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[German version] (Κιέριον; Kiérion). City in the Thessalian tetras Thessaliotis in the valley of the Cuarius (modern Sophaditikos or Onochonos), founded by invading Thessalians as their main town, north-east of the Boeotian founded town of  Arne [2]; in the following period, they drove the Boeotians back south to their historical seats (Thuc. 1,12,3; Str. 9,5,14). Arne is equated with Makria-Magoula, C. with the ruins on a nearby hill near the modern Pyrgos Kieriou. Near C. was the Thessalian tribal san…

[German version] (Νήλεια; Nḗleia). A town in Magnesia [1], incorporated into Demetrias [1], mentioned only in Str.  9,5,15. Owing to the rare ancient cult of Aphrodite Neleia, evidenced in Iolcus,  the place name, in the sense of ‘City of the Dead (of Iolcus)’ ([2] et al.) has been equated with Pefkakia Magoula, which is situated in the territory of Demetrias (continuously inhabited from the late neolithic period; the classical and more recent layers of settlements were removed as part of the levelling of Demetrias). The place name N. is, …

[German version] (Σπερχειός/ Spercheiós). River that has formed the basin between Othris and Oete in the south of Thessaly; it rises in the Tymphrestus, and nowadays, after a course of some 75 km, enters the Gulf of Malis south-east of Lamia. In its upper and middle course a typical mountain river, its meandering lower course (up to 50 m wide) has changed frequently since Antiquity, and its mouth become displaced some 14 km to the east (Hdt. 7,198,2; Str. 1,3,20). Its tributaries, some of them stil…

[German version] (Ἀρμένιον; Arménion). Town in  Thessaly, according to Homer's catalogue of ships located near  Pherae on  L. Boebe (Hom. Il. 2,734: Ὀρμένιον; Orménion); in the Hellenistic period, it was a kome, belonging to  Demetrias (Str. 9,5,15; 18). Its eponymous hero was Armenus, who went to Colchis with  Jason (Str. 11,4,8; 14,12). The ancient settlement is localized north of Pherae (modern Velestino) near the modern villages of Neon Perivalion and Armenion, where a hill (Petra) bearing the remains of Cyclopean…

[German version] (Κελαίθα; Kelaítha). Town, according to a list of theorodokoi from Delphi from the 2nd cent. BC, located near  Cierium and Metropolis in south-western Thessaly. Probably not identical with the vicus Celathara which the Aetolians seized and plundered in the course of their raid into Dolopia and southern Thessaly in 198 BC (Liv. 32,13,12f.). In contrast, Kelaíthra is documented as a Boeotian town ‘near Arne’ (presumably more likely Cierium in Thessaly) (Steph. Byz. s.v. Κελαίθρα). Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Bibliography B. Helly, Incursions chez les Dolop…

[German version] (Ἄντρων; Ántrōn). City in  Achaea Phthiotis, on the Malian Gulf opposite  Euboea, on a cliff c. 25 m above the sea, near the modern Fano. Remains of the very old city wall and necropoleis from the Mycenaean to the Roman periods have survived. Homer (Il. 2,697; Hymn. Dem. 491 [1. 181-183]) mentions A. and its  cult of Demeter. In 342 BC  Philippus II made A. a Macedonian possession by means of bribery. In 302 BC A. was captured by  Demetrius. A. evidently remained a Macedonian possession until th…

[German version] (τὰ Τέμπη/ tà Témpē, Latin Tempe, Stenae). A gorge, ca. 8 km long, up to 45 m wide and 500 m deep, between Olympus [1] to the north and Ossa [1] to the south, traversed by the Peneius from the Thessalian interior (Thessalians, Thessalia) east to the Aegean Sea; known today as Koiláda Tempón. In Classical Antiquity, the valley, actually formed by erosion, was held to be the result of an earthquake (Hdt. 7,129,4; Plin. HN 4,31). Myth has it that, in this valley, the nymph Daphne [2], while f…

[German version] (Κασθαναία; Kasthanaía). Near C. (‘village’, Str. 9,5,22) on the Magnesian east coast, the Persian fleet foundered in a storm in 480 BC (Hdt. 7,188;  Persian War). In around 290 BC, C. was included in the synoikismós following the foundation of  Demetrias [1]. Coins were minted at the time Constantine (coin finds). C. is equated with the as yet hardly investigated ruins near the modern Keramidion. Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Bibliography H. Kramolisch, s.v. K., in: Lauffer, Griechenland, 310 W. K. Pritchett, Xerxes' Fleet at the ‘Ovens’, in: AJA 47, 1963, 1ff. F. …

[German version] (Τίσαιον; Tísaion). Mountain in the south of Magnesia [1] (modern Bardzochia, 644 m elevation); today, the whole of the east-west part of the peninsula is called T. The Argonauts passed by this mountain (Apoll. Rhod. 1,568 ff.). There was a temple to Diana Tisaea there (Val. Fl. 2,7) and a station for signalling by fire to Demetrias [1] (Pol. 10,42,7; Liv. 28,5,17). Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Bibliography F. Stählin, s. v. T., RE 6 A, 1467.

[German version] (Συκύριον; Sykýrion). Place in the Dotium region at the western end of the Tempe valley, used by Perseus [2] as a permanent camp for actions against the Roman army in the third of the Macedonian Wars, in 171 BC (Liv. 42,54; 62; 64; 67). The location is uncertain, the assignment of the name to modern S. (formerly Makrokeserli) is arbitrary. Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Bibliography H. Kramolisch, s.v. Sykyrion, in: Lauffer, Griechenland, 644f.

[German version] (Πειρασία; Peirasía). A city in the northeast of Thessaliotis (Thessalians, Thessalia), with ruins on the isolated 313 m high limestone mountain of Strongylovuno south of the modern Vlochós on the left bank of the Enipeus [2]. It was identified with the Homeric Astérion (Hom. Il. 2,735) (Steph. Byz. s.v. Ἀστέριον), and was allied with Athens in 431 BC (Thuc. 2,22,3 with schol.). Its contributions for the Delphic temple in 359/7 BC are attested in inscriptions (Syll.3 240 H, col. II 6ff.). Ancient remains: three concentric polygonal city walls with more …

[German version] (Αἰνιᾶνες; Ainiânes). Small tribe, related to the  Myrmidones and the Achaeans of  Phthia, originally settled in the vicinity of the  Perrhaebi at the river Titaresius and in the surrounding plains, then driven south by the Thessalians advancing from the north; in historical times, they settled in the Aenis region in the upper valley of the Spercheus between the Dolopes, the Achaeans of Phthiotis, the  Malieis and the  Oetaei (Hom. Il. 2,749; Hdt. 7,198; further sources [1; 2]). Th…

[German version] (Μύραι/ Mýrai, Scyl. 65; or to be corrected to Εὐρέα[ι]/ Euréa[i]? Cf. [1]). Town in the north of the peninsula of Magnesia [1], south of Homole, location unknown. Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Bibliography     1 J.A.W. Warren, Two Notes on Thessalian Coins, in: NC 7,1, 1961, 1-8. F. Stählin, s.v. M., RE 16, 1089.

[German version] (Λιμναῖον; Limnaîon, Latin Limnaeum). In 191 BC, the Romans and Philip V marched through eastern Thessaly to drive out Antiochus III and the Athamanians. During the siege of Pelinna, Philip also attacked L. which did not surrender until the Roman cavalry appeared (Liv. 36,13,9ff.). There is a lack of other information. L. has recently been localized near Vlochos above the swampy confluence region of the rivers Enipeus [2] and Peneius. Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Bibliography J. Cl. Decourt, La vallée de l'Enipeus en Thessalie, 1990, 120f.

[German version] (Ὄθρυς/ Óthrys). Range of mountains, c. 85 km long and 45 km wide, between the Malian Gulf and the Spercheus valley on one side and Thessalia on the other. The O. consists of several chains of mountains (slate, lime) and predominantly has the character of a low mountain range. To the south it falls of steeply in a straight edge, but to the north it is more structured. The greatest elevation is Yerakovouni (1726 m). Politically the region was part of Achaea Phthiotis (Achaei). The great…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Education / Culture (Ὑπάτα; Hypáta). Capital of the Aenianes (HN 296), not shown to have existed before the 5th or beginning of the 4th cent. BC, situated on a terrace cut off by ravines above the Spercheus valley on the northern slope of Mount Oete ( Oetaei, Oete), modern Hypate. The fates of city and tribe largely coincide (references [1; 2; 3]), Macedonian rule began around 344, and following the interlude of the Lamian War, the rule was replaced by the Aetolian League from c. 273. In the year 191  Acilius [I 10] ravaged t…

(Ὄρθα/ Órtha, Ὄρθη/ Órthē). There were possibly two places with this name in Thessalia. [German version] [1] Place in Perrhaibia According to the Homeric Catalogue of Ships (Hom. Il. 2,739), O., with Elone and Olosson, was part of the region of the Polypoetes and therefore situated in Perrhaibia (Perrhaebi). Various ruins at Elasson are identified as O. Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) [German version] [2] Town in southern Thessalia There are Hellenistic coins with the legend ΟΡΘ(Ι)ΕΩΝ/ ORTH(I)EŌN (HN 303), and a list of theorodoci in Delphi from the beginning of the 2nd…

[German version] (Ὁμόλη, Ὁμόλιον; Homólē, Homólion). Mountain at the northern end of the Thessalian  Ossa. At the outflow of the Peneius from the  Tempe Valley lay a town of the same name on the slope (not by the sea, Str. 9,5,22), attested to be above modern Omolion (formerly Laspochori). H. was the northernmost town of  Magnesia and so of Greece. H. overlooked the river crossing to lower Macedonia (Liv. 42,38,10; remains of a bridge about 1 km north of Omolion). Finds attest to settlement since anc…

[German version] (Μεθύλιον; Methýlion). Town in western Thessaly, mentioned on coins and in a Delphic list of theorodókoi. Its location can only be approximately identified, between Cierium and Metropolis [4] in the region of Karditsa. Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Bibliography B. Helly, Incursions chez les Dolopes, in: I. Blum (ed.), Topographie antique et géographie historique en pays grec, 1992, 85ff. F. Stählin, s.v. Methylion, RE 15, 1391.

[German version] (Ἄργισσα; Árgissa). Listed in the ships' catalogue of the Iliad (Hom. Il. 2,738) as the city of the Lapith  Polypoetes, it was equated even in ancient times with the town of Argura (Str. 9,5,19). This was situated about 40 stades ( c. 7 km) east of  Atrax on the river  Peneus. Following the discovery of coins bearing the name of Argura, A. is now localized (as opposed to [1. 99 f.]) on the Gremnos-Magula, c. 7 km west of  Larisa, where traces of settlements have been found, dating back to the Dimini culture ( c. 6000 BC). Following a forcible occupation towards the end o…