Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "SFITOS Ancient demos KROPIA".
Sphettos. To the E of Mt. Hymettos lies the rich plain of the Mesogaia, today farmed from four large rural centers, Spata, Liopesi, Markopoulo, and Koropi. The situation in antiquity was little different, and it was early recognized from the numbers of inscriptions, pieces of sculpture, and architectural blocks built into the houses and churches at Koropi and its vicinity that an ancient deme had once existed near the location of its modern successor. The identification of this deme as Sphettos, one of the original twelve townships that formed the union of Attica under Theseus (Philochoros 328 F 94), was, until recently, more a matter of conjecture than of fact, being largely based on the account in Philochoros (328 F 108) and Plutarch (Thes. 13) of the attack of the Pallantidai on Theseus, a march that originated at Sphettos. In 1965, however, virtually all doubt was removed by the discovery at the chapel on the Kastro tou Christou, a prominent hill crowned with a monastery a little more than 3 km W of Koropi, of an inscribed base for a statue of Demetrios of Phaleron dedicated by the demesmen of Sphettos (cf. Diog. Laert. 5.75-77). Not only did this inscription make the identification certain, but it also demonstrated that the center of the deme of Sphettos was in all probability nearby. Also close to the chapel are a number of cuttings, suitable for votive reliefs, and traces of terracing which may possibly be construed as the remains of a small rural sanctuary. In the plain immediately to the NE of the hill are several chapels and the ruins of a village, from which much ancient material has been recovered. To the W, overlooking the Mesogaia on the nearest heights of Hymettos at the Chapel of Prophet Elias, are two small Classical temples (q.v. Hymettos). From their dramatic position in full view of all who lived in the predecessor of Koropi, one assumes that this sanctuary belonged to Sphettos.
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.
Sphettus (Sphettos), one of the twelve ancient cities, and subsequently a demus. Its position has given rise to much dispute. Leake places it in the northern part of the Mesogaea, and thinks that Spata may be a corruption of Sphettus. That it was situated either in the Mesogaea or the Paralia is certain from the legend, that Pallas, who had obtained these districts, marched upon Athens from Sphettus by the Sphettian Way. (Plat. Thes. 13; Philochor. ap. Schol. ad Eurip. Hipp. 35.) Now we have seen good reasons for believing that Pallas must have marched round the northern extremity of Hymettus [see above, No. 32]; and consequently the Sphettian road must have taken that course. Although the Sphettian road cannot therefore have run along the western coast and entered Athens from the south, as many modern writers maintain, Sphettus was probably situated further south than Leake supposes, inasmuch as Sphettus and Anaphlystus are represented as sons of Troezen, who migrated into Attica; and, seeing that Anaphlystus was opposite Troezen, it is inferred that Sphettus was probably in the same direction. (Paus. ii. 30. § 9; Steph. s. vv. Anaphlustos, Sphettos.)
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
A deme of Attica near the silver-mines of Sunium. It belonged to the tribe Acamantis.
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