poliorcetes, who
proclaimed the freedom of the city B.C. 307. (Diod. xx. 46; Plut. Demetr. 9.)
Subsequently it again passed into the hands of the Macedonian kings, but it was
united by Aratus to the Achaean League. (Polyb. ii. 43.) In the war between the
Achaean League and the Romans, Megara surrendered to Metellus without a contest.
(Paus. vii. 15. § 11.) It is mentioned by Sulpicius, in his well-known letter
to Cicero (ad Fam. iv. 5), as one of the ruined cities of Greece. It still existed
in the time of Strabo (ix. p. 393), and it was subsequently made a Roman colony.
(Plin. iv. 7. s. 11.) Pausanias relates that it was the only city of Greece which
Hadrian refused to assist, on account of the murder by its inhabitants of Anthemocritus,
the Athenian herald (Paus. i. 36. § 3); but we learn from inscriptions that a
new tribe at Megara was called Adrianis, in honour of the emperor, and that Sabina,
the emperor's wife, was worshipped here under the title of nea Demeter (Bockh,
Inscr. vol. i. p. 566); and even Pausanias himself describes a temple of Apollo
of white marble, built by Hadrian (i. 42. § 5). It continued to coin money under
the Antonines and subsequent emperors; and it appears in the Tabula Peuting. as
a considerable place. In the fifth century its fortifications were repaired by
Diogenes, an officer of the emperor Anastasius (Chandler, Inscr. Ant. 130); but
from this time it appears to have rapidly sunk, and was frequently plundered by
the pirates of the Mediterranean.
Megara was celebrated on account of its philosophical school, which
was founded there by Eucleides, a disciple of Socrates, and which distinguished
itself chiefly by the cultivation of dialectics. The philosophers of this school
were called the Megarici (hoi Megarikoi, Strab. ix. 393). It was, also less creditably
distinguished for its courtezans, who were called Megarian Sphinxes. (Megarikai
Sphinges, Suid. s. v.; comp. Plant. Pers. i. 3. 57.) The Megarians were addicted
to the pleasures of the table. (Tertull. Apolog. 39.) They had a bad character
throughout Greece, and were regarded as fraudulent, perfidious, and ignorant;
but they may have owed much of this bad character to the representations of their
enemies, the Athenians. (Aelian, V. II. xii. 56; Schol. ad Aristoph. Pac. 248;
Suid. s. v. Megareon axioi meridos, i. e. contemptible people.) Of the Megarian
games and festivals we have three kinds mentioned; the Dioclean, celebrated in
honour of the hero Diocles (Schol. ad Theocr. xii. 28; Schol. ad Pind. Ol. xiii.
155; Schol. ad Aristoph. Acharn. 774), the Alcathoan, celebrated in honour of
Alcathous, and the Smaller Pythian, in honour of the Pythian Apollo, whose worship
was very ancient in Megara. (Philostr. Vit. Soph. i. 3; Schol. ad Pind. Nem. v.
84, Ol. xiii. 155; Krause, Die Pythien, Nemeen und Isthmien, p. 66.)
Dion Chrysostom (Orat. vi.) says that Megara is one day's journey
from Athens, and Procopius (Bell. Vand. i. 1) makes it 210 stadia. According to
modern travellers the journey takes 8 hours. (Dodwell, Classical Tour, vol. ii.
p. 177.)
III. TOPOGRAPHY OF THE CITY AND ITS PORT-TOWN. Pausanias has given a particular
description of the public buildings of Megara (Paus. i. 40, seq.). He begins his
account with the aqueduct of Theagenes, which was supplied with water from the
fountain of the nymphs called Sithnides. The aqueduct was remarkable for its magnitude
and numerous columns. Near it was an ancient temple, containing a statue of Artemis
Soteira, statues of the twelve gods said to be by Praxiteles, and images of the
Roman emperors. Beyond, in the Olympieium, or inclosure of Zeus Olympius, was
a magnificent temple, containing a statue of the god, which was never finished,
owing to the distress occasioned by the Athenians in the Peloponnesian War. From
thence Pausanias ascended to the citadel, named Caria, passing by a temple of
Dionysus Nyctelius, a sanctuary of Aphrodite Apostrophia, an oracle of Night,
and a roofless temple of Zeus Cronius. Here, also, was the Megarum, or temple
of Demeter, said to have been founded by Car during his reign.
Below the northern side of the Acropolis Caria was the tomb of Alcmena
near the Olympieium. Hence Pausanias was conducted by his Megarian guide to a
place called Rhus (Rhous; comp. Plut. Thes. 27), because the waters from the neighbouring
mountains were collected here, until they were turned off by Theagenes, who erected
on the spot an altar to Achelous. It was probably this water which supplied the
fountain of the Sithnides. Near this place was the monument of Hyllas; and not
far from the latter were temples of Isis, Apollo Agraeus, and Artemis Agrotera,
which was said to have been dedicated by Alcathous after he had slain the Cithaeronian
lion. Below these were the heroum of Pandion, and the monuments of Hippolyte,
queen of the Amazons, and Tereus, who married Procne.
On the ascent to the citadel Alcathoe, Pausanias saw, on the right
hand, the sepulchre of Megareus, and near it the hearth of the gods called Prodomeis,
to whom Alcathous sacrificed when he was going to build the walls. Here was the
stone upon which Apollo laid his lyre, when he was assisting Alcathous, and which,
on being struck, returned a sound like that of a harp. (Comp. Theogn. 771; Ov.
Met. viii. 14) Beyond was the council-house (bouleuterion) of the Megarians, formerly
the sepulchre of Timalcus ; and on the summit of the Acropolis was a temple of
Athena, containing a statue of the goddess, entirely gilded, with the exception
of the face, hands, and feet, which were of ivory. Here, also, were temples of
Athena Nice, or Victory, and Aeantis. The temple of Apollo was originally of brick,
but had been rebuilt of white marble by Hadrian. Here, also, was a temple of Demeter
Thesmophorus, in descending from which occurred the tomb of Callipolis, daughter
of Alcathous.
On the road leading to the Prytaneium the traveller passed the heroum
of Ino, the heroum of Iphigeneia, and a temple of Artemis said to have been erected
by Agamremnon. In the Prytaneium were tombs of Menippus, son of Megareus, and
Echepolis, son of Alcathous; near which was a stone called Anaclethra, because
here Demeter sat down and called her daughter. Pausanias next mentions the sepulchres
of those Megarians who had fallen in battle against the Persians, and the Aesymnium,
so named from its founder, which contained a monument of the heroes of Megara.
There were several sepulchral monuments on the way from the Aesymnium to the heroum
of Alcathous, in which the public records were preserved in the time of Pausanias.
Beyond was the Dionysium or temple of Dionysus; close to which was the temple
of Aphrodite, containing several statues by Praxiteles. Near the latter was a
temple of Fortune, with an image of the goddess by Praxiteles. A neighbouring
temple contained statues of the Muses, and a Jupiter in brass, by Lysippus. In
the Agora stood the tombs of Coroebus and of the athlete Orsippus, the former
of which was ornamented by some of the most ancient specimens of sculpture which
Pausanias had seen in Greece. On descending from the Agora by the street called
Straight, there stood, a little to the right, the temple of Apollo Prostaterius,
with a statue of the god of great merit, as well as other statues by Praxiteles.
In the ancient gymnasium, near the gates called Nymphades, was a pyramidal stone,
called by the natives Apollo Carinus, and a temple of the Eileithyiae. On the
road to the port of Nisaea was a temple of Demeter Malophorus. The Acropolis of
Nisaea still remained; on descending from the Acropolis there was the tomb of
Lelex on the sea-side. Near Nisaea was a small island, called Minoa, where the
fleet of the Cretans was moored during the war against Nisus.
Megara still retains its ancient name, but it is a miserable place.
It occupies only the western of the two ancient citadels, and as this was probably
Alcathoe, the town on the summit is on the site of the temple of Athena. There
are hardly any remains of antiquity at Megara. On the eastern acropolis there
are a few remains of the ancient walls. None of the numerous temples mentioned
by Pausanias can be identified; and only one of them is marked by the frusta of
some Ionic columns. The magnificent aqueduct of Theagenes has disappeared; and
some imperfect foundations and a large fountain on the northern side of the town
are the only remains of the celebrated fountain of the Sithnide nymphs.
Of the Long Walls, uniting Megara with Nisaea, we have already spoken.
They are noticed by Aristophanes under the name of ta Megarika skele (Lysistr.
1172). They were destroyed by the Megarians themselves, as we have already seen,
in the eighth year of the Peloponnesian War, but they were subsequently restored
by Phocion. Strabo speaks of them as if they still existed in his time (ix. p.
391), but they would seem to have fallen to ruin before that of Pausanias, as
he makes no mention of them. According to Thucydides (iv. 66) they were 8 stadia
in length, but according to Strabo (l. c.) 18 stadia.
The position of Nisaea and Minoa has given rise to much dispute, as
the localities described by Thucydides do not agree with the present features
of the coast. The subject has been briefly discussed by Colonel Leake (Northern
Greece, vol. ii. p. 401), and more fully by Dr. Arnold (Thucyd. vol. ii. p. 393)
and Lieut. Spratt. (London Geographical Journal, vol. viii. p. 205.) Thucydides
represents Minoa as an island close to Nisaea, and united to the latter by a bridge
over a morass. On Minoa the Megarians had built a fortress (Thuc. iii. 51). Strabo
(ix. p. 39) calls Minoa a promontory (akra). He says that, after the Scironian
rocks, we come to the promontory Minoa, forming the harbour of Nisaea. Pausanias
(i. 44. § 3), however, agrees with Thucydides in calling it an island ; but it
may be observed that the expression of Strabo (akra) is not inconsistent with
its being an island, as stated by Thucydides and Pausanias. The difficulty in
determining the site of Minoa and Nisaea arises from the fact, that there is at
present no island off the coast which can be identified with Minoa. At the distance
of nearly a mile and a half from Megara there is a small rocky peninsula, and
further off two islands, the inner one of which affords shelter to a few of the
small class of coasters. Hence it has been supposed that the inner island was
Minoa, as it forms the port of the Megarians of the present day. But this island
is distant from the promontory about 200 yards, with 7 fathoms of water between
them ; consequently they could never have been connected by a bridge. It might,
indeed, be argued, that the peninsula was once an island ; but this is disproved
by the fact that its isthmus is of equal height with its extremity. Moreover there
are no ancient remains, either on this island or the peninsula.
Other writers, among whom are Colonel Leake and Dr. Arnold, suppose
the promontory of Tikho, further to the east, at the entrance of the strait of
Salamis, to have been Minoa, since it may at one time have been an island. Accordingly,
the statement of Strabo respecting the length of the Long Walls, is preferred
to that of Thucydides. But this promontory is nearly 3 miles in length, which
is larger than is implied in the description of Thucydides (iii. 51), who speaks
of it as fortified only by a single fort. Moreover, Pausanias calls Minoa a small
island. Lieutenant Spratt has offered a more probable solution of the difficulty.
He supposes Minoa to be a rocky hill, surmounted by a ruined fortress, and standing
on the margin of the sea south of Megara, at the distance of little more than
a geographic mile, thus agreeing with the 8 stadia of Thucydides. That this hill
was once a peninsula, appears evident from the dry beds of two rivers, which pass
close to its base ; one on each side. The eastern bed winds round the back of
the hill, leaving only a narrow neck of elevated ground between it and that on
the west side: and it is, therefore, clear, that when these two rivers had communication
with the sea, the intermediate neck of land, with this hill, would have been a
peninsula, or promontory. These two river beds were once the only outlets of the
mountain streams which issue from the valleys on the north side of Mont Geraneia
; for the ancient course of the eastern bed, although now ploughed over and cultivated,
can be traced through the plain to the northward, as far as its junction with
that river, whose torrent at present flows in an easterly direction towards the
shallow bay of Tikho, crossing the site of the Long Walls which connected Megara
with Nisaea and Minoa, and losing themselves in the swamps bordering that bay.
Although vestiges of the walls are not found in the bed of the river, yet, on
examining the ground near it, the evidence is convincing that its present course
does cross their site, as, at a short distance from it, on the Megarian side,
their foundations may be traced in a direction transverse to the course of the
river, and towards the castellated hill before mentioned. The dry watercourse
on the western side of this isolated hill can be traced to within two or three
hundred yards of the eastern one; and having no communi-cation with any other
mountain stream, it may not be unreasonable to suppose that formerly the river
split there into two branches or mouths. This hill would then have been an island,
as Thucydides calls Minoa. The subsequent deposit of earth brought down by the
above mentioned stream, would have joined the hill to the mainland.
If this hill is the site of Minoa, the town of Nisaea must have been
near it; and Lieut. Spratt discovered many vestiges of an ancient site on the
eastern side of the hill, between the sea and a low rock which stands in the plain
a short distance to the northward. Among these remains are four small heaps of
ruins, with massive foundations, in one of which there are three broken shafts
of small columns erect, and wanting apparently only the fourth to complete the
original number. Probably they were monuments or temples; and two Greek churches,
which are now in ruins, but standing on two ancient foundations, will not be unfavourable
to the supposition. Another church, Agios Nikolaos, which is perfect, also occupies
the site of an ancient building, but it stands nearer to the sea. (Lieut) Spratt
further supposes that he has discovered remains of the ancient causeway. Between
the base of the hill on its north side, and the opposite bank of the dry bed of
a former river, there are three platforms of heavy buildings, one of which lies
immediately at the foot of the hill, another on the edge of the opposite bank,
and the third nearly central; and as the course of that former river-bed clearly
and indisputably passes between them, it is more than probable that the bridge
of communication may be recognised in these ruins. He also says, that distinct
remains of an ancient mole are to be seen extending from the south-eastern end
of the hill, and curving to the eastward, so as to have formed a harbour between
the hill and those ruins, which is in accordance with the statement of Strabo,
that the port of Nisaea was formed by the promontory of Minoa.
IV. TERRITORY OF MEGARA. Megaris occupied the greater part of the large
Isthmus, which extends from the foot of Mt. Cithaeron to the Acrocorinthus, and
which connects Northern Greece with the Peloponnesus. The southern part of this
Isthmus, including the Isthmus properly so called, belonged to Corinth; but the
boundaries of Megaris and Corinth differed at an earlier and a later period. Originally
Megaris extended as far as Crommyon on the Saronic, and Thermae on the Corinthian,
gulfs, and a pillar was set up near the Isthmus proper, marking the boundaries
between Peloponnesus and Ionia; but subsequently this pillar was removed, and
the territory of Corinth reached as far as the Scironian rocks and the other passes
of the Geraneian mountains. (Strab. ix. pp. 392, 393.) Towards the N., Megaris
was separated from Boeotia by Mt. Cithaeron, and towards the E. and NE. from Attica
by some high land, which terminates on the west side of the bay of Eleusis in
two summits, formerly called Kerata or The Horns (ta Kerata), and now Kandili.
(Strab. ix. p. 395; Diod. xiii. 65; Plut. Them. 13.) Here there is an immense
deposit of conchiferous limestone, which Pausanias also noticed (i. 44. § 6).
The river Iapis, which flowed into the sea a little to the W. of the Horns, was
the boundary of Megaris and Attica. The extreme breadth of Megaris from Pagae
to Nisaea is estimated by Strabo (viii. p. 334) at 120 stadia; and, according
to the calculation of Clinton, the area of the country is 143 square miles. Megaris
is a rugged and mountainous country, and contains no plain, except the one in
which its capital, Megara, was situated. This plain was called the White Plain
(to Leukon pedion, Schol. ad Hom. Od. v. 333, ed. Mai; Etymol. M. s. v. Leukothea),
and is the same as Cimolia (Kimolia, Diod. xi. 79), which produced the Creta Cimolia
or fullers' earth, and which Leake erroneously regards as a place (Northern Greece,
vol. ii. p. 413). The main range of Mt. Cithaeron runs from W. to E., forming
the boundary between Boeotia and Attica; but it is also prolonged southwards along
the shores of the Corinthian gulf, and gradually rises into a new chain, which
stretches across Megaris from W. to E., parallel to Mt. Cithaeron. This chain
is highest on the western side, where it attains the height of 4217 feet (Paris),
and gradually sinks down on the eastern side towards the Saronic gulf. On its
western side it runs out into the promontory Aegiplanctus (Aigiplanktos, Aesch.
Agam. 303, with Schol.), and also into those of Olmiae and Heraeum in the Corinthian
territory. On its eastern side the island of Salamis and the surrounding rocks
are only a continuation of this chain. The mountains were called Geraneia in antiquity
(Geraneia, Thuc. i. 105; Paus. i. 40. § 7), and are said to have received this
name because, in the deluge of Deucalion, Megarus, the son of Zeus and a Sithonian
nymph, was led by the cries of cranes (geranoi) to take refuge upon their summit.
Towards the south the Geraneian mountains sink down into the plain of the Isthmus,
while to the south of the Isthmus there rises another chain of mountains called
the Oneian. Strabo (viii. p. 380) confounds the Geraneia with the Oneia; and erroneously
represents the latter extending as far as Boeotia and Cithaeron. His error has
misled many modern writers, who, in consequence, speak of the Geraneia as a portion
of the Oneia. (Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. i. p. 25.)
The Geraneian mountains are almost, if not entirely, calcareous. They
form the true boundary of Northern Greece, and rise above there Isthmus of Corinth
like a vast wall from sea to sea. Three roads lead across these mountains into
Peloponnesus. One runs from the western coast of Megaris, across the rocky peninsula
of Perakhora, the ancient Peiraeum of Corinth, down to the Corinthian gulf. It
was the road by which armies frequently marched from Peloponnesus into Northern
Greece, but in ordinary intercourse was not much used on account of its length.
The second road passes through the centre of the Geraneia, and is called the road
of the great Dervenia from the narrow pass (Turk. Derveni), which leads between
two masses of rock, and where guards were stationed in Turkish times. According
to Gell the top of this pass was anciently fortified with a wall. The same writer
says that, from the top of this pass to Corinth the distance is 8 hours 37 minutes,
and to Megara 2 hours 33 minutes. This road is now little used. The third road,
which leads along the eastern coast of Megaris, is the shortest way between Megara
and Corinth, and therefore has been the chief line of communication between Peloponnesus
and Northern Greece from the earliest times to the present day. This road, soon
after leaving Megara, runs for several miles along a narrow ledge or terrace,
cut in the rock half-way up the sides of the cliffs. On his right hand the traveller
has the precipitous rock, while on his left it descends perpendicularly to the
sea, which is 600 or 700 feet beneath him. The road, which is now narrow and impracticable
for carriages, was made wide enough by the emperor Hadrian for two carriages to
pass abreast. From the higher level the road descends to the brink of the water
by a most rugged and precipitous path cut between walls of rock. This pass is
the celebrated Scironian rocks of antiquity, now called Kake - skala, or bad ladder
(Hai Skeironides petrai, Strab. ix. p. 391; hai Skironides and hai Skirades, Polyb.
xvi. 16; Skeironos aktai, Eur. Hippol. 1208; the road itself he Skironis hodos,
Herod. viii. 71; Scironia saxa, Plin. iv. 7. s. 11). According to a Megarian tradition,
these rocks derived their name from Sciron, a polemarch of the Megarians, who
was the first to make a footpath along the rocks (Paus. i. 44. § 6); but, according
to the more common tradition, they were so called from the robber Sciron. Near
the southern end of the pass, where the road [p. 317] begins to descend, we must
place the Molurian rock (he Molouris), from which Ino or Leucothea threw herself
with her son Melicertes (Palaemon) into the sea; and close by were the execrable
rocks (enageis), from which Sciron used to throw strangers into the sea, and from
which lie was himself hurled by Theseus. (Paus. i. 44. § 7, seq.) The tortoise
at the foot of the rock, which was said to devour the robbers, was probably a
rock called by this name from its shape, and which gave rise to the tale (kata
ten kaloumenen chelonen, /un>Diod. iv. 59). On the summit of the mountain was
a temple of Zeus Aphesius. On descending into the plain was the temple of Apollo
Latous, near which were the boundaries of Megaris and the Corinthia. (Paus. i.
44. § § 9, 10.)
Megaris contained only one town of importance, Megara with its harbour
Nisaea, which have been already described. The other towns in the country were
Aegosthena and Pegae (Doric Pagae), on the Alcyonian or Corinthian gulf; Tripodicus
and Rhus in the interior; Phibalis, on the confines of Attica (Schol. ad Aristoph.
Acharn. 802); and Phalycon and Polichne of which the site is uncertain. There
was also a fortress, Geraneia situated on one of the mountains of this name, but
its position is also uncertain (Scylax, p. 15; Plin. iv. 7. s. 11); it is apparently
the same place as the Ereneia (Ereneia) of Pausanias (i. 44. § 5). Scylax mentions
a place Aris, but instead of Pegai, teichos Geraneia, Aris, it has been conjectured
that we ought to read Pegai teichos, Geraneia akris or akra. Whether there was
a place of the name of Isus in Megaris seems doubtful.
1. On this occasion Thucydides (iv. 66) calls Megara he ano polis, in contradistinction
to the port-town. This expression cannot refer to the acropolis of Megara, as
some critics interpret it.
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ΟΙΝΟΗ (Αρχαίος δήμος) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ
Oenoe (Oinoe),which must be distinguished from a demus of the same name in the
Marathonian Plain, was situated upon the confines of Boeotia and Attica, near
Eleutherae, and upon the regular road to Plataea and Thebes. (Strab. viii. p.
375; Herod. v. 74; Thuc. ii. 18; Diod. iv. 60.) Hysiae and Oenoe are mentioned
as the frontier demi of Attica in B.C. 507, when they were both taken by the Boeotians.
(Herod. l. c.) From this time Hysiae continued to be a Boeotian town; but Oenoe
was recovered by the Athenians, and was fortified by them before the commencement
of the Peloponnesian war (Thuc. l. c.) In B.C. 411 the Boeotians again obtained
possession of Oenoe (Thuc. viii. 98); but it must have been recovered a second
time by the Athenians, as it continues to be mentioned as an Attic demus down
to the latest times. Oenoe was situated on the Pythian Way, so called because
it led from Athens to Delphi (Strab. ix. p. 422): this road apparently branched
off from the Sacred Way to Eleusis, near the tomb of Strato. Near Oenoe was a
Pythium, or temple of Apollo Pythius, in consequence of the sanctity of which
Oenoe obtained the epithet of the Sacred. (Liban. Declam. 16, in Dem. Apol. i.
p. 451.) This Pythium is said to have formed the northern boundary of the kingdom
of Nisus, when Attica and the Megaris were divided between the four sons of Pandion.
(Strab. ix. p. 392.)
At the NW. extremity of Attica there is a narrow pass through Mount
Cithaeron, through which ran the road from Thebes and Plataeae to Eleusis. This
pass was known in antiquity by the name of the Three Heads, as the Boeotians called
it, or the Oak's Heads, according to the Athenians. (Herod. ix. 38.) On the Attic
side this pass was guarded by a strong fortress, of which the ruins form a conspicuous
object, on the summit of a height, to the left of the road. They now bear the
name of Ghyfto--kastro, or gipsy castle, a name frequently given to such buildings
among the modern Greeks. Leake supposes these ruins to be those of Oenoe, and
that Eleutherae was situated at Myupoli, about four miles to the south-eastward
of Ghyfto--kastro. The objection to this hypothesis is, that Eleutherae was originally
a member of the Boeotian confederacy, which voluntarily joined the Athenians,
and never became an Athenian demus, and that hence it is improbable that Oenoe,
which was always an Attic demus, lay between Plataeae and Eleutherae. To this
Leake replies, that, on examining the ruins of Ghyfto--kastro, its position and
dimensions evidently show that it was a fortress, not a town, being only 700 or
800 yards in circumference, and standing upon a strong height, at the entrance
of the pass, whereas Myupoli has every appearance of having been a town, with
an acropolis placed as usual on the edge of a valley. (Respecting Eleutherae,
see Paus. i. 38. § 8; Xen. Hell. v. 4. 14; Strab. viii. p. 375, ix. p. 412; Plut.
Thes. 29; Steph. B.; Plin. iv. 7. s. 12.) The position of these places cannot
be fixed with certainty; but we think Leake's opinion is, upon the whole, the
most probable. Muller, Kiepert, and others suppose the ruins of Ghyfto--kastro
to be those of Panactum described by Thucydides as a fortress of the Athenians,
on the confines of Boeotia, which was betrayed to the Boeotians in B.C. 420, and
subsequently destroyed by them. (Thuc. v. 3, 42; comp. Paus. i. 25. § 6; Dem.
de Fals. Leg. p. 446; Steph. B.) Leake places Panactum on the Boeotian side of
the pass of Phyle; but Ross thinks that he has discovered its ruins in the plain
of Eleutherae, west of Skurta. Ross, moreover, thinks that Eleutherae stood to
the east of Ghyfto--kastro, near the convent of St. Meletius, where are ruins
of an ancient place; while other modern writers suppose Eleutherae to have stood
more to the west, near the modern village of Kundara.
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ΠΑΓΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΜΕΓΑΡΑ
Pegae, Pagae. Pegai, Dor. Pagai: Eth. Pagaios. A town of Megaris, on the
Alcyonian or Corinthian gulf. It was the harbour of Megaris on the western coast,
and was the most important place in the country next to the capital. According
to Strabo (viii. p. 334) it was situated on the narrowest part of the Megaric
isthmus, the distance from Pagae to Nisaea being 120 stadia. When the Megarians
joined Athens in B.C. 455, the Athenians garrisoned Pegae, and its harbour was
of service to them in sending out an expedition against the northern coast of
Peloponnesus. (Thuc. i. 103, 111.) The Athenians retained possession of Pegae
a short time after Megara revolted from them in B.C. 454; but, by the thirty years'
truce made in the same year, they surrendered the place to the Megarians. (Thuc.
i. 114, 115.) At one period of the Peloponnesian War (B.C. 424) we find Pegae
held by the aristocratical exiles from Megara. (Thuc. iv. 66.) Pegae continued
to exist till a late period, and under the Roman emperors was a place of sufficient
importance to coin its own money. Strabo (viii. p. 380) calls it to ton Megareon
phrourion. Pausanias saw there a chapel of the hero Aegialeus, who fell at Glisas
in the second expedition of the Argives against Thebes, but who was buried at
this place. He also saw near the road to Pegae, a rock covered with marks of arrows,
which were supposed to have been made by a body of the Persian cavalry of Mardonius,
who in the night had discharged their arrows at the rock under the impulse of
Artemis, mistaking it for the enemy. In commemoration of this event, there was
a brazen statue of Artemis Soteira at Pegae. (Paus. i. 44. § 4.) Pegae is also
mentioned in the following passages: - Strab. ix. pp. 400, 409; Pans. i. 41. §
8; Ptol. iii. 15. § 6; Steph. B. s. v.; Mela, iii. 3. § 10; Plin. iv. 7. s. 11;
Hierocl. p. 645; Tab. Peut., where it is called Pache. Its site is now occupied
by the port of Psatho, not far from the shore of which are found the remains of
an ancient fortress. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 407.)
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ΤΡΙΠΟΔΙΣΚΟΣ (Αρχαίος οικισμός) ΜΕΓΑΡΑ
Tripodiscus (Tripodiskos, Thuc. iv. 70; Tripodiskoi, Paus. i. 43.
§ 8; Tripodoi, Tripodiskion, Strab. ix. p. 394; Tripodiske, Herod. ap. Steph.
B. s. v. Tripodiskos: Eth. Tripodiskois, Steph. B.; Tripodiskaios), an ancient
town of Megaris, said to have been one of the five hamlets into which the Megarid
was originally divided. (Plut. Quaest. Graec. c. 17.) Strabo relates that, according
to some critics, Tripodi was mentioned by Homer, along with Aegirusa and Nisaea,
as part of the dominions of Ajax of Salamis, and that the verse containing these
names was omitted by the Athenians, who substituted for it another to prove that
Salamis in the time of the Trojan War, belonged to Athens. (Strab. l. c.) Tripodiscus
is celebrated in the history of literature as the birthplace of Susarion, who
is said to have introduced comedy into Attica, and to have removed from this place
to the Attic Icaria. (Aspas. ad Aristot. Eth. Nic. iv. 2; Dict. of Biogr. Vol.
III. p. 948.) We learn from Thucydides (l. c.) that Tripodiscns was situated at
the foot of Mount Geraneia, at a spot convenient for the junction of troops marching
from Plataea in the one direction, and from the Isthmus in the other. Pausanias
(l. c.) also describes it as lying at the foot of Geraneia on the road from Delphi
to Argos. This author relates that it derived its name from a tripod, which Coroebus
the Argive brought from Delphi, with the injunction that wherever the tripod fell
to the ground he was to reside there and build a temple to Apollo. (Comp. Conon,
Narrat. 19.) Leake noticed the vestiges of an ancient town at the foot of Mt.
Geraneia, on the road from Plataea to the Isthmus, four or five miles to the NW.
of Megara. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 410.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΥΣΙΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ
Husiai, Husia, Eth. Husieus. A town of Boeotia, in the Parasopia,
at the northern foot of Mt. Cithaeron, and on the high road from Thebes to Athens.
It was said to have been a colony from Hyria, and to have been founded by Nyeteus,
father of Antiope. (Strab. ix. p. 404.) Herodotus says that both Hysiae and Oenoe
were Attic demi when they were taken by the Boeotians in B.C. 507. (Herod. v.
74.) It probably, however, belonged to Plataea. (Comp. Herod. vi. 108.) Oenoe
was recovered by the Athenians; but, as Mt. Cithaeron was the natural boundary
between Attica and Boeotia, Hysiae continued to be a Boeotian town. Hysiae is
mentioned in the operations which preceded the battle of Plataea. (Herod. ix.
15, 25.) Hysiae was in ruins in the time of Pausanias, who noticed there an unfinished
temple of Apollo and a sacred well. (Paus. ix. 2. § 1.) Leake observed a little
beyond the great road at the foot of the mountain, a great quantity of loose stones
in the fields, together with some traces of ancient walls, and the mouth of a
well or cistern, of Hellenic construction, now filled up. This we may conclude
to be the site of Hysiae. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 327.) Hysiae is
mentioned also in the following passages: Eurip. Bacch. 751; Thuc. iii. 24, v.
83.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΦΥΛΗ (Αρχαίος δήμος) ΦΥΛΗ
Phyle (Phule), still called Fili, a strong fortress, stands on a steep rock, commanding the narrow pass across Mt. Parnes, through which runs the direct road from Thebes to Athens, past Acharnae. On the northern side of the pass was the territory of Tanagra. Phyle is situated at the distance of more than 120 stadia from Athens (Psephisma, ap. Dem. de Cor. p. 238), not 100 stadia, as Diodorus states (xiv. 32), and was one of the strongest Athenian fortresses on the Boeotian frontier. The precipitous rock upon which it stands can only be approached by a ridge on the eastern side. It is memorable in history as the place seized by Thrasybulus and the Athenian exiles in B.C. 404, and from which they commenced their operations against the Thirty Tyrants. The height of Phyle commands a magnificent view of the whole Athenian plain, of the city itself, of Mt. Hymettus, and the Saronic Gulf. (Xen. Hell. ii. 4. 2, seq.; Died. l. c.; Nep. Thrasyb. 2; Strab. ix. pp. 396, 404.) In Phyle there was a building called the Daphnephoreion, containing a picture, which represented the Thargelia. (Athen. x. p. 424, f.)
This extract is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΓΕΡΑΝΕΙΑ ΟΡΗ (Βουνό) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ
(Geraneia). A range of mountains running along the western coast of Megaris, terminating in the promontory Olmiae in the Corinthian territory.
ΔΡΥΟΣ ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙ (Αρχαία τοποθεσία) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ
(Druos Kephalai). A narrow pass of Mount Cithaeron in Boeotia, between Athens and Plataeae.
ΕΛΕΥΣΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ, ΔΥΤΙΚΗ
Eleusis or Eleusin. A city of Attica, equidistant
from Megara and the Piraeus, and famed for the celebration of the mysteries of
Demeter. According to some writers it derived its name from a hero, whom some
affirmed to be the son of Hermes but others of Ogyges (Pausan. i. 38). Its origin
is certainly of the highest antiquity, as it appears to have already existed in
the time of Cecrops, but we are not informed by whom, or at what period, the worship
of Demeter was introduced there. Eusebius places the building of the first temple
in the reign of Pandion; but, according to other authors, it is more ancient.
Celeus is said to have been king of Eleusis when Demeter first arrived there.
At one period Eleusis was powerful enough to contend with Athens
for the sovereignty of Attica. This was in the time of Eumolpus. The controversy
was ended by a treaty, wherein it was stipulated that Eleusis should yield to
the control of Athens, but that the sacred rites of Demeter should be celebrated
at the former city. Demeter and Triptolemus were both worshipped here with peculiar
solemnity, and here also was shown the Rarius Campus, where Demeter was said to
have first sown corn. The temple of Eleusis was burned by the Persian army in
the in vasion of Attica, but was rebuilt, under the administration of Pericles,
by Ictinus, the architect of the Parthenon. This magnificent structure was entirely
destroyed by Alaric in the year A.D. 396. Eleusis, though so considerable and
important a place, was classed among the Attic demes and belonged to the tribe
Hippothoontis. The colossal statue of the Eleusinian Demeter, the work of Phidias,
after having suffered many mutilations, was taken to England by Dr. Clarke and
Mr. Cripps in 1801, and now stands in the vestibule of the University Library
at Cambridge. The temple itself was cleared by Sir William Gell, and important
excavations have been made by the Greek Archaeological Society since 1887.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΜΕΓΑΡΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
The town of Megara, the capital of Megaris, a small district
in Greece between the Corinthian and Saronic Gulfs, bounded on the north by Boeotia,
on the east and northeast by Attica, on the south by the territory of Corinth,
and situated a mile from the sea, opposite the island of Salamis. Its citadel
was called Alcathoe, from its reputed founder, Alcathous, son of Pelops. Its seaport
was Nisaea, which was connected with Megara by two walls, built by the Athenians
when they had possession of Megara, B.C. 461-445. In front of Nisaea lay the small
island Minoa, which added greatly to the security of the harbour. In ancient times
Megara formed one of the four divisions of Attica. It was next conquered by the
Dorians, and was for a time subject to Corinth; but it finally asserted its independence,
and rapidly became a wealthy and powerful city. Its power at an early period is
attested by the flourishing colonies which it founded, of which Selymbria, Chalcedon,
and Byzantium, and the Hyblaean Megara in Sicily, were the most important. After
the Persian wars, Megara was for some time at war with Corinth, and was thus led
to form an alliance with Athens, and to receive an Athenian garrison into the
city, B.C. 461; but the oligarchical party having got the upper hand, the Athenians
were expelled, B.C. 441. Megara is celebrated in the history of philosophy as
the seat of a philosophical school, usually called the Megarian, which was founded
by Euclid, a native of the city.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ΦΥΛΗ (Αρχαίος δήμος) ΦΥΛΗ
Now Fili; a strongly fortified place in Attica, on the confines of Boeotia, and memorable as the place which Thrasybulus and the Athenian patriots seized soon after the end of the Peloponnesian War, B.C. 404, and from which they directed their operations against the Thirty Tyrants at Athens. It was an Attic deme.
ΕΛΕΥΣΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ, ΔΥΤΙΚΗ
Eleusis. Name of a city on the coast of the Saronic
Gulf, a few miles west of Athens
that became an Attic deme after having been annexed to Athens
in the later part of the VIIth century B. C.
Eleusis had been the location of a cult to Demeter, daughter of Cronus
and Rhea, goddess of agriculture, fertility and marriage, since very ancient times,
and was the site of one of her most famous sanctuaries. Because of her relationship
with Athens, Eleusis became
one of the major sacred places of Greece,
especially famed for its “Mysteries”. By Socrates and Plato's time,
the “Eleusinian mysteries” were an official festival of Athens
celebrated under the leadership of the Archon-King with the help of priests from
three noble families (genoi ) of Athens:
the hierophant, in charge of exhibiting the sacred objects (the hiera ), was from
the Eumolpidae (the “good singers”), the priestess of Demeter was
from the Philleidae and torch-bearers (dadouchoi ) from the Ceryces (the “heralds”).
These priests tracked their origins to Eumolpus, the Thracian king son of Poseidon
and Chione.
Eumolpus had lived in Eleusis at some point in time in his life and
had then befriended its citizens, who later, after he had become king in Thracia,
called upon him to help them in their war against Athens
and Erechtheus, a war won by Athens,
in which Eumolpus was killed. Eumolpus was sometimes said to have instituted the
mysteries of Eleusis. The Eumolpidae presented themselves as the offspring of
Eumolpus while the Ceryces pretended to descend from one of Eumolpus' sons named
Ceryx.
The “Small Mysteries” were celebrated during the month
of Anthesterion (end of February, beginning of March) in honor of Persephone,
the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, abducted by Hades who made her his wife in the
underworld, and symbol of the seed that has to disappear within the soil before
bearing fruit. The “Great mysteries” were celebrated six months later,
during the month of Boedromion (end of September, beginning of October), in honor
of Demeter herself. The festival lasted 10 days. It included a procession from
the Eleusinion, a temple at the foot of the Acropolis
in Athens to the Telesterion
in Eleusis, along the “Sacred Way” and ended with rites reserved to
the initiates (the mystes) that lasted three days. The ultimate symbol of the
rite of initiation was an ear of wheat, and the mystes were promised some sort
of personnal survival after death in an everlasting life of happiness.
One noteworthy originality of the Eleusinian mysteries was that anybody
could become an initiate without regard to status: initiation was open to free
men and slaves alike, to men and women, Athenians and foreigners, despite the
fact that, unlike most other mystery cults of the time, the Eleusinian mysteries
had an official status in Athens.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This extract is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
ΟΙΝΟΗ (Αρχαίος δήμος) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ
Name of two Attic demes: one from the tribe Hippothoontides in northwestern
Attica, along the border
with Boeotia, and the other
of the tribe Aeantides, in northeastern Attica,
north of Marathon.
The name Oenoe comes from the Greek word oinos, meaning “wine”.
The village bordering Boeotia
was the cause of a border conflict in the time of king Thymoetes of Athens
and king Xanthus of Thebes.
As the war was dragging with no end in sight, the adversaries decided to settle
the matter by a single fight between their two kings. But Thymoetes was afraid
of Xanthus and so, he let it be known through all of Attica
that he would leave his throne to whomever would take his place and fight Xanthus.
Melanthus, a descendant of Neleus, king of Pylos
in Messenia (the father of
Nestor), who had settled in Attica
after being ousted from Pylos
by the Heraclidae, volunteered. When the fight was about to start, Dionysus appeared
behind Xanthus under the guise of an armed warrior. Not knowing what was happening,
Melanthus accused Xanthus of violating the rules of the fight by bringind an assistant.
Xanthus turned his head to see who was following him and Melanthus took advantage
of this to kill him with his spear. After that, Melanthus became king of Athens
(he was the father of Codrus) and the Athenians built a temple to Dionysus on
the location of the fight.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
ΕΡΥΘΡΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ
Πόλη των Βοιωτών, κοντά στο πεδίο της μάχης των Πλαταιών. Τον καιρό του Παυσανία ήταν ερείπια (9,2,1).
ΥΣΙΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ
Κάτω από τον Κιθαιρώνα, κοντά στις Ερυθρές (Στράβ. 9,2,12).
Πόλη των Βοιωτών, κοντά στο πεδίο της μάχης των Πλαταιών. Τον καιρό του Παυσανία σώζονταν μόνο ερείπια της πόλης. Στα ερείπια αναφέρει και μισοτελειωμένο ναό του Απόλλωνα (μαντείο) με ιερό πηγάδι απο το οποίο παλιά έπιναν νερό και μάντευαν (9,2,1).
Αντίθετα από τον Παυσανία ο Ηρόδοτος παραδίδει τις Υσιές και την Οινόη ως "έσχατοι δήμοι της Αττικής" (5,74).
ΔΕΜΑ (Αρχαία τοποθεσία) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ
The Athenian and Eleusinian (Thriasian) plains are separated by a
chain of hills, chiefly Mt. Aigaleos, that runs S from Mt. Parnes to the sea W
of Peiraeus and opposite Salamis. Communication between them is largely confined
to a narrow S gap, through which passes the main motor road from Athens to Eleusis
past Daphne, the ancient Sacred Way, and to a wide N gap between Aigaleos and
Parnes, which until recently carried only the railway and a dirt track. It was
through the latter that Archidamos led the Spartans in the first year of the Peloponnesian
War (Thuc. 2.19.2); Agis presumably used the same route in 413 B.C. on his way
to Dekeleia (Thuc. 7.17.1).
Across this N gap, at its narrowest point, is the Dema wall, a barrier
built along the line of the watershed between the two plains, and planned to oppose
a force coming from Eleusis. This basically rubble fieldwork is 4,360 m long,
and for the S two-thirds of that length it is made up of 53 short stretches of
walling, separated by openings, which, because all but two stretches overlap each
other from S to N, have the form of sally ports. The two exceptions are gateways.
Throughout this section the wall is massive, with a broad rampart that at times
stands as much as 2 m above the ground to the W. The N third is quite different
and looks unfinished. Here the line of the rubble wall is unbroken: on the lower
slopes only the foundation course is apparent; on the higher slopes there are
remains of a crude breastwork.
The date of the Dema's construction cannot as yet be determined with
any precision. What little evidence there is might seem to favor a date in the
second half of the 4th c., but a date in the first half of the 3d must also be
considered a possibility. And in this period of a hundred years several occasions,
from the threat of Philip after Chaironeia to the Chremonidean War might have
prompted so large an undertaking. Without new evidence a choice between this or
that event is probably unjustified, especially since the wall could have been
built after Chaironeia and then later manned by the Macedonians.
Thirteen m to the W of the Dema wall, at the foot of Aigaleos and
immediately N of the railway are the important remains of an isolated country
house of the late 5th c. B.C., now buried beneath city refuse. Low rubble walls
that formed socles for mudbrick outline a large rectangular structure (22 x 16
m) with the main rooms facing S onto a court through a colonnade. Ceramic evidence
shows that the house was inhabited for only a short time. Historical considerations
make it likely that this habitation took place between the Peace of Nikias, 421
B.C., and the Spartan occupation of Dekeleia in 413 B.C.
Three km farther W, on the highest point of a spur that lies within
the pass, are the remains of a fortified enclosure known as the Thriasian Lager.
The circuit contains eight towers; within are foundations of a number of buildings;
a narrow fieldwork runs from the fort SE down the slope to the line of the railway.
This military complex appears to be contemporary with the Dema wall, and may have
been built by a force planning to invade the Athenian plain.
C.W.J. Eliot, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΕΡΥΘΡΕΣ
Some scholars think that this city in Attica corresponds to modern
Gyphtokastro (Paus. 1.38.8-9; 2.6.3; 9.2.1-3). Others identify Gyphtokastro with
the site of ancient Panakton (Thuc. 2.18.1-2; 5.3.5). It has also been suggested
that Eleutherai was located at Myupolis, E of Gyphtokastro, a location proposed
by others as the site of Oinoe. The first of the theories seems perhaps the most
acceptable; in any case the problematic fortified castle of Gyphtokastro was a
site of primary strategic importance on the road that connected Athens, Eleusis,
and Thebes.
The well-preserved circuit wall delimits the summit of a hill, describing
an ellipse ca. 330 m long and half as wide, with an average thickness of 2.6 m.
There are four gates. The towers, of which eight remain at the N, were two stories
high and had doors, windows, and stairways. Three diverse phases in the technique
of the wall have been recognized: polygonal with roughhewn face in the remains
of an isolated construction inside the N flank of the wall; trapezoidal isodomic
with fluted face; and isodomic with smooth face having oblique junctures of the
blocks. The polygonal technique would date from ca. the middle of the 5th c. B.C.
(it has been called Boiotian), and would therefore precede the construction of
the whole circuit, which would then date from the last 30 years of the 4th c.
B.C.
N. Bonacasa, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΕΛΕΥΣΙΣ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ, ΔΥΤΙΚΗ
Eleusis. A small hilly site about 22 km to the W of Athens, lying at the head
of the Thriasian plain and on the coast of a lake-like sea bordered by Salamis.
Because of its location, it has been inhabited from the Early Bronze Age to the
present. Its periods of fame were due to the secret cult of Demeter, known as
the Eleusinian Mysteries, celebrated once a year. The cult, introduced during
the Mycenaean Age, became Panhellenic in the 6th c. B.C. and acquired universal
status in Roman Imperial times. In the Classical period the township was identified
with the Sanctuary of the Goddess. It was devastated first by the army of Xerxes
in 480-479 B.C., then by the Kostovoks in 170 B.C., and finally by the hordes
of Alaric in A.D. 395. The first two destructions were followed by rebuilding;
the site never recovered from the last destruction and by the end of the 5th c.
it was completely ruined by the Christians.
Excavations, continuous since 1882, have revealed the ruins of the
famous Sanctuary of Demeter. For privacy its area was surrounded by fortifications
in successive eras, in Geometric and archaic times, in the days of Peisistratos,
Kimon, and Perikles, and in 380-370 B.C. Surviving in good length, they prove
that an ever increasing popularity of the cult was followed by enlargements of
the sanctuary area.
At its N edge is the outer court, 65 x 40 m, paved in Roman times.
Along the E side of the court we find the remains of a fountain-house, 11.30 m
in length, dating from the Roman period. At its two corners, the SE and the SW,
triumphal arches identical to that of Hadrian in Athens were erected after A.D.
129. The SW arch, now being restored, is better preserved. Above its single archway
we read the inscription, All the Greeks to the Goddesses and the Emperor. That
arch opened to a road running along the peribolos wall of Kimon, strengthened
in Roman times. On its N side survive remnants of buildings in which the initiates
once could find temporary accommodations.
On the paved court stands the high podium, made of Roman concrete,
of the Temple of Artemis of the Portals and Father Poseidon. Built of Pentelic
marble before the reign of Marcus Aurelius, it had a front and rear portico with
Doric columns. Beyond its NE corner is a well-preserved, unique ground altar of
baked brick set in a rectangular court, dating from Roman times. To the S and
E the outer court was blocked by the Greater Propylaia and by a fortification
wall of Peisistratean times, which was continued to the SE to enclose the township
of Eleusis.
The Greater Propylaia face NE, toward Athens, and form the main entranceway
to the sanctuary. They stand on a stepped platform rising 1.70 m above the floor
of the court. Of Pentelic marble, they are an exact duplicate of the central section
of the Periklean Propylaia of the Acropolis, with an inner and an outer portico
fronted by Doric columns. The outer portico, 15.24 m in depth, uses six Ionic
columns in two rows in its depth. The inner portico, facing the sanctuary, is
only 7.36 m in depth. The cross-wall between the porticos was pierced by five
doorways. The floor has survived, as have fragments of the entablature, and even
some blocks of its pediment decorated with a bust of its builder, Marcus Aurelius,
in a shield. The lowermost step on the E side was interrupted to allow access
to one of the sacred landmarks of Eleusis, a well rebuilt by Peisistratos and
since then known as the Kallichoron.
To the S of the Greater stand the Lesser Propylaia. They were built
of Pentelic marble after 50 B.C. by the nephews of Appius Claudius Pulcher in
fulfillment of his vows over the Peisistratean Gate, the N Pylon, whose flanking
tower can be seen under its platform of Roman concrete. At the depth of a forecourt
(9.80 x 10.35 m) paved with large slabs, is the doorway, 2.95 m wide. It was sheltered
by a prothyron on the outside and a vestibule on the inside. The prothyron, 4.40
m in depth, has two Corinthian columns whose bases and elaborate capitals with
winged animals among the corner tendrils have survived. The entablature has an
Ionic architrave, on which is cut the Latin dedicatory inscription, and a frieze
of triglyphs and metopes embellished with cists, bukrania, and stylized double
poppies. The inner vestibule, facing the sanctuary, was fronted by two Caryatids
set on high podia. One of these is in the local museum, the other in the Fitzwilliam.
To the SW of the Lesser Propylaia, separated by a wall built by Valerian,
are foundations of structures which served the functionaries of the sanctuary.
From the Lesser Propylaia begins the ascending Sacred Way, paved in
Roman times, which terminated to the S at the Temple of Demeter known as the Telesterion,
since in it was completed the Telete, the initiation service. Immediately to the
right of the Sacred Way is a cave within which survive the foundations of a 4th
c. B.C. temple (2.98 x 3.77 m) dedicated to Pluto. Built of poros stone in the
form of a templum in antis, it stands in a triangular court retained by a wall
of poros stone. Adjacent to the cave on the S is a stepped platform cut out of
the rock, 10.50 x 6.25 m, which perhaps served as a stand from which the initiates
followed an act of the sacred pageant, for somewhere in front of it was the Mirthless
Stone, another sacred landmark. Above its S side stood a small treasury, some
6 x 2.90 m, by the side of which, still to be seen, is a boulder used as a donation
box for small gifts.
Next to the platform on the S is a deep cutting in the rock in which
can be seen the foundations of a building, 14.10 x 11.20 m, whose front was built
over an artificially constructed terrace. It was in the form of a templum in antis
with a wide stairway in its front elevation. The building was at first identified
as the pre-Persian Temple of Demeter, but it is proved to have been constructed
in Roman times and perhaps was dedicated to Sabina, the New Demeter. Between this
temple and the Telesterion exists a narrow stairway cut in the rock, an ascent
to another Roman temple built on the hill.
No building was constructed along the E, or left-hand side of the
Sacred Way. Beyond its edge and limited by the Kimonian wall can be seen remains
of the Peisistratean peribolos composed of a stone sole surmounted by a mudbrick
wall, as well as foundations of a variety of buildings. Most important of these
is a triangular structure of Periklean times with three rows of square pillars:
the famous Siroi, or magazines, where the tithes to the goddess were stored. Again
on the left-hand side, as we approach the Telesterion, we can see the retaining
walls built in the Geometric, archaic, and Periklean periods and in the 4th c.
B.C. to support the terrace on which were constructed the successive Telesteria
of Demeter.
On that terrace, above the Mycenaean remains, a fragment of an apsidal
wall, built ca. 750 B.C., seems to belong to the earliest Telesterion of the historic
period. To that temple and terrace access was obtained through a stairway on the
S side near which remains of sacrificial pyres attest to the sacred character
of the terrace and its building. Mound 600 B.C. a larger Telesterion, known as
the Solonian, was built over the same area of the slope, but on an enlarged terrace.
Its SW corner survives, proving that at least the lower part of the temple was
built of bluish-gray Eleusinian stone in the Lesbian polygonal style. The temple
had an oblong plan, 24 x 14 m, with a double sloping roof ending in triangular
pediments. In front of it spread a triangular court where the altars of the goddesses
stood. Below the terrace to the NE a stepped platform faces a lower court bordered
by an altar and a well. In the archaic period it served the initiates to follow
the sacred dances held in front of the well in honor of the goddess.
In the days of Peisistratos and his sons, 550-510 B.C., the Solonian
Telesterion was replaced by a larger one, built of well-cut poros stone over the
same area of the slope. Its foundations of hard limestone were lowered to rock
level. The temple possesses an almost square naos or cella, 25.30 x 27.10 m, fronted
on the E side by a prostoon with perhaps 10 Doric columns in its facade. The roof
of the naos was supported by 22 Ionic columns. In the SW section of the naos was
the anaktoron, a separate shrine, where the hiera were kept. On three lengths
of its walls, interrupted only by the shrine, rose tiers of nine steps from which
the initiates could follow the rites. Three doors opened from the naos to the
prostoon. The entablature was of poros stone, but its raking cornice and the simas,
with ornamental rams' heads at the corners, were of Parian marble.
The Peisistratean Telesterion was devastated by the Persians in 480-479
B.C. Using its foundations, Kimon began the building of a new Telesterion whose
scanty remains prove that it was never completed. Literary (Vitruvius, Strabo,
Plutarch) and epigraphical evidence indicates that two different buildings were
attempted in the Periklean Age. One was designed by Iktinos and its construction
was begun but soon abandoned. The few surviving remains, especially foundations
of columns, indicate that it was composed of an almost square naos whose roof,
supported by 20 columns, had an opaion or lantern in the center. Its W side was
cut deeply into the rock of the hillside. The second building was designed and
executed by Koroibos, Metagenes, and Xenokles. It was burned in 170 B.C. and was
rebuilt by Marcus Aurelius. The only change made in the original plan was to increase
the length of the naos by 2.15 m. What we can see today belongs to the rebuilt
temple.
The Telesterion designed by Koroibos was composed of a square naos,
ca. 51 m in length (increased to ca. 53 m in Roman times) and ca. 51 m in width.
A good part of its W section was cut out of the living rock. The roof was supported
by 42 columns arranged in seven rows of 6 columns in each row. The floor columns
supported a second tier of lighter columns and in the middle of the roof there
was an opaion. Under the opaion in the naos was the anaktoron, scanty traces of
which have been recently recognized; at its NE comer stood a niche containing
the throne of the Hierophant. Tiers of eight steps for the initiates were arranged
along the walls on all four sides of the naos, interrupted by two doorways on
each of three sides, the N, E, and S. In the 4th c. B.C. a portico was built in
front of its E side, known as the Philonian Stoa from the name of its architect.
Today we have the foundations of the stoa, the stereobate or its floor, some drums
of its columns, and parts of its superstructure, all built of Pentelic marble,
while the foundations were of poros stone. The stoa measures 54.50 x 11.35 m.
The exterior aspect of the naos with its unbroken wall of gray-blue stone unrelieved
by columns, solemn and austere, must have been awe-inspiring, well suited to its
mystic function.
Behind the Telesterion, some 7.35 m above its floor, a terrace, 11.45
m in width, is cut in the rock. This terrace, as well as the narrow stairway to
the N and the broad stepped platform cut in the rock to the S, are of Roman date.
The terrace led to a stepped approach of a Roman temple built on the NE extremity
of the hill. The temple had a cella, 18 x 12 m, roofed by a vault and a portico,
ca. 4.5 m in depth, with four columns in antis. Perhaps it was dedicated to Faustina
the elder, who also had the title of New Demeter. The terrace and the temple extended
to the wall--known as the diateichisma, few remains of which survive--that separated
the sanctuary area from the summit of the hill.
The broad stepped platform to the S of the Telesterion faced the S
court, where perhaps the rites of the balletys, the pelting with stones, was performed
and was witnessed by people standing on the platform. The S court to the E is
bound by fortification walls built by Perikles and extended in 370-360 B.C. to
the SE and S. The 4th c. wall, averaging 2.55 m in thickness, is the best-known
example of Greek fortification walls. Along its inner side was built a long structure
divided by cross-walls into six compartments. Its use is problematical; perhaps
it served important members of the personnel, or was used for storing the tithes.
Along the S section of the 4th c. B.C. wall, where we find the well-preserved
Gate to the Sea, exist the foundations of a 3d c. building identified as the bouleuterion,
where the City Council, and occasionally the 500 of Athens, met. Farther W from
the Gate to the Sea scanty remnants of a long stoa survive, dating perhaps from
the 4th century B.C.
The sanctuary area, cleared to the rock, has yielded remains that
enable us to piece together the history and the architectural activity of the
site. Of the village itself very little survives. Most important are the remains
of the Peisistratean fortification wall that surrounded the N section of the village
with its gate toward Athens, the Asty Gate. On the S slope of the hill a well-known
relic in the form of a vaulted round chamber with a passage attached to its E
side, was taken to be a tholos tomb of Mycenaean times. It has been proved to
be a cistern of the 4th c. B.C. belonging to the village.
G. E. Mylonas, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 47 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΜΕΓΑΡΑ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΕΛΛΑΔΑ
Megara. Located W of Eleusis on the Saronic Gulf, forming a buffer between
Attica and the Corinthia. The city may have been of some importance in the Bronze
Age. It emerges from the Dark Ages as a Dorian state. During the period of colonization,
it was in the forefront, founding important colonies including Megara Hyblaea,
Selinus, Chalcedon and Byzantium. The city experienced a tyranny under Theagenes
in the 7th c. B.C. and later came into direct collision with Athens over Salamis.
She did, however, for a short time in the 5th c. ally herself with her formidable
neighbor to the E, and built long walls to connect the city with the port. The
rapprochement with Athens was only temporary and Megara went back to her Dorian
compatriots, only to suffer Pericles' Megarian Decree of 432 B.C. Comparatively
little is known of Megara after the 5th c. B.C.; with a few exceptions her later
history is uneventful.
The ancient city lies on two hills and the saddle between them. Unfortunately
the modern town overlies the ancient remains and no systematic clearing has been
undertaken. The only major monument even partially brought to light is a large
fountain-house, apparently mentioned by Pausanias and assigned by him to the tyrant
Theagenes. The building, as cleared, is a rectangle (13.69 x ca. 21 m) consisting
of two parallel water reservoirs and draw basins. The front, or S, of the structure
is still under modern houses, but it probably carried a Doric porch from which
a fragmentary triglyph has been identified. The roof over the water reservoirs,
which was probably flat, was carried on five rows of seven eight-sided Doric piers.
The two reservoirs are separated by a thin orthostat wall which runs down the
center of the building on the middle line of piers. Each reservoir has a separate
inlet and outlet into two separate dip basins, and the parapet wall of the latter
is worn by the friction of countless amphoras. Recent studies indicate that the
building in its present form was constructed at the end of the archaic period
and thus cannot be associated with Theagenes. There is evidence for some damage
in the 3d c. A.D., perhaps associated with the Herulian invasion of 267, and a
final destruction in the late 4th c. A.D.
To the W of the fountain-house lies another building, only the corner
of which has been cleared. Its orientation is thought to suggest that it may be
contemporary with the fountain-house. Recent archaeological work at Megara has
been confined to chance finds and rescue operations, and some studies have been
undertaken on the city's fortifications.
W. R. Biers, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΝΙΣΑΙΑ (Αρχαίο λιμάνι) ΜΕΓΑΡΑ
The port of Megara; linked to Megara from 411 on by ramparts, and
disputed between Athens and Megara.
Y. Bequignon, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΟΙΝΟΗ (Αρχαίος δήμος) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ
There are two Attic demes of this name.
1) The site of one presents little difficulty. Belonging first to
the Aiantis tribe then later to the tribes of Attala and Hadrian (Imperial period),
it is situated in the Marathon Plain 4 km W of the village of the same name and
S of the stream known as Charadra. On the N slope of the acropolis is the grotto
of Pan and the nymphs described by Pausanias (1.32.7). Nearby is a copious spring,
known as Kephalari or Ninoe (whence the popular local name Ninoi). The deme formed
part of the tetrapolis along with Marathon, Probalinthos, and Trikorynthos (Strab.
8.7.1).
2) The second deme belonged to the tribe Hippothontis, later to the
tribe Ptolemais; its site is still disputed. It is probably somewhere along the
boundary between Attica and Boiotia, in the NW part of Attica.
Herodotos (5.74) writes that in 507 Kleomenes, king of Sparta, eager
to take revenge on the Athenian people and to set up Isagoras as a despot, invaded
the territory of Eleusis, while the Boiotians, as had been agreed with him, seized
Oinoe and Hysini, demes on the borders of Attica. When Euboia revolted in 446,
Pericles learned that Megara had defected. The Peloponnesians made ready to invade
Attica and the Athenian garrisons were massacred by the Megarians, except for
one which had taken refuge in Nisaia (Thuc. 1.114). The Peloponnesians invaded
Attica, penetrating as far as Eleusis and Thria: this was not only the direct
route, blocking the passage from Pagai to Athens, but also the shortest, as it
went through Panakton and Eleutheres as well as Oinoe. Finally, when war broke
out, Thucydides (2.18) shows King Archidamos invading Attica by way of Oinoe,
the first point of contact between the Peloponnese and Attica--which is unexpected,
to say the least, seeing that the direct route went through Megara and Eleusis
and along the coast. Thucydides notes unmistakably: Oinoe, which is on the frontier
of Attica and Boiotia, was in fact fortified, and Athens used it as an advance
post in time of war. They therefore organized these assaults and, in this way
among others, lingered there (Thuc. 2.18.2). The Athenians, as is well known,
took advantage of this delay to carry all their possessions in to safety, and
the Peloponnesians grew impatient at this period of waiting imposed on them by
their king, Archidamos. In spite of the pessimism of one scholar: Its site is
uncertain; for we have no specific archaeological evidence, and the literary evidence
is vague, this important text allows us to select a site from those that have
been suggested. Oinoe is clearly in the region of Boiotia and Attica, belonging
now to one, now to the other (Strab. 9.2.31). Myoupolis, slightly E of Eleutheres,
meets the topographical qualifications and possesses some notable ruins; it seems
likely to be the site of Oinoe.
Y. Bequignon, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 1 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΠΑΓΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΜΕΓΑΡΑ
A fortified port on the Gulf of Corinth near Alepokhori on a hill
overlooking the sea (ht. 15 m). A rampart was erected by Athens in 460.
Paliochori and Plakoto. Two forts dominating the Thriasian Plain and
the road from Eleusis to Oinoe.
1. On the hill N of what is known as the Sarantapotamos valley is
a trace of ramparts 1.8 m high and 1.8 m thick, built of roughly squared masonry.
The site is also called Palaiokastro.
2. A fortress near the one mentioned above, 21 x 36 m; with a circular
tower (2.9 m) and SW wall.
Y. Bequignon, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΥΣΙΑΙ (Αρχαία πόλη) ΑΤΤΙΚΗ
Thought to be situated on the road from Eleusis to Thebes, on the
N slope of Mt. Kithairon near Kriekouki on the Pantanassa peak. Noted as early
as Kleomenes' Invasion in 507 B.C., it played an important role in the Plataians'
invasion (Hdt. 5.74, 6.108). It was in ruins in Pausanias' day (9.1.6; 2.1; cf.
Strab. 9.2.12).
Y. Bequignon, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ΦΥΛΗ (Αρχαίος δήμος) ΦΥΛΗ
The most direct way from Athens to Thebes led from Chassia up Parnes
by a difficult pass to the W of Harma and the deme of Phyle, over the watershed
into the Skourta plain, and thus to Thebes. This was the route taken, in reverse,
by Thrasybolos in 404-403 B.C. when he brought his followers from Boiotia to Phyle
and later to Peiraeus (Xen. Hell. 2.4.2). In the 4th c. B.C. an ephebic garrison
was stationed at Phyle (Dem. De cor. 38 and IG II2 2971). The fort was captured
by Kassander, retaken in 304 by Demetrios (Plut. Dem. 23.2: surely katastrepsamenos
does not have to mean "pulled down"), and returned to Athens. It continued
to be used by the ephebes in Hellenistic times.
To guard this important pass, the Athenians built a compact, well-sited,
naturally defended fort early in the 4th c. B.C. In style quarry-faced isodomic
ashlar, the outside face still stands to a maximum of 20 courses, strengthened
by towers, the one immediately N of the main gateway circular, the others rectangular.
Linking these towers was a rampart walk, defended by an embattled parapet of embrasures
and buttressed merlons covered with heavy coping blocks. Within the fortification,
on its flat summit, are the slight remains of several buildings. From this citadel
the guards could sigual directly to Athens.
C.W.J. Eliot, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 14 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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