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MITROPOLIS (Ancient city) KARDITSA
Eth. Metropolites. A town of Histiaeotis in Thessaly, described by
Stephanus B. (s. v.) as a town in Upper Thessaly. Strabo says (ix. p. 438), that
Metropolis was founded by three insignificant towns, but that a larger number
was afterwards added, among which was Ithome. He further says, that Ithome was
within a quadrangle, formed by the four cities Tricca, Metropolis, Pelinnaeum,
and Gomphi. The position of Metropolis is also determined by its being on Caesar's
march from Gomphi to Pharsalus. (Caes. B C. iii. 81; Appian, B.C. ii. 64; Dion
Cass. xli. 51.) It was taken by Flamininus on his descending into this part of
Thessaly, after the battle of the Aous, B.C. 198. (Liv. xxxii. 15.) We learn from
an inscription that the territory of Metropolis adjoined that of Cierium (the
ancient Arne), and that the adjustment of their boundaries was a frequent subject
of discussion between the two peoples. Metropolis is mentioned in the sixth century
by Hierocles, and continued to exist in the middle ages under the name of Neo-Patrae
(Neai Patrai, Constant. de Them. ii. p. 50, ed. Bonn). The remains of Metropolis
are placed by Leake at the small village of Paleokastro, about 5 miles SW. of
Kardhitza. The city was of a circular form, and in the centre of the circle are
the vestiges of a circular citadel, part of the wall of which still exists in
the yard of the village church of Paleokastro, where is a collection of the sculptured
or inscribed remains found upon the spot within late years. Among other sculptures
Leake noticed one in low relief, representing a figure seated upon a rock, in
long drapery, and a mountain rising in face of the figure, at the foot of which
there is a man in a posture of adoration, while on the top of the mountain there
are other men, one of whom holds a hog in his hands. Leake conjectured with great
probability that the seated figure represents the Aphrodite of Metropolis, to
whom Strabo says (l. c.) that hogs were offered in sacrifice. (Leake, Northern
Greece, vol. iv. p. 506.)
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
(Metropolis). A town of Thessaly in Histiaeotis, near the Peneus, and between Gomphi and Pharsalus. There were several other cities of this name, one in Phrygia, one in Lydia, and one in Acarnania.
A city of Hestiaiotis located at the foot of a low spur of the Pindus
Mts., some 9 km SW of Karditsa, in the W Thessalian plain. It was formed from
a synoecism of various towns, perhaps represented by ruins at Pyrgos, Vunesi,
Portitsa. It was one of the corners of the square formed by Trikka, Metropolis,
Pelinna, and Gomphoi (Strab. 9.437-38). It is first heard of in the 4th c. B.C.
and issued coinage ca. 400 to 344 B.C. and again ca. 300 to 200. Its outlying
farms were attacked in 198 B.C. by the Aitolians when it was under Macedonian
control (Livy 32.13.11, see also Sperchieiai, Dhranista) and in the same year
it surrendered to Rome (Livy 32.15.3). It seems to have been prosperous and an
important member of the post 196 B.C. Thessalian League. Justinian renewed its
walls (Procop. De aed. 4.3.5).
The remains of the ancient city (site confirmed by inscriptional evidence)
are few. Modern Mitropolis (formerly Paiaiokastro) occupies the site. The city
wall, poorly preserved, is of rough-faced blocks, ca. 2 m thick, and seems to
be 4th-3d c. B.C. in date. The wall forms a circle some 5 km around, encompassing
an isolated hill in the plain, which in Leake's time at least, had part of a wall
preserved around it. Arvanitopoullos thought there were traces of two narrower
circuits within the outer city wall. In the center of the ancient city, near the
present Church of Haghios Georgios, were in Leake's time assorted architectural
fragments and pieces of sculpture, in part brought from the surrounding fields.
Here in 1911 Arvanitopoullos cleared ca. 10 m of a stereobate without discovering
its full dimensions. He found coins and sherds (now in the Volo Museum) said to
be of the 5th-3d c. B.C. and speculated that the foundation might be of a temple,
specifically the Temple of Aphrodite Kastnia, who was the chief goddess of the
city.
In 1909 at a place called Kalamia, apparently within the (outer?)
wall circuit, a tomb was opened which contained a rich assortment of silver and
bronze vessels and gold jewelry. The jewelry is of the first half of the 2d c.
B.C.; some of the other objects are earlier. Most of the finds were divided between
the Museums at Athens and Volo, but some of the jewelry is in the Hamburg Museum.
Arvanitopoullos excavated some more graves here in 1911. A Roman necropolis on
the road to Karditsa was excavated in the late 1920s.
T. S. Mackay, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Oct 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Two small fortresses 9.6 km W of Karditsa, on the N slopes of Mt. Korona (131.4 m). They form the SW part of the extensive fortification wall of the ancient town of Metropolis, whose fortification comprised the SE end of the four fortifications of Thessalian Hestiaiotis. Ruins of this surrounding wall can be followed partly for 5 km as far as Gralista, Pyrgos, Portitsa, and Vounesi, up the river Lapardas, where a part of the wall was excavated. The wall at this point was built into a series of projecting and recessed portions. On Mt. Koutra was situated the highest part of the acropolis of Metropolis. The fortress near Portitsa is called Stephane (wreath) because of its round shape.
G. S. Korres, 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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