Listed 5 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "TRIKALA Town THESSALIA" .
TRIKKI (Ancient city) THESSALIA
Trikke: Eth. Trikkaios: Trikkala. An ancient city of Thessaly in the
district Histiaeotis, stood upon the left bank of the Peneius, and near a small
stream named Lethaeus. (Strab. ix. p. 438, xiv. p. 647.) This city is said to
have derived its name from Tricca, a daughter of Peneius. It is mentioned in Homer
as subject to Podaleirius and Machaon, the two sons of Asclepius or Aesculapius,
who led the Triccaeans to the Trojan War (Hom. Il. ii. 729, iv. 202); and it possessed
a temple of Asclepius, which was regarded as the most ancient and illustrious
of all the temples of this god. (Strab. ix. p. 437.) This temple was visited by
the sick, whose cures were recorded there, as in the temples of Asclepius at Epidaurus
and Cos. (Strab. viii. p. 374.) There were probably physicians attached to the
temple; and Leake gives an inscription in four elegiac verses, to the memory of
a god-like physician named Cimber, by his wife Andromache, which he found upon
a marble in a bridge over the ancient Lethaeus. (Northern Greece, vol. iv. p.
285.) In the edict published by Polysperchon and the other generals of Alexander,
after the death of the latter, allowing the exiles from the different Greek cities
to return to their homes, those of Tricca and of the neighbouring town of Pharcadon
were excepted for some reason, which is not recorded. (Diod. xviii. 56.) Tricca
was the first town in Thessaly at which Philip V. arrived after his defeat on
the Aous. (Liv. xxxii. 13.) Tricca is also mentioned by Liv. xxxvi. 13; Plin.
iv. 8. s. 15 Ptol. iii. 13. § 44; Them. Orat. xxvii. p. 333.
Procopius, who calls the town Tricattus (Trikattous), says that it
was restored by Justinian (de Aedif. iv. 3); but it is still called Tricca by
Hierocles in the sixth century, and the form in Justinian may be a corruption.
In the twelfth century it already bears its modern name (Trikkala, Anna Comn.
v. p. 137, ed. Paris.; Eustath. ad Il. ii. p. 330.) Trikkala is now one of the
largest towns in this part of Greece. The castle occupies a hill projecting from
the last falls of the mountain of Khassia; but the only traces of the ancient
city which Leake could discover were some small remains of Hellenic masonry, forming
part of the wall of the castle, and some squared blocks of stone of the same ages
dispersed in different parts of the town. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. p.
425, seq., vol. iv. p. 287.)
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
(Trikke), subsequently Tricala (Trikala). Now Trikkala; an ancient town of Thessaly in the district Hestiaeotis, situated on the Lethaeus, north of the Peneus. Homer represents it as governed by the sons of Asclepius; and it contained in later times a celebrated temple of this god.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Total results on 19/7/2001: 15 for Tricca, 13 for Trikka.
Titular see, suffragan of Larissa
in Thessaly. It was an ancient
city of Thessaly, near the
River Peneius and on the
River Lethaeus which devastated it in 1907.
It is mentioned in Homer as the Kingdom of Machaon and Podaleirius.
It possessed the oldest known temple of AEsculapius, which was discovered in 1902,
with a hospital for pilgrims. Tricca is mentioned by other writers, but not in
connection with important events.
It was a suffragan of Larissa
at an early date and remained so until 1882 when this portion of Thessaly
was annexed to the Kingdom of Greece.
Since then the see, which bears the names of Triccala and Stagoi, is dependent
on the Holy Synod of Athena.
Tricca, now Triccala is the capital of the nome of the same name.
S. Vailhe, ed.
Transcribed by: Scott Anthony Hibbs
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
A city of Hestiaiotis known to Homer (B.729); its Asklepieion was
reputed to be the oldest in Greece (Strab. 8.360; 9.437). It issued coinage in
the 5th and 4th c. B.C., but virtually nothing is known of its history. It may
have been destroyed by Philip II of Macedon along with Pharkadon since its exiles
and Pharkadon's were later refused permission to return (Diod. Sic. 18.5.5). It
became a member of the Aitolian League, however (Livy 39.25.3f), and it prospered
in Roman times and later.
Trikka is situated in the W Thessalian plain, at the end of a long
ridge which runs S from the (modern) Antichasia Mts. and cuts the NW part of the
plain in two. The last hill of the ridge stops just N of the Lethaios (Trikkalinos)
river. Routes from Epeiros and Macedonia met at Aiginion (near modern Kalambaka);
the road then led to Trikka, and from it roads led S and E. The ancient city lay
on the left bank of the Lethaios river; modern Trikkala lies on both sides. An
impressive mediaeval castle is built around the last hill of the ridge, near the
river's left bank, on the site presumed to be the ancient acropolis. The plan
of the ancient city is scarcely known, since very few remains of it are left.
In the early part of the century Kastriotis uncovered what he took
to be the asklepieion. In 1956 further excavations were carried out on this building,
which lies to the E of the Church of Haghios Nikolaus in the old section of Trikkala
(ca. 100 m N of the river, ca. 200 m E of the castle). The excavations were carried
out amid great difficulties, and it was possible to uncover only the NE end of
the building. In its final form this building was made up of a large room (N part
only exposed) at the SE end (its length running NE-SW) and a series of four narrow
rooms to the NW of it, then a wide room with a hypocaust floor which was evidently
an addition to the earlier structure. The hypocaust room apparently dated from
the 4th c. A.D., and the original building, although not certainly dated, was
of the Roman Imperial period. The total NW-SE dimension (whether length or width)
is unknown. The original purpose of the building is not known.
In 1958 another building was discovered to the NW of the last, and
was more thoroughly investigated in 1965-66, although again, only a part of it
was uncovered. This was oriented in the same direction as the last, and lies ca.
22 m to the NW of it. The S corner of two adjoining stoa-shaped buildings at right
angles to each other was also discovered. The buildings are ca. 13 m wide; the
discovered length of the SE wing was 34 m. Part of the outer wall of a similar
building parallel to the SE one was discovered. The whole complex is tentatively
identified as a square or rectangular court surrounded by stoas, the NE side is
undiscovered. The outer dimension of the complex (NW-SE) is 78 m, and for the
court 53 m if the NW stoa was also 13 m wide. The construction of the walls and
the finds from the foundation trench seem to date the building to the 2d c. B.C.
Most significant in regard to it was the discovery within the court of fragments
of decrees. Theocharis considered that, since such decrees are normally found
in the chief sanctuary of a city, this building may well have been (part of) the
ancient asklepieion. In the 2d c. A.D. the SE wing had been provided with a very
handsome figured mosaic floor, of which a considerable part remains. The rest
of the building seems to have been considerably altered at this time.
In test trenches during the recent series of excavations part of a
Roman peristyle was uncovered near the Church of the Phaneromene. Sherds from
the Early Bronze Age through Hellenistic and Roman periods were found in several
of the trenches. Tests on the acropolis revealed no remains earlier than the Roman
period, although sherds indicated the area had been in use in prehistoric times.
A test near the fortress gate revealed no ancient wall under this part of the
mediaeval one, although Leake noted some remains of "Hellenic masonry forming
part of the wall of the castle," no longer visible today. In the late 19th
c. Ziehen saw some ancient architectural fragments, including two statue bases
near the Gurna spring S of Haghios Nikolaus, by the river.
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.
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