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(Ἤπειρος; Ḗpeiros, Epirus) [German version] I. Region E. is located at the north-western fringe of the Greek cultural sphere, nowadays comprising northern Greece and southern Albania. From Homer (8th cent. BC) to the late 5th cent., the geographical term ἤπειρος ( ḗpeiros) referred to the mainland north of the Gulf of Ambracia. There is a wide variation in the attribution of individual tribes to E. both in ancient and modern literature, making it impossible clearly to define E.'s geographic expansion [1]. E. was bordered in the west by the Ionian Sea, its southern border (to the  Acarnanians and  Amphilochi) was the Gulf of Ambracia, and its eastern one to the Macedonians ( Macedonia),  Thessalians, and Athamanes ( Athamania) the high mountains of the Pindus range, passable only in a few places; its northern border is taken to be the Aous and the Acroceraunian Mountains, but both culturally and linguistically, the boundaries to the Illyrians in the transitory area of Amantia and  Byllis are fluid. West to east communication within E. is very restricted, because the region is dissected from NNW to SSE by four mighty limestone and flysch mountain ranges, with a height of up to 2,633 m. The rivers in the mountainous regions are not navigable, even though they carry a lot of water because of the high level of precipitation; the Aous (mod. Vjosë) has its mouth in Albania, the Thyamis (Kalamas) in a sizeable delta opposite Corcyra, the Acheron south of the mod. Parga, and the Luros and Arachthus flow into the Gulf of Am…

[German version] [1] Greece's longest, most voluminous river (Ἀχελῷος; Achelôios). Greece's longest, most voluminous river, in the territory of the Aitoli and the Acarnanes; original name Thoas, from the Middle Ages Aspropotamos, today again Acheloos; sources in the territory of the Dolopes (Thuc. 2,102,2) near Mount Lacmon in the Pindus; fed there by five tributaries; today greatly transformed by dams. Coming from the territories of the Agraei and the Amphilochi (Str. 10,2,1), its bed widened (nowadays …

[German version] [1] Name of a goddess associated with agrarian wealth in the imperial period Name of a goddess associated with agrarian wealth ( karpophóros) in the imperial inscriptions of Lesbos and Aegae; identified with Agrippina I and II (as Θεὰ Αἰολὶς Σεβαστή; Theà Aiolìs Sebastḗ, IG XII suppl. 134). She corresponds to the Αἰοληία θεά ( Aiolēía theá) mentioned in Alc. fr. 129 LP, who was worshipped together with Zeus and Dionysus Omestes in the main Lesbian sanctuary at Messa. Graf, Fritz (Columbus, OH) Bibliography L. Robert, Recherches épigraphiques V. (Inscriptions d…

[German version] [1] Water monster (Ὕδρα; Hýdra, ‘water snake’). A monster, born of the monsters  Typhon and  Echidna (‘snake’) and raised by  Hera out of anger at Zeus. It lives at the spring of  Amymone in the swamps of Lerna, stealing cattle and humans until it is finally killed by  Heracles (Hes. Theog. 313-318; Diod. Sic. 4,11,5f.; Apollod. 2,77-80; Hyg. Fab. 30) despite the help of a crab sent to its aid by Hera. This killing constitutes Heracles' second deed in the canonical sequence. His lion's fur protects Heracles against the H.'s poison, which he uses to make his arrows deadly. A centaur hit by Heracles flees to the Elean river Anigrus, where the poison gives the river a foul smell (Paus. 5,…

(Ἀλαλκομεναί; Alalkomenaí). [German version] [1] Small Boeotian city Small Boeotian city on the southern edge of the former Lake  Copais, between  Haliartus and  Coronea at the foot of a low mountain, with the famous  Athena sanctuary on the plain by the Triton stream (birthplace of Athena), in direct proximity to the sanctuary of Athena Itonia. A. likely lay to the north below what is today Solinarion; the Athena sanctuary was either north-east near the…

(Κόραξ; Kórax). [German version] [1] Mountains Mountains to the east of Aetolia, today's Giona in the Nomos Phokis, 2484 m high; Str. 7 fr. 6; 9,3,1; 10,2,4; Liv. 36,30,4; 37,4,7. Strauch, Daniel (Berlin) Bibliography Philippson/Kirsten, vol. 1, 650. [German version] [2] see Siegecraft see  Siegecraft Baumhauer, Otto A. (Bremen) [German version] [3] C. From Syracuse, inventor of rhetoric In ancient rhetoric tradition, C. and Tisias (T.) from Syracuse were regarded as the inve…

(Κωκυτός; Kōkytós, Lat. Cocytus). [German version] [1] River of the Underworld ‘River of lamentation’ (cf. κωκύειν, ‘to we…

(Πανδοσία; Pandosía). [German version] [1] City of Thesprotia in the south of Epeirus City of Thesprotia in the south of Epeirus. Allegedly one of the four Elean colonies in the territory of the Cassopaei on the Acheron [1] (Demosth. Or. 7,32; Theopompus FGrH 115 F 382). It is presumed that it was founded in the 8th/7th cent. BC [1; 3. 427] or not until the 5th cent. [2. 52]. P. is located near Trikastron about 17 km inland [1. 52f.; 2. 477f.]. Coins: [2. 107-110]. Strauch, Daniel (Berlin) Bibliography 1 S.I. Daka…

(Χαλκίς; Chalkís). [German version] [1] Settlement in Euboea on the Euripus This item can be found on the following maps: Christianity | Dark Ages | Ionic | Colonization | Macedonia, Macedones | Marble | Mycenaean culture and archaeology | Natural catastrophes | Peloponnesian War | Persian Wars | Delian League | Athenian League (Second) | Education / Culture | Mineral Resources | Boeotia, Boeotians …

This item can be found on the following maps: Caesar | Wine | | Coloniae | Commerce | Colonization | Macedonia, Macedones | Natural catastrophes | Peloponnesian War | Persian Wars | Punic Wars | Rome | Delian League | Balkans, languages (Δυρράχιον; Dyrr[h]áchion, Dyrrhachium). [German version] I. Graeco-Roman period Harbour town on the Illyrian coast, the modern Durrës in Albania; founded on a peninsula by Corinth and Corcyra, probably in 626/625 BC, as the colony of Epidamnus (Eus. Chronicon 88f.; Thuc. 1,24-26; Scymn. 435-439). The name D. (c…

(Ἀστακός; Astakós, ‘lobster town’). [German version] [1] Town on the eastern end of the Gulf of A. or of  Nicomedia…

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[German version] [1] Island off the Dalmatian coast Island off the Dalmatian coast opposite Iader (Plin. HN 3,152), modern Ugljan. Strauch, Daniel (Berlin) Bibliography …

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(Καλυδών; Kalydṓn). [German version] [1] Eponymous of the Aetolian city of the same name The eponymous of the Aetolian city of the same name, C. [3], son of  Aetolus and  Pronoe, brother of Pleuron, husband of Aeolia and through her the father of Epicaste and Protogenea (Apollod. 1,58-59). A similar genealogically linked construct in Deimachus (FGrH 65 F 1 = schol. Hom. Il. 217-218 Erbse) where the succession Endymion-Aetolus-Pleuron-C. is found, also the…

This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Christianity | Coloniae | Macedonia, Macedones | Education / Culture (Βουθρωτόν; Bouthrōtón). [German version] A. Greek and Roman period Harbour town in Epirus opposite Corcyra (Str. 7,7,5), modern Butrint/Albania. Its mythological foundation by Helenus has been attested (FGrH 274 fr. 1), its early habitation verified by archaeological finds (prehistoric and Corinthian pottery of the 7th to 5th cents. [1]) and by Hecataeus. (FGrH 1 fr. 106). Caesar ordered the foundati…

[German version] [1] Strait between Chalcis on Euboea and Boeotia (Εὔριπος ὁ Χαλκιδικός; Eúripos ho Chalkidikós). This strait, 9 km in length between Chalcis on Euboea and Boeotia, with three narrows, lies at the approximate mid-point of the sound between  Euboea and the Greek mainland (Anon. in GGM 1,105 § 29: ἡ τῶν Εὐβοέων θάλατττα). Originally, two channels ran through the most northerly narrows at Chalcis, one at the western shore, 0.5 m deep and 15 m wide, bounded on the seaward side by a reef, and with a…

(Εὔηνος, Εύηνός; Eúēnos, Euēnós) [1] of Paros [German version] A. Personal Data Eratosthenes distinguishes between two elegiac poets from Paros, both named E. (Harpocr. s.v. Εὔηνος 139,15 Dindorf), others maintain that there had only been one [1]. Plato mentions an E. of Paros, a poet and ‘philosopher’ (Pl. Phd. 60d; 61b), a teacher of political rhetoric around 400 BC (Pl. Ap. 20a-b), who had ‘discovered’ a number of tropes (Pl. Phdr. 267a). Both his language and the subject matter of some of the extant fra…

[German version] (Ἐλίμεια; Elímeia). Region, originally belonging to Epirus (Str. 9,5,11), east of the Pindus range on the upper course of the Haliacmon south of Orestis and Eordaea; from the 5th. cent. BC, the people of the Elimiotaea in upper Macedonia took their name from E. (Thuc. 2,99). The location of the eponymous town is uncertain (Kozani, Palaiogratsiano?). Cities of the Hellenistic and Roman era are  Aeane and Caesarea (bishop's seat: Hierocles Synekdemos 642,11). Despite its dependence o…

(Χάραδρος; Cháradros). A. Towns [German version] [1] Town in southern Epirus Town in southern Epirus, from 167 BC independent of the Epirote koinon. By means of a border agreement (SEG 35, 665; c. 160 BC) located to the north-west of  Ambracia, near the modern Palaia-Philippias; Pol. 4,63; 21,26. Strauch, Daniel (Berlin) Bibliography BCH 112, 1988, 359-373 V. Karatzeni, Τὸ ἱερὸν ὄρος, in: FS Dakaris, 1995, 289-299. [German version] [2] Port town and river in Cilicia Port and river (FGrH 1 Hecat. fr. 265) in Cilicia Tracheia, the modern Yakacık (previously Kaledıran),…