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(Ἐλάτεια; Eláteia). [German version] [1] Phocian town This item can be found on the following maps: Dark Ages | Macedonia, Macedones | Education / Culture In antiquity together with  Delphi (Str. 9,3,2) the largest (Paus. 10,34,1-2; Str. 9,2,19; Harpocr., Suda s.v. E.) and most famous Phocian town. Located in the farthest north of the Cephissus valley near modern Elatia (Leftà), E. dominated the road that led south from Thessaly and Locris through the passes of Thermopylae and Hyampolis. This location made E. a lively c…

[German version] (Γόμφοι; Gómphoi). Settlement created by synoecism in the 4th cent. BC; its location close to the modern G. (formerly Mouzaki) is verified. Together with  Metropolis, Pelinnaion, and  Tricca, G. formed the belt of fortifications of the Thessalian Hestiaeotis on the Pindus passes to Dolopia, Athamania, and Epirus. On coins from the 4th and 2nd cents., G. bears the name of Philippopolis (HN 295). Towards the end of the 3rd cent., G. was under Aetolian rule; during the wars of the ear…

[German version] [1] Acarnian town This item can be found on the following maps: Theatre | Aetolians, Aetolia | Acarnanians, Acarnania | Peloponnesian War | Education / Culture (Οἰνιάδαι/ Oiniádai, occasionally Οἰνειάδαι/ Oineiádai). Acarnanian city near the mouth of the Achelous [1] (Thuc. 2,102,2f.; Str. 10,2,21). The city area, located near what is now Katochi, is located on a hill measuring 3 km in length and 2 km in width. Remains of the six-kilometer long city wall have been preserved, along with gate and tower installat…

[German version] (Μελάμβιον/ Melambion). Philip V reached the region of Scotussa at M. on the day before the battle of Cynoscephalae in 197 BC. The town, mentioned only in Pol. 18,20,6 and Liv. 33,6,11, is thought to have been to the east of Scotussa. Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Bibliography J.-Cl. Decourt, La vallée de l'Enipeus en Thessalie, 1990, 109ff. F. Stählin, s.v. Melambion, RE 15, 390f.

[German version] [1] City in north-western Boeotia This item can be found on the following maps: Linear B | Mycenaean culture and archaeology | Natural catastrophes | Oracles | Persian Wars | Aegean Koine | Aegean Koine | Boeotia, Boeotians (Ὀρχομενός/ Orchomenós; Boeotian Ἐρχομενός/ Erchomenós, LSAG 95, no. 17). Freitag, Klaus (Münster) [German version] A. Geography City in north-western Boeotia (Hom. Il. 2,511) at the foot of Mount Acontium on the north-western shore of Lake Copais near modern Skripou, today once more called Orkhomenos. The polis had an extensive hinterland, in…

[German version] (Λακέρεια; Lakéreia). Settlement on the northern shore of Lake Boebe in Magnesia, only attested in archaic times (Pind. Pyth. 3,58f.); its location - like that of its neighbouring settlement Amyrus - has yet to be established. L. was said to be the home of Coronis, the mother of Asclepius. Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Bibliography B. Helly, Le ‘Dotion Pedion’, Lakereia et les origines de Larisa, in: Journal des Savants 1987, 127ff. F. Stählin, Das hellenische Thessalien, 1924, 58f.

(Φυλάκη; Phylákē). [German version] [1] City of Achaea Phthiotis City, mentioned in Homer and other early verse as well as passages dependent on them, belonging to Achaea Phthiotis in the Halmyrus plain. P. was the home of Protesilaus; as late as Pind. I.1,83f. P. is mentioned with a sanctuary of Protesilaus. Later P. was evidently absorbed in Thebae Phthiotides (Heraclides fr. 3,3 identifies P. with it), which continued the cultural and mythological tradition of P. A more precise location at Thebae is not possible. Sources: Hom. Il. 2,695; 13,696; 15,335; Str. 9,5,8; 9,5,14. Kramolisc…

(Ὄσσα/ Óssa). [German version] [1] Mountain range in central Greece, modern Kissavos Mountain range (1978 m) of lime and slate, divided from Olympus [1] in the north by the erosion gorge that is the Vale of Tempe and from Pelion (modern Kissavos) in the south by the Agia depression. Politically it was part of Magnesia [1]. The steep eastern slopes down to the Aegaean were uninhabited, in spite of a coastal road from Homole in the north to Meliboea [2]. On the western slopes there were Thessalian towns (Elat…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Persian Wars (Ἅλος; Hálos). The remains of H. lie at the south end of the Κρόκιον πεδίον (Krokion plain) and on the north foot of a foothill of Othrys, where the passage from the Malian Gulf to the Gulf of Pagasae was easy to block, because the coasts were only a few hundred metres apart (today c. 2 km). H. owes its name to the rich saline spring of Amphrysus at the foot of the town hill. Already named in the catalogue of ships in the Iliad (Hom. Il. 2,682), it was an important Thessalian harbour du…

[German version] (Φαρκαδών, Φαρκηδών; Pharkadṓn, Pharkēdṓn). Town in Histiaeotis, a region of Thessaly on the river Peneius, once again named P. (formerly Klokoto or Tsioti). Philippus [7] V. defeated the Aetolians in 199 BC at P. (Liv. 31,41f.). Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Bibliography L. Darmezin, Sites archéologiques et territoires du massif des Chassia, in: Top. antique et géographie historique en pays grec, 1992, 139-155  E. Kirsten, s.v. Pharkadon, RE 19, 1835-1838  H. Kramolisch, s.v. Pharkadon, in: Lauffer, Griechenland, 535  Koder/Hild, 238.

[German version] Doliche [1] (Δολίχη; Dolíchē). City of the Perrhaebic Tripolis (with Azorus and Pythium) in western Olympus on the border of Macedonian Elimiotis. D. is now identified not with today's village of Duklista but with the ruins at the village of Sarantaporo. Kramolisch, Herwig (Eppelheim) Bibliography G. Lucas, La Tripolis de Perrhébie et ses confins, in: I. Blum (ed.), Topographie antique et géographie historique en pays grec, 1992, 93-137 F. Stählin, Das hellen. Thessalien, 1924, 21 Th. Tzaphalias, in: Thessaliko Himerologio 8, 1985, 140-144 (exploration). …

[German version] (Ὀλοσσών/ Olossṓn). City of the Perrhaebi (Str. 9,5,19: Ὀλοόσσων/ Oloóssōn), their original capital city, on the northern edge of a plain on the south-western slope of Lower Olympus (cf. Olympus [1]). Continuously settled from the Mycenaean period; according to the Homeric catalogue of ships (Hom. Il. 2,739: Ὀλοόσσων), it belonged to the territory of Polypoetes [1]. An inscription establishing the boundary with Dion [II 2] (CIL III 591; 101 n.Chr.) has been preserved. The fort (Procop. Aed…

[German version] (Δώτιον πεδίον; Dôtion pedíon). The northern part of the eastern Thessalian plain between river Peneius in the north, the Ossa and Pelion range in the east, Lake Boebe in the south and Lake Nessonis as well as Erimon mountain-range in the west was designated as Dotium. An old road to the  Tempe valley led through the initially densely forested, fertile alluvial land. D. was considered the birthplace of Asclepius (Hom. h. 16). Most of the places known from literature, i.a. a Demeter s…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Grain Trade, Grain Import | Apollo (Ἄτραξ; Átrax). City in the Thessalian Pelasgiotis, c. 20 km west of Larisa on the Peneius. Settled since the Mycenaean era (finds of pottery sherds), coins since the 4th cent. BC. A fortress under Macedonian rulership (from 344), played a significant role in the wars from 198 on (Liv. 32,15,8). Since 196 A. often provided strategoi for the new Thessalian Federation as well as its cult envoys to Delphi. Under Justinian the fortification of the upper city was restored, …

(μητρόπολις/ mētrópolis, literally ‘mother city’). [German version] [1] Mother city of colonies in the era of the ‘Great’ Colonisation (c. 750-500 BC) Since the so-called Great Colonisation (c. 750-500 BC, Colonization IV, cf. the overview there), in numerous Greek communities an oikistḗs (‘founder’) and further ápoikoi (‘settlers’, ‘colonists’) were selected from the citizenry of the future metropolis as starting point for a colonisation enterprise (or they left on their own initiative) and entrusted with the establishment of an apoikía outside the …

[German version] [1] Town in southern Perrhaebia (Μύλαι; Mýlai). Town in southern Perrhaebia ( Perrhaebi) between Chyretiae und Phalanna, mentioned in literature only about the year 171 BC, when it was captured and plundered by Perseus after a long resistance (Liv. 42,54,1ff.). Starting from the evidence in Livy, M. has been located in a citadel's ruins - the walls had been restored during the Byzantine period - on a steep hill above the Xerias (= Titaresius) near present Damasion, where also inscriptions attributed to M. have been discovered (IG IX 2, 332-337; [1]). Kramolisch, Herwig …

(Μέλας/ Mélas). [German version] [1] Brother of Oeneus Son of Porthaon (Portheus) and Euryte in Calydon [3], brother of Oeneus, Agrius [1], Alcathous [2], Leucopeus and Sterope (cf. Hom. Il. 14,115ff.; Apollod. 1,63). M.'s eight sons were killed by Tydeus for pursuing their uncle Oeneus (Apollod. 1,76 = Alcmaeonis fr. 4 EpGF). Dräger, Paul (Trier) [German version] [2] Son of Phrixus and Chalciope Son of Phrixus and Chalciope [2], the daughter of Aeetes, brother of Argus [I 2], Phrontis and Cytis(s)orus (Apollod. 1,83). In the older myth M., like Argus, prob…

[German version] (Κυνὸς Κεφαλαί; Kynòs Kephalaí, ‘heads of dogs’). Part of the central Thessalian mountain range Chalcodonion (modern Mavrovuni, formerly Karadağ) between Pherae and Scotussa with many limestone rounded hilltops (hence the name). At C. in 364 BC the Thebans under Pelopidas defeated Alexander of Pherae (Plut. Pelopidas 32). In 197 Philip V suffered decisive defeat here against T. Quinctius Flamininus (Pol. 18,20ff.). Antiochus III had the bones of the fallen Macedonians buried in 191 (…

[German version] (Δόλοπες; Dólopes). The D. were the south-western neighbours of the Thessalians, possibly split off from them during their immigration and driven out of the plains. Their area of settlement ─ without access to the coast ─ lay between Achaea Phthiotis in the east, Spercheus valley in the south, Epirus in the west and the central Pindus, a mountainous country, very sparsely settled then as now and, since the southern Pindus has a strong north-south folding, passable only in that dire…

[German version] This item can be found on the following maps: Christianity (Τρίκκα/ Tríkka). Capital of Hestiaeotis in western Thessaly, on the Lethaeus (modern Trikkalinos), which flows from the Chasia Mountains. T. is mentioned in the Iliad as the place of origin of the Asclepius cult (Hom. Il. 2,729-733). In the Classical period T. was already minting its own coins (HN 310). T. became Macedonian after 352 BC (Diod. Sic. 18,56,5; Pelinna), was Aetolian for a time at the end of the 3rd cent. and was won back by Thessaly in 186/5…