Εμφανίζονται 1 τίτλοι με αναζήτηση: Πληροφορίες για τον τόπο στην ευρύτερη περιοχή: "ΤΡΟΙΖΗΝΙΑ Αρχαία περιοχή ΠΕΛΟΠΟΝΝΗΣΟΣ" .
ΤΡΟΙΖΗΝΙΑ (Αρχαία περιοχή) ΠΕΛΟΠΟΝΝΗΣΟΣ
Troezen (Troizen; also Troizene, Ptol. iii. 16. § 12: Eth. Troizenios:
the territory ge Troizenia, Eurip. Med. 683; he Troizenis ge, Thuc. ii. 56), a
city of Peloponnesus, whose territory formed the south-eastern corner of the district
to which the name of Argolis was given at a later time. It stood at their distance
of 15 stadia front the coast, in a fertile plain, which is described below. (Strab.
viii. p. 373.) Few cities of Peloponnesus boasted of so remote an antiquity; and
many of its legends are closely connected with those of Athens, and prove that
its original population was of the Ionic race. According to the Troezenians themselves,
their country was first called Oraea from the Egyptian Orus, and was next named
Althepia from Althepus, the son of Poseidon and Leis, who was the daughter of
Orus. In the reign of this king, Poseidon and Athena contended, as at Athens,
for the land of the Troezenians, but, through the mediation of Zeus, they became
the joint guardians of the country, Hence, says Pausanias, a trident and the head
of Athena are represented on the ancient coins of Troezen. (Comp. Mionnet, Suppl.
iv. p. 267. § 189.) Althepus was succeeded by Saron, who built a temple of the
Saronian Artemis in a marshy place near the sea, which was hence called the Phoebaean
marsh (Phoibaia limne), but was afterwards named Saronis, because Saron was buried
in the ground belonging to the temple. The next kings mentioned are Hyperes and
Anthas, who founded two cities, named Hypereia and Antheia. Aetius, the son of
Hyperes, inherited the kingdom of his father and uncle, and called one of the
cities Poseidonias. In his reign, Troezen and Pittheus, who are called the sons
of Pelops, and may be regarded as Achaean princes, settled in the country, and
divided the power with Aetius. But the Pelopidae son supplanted the earlier dynasty;
and on the death of Troezen, Pittheus united the two Ionic settlements into one
city, which he called Troezen after his brother. Pittheus was the grandfather
of Theseus by his daughter Aethra; and the great national hero of the Athenians
was born and educated at Troezen. The close connection between the two states
is also intimated by the legend that two important demi of Attica, Anaphlystus
and Sphettus, derived their names from two sons of Troezen. (Paus. ii. 30. § §
5-9.) Besides the ancient names of Troezen already specified, Stephanus B. (s.
v. Troizen) mentions Aphrodisias, Saronia, Poseidonias, Apollonias and Anthanis.
Strabo likewise says (ix. p. 373) that Troezen was called Poseidonia from its
being sacred to Poseidon.
At the time of the Trojan War Troezen was subject to Argos (Hom. Il.
ii. 561); and upon the conquest of the Peloponnesus by the Dorians, it received
a Dorian colony from Argos. (Paus. ii. 30. § 10.) The Dorian settlers appear to
have been received on friendly terms by the ancient inhabitants, who continued
to form the majority of the population; and although Troezen became a Doric city,
it still retained its Ionic sympathies and traditions. At an early period Troezen
was a powerful maritime state, as is shown by its founding the cities of Halicarnassus
and Myndus in Caria. (Paus. ii. 30. § 8; Herod. vii. 99; Strab. viii. p. 374.)
The Troezenians also took part with the Achaeans in the foundation of Sybaris,
but they were eventually driven out by the Achaeans. (Aristot. Pol. v. 3.) It
has been conjectured with much probability that the expelled Troezenians may have
been the chief founders of Poseidonia (Paestum), which Solinus calls a Doric colony,
and to which they gave the ancient name of their own city in Peloponnesus.
In the Persian War the Troezenians took an active part. After the
battle of Thermopylae, the harbour of Troezen was appointed as the place of rendezvous
for the Grecian fleet (Herod. viii. 42); and when the Athenians were obliged to
quit Attica upon the approach of Xerxes, the majority of them took refuge at Troezen,
where they were received with the greatest kindness by the semi-ionic population.
(Herod. viii. 41; Plut. Them. 10.) The Troezenians sent 5 ships to Artemisium
and Salamis, and 1000 men to Plataeae, and they also fought at the battle of Mycale.
(Herod. viii. 1, ix. 28, 102.) After the Persian war the friendly connection between
Athens and Troezen appears to have continued; and during the greatness of the
Athenian empire before the thirty years' peace (B.C. 455) Troezen was an ally
of Athens, and was apparently garrisoned by Athenian troops; but by this peace
the Athenians were compelled to relinquish Troezen. (Thuc. i. 115, iv. 45.) Before
the Peloponnesian War the two states became estranged from one another; and the
Troezenians, probably from hostility to Argos, entered into close alliance with
the Lacedaemonians.
In the Peloponnesian War the Troezenians remained the firm allies
of Sparta, although their country, from its maritime situation and its proximity
to Attica, was especially exposed to the ravages of the Athenian fleet. (Thuc.
ii. 56, iv. 45.) In the Corinthian War, B.C. 394, the Troezenians fought upon
the side of the Lacedaemonians (Xen. Hell. iv. 2. 16); and again in B.C. 373 they
are numbered among the allies of Sparta against Athens. (Xen. Hell. vi. 2. 3)
In the Macedonian period Troezen passed alternately into the hands of the contending
powers. In B.C. 303 it was delivered, along with Argos, from the Macedonian yoke,
by Demetrius Poliorcetes; but it soon became subject to Macedonia, and remained
so till it was taken by the Spartan Cleonymus in B.C. 278. (Polyaen. Strat. ii.
29. § 1; Frontin. Strat. iii. 6. § 7.) Shortly afterwards it again became a Macedonian
dependency; but it was united to the Achaean League by Aratus after he had liberated
Corinth. (Paus. ii. 8. § 5.) In the war between the Achaean League and the Spartans,
it was taken by Cleomenes, in B.C. 223 (Polyb. ii. 52; Plut. Cleom. 19); but after
the defeat of this monarch at Sellasia in B.C. 221, it was doubtless restored
to the Achaeans. Of its subsequent history we have no information. It was a place
of importance in the time of Strabo (viii. p. 373), and in the second century
of the Christian era it continued to possess a large number of public buildings,
of which Pausanias has given a detailed account. (Paus. ii. 31, 32.)
According to the description of Pausanias, the monuments of Troezen
may be divided into three classes, those in the Agora and its neighbourhood, those
in the sacred inclosure of Hippolytus, and those upon the Acropolis. The Agora
seems to have been surrounded with stoae or colonnades, in which stood marble
statues of the women and children who fled for refuge to Troezen at the time of
the Persian invasion. In the centre of the Agora was a temple of Artemis Soteira,
said to have been dedicated by Theseus, which contained altars of the infernal
gods. Behind the temple stood the monument of Pittheus, the founder of the city,
surmounted by three chairs of white marble, upon which he and two assessors are
said to have administered justice. Not far from thence was the temple of the Muses,
founded by Ardalus, a son of Hephaestus, where Pittheus himself was said to have
learnt the art of discourse; and before the temple was an altar where sacrifices
were offered to the Muses and to Sleep, the deity whom the Troezenians considered
the most friendly to these goddesses.
Near the theatre was the temple of Artemis Lyceia, funded by Hippolytus.
Before the temple there was the very stone upon which Orestes was purified by
nine Troezenians. The so-called tent of Orestes, in which he took refuge before
his expiation, stood in front of the temple of Apollo Thearius, which was the
most ancient temple that Pausanias knew. The water used in the purification of
Orestes was drawn from the sacred fountain Hippocrene, struck by the hoof of Pegasus.
In the neighbourhood was a statue of Hermes Polygius, with a wild olive tree,
and a temple of Zeus Soter, said to have been erected by Aetius, one of the mythical
kings of Troezen.
The sacred enclosure of Hippolytus occupied a large space, and was
a most conspicuous object in the city. The Troezenians denied the truth of the
ordinary story of his being dragged to death by his horses, but worshipped him
as the constellation Auriga, and dedicated to him a spacious sanctuary, the foundation
of which was ascribed to Diomede. He was worshipped with the greatest honours;
and each virgin, before her marriage, dedicated a lock of her hair to him. (Eurip.
Hippol. 1424; Paus. ii. 32. § 1.)
The sacred enclosure contained, besides the temple of Hippolytus,
one of Apollo Epibaterius, also dedicated by Diomede. On one side of the enclosure
was the stadium of Hippolytus, and above it the temple of Aphrodite Calascopia,
so called because Phaedra beheld from this spot Hippolytus as he exercised in
the stadium. In the neighbourhood was shown the tomb of Phaedra, the monument
of Hippolytus, and the house of the hero, with the fountain called the Herculean
in front of it.
The Acropolis was crowned with the temple of Athena Polias or Sthenias;
and upon the slope of the mountain was a sanctuary of Pan Lyterius, so called
because lie put a stop to the plague. Lower down was the temple of Isis, built
by the Halicarnassians, and also one of Aphrodite Ascraea. The ruins of Troezen
lie west of the village of Dhamala. They consist only of pieces of wall of Hellenic
masonry or of Roman brickwork, dispersed over the lower slopes of the height,
upon which stood the Acropolis, and over the plain at its foot. The Acropolis
occupied a rugged and lofty hill, commanding the plain below, and presenting one
of the most extensive and striking prospects in Greece. There are in the plain
several ruined churches, which probably mark the site of ancient temples; and
several travellers have noticed the remains of the temple of Aphrodite Calascopia,
overlooking the cavity formerly occupied by the stadium. The chief river of the
plain flows by the ruins of Troezen, and is now called Potamni. It is the ancient
Taurius, afterwards called Hyllicus (Paus. ii. 32. § 7), fed by several streams,
of which the most important was the Chrysorrhoas, flowing through the city, and
which still preserved its water, when all the other streams had been dried up
by a nine years' drought. (Paus. ii. 31. § 10.)
The territory of Troezen was bounded on the W. by that of Epidaurus, on
the SW. by that of Hermione, and was surrounded on every other side by the sea.
The most important part of the territory was the fertile maritime plain, in which
Troezen stood, and which was bounded on the south by a range of mountains, terminating
in the promontories Scyllaeum and Bucephala, the most easterly points of the Peloponnesus.
Above the promontory Scyllaeum, and nearly due E. of Troezen, was a large bay,
protected by the island of Calaureia, named Pogon, where the Grecian fleet was
ordered to assemble before the battle of Salamis (Herod. viii. 42; Strab. viii.
p. 373.) The porttown, which was named Celenderis (Paus. ii. 32. § 9), appears
to have stood at the western extremity of the bay of Pogon, where some ancient
remains are found. The high rocky peninsula of Methana, which belonged to the
territory of Troezen and is united to the mainland by a narrow isthmus, is described
in a separate article. There were formerly two islands off the coast of Troezen,
named Calaureia and Sphaeria (afterwards Hiera), which are now united by a narrow
sandbank. (Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 442, seq.; Boblaye, Recherches, &c. p. 56;
Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. ii. p. 431, seq.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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