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EPIDAVROS LIMIRA (Ancient city) MONEMVASSIA
Epidauros n Limera. A town on the eastern coast of Laconia, situated
at the head of a spacious bay, formed by the promontory Kremidhi, on the north,
and the promontory of Monemvasia, on the south. It was a colony from Epidaurus
in Argolis, and is said to have been built in consequence of an intimation from
Asclepius, when an Epidaurian ship touched here on its way to Cos. (Paus. iii.,23.
§ 6.) Its foundation probably belongs to the. time when the whole of the eastern
coast of Laconia, as far as the promontory Malea, acknowledged the supremacy of
Argos. (Herod. i, 82.) The epithet Limera was considered by the best ancient critics
to be given to the town on account of the excellence of its harbours, though other
explanations were proposed of the word (limeran .... hos a limeneran, Strab. viii.).
Pausanias describes the town as situated on a height not far from the sea. He
mentions among its public buildings temples of Aphrodite and Asclepius, a temple
of Athena on the acropolis, and a temple of Zeus Soter in front of the harbour.
(Paus. iii. 23. § 10.) The ruins of Epidaurus are situated at the spot now called
Old Monemvasia. The walls, both of the acropolis and town, are traceable all round;
and in some places, particularly towards the sea, they remain to more than half
their original height. The town formed a sort of semicircle on the southern side
of the citadel. The towers are some of the smallest I have ever seen in Hellenic
fortresses; the faces ten feet, the flanks twelve: the whole circumference of
the place is less than three quarters of a mile. The town was divided into two
separate parts by a wall; thus making, with the citadel, three interior divisions.
On the acropolis there is a level space, which is separated from the remaining
part of it by a little insulated rock, excavated for the foundations of a wall.
I take this platform to have been the position of the temple of Athena. On the
site of the lower town, towards the sea front, there are two terrace walls, one
of which is a perfect specimen of the second order of Hellenic masonry. Upon these
terraces may have stood the temples of Aphrodite and Asclepius. There are, likewise,
some remains of a modern town within the ancient inclosure; namely, houses, churches,
and a tower of the lower ages. The harbour of Zeus Soter has entirely disappeared,
but this is not surprising, as it must have been artificial; but there are two
harbours, one at either extremity of the bay, the northern called that of Kremidhi,
and the southern that of Monemvasia.
South of Epidaurus Pausanias mentions a promontory (akra) extending
into the sea, called Minoa (Paus. iii. 23. § 11; Strab.) This promontory is now
an island, connected with the mainland by a bridge of 14 small arches; it is not
improbable that it was originally part of the mainland, and afterwards separated
from it by art.
Epidaurus is rarely mentioned in history. Its territory was ravaged
by the Athenians in the Peloponnesian War. (Thuc. iv. 56, vi. 105.) In the time
of Strabo there appears to have been a fortress on the promontory Minoa, since
he calls it a phrourion. Pausanias mentions Epidaurus Limera as one of the Eleuthero-Laconian
towns. (Paus. iii. 21. § 7.) Ptolemy enumerates, as separate places, Minoa, the
harbour of Zeus Soter, and Epidaurus. In the middle ages the inhabitants of Epidaurus
abandoned their ancient town, and built a new one on Minoa,--which they now, for
greater security, probably, converted for the first time into an island. To their
new town, because it was accessible by only one way, they gave the name of Monemvasia
or Monembasia, which was corrupted by the Franks into Malvasia. In the middle
ages it was the most important Greek town in the Morea, and continued purely Greek
in its language and customs for many centuries.
Leake remarked, about a third of a mile southward of the ruins of
Epidaurus, near the sea, a deep pool of fresh water, surrounded with reeds, about
100 yards long and 30 broad, which he observes is probably the lake of Ino, small
and deep, mentioned by Pausanias (iii. 23. § 8) as 2 stadia from the altars of
Asclepius, erected to commemorate the spot where the sacred serpent disappeared
in the ground, after landing from the Epidaurian ship on its way to Cos.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Styled Limera, a town in Laconia, on the east coast, said to have been founded by Epidaurus in Argolis.
EPIDAVROS LIMIRA (Ancient city) MONEMVASSIA
On the E coast, beside the bay dominated by the rock of Monemvasia.
The epithet, of doubtful meaning even in antiquity, distinguishes the city from
Epidauros in the Argolid. According to Apollodoros (Strab. 368) limera meant of
the good harbor (= limenera), but others explained the word as signifying parched
or deficient (Schol. Thuc. 7.26). Pausanias (3.23.6) alleges that the city was
founded from the Argolic Epidauros. There was a cape (akra, Paus. 3.23.11) with
a fort (Strab. 368) called Minoa; this may have been the promontory of Monemvasia,
which, however, is now an island. The city overlooks a long stretch of coastline
and the E end of the easiest route from Sparta to the E coast of the Peloponnese.
Athenian raids during the Peloponnesian War are mentioned by Thucydides (4.56.2,
6.105.2, 7.26.2). The city became a member of the Eleutherolakonian League (Paus.
3.21.7).
The acropolis is enclosed by a Hellenic fortification wall. Ancient
towers and terrace walls are also visible; there is a leveled surface on the acropolis,
perhaps for a temple. Mycenaean sherds have been noted near the summit. Inland,
a series of chamber tombs yielded pottery extending in time from Late Helladic
II to Late Helladic IIIC. Some of the earliest vases from the burials suggest
Minoan connectlons.
G.L.Huxley, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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