Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "SKOTOUSSA Ancient city THESSALIA".
A city in the mountains of Pelasgiotis W of Volo. It was already important in the 5th c. as the seat of the tree oracle of Zeus Phegonaios; the sanctuary was considered by the Thessalians to be the Homeric Dodona, forerunner of the oracle in Epeiros. The wealth of the town in the Classical period was based on grain. A number of battles were fought at Skotoussa and at Kynoskephali, which lay in its territory to the N. A second period of importance followed on the fortification of the site by Philip V of Macedon, but it was deserted when Pausanias saw it. Within the city territory, Plutarch records a polyandrion built by Philip V, a tumulus over the mass grave of the Macedonians raised by Antiochos in 191 B.C., and a solitary hill known traditionally as the grave of the Amazons. Traces of walls remain around the acropolis, 1 km W of Soupli, and at intervals around a much larger outer circuit. The rubble-filled walls of local stone are strengthened by numerous towers and had gates on the E and W. Leake saw some stretches of good ashlar masonry. A theater lay in a natural hollow just inside the wall on the SW. The site of the oracle, not at the city itself has not been identified.
M. H. Mc Allister, 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.
Total results on 11/5/2001: 18 for Scotusa, 6 for Scotussa, 2 for Skotussa.
A very ancient town of Thessaly, in the district Pelasgiotis, near the source of the Onchestus.
Skotoussa or Skotousa: Eth. Skotoussaios. An ancient town of Pelasgiotis in Thessaly, lying between Pherae and Pharsalus, near the frontiers of Phthiotis. Scotussa is not mentioned in Homer, but according to some accounts the oracle of Dodona in Epeirus originally came from this place. (Strab. vii. p. 329.) In B.C. 394 the Scotussaei joined the other Thessalians in opposing the march of Agesilaus through their country. (Xen. Hell. iv. 3. 3) In B.C. 367 Scotussa was treacherously seized by Alexander, tyrant of the neighbouring town of Pherae. (Diod. xv. 75.) In. the territory of Scotussa were the hills called Cynoscephalae, which are memorable as the scene of two battles, one fought in B.C. 364, between the Thebans and Alexander of Pherae, in which Pelopidas was slain, and the other, of still greater celebrity, fought in B.C. 197, in which the last Philip of Macedonia was defeated by the Roman consul Flamininus. (Plut. Pelop. 32; Strab. ix. p. 441; Polyb. xviii. 3, seq.; Liv. xxxiii. 6, seq.) In B.C. 191 Scotussa surrendered to Antiochus, but was recovered shortly afterwards, along with Pharsalus and Pherae, by the consul Acilius. (Liv. xxxvi. 9, 14.) The ruins of Scotussa are found at Supli. The city was about two or three miles in circumference; but of the walls only a few courses of masonry have been preserved. The acropolis stood at the south-western end of the site, below which, on the east and north, the ground is covered with foundations of buildings, heaps of stones, and fragments of tiles and pottery. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 454, seq.)
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
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
