Listed 100 (total found 453) sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "WEST GREECE Region GREECE".
ACHELOOS (River) ETOLOAKARNANIA
BASSAE (Ancient sanctuary) ILIA
THERMO (Small town) ETOLOAKARNANIA
ASTAKOS (Small town) ETOLOAKARNANIA
ASTAKOS (Small town) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Modern Astakos is hidden in the cove of a picturesque bay on the coast
of Western Greece, surrounded by the shores and small islands of Ehinades, where
the famous naval battle took place known as the battle of Lapante(1571A.D.) The
city has a unique neo-classical grandeur and a very particular liveliness. During
all historical periods Classical, Hellenistic-Byzantine Astakos is present. Especially
during the classical and Hellenistic period it presents its greatest peak and
the fact that it had its own currency is characteristic of its prosperity. The
ruins of the ancient city, with the temple of Karaou Zeus as its most characteristic
monument, as well as the elements of later historical periods are situated at
the place of Kastra Gravas, north-west of the modern city of Astakos, near the
historical monastery of Ai-Lia. This is also the place where Georgios Karaiskakis
encamped.
Its economic prosperity since the middle of the last century - during
which the foundation of modern Astakos took place by city plan of Bavarian architects
in 1862 - was due to the sea and the commerce of acorn. In fact, in the inner
part of the city there is one of the greatest Oak-tree forests in the Balkans.
Remains of this economic prosperity are the old mansions which characterise the
appearance of the city and along with the port were the reason to declare the
city of Astakos a HISTORICAL SITE and these buildings along with others to be
Landmarks. The residents' activities in agriculture, stock-raising and fishery,
the presence of commerce and social services that serve the area as well as the
activity at the port give the whole city a special kind of vivacity. Astakos promises
its visitors a pleasant stay.
KRATHIS (River) ACHAIA
Its sources are on the homonymous mountain, which Pausanias calls it Crathis like the river (Paus. 8,15,9) and constitutes the eastern part of the Mt. Aroania. The river is near the ancient city of Aigae and, according to the tradition, it received the waters of the mythical Styx.
OLYMPIA (Ancient sanctuary) ILIA
In the western Peloponnese,
in a peaceful, idyllic valley, between Kronos Hill and the confluence of the rivers
Alpheios and Kladeos, there
flourished in ancient times one of the most important pan-Hellenic sanctuaries:
the Sanctuary of Olympia. At this Sanctuary, apart from rituals performed for
healing, games called Olympic were also established from a very early period and,
with the passage of time, attracted the attention of all the Greeks. With the
Olympic Games, the ideal of noble rivalry found its complete expression and for
many centuries forged the unity and peace of the Greek world. Hence the Sanctuary
where they took place was recognized as one of the greatest pan Hellenic centers.
History-The legend
It has not yet been established when people first began worshipping
at Olympia. However, archaeological finds show that the area was at least settled
from the 3rd millennium B.C. It is also known that the first Sanctuary was the
Gainon, which was found at the foot of Kronos hill and was dedicated to Gaia (Earth),
the wife of Ouranos (Heaven). That was also, as it is said, the most ancient oracle
of Olympia (Pausanias V, 14, 10).
Later, Kronos - the youngest son of Gaia and Ouranos - having deposed
his father, was worshipped at Olympia with his wife, Rhea. According to Pausanias
(V, 7 ,6) the people of that time, who were also called the people of the Golden
Age, built a shrine to Kronos at Olympia. Besides, on the summit of Kronos Hill,
which took this name from Kronos, there was an altar to the god, where the so-called
"Basilai" every year made sacrifices in his honour (Pausanias VI, 20,
1).
In the course of the centuries came new gods. According to myth, Kronos
swallowed his male children fearing that they might depose him, as he had deposed
Ouranos. He has devoured two children, Poseidon and Hades, when Zeus was born.
Then Rhea, having given Kronos a stone bound in swaddling clothes to swallow,
handed the new-born child to five Cretan brothers, the Daktyloi of Isa or Kouretes,
to conceal him and bring him up in Crete.
When Zeus came of age, he asked Metis for help to overthrow Kronos.
Metis gave Kronos some medicine to drink and so made him vomit the two children
whom he had devoured. Then Zeus, helped by his two brothers and three sisters,
Hera, Hestia and Demeter, deposed Kronos after a terrible conflict lasting ten
years, which is known as the Titanomachia (Battle between the Gods and the Titans).
Since the Olympian gods prevailed, from then on the Sanctuary of Olympia
became the Sanctuary of Zeus. So in a series of local myths, Zeus was associated
with Olympia and the Games. One of these local myths says that the five Cretan
brothers, the Kouretes, to whom Rhea had entrusted his guardianship, came from
Crete to Olympia, where Zeus was weaned on the milk of Amalthea by the nymphs.
At Olympia, the eldest of the five brothers, Hercules - not Hercules the son of
Amphitrion and Alkmene - arranged foot races among his brothers and honored the
winner with a crown of wild olive, which grew abundantly in the valley. Even Hercules
called these games "Olympic" and appointed that they should take place
every fifth year, since he and his brothers numbered five (Pausanias V,7, 6-9).
Other local myths also say that Zeus fought with Kronos at Olympia usurping the
leadership and that he himself established the games because he overcame Kronos.
It is also said that other gods competed at Olympia and that Apollo beat Ares
at Boxing and outran Hermes (Pausanias V, 7, 10).
According to tradition, Aethlios, the first king of Elis was also
an organiser of the games. Aethlios was succeeded by his son Endymion, who in
turn organised races at Olympia among his sons Paeon, Aetolus and Epeios, in order
to leave his kingdom to the winner.
Pelops too, after he beat King Oinomaos of Pisa in a chariot race
and married the King's daughter Hippodameia, once again arranged at Olympia games
in honor of Zeus, which it was said were the most memorable of all those which
had been celebrated up till then. When Aueias reigned over Elis,
Hercules - son of Amhitrion and Alkmene - came to clean his stables. After the
contest, however, Augeias refused to give Hercules the cattle, which he had promised.
Then Hercules marched against Augeias, and after conquering Elis, he arranged
games at Olympia in honour of Zeus. At these games, it is said that he himself
was distinguished in wrestling and in the pankration. Finally, games at Olympia
were also arranged by Oxylos, the King of Elis. After the reign of Oxylos however,
the games were forgotten until the time of Iphitos, the great King of Elis (Pausanisas
V, 8, 1-5).
This text is cited December 2004 from the West Greece Region General Secretariat URL below, which contains image.
ACHAIA (Ancient country) GREECE
ACHELOOS (River) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Achelous (Acheloos, Epic Acheloios). (Aspropotamo), the largest and
most celebrated river in Greece, rose in Mount Pindus, and after flowing through
the mountainous country of the Dolopians and Agraeans, entered the plain of Acarnania
and Aetolia near Stratus, and discharged itself into the Ionian sea, near the
Acarnanian town of Oeniadae. It subsequently formed the boundary between Acarnania
and Aetolia, but in the time of Thucydides the territory of Oeniadae extended
east of the river. It is usually called a river of Acarnania, but it is sometimes
assigned to Aetolia. Its general direction is from north to south. Its waters
are of a whitish yellow or cream colour, whence it derives its modern name of
Aspropotamo or the White river, and to which Dionysius (432) probably alludes
in the epithet argurodines. It is said to have been called more anciently Thoas,
Axenus and Thestius (Thuc. ii. 102; Strab. pp. 449, 450, 458; Plut. de Fluv. 22;
Steph. B. s. v.) We learn from Leake that the reputed sources of the Achelous
are at a village called Khaliki, which is probably a corruption of Chalcis, at
which place Dionysius Periegetes (496) places the sources of the river. Its waters
are swelled by numerous torrents, which it receives in its passage through the
mountains, and when it emerges into the plain near Stratus its bed is not less
than three-quarters of a mile in width. In winter the entire bed is often filled,
but in the middle of summer the river is divided into five or six rapid streams,
of which only two are of a considerable size. After leaving Stratus the river
becomes narrower; and, in the lower part of its course, the plain through which
it flows was called in antiquity Paracheloitis after the river. This plain was
celebrated for its fertility, though covered in great part with marshes, several
of which were formed by the overflowings of the Achelous. In this part of its
course the river presents the most extraordinary series of wanderings; and these
deflexions, observes a recent traveller, are not only so sudden, but so extensive,
as to render it difficult to trace the exact line of its bed, -and sometimes,
for several miles, having its direct course towards the sea, it appears to flow
back into the mountains in which it rises. The Achelous brings down from the mountains
an immense quantity of earthy particles, which have formed a number of small islands
at its mouth, which belong to the group anciently called Echinades; and part of
the mainland near its mouth is only alluvial deposition. (Leake, Northern Greece,
vol. i. p. 136, seq., vol. iii. p. 513, vol. iv. p. 211; Mure, Journal of a Tour
in Greece, vol. i. p. 102.) The chief tributaries of the Achelous were:- on its
left, the Campylus (Kampulos, Diod. xix. 67: Medghova), a river of considerable
size, flowing from Dolopia through the territory of the Dryopes and Eurytanes,
and the Cyathus (Kuathos, Pol. ap. Ath. p. 424, c.) flowing out of the lake Hyrie
into the main stream just above Conope:- on its right the Petitarus (Liv. xliii.
22) in Aperantia, and the Anapus (Anapos), which fell into the main stream in
Acarnania 80 stadia S. of Stratus. (Thuc. ii. 82.)
The Achelous was regarded as the ruler and representative of all fresh
water in Hellas. Hence he is called by Homer (Il. xx. 194) Kreion Acheloios, and
was worshipped as a mighty god throughout Greece. He is celebrated in mythology
on account of his combat with Heracles for the possession of Deianeira. The river-god
first attacked Heracles in the form of a serpent, and on being worsted assumed
that of a bull. The hero wrenched off one of his horns, which forthwith became
a cornucopia, or horn of plenty. (Soph. Trach. 9; Ov. Met. ix. 8, seq.; Apollod.
ii. 7. § 5.) This legend alludes apparently to some efforts made at an early period
to check the ravages, which the inundations of the river caused in this district;
and if the river was confined within its bed by embankments, the region would
be converted in modern times into a land of plenty. For further details respecting
the mythological character of the Achelous, see Diet. of Biogr. and Myth. s. v.
In the Roman poets we find Acheloides, i. e. the Sirenes, the daughters
of Achelous (Ov. Met. v. 552): Acheloia Callirhoe, because Callirhoe was the daughter
of Achelous (Ov. Met. ix. 413): pocula Acheloia, i. e. water in general (Virg.
Geory. i. 9): Acheloius heros, that is, Tydeus, son of Oeneus, king of Calydon,
Acheloius here being equivalent to Aetolian. (Stat. Theb. ii. 142.)
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
AGRINION (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Agrinium (Agrinion), a town of Aetolia, situated towards the NE. of Aetolia, near the Achelous. Its position is quite uncertain. From its name we might conjecture that it was a town of the Agraci; but the narrative in Polybius (v. 7) would imply that it was not so far north. In B.C. 314 we find Agrinium in alliance with the Acarnanians, when Cassander marched to the assistance of the latter against the Aetolians. As soon as Cassander returned to Macedonia, Agrinium was besieged by the Aetolians,and capitulated; but the Aetolians treacherously put to death the greater part of the inhabitants. (Died. xix. 67, 68; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 156.)
AKARNANIA (Ancient area) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Acarnania (Akarnania: Akarnan, -anos, Acarnan,-anis), the most westerly
province of Greece, was bounded on the N. by the Ambracian gulf, on the NE. by
Amphilochia, on the W. and SW. by the Ionian sea, and on the E. by Aetolia. It
contained about 1571 square miles. Under the Romans, or probably a little earlier,
the river Achelous formed the boundary between Acarnania and Aetolia; but in the
time of the Peloponnesian war, the territory of Oeniadae, which was one of the
Acarnanian towns, extended E. of this river. The interior of Acarnania is covered
with forests and mountains of no great elevation, to which some modern writers
erroneously give the name of Crania. Between these mountains there are several
lakes, and many fertile vallies. The chief river of the country is the Achelous,
which in the lower part of its course flows through a vast plain of great natural
fertility, called after itself the Paracheloitis. This plain is at present covered
with marshes, and the greater part of it appears to have been formed by the alluvial
depositions of the Achelous. Owing to this circumstance, and to the river having
frequently altered its channel, the southern part of the coast of Acarnania has
undergone numerous changes. The chief affluent of the Achelous in Acarnania is
the Anapus (Anapos), which flowed into the main stream 80 stadia S. of Stratus.
There are several promontories on the coast, but of these only two are especially
named, the promontory of Actium and that of Crithote (Krithote), on the W. coast,
forming one side of the small bay, on which the town. of Astacus stood. Of the
inland lakes, the only one mentioned by name is that of Melite (Melige: Trikardho),
30 stadia long and 20 broad, N. of the mouth of the Achelous, in the territory
of the Oeniadae. There was a lagoon, or salt lake, between Leucas and the Ambracian
gulf, to which Strabo (p. 459) gives the name of Myrtuntium (Murtountion). Although
the soil of Acarnania was fertile, it was not much cultivated by the inhabitants.
The products of the country are rarely mentioned by the ancient writers. Pliny
speaks of iron mines (xxxvi. 19. s. 30), and also of a pearl-fishery off Actium
(ix. 56). A modern traveller states that the rocks in Acarnania indicate, in many
places, the presence of copper, and he was also informed, on good authority, that
the mountains produce coal and sulphur in abundance. (Journal of the Geographical
Society, vol. iii. p. 79.) The chief wealth of the inhabitants consisted in their
herds and flocks, which pastured in the rich meadows in the lower part of the
Achelous. There were numerous islands off the western coast of Acarnania. Of these
the most important were the Echiinades, extending from the mouth of the Achelous
along the shore to the N.; the Taphiae Insulae, lying between Leucas and Acarnania,
and Leucas itself, which originally formed part of the mainland of Acarnania,
but was afterwards separated from--the latter by a canal. (Respecting Acarnania
in general see Strab. p. 459, seq.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 488,
seq.; Fiedler, Reise durch Griechenland, vol. i. p. 158, seq.)
Amphilochia, which is sometimes reckoned a part of Acarnania, is spoken
of in a separate article.
The name of Acarnania appears to have been unknown in the earliest
times. Homer only calls the country opposite Ithaca and Cephallenia, under the
general name of Epeirus (epeiros), or the mainland (Strab. p. 451, sub fin.),
although he frequently mentions the Aetolians.1
The country is said to have been originally inhabited by the Taphii,
or Teleboae, the Leleges, and the Curetes. The Taphii, or Teleboae were chiefly
found in the islands off the western coast of Acarnania, where they maintained
themselves by piracy. The Leleges were more widely disseminated, and were also
in possession at one period of Aetolia, Locris, and other parts of Greece. The
Curetes are said to have come from Aetolia, and to have settled in Acarnania,
after they had been expelled from the former country by Aetolus and his followers
(Strab. p. 465). The name of Acarnania is derived from Acarnan, the son of Alcmaeon,
who is said to have settled at the mouth of the Achelous. (Thuc. ii. 102.) If
this tradition is of any value, it would intimate that an Argive colony settled
on the coast of Acarnania at an early period. In the middle of the 7th century
B.C., the Corinthians founded Leucas, Anactorium, Sollium, and other towns on
the coast. (Strab. p. 452.) The original inhabitants of the country were driven
more into the interior; they never made much progress in the arts of civilised
life; and even at the time of the Peloponnesian war, they were a rude and barbarous
people, engaged in continual wars with their neighbours, and living by robbery
and piracy. (Thuc. i. 5.) The Acarnanians, however, were Greeks, and as such were
allowed to contend in the great Pan-Hellenic games, although they were closely
connected with their neighbours, the Agraeans and Amphilochians on the gulf of
Ambracia, who were barbarian or non-Hellenic nations. Like other rude mountaineers,
the Acarnanians are praised for their fidelity and courage. They formed good light-armed
troops, and were excellent slingers. They lived, for the most part dispersed in
villages, retiring, when attacked, to the mountains. They were united, however,
in a political League, of which Aristotle wrote an account in a work now lost.
(Akarnanon Politeia, Strab. p. 321.) Thucydides mentions a hill, named Olpae,
near the Amphilochian Argos, which the Acarnanians had fortified as a place of
judicial meeting for the settlement of disputes. (Thuc. iii. 105.) The meetings
of the League were usually held at Stratus, which was the chief town in Acarnania
(Xen. Hell. iv. 6. 4; comp. Thuc. ii. 80); but, in the time of the Romans, the
meetings took place either at Thyrium, or at Leucas, the latter of which places
became, at that time, the chief city in Acarnania (Liv. xxxiii. 16, 17; Polyb.
xxviii. 5.) At an early period, when part of Amphilochia belonged to the Acarnanians,
they used to hold a public judicial congress at Olpae, a fortified hill about
3 miles from Argos Amphilochicum. Of the constitution of their League we have
scarcely any particulars. We learn from an inscription found at Punta, the site
of ancient Actium, that there was a Council and a general assembly of the people,
by which decrees were passed. (Edoxe tai boulai kai toi koinoi ton Hakarnanon).
At the head of the League there was a Strategus (Stragegos) or General; and the
Council had a Secretary (grammateus), who appears to have been a person of importance,
as in the Achaean and Aetolian Leagues. The chief priest (hierapolos) of the temple
of Apollo at Actium seems to have been a person of high rank; and either his name
or that of the Strategus was employed for official dates, like that of the first
Archon at Athens. (Bockh, Corpus Inscript. No. 1793.)
The history of the Acarnanians begins in the time of the Peloponnesian
war. Their hatred against the Corinthian settlers, who had deprived them of all
their best ports, naturally led them to side with the Athenians; but the immediate
cause of their alliance with the latter arose from the expulsion of the Amphilochians
from the town of Argos Amphilochicum by the Corinthian settlers from Ambracia,
about B.C. 432. The Acarnanians espoused the cause of the expelled Amphilochians,
and in order to obtain the restoration of the latter, they applied for assistance
to Athens. The Athenians accordingly sent an expedition under Phormio, who took
Argos, expelled the Ambraciots, and restored the town to the Amphilochians and
Acarnanians. An alliance was now formally concluded between the Acarnamians and
Athenians. The only towns of Acarnania which did not join it were Oeniadae and
Astacus. The Acarnanians were of great service in maintaining the supremacy of
Athens in the western part of Greece, and they distinguished themselves particularly
in B.C. 426, when they gained a signal victory under the command of Demosthenes
over the Peloponnesians and Ambraciots at Olpae. (Thuc. iii. 105, seq.) At the
conclusion of this campaign they concluded a peace with the Ambraciots, although
they still continued allies of Athens (Thuc. iii. 114.) In B.C. 391 we find the
Acarnanians engaged in war with the Achaeans, who had taken possession of Calydon
in Aetolia; and as the latter were hard pressed by the Acarnanians, they applied
for aid to the Lacedaemonians, who sent an army into Acarnania, commanded by Agesilaus.
The latter ravaged the country, but his expedition was not attended with any lasting
consequences (Xen. Hell. iv. 6). After the time of Alexander the Great the Aetolians
conquered most of the towns in the west of Acarnania; and the Acarnanians in consequence
united themselves closely to the Macedonian kings, to whom. they remained faithful
in their various vicissitudes of fortune. They refused to desert the cause of
Philip in his war with the Romans, and it was not till after the capture of Leucas,
their principal town, and the defeat of Philip at Cynoscephalae that they submitted
to the Romans. (Liv. xxxiii. 16-17.) When Antiochus III. king of Syria, invaded
Greece, B.C. 191, the Acarnanians were persuaded by their countryman Mnasilochus
to espouse his cause; but on the expulsion of Antiochus from Greece, they came
again under the supremacy of Rome. (Liv. xxxvi. 11-12.) In the settlement of the
affairs of Greece by Aemilius Paulus and the Roman commissioners after the defeat
of Perseus (B.C. 168), Leucas was separated from Acarnania, but no other change
was made in the country. (Liv. xlv. 31.) When Greece was reduced to the form of
a Roman province, it is doubtful whether Acarnania was annexed to the province
of Achaia or of Epeirus, but it is mentioned at a later time as part of Epeirus.
The inhabitants of several of its towns were removed by Augustus to Nicopolis,
which he founded after the battle of Actium; and in the time of this emperor the
country is described by Strabo as utterly worn out and exhausted. (Strab. p. 460.)
The following is a list of the towns of Acarnania. On the Ambracian
gulf, from E. to W.: Limnaea Echinus (Echinos, Steph. B. s. v.; Plin. iv. 2; Ai
Vasili), Heracleia (Plin. iv. 2; Vonitza), Anactorium, Actium. On or near the
west of the Ionian sea, from N. to S.: Thyrium, Palaeibus, Alyzia, Sollium, Astacus,
Oeniadae. In the interior from S. to N.: Old Oenia, Coronta, Metropolis, Stratus,
Rhynchus (Hpunchos), near Stratus, of uncertain site (Pol. ap. Ath. iii. p. 95,
d.); Phytia or Phoeteiae, Medeon. The Roman Itineraries mention only one road
in Acarnania, which led from Actium along the coast to Calydon in Aetolia.
1 In the year B.C. 239, the Acarnanians, in the embassy which they sent to
Rome to solicit assistance, pleaded that they had taken no part in the expedition
against Troy, the ancestor of Rome, being the first; time probably, as Thirlwall
remarks, that they had ever boasted of the omission of their name from the Homeric
catalogue. (Justin, xxviii. 1; Strab. p. 462; Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece, vol.
viii. pp. 119, 120.)
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
AKRES (Ancient city) IERA POLIS MESSOLONGIOU
Acrae (Akrai), a town in Aetolia of uncertain site, on the road from Metapa to Conope. Stephanus erroneously calls it an Acarnanian town. (Pol. v. 13; Steph. B. s. v. Akra.)
AKTION (Ancient port) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Actium (Aktion: Eth. Aktios, Actius: Adj. Aktiakos, Actiacus, also
Aktios, Actius), a promontory in Acarnania at the entrance of the Ambraciot Gulf
(Gulf of Arta) off which Augustus gained his celebrated victory over Antony and
Cleopatra, on September 2nd, B.C. 31. There was a temple of Apollo on this promontory,
which Thutydides mentions (i. 29) as situated in the territory of Anactorium.
This temple was of great antiquity, and Apollo derived from it the surname of
Actius and Actiacus. There was also an ancient festival named Actia, celebrated
here in honour of the god. Augustus after his victory enlarged the temple, and
revived the ancient festival, which was henceforth celebrated once in four years
(pentaeteris, ludi quinquennales), with musical and gymnastic contests, and horse
races. (Dion Cass. li. 1; Suet. Aug. 18.) We learn from a Greek inscription found
on the site of Actium, and which is probably prior to the time of Augustus, that
the chief priest of the temple was called Hierapolos, and that his name was employed
in official documents, like that of the first Archon at Athens, to mark the date.
(Bockh, Corpus Inscript. No. 1793.) Strabo says (p. 325) that the temple was situated
on an eminence, and that below was a plain with a grove of trees, and a dock-yard;
and in another passage (p. 451) he describes the harbour as situated outside of
the gulf. On the opposite coast of Epirus, Augustus founded the city of Nicopolis
in honour of his victory. Actium was properly not a town, though it is sometimes
described as such; but after the foundation of Nicopolis, a few buildings sprang
up around the temple, and it served as a kind of suburb to Nicopolis.
The site of Actium has been a subject of dispute. The accompanying
plan of the entrance of the Ambraciot gulf, taken from the map published by Lieut.
Wolfe (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, vol. iii.) will give the reader
a clear idea of the locality.
The entrance of the Ambraciot gulf lies between the low point off
Acarnania, on which stands Fort La Punta, and the promontory of Epirus, on which
stands the modern town of Prevesa, near the site of the ancient Nicopolis. The
narrowest part of this entrance is only 700 yards, but the average distance between
the two shores is half a mile. After passing through this strait, the coast turns
abruptly round a small point to the SE., forming a bay about 4 miles in width,
called the Bay of Prevesa. A second entrance is then formed to the larger basin
of the gulf by the two high capes of La Scara in Epeirus, and of Madonna in Acarnania,
the width of this second entrance being about one mile and a half. Now some modern
writers, among others D'Anville, suppose Actium to have been situated on Cape
Madonna, and Anactorium, which Strabo (p. 451) describes as 40 stadia from Actium,
on La Punta. Two reasons have led them to adopt this conclusion: first, because
the ruins on C. Madonna are sometimes called Azio, which name is apparently a
corruption of the ancient Actium; and, secondly, because the temple of Apollo
is said by Strabo to have stood on a height, which description answers to the
rocky eminence on C. Madonna, and not to the low peninsula of La Punta. But these
reasons are not conclusive, and there can be no doubt that the site of Actium
corresponds to La Punta. For it should be observed, first, that the name Azio
is unknown to the Greeks, and appears to have been introduced by the Venetians,
who conjectured that the ruins on C. Madonna were those of Actium, and therefore
invented the word; and, secondly, that though Strabo places the temple of Apollo
on a height, he does not say that this height was on the sea, but on the contrary,
that it was at some little distance from the sea. In other respects Strabo's evidence
is decisive in favour of the identification of Actium with La Punta. He says that
Actium is one point which forms the entrance of the bay; and it is clear that
he considered the entrance of the bay to be between Prevesa and La Punta, because
he makes the breadth of the strait a little more than four stadia, or half a mile,
which is true when applied to the first narrow entrance, but not to the second.
That the strait between Prevesa and La Punta was regarded as the entrance of the
Ambraciot gulf, is clear, not only from the distance assigned to it by Strabo,
but from the statements of Polybius (iv. 63), who makes it 5 stadia, of Scylax
(v. Kassopii), who makes it 4 stadia, and of Pliny (iv. 1) who makes it 500 paces.
Anactorium is described by Strabo as situated within the bay, while Actium makes
the mouth of the bay. (Strab. pp. 325, 451.) Anactorium, therefore, must be placed
on the promontory of C. Madonna. The testimony of Strabo is confirmed by that
of Dion Cassius. The latter writer says (l. 12) that Actium is a temple of Apollo,
and is situated before the mouth of the strait of the Ambraciot gulf, over against
the harbours of Nicopolis. Cicero tells us (ad Fam. xvi. 6, 9) that in coasting
from Patrae to Corcyra he touched at Actium, which he could hardly have done,
if it were so far out of his way as the inner strait between C. La Scara and C.
Madonna. Thus we come to the conclusion that the promontory of Actium was the
modern La Punta, and that the temple of Apollo was situated a little to the S.,
outside the strait, probably near the Fort La Punta.
A few remarks are necessary respecting the site of the battle, which
has conferred its chief celebrity upon Actium. The fleet of Antony was stationed
in the Bay of Prevesa. His troops had built towers on each side of the mouth of
the strait, and they occupied the channel itself with their ships. Their camp
was near the temple of Apollo, on a level spacious ground. Augustus was encamped
on the opposite coast of Epirus, on the spot where Nicopolis afterwards stood;
his fleet appears to have been stationed in the Bay of Gomaros, now the harbour
of Mitika, to the N. of Nicopolis, in the Ionian sea. Antony was absent from his
army at Patrae; but as soon as he heard of the arrival of Augustus, he proceeded
to Actium, and after a short time crossed over the strait to Prevesa, and pitched
his camp near that of Augustus. But having experienced some misfortunes, he subsequently
re-crossed the strait and joined the main body of his army at Actium. By the advice
of Cleopatra he now determined to return to Egypt. He accordingly sailed out of
the strait, but was compelled by the manoeuvres of Augustus to fight. After the
battle had lasted some hours Cleopatra, who was followed by Antony, sailed through
the middle of the contending fleets, and took to flight. They succeeded in making
their escape, but most of their ships were destroyed. The battle was, therefore,
fought outside of the strait, between La Punta and Prevesa (exo ton stenon, Dion
Cass. 1. 31), and not in the Bay of Prevesa, as is stated by some writers. (Dion
Cass. 1. 12, seq.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 28, seq.; Wolfe, l. c.)
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ALFIOS (River) ILIA
Alpheius (Alpheios: Rufea, Rufia or Rofia, and River of Karitena),
the chief river of Peloponnesus, rises in the SE. of Arcadia on the frontiers
of Laconia, flows in a westerly direction through Arcadia and Elis, and after
passing Olympia falls into the Ionian Sea. The Alpheius, like several other rivers
and lakes in Arcadia, disappears more than once in the limestone mountains of
the country, and then emerges again, after flowing some distance underground.
Pausanias (viii. 54. § 1, seq., 44. § 4) relates that the source of the Alpheius
is at Phylae, on the frontiers of Arcadia and Laconia; and that, after receiving
a stream rising from many small fountains, at a place called Symbola, it flows
into the territory of Tegea, where it sinks underground. It rises again at the
distance of 5 stadia from Asea, close to the fountain of the Eurotas. The two
rivers then mix their waters, and after flowing in a common channel for the distance
of nearly 20 stadia, they again sink underground, and reappear,- the Eurotas in
Laconia, the Alpheius at Pegae, the Fountains, in the territory of Megalopolis
in Arcadia. Strabo (p. 343) also states that the Alpheius and Eurotas rise from
two fountains near Asea, and that, after flowing several stadia underground, the
Eurotas reappears in the Bleminatis in Laconia, and the Alpheius in Arcadia. In
another passage (p. 275) Strabo relates, that it was a common belief that if two
chaplets dedicated to the Alpheius and the Eurotas were thrown into the stream
near Asea, each would reappear at the sources of the river to which it was destined.
This story accords with the statement of Pausanias as to the union of the waters
from the two fountains, and their course in a common channel. The account of Pausanias
is confirmed in many particulars by the observations of Colonel Leake and others.
The river, in the first part of its course, is now called the Saranda, which rises
at Krya Vrysi, the ancient Phylace, and which receives, a little below Krya Vrysi,
a stream formed of several small mountain torrents, by which the ancient Symbola
is recognised. On entering the Tegeatic plain, the Saranda now flows to the NE.;
but there are strong reasons for believing that it anciently flowed to the NW.,
and disappeared in the Katavothra of the marsh of Taki. (Leake, Peloponnesiaca,
p. 112, seq.) The two reputed sources of the Alpheius and Eurotas are found near
the remains of Asea, at the copious source of water called Franyovrysi; but whether
the source of the Alpheius be really the vent of the lake of Taki, cannot be decided
with certainty. These two fountains unite their waters, as Pausanias describes,
and again sink into the earth. After passing under a mountain called Tzimbanu,
the Alpheius reappears at Marmara, probably Pegae. (Leake, Morea, vol. iii. p.
37, seq.)
Below Pegae, the Alpheius receives the Helisson (Elisson: River of
Davia), on which Megalopolis was situated, 30 stadia from the confluence. Below
this, and near the town of Brenthe (Karitena), the Alpheius flows through a defile
in the mountains, called the pass of Lavdha. This pass is the only opening in
the mountains, by which the waters of central Arcadia find their way to the western
sea. It divides the upper plain of the Alpheius, of which Megalopolis was the
chief place, from the lower plain, in which Heraea was situated. (Leake, Morea,
vol. ii. p. 19, seq.) Below Heraea, the Alpheius receives the Ladon (Ladon), which
rises near Cleitor, and is celebrated in mythology as the father of Daphne. The
Ladon is now called Rufea, Reufia or Rofia, by which name the Alpheius is called
below its junction with the Ladon. In the upper part of its course the Alpheius
is usually called the River of Karitena. Below the Ladon, at the distance of 20
stadia, the Alpheius receives the Erymanthus (Erumanthos), rising in the mountain
of the same name, and forming the boundary between Elis and the territories of
Heraea in Arcadia. After entering Elis, it flows past Olympia, forming the boundary
between Pisatis and Triphylia, and falls into the Cyparissian gulf in the Ionian
sea. At the mouth of the river was a temple and grove of Artemis Alpheionia. From
the pass of Lavdha to the sea, the Alpheius is wide and shallow: in summer it
is divided into several torrents, flowing between islands or sandbanks over a
wide gravelly bed, while in winter it is full, rapid, and turbid. Its banks produce
a great number of large plane-trees. (Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 67, Peloponnesiaca,
p. 8.)
Alpheius appears as a celebrated river-god in mythology; and it was
apparently the subterranean passage of the river in the upper part of its course
which gave rise to the fable that the Alpheius flowed beneath the sea, and attempted
to mingle its waters with the fountain of Arethusa in the island of Ortygia in
Syracuse. (Dict. of Biogr. art. Alpheius.) Hence Ovid calls the nymph Arethusa,
Alpheias. (Met. v. 487.) Virgil (Aen. x. 179) gives the epithet of Alpheae to
the Etruscan city of Pisae because the latter was said to have been founded by
colonists from Pisa in Elis, near which the Alpheius flowed.
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ALIFIRA (Ancient city) ILIA
Aliphera, Paus.; Aliphera, Liv.; Alipheipa, Polyb.: Eth. Alipheraios, on coins
Adipheipeon, Aliphiraeus, (Plin. iv. 6. s. 10. § 22). A town of Arcadia, in the
district Cynuria, said to have been built by Alipherus, a son of Lycaon, was situated
upon a steep and lofty hill, 40 stadia S. of the Alpheius and near the frontiers
of Elis. A large number of its inhabitants removed to Megalopolis upon the foundation
of the latter city in B.C. 371; but it still continued to be a place of some importance.
It was ceded to the Eleans by Lydiades, when tyrant of Megalopolis; but it was
taken from them by Philip in the Social War, B.C. 219, and restored to Megalopolis.
It contained temples of Asclepius and Athena, and a celebrated bronze statue by
Hypatodorus of the latter goddess, who was said to have been born here. There
are still considerable remains of this town on the hill of Nerovitza, which has
a tabular summit about 300 yards long in the direction of E. and W., 100 yards
broad, and surrounded by remains of Hellenic walls. At the south-eastern angle,
a part rather higher than the rest formed an acropolis: it was about 70 yards
long and half as much broad. The walls are built of polygonal and regular masonry
intermixed.
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ALIKARNA (Ancient city) IERA POLIS MESSOLONGIOU
Halikurna: Eth. Hadikurnaios. A village of Aetolia, described by Strabo as situated
30 stadia below Calydon towards the sea Pliny places it near Pleuron. Leake discovered
some ruins, midway between Kurt-aga (the site of Calydon) and the eastern termination
of the lagoon of Mesolonghi, which he supposes to be the remains of Halicyrna.
ALISSION (Ancient city) ILIA
Alesiaeum (Alesiaion), called Aleisium (Aleision)) by Homer. A town of Pisatis,
situated upon the road leading across the mountains from Elis to Olympia. Its
site is uncertain.
ALYZIA (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Aluzia (Thuc.vii.31, et alii), Aluzeia (Steph. B.s.v.:), Eth. Aluzeus, Aluzaios,
Aluzeios (ap. Bockh. Corpus Inscript. No. 1793: Kandili). A town on the west coast
of Acarnania. According to Strabo it was distant 15 stadia from the sea, on which
it possessed a harbour and a sanctuary, both dedicated to Heracles. In this sanctuary
were some works of art by Lysippus, representing the labours of Hercules, which
a Roman general caused to be removed to Rome on account of the deserted state
of the place. The remains of Alyzia are still visible in the valley of Kandili.
The distance of the bay of Kandili from the ruins of Leucas corresponds with the
120 stadia which Cicero assigns for the distance between Alyzia and Leucas. (Strab.
pp. 450, 459; Cic. ad Fam. xvi. 2; Plin. iv. 2; Ptolem. iii. 14.) Alyzia is said
to have derived its name from Alyzeus, a son of Icarus. (Strab. p. 452; Steph.
Byz. s. v.) It is first mentioned by Thucydides. In B.C. 374, a naval battle was
fought in the neighbourhood of Alyzia between the Athenians under Timotheus and
the Lacedaemonians under Nicolochus. The Athenians, says Xenophon, erected their
trophy at Alyzia, and the Lacedaemonians in the nearest islands. We learn from
Scylax that the island immediately opposite Alyzia was called Carnus, the modern
Kalamo. (Thuc. vii. 31; Xen. Hell. v. 4. 65, 66; Scylax, p. 13; Leake, Northern
Greece, vol. iv. p. 14, seq.)
(ap. Bockh. Corpus Inscript. No. 1793: Kandili). A town on the west coast of Acarnania.
According to Strabo it was distant 15 stadia from the sea, on which it possessed
a harbour and a sanctuary, both dedicated to Heracles. In this sanctuary were
some works of art by Lysippus, representing the labours of Hercules, which a Roman
general caused to be removed to Rome on account of the deserted state of the place.
The remains of Alyzia are still visible in the valley of Kandili. The distance
of the bay of Kandili from the ruins of Leucas corresponds with the 120 stadia
which Cicero assigns for the distance between Alyzia and Leucas. (Strab. pp. 450,
459; Cic. ad Fam. xvi. 2; Plin. iv. 2; Ptolem. iii. 14.) Alyzia is said to have
derived its name from Alyzeus, a son of Icarus. (Strab. p. 452; Steph. Byz. s.
v.) It is first mentioned by Thucydides. In B.C. 374, a naval battle was fought
in the neighbourhood of Alyzia between the Athenians under Timotheus and the Lacedaemonians
under Nicolochus. The Athenians, says Xenophon, erected their trophy at Alyzia,
and the Lacedaemonians in the nearest islands. We learn from Scylax that the island
immediately opposite Alyzia was called Carnus, the modern Kalamo. (Thuc. vii.
31; Xen. Hell. v. 4. 65, 66; Scylax, p. 13; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p.
14, seq.)
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AMFIDOLIA (Ancient city) ILIA
Amphidoli (Amphidoloi), a town in Pisatis in Elis, which gave its
name to the small district of Amphidolis or Amphidolia (Amphidolis, Amphidolia).
The town of Marganeae or Margalae was situated in this district. The site of Amphidoli
is uncertain, but their territory probably lay to the west of Acroreia. (Xen.
Hell. iii. 2. 30; Strab. pp. 341, 349; Leake, Pelponnesiaca, p. 219.)
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AMFILOCHIA (Ancient area) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Amphilochia (Amphilochia: Amphilochos), a small district at the eastern
end of the Ambraciot gulf, bounded on the N. by Ambracia and on the S. by the
territory of the Agraei. It did not extend far inland. It is a mountainous district,
and the rocks along the coast rise in some parts to 450 or 500 feet high. The
Amphilochi were a non-Hellenic tribe, although they were supposed to have derived
their name from the Argive Amphilochus, the son of Amphiaraus. Strabo (p. 326)
describes them as an Epirot people, but their country is more usually described
as a part of Acarnania. (Steph. B. s.v.; Scyl. p 12.) Their lineage, as Grote
remarks, was probably something intermediate between the Acarnanians and Epirots.
At the time of the Peloponnesian war the Amphilochi were in close alliance with
the Acarnanians. After the death of Alexander the Great the Amphilochi were conquered
by the Aetolians; and they were at a later time included in the Roman province
of Epirus. The only town in their country was Argos, surnamed Amphilochicum, under
which the history of the people is more fully given. There were also a few villages
or fortresses, which owe their importance simply to their connection with the
history of Argos, and which are therefore described in that article.
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ANAKTORION (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Anaktorion: Anaktorios. A town in Acarnania, situated on the Ambraciot gulf, and
on the promontory, which now bears the name of C. Madonna. On entering the Ambraciot
gulf from the Ionian sea it was the first town in Acarnania after Actium, from
which it was distant 40 stadia, and which was in the territory of Anactorium.
This town was for some time one of the most important places in this part of Greece.
It was colonized jointly by the Corinthians and Corcyraeans; but in the war between
these peoples, in B.C. 432, the Corinthians obtained sole possession of the place
by fraud. It remained in the hands of the Corinthians till B.C. 425, when it was
taken by the Acarnanians with the assistance of the Athenians, and the Corinthian
settlers were expelled. Augustus removed its inhabitants to the town of Nicopolis,
which he founded on the opposite coast of Epirus, and Strabo describes it as an
emporium of the latter city. The site of Anactorium has been disputed, and depends
upon the position assigned to Actium. It has however been shown that Actium must
be placed at the entrance of the Ambraciot gulf on La Punta, and Anactorium on
C. Madonna. At the western extremity of the latter promontory are the ruins of
a Greek town, about two miles in circumference, which Leake supposes to have been
Anactorium. They are situated near a small church of St. Peter, which is the name
now given to the place. Other writers place Anactorium at Vonitza, on the E. extremity
of the promontory, but with less probability.
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ARAKYNTHOS (Mountain) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Aracynthus (Arakunthos: Zygos), a range of mountains in Aetolia running
in a south-easterly direction from the Achelous to the Evenus, and separating
the lower plain of Aetolia near the sea from the upper plain above the lakes Hyria
and Trichonis. (Strab. pp. 450, 460; Dionys. Perieg. 431; Leake, Northern Greece,
vol. i. p. 121.) Pliny (iv. 2. § 3) and Solinus (7. § 22) erroneously call Aracynthus
a mountain of Acarnania. If we can trust the authority of later writers and of
the Roman poets, there was a mountain of the name of Aracynthus both in Boeotia
and in Attica, or perhaps on the frontiers of the two countries. Thus Stephanus
B. (s. v.) and Servius (ad Virg. Eel. ii. 24) speak of a Boeotian Aracynthus;
and Sextus Empiricus (adv. Gramm. c. 12, p. 270), Lutatius (ad Stat. Theb. ii.
239), and Vibius Sequester (de Month. p. 27) mention an Attic Aracynthus. The
mountain is connected with the Boeotian hero Amphion both by Propertius (iii.
13. 42) and by Virgil (Ecl. ii. 24); and the line of Virgil - Amphion Dircaeus
in Actaeo Aracyntho - would seem to place the mountain on the frontiers of Boeotia
and Attica. (Comp. Brandstater, Die Gesch. des Aetol. Landes, p. 108.)
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ARGOS AMFILOCHIKON (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Argos Amphilochicum (Argos to Amphilochikon: Eth. Argeios: Neokhori),
the chief town of Amphilochia, situated at the eastern extremity of the Ambraciot
gulf, on the river Inachus. Its territory was called Argeia (Argeia). Its inhabitants
laid claim to their city having been colonized from the celebrated Argos in
Peloponnesus, though the legends of its foundation somewhat different. According
to one tradition, Amphilochus, son of Amphiaraus, being dissatisfied with the
state of things in Argos on his return from Troy, emigrated from his native
place, and founded a city of the same name on the Ambraciot gulf. According
to another tradition, it was founded by Alcmaeon, who called it after his brother
Amphilochus. (Thuc. ii. 68; Strab. p. 326; comp. Apollod. iii. 7. § 7.) But
whether the city owed its origin to an Argive colony or not, we know that the
Amphilochi were regarded as barbarians, or a-non-Hellenic race, at the commencement
of the Peloponnesian war, and that shortly before that time the inhabitants
of Argos were the only portion of the Amphilochi, who had become Hellenized.
This they owed to some colonists from Ambracia, whom they admitted into the
city to reside along with them. The Ambraciots, however, soon expelled the original
inhabitants, and kept the town, with its territory, exclusively for themselves.
The expelled inhabitants placed themselves under the protection of the Acarnanians,
and both people applied to Athens for assistance. The Athenians accordingly
sent a force under Phormio, who took Argos, sold the Ambraciots as slaves, and
restored the town to the Amphilochians and Acarnanians, both of whom now concluded
an alliance with Athens. This event probably happened in the year before the
Peloponnesian war, B.C. 432. Two years afterwards (430) the Ambraciots, anxious
to recover the lost town, marched against Argos, but were unable to take it,
and retired, after laying waste its territory. (Thuc. ii. 68.) In B.C. 426 they
made a still more vigorous effort to recover Argos; and as the history of this
campaign illustrates the position of the places in the neighbourhood of Argos,
it requires to be related a little in detail. The Ambraciots having received
the promise of assistance from Eurylochus, the Spartan commander, who was then
in Aetolia, marched with 3000 hoplites into the territory of Argos, and captured
the fortified hill of Olpae (Olpai), close upon the Ambracian gulf, 25 stadia
(about 3 miles) from Argos itself. Thereupon the Acarnanians marched to the
protection of Argos, and took up their position at a spot called Crenae (Krenai),
or the Wells, at no great distance from Argos. Meantime Eurylochus, with the
Peloponnesian forces, had marched through Acarnania, and had succeeded in joining
the Ambraciots at Olpae, passing unperceived between Argos itself and the Acarnanian
force at Crenae. He then took post at Metropolis (Metropolis), a place probably
NE. of Olpae. Shortly afterwards Demosthenes, who had been invited by the Acarnanians
to take the command of their troops, arrived in the Ambraciot gulf with 20 Athenian
ships, and anchored near Olpae. Having disembarked his men, and taken the command,
he encamped near Olpae. The two armies were separated only by a deep ravine:
and as the ground was favourable for ambuscade, Demosthenes hid some men in
a bushy dell, so that they might attack the rear of the enemy. The stratagem
was successful, Demosthenes gained a decisive victory, and Eurylochus was slain
in the battle. This victory was followed by another still more striking. The
Ambraciots at Olpae had some days before sent to Ambracia, to beg for reinforcements;
and a large Ambraciot force had entered the territory of Amphilochia about the
time when the battle of Olpae was fought. Demosthenes being informed of their
march on the day after the battle, formed a plan to sur prise them in a narrow
pass above Olpae. At this pass there were two conspicuous peaks, called respectively
the greater and the lesser Idomene (Idomene). The lesser Idomene seems to have
been at the northern entrance of the pass, and the greater Idomene at the southern
entrance. As it was known that the Ambraciots would rest for the night at the
lower of the two peaks, ready to march through the pass the next morning, Demosthenes
sent forward a detachment to secure the higher peak, and then marched through
the pass in the night. The Ambraciots had obtained no intelligence of the defeat
of their comrades at Olpae, or of the approach of Demosthenes; they were surprised
in their sleep, and put to the sword without any possibility of resist. ance.
Thucydides considers the loss of the Ambraciots to have been the greatest that
befell any Grecian city during the whole war prior to the peace of Nicias; and
he says, that if Demosthenes and the Acarnanians had marched against Ambracia
at once, the city must have surrendered without a blow. The Acarnanians, however,
refused to undertake the enterprise, fearing that the Athenians might be more
troublesome neighbours to them than the Ambraciots. On the contrary, they and
the Amphilochians now concluded a peace with the Ambraciots [p. 208] for 100
years. (Thuc. iii. 105--114; Grote, Hist. of Greece, vol. vi. p. 408, &c.) We
know little more of the history of Argos. Some time after the death of Alexander
the Great, it fell into the hands of the Aetolians, together with the rest of
Ambracia: and it was here that the Roman general, M. Fulvius, took up his quarters,
when he concluded the treaty between Rome and the Aetolians. (Liv. xxxviii.
10; Pol. xxii. 13.) Upon the foundation of Nicopolis by Augustus, after the
battle of Actium, the inhabitants of Argos were removed to the former city,
and Argos was henceforth deserted. (Anth. Graec. ix. 553.)
It is, however, mentioned by later writers. (Plin. iv. 1; Mel.
ii. 3; Ptol. iii. 14.) The site of Argos has been a subject of dispute. Thucydides
says (iii. 105), that it was situated on the sea. Polybius (xxii. 13) describes
it as distant 180 stadia, and Livy (xxxviii. 10) 22 miles from Ambracia. Leake
places it in the plain of Vlikha, at the modern village of Neolhori, where are
the ruins of an ancient city, the walls of which were about a mile in circumference.
The chief objection to Neokhori as the site of Argos is, that Neokhori is situated
at a short distance from the coast; whereas Thucydides, as we have already seen,
describes Argos as a maritime city. But it is very probable that the marsh or
lagoon, which now separates Neokhori from the inlet of Armyro, may have been
rendered shallower than it was formerly by alluvial depositions, and that it
may once have afforded a commodious harbour to Argos. The distance of Neokchori
from the ruins of Ambracia corresponds to the distance assigned by Polybius
and Livy between Argos and Ambracia. Near Neokhori also is the river of Ariadha,
corresponding to the Inachus, on whichArgos is said to have been situated. The
only other ruins in the neighbourhood, which could be regarded as the remains
of Argos, are those further south, at the head of the bay of Kervasara, which
Lieutenant Wolfe, who visited the country in 1830, supposes to have been the
site of Argos: but there are strong reasons for believing that this is the site
of Limnaea. Fixing the site of Argos at Neokhori, we are able to identify the
other places mentioned in the history of the campaign of B.C. 426. Crenae probably
corresponds to Armyro on the coast, SW. of Argos; and Olpae to Arapi, also on
the coast, NW. of Argos, at both of which places there are Hellenic remains.
At Arapi at present there is a considerable lagoon, which was probably not so
large in ancient times. The ravine, which separated the army of Demosthenes
from that of Eurylochus, seems to have been the torrent which enters the lagoon
from the north, and Metropolis to have been a place on its right bank, at the
southern extremity of the mountains called Makrinoro. Thucydides expressly mentions
Olpae and Metropolis as two different places; and there is no reason to suppose
them only different names of one place, as some modern commentators have done.
The pass, where Demosthenes gained his second victory over the Ambraciots, is
the pass of Makrinoro, which is one of the most important in this part of Greece.
The southern extremity of the mountain corresponds to the greater Idomene, which
Demosthenes occupied; while the northern extremity, where the Am. braciots were
attacked, was the lesser Idomene. On the latter are remains of ancient fortifications,which
bear the name of Paleopyryo.
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ARINI (Ancient city) ILIA
A town mentioned by Homer as belonging to the dominions of Nestor.
and situated near the spot where the Minyeius flows into the sea. (Hom. Il. ii.
591, xi. 723.) It also occurs in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo (423), in conjunction
with other towns on the western coast of Peloponnesus. According to Pausanias
(iv. 2. § 4, 3. § 7), it was built by Aphareus, who called it after Arene, both
his wife and his sister by the same mother. It was commonly supposed in later
times that Arene occupied the site of Samos or Samia in Triphylia, near the mouth
of the Anigrus, which was believed to be the same as the Minyeius. (Strab. viii.
p. 346; Paus. v. 6. § 2.)
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AROI (Ancient city) PATRA
(Patra) It is said to have been formed by an union of three small places, named
Aroe (Aroe), Antheia (Antheia), and Mesatis (Mesatis), which had been founded
by the Ionians, when they were in the occupation of the country. After the expulsion
of the Ionians, the Achaean hero Patreus withdrew the inhabitants from Antheia
and Mesatis to Aroe, which he enlarged and called Patrae after himself. The acropolis
of the city probably continued to bear the name of Aroe, which was often used
as synonymous with Patrac.
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ARPINA (Ancient city) ANCIENT OLYMPIA
Harpinna: Eth. Harpinaios. A town of Pisatis (Elis) situated on the
right bank of the Alpheius, on the road to Heraea, at the distance of 20 stadia
from the hippodrome of Olympia. (Lucian, de Mort. Peregr. 35.) Harpina is said
to have been founded by Oenomaus, who gave it the name of his mother. The ruins
of the town were seen by Pausanias. According to Strabo, Harpina stood upon the
stream Parthenius; according to Pausanias, upon one called Harpinates. The ruins
of the town stand upon a ridge a little northward of the village of Miraka: there
are two small rivulets on either side of the ridge, of which the eastern one appears
to be the Parthenius, and the western the Harpinates. (Strab. viii. pp. 356, 3571
; Paus. vi. 20. § 8; Steph. B. s. v.)
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ASTAKOS (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Astakos: Eth. Anstakenis, Astakios. a town on the W. coast of Acarnania,
on the bay now called Dragamesti, one side of which is formed by the promontory
anciently named Crithote. The ruins of Astacus are probably those described by
Leake as below a monastery of St. Elias, and which he supposes to be those of
Crithote. There was, however, no town Crithote, but only a promontory of this
name; and Leake has misunderstood the passage of Strabo, in which Crithote is
mentioned. Astacus is said to have been a colony of Cephallenia. At the commencement
of the Peloponnesian war, it was governed by a tyrant, named Evarchus, who was
deposed by the Athenians (B.C. 431), but was shortly afterwards restored by the
Corinthians. It is mentioned as one of the towns of Acarnania in a Greek inscription,
the date of which is subsequent to B.C. 219.
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CHALKIS (Ancient city) NAFPAKTOS
Chalcis. Also called Chalceia, and Hypohalcis (Chalkeia, Pol. v. 94; Hupochalkis,
Strab. p. 451; Steph. B. s. v.) A town of Aetolia, situated upon the coast, at
a short distance E. of the mouth of the Evenus, and at the foot of a mountain
of the same name, whence it was called Hypochalcis. Chalcis is one of the 5 Aetolian
towns spoken of by Homer,who gives it the epithet of anchialos, and it continued
to be mentioned in the historical period. (Hom. Il. ii. 640; Thuc. ii. 83; Pol.
v. 94; Strab. pp. 451,459 460.) There are two great mountains situated between
the river Fidhari (the Evenus) and the castle of Rumili (Antirrhium), of which
the western mountain, called Varassova, corresponds to Chalcis, and the eastern,
called Kaki-skala, to Taphiassus. The town of Chalcis appears to have stood in
the valley between the two mountains, probably at Ovrio-castro, where there are
some remains of an Hellenic fortress. There was some confusion in the ancient
writers respecting the position of mount Chalcis, and Artemidorus, who called
it Chalcia, placed it between the Achelous and Pleuron (Strab. p. 460); but this
is clearly an error.
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DYMI (Ancient city) PATRA
(Dume, Dymae, Liv. xxvii. 31: Eth. Dumaios, also Dumios, Steph. B.
s. v., Dymaeus, Cic. ad Att. xvi. 1; The territory he Dumaia, Pol. v. 17: nr.
Karavostasi).
A town of Achaia, and the most westerly of the 12 Achaean cities,
from which circumstance it is said to have derived its name. (Herod. i. 145; Pol.
ii. 41; Strab. viii. p. 387.) It was situated near the coast, according to Strabo
60 stadia from the promontory Araxus, and according to Pausanias 30 stadia from
the river Larisus, which separated its territory from Elis. It is further said
by Strabo (viii.) to have been formed out of an union of 8 villages, one of which
was called Teuthea; and it is probable, that some of the different names, by which
the city is said to have been called, were originally the names of the separate
villages. Thus, its more ancient name is stated by Pausanias to have been Paleia
(Paleia), and by Strabo to have been Stratus (Stratos). The poet Antimachus gave
it the epithet Cauconis, which was derived by some from the iron Caucon in the
neighbourhood, and by others from the Caucones, who were supposed to have originally
inhabited this district. (Strab., Paus. vii. 17. § 5, seq.) After the death of
Alexander the Great, Dyme fell into the hands of Cassander, but his troops were
driven out of the city by Aristodemus, the general of Antigonus, B.C. 314. (Diod.
xix. 66.) This city had the honour, along with Patrae, of reviving the Achaean
League in 280; and about this time or shortly afterwards its population received
an accession from some of the inhabitants of Olenus, who abandoned their town.
(Pol. ii. 41.) In the Social War (B.C. 220, seq.), the territory of Dyme, from
its proximity to Elis, was frequently laid waste by the Eleans. (Pol. iv. 59,
60, v. 17.) It is mentioned by Livy in the history of the war between Philip and
the Romans, and Pausanias says that, in consequence of its being the only one
of the Achaean cities which espoused the cause of the Macedonian king, it was
plundered by the Romans (Paus. l. c.). From this blow it never recovered; and
it is said to have been without inhabitants when Pompey settled here a large number
of Cilician pirates. In the civil wars which followed, some of these new inhabitants
were expelled from their lands, and resumed in consequence their old occupation.
(Strab. pp. 387, 665; Appian Mithr. 96; Plut. Pomp. 28; Cic. ad Att. xvi. 1, Dymaeos
agro pulses mare infestum habere, nil miruim.) Both Strabo and Pliny (iv. 6) call
Dyme a colony; but this statement appears to be a mistake, since we know that
Dyme was one of the towns placed under the authority of Patrae, when it was made
a Roman colony by Augustus (Paus. l. c.); and we are expressly told that no other
Achaean town except Patrae was allowed the privilege of self-government. The remains
of Dyme are to be seen near the modern village of Karavostasi.
In the territory of Dyme, near the promontory Araxus, there was a
fortress, called Teichos, which was said to have been built by Hercules, when
he made war upon the Eleans. It was only a stadium and a half in circumference,
but its walls were 30 cubits high. It was taken by the Eleans under Euripides
in the Social War, B.C. 220, but it was recovered by Philip and restored to the
Dymaeans in the following year. Its site is perhaps occupied by the castle of
Kallogria. (Pol. iv. 59, 88) There were also two other places in the territory
of Dyme, between the city and the frontiers of Elis, named Hecatombeon (Ekatombaion)
and Langon (Langon, the latter of which, however, appears properly to have belonged
to the Eleans. Near Hecatombaeon Aratus and the Achaeans were defeated by Cleomenes,
who followed up his victory by gaining possession of Langon, B.C. 224. (Pol. ii.
51; Plut. Cleom. 14.)
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DYSPONTION (Ancient city) PYRGOS
Duspontion: Eth. Duspontieus. An ancient town, in the territory of Pisa, said
to have been founded by a son of Oenomaus, is described by Strabo as situated
in the plain on the road from Elis to Olympia. It lay north of the Alpheius, not
far from the sea, and probably near the modern Skaphidi. Being destroyed by the
Eleians in their war with the Pisatae, its inhabitants removed to Apollonia and
Epidamnus.
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ECHINOS (Ancient city) AKTIO - VONITSA
Echinos: Eth. Echinaieus. A town in Acarnania, also said to have been
founded by Echion. It was mentioned by the poet Rhianus, and occurs in the list
of Acarnanian towns preserved by Pliny, where it is placed between Heraclia and
Actium. Leake places it at Ai Vasili, remarking that, from Stephanus and the poet
Rhianus, it is evident that Echinus was an Acarnanian town of some importance:
the story attached to it shows that it was one of the early colonies of this coast;
the ruins at Ai Vasili indicate a remote antiquity, and their safe position on
a mountain removed from the sea, is in conformity with that which is generally
found in the early foundations of the Greeks.
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EFYRA ILIAKI (Ancient city) ILIA
Ephyra, Ephure. A town of Elis, situated upon the river Selleeis, and the
ancient capital of Augeias, whom Hercules. conquered. (Hom. Il. ii. 659, xv. 531)
Strabo describes Ephyra as distant 120 stadia, from Elis, on the road to Lasion,
and says that on its site or near it was built the town of Oenoe or Boeonoa. (Strab.
viii. p. 338, where, for the corrupt keimene te epithalassiona, we ought to read,
with Meineke, keimene te epi Lasiona...) Stephanus also speaks of an Ephyra between
Pylos and Elis, Pylos being the town at the junction of the Ladon and the Peneius.
(Steph. B. s. v. Ephura.) From these two accounts there can be little doubt that
the Ladon, the chief tributary of the Peneius, is the Selleeis, which Strabo describes
as rising in Mount Pholoe. Curtius places Ephyra near the modern village of Klisura
which lies on the Ladon, about 120 stadia from Elis, by way of Pylos. Leake supposes,
with much less probability, that the Selleeis is the Peneius, and that Ephyra
was the more ancient name of Elis.
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EGES (Ancient city) ACHAIA
Aipsai: Eth. Aigaios, Aigeates, Aigaieus. Or Aega (Aiga), a town of
Achaia, and one of the 12 Achaean cities, was situated upon the river Crathis
and upon the coast, between Aegeira and Bura. It is mentioned by Homer, and was
celebrated in the earliest times for its worship of Poseidon. It was afterwards
deserted by its inhabitants, who removed to the neighbouring town of Aegeira;
and it had already ceased to be one of the 12 Achaean cities on the renewal of
the League in B.C. 280, its place being occupied by Ceryneia. Its name does not
occur in Polybius. All traces of Aegae have disappeared, but it probably occupied
the site of the Khan of Akrata, which is situated upon a commanding height rising
from the left bank of the river. Neither Strabo nor Pausanias mention on which
bank of the Crathis it stood, but it probably stood on the left bank, since the
right is low and often inundated.
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EGHION (Ancient city) ACHAIA
Aegium, Aigion, Ageion: Eth. Aigiens, Aegiensis: Vostitza. A town of Achaia,
and one of the 12 Achaean cities, was situated upon the coast W. of the river
Selinus, 30 stadia from Rhypae, and 40 stadia from Helice. It stood between two
promontories in the corner of a bay, which formed the best harbour in Achaia next
to that of Patrae. It is said to have been formed out of an union of 7 or 8 villages.
It is mentioned in the Homeric catalogue; and, after the destruction of the neighbouring
city of Helice by an earthquake, in B.C. 373, it obtained the territory of the
latter, and thus became the chief city of Achaia. From this time Aegium was chosen
as the place of meeting for the League, and it retained this distinction, on the
revival of the League, till Philopoemen carried a law that the meeting might be
held in any of the towns of the confederacy. Even under the Roman empire the Achaeans
were allowed to keep up the form of their periodical meetings at Aegium, just
as the Amphictyons were permitted to meet at Thermopylae and Delphi. (Paus. vii.
24. § 4.) The meetings were held in a grove near the sea, called Homagyrium or
Homarium, sacred to Zeus Homagyrius or Homarius (Houagnion, Hhouarion; in Strab.
pp. 385, 387, Hhouarion should be read instead of Arnharion and Ainharion). Close
to this grove was a temple of Demeter Panchaea. The words Homagyrium, assembly,
and Homarium, union, 1 have reference to those meetings, though in later times
they were explained as indicating the spot where Agamemnon assembled the Grecian
chieftains before the Trojan War. There were several other temples and public
buildings at Aegium, of which an account is given by Pausanias. (Hom. Il. ii.
574; Herod. i. 145; Pol. ii. 41, v. 93; Strab. pp. 337, 385, seq.; Paus. vii.
23, 24; Liv. xxxviii. 30; Plin. iv. 6.) Vostitza, which occupies the site of the
ancient Aegium, is a place of some importance. It derives its name from the gardens
by which it is surrounded (from bhosta, bosthani, garden). It stands on a hill,
terminating towards the sea in a cliff about 50 feet high. There is a remarkable
opening in the cliff, originally perhaps artificial, which leads from the town
to the ordinary place of embarkation. A great part of the town was destroyed by
an earthquake in 1819, of which an account is given under Helice. The principal
remains of the ancient town have been lately discovered on a hill to the E. of
Vostitza. There are also several fragments of architecture and sculpture, inserted
in the walls of the houses at Vostitza.
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EGIRA (Ancient city) ACHAIA
Aigeira: Eth. Aigeirhates, fem. Aigeiratis. A town of Achaia, and
one of the 12 Achaean cities, situated between Aegae and Pellene, is described
by Polybius as opposite Mount Parnassus, situated upon hills strong and difficult
of approach, seven stadia from the sea, and near a river. This river was probably
the Crius, which flowed into the sea, a little to the W. of the town. According
to Pausanias the upper city was 12 stadia from its port, and 72 stadia from the
oracle of Heracles Buraicus. (Herod. i. 146; Strab. viii. p. 386; Pol. ii. 41,
iv. 57; Paus. vii. 26. § 1; Plin. iv. 6.) Pausanias (l. c.) relates that Aegeira
occupied the site of the Homeric Hyperesis (Hpspereshie, Il. ii. 573, xv. 254;
Strab. p. 383: Eth. Hupereslens), and that it changed its name during the occupation
of the country by the Ionians. He adds that the ancient name still continued in
use. Hence we find that Icarus of Hyperesia was proclaimed victor in the 23rd
Olympiad. (Paus. iv. 15. § 1.) On the decay of the neighbouring town of Aegae
its inhabitants were transferred to Aegeira. (Strab. p. 386.) In the first year
of the Social war (B.C. 220) Aegeira was surprised by a party of Aetolians, who
had set sail from the opposite town of Oeantheia in Locris, but were driven out
by the Aegiratans after they had obtained possession of the place. (Pol. iv. 57,
58.) The most important of the public buildings of Aegeira was a temple of Zeus.
It also contained a very ancient temple of Apollo, and temples of Artemis, of
Aphrodite Urania, who was worshipped in the town above all other divinities, and
of the Syrian goddess. (Pans. vii. 26.) The port of Aegeira Leake places at Mavra
Litharia, i. e., the Black Rocks, to the left of which, on the summit of a hill,
are some vestiges of an ancient city, which must have been Aegeira. At the distance
of 40 stadia from Aegeira, through the mountains, there was a fortress called
Phelloe (Ellhoe, near Zakhuli), abounding in springs of water. (Paus. vii. 26.
§ 10)
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ELEOS (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Elaios. A town of Aetolia, belonging to Calydon, was strongly fortified, having
received all the necessary munitions from king Attalus. It was taken by Philip
V., king of Macedonia, B.C. 219. Its name indicates that it was situated in a
marshy district; and it must have been on the coast to have received supplies
from Attalus. We may therefore place it near Mesolonghi.
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ELIKI (Ancient city) EGIALIA
Helike: Eth. Helikonios (Steph. B. s. v.); Helikeus (Strab.viii.).
A town in Achaia, and one of the 12 Achaean cities, was situated on the coast
between the rivers Selinus and Cerynites, and 40 stadia E. of Aegium. It seems
to have been the most ancient of all the cities in Achaia. Its foundation is ascribed
to Ion, who is said to have made it his residence, and--to have called it after
his wife Helice, the daughter of Selinus. It possessed a celebrated temple of
Poseidon, who was hence called Heliconins; and here the Ionians were accustomed
to hold those periodical meetings which were continued in Asia Minor under the
name of Panionia. After the conquest of the country by the Achaeans, the latter
likewise made Helice the place of meeting of their League, and it continued to
be their capital till the destruction of the city by an earthquake in B.C. 373,
two years before the battle of Leuctra. This earthquake happened in the night.
The city and a space of 12 stadia below it sank into the earth, and were covered
over by the sea. All the inhabitants perished, and not a vestige of Helice remained,
except a few fragments projecting from the sea. Its territory was taken possession
of by Aegium. The neighbouring city of Bura was destroyed by the same earthquake.
The catastrophe was attributed to the vengeance of Poseidon, whose wrath was excited
because the inhabitants of Helice had refused to give their statue of Poseidon
to the Ionian colonists in Asia, or even to supply them with a model. According
to some authorities, the inhabitants of Helice and Bura had even murdered the
Ionian deputies.
On the 23rd of August, 1817, the same spot was again the scene of
a similar disaster. The earthquake was preceded by a sudden explosion, which was
compared to that of a battery of cannon. The shock which immediately succeeded
was said to have lasted a minute and a:.half, during which the sea rose at the
mouth of the Selinus, and extended so far as to inundate all the level immediately
below Vostitza (the ancient Aegium). After its retreat not a trace was left of
some magazines which had stood on the shore, and the sand which had covered the
beach was all carried away. In Vostitza 65 persons lost their lives, and two thirds
of the buildings were entirely ruined. Five villages in the plain were destroyed.
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EPITALION (Ancient city) ILIA
Epitalion: Eth. Epitalieus. A town of Triphylia in Elis, near the
coast and a little south of the river Alpheius. It was identified with the Homeric
Thryon (Thruon) or Thryoessa (Thruoessa), a town in the dominions of Nestor, which
the poet describes as a place upon a lofty hill near the ford of the river Alpheius
(Hom. Il. ii. 592, xi. 710, Hymn. in Apoll. 423; Strab. viii.). Epitalium was
an important military post, because it commanded the ford of the Alpheius and
the road leading along the coast. Like the other dependent townships of Triphylia,
it revolted from Elis when Agis, the Spartan king, invaded the country in B.C.
401; and when Agis returned home, after ravaging Elis, he left a garrison in Epitalium.
(Xen. Hell. iii. § § 25, 29.) The town was taken by Philip in the Social War,
B.C. 218. (Polyb. iv. 80; Steph. B. s. v. Epitalion.) It appears to have occupied
the height of Agulenitza.
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EPY (Ancient city) ILIA
(Aipn: Eth. Aiphutes). A town in Elis, so called from its lofty situation, is
mentioned by Homer, and is probably the same as the Triphylian town Epeium (Epeion,
Epion, Aiphion), which stood between Macistus and Heraea. Leake places it on the
high peaked mountain which lies between the villages of Vrina and Smerna, about
6 miles in direct distance from Olympia. Boblaye supposes it to occupy the site
of Hellenista, the name of some ruins on a hill between Platiana and Barakou.
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ERYMANTHOS (Mountain) ACHAIA
Erymanthus (Erumanthos), a lofty range of mountains on the frontiers
of Arcadia, Achaia, and Elis. It formed the western point of the northern barrier
of Arcadia; and Mt. Lampeia, which extends southwards, is a portion of the range.
The two principal heights are now called O/lonos and Kalefoni, the former being
7.297 feet above the level of the sea, and the latter 6.227 feet. From Erymanthus
four rivers rise, - the Eleian Peneius, the Arcadian Erymanthus, and the Peirus
and Selinus of Achaia. The river Erymanthus, which is a tributary of the Achelous,
is spoken of under the latter name. Mount Erymanthus is celebrated in mythology
as the haunt of the fierce boar destroyed by Hercules. (Strab. viii. pp. 343,
357; Pans. v. 7. § 1, viii. 24. § 4, seq.; Hom. Od. vi. 104; Apollod. ii. 5; Leake,
Morea. vol. ii. p. 253, Peloponneaiaca, pp. 203, 204, 224; Boblaye, Recherches,
&c. pp. 118, 124; Curtius, Peloposnesos, vol. i. pp. 17, 384.)
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ETOLIA (Ancient area) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Aetolia (Aitolia: Eth. Aitolos, Aetolus), a district of Greece, the boundaries
of which varied at different periods. In the time of Strabo it was bounded on
the W. by Acarnania, from which it was separated by the river Achelous, on the
N. by the mountainous country inhabited by the Athamanes, Dolopes, and Dryopes,
on the NE. by Doris and Malis, on the SE. by Locris, and on the S. by the entrance
to the Corinthian gulf. It contained about 1165 square miles. It was divided into
two districts, called Old Aetolia (he archaia Aitolia), and Aetolia Epictetus
(he epiktetos), or the Acquired. The former extended along the coast from the
Achelous to the Evenus, and inland as far as Thermum, opposite the Acarnanian
town of Stratus: the latter included the northern and more mountainous part of
the province, and also the country on the coast between the Evenus and Locris.
When this division was introduced is unknown; but it cannot have been founded
upon conquest, for the inland Aetolians were never subdued. The country between
the Achelous and the Evenus appears in tradition as the original abode of the
Aetolians; and the term Epictetus probably only indicates the subsequent extension
of their name to the remainder of the country. Strabo makes the promontory Antirrhium
the boundary between Aetolia and Locris, but some of the towns between this promontory
and the Evenus belonged originally to the Ozolian Locrians. (Strab. pp. 336, 450,
459.)
The country on the coast between the Achelous and the Evenus is a
fertile plain, called Paracheloitis (Paracheloitis), after the former river. This
plain is bounded on the north by a range of hills called Aracynthus, north of
which and of the lakes Hyria and Trichonis there again opens out another extensive
plain opposite the town of Stratus. These are the only two plains in Aetolia of
any extent. The remainder of the country is traversed in every direction by rugged
mountains, covered with forests, and full of dangerous ravines. These mountains
are a south-westerly continuation of Mt. Pindus, and have never been crossed by
any road, either in ancient or modern times. The following mountains are mentioned
by special names by the ancient writers:
1.Tymphrestus (Tumphrestos), on the northern frontier, was a southerly continuation
of Mt. Pindus, and more properly belongs to Dryopis.
2. Bomi (Bomoi), on the north-eastern frontier, was the most westerly part of
Mt. Oeta, inhabited by the Bomienses. In it were the sources of the Evenus. (Strab.
x. p. 451; Thuc. iii. 96; Steph. B. s. v. Bomoi.)
3. Coraxa (Korax), also on the north-eastern frontier, was a south-westerly continuation
of Oeta, and is described by Strabo as the greatest mountain in Aetolia. There
was a pass through it leading to Thermopylae, which the consul Acilius Glabrio
crossed with great difficulty and the loss of many beasts of burthen in his passage,
when he marched from Thermopylae to Naupactus in B.C. 191. Leake remarks that
the route of Glabrio was probably by the vale of the Vistritza into that of the
Kokkcino, over the ridges which connect Velukhi with Vardhusi, but very near the
latter mountain, which is thus identified with Corax. Corax is described on that
occasion by Livy as a very high mountain, lying between Callipolis and Naupactus.
(Strab. x. p. 450; Liv. xxxvi. 30; Steph. B. s. v.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol.
ii. p. 624.)
4. Taphiassus (Taphiassos: Kaki--scala), a southerly continuation of Corax, extended
down to the Corinthian gulf, where it terminated in a lofty mountain near the
town of Macynia. In this mountain Nessus and the other Centaurs were said to have
been buried, and from their corpses arose the stinking waters which flowed into
the sea, and from which the western Locrians are said to have derived the name
of Ozolae, or the Stinking. Modern travellers have found at the base of Mt. Taphiassus
a number of springs of fetid water. Taphiassus derives its modern name of Kaki--skala,
or Bad-ladder, from the dangerous road, which runs along the face of a precipitous
cliff overhanging the sea, half way up the mountain. (Strab. pp. 427, 451, 460;
Antig. Caryst. 129; Plin. iv. 2; Leake, vol. i. p. 111; Mure, Tour in Greece,
vol. i. p. 135; Gell, Itiner. p. 292.)
5. Chalcis or Chalceia (Chalkis e Chalkia: Varassova), an offshoot of Taphiassus,
running down to the Corinthian gulf, between the mouth of the Evenus and Taphiassus.
At its foot was a town of the same name. Taphiassus and Chalcis are the ancient
names of the two great mountains running close down to the sea-coast, a little
west of the promontory Antirrhium, and separated from each other by some low ground.
Each of these mountains rises from the sea in one dark gloomy mass. (Strab. pp.
451, 460; Horn. Il. ii. 640; Leake, l. c.; Mure, vol. i. p. 171.)
6. Aracyntus (Arakunthos: Zygos), a range of mountains running in a south-easterly
direction from the Achelous to the Evenus, and separating the lower plain of Aetolia
near the sea from the upper plain above the lakes Hyria and Trichonis. (Strab.
x. p. 450.)
7. Panaetolium (Viena), a mountain NE. of Thermum, in which city the Aetolians
held the meetings of their league. (Plin. iv. 2; Pol. v. 8; Leake, vol. i. p.
131.)
8. Myenus (to oros Muenon, Plut. de Fluviis, p. 44), between the rivers Evenus
and Hylaethus.
9. Macynium mentioned only by Pliny (l. c.), must, from its name, have been near
the town of Macynia on the coast, and consequently a part of Mt. Taphiassus.
10. Curium (Kourion), a mountain between Pleuron and lake Trichonis, from which
the Curetes were said to have derived their name. It is a branch of Aracynthus.
(Strab. x. p. 451.)
The two chief rivers of Aetolia were the Achelous and the Evenus,
which flowed in the lower part of their course nearly parallel to one another.
There were no other rivers in the country worthy of mention, with the exception
of the Campylus and Cyathus, both of which were tributaries of the Achelous.
There were several lakes in the two great plains of Aetolia. The upper
plain, N. of Mt. Aracynthus, contained two large lakes, which communicated with
each other. The eastern and the larger of the two was called Trichonis (Trichonis,
Pol. v. 7, xi. 4: Lake of Apokuro), the western was named Hyria (Lake of Zygos);
and from the latter issued the river Cyathus, which flowed into the Achelous near
the town of Conope, afterwards Arsinoe (Ath. x. p. 424). This lake, named Hyrie
by Ovid (Met. vii. 371, seq.) is called Hydra (gdra) in the common text of Strabo,
from whom we learn that it was afterwards called Lysimachia (Ausimachia) from
a town of that name upon its southern shore. (Strab. p. 460.) Its proper name
appears to have been Hyria, which might easily be changed into Hydra. (Muller,
Dorians, vol. ii. p. 481.) This lake is also named Conope by Antoninus Liberalis
(Met. 12). The mountain Aracynthus runs down towards the shores of both lakes,
and near the lake Hyrie there is a ravine, which Ovid (l. c.) calls the Cycneia
Tempe, because Cycnus was said to have been here changed into a swan by Apollo.
The principal sources which form both the lakes are at the foot of the steep mountain
overhanging the eastern, or lake Trichonis; a current flows from E. to W. through
the two lakes; and the river of Cyathus is nothing more than a continuation of
the same stream (Leake, vol. i. p. 154).
In the lower plain of Aetolia there were several smaller lakes or
lagoons. Of these Strabo (pp. 459, 460) mentions three.
1. Cynia (Kunia), which was 60 stadia long and 20 broad, and communicated with
the sea.
2. Uria (Ouria), which was much smaller than the preceding and half a stadium
from the sea.
3. A large lake near Calydon, belonging to the Romans of Patrae: this lake, according
to Strabo, abounded in fish (euopsos), and the gastronomic poet Archestratus said
that it was celebrated for the labrax (labrax, a ravenous kind of fish. (Ath.
vii. p. 311, a.)
There is some difficulty in identifying these lakes, as the coast
has undergone numerous changes; but Leake supposes that the lagoon of Anatoliko
was Cynia, that of Mesolonghi Uria, and that of Bokhori the lake of Calydon. The
last of these lakes is perhaps the same as the lake Onthis (Onthis), which Nicander
(ap. Schol. ad Nicand. Ther. 214) speaks of in connection with Naupactus. (Leake,
vol. iii. p. 573, &c.)
In the two great plains of Aetolia excellent corn was grown, and the
slopes of the mountains produced good wine and oil. These plains also afforded
abundance of pasture for horses; and the Aetolian horses were reckoned only second
to those of Thessaly. In the mountains there were many wild beasts, among which
we find mention of boars and even of lions, for Herodotus gives the Thracian Nestus
and the Achelous as the limits within which lions were found in Europe. (Herod.
v. 126.)
The original inhabitants of Aetolia are said to have been Curetes,
who according to some accounts had come from Euboea. (Strab. x. p. 465.) They
inhabited the plains between the Achelous and the Evenus, and the country received
in consequence the name of Curetis. Besides them we also find mention of the Leleges
and the Hyantes, the latter of whom had been driven out of Boeotia. (Strab. pp.
322, 464.) These three peoples probably belonged to the great Pelasgic race, and
were at all events not Hellenes. The first great Hellenic settlement in the country
is said to have been that of the Epeans, led by Aetolus, the son of Endymion,
who crossed over from Elis in Peloponnesus, subdued the Curetes, and gave his
name to the country and the people, six generations before the Trojan war. Aetolus
founded the town of Calydon, which he called after his son, and which became the
capital of his dominions. The Curetes continued to reside at their ancient capital
Pleuron at the foot of Mt. Curium, and for a long time carried on war with the
inhabitants of Calydon. Subsequently the Curetes were driven out of Pleuron, and
are said to have crossed over into Acarnania. At the time of the Trojan war Pleuron
as well as Calydon were governed by the Aetolian chief Thoas. (Paus. v. 1. § 8;
Hom. Il. ix. 529, seq.; Strab. p. 463.) Since Pleuron appears in the later period
of the heroic age as an Aetolian city, it is represented as such from the beginning
in some legends. Hence Pleuron, like Calydon, is said to have derived its name
from a son of Aetolus (Apollod. i. 7. § 7); and at the very time that some legends
represent it as the capital of the Curetes, and engaged in war with Oeneus, king
of Calydon, others relate that it was governed by his own brother Thestius.
Aetolia was celebrated in the heroic age of Greece on account of the
hunt of the Calydonian boar, and the exploits of Tydeus, Meleager and the other
heroes of Calydon and Pleuron. The Aetolians also took part in the Trojan war
under the command of Thoas; they came in 40 ships from Pleuron, Calydon, Olenus,
Pylene and Chalcis (Hom. Il. ii. 638). Sixty years after the Trojan war some Aeolians,
who had been driven out of Thessaly along with the Boeotians, migrated into Aetolia,
and settled in the country around Pleuron and Calydon, which was hence called
Aeolis after them. (Strab. p. 464; Thuc. iii. 102.) Ephorus (ap. Strab. p. 465)
however places this migration of the Aeolians much earlier, for he relates that
the Aeolians once invaded the district of Pleuron, which was inhabited by the
Curetes and called Curetis, and expelled this people. Twenty years afterwards
occurred the great Dorian invasion of Peloponnesus under the command of the descendants
of Heracles. The Aetolian chief Oxylus took part in this invasion, and conducted
the Dorians across the Corinthian gulf. In return for his services he received
Elis upon the conquest of Peloponnesus.
From this time till the commencement of the Peloponnesian war we know
nothing of the history of the Aetolians. Notwithstanding their fame in the heroic
age, they appear at the time of the Peloponnesian war as one of the most uncivilized
of the Grecian tribes; and Thucydides (i. 5) mentions them, together with their
neighbours the Ozolian Locrians and Acarnanians, as retaining all the habits of
a rude and barbarous age. At this period there were three main divisions of the
Aetolians, the Apodoti, Ophionenses, and Eurytanes. The last, who were the most
numerous of the three, spoke a language which was unintelligible, and were in
the habit of eating raw meat. (Thuc. iii. 102.) Thucydides, however, does not
call them Barbaroi; and notwithstanding their low culture and uncivilized habits,
the Aetolians ranked as Hellenes, partly, it appears, on account of their legendary
renown, and partly on account of their acknowledged connection with the Eleans
in Peloponnesus. Each of these three divisions was subdivided into several village
tribes. Their villages were unfortified, and most of the inhabitants lived by
plunder. Their tribes appear to have been independent of each other, and it was
only in circumstances of common danger that they acted in concert. The inhabitants
of the inland mountains were brave, active, and invincible. They were unrivalled
in the use of the javelin, for which they are celebrated by Euripides. (Phoeniss.
139, 140; comp. Thuc. iii. 97.)
The Apodoti, Ophionenses, and Eurytanes, inhabited only the central
districts of Aetolia, and did not occupy any part of the plain between the Evenus
and the Achelous, which was the abode of the more civilized part of the nation,
who bore no other name than that of Aetolians. The Apodoti (Apodotoi, Thuc. iii.
94; Apodotoi, Pol. xvii. 5) inhabited the mountains above Naupactus, on the borders
of Locris. They are said by Polybius not to have been Hellenes. (Comp. Liv. xxxii.
34.) North of these dwelt the Ophionenses or Ophienses (Ophioneis, Thuc. l. c.;
Ophieis, Strab. pp. 451,465), and to them belonged the smaller tribes of the Bomienses
(Bomies, Thuc. iii. 96; Strab. p. 451; Steph. Byz. s. v. Bomoi) and Callienses
(Kallies, Thuc.), both of which inhabited the ridge of Oeta running down towards
the Malic gulf: the former are placed by Strabo at the sources of the Evenus,
and the position of the latter is fixed by that of their capital town Callium.
The Eurytanes (Eurutanes, Thuc. iii. 94, et alii) dwelt north of the Ophionenses,
as far, apparently, as Mt. Tymphrestus, at the foot of which was the town Oechalia,
which Strabo describes as a place belonging to this people. They are said to have
possessed an oracle of Odysseus. (Strab. pp, 448, 451, 465; Schol. ad Lycophr.
799.)
The Agraei, who inhabited the north-west corner of Aetolia, bordering
upon Ambracia, were not a division of the Aetolian nation, but a separate people,
governed at the time of the Peloponnesian war by a king of their own, and only
united to Aetolia at a later period. The Aperanti, who lived in the same district,
appear to have been a subdivision of the Agraei. Pliny (iv. 3) mentions various
other peoples as belonging to Aetolia, such as the Athamanes, Tymphaei, Dolopes,
&c.; but this statement is only true of the later period of the Aetolian League,
when the Aetolians had extended their dominion over most of the neighbouring tribes
of Epirus and Thessaly.
At the commencement of the Peloponnesian war the Aetolians had formed
no alliance either with Sparta or Athens, and consequently are not mentioned by
Thucydides in his enumeration of the allied forces of the two nations. It was
the unprovoked invasion of their country by the Athenians in the sixth year of
the war (B.C. 455), which led. them to espouse the Lacedaemonian side. In this
year the Messenians, who had been settled at Naupactus by the Athenians, and who
had suffered greatly from the inroads of the Aetolians, persuaded the Athenian
general, Demosthenes, to march into the interior of Aetolia, with the hope of
conquering the three great tribes of the Apodoti, Ophionenses, and Eurytanes,
since if they were subdued the Athenians would become masters of the whole country
between the Ambracian gulf and Parnassus. Having collected a considerable force,
Demosthenes set out from Naupactus; but the expedition proved a complete failure.
After advancing a few miles into the interior, he was attacked at Aegitium by
the whole force of the Aetolians, who had occupied the adjacent hills. The rugged
nature of the ground prevented the Athenian hoplites from coming to close quarters
with their active foe; Demosthenes had with him only a small number of light-armed
troops; and in the end the Athenians were completely defeated, and fled in disorder
to the coast. Shortly afterwards the Aetolians joined the Peloponnesians under
Eurylochus in making an attack upon Naupactus, which Demosthenes caved with difficulty,
by the help of the Acarnanians. (Thuc. iii. 94, &c.) The Aetolians took no further
part in the Peloponnesian war; for those of the nation who fought under the Athenians
in Sicily were only mercenaries. (Thuc. vii. 57.) From this time till that of
the Macedonian supremacy, we find scarcely any mention of the Aetolians. They
appear to have been frequently engaged in hostilities. with their neighbours and
ancient enemies, the Acarnanians.
After the death of Alexander the Great (B.C. 323) the Aetolians joined
the confederate Greeks in what is usually called the Lamian war. This war was
brought to a close by the defeat of the confederates at Crannon (B.C. 322); whereupon
Antipater and Craterus, having first made peace with Athens, invaded Aetolia with
a large army. The Aetolians, however, instead of yielding to the invaders, abandoned
their villages in the plains and retired to their impregnable mountains, where
they remained in safety, till the Macedonian generals were obliged to evacuate
their territory in order to march against Perdiecas. (Diod. xviii. 24, 25.) In
the wars which followed between the different usurpers of the Macedonian throne,
the alliance of the Aetolians was eagerly courted by the contending armies; and
their brave and warlike population enabled them to exercise great influence upon
the politics of Greece. The prominent part they took in the expulsion of the Gauls
from Greece (B.C. 279). still further increased their reputation. In the army
which the Greeks assembled at Thermopylae to oppose the Gauls, the contingent
of the Aetolians was by far the largest, and they here distinguished themselves
by their bravery in repulsing the attacks of the enemy; but they earned their
chief glory by destroying the greater part of a body of 40,000 Gauls, who had
invaded their country, and had taken the town of Callium, and committed the most
horrible atrocities on the inhabitants. The Aetolians also assisted in the defence
of Delphi when it was attacked by the Gauls, and in the pursuit of the enemy in
their retreat. (Paus. x. 20--23.) To commemorate the vengeance they had inflicted
upon the Gauls for the destruction of Callium, the Aetolians dedicated at Delphi
a trophy and a statue of an armed heroine, representing Aetolia. They also dedicated
in the same temple the statues of the generals under whom they had fought in this
war. (Paus. x. 18. § 7, x. 15. § 2.)
From this time the Aetolians appear as one of the three great powers
in Greece, the other two being the Macedonians and Achaeans. Like the Achaeans,
the Aetolians were united in a confederacy or league. At what time this league
was first formed is uncertain. It is inferred that the Aetolians must have been
united into some form of confederacy at least as early as the time of Philip,
the father of Alexander the Great, from an inscription on the statue of Aetolus
at Thermum, quoted by Ephorus (Strab. p. 463: Aitolon tond anepheikan Aitoloi
spheteras mnem aretes esorain), and from the cession of Naupactus, which was made
to them by Philip. (Strab. p. 427: esti de nun Aitolon, philippou proskrinantos,
quoted by Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece, vol. viii. p. 207.) But it was not till
after the death of Alexander the Great that the league appears to have come into
full activity; and it was probably the invasion of their country by Antipater
and Craterus, and the consequent necessity of concerting measures for their common
defence, that brought the Aetolians into a closer political association. The constitution
of the league was democratical, like that of the Aetolian towns and tribes. The
great council of the nation, called the Panaetolicon (Liv. xxxi. 9), in which
it is probable that every freeman above the age of thirty had the right of voting,
met every autumn at Thermum, for the election of magistrates, general legislation,
and the decision of all questions respecting peace and war with foreign nations.
There was also another deliberative body, called Apocleti (Apokletoi), which appears
to have been a kind of permanent committee. (Pol. xx. 1; Liv. xxxvi. 28.) The
chief magistrate bore the title of Strategus Hstrategos), He was elected annually,
presided in the assemblies, and had the command of the troops in war. The officers
next in rank were the Hipparchus (Hipparchos), or commander of the cavalry, and
the chief Secretary Grammateus), both of whom were elected annually.
After the expulsion of the Gauls from Greece, the Aetolians began
to extend their dominions over the neighbouring nations. They still retained the
rude and barbarous habits which had characterised them in the time of Thucydides,
and were still accustomed to live to a great extent by robbery and piracy. Their
love of rapine was their great incentive to war, and in their marauding expeditions
they spared neither friends nor foes, neither things sacred nor profane. Such
is the character given to them by Polybius (e.g. ii. 45, 46, iv. 67, ix. 38),
and his account is confirmed in the leading outlines by the testimony of other
writers; though justice requires us to adds that the enmity of the Aetolians to
the Achaeans has probably led the historian to exaggerate rather than underrate
the vices of the Aetolian people. At the time of their greatest power, they were
masters of the whole of western Acarnania, of the south of Epirus and Thessaly,
and of Locris, Phocis, and Boeotia. They likewise assumed the entire control of
the Delphic oracle and of the Amphictyonic assembly. (Plut. Demetr. 40; Pol. iv.
25; Thirlwall, vol. viii. p. 210.) Their league also embraced several towns in
the heart of Peloponnesus, the island of Cephallenia, and even cities in Thrace
and Asia Minor, such as Lysimachia on the Hellespont, and Cios on the Propontis.
The relation of these distant places to the league is a matter of uncertainty.
They could not have taken any part in the management of the business of the confederacy;
and the towns in Asia Minor and Thrace probably joined it in order to protect
themselves against the attacks of the Aetolian privateers.
The Aetolians were at the height of their power in B.C. 220, when
their unprovoked invasion of Messenia engaged them in a war with the Achaeans,
usually called the Social War. The Achaeans were supported by the youthful monarch
of Macedonia, Philip V., who inflicted a severe blow upon the Aetolians in B.C.
218 by an unexpected march into the interior of their country, where he surprised
the capital city of Thermum, in which all the wealth and treasures of the Aetolian
leaders were deposited. The whole of these fell into the hands of the king, and
were either carried off or destroyed; and before quitting the place, Philip set
fire to the sacred buildings, to retaliate for the destruction of Dium and Dodona
by the Aetolians. (Pol. v.2--9, 13, 14; for the details of Philip's march, see
Thermun) The Social war was brought to a close by a treaty of peace concluded
in B.C. 217. Six years afterwards (B.C. 211) the Aetolians again declared war
against Philip, in consequence of having formed an offensive and defensive alliance
with the Romans, who were then engaged in hostilities with Philip. The attention
of the Romans was too much occupied by the war against Hannibal in Italy to enable
them to afford much assistance to the Aetolians, upon whom, therefore, the burden
of the war chiefly fell. In the course of this war Philip again took Thermum (Pol.
xi. 4), and the Aetolians became so disheartened that they concluded peace with
him in B.C. 205. This peace, was followed almost immediately by one between Philip
and the Romans.
On the renewal of the war between Philip and the Romans in B.C. 200,
the Aetolians at first resolved to remain neutral; but the success of the consul
Galba induced them to change their determination, and before the end of the first
campaign they declared war against Philip. They fought at the battle of Cynoscephalae
in B.C. 197, when their cavalry contributed materially to the success of the day.
(Liv. xxxiii. 7.) The settlement of the affairs of Greece by Flamininus after
this victory caused great disappointment to the Aetolians; and as soon as Flamininus
returned to Italy, they invited Antiochus to invade Greece, and shortly afterwards
declared war against the Romans. (B.C. 192.) The defeat of Antiochus at Thermopylae
(B.C. 191) drove the monarch back to Asia, and left the Aetolians exposed to the
full vengeance of the Romans. They obtained a short respite by a truce which they
solicited from the Romans; but having subsequently resumed hostilities on rumours
of some success of Antiochlis in Asia, the Roman consul M. Fulvius Nobilior crossed
over into Greece, and commenced operations by laying siege to Ambracia (B.C. 189),
which was then one of the strongest towns belonging to the league. Meantime news
had arrived of the total defeat of Antiochus at the battle of Magnesia, and the
Aetolians resolved to purchase peace at any price. It was granted to them by the
Romans, but on terms which destroyed for ever their independence, and rendered
them only the vassals of Rome. (Pol. xxii. 15; Liv. xxxviii. 11.) After the conquest
of Perseus (B.C. 167), the Roman party in Aetolia, assisted by a body of Roman
soldiers, massacred 550 of the leading patriots. All the survivors, who were suspected
of opposition to the Roman policy, were carried off as prisoners to Italy. It
was at this time that the league was formally dissolved. (Liv. xlv. 28, 31; Justin,
xxxiii. Prol. and 2.) Aetolia subsequently formed part of the province of Achaia;
though it is doubtful whether it formed part of this province as it was at first
constituted. The inhabitants of several of its towns were removed by Augustus
to people the city of Nicopolis, which he founded to commemorate his victory at
Actium, B.C. 31; and in his time the country is described by Strabo as utterly
worn out and exhausted. (Strab.) Under the Romans the Aetolians appear to have
remained in the same rude condition in which they had always been. The interior
of Aetolia was probably rarely visited by the Romans, for they had no road in
the inland part of the country; and their only road was one leading from the coast
of Acarnania across the Achelous, by Pleuron and Calydon to Chalcis and Molycreia
on the Aetolian coast. (Comp. Brandstaten, Die Geschichten des Aetolischen Landes,
Volkes und Bundes, Berlin, 1844.)
The towns in Aetolia were: In Old Aetolia. In the lower plain, between
the sea and Mount Aracynthus, Calydon, Pleuron, Olenus, Pylene, Chalcis (these
5 are the Aetolian towns mentioned by Homer), Halicyrna, Elaeus, Paeanium or Phana,
Proschium, Ithoria, Conope (afterwards Arsinoe), Lysimachia. In the upper plain
N. of Mount Aracynthus, Acraee, Metapa, Pamphia, Phyteum, Trichonium, Thestienses,
Thermon. In Aetolia Epictetus, on the sea-coast, Macynia, Molycreium or Molycreia:
a little in the interior, on the borders of Locris, Potidania, Crocyleium, Teichium,
Aagitium: further in the interior, Callium Oechalia, Aerantia, Agrinium, Ephyra,
the last of which was a town of the Agraei. The site of the following towns is
quite unknown: -Ellopium (Ellopion, Pol. ap. Steph. B. s. v.); Thorax (Thorax,
s. v.); Pherae (pherai, Steph. B. s. v.)
EVINOS (River) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Evenus (Euenos, less frequently, Euenos: Fidhari or Fidharo), originally
called Lycormas (Lukormas). An important river of Aetolia, rising in the highest
summit of Mt. Oeta in the territory of the Bomienses, a subdivision of the Aetolian
tribe of the Ophienses. (Strab. p. 451.) Dicaearchus was mistaken in saying that
the Evenus rises in Pindus: Ptolemy (iii. 16. § 6) more correctly places its source
in Callidromus, which is a part of Oeta. Strabo relates that the Evenus does not
flow at first through the territory of the Curetes, which is the same as Pleuronia,
but more to the E. by Chalcis and Calydon, that it afterwards turns to the W.
towards the plains in which Old Pleuron was situated, and that it finally flows
in a southerly direction into the sea, at the distance of 120 stadia from the
promontory of Antirrhium. (Strab. pp. 451, 460; comp. Thuc. ii. 83; Mel. ii. 3;
Plin. iv. 3.) Its real direction however is first westerly, and afterwards south-west.
It receives numerous torrents from the mountains through which it flows, and in
winter it becomes a considerable river, flowing with great rapidity, and difficult
to cross on account of the great stones which are carried down by its stream.
(Eveni rapidae undae, Ov. Met. ix. 104; Potamon polloi kumainonta kai huper tas
ochthas airomenon, Philostr. Jun. Imag. 16.) The Evenus is celebrated in mythology
on account of the death of the centaur Nessus, who was slain by Hercules because
he offered violence to Deinaeira, as he carried her across this river. (Soph.
Track. 557.) This tale is, perhaps, only a figure of the impetuosity of the river,
and of the danger to which unwarytravellers are exposed in crossing its channel
from the rise of the waters when swollen by sudden showers. (Mure, Tour in Greece,
vol. i. p. 170.) The river is said to have derived its name from Evenus, the son
of Ares, and the father of Marpessa. When his daughter was carried off by Idas,
the son of Aphareus, he pursued the ravisher; but being unable to overtake him
he threw himself into the Lycormas, which was henceforward called after him. (Apollod.
i. 7. § 8; Ov, Ibis, 515; Prop. i. 2. 18.) Its modern name of Fidharo or Fidhari
is derived from Phidi, the Romaic form of Ophis, and is therefore supposed by
Leake to be a vestige of Ophieis, the ancient people in whose territory the river
rose. (Leake, Norsthern Greece, vol. ii. p. 625; comp. p. 599.) From Evenus is
formed the adjective Eveninus. (Matres Calydonides Eveninae, Ov. Met. viii. 527.)
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
FARES (Ancient city) PATRA
Pharai. Sometimes Phara, Pherae, Pharees, the name of the people:
Eth. Pharieus, Pharaieus. The territory (he Pharaike, Strab. viii. p. 388, Polyb.
iv. 59). A town of Achaia, and one of the twelve Achaean cities, was situated
on the river Pierus or Peirus, 70 stadia from the sea, and 150 stadia from Patrae.
It was one of the four cities which took the lead in restoring the Achaean League
in B.C. 280. In the Social War (B.C. 220, seq.) it suffered from the attacks of
the Aetolians and Eleans. Its territory was annexed by Augustus to Patrae, when
the latter city was made a Roman colony after the battle of Actium. Pharae contained
a large agora, with a curious statue of Hermes. The remains of the city have been
found on the left bank of the Kamenitza, near Prevezo.
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
FIAS (Ancient city) ILIA
Phea (hai Pheiai, Hornm. Il. vii. 135, Od. xv. 297; Pheia, Thuc. Strab;
Phea, Steph. B. s. v.: Eth. Pheates, Steph. B.). A city of Elis in the Pisatis,
situated upon the isthmus connecting the promontory Ichthys (C. of Katakolo) with
the mainland. Strabo erroneously speaks of two promontories upon this part of
the coast; one called Pheia, from the name of the neighbouring town, and another
more to the south, of which he has not given the name. (Strab. viii. 343.) Pheia
is mentioned by Homer, who places it near the Iardanus, which is apparently the
mountain torrent north of Ichthys, and which flows into the sea on the northern
side of the lofty mountain Skaphidi. (Hom. l. c.) Upon a very conspicuous peaked
height upon the isthmus of Ichthys are the ruins of a castle of the middle ages,
called Pontikokastro, built upon the remains of the Hellenic walls of Pheia. On
either side of Ichthys are two harbours; the northern one, which is a small creek,
was the port of Pheia; the southern one is the broad bay of Katakolo, which is
now much frequented, but was too open and exposed for ancient navigation. The
position of these harbours explains the narrative of Thucydides, who relates that
in the first year of the Peloponnesian War (B.C. 431), the Athenian fleet, having
sailed from Methone in Messenia, landed at Pheia (that is, in the bay of Katakolo),
and laid waste the country; but a storm having arisen, they sailed round the promontory
Ichthys into the harbour of Pheia. In front of the harbour was a small island,
which Polybius calls Pheias (Strab. l. c.; Polyb. iv. 9). About a mile north of
the small creek at Pontikokastro, there is a harbour called Khortus, which Leake
is disposed to identify with the port mentioned by Thucydides, on the ground that
the historian describes it not as the port of Pheia, but as a harbour in the district
Pheia (ton en te Phgeiai limena but we think it more probable that the historian
intended the creek at the foot of Pontikokastro. In any case Pheia stood on the
isthmus of Ichthys, and neither at Khortus nor at the mouth of the torrent of
Skaphidi, at one or other of which spots Pheia is placed by Boblaye, though at
neither are there any ancient remains.think it more probable that the historian
intended the creek at the foot of Pontikokastro. In any case Pheia stood on the
isthmus of Ichthys, and neither at Khortus nor at the mouth of the torrent of
Skaphidi, at one or other of which spots Pheia is placed by Boblaye, though at
neither are there any ancient remains.
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FIGALIA (Ancient city) ILIA
Phigalia (Pans.); Phigalea (Polyb. iv. 3); Phigaleia (Paus.; Rhianus,
ap. Steph. B. s. v.;), Phialia (Paus.); Phialeia (Polyb.); Eth. Phigaleus, Phialeus,
Phigaleites.
An ancient is town of Arcadia, situated in the south-western corner
of the country, close to the frontiers of Messenia, and upon the right bank of
the Neda, about halfway between the sources and the mouth of this river. The name
Phigalia was more ancient than that of Phialia, but the original name had again
come into use in the time of Pausanias (viii. 39. § 2). The at city was said to
have derived its more ancient name to from Phigalus, a son of Lycaon, its original
founder, and its later name from Phialus, a son of Lycaon, its second founder.
(Paus. l. c.; Steph. B.) In B.C. 659 the inhabitants of Phigalia were obliged
to surrender their city to the Lacedaemonians, but they in recovered possession
of it again by the help of a chosen body of Oresthasians, who, according to an
oracle, perished fighting against the Lacedaemonians, (Paus. viii. 39. § § 4,
5.) In B.C. 375 Phigalia was rent asunder by hostile factions; and the supporters
of the Lacedaemonian party, being expelled from the city, took possession of a
fortress in the neighbourhood named Heraea, from which they made excursions against
Phigalia. (Diod. xv. 40.) In the wars between the Aetolians and Achaeans, Phigalia
became for some time the head-quarters of the Aetolian troops, who from thence
plundered Messenia, till they were at length driven out by Philip of Macedon.
(Polyb. iv. 3, seq., 79, seq.) The Phigaleans possessed several peculiar customs,
respecting which Harmodius of Lepreum wrote a special work. This author relates
that they were given to excess both in eating and drinking, to which their cold
and ungenial climate may perhaps have contributed. (Athen. iv. p. 149, x. p. 442.)
Phigalia was still a place of importance when visited by Pausanias.
He describes it as situated upon a lofty and precipitous hill, the greater part
of the walls being built upon the rocks. There are still considerable remains
of the ancient walls above the modern village of Pavlitza. The city was upwards
of two miles in circumference. The rock, upon which it stood, slopes down towards
the Neda; on the western side it is bounded by a ravine and on the eastern by
the torrent Lymax, which flows into the Neda. The walls are of the usual thickness,
faced with masonry of the second order, and filled in the middle with rubble.
On the summit of the acropolis within the walls are the remains of a detached
citadel, 80 yards in length, containing a round tower at the extremity, measuring
18 feet in the interior diameter. In ancient times a temple of Artemis Soteira
stood on the summit of the acropolis. On the slope of the mountain lay the gymnasium
and the temple of Dionysus Acratophorus; and on the ground below, where the village
of upper Pavlitza stands, was the agora, adorned with a statue of the pancratiast
Arrachion, who lost his life in the Olympic games, and with the sepulchre of the
Oresthasians, who perished to restore the Phigaleans to their native city. (Paus.
viii. 39. § § 5, 6, 40. § 1.) Upon a rock, difficult of access, near the union
of the Lymax and the Neda, was a temple of Eurynome, supposed to be a surname
of Artemis, which was opened only once a year. In the same neighbourhood, and
at the distance of 12 stadia from the city, were some warm baths, traces of which,
according to the French Commission, are visible at the village of Tragoi, but
the waters have long ceased to flow. (Paus. viii. 41. § 4, seq.)
Phigalia was surrounded by mountains, of which Pausanias mentions
two by name, Coilium (to Kotilion) and Elaeum (to Elaiom), the former to the left
of the city, at the distance of 30 stadia, and the latter to the right at the
distance of 30 stadia. As Cotilium lies to the NE. of Phigalia, and Pausanias
in this description seems to have looked towards the east, Mt. Elaeum should probably
be placed on the opposite side of Phigalia, and consequently to the south of the
Neda, in which case it would correspond to the lofty mountain of Kuvela. Mt. Elaeum
contained a cavern sacred to Demeter the Black, situated in a grove of oaks. Of
the position of Mt. Cotilium there is no doubt. On it was situated the temple
of Apollo Epicurius, which was built in the Peloponnesian War by Ictinus, the
architect of the Parthenon at Athens. It was erected by the Phigaleans in consequence
of the relief afforded by Apollo during the plague in the Peloponnesian War, whence
he received the surname of Epicurius. The temple stood in a place called Bassae,
and according to Pausanias excelled all the temples of Peloponnesus, except that
of Athena Alea at Tegea, in the beauty of the stone and the accuracy of its masonry.
He particularly mentions that the roof was of stone as well as the rest of the
building. (Paus. viii. 41. § § 7, 8.) This temple still remains almost entire,
and is next to the Theseium at Athens the best preserved of the temples of Greece.
It stands in a glen (whence the name Bassai, Dor. for Besse, Bessai) near the
summit of Mt. Cotilium, in the midst of a wilderness of rocks, studded with old
knotty oaks. An eye-witness remarks that there is certainly no remnant of the
architectural splendour of Greece more calculated to fascinate the imagination
than this temple; whether by its own size and beauty, by the contrast it offers
to the wild desolation of the surrounding scenery, or the extent and variety of
the prospect from its site. (Mure, Tour in Greece, vol. ii. p. 270.) A spring
rises about 10 minutes SW. of the temple, and soon afterwards loses itself in
the ground, as Pausanias has described. North of the temple was the highest summit
of the mountain, which one reaches in 10 minutes' time by a broad road constructed
by the Greeks. This summit was called Cotilum Kotilon), whence the whole mountain
derived the name of Cotilian; here was a sanctuary of Aphrodite, of which there
are still some traces. The grandeur of the ruins of the temple have given to the
whole of the surrounding district the name of the Columns (stous stulous or kolonnais).
The temple is at least two hours and a half from the ruins of the city, and consequently
more than the 40 stadia, which Pausanias mentions as the distance from Phigalia
to Cotilium; but this distance perhaps applies to the nearest part of the mountain
from the city.
In modern times the temple remained long unknown, except to the shepherds
of the country. Chandler, in 1765, was the first who gave any account of it; it
was subsequently visited and described by Gell, Dodwell, and others; and in 1812
the whole temple was very carefully examined by a body of artists and scholars,
who cleared away the ruins of the cella, and thus became acquainted with the exact
form of the interior of the building. The results of these labours are given by
Stackelberg, Der Apollotempel zu Bassa in Arkadien, Rom. 1826. The temple was
a peripteral building of the Doric order. The stone of which it is built is a
hard yellowish-brown limestone, susceptible of a high polish. It faces nearly
north and south, was originally about 125 feet in length and 48 in breadth, and
had 15 columns on either side, and 6 on either front. There were also 2 columns
in the pronaos and 2 in the posticum; so that the total number in the peristyle
was 42, of which 36 are standing. The cella was too narrow to allow of interior
rows of columns as in the Parthenon; but on either side of the cella five fluted
Ionic semi-columns projected from the walls, which supported the timbers of the
hypaethron. The frieze of the cella, representing contests between the Centaurs
and the Lapithae, and between Amazons and Greeks, is now in the British Museum.
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FRIXA (Village) ILIA
Phrixa (Phrixa, Paus. et alii; Phrixai, Herod. iv. 148: Eth. Phrixaios),
a town of Triphylia in Elis, situated upon the left bank of the Alpheius, at the
distance of 30 stadia from Olympia. (Strab. viii. p. 343; Steph. B. s. v.) It
was founded by the Minyae (Herod. l. c.), and its name was derived from Phaestus.
(Steph. B. s. v. Makistos.) Phrixa is rarely mentioned in history; but it shared
the fate of the other Triphylian cities. (Comp. Xen. Hell. iii. 2. 30; Polyb.
iv. 77, 80.) Its position is determined by Pausanias, who says that it was situated
upon a pointed hill, opposite the Leucanias, a tributary of the Alpheius, and
at a ford of the latter river. (Paus. vi. 21. § 6.) This pointed hill is now called
Paleofanaro, and is a conspicuous object from both sides of the river, whence
the city received the name of Phaestus in later times. (Steph. B. s. v Phaistos.)
The city was in ruins in the time of Pausanias, who mentions there a temple of
Athena Cydonia. Upon the summit of the hill there are still remains of Hellenic
walls. (Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 210; Boblaye, Recherches &c. p. 136; Ross, Reisen
im Peloponnes, p. 108; Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. ii. p. 90.)
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FRIZA (Ancient city) SKILOUNTA
Phrixa (Paus. et alii); Phrixai (Herod. iv. 148): Eth. Phrixaios.
A town of Triphylia in Elis, situated upon the left bank of the Alpheius, at the
distance of 30 stadia from Olympia. (Strab. viii. p. 343; Steph. B. s. v.) It
was founded by the Minyae (Herod. l. c.), and its name was derived from Phaestus.
(Steph. B. s. v. Makistos.) Phrixa is rarely mentioned in history; but it shared
the fate of the other Triphylian cities. (Comp. Xen. Hell. iii. 2. 30; Polyb.
iv. 77, 80.) Its position is determined by Pausanias, who says that it was situated
upon a pointed hill, opposite the Leucanias, a tributary of the Alpheius, and
at a ford of the latter river. (Paus. vi. 21. § 6.) This pointed hill is now called
Paleofanaro, and is a conspicuous object from both sides of the river, whence
the city received the name of Phaestus in later times. (Steph. B. s. v Phaistos.)
The city was in ruins in the time of Pausanias, who mentions there a temple of
Athena Cydonia. Upon the summit of the hill there are still remains of Hellenic
walls.
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HERAKLIA (Ancient city) ILIA
An ancient place of Pisatis in Elis, but a village in the time of Pausanias, was
distant 40 or 50 stadia from Olympia. It contained medicinal waters issuing from
a fountain sacred to the Ionic nymphs, and flowing into the neighbouring stream
called Cytherus or Cytherius, which is the brook near the modern village of Bruma.
ICHALIA (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Oichalia: Eth. Oichalieus. In Aetolia. (Strab. x. p. 448.) Each of
these cities was considered by the respective inhabitants as the residence of
the celebrated Eurytus, who was conquered by Hercules, and the capture of whose
city was the subject of an epic poem called Oichalias halosis, which was ascribed
to Homer or Cresphylus. Hence among the early poets there was a difference of
statement upon the subject. The Messenian Oechalia was called the city of Eurytus
in the Iliad (ii. 596) and the Odyssey (xxi. 13), and this statement was followed
by Pherecydes (ap.Schol. ad Soph. Trach. 354) and Pausanias (iv. 2. §3). The Euboean
city was selected by the writer of the poem on the Capture of Oechalia (Schol.
ap. Soph. l. c.), by Hecataeus (ap. Paus. l. c.), and by Strabo (x. p. 448). The
Thessalian city is mentioned as the residence of Eurytus in another passage of
the Iliad (ii. 730); and K. 0. Muller supposes that this was the city of the original
fable. (Dorians, vol. i. p. 426, seq., transl.)
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ILIA (Ancient country) GREECE
Elis (he Elis, Dor. Alis, whence Alis in Plant. Capt. Prol. 9, 26;
acc. Elida of the country, Eiln of the town generally, in Lat. Elin and Elidem.
The word was originally written with the digamma Phalis, perhaps connected with
vallis, and signifying originally, a hollow. The country was also called he Eleia,
Thuc. ii. 25, Polyb. v. 102; he Eleion chora, Polyb. iv. 77; Eliorum ager, Plin.
iv. 5. s. 6. Eth. and Adj. Eleios, Aleios, Phaleion on coins, Elius, Eleus, Alius,
Plaut. Capt. Prol. 24.; Eliades, Steph. B. s. v.; Eleiakos, Eliakos).
Elis, in its widest signification, was the country on the western
coast of Peloponnesus between Achaia and Messenia, extending from the promontory
Araxus and the river Larissus on the north to the river Neda on the south, and
bounded on the east by the Arcadian mountains and on the west by the Ionian sea.
(Strab. viii. p. 336.) It included three distinct districts, Elis Prroper
or Hollow Elis, the northern portion, extending from the river Araxus to
the promontory Ichthys; Pisatis the middle portion, from the
promontory Ichthys to the river Alpheius; and Triphylia the southern
portion, from the Alpheius to the Neda. Elis Proper was divided into two parts,
the plain of the Peneius, and the mountainous country in the interior, called
Acroreia: the name of Hollow Elis (he koile Elis Thuc. ii. 25) appears to have
been originally given to the plain of the Peneius to distinguish it from the mountainous
district of the Acroreia; but since Hollow Elis was the larger and more fertile
part, this name came to be given to the whole of the northern territory, to distinguish
it from the dependent districts of Pisatis and Triphylia.
Those of the ancient geographers, who represented Peloponnesus as
consisting of only five divisions, made Elis and Arcadia only one district. (Paus.
v. 1. § 1.) In fact Elis may be looked upon as a kind of offshoot of Arcadia,
since it embraces the lower slopes of the mountains of Erymanthus, Pholoe and
Lycaeus, which sink down gradually towards the Ionian sea. Elis has no mountain
system of its own, but only hills and plains. It contains more fertile land than
any other country of Peloponnesus; the rich meadows of the plain of the Peneius
were celebrated from the earliest times; and even the sandy hills, which separate
the plains, are covered with vegetation, since they are exposed to the moist westerly
winds. Thus the land with its green hills and fertile plains forms a striking
contrast to the bare and precipitous rocks on the eastern coast. Hence Oxylus
is said to have conducted the invading Dorians by the more difficult way through
Arcadia, lest they should see the fertile territory of Elis, which he had designed
for himself. (Paus. v. 4. § 1; Polyb. iv. 73.)
The coast of Elis is a long and almost unbroken sandy level, and would
have been entirely destitute of natural harbours, if a few neighbouring rocks
had not become united by alluvial deposits with the mainland. In this way three
promontories have been formed,--Araxus, Chelonatas, Ichthys,--which interrupt
the uniformity of the coast, and afford some protection for vessels. Of these
the central and the largest is Chelonatas, running a considerable way into the
sea, and forming on either side one end of a gulf. The northern gulf bears the
name of Cyllene, and is bounded at its northern extremity by the promontory Araxus.
The southern gulf is called the Chelonatic, and is bounded at its southern extremity
by the promontory Ichthys, which also forms the commencement of the great Cyparissian
gulf.
The sandy nature of the coast interrupts the natural outlet of the
numerous smaller rivers, and absorbs them before they reach the sea. The sea also
frequently breaks over the coast; and thus there is formed along the coast a series
of lagoons, which are separated from the sea only by narrow sand-banks. Along
the Cyllenian bay there are two such lagoons; and the whole Elean coast upon the
Cyparissian bay is occupied by three almost continuous lagoons. This collection
of stagnant water renders the coast very unhealthy in the summer months; and the
vast number of gnats and other insects, which are generated in these marshes,
makes it almost impossible to live near the sea. The modern harbour of Kunupeli
has derived its name from the gnats, which abound in the neighbourhood (Kounoupeli
from Kounoupion==konoph); and even in antiquity the Eleans invoked Zeus and Hercules
to protect them from this plague. (Zeus apomuios, Paus. v. 14. § 1; comp. Aelian,
H. An. v. 17.) These lagoons, however, supply the inhabitants with a vast abundance
of fish. In the summer months, when the fish are very numerous on the coast, a
small opening is made through the narrow sand-banks; and the lagoons thus become
soon filled with fish, which are easily taken. They are dried and salted on the
spot, and are exported in large quantities. This fishery was probably carried
on in ancient times also, since we find Apollo worshipped among the Eleans under
the epithet of Opsophagos. (Polemon. p. 109. ed. Preller.)
The physical peculiarities of Elis are not favourable to its becoming
an independent state. In fact no country in Greece is so little protected against
hostile attacks. The broad valley of the Alpheius runs, like a highway, through
the centre of Elis: the mountains, which form its eastern boundaries, are a very
slight defence, since they are only the offshoots of still higher mountains; while
the towns and villages on the flat coast lie entirely exposed to an enemy's fleet.
But these natural obstacles to its independence were more than compensated by
the sacred character attaching to the whole land in consequence of its possessing
the temple of the Olympian Zeus on the banks of the Alpheius. Its territory was
regarded as inviolable by the common law of Greece; and though its sanctity was
not always respected, and it was ravaged more than once by an invading force,
as we shall presently see, it enjoyed for several centuries exemption from the
devastations of war. Thus, instead of the fortified places seen in the rest of
Greece, Elis abounded in unwalled. villages and country houses; and the valley
of the Alpheius in particular was full of various sanctuaries, and consecrated
spots, which gave the whole country a sacred appearance. The prosperity of the
country continued down to the time of Polybius, who notices its populousness and
the fondness of its inhabitants for a country life. (Strab. viii. pp. 343, 358;.
Polyb. iv. 73, 74.) The prosperity of Elis was also much indebted to the expenditure
of the vast number. of strangers, who visited the country once in four: years
at the festival of the Olympian Zeus.
Hollow Elis is more extensive and more fertile than the two
subject districts (hai perioikides poleis) of Pisatis and Triphylia. It consists
of a fertile plain, drained by the river Peneius (Peneios) and its tributary the
Ladon (Ladon). The Peneius rises in Mount Erymanthus between two lofty summits,
and flows at first between the ravine of Berbini, and afterwards in a north-westerly
direction till it reaches a more open valley. The Ladon, called Selleeis by Homer,
rises a little more to the south; it also flows at first through a narrow ravine,
and falls into the Peneius, just where it enters the broader valley. The united
stream continues its course through this valley, till at the town of Elis it emerges
near its mouth into the extensive plain of Gastuni, which is the name now generally
given to the river throughout its whole course. The river Gastuni now flows into
the sea to the south of the promontory of Chelonatas, but there is reason for
believing that the main branch at least of the Peneius originally flowed into
the sea north of the Chelonatas. This appears from the order of the names in Ptolemy
(iii. 16. § § 5, 6), who enumerates the promontory Araxus, Cyllene, the mouths
of the Peneius, and the promontory Chelonitis, as well as from the statement of
Strabo (viii. p. 338) that the Peneius flows into the sea between Chelonatas and
Cyllene. Moreover, the legend of Hercules cleansing the stables of Augeias by
diverting the course of the Peneius would seem to show that even in ancient times
the course of the stream had been changed either by artificial or by natural means;
and there are still remains of some ancient channels near the southern end of
the Cyllenian gulf.
The plain of Gastuni is still celebrated for its fertility, and produces
flax, wheat, and cotton. In antiquity, as we learn from Pausanias (v. 5. § 2),
Elis was the only part of Greece in which byssus (a species of fine flax) grew.
This byssus is described by Pausanias (l. c.) as not inferior to that of the Hebrews
in fineness, but not so yellow; and in another passage (vi. 26. § 6) he remarks
that hemp and flax and byssus are sown by all the Eleians, whose lands are adapted
for these crops. The vine was also cultivated with success, as is evident from
the especial honour paid to Dionysus in the city of Elis, and from the festival
called Thyia, in which three empty jars spontaneously filled with wine. (Paus.
vi. 26. § 1.) Elis still contains a large quantity of excellent timber; and the
road to Achaia along the coast passes through noble forests of oaks. The rich
pastures of the Peneius were favourable to the rearing of horses and cattle. Even
in the earliest legends Augeias, king of the Epeians in Elis, is represented as
keeping innumerable herds of oxen; and the horses of Elis were celebrated in the
Homeric poems (Od. iv. 634, xxi. 346). It was said that mules could not be engendered
in Elis in consequence of a divine curse (Herod. iv. 30; Paus. v. 5. § 2); but
this tale probably arose from the fact of the Eleian mares being sent into Arcadia,
in order to be covered by the asses of the latter country, which were reckoned
the best in all Greece.
Pisatis (he Pisthtis)
is the lower valley of the Alpheius.
Triphylia (Triphulia)
is the smallest of the three divisions of Elis
Towns in Elis
1. In Hollow Elis.
Upon the coast, proceeding southwards from the promontory of Araxus, Hyrmine,
Cyllene. From the town of
Elis a road led northward
to Dyme in Achaia
passing by Myrtunium (or
Myrsinus) and Buprasium East
of Elis and commanding the entrance to the Acroreia
or highlands of Elis was Pylos,
at the junction of the Peneius
and Ladon. South of Pylos
on the Ladon was the Homeric Ephyra
afterwards called Oenoe.
North of Pylos in the mountainous country on the borders of Achaia was Thalamae
East of Pylos and Ephyra, in the Acroreia, were Lasion,
Opus, Thraustus
(or Thraestus), Alium. Eupagium
2. In Pisatis.
Upon the Sacred Way leading from Elis to Olympia, Letrini
and Dyspontium Upon
the coast, the town and harbour of Pheia.
On the road across the mountains from Elis to Olympia, Alesiaeum,
Salmone, and Heracleia;
and in the same. neighbourhood, Margana
(or Margalae) and Ampidoli.
Olympia lay on the right
bank of the Alpheius, nearly
in the centre of the country: it was properly not a town, but only a collection
of sacred buildings. A little to the east of Olympia was Pisa
and further east Harpinna.
3. In Triphylia.
Upon the road along the coast, Epitalyum
(the Homeric Thryon), Samicum,
Pyrgi. A road, led from
Olympia to Lepreum, on which were Pylos
and Macistus. Lepreum
in the southern part of Triphylia was the chief town of the district. Between
these two roads was Scillus
where Xenophon resided. On the Alpheius to the east of Olympia was Phrixa
and southwards in the interior were Aepy
(afterwards called Epeium), Hypana,
Typaneae. The position
of Bolax
and Styllagium is uncertain.
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ILIS (Ancient city) ILIA
Elis. The position of the city of Elis was the best that could have been
chosen for the capital of the country. Just before the Peneius emerges from the
hills into the plain, the valley of the river is contracted on the south by a
projecting hill of a peaked form, and nearly 500 feet in height. This hill was
the acropolis of Elis, and commanded as well the narrow valley of the Peneius
as the open plain beyond. It is now called Kaloskopi, which the Venetians translated
into Belvedere. The ancient city lay at the foot of the hill, and extended across
the river, as Strabo says that the Peneius flowed through the city (viii. p. 337);
but since no remains are now found on the right or northern bank, it is probable
that all the public buildings were on the left bank of the river, more especially
as Pausanias does not make any allusion to the river in his description of the
city. On the site of the ancient city there are two or three small villages, which
bear the common name of Paleopoli.
Elis is mentioned as a town of the Epeii by Homer (Il. ii. 615); but
in the earliest times the two chief towns in the country appear to have been Ephyra
the residence of Augeias, in the interior, and Buprasium on the coast. Some writers
suppose that Ephyra was the more ancient name of Elis, but it appears to have
been a different place, situated upon the Ladon. Elis first became a place of
importance upon the invasion of Peloponnesus by the Dorians. Oxylus and his Aetolian
followers appear to have settled on the height of Kaloskopi as the spot best adapted
for ruling the country. From this time it was the residence of the kings, and
of the aristocratical families who governed the country after the abolition of
royalty. Elis was the only fortified town in the country; the rest of the inhabitants
dwelt in unwalled villages, paying obedience to the ruling class at Elis.
Soon after the Persian wars the exclusive privileges of the aristocratical
families in Elis were abolished, and a democratical government established. Along
with this revolution a great change took place in the city of Elis. The city appears
to have been originally confined to the acropolis; but the inhabitants of many
separate townships, eight according to Strabo, now removed to the capital, and
built round the acropolis a new city, which they left undefended by walls, relying
upon the sanctity of their country. (Diod. xi. 54; Strab. viii. p. 336; Xen. Hell.
iii. 2. 27) At the same time the Eleians were divided into a certain number of
local tribes; or if the latter existed before, they now acquired for the first
time political rights. The Hellanodicae, or presidents of the Olympic games, who
had formerly been taken from the aristocratical families, were now appointed,
by lot, one from each of the local tribes; and the fluctuating number of the Hellanodicae
shows the increase and decrease from time to time of the Eleian territory. It
is probable that each of the three districts into which Elis was divided, - Hollow
Elis, Pisatis, and Triphylia, - contained four tribes. This is in accordance with
the fourfold ancient division of Hollow Elis, and with the twice four townships
in the Pisatis. Pausanias in his account of the number of the Hellanodicae says
that there were 12 Hellanodicae in Ol. 103, which was immediately after the battle
of Leuctra, when the Eleians recovered for a short time their ancient dominions,
but that being shortly afterwards deprived of Triphylia by the Arcadians, the
number of their tribes was reduced to eight. (Paus. v. 9. § § 5, 6.)
When Pausanias visited Elis, it was one of the most populous and splendid
cities of Greece. At present nothing of it remains except some masses of tile
and mortar, several wrought blocks of stone and fragments of sculpture, and a
square building about 20 feet on the outside, which within is in the form of an
octagon with niches. With such scanty remains it would be impossible to attempt
any reconstruction of the city, and to assign to particular sites the buildings
mentioned by Pausanias (vi. 23 - 26).
Strabo says (viii. p. 337) that the gymnasium stood on the side of
the river Peneius; and it is probable that the gymnasium and agora occupied the
greater part of the space between the river and the citadel. The gymnasium was
a vast inclosure surrounded by a wall. It was by far the largest gymnasium in
Greece, which is accounted for by the fact that all the athletae in the Olympic
games were obliged to undergo a month's previous training in the gymnasium at
Elis. The inclosure bore the general name of Xystus, and within it there were
special places destined for the runners, and separated from one another by plane-trees.
The gymnasium contained three subdivisions, called respectively Plethrium, Tetragonum,
and Malco: the first so called from its dimensions, the second from its shape,
and the third from the softness of the soil. In their Malco was the senate-house
of the Eleians, called Lalichium from the name of its founders: it was also used
for literary exhibitions.
The gymnasium had two principal entrances, one leading by the street
called Siope or Silence to the baths, and the other above the cenotaph of Achilles
to the agora and the Hellanodicaeum. The agora was also called the hippodrome,
because it was used for the exercise of horses. It was built in the ancient style,
and, instead of being surrounded by an. unin terrupted, series of stoae or colonnades,
its stoae were separated, from one another by streets. The southern stoa, which
consisted of a triple row of Doric columns, was the usual resort of the Hellanodicae
during the day. Towards one end of this stoa to the left was the Hellanodicaeon,
a building divided from. the agora by a street, which was the official residence
of the Hellanodicae, who received here instruction in their duties for ten months
preceding the.festival. There was another stoa in the agora called the Corcyraean
stoa, because it had been built out of the tenth of some spoils taken from the
Cor. cyraeans. It consisted of two rows of Doric columns, with a partition wall
running between them: one side was open to the agora, and the other to a temple
of Aphrodite Urania, in which was a statue of the goddess in gold and ivory by
Pheidias. In the open part of the agora Pausanias mentions the temple of Apollo
Acacesius, which was the principal temple in Elis, statues of Helios and Selene
(Sun and Moon), a temple of the Graces, a temple of Silenus, and the tomb of Oxylus.
On the way to the theatre was the temple of Hades, which was opened only once
in the year.
The theatre must have been on the slope of the acropolis: it is described
by Pausanias as lying between the agora and the Menius, which, if the name is
not corrupt, must be the brook flowing down from the heights behind Paleopoli.
Near the theatre was a temple of Dionysus, containing a statue of this god by
Praxiteles.
On the acropolis was a temple of Athena, containing a statue of the
goddess in gold and ivory by Pheidias. On the summit of the acropolis are the
remains of a castle, in the walls of which Curtius noticed some fragments of Doric
columns which probably belonged to the temple of Athena.
In the immediate neighbourhood of Elis was Petra, where the tomb of
the philosopher Pyrrhon was shown. (Paus. vi. 24. § 5.)
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INIADES (Ancient city) IERA POLIS MESSOLONGIOU
Oiniadai, Oineiadai, Eth. Oiniadai. A town in Acarnania, situated
on the W. bank of the Achelous, about 10 miles from its mouth. It was one of the
most important of the Acarnanian towns, being strongly fortified both by nature
and by art, and commanding the whole of the south of Acarnania. It was surrounded
by marshes, many of them of great extent and depth, which rendered it quite inaccessible
in the winter to an invading force. Its territory appears to have extended on
both sides of the Achelous, and to have consisted of the district called Paracheloitis,
which was very fertile. It seems to have derived its name from the mythical Oeneus,
the great Aetolian hero. The town is first mentioned about B.C. 455. The Messenians,
who had been settled at Naupactus by the Athenians at the end of the Third Messenian
War (455), shortly afterwards made an expedition against Oeniadae, which they
took; but after holding it for a year, they were attacked by the Acarnanians and
compelled to abandon the town. (Paus. iv. 25.) Oeniadae is represented at that
time as an enemy of Athens, which is said to have been one of the reasons that
induced the Messenians to attack the place. Twenty-three years before the Peloponnesian
War (B.C. 454) Pericles laid siege to the town, but was unable to take it. (Thuc.
i. 111; Diod. xi. 85.) In the Peloponnesian War, Oeniadae still continued opposed
to the Athenians, and was the only Acarnanian town, with the exception of Astacus,
which sided with the Lacedaemonians. In the third year of the war (429) Phormion
made an expedition into Acarnania to secure the Athenian ascendancy; but though
he took Astacus, he did not continue to march against Oeniadae, because it was
the winter, at which season the marshes secured the town from all attack. In the
following year (428) his son Asopius sailed up the Achelous, and ravaged the territory
of Oeniadae; but it was not till 424 that Demosthenes, assisted by all the other
Acarnanians, compelled the town to join the Athenian alliance. (Thuc. ii. 102,
iii. 7, iv. 77.) It continued to be a place of great importance during the Macedonian
and Roman wars. In the time of Alexander the Great, the Aetolians, who had extended
their dominions on the W. bank of the Achelous, succeeded in obtaining possession
of Oeniadae, and expelled its inhabitants in so cruel a manner that they were
threatened with the vengeance of Alexander. (Diod. xviii. 8.) Oeniadae remained
in the hands of the Aetolians till 219, when it was taken by Philip, king of Macedonia.
This monarch, aware of the importance of the place, strongly fortified the citadel,
and commenced uniting the harbour and the arsenal with the citadel by means of
walls. (Polyb. iv. 65.) In 211 Oeniadae, together with the adjacent Nesus (Nesos)
or Nasus, was taken by the Romans, under M. Valerius Laevinus, and given to the
Aetolians, who were then their allies; but in 189 it was restored to the Acarnanians
by virtue of one of the conditions of the peace made between the Romans and Aetolians
in that year. (Pol. ix. 39; Liv. xxvi. 24; Polyb. xxii. 15; Liv. xxxviii. 11.)
From this period Oeniadae disappears from history; but it continued to exist in
the time of Strabo.
The exact site of Oeniadae was long a matter of dispute. Dodwell and
Gell supposed the ruins on the eastern side of the Achelous to represent Oeniadae;
but these ruins are those of Pleuron. The true position of Oeniadae has now been
fixed with certainty by Leake, and his account has been confirmed by Mure, who
has since visited the spot. Its ruins are found at the modern Trikardho, on the
W. bank of the Achelous, and are surrounded by morasses on every side. To the
N. these swamps deepen into a reedy marsh or lake, now called Lesini or Katokhi,
and by the ancients Melite. In this lake is a small island, probably the same
as the Nasos mentioned above. Thucydides is not quite correct in his statement
(ii. 102) that the marshes around the city were caused by the Achelous alone;
he appears to take no notice of the lake of Melite, which afforded a much greater
protection to the city than the Achelous, and which has no connection with this
river. The city occupied an extensive insulated hill, from the southern extremity
of which there stretches out a long slope in the direction of the Achelous, connecting
the hill with the plain. The entire circuit of the fortifications still exists,
and cannot be much less than three miles. The walls, which are chiefly of polygonal
construction, are in an excellent state of preservation, often to a height of
from 10 to 12 feet. Towards the N. of the city was the port, communicating with
the sea by a deep river or creek running up through the contiguous marsh to Petala
on the coast.
Leake discovered the ruins of a theatre, which stood near the middle
of the city ; but the most interesting remains in the place are its arched posterns
or sallyports, and a larger arched gateway leading from the port to the city.
These arched gateways appear to be of great antiquity, and prove that the arch
was known in Greece at a much earlier period than is usually supposed. Drawings
of several of these gateways are given by Mure.
Strabo speaks of a town called Old Oenia (he palaia Oinaia), which
was deserted in his time, and which he describes as midway between Stratus and
the sea. New Oenia (he nun Oinaia), which he places 70 stadia above the mouth
of the Achelous, is the celebrated town of Oeniadae, spoken of above. The history
of Old Oenia is unknown. Leake conjectures that it may possibly have been Erysiche
(Erusiche), which Stephanus supposes to be the same as Oeniadae; but this is a
mistake, as Strabo quotes the authority of the poet Apollodorus to prove that
the Erysichaei were a people in the interior of Acarnania. Leake places Old Oenia
at Palea Mani, where he found some Hellenic remains.
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KALYDON (Ancient city) IERA POLIS MESSOLONGIOU
Kaludon: Eth. Kaludonios, Calydonius: Kurt-aga. The most celebrated
city of Aetolia, in the heroic age, was founded by Aetolus in the land of the
Curetes, and was called Calydon, after the name of his son. Calydon and the neighbouring
town of Pleuron are said by Strabo to have been once the ornament (proschema)
of Greece, but to have sunk in his time into insignificance. Calydon was situated
in a fertile plain near the Evenus, and at the distance of 7 1/2 (Roman) miles
from the sea, according to Pliny It is frequently mentioned by Homer, who gives
it the epithet of petreessa and aipeine, from which we might conclude that the
city was situated on a, rocky height; but Strabo says that these epithets were
to be applied to the district and not to the city itself. Homer also celebrates
the fertility of the plain of the lovely (eranne) Calydon. In the earliest times
the inhabitants of Calydon appear to have been engaged in incessant hostilities
with the Curetes, who continued to reside in their ancient capital Pleuron, and
who endeavoured to expel the invaders from their country. A vivid account of one
of the battles between the Curetes and Calydonians is given in ran episode of
the Iliad (ix. 529, seq.). The heroes of Calydon are among the most celebrated
of the heroic age. It was the residence of Oeneus, father of Tydeus and Meleager,
and grandfather of Diomedes. In the time of Oeneus Artemis sent a monstrous boar
to lay waste the fields of Calydon, which was hunted by Meleager and numerous
other heroes. The Calydonians took part in the Trojan war under their king Thoas,
the son (not the grandson) of Oeneus. (Hom. Il. ii. 638.)
Calydon is not often mentioned in the historical period. In B.C. 391
we find it in the possession of the Achaeans, but we are not told how it came
into their hands; we know, however; that Naupactus was given to the Achaeans at
the close of the Peloponnesian war, and it was probably the Achaeans settled at
Naupactus who gained possession of the town. In the above-mentioned year the Achaeans
at Calydon, were so hard pressed by the Acarnanians that they applied to the Lacedaemonians
for help; and Agesilaus in consequence was sent with an army into Aetolia. Calydon
remained in the hands of the Achaeans till the overthrow of the Spartan supremacy
by the battle of Leuctra (B.C. 371), when Eparninondas restored, the town to the
Aetolians. In the civil war between Caesar. and Pompey (B.C. 48) it still appears
as a considerable place; but a few years afterwards its inhabitants were removed
by Augustus to Nicopolis, which he founded to commemorate his victory at Actium
(B.C. 31). It continues however to be mentioned by the later geographers.
Calydon was the head-quarters of the worship of Artemis Laphria, and
when, the inhabitants of the town were removed to Nicopolis, Augustus gave to
Patrae in Achaia the statue of this goddess which had belonged to Calydon. (Paus.
iv. 31. § 7, vii. 18. § 8.) There was also a statue of Dionysus at Patrae which
had been removed from Calydon. (Paus. vii. 21.) Near Calydon there was a temple
of Apollo Laphrius (Strabo); and in the neighbourhood of the city there was also
a lake celebrated for its fish.
In the Roman poets we find Calydonis, a woman of Calydon, i. e. Deianira,
daughter of Oeneus, king of Calydon (Ov. Met. ix. 112); Calydonius hers, i. e
Meleager; Calydonius amnis, i. e. the Achelous, separating Acarnania and Aetolia,
because Calydon was the chief town of Aetolia; Calydonia regna, i. e. Apulia,
because Diomedes, the son of Tydeus, and, grandson of Oeneus, king of. Calydon,
afterwards obtained Apulia as his kingdom.
There has been some dispute respecting the site of Calydon. The Peutingerian
Table places it east of the Evenus, and 9 miles from this river; but this is clearly
a mistake. It is evident from Strabo's account, and from all the legends relating
to Calydon, that both this city and Pleuron lay on the western side of the Evenus,
between this river and the Achelous. Leake supposes the ruins which he discovered
at Kurt-aga, a little to the E. of the Evenus, to be those of Calydon. They are
distant a ride of 1 hour and 35 minutes from Mesolonghi, and are situated on one
of the last slopes of Mt. Aracynthus at the entrance of the vale of the Evenus,
where that river issues from the interior valleys into the maritime plain. They
do not stand on any commanding height, as the Homeric epithets above mentioned
would lead us to suppose, and it is perhaps for this reason that Strabo, supposes
these epithets to apply to the surrounding country. Thee remains of the walls
are traceable in their whole circuit of near two miles and a half; and outside
the walls Leake discovered some ruins, which may have been the peribolus of the
temple of, Artemis Laphria.
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KERYNIA (Ancient city) ACHAIA
Keruneia, also Kerunia, Keraunia, Kerauneia, &c.: Eth. Keruneus. A
town of Achaia, was not originally one of the 12 Achaean cities, though it afterwards
became so, succeeding to the place of Aegae. Its population was increased by a
large body of Mycenaeans, when the latter abandoned their city to the Argives
in 468. Ceryneia is mentioned as a member of the League on its revival in B.C.
280; and one of its citizens, Marcus, was chosen in 255 as the first sole General
of the League. In the time. of Strabo, Ceryneia was dependent upon Aegium. It
was situated inland upon a lofty height, W. of the river Cerynites (Bokhusia),
and a little S. of Helice. Its ruins have been discovered on the height, which
rises above the left bank of the Cerynites, just where it issues from the mountains
into the plain. (Pol. ii. 41, 43; Paus. vii. 6. § 1, vii. 25. § 5; Strabo.) Theophrastus
stated that the wine of Ceryneia produced abortion. (Theophr. Hist. Plant. ix.
20)
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KLITOR (Ancient city) KALAVRYTA
Kleitor; Clitorium,; Eth. Kleitorios. A town in Arcadia, the name
of which is derived by Muller, from its being situated in an enclosed plain (from
kleio), while others connect it with Clivia and Clusium. It possessed. a small
territory called Cleitoria (Kleitoria, Polyb. iv. 10. § 6), bounded on the E.
by the territory of Pheneus, on the W. by that of Psophis, on the N. by that of
Cynaetha and Achaia, and on the S. by the territories of Caphyae, Tripolis, and
Thelpusa. The lofty Aroanian mountains formed the NE. boundary of the territory
of Cleitor, separating it from that of Pheneus. In these mountains the river Aroanius
(Katzana) rises, which flowed through the territory of Cleitor from N. to S.,
and falls into the Ladon near the sources of the latter. The valley of this river
opens out into two plains. In the upper plain, now called the plain of Sudhena,
was situated Lusi, at. one.time an independent town, but at a later period a dependency
of Cleitor. In the lower plain, now called the plain of Katzana, or Katzanes,
was the town of Cleitor itself.
Besides the valley of the Aroanius, the upper valley of the Ladon
also formed part of the territory of Cleitor. The Ladon rose in this district,
and flowed through the southern part of it in a south-westerly direction. The
road from Caphyae to Psophis passed through the Cleitoria, and was traversed by
Pausanias. (viii. 23. § § 8, 9). At the distance of seven stadia from Caphyae
was Nasi, in the territory of the latter city; and 50 stadia beyond, the road
crossed the Ladon, but Pausanias does not mention where the territory of Cleitor
began. The road then entered a forest of oaks called Soron, and passed through
Argeathae, Lycuntes, and Scotane, till it arrived at the ruins of Paus, situated
at the end of the forest, and not far from Seirae, which was distant 30 stadia
from Psophis, and was the boundary between the Cleitorii and Psophidii. There
are still some remains of this forest, which, in the time of Pausanias, contained
bears and wild boars. The position of these places is uncertain; though Leake
attempts to identify some of them. Paus is also mentioned by Herodotus (Paion,
or Pagou polis, vi. 127), who speaks of it as a town of Azania.
Cleitor was situated in the midst of the plain of Katzana, upon a
hill. of moderate height between two rivulets. The more important of these streams,
running. S. of the town, was also called Cleitor, now Klitora. The other stream,
now called the river of Karnesi, rises in the district of Lusi, and falls into
the Klitora just beyond the remains of the ancient city., The Cleitor, after flowing
rapidly through the plain, falls into the Aroanius, at the distance of seven stadia
from the city of Cleitor, according to Pausanias; but the real distance is at
least double. (Paus. viii. 21. § 1; rapidus Clitor, Stat. Theb. iv.289; Athen.v.
iii. p.331, d.; kleitoen hudor potamos Arkadias, Hesych.) A little north of the
junction of the river Cleitor with the Aroanius is the Kalyvia of Mazi upon. a
gentle elevation, in the neighbourhood of which Dodwell discovered the remains
of a small Doric temple.
Cleitor is said to have been founded by a hero of the same name, the
son of the Arcadian king Azan. (Paus. viii. 4. § 5, viii. 21. § 3.) The Cleitoria
formed an important part of the Azanian district. The Cleitorian fountain, of
which we shall speak presently, was regarded as one of the curiosities of Azania;
and the Aroanian mountains, on the summits of which the daughters of Proetus wandered
in their madness, are called the Azanian mountains. (Eudoxus, ap. Steph. s. v.
Azania.) The Cleitorians were renowned among the Peloponnesians for their love
of liberty. (to Kleitorion phileleutheron kai gennaion), of which an instance
is cited even from the mythical times, in the brave resistance they offered to
Sous, king of Sparta. (Plut. Lyc. 2, Apophth. p. 234.) Their power was increased
by the conquest of Lusi, Paus, and other towns in their neighbourhood. In commemoration
of these, conquests they dedicated at Olympia a brazen statue of Zeus, 18 feet
in height, which was extant in the time of Pausanias, who has preserved the inscription
upon it. (Paus. v. 23. § 7.) Cleitor seems to have occupied an important position
among the Arcadian cities. In the Theban war it carried on hostilities against
Orchomenus. (Xen. Hell. v. 4. 36) In the Social War it belonged to the Achaean
League, and bravely repelled the assaults of the Aetolians, who attempted to scale
the walls. (Polyb. iv. 18, 19, ix. 38.) It was sometimes used as the place of
meeting of the Achaean League. (Polyb. xxiii. 5.; Liv. xxxix. 5.) Strabo mentions
Cleitor among the Arcadian towns destroyed in his time, or of which scarcely any
traces existed; but this is not correct, since it was not only in existence in
the time of Pausanias, but it continued to coin money as late as the reign of
Septimius Severus.
Pausanias gives only a brief description of Cleitor. He says that
its three principal temples were those of Demeter, Asclepius, and Eileithyia;
that at the distance of four stadia from the city the Cleitorians possessed a
temple of the Dioscuri, whom they called the great gods; and that further on the
summit of a mountain, at the distance of 30 stadia from the city, there was a
temple of Athena Coria. (Paus. viii. 21. § 3.) The ruins of Cleitor are now called
Paleopoli, distant about three miles from a village which still bears the name
of the ancient town. It would seem, as Leake remarks, that the river, having preserved
its name after the city had ceased to exist, at length gave that name to a village
built at its sources. The walls of the ancient city may still be traced in nearly
their full extent. They inclose an irregular oblong space, not more than a mile
in circumference; they were about 15 feet in thickness, and were fortified with
towers. But the space inclosed by these walls seems to have been properly the
acropolis of the ancient city, since the whole plain between the river of Klitora
and the river of Karnesi is covered with stones and pottery, mixed with quadrangular
blocks and remains of columns. There are remains of a theatre towards the western
end of the hill.
In the territory of Cleitor was a celebrated fountain, of which those
who drank lost for ever their taste for wine:
Clitorio quicunque sitim de fonte levarit,
Vina fugit: gaudetque meris abstemius undis.
(Ov. Met. xv. 322)
A spring of water, gushing forth from the hill on which the ruins
stand, is usually supposed to be this miraculous fountain; but Curtius places
it in the territory of Lusi, because it is said to have been situated upon the
confines of the Cleitoria, and is mentioned in connection with the purification
of the daughters of Proetus by Melampus, which is said to have taken place at
Lusi. (Eitiskai pege para tois Kleitoriois, Hesych.; situated an eschatias Kleitoros,
Vitruv. l. c.; en Kleitori in Phylarch. ap. Athen. l. c., is to be understood
of the territory.)
Another marvel in the territory of Cleitor was the singing fish of
the river Aroanius. These fish, which were called poikiliai, were said to sing
like thrushes. Pausanias relates (viii. 21. § 2) that he had seen these fish caught;
but that he had never heard them sing, although he had remained for that purpose
on the banks of the river till sunset, when they were supposed to be most vocal.
These singing fish are also mentioned by Athenaeus and Pliny. The former writer
cites three authorities in proof of their existence, of whom Philostephanos placed
them on the Ladon, Mnaseas in the Cleitor, and the Peripatetic Clearchus in the
Pheneatic Aroanius. (Athen. viii. pp. 331, 332.) Pliny improperly identifies them
with the exocoetus or adonis, which was a sea-fish. (Plin. ix. 19.) The poikilia
was probably trout, and was so called from its spotted and many-coloured scales.
The trout of the Aroanius are described by Dodwell as of a fine bright colour,
and beautifully variegated.
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KONOPAS (Ancient city) IERA POLIS MESSOLONGIOU
Afterwards Arsinoe. Konope: Eth. Konopeus, Konopites, Konopaios Arsinoe:
Eth. Arsinoites, Arsinoeus: Anghelokastro. A town of Aetolia, near the eastern
bank of the Achelous, and 20 stadia from the ford of this river. It was only a
village, till it was enlarged by Arsinoe, the wife and sister of Ptolemy Philadelphus.
Polybius, in his history of the Social War (B.C. 220--217), calls it Conope, though
elsewhere he calls it Arsinoe or Arsinoia (Arsinoia). It is mentioned by Cicero
under the name of Arsinoe. Near this town the river Cyathus flowed into the Achelous
from the lake Hyria, which is also called Conope by Antoninus Liberalis.
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KORONDA (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Coronta (ta Koronta: Eth. Koronteus: near Proldhromo), a small town
in the interior of Acarnania, probably lying between Metropolis and Old Oenia.
At a mile from Prodhromo Leake discovered on an insulated hill the ruins of Hellenic
walls, which are probably the remains of Coronta. (Thuc. ii. 102; Steph. B. s.
v.; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iii. p. 514.)
KYLLINI (Ancient city) ILIA
Kullene. Eth. Kullenios, Kullenheus. The seaport town of Elis, distant
120 stadia from the latter city. (Paus. vi. 26. § 4; Strab. viii. p. 337.) Cyllene
was an ancient place. It is mentioned by Homer as one of the towns of the Epeians
(Il. xv. 518); and if we are to believe Dionysius Periegetes (347), it was the
port from which the Pelasgians sailed to Italy. Pausanias, moreover, mentions
it as visited at an early period by the merchants of Aegina (viii. 5. § 8), and
as the port from which the exiled Messenians after the conclusion of the second
Messenian war, sailed away to found a colony in Italy or Sicily (iv. 23. § 1,
seq.).
Cyllene was burnt by the Corcyraeans in B.C. 435, because it had supplied
ships to the Corinthians. (Thuc. i. 30.) It is again mentioned in 429, as the
naval station of the Peloponnesian fleet, when Phormion commanded an Athenian
squadron in the Corinthian gulf. (Thuc. ii. 84.) Its name occurs on other occasions,
clearly showing that it was the principal port in this part of Peloponnesus. (Thuc.
vi. 89; Died. xix. 66, 87; Polyb. v. 3; Liv. xxvii. 32.) Strabo describes Cyllene
as an inconsiderable village, having an ivory statue of Asclepius by Colotes,
a contemporary of Pheidias. (Strab. viii.) This statue is not mentioned by Pausanias,
who speaks, however, of temples of Asclepius and Aphrodite (vi. 26. § 5).
Cyllene is usually identified with Glarentza, situated upon one of
the capes of the promontory Chelonatas. This is the position assigned to it by
Leake, whose authority we have followed elsewhere; but there are strong reasons
for doubting the correctness of this opinion. There are no ancient remains at
Glarentza; and although this is at present the only port on this part of the coast,
the outline of the latter has been so changed in the course of centuries, that
little reliance can be placed upon this argument. Moreover, Cyllene is clearly
distinguished from the promontory Chelonatas by the ancient writers. Strabo (viii.)
says that the Peneius flows into the sea between the promontories Chelonatas and
Cyllene; and that this is not an error in the text, as Leake supposes, appears
from the order of the names in Ptolemy (iii. 15. § § 5, 6), where we find the
promontory Araxus, Cyllene, the mouths of the Peneius, the promontory Chelonitis.
The river Peneius at present flows into the sea to the south of Chelonatas, but
its ancient course was probably north of this promontory. Accordingly we may perhaps
place Cyllene about half way between Araxus and Chelonatas. This position not
only agrees with the distance of 120 stadia from Elis mentioned by Strabo and
Pausanias, but also with the distances in the Tab. Peuting., which reckons xiv.
M. P. from Dyme to Cyllene, and also xiv. M. P. from Cyllene to Elis. Pliny (iv.
5. s. 6.), likewise separates the promontory Chelonatas from Cyllene. According
to the present text of Pliny, the distance between them is v. M. P. (not ii. as
in some editions); but instead of v. we ought probably to read xv. It appears
from Pliny that the sea between the promontories of Araxus and Chelonatas was
called the bay of Cyllene.
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KYNETHA (Ancient city) ACHAIA
he Kunaitha: Eth. Kunaitheus, Kunaithaieus, Polyb.; Kunaithaeus, Paus.:
Kalavryta), a town in the north of Arcadia, situated upon the northern slope of
the Aroanian mountains, which divided its territory from those of Cleitor and
Pheneus. The inhabitants of Cynaetha were the only Arcadians who lived beyond
the natural boundaries of Arcadia. Their valley sloped down towards the Corinthian
gulf; and the river which flowed through it, fell into the Corinthian gulf a little
to the east of Bura: this river was called in ancient times Erasinus or Buraicus,
now river of Kalavryta. (Strab. viii; Paus. vii. 24. § 5.) The climate and situation
of Cynaetha are described by Polybius as the most disagreeable in all Arcadia.
The same author observes that the character of the Cynaethians presented a striking
contrast to that of the other Arcadians, being a wicked and cruel race, and so
much disliked by the rest of their countrymen, that the latter would scarcely
hold any intercourse with them. He attributes their depravity to their neglect
of music, which had tended to humanize the other Arcadians, and to counteract
the natural rudeness engendered by their climate. Accordingly, he regarded the
terrible misfortune which overtook the Cynaethians in the Social war, when their
city was destroyed by the Aetolians, as a righteous punishment for their wickedness.
(Polyb. iv. 18--21.) Although Strabo (viii.) mentions Cynaetha as one of the Arcadian
towns no longer existing in his time, it must have been restored at some period
after its destruction by the Aetolians, as it was visited by Pausanias, who noticed
in the agora altars of the. gods and a statue of the emperor Hadrian. At the distance
of two stadia from the town was a fountain of cold water, called Alyssus, because
it was said to cure hydrophobia. (Paus. viii. 19.) There can be no doubt that
the modern village of Kalavryta occupies the site of Cynaetha, although it contains
scarcely any traces of the ancient city.
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KYPARISSOS (Village) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Cyparissus (Kuparissos: Eth. Kuparisseus), an ancient town of Phocis,
in the vicinity of Delphi. It is mentioned in the Homeric catalogue (Il. ii. 519)
along with Pytho (Delphi), and is described by Dicaearchus as situated in the
interior of Phocis. It is placed by Strabo below Lycoreia, which was situated
on one of the heights of Parnassus (ix. p. 423), which position is more probable
than the one assigned to it by Pausanias, who supposes Cyparissus to be the ancient
name of the place afterwards called Anticyra (x. 36. § 5). Cyparissus is also
mentioned by Statius (Theb. vii. 344) and Stephanus (s. v.). If we follow the
authority of Strabo respecting the position of Cyparissus, its site is perhaps
indicated by the walls of an Hellenic town, at the southern foot of the mountain,
midway between the Schiste and Delphi. (Leake, vol. ii. p. 579.)
LASSION (Ancient city) ILIA
The chief town of the mountainous district of Acroreia in Elis proper,
was situated upon the frontiers of Arcadia near Psophis. Curtius places it with
great probability in the upper valley of the Ladon, at the Paleokastro of Kumani,
on the road from the Eleian Pylos and Ephyra to Psophis. Lasion was a frequent
object of dispute between the Arcadians and Eleians, both of whom laid claim to
it. In the war which the Spartans carried on against Elis at the close of the
Peloponnesian War, Pausanias, king of Sparta, took Lasion (Diod. xiv. 17). The
invasion of Pausanias is not mentioned by Xenophon in his account of this war;
but the latter author relates that, by the treaty of peace concluded between Elis
and Sparta in B.C. 400, the Eleians were obliged to give up Lasion, in consequence
of its being claimed by the Arcadians. (Xen. Hell. iii. 2. 30) In B.C. 366 the
Eleians attempted to recover Lasion from the Arcadians; they took the town by
surprise, but were shortly afterwards driven out of it again by the Arcadians.
(Xen. Hell. vii. 4. 13, seq.; Diod. xv. 77.) In B.C. 219 Lasion was again a fortress
of Elis, but upon the capture of Psophis by Philip, the Eleian garrison at Lasion
straightway deserted the place. (Polyb. iv. 72, 73.) Polybius mentions (v. 102)
along with Lasion a fortress called Pyrgos, which he places in a district named
Perippia.
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LEONTION (Ancient city) PATRA
Leontion: Eth. Leontesios. A town of Achaia, was originally not one
of the 12 Achaean cities, though it afterwards became so, succeeding to the place
of Rhypes. It is only mentioned by Polybius, and its position is uncertain. It
must, however, have been an inland town, and was probably between Pharae and the
territory of Aegium, since we find that the Eleians under the Aetolian general
Euripidas, after marching through the territory of Pharae as far as that of Aegium,
retreated to Leontium. Leake places it in the valley of the Selinus, between the
territory of Tritaea and that of Aegium, at a place now called Ai Andhrea, from
a ruined church of that saint near the village of Guzumistra. Callicrates, the
partizan of the Romans daring the later days of the Achaean League, was a native
of Leontium.
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LEPREON (Ancient city) ILIA
to Lepreon, Lepreos, Leprion, Eth. Lepreates. The chief town of Triphylia
in Elis, was situated in the southern part of the district, at the distance of
100 stadia from Samicum, and 40 stadia from the sea. (Strab. viii.) Scylax and
Ptolemy, less correctly, describe it as lying upon the coast. Triphylia is said
to have been originally inhabited by the Cauconians, whence Lepreum is called
by Callimachns (Hymn. in Jov. 39) Kaukonon ptoliethon. The Caucones were afterwards
expelled by the Minyae, who took possession of Lepreum. (Herod. iv. 148.) Subsequently,
and probably soon after the Messenian wars, Lepreum and the other cities of Triphylia
were subdued by the Eleians, who governed them as subject places. The Triphylian
cities, however, always bore this yoke with impatience; and Lepreum took the lead
in their frequent attempts to shake off the Eleian supremacy. The greater importance
of Lepreum is shown by the fact that it was the only one of the Triphylian towns
which took part in the Persian wars. (Herod. ix. 28.) In B.C. 421 Lepreum, supported
by Sparta, revolted from Elis (Thuc. v. 31); and at last, in 400, the Eleians,
by their treaty with Sparta, were obliged to relinquish their authority over Lepreum
and the other Triphylian towns. (Xen. Hell. iii. 2. 25) When the Spartan power
had been broken by the battle of Leuctra (B.C. 371), the Spartans endeavoured
to recover their supremacy over Lepreum and the other Triphylian towns; but the
latter protected themselves by becoming members of the Arcadian confederacy, which
had been recently founded by Epaminondas. (Xen. Hell. vi. 5. 2, seq.) Hence Lepreum
is called an Arcadian town by Scylax and Pliny, the latter of whom erroneously
speaks both of a Leprion in Elis (iv. 5. s. 6), and of a Lepreon in Arcadia (iv.
5. s. 10). Pausanias also states that the Lepreatae in his time claimed to be
Arcadians; but he observes that they had been subjects of the Eleians from ancient
times,--that as many of them as had been victors in the public games were proclaimed
as Eleians from Lepreus,--and that Aristophanes describes Lepreus as a city of
the Eleians. (Paus. v. 5. § 3.) After the time of Alexander the Eleians again
reduced the Triphylian cities, which therefore were obliged to join the Aetolian
league along with the Eleians. But when Philip, in his war with the Aetolians,
marched into Triphylia, the inhabitants of Lepreum rose against the Eleian garrison
in their town, and declared in favour of Philip, who thus obtained possession
of the place. (Polyb. iv. 77, 79, 80.) In the time of Pausanias the only monument
in Lepreum was a temple of Demeter, built of brick. In the vicinity of the town
was a fountain named Arene. (Paus. v. 5. § 6.) The territory of Lepreum was rich
and fertile. Chora eudaimon, (Strab. viii.)
The ruins of Lepreum are situated upon a hill, near the modern village
of Strovitzi. These ruins show that Lepreum was a town of some size. A plan of
them is given by the French Commission, which is copied in the work of Curtius.
They were first described by Dodwell. It takes half an hour to ascend from the
first traces of the walls to the acropolis, which is entered by an ancient gateway.
The towers are square; one of them is almost entire, and contains a small window
or arrow hole. A transverse wall is carried completely across the acropolis, by
which means it was anciently divided into two parts. The foundation of this wall,
and part of the elevation, still remain. Three different periods of architecture
are evident in this fortress. The walls are composed of polygons: some of the
towers consist of irregular, and others of rectangular quadrilaterals. The ruins
extend far below the acropolis, on the side of the hill, and are seen on a flat
detached knoll.
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LETRINI (Ancient city) PYRGOS
Letrinoi, Letrina. A town of Pisatis in Elis, situated near the sea,
upon the Sacred Way leading from Elis to Olympia, at the distance of 180 stadia
from Elis, and 120 from Olympia. It was said to have been founded by Letreus,
a son of Pelops. (Paus. vi. 22. § 8.) Together with several of the other dependent
townships of Elis, it joined Agis, when he invaded the territories of Elis; and
the Eleians were obliged to surrender their supremacy over Letrini by the peace
which they concluded with the Spartans in B.C. 400. (Xen. Hell. iii. 2. 25, 30.)
Xenophon speaks of Letrini, Amphidoli, and Marganeis as Triphylian places,
although they were on the right bank of the Alpheius; and if there is no corruption
in the text, which Mr. Grote thinks there is , the word Triphylian must be used
in a loose sense to signify the dependent townships of Elis. The Letrinaiai guai
are mentioned by Lycophron (158). In the time of Pausanias nothing remained of
Letrini except a few houses and a temple of Artemis Alpheiaea. Letrini may be
placed at the village and monastery of St. John, between Pyrgo and the port of
Katakolo, where, according to Leake, among many fragments of antiquity, a part
of a large statue was found some years ago. g remained of Letrini except a few
houses and a temple of Artemis Alpheiaea. Letrini may be placed at the village
and monastery of St. John, between Pyrgo and the port of Katakolo, where, according
to Leake, among many fragments of antiquity, a part of a large statue was found
some years ago.
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LIMNEA (Ancient city) AMFILOCHIA
Limnaia: Eth. Limnaios: Kervasara. A town in Acarnania at the SE.
corner of the Ambraciot gulf, on the very frontier of Acarnania towards Argos.
There has been a dispute about its site, but the ruins at Kervasara are probably
the remains of Limnaea: some modern writers would place it more to the W., either
at Lutraki, or at Ruga. Tie former supposition, however, appears to be the more
correct, since we learn from Thucydides that Limnaea lay on the road from Ambracia
and Argos Amphilochicum to Stratus, which could not have been the case if Limnaea
lay to the W. of Kervasara. Philip III., king of Macedonia, disembarked at Limnaea,
when about to invade Aetolia. There is a marsh near Kervasara, two miles in length,
from which Limnaea appears to have derived its name (Thuc. ii. 80, iii. 105 ;
Pol. v. 5).
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LOUSSES (Ancient city) KALAVRYTA
Lusi, Lousoi, Lousoi, Loussoi, ta Loussa. Eth. Lousios, Louseus, Lousiates,
Lousieus. A town in the north of Arcadia, originally independent of, but afterwards
subject to, Cleitor. Lusi was situated in the upper valley of the Aroanius, and
probably on the site of Sudhena, which stands in the NE. corner of the valley
at the foot of Mt. Khelmos (the ancient Aroanian mountains), and on the road from
Tripolitza to Kalavryta. The upper valley of the Aroanius, now called the plain
of Sudhena, consists of two plains, of which the more easterly is the one through
which the Aroanius flows, the waters of which force their way through a gorge
in the mountains into the plain of Cleitor, now Katzana, to the south. The more
westerly plain of Sudhena is entirely shut in by a range of hills; and the waters
of three streams which flow into this plain are carried off by a katavothra, after
forming an inundation, apparently the Lacus Clitorius mentioned by Pliny (xxxi.
2. s. 13). The air is damp and cold; and in this locality the best hemlock was
grown (Theophr. ix. 15. § 8).
Lusi was still independent in the 58th Olympiad; since one of its
citizens is recorded to have gained the victory in the 11th Pythiad. (Paus. viii.
18. § 8.) Its territory was ravaged by the Aetolians in the Social War (Polyb.
iv. 18); but in the time of Pausanias there were no longer even any ruins of the
town. Its name, however, was preserved in consequence of its temple of Artemis
Lusia or Hemerasia (the Soother ). The goddess was so called, because it was here
that the daughters of Proetus were purified from their madness. They had concealed
themselves in a large cavern, from which they were taken by Melampus, who cured
them by sacred expiations. Thereupon their father Proetus founded this temple
of Artemis Hemerasia, which was regarded with great reverence throughout the whole
Peloponnesus as an inviolable asylum. It was plundered by the Aetolians in the
Social War. It was situated near Lusi, at the distance of 40 stadia from Cynaetha.
(Paus.; Polyb. ll. cc.; Callim. Dian. 233.) The interior of the temple, with the
purification of the daughters of Proetus, is represented on an ancient vase. The
ruins, which Dodwell discovered above Lusi towards the end of the plain, and on
the road to Cynaetha, are probably those of the temple of Artemis Leake discovered
some ancient foundations at the middle fountain of the three in the more westerly
of the two plains of Sudhena, which he supposes to be the remains of the temple.
One of the officers of the French Commission observed a large cave on the western
side of the Aroanian mountains, in which the inhabitants of Sudhena were accustomed
to take refuge during war, and which is probably the one intended in the legend
of the daughters of Proetus.
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LYKOYRIA (Ancient city) KALAVRYTA
Lukouria. A village in Arcadia, which still retains its ancient name, marked the
boundaries of the Pheneatae and Cleitorii.
LYSSIMACHIA (Ancient city) IERA POLIS MESSOLONGIOU
Lusimachia: Eth. Lusimacheus (Papadhates). A town of Aetolia, situated
upon the southern shore of the lake formerly called Hyria or Hydra, and subsequently
Lysimachia, after this town. The town was probably founded by Arsinoe, and named
after her first husband Lysimachus, since we know that she enlarged the neighbouring
town of Conope, and called it Arsinoe after herself. The position of the town
is determined by the statement of Strabo that it lay between Pleuron and Conope,
and by that of Livy, who places it on the line of march from Naupactus and Calydon
to Stratus. Its site, therefore, corresponds to Papadhates, where Leake discovered
some Hellenic remains. It was deserted in Strabo's time.
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MAKISTOS (Ancient city) ILIA
Macistus. Macistum, Makistos, to Makiston: Eth. Makistios. A town of Triphylia,
in Elis, said to have been also called Platanistus (Platanistous, Strab. viii.
p. 345.) It was originally inhabited by the Paroreatae and Caucones, who were
driven out by the Minyae. (Strab. l. c.; Herod. iv. 148.) It was afterwards subdued
by the Eleians, and became one of their dependent townships. In the time of Strabo,
it was no longer inhabited (viii. p. 349). Macistus was situated upon a lofty
hill in the north of Triphylia, and appears to have been the chief town in the
north of the district, as Lepreum was in the south. That Macistus was in the north
of Triphylia appears from several circumstances. Strabo describes its territory,
the Macistia, as bordering upon Pisatis. (Strab. viii. p. 343.) Agis, in his invasion
of the territory of Elis, in B.C. 400, when he entered Triphylia through the Aulon
of Messenia, was first joined by the Lepreatae, next by the Macistii, and then
by the Epitalii on the Alpheius. (Xen. Hell. iii. 2. 25) Stephanus places Macistus
to the westward of the Lepreatis (Steph. B. s. v.); but this is obviously an error,
as Arcadia bordered upon the Lepreatis in that direction. Macistus would appear
to have been in the neighbourhood of Samicum upon the coast, as it had the superintendence
of the celebrated temple of the Samian Poseidon at this place. (Strab. viii. p.
343.) From these circumstances there can be little doubt that Macistus was situated
upon the heights of Khaiaffa.
It is worthy of notice that Pausanias and Polybius mention only Samicum,
and Xenophon only Macistus. This fact, taken in connection with the Macistians
having the superintendence of the temple of the Samian Poseidon, has led to the
conjecture that upon the decay of Samos upon the coast, the Minyans built Macistus
upon the heights above; but that the ancient name of the place was afterwards
revived in the form of Samicum. The Macistians had a temple of Hercules situated
upon the coast near the Acidon. (Strab. viii. p. 348.)
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MAKYNIA (Ancient city) NAFPAKTOS
Makunia, Makuna, Makuneia, Eth. Makuneus. A town of Aetolia on the
coast, at the foot of the eastern slope of Mount Taphiassus. According to Strabo
it was built after the return of the Heraclidae into Peloponnesus. It is called
a town of the Ozolian Locrians by the poet Archytas of Amphissa, who describes
it in an hexameter line: the grape-clad, perfume-breathing, lovely Macuna. It
is also mentioned in an epigram of Alcaeus, the Messenian, who was a contemporary
of Philip V., king of Macedonia. Pliny mentions a mountain Macynium, which must
have been part of Mount Taphiassus, near Macynia, unless it is indeea a mistake
for the town.
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MITROPOLIS (Ancient city) AKTIO - VONITSA
Lygovitzi. A town in the interior of Acarnania, S. of Stratus, and
on the road from the latter place to Conope in Aetolia. At a later time it fell
into the hands of the Aetolians, but was taken and burned by Philip in his expedition
against the Aetolians, B.C. 219. It is mentioned as one of the towns of Acarnania,
in a Greek inscription found at Actium, the date of which is probably prior to
the time of Augustus.
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MOLYKRIA (Ancient city) NAFPAKTOS
Molycreium, Molycreia, or Molycria (Molukreion, Thuc. ii. 84; Molukreia,
Strab. x. p. 451, et alii; Molukria, Polyb. v. 94; Paus. ix. 31. § 6: Eth. Molukrios,
more rarely Molukrieus, Molukraios, fem. Molukrissa, Molukrias), a town of Aetolia,
situated near the sea-coast, and at a short distance from the promontory Antirrhium,
which was hence called Rhion to Molukrikon (Thuc. ii. 86), or Molukrion Hpion.
(Strab. viii. p. 336.) Some writers call it a Locrian town. It is said by Strabo
to have been built after the return of the Heracleidae into Peloponnesus. It was
colonised by the Corinthians, but was subject to the Athenians in the early part
of the Peloponnesian War. It was taken by the Spartan commander Eurylochus, with
the assistance of the Aetolians, B.C. 426. It was considered sacred to Poseidon.
(Strab. x. pp. 451, 460; Scyl. p. 14; Thuc. ii. 84, iii. 102 ; Diod. xii. 60;
Polyb., Pans., ll. cc.; Plin. iv. 2. s. 3; Ptol. iii. 15. § 3; Steph. Byz. s.
v.)
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MYRSINI (Ancient city) ILIA
Murtountion, called Myrsinus (Mursinos) by Homer, who mentions it
among the towns of the Epeii. It was a town of Elis, and is described by Strabo
as situated on the road from the city of Elis to Dyme in Achaia, at the distance
of 70 stadia from the former place and near the sea. Leake remarks that the last
part of the description must be incorrect, since no part of the road from Elis
to Dyme could have passed by the sea; but Curtius observes that Myrtuntium would
at one time have been near the sea-coast, supposing that the lagoon of Kotiki
was originally a gulf of the sea. The ruin near Kalotikos probably represents
this place.
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NAFPAKTOS (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Naupaktos: Eth. Naupaktios (Epakto by the Greek peasants, Lepanto
by the Italians). An important town of the Locri Ozolae, and the best harbour
on the northern coast of the Corinthian gulf, was situated just within the entrance
of this gulf, a little east of the promontory Antirrhium. It is said to have derived
its name from the Heracleidae having here built the fleet with which they crossed
over to Peloponnesus. (Strab. ix. p. 426; Paus. x. 38. § 10; Apollod. ii. 8. §
2.) Though Naupactus was indebted for its historical importance to its harbour
at the entrance of the Corinthian gulf, it was probably originally chosen as a
site for a city on account of its strong hill, fertile plains, and copious supply
of running water. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 608.) After the Persian
wars it fell into the power of the Athenians, who settled there the Messenians,
who had been compelled to leave their country at the end of the Third
Messenian War, B.C. 455 ; and during the Peloponnesian War it was the head-quarters
of the Athenians in all their operations in Western Greece. (Paus. iv. 24. § 7;
Thuc. i. 103, ii. 83, seq.) After the battle of Aegospotami the Messenians were
expelled from Naupactus, and the Locrians regained possession of the town. (Paus.
x. 38. § 10.) It afterwards passed into the hands of the Achaeans, from whom,
however, it was wrested by Epaminondas. (Diod. xv. 75.) Philip gave it to the
Aetolians (Strab. ix. p. 427; Dem. Phil. iii. p. 120), and hence it is frequently
called a town of Aetolia. (Scylax, p. 14; Mela, ii. 3 ; Plin. iv. 2. s. 3.) The
Aetolians vigorously defended Naupactus against the Romans for two months in B.C.
191. (Liv. xxxvi. 30, seq.; Polyb. v. 103.) Ptolemy (iii. 15. § 3) calls it a
town of the Locri Ozolae, to whom it must therefore have been assigned by the
Romans after Pliny's time.
Pausanias saw at Naupactus a temple of Poseidon near the sea, a temple
of Artemis, a cave sacred to Aphrodite, and the ruins of a temple of Asclepius
(x. 38. §§ 12, 13). Naupactus is mentioned by Hierocles; but it was destroyed
by an earth-quake in the reign of Justinian. (Procop. B. Goth. iv. 25.) The situation
and present appearance of the town are thus described by Leake: - The fortress
and town occupy the south-eastern and southern sides of a hill, which is one of
the roots of Mount Rigasni, and reaches down to the sea. The place is fortified
in the manner which was common among the ancients in positions similar to that
of Epakto,--that is to say, it occupies a triangular slope with a citadel at the
apex, and one or more cross walls on the slope, dividing it into subordinate enclosures.
At Epakto there are no less than five enclosures between the summit and the sea,
with gates of communication from the one to the other, and a side gate on the
west leading out of the fortress from the second enclosure on the descent. It
is not improbable that the modern walls follow exactly the ancient plan of the
fortress, for in many parts they stand upon Hellenic foundations, and even retain
large pieces of the ancient masonry amidst the modern work. The present town occupies
only the lowest enclosure; in the middle of which is the small harbour which made
so great a figure in ancient history: it is now choked with rubbish, and is incapable
of receiving even the larger sort of boats which navigate the gulf. (Northern
Greece, vol. ii. p. 608.)
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
OLENOS (Ancient city) ETOLOAKARNANIA
Olenos: Eth. olenios. An ancient town in the S. of Aetolia, between
the Achelous and the Evenus, was named after a son of Zeus or Hephaestus, and
is mentioned in the Homeric catalogue. It was situated near New Pleuron, at the
foot of Mount Aracynthus; but its exact site is uncertain. It is said to have
been destroyed by the Aeolians; and there were only a few traces of it in the
time of Strabo. (Strab.x. pp. 451, 460; Horn. Il. ii. 638; Apollod. i.8. § 4;
Hyg. Poet. Astron. 2. § 13; Stat. Theb. iv. 104; Steph. B. s. v.) The Roman poets
use Olenius as equivalent to Aetolian: thus Tydeus of Calydon in Aetolia is called
Olenius Tydeus. (Stat. Theb. i. 402.)
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
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