Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "OLOSSON Ancient city THESSALIA".
Chief city of Perrhaebia (Strab. 9.439f), identified with modern Elassona.
Located at the N end of a small (5 km N-S, 10 km E-W) isolated plain N of the
E Thessalian plain, it is on a crossroad where roads from W and E Macedonia (via
the Bouloustana or Sarandaporou pass, and the Stena Petras), from the W Thessalian
plain, and from Larissa in the E plain join. It appears in the Iliad (2.739 white
Olosson), probably issued Perrhaebian coinage 480-400 and 196-146 B.C. It apparently
played a negligible role in history.
The ancient acropolis was a steep-sided, white clay hill flanked by
the deep ravines of the Elassonitikos (ancient Titaresios) and a tributary (Kouradhiaris).
On the acropolis is a monastery of the Panaghia Olympiotissa. Some traces of isodomic
ancient walls remain N of the monastery, and blocks and inscriptions are built
into it. The ancient lower city was in the plain on the right bank of the Titaresios,
but only very slight (1924) traces of the city walls remain. Ancient graves have
been found on the left bank. Some 4th c. B.C. statuary and Roman grave reliefs
have come from the city and its plain. There is a small archaeological collection
in Elassona.
T. S. Mackay, 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.
Eth. Oloossonios. A town of Perrhaebia in Thessaly, mentioned by Homer, who gives to it the epithet of white, from its white argillaceous soil. In Procopius the name occurs in the corrupt form of Lossonus. It is now called Elassona, and is a place of some importance. It is situated on the edge of a plain near Tempe, and at the foot of a hill, on which there is a large ancient monastery, defended on either side by a deep ravine. The ancient town, or at least the citadel, stood upon this hill, and there are a few fragments of ancient walls, and some foundations behind and around the monastery.
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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