Listed 67 sub titles with search on: Biographies for wider area of: "THESSALIA Region GREECE" .
LARISSA (Ancient city) THESSALIA
Campaspe, called Pancaste (Pankaste) by Aelian, and Pacate (Pakate) by Lucian, of Larissa, the favourite concubine of Alexander, and the first with whom he is said to have had intercourse. Apelles being commissioned by Alexander to paint Campaspe naked, fell in love with her, whereupon Alexander gave her to him as a present. According to some she was the model of Apelles' celebrated picture of the Venus Anadyomene, but according to others Phryne was the original of this painting. (Aelian, V. H. xii. 34; Plin. H. N. xxxv. 10. s. 36.12; Lucian, Imag. 7; Athen. xiii.)
ASPROPOTAMOS (Community) KALAMBAKA
1775 - 1826
MAVROMATI (Small town) KARDITSA
1780 - 1827
NERAIDOCHORI (Village) TRIKALA
1799 - 1869
SKIATHOS (Island) NORTH SPORADES
TSARITSANI (Small town) ELASSONA
1826 - 1881
MORFOVOUNI (Small town) KARDITSA
1883 - 1953
PEPARITHOS (Ancient city) SKOPELOS
Diocles. Of Peparethus, the earliest Greek historian, who wrote about the foundation
of Rome, and whom Q. Fabius Pictor is said to have followed in a great many points.
(Plut. Rom. 3, 8; Fest. s. v. Romam.) How long he lived before the time of Fabius
Pictor, is unknown. Whether he is the same as the author of a work on heroes (peri
heroon suntagma), which is mentioned by Plutarch (Quaest. Graec. 40), and of a
history of Persia (Persika), which is quoted by Josephus (Ant.Jud. x. 11.1), is
likewise uncertain, and it may be that the last two works belong to Diocles of
Rhodes, whose work on Aetolia (Aitolika) is referred to by Plutarch. (De Flum.
22.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
PROASTIO (Small town) KARDITSA
1892 - 1958
THESSALIA (Ancient area) GREECE
Cineas (Kineas), a Thessalian, the friend and minister of Pyrrhus, king of Epeirus.
He was the most eloquent man of his day, and reminded his hearers (in some degree)
of Demosthenes, whom he heard speak in his youth. Pyrrhus prized his persuasive
powers so highly, that "the words of Cineas (he was wont to say) had won him more
cities than his own arms". He was also famous for his conversational powers, and
some instances of his repartees are still preserved (Plin. H. N. xiv. 12). That
he was versed in the philosophy of Epicurus is plain from the anecdote related
by Cicero (Cat. Maj. 13) and Plutarch (Pyrrh. 20). But this is no ground for assuming
that he professed this philosophy. At all events he did not practise it; for,
instead of whiling away life in useless ease, he served Pyrrhus long and actively;
and he took so much interest in the art of war, as to epitomise the Tactica of
Aeneas (Aelian, Tact. 1); and this, no doubt, is the work to which Cicero refers
when he speaks of Cineas' books de re militari (ad Fam. ix. 25). Dr. Arnold says
Plutarch mentions his Commentaries, but it does not appear to what he refers.
The historical writer referred to by Strabo (vii.) may be the same person.
The most famous passage in his life is his embassy to Rome, with proposals
for peace from Pyrrhus, after the battle of Heraclea (B. C. 280). Cineas spared
no arts to gain favour. Thanks to his wonderful memory, on the day after his arrival
he was able (we are told) to address all the senators and knights by name (Plin.
H. N. vii. 24); and in after times stories were current that he sought to gain
them over by offering presents to them and their wives, which, however, were disdainfully
rejected (Plut. Pyrrh. 18; Diod. Exc. Vatic. xxii.; Liv. xxxiv. 4). The terms
he had to offer were hard, viz. that all the Greeks in Italy should be left free,
and that the Italian nations from Samnium downwards should receive back all they
had forfeited to Rome (Appian, Samn. Fragm. x.). Yet such was the need, and such
the persuasiveness of Cineas, that the senate would probably have yielded, if
the scale had not been turned by the dying eloquence of old Appius Caecus. The
ambassador returned and told the king (say the Romans), that there was no people
like that people -their city was a temple, their senate an assembly of kings.
Two years after (B. C. 278), when Pyrrhus was about to cross over into Sicily,
Cineas was again sent to negotiate peace, but on easier terms; and though the
senate refused to conclude a treaty while the king was in Italy, his minister's
negotiations were in effect successful (Appian, Samn. Frayem. xi.). Cineas was
then sent over to Sicily, according to his master's usual policy, to win all he
could by persuasion, before he tried the sword (Plut. Pyrrh. 22). And this is
the last we hear of him. He probably died before Pyrrhus returned to Italy in
B. C. 276, and with him the star of his master's fortune set. He was (as Niebuhr
says) the king's good genius, and his place was filled by unworthy favourites.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Menon. A Thessalian adventurer, one of the generals of the Greek mercenaries in the army of Cyrus the Younger, when the latter marched into Upper Asia against his brother Artaxerxes, B.C. 401. After the death of Cyrus he was apprehended along with the other Greek generals by Tissaphernes, and was put to death by lingering tortures, which lasted for a whole year. His character is drawn in the blackest colours by Xenophon. He is the same as the Menon introduced in the dialogue of Plato which bears his name.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
GYRTON (Ancient city) LARISSA
Heracleides. Of Gyrton in Thessaly, commanded the Thessalian cavalry in the army of Philip at the battle of Cynoscephalae. (Polyb. xviii. 5.)
THESSALIA (Ancient area) GREECE
Echekrates, (Echekrates). A Thessalian, was one of those whom the ministers of Ptolemy Philopator, when they were preparing for war with Antiochus the Great in B. C. 219, employed in the levying of troops and their arrangement into separate companies. He was entrusted with the command of the Greek forces in Ptolemyi's pay, and of all the mercenary cavalry, and did good service in the war, especially at the battle of Raphia in B. C. 217. (Polyb. v. 63, 65, 82, 85.)
Hippolochus. A Thessalian, who commanded a body of horse in the service of Ptolemy Philopator, with which he deserted to Antiochus the Great, during the war in Syria, B. C. 218. He was immediately afterwards detached by Antiochus, together with Ceraeas, who had deserted about the same time, to defend the province of Samaria. He is again mentioned as commanding the Greek mercenaries in the service of Antiochus at the battle of Raphia, B. C. 217. (Polyb. v. 70, 71, 79.)
Hippolochus. A Thessalian, who was sent by the Larissaeans, at the commencement of the war with Antiochus (B. C. 192), to occupy Pherae with a strong garrison, but, being unable to reach that place, he fell back upon Scotussa, where he and his troops were soon after compelled to surrender to Antiochus, but were dismissed in safety. (Liv. xxxvi. 9.)
SKIATHOS (Island) NORTH SPORADES
1850 - 1929
Alexandros Moraitidis was born in Skiathos on 15th October 1850. He
completed his primary school studies and the first two grades of the Hellenic
school in Skiathos. In 1866 he went to Athens where he completed the Hellenic
school (a school between primary and high school), in 1871 he graduated from Varvakio
High School and he enrolled in the Faculty of Philosophy in the University of
Athens. In 1872 he became a regular member of the literary group "Parnasos" while
in 1874 he started his journalistic career. In 1880 he was appointed in a teaching
position in Varvakio and in 1881 he was named a Doctor of philosophy with the
grade "very Good". In 1886 he received the medal of the silver cross of the Saviour.
He travelled repeatedly to the holy land, to Constantinople and to Agio Oros (Mount
of Athos). In 1901 he got married to Angeliki Foulaki in Athens.
In 1921 he received the national distinction of Arts and Letters
and in January 1928 he became a chaired member of the Academy of Athens. His greeting
letter to the President of the Academy was his only contact since he did not participate
in any conference or meeting. In 1929 in Skiathos he became a high-ranking priest
and was named Andronikos. In October in the same year he got ill and died in the
afternoon of 25th October 1929. His funeral was held the next day and G. Rigas
delivered a very warm funeral oration. Moraitidis cultivated all form of literature
and his work was inspired and characterised by a particular lyricism, deep religiousness
as well as love for Skiathos.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from the Municipality of Skiathos URL below, which contains image.
SKIATHOS (Small town) NORTH SPORADES
1851 - 1911
Alexandros Papadiamanis was born in Skiathos on 3rd March 1851 and
was the son of the priest Adamantios Emmanouil and Angeliki who was the daughter
of Alexandros Moraitidis. He completed the primary school and the first two grades
of the Hellenic school in Skiathos. He later attended a school in Skopelos and
in Piraeus and finally he graduated (he received the "apolytirion" of
High School) from Varvakio in 1874. In the same year in September, he registered
in the Faculty of Philosophy in the University of Athens but he never graduated
from it. At that time he wrote his first lyric poem about his mother. In 1879
he published his noved "the Immigrant" in the newspaper "Neologos".
In 1882 he started publishing his novel "The Merchants of the Nations"
in the newspaper "Mi hanese" (Don’t vanish). At the same time he started
working as a translator. In 1884 he started publishing in the newspaper "Akropolis"
his novel "Gypsy Girl". From 1892 to 1897 he worked as a regular correspondent
in the same newspaper.
From 1902 to 1904 he lived in Skiathos where he published his novel
"The Female Assasin". On March 13, 1908 in "Parnassos" a celebration
of his 25 years in the greek letters was held under the patronage of the Princess
Maria Vonaparti. Immediately after that he returned to Skiathos where he lived
until the end of his life. He died because of pneumonia in the morning of 3rd
January 1911. His funeral was held on the same day and the funeral oration was
delivered by G. Rigas. On 22nd November 1912 his grave was visited by Maria Vonaparti
and in 1925 his bust, which was created by Th. Thomopoulos, was erected.
The work of Alexandros Papadiamantis which is today internationally
acclaimed, was influenced directly by his island; the island where he was born
and died; the island which he loved and praised as much as nothing else. It was
also influenced by the people of his island whose life-stories he recreated and
enlivened in his writings. He was a perfect observer and student of human psychology
and of the morals and manners of his time. His unparalleled, full of lyricism
writing style gave birth to masterpieces of moral novels in modern Greece. As
a result, his name reminds us of Skiathos immediately. At the same time, on hearing
the word "Skiathos" we cannot help thinking of this great literary figure whose
personality marked indelibly both his island and his work.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from the Municipality of Skiathos URL below, which contains image.
KARDITSA (Town) THESSALIA
1897 - 1930
MORFOVOUNI (Small town) KARDITSA
1897 - 1993
LARISSA (Ancient city) THESSALIA
Anaxilaus (Anaxilaos), a physician and Pythagorean philosopher, was born at Larissa,
but at which city of that name is not certain. He was banished by the Emperor
Augustus from Rome and Italy, B. C. 28, on account of his being accused of being
a magician (Euseb. Chron. ad Olymp. clxxxviii.), which charge, it appears, originated
in his possessing superior skill in natural philosophy, and thus performing by
natural means certain wonderful things, which by the ignorant and credulous were
ascribed to magic. These tricks are mentioned by St. Irenaeus (i. 13.1) and St.
Epiphanius (Adv. Haeres.), and several specimens are given by Pliny (H. N. xix.
4, xxv. 95, xxviii. 49, xxxii. 52, xxxv. 50), which, however, need not be here
mentioned, as some are quite incredible, and the others may be easily explained.
Charmides, called also Charmadas by Cicero, a disciple of Cleitomachus the Carthaginian,
and a friend and companion (as he had been the fellow-pupil) of Philo of Larissa,
in conjunction with whom he is said by some to have been the founder of a fourth
Academy. He flourished, therefore, towards the end of the second and at the commencement
of the first century B. C. Cicero, writing in B. C. 45, speaks of him as recently
dead (Tusc. Disp. i. 24). On the same authority we learn, that he was remarkable
for his eloquence and for the great compass and retentiveness of his memory. His
philosophical opinions were doubtless coincident with those of Philo (Cic. Acad.
Quaest. iv. 6, Orat. 16, de Orat. ii. 88; Plin. H. N. vii. 24).
Eurylochus, a sceptical philosopher a disciple of Pyrrho, mentioned by Diogenes Laertius (ix. 68). The same writer mentions another Eurylochus of Larissa, to whom Socrates refused to place himself under obligation by accepting money from him, or going to his house (ii. 25).
PEPARITHOS (Ancient city) SKOPELOS
Ellopion, of Peparethus, a Socratic philosopher, who is mentioned only by Plutarch (De Gen. Socrat.)
KYNOS KEFALES (Ancient city) THESSALIA
522 - 446
Pindarus, Pindar, (Pindaros). The greatest of the Greek lyric
poets, son of Daiphantos, was born at or near Thebes, B.C. 522. He belonged to
a noble and priestly family and was carefully educated. His musical training was
received from the best masters of the time, among whom is mentioned, perhaps without
sufficient warrant, Lasos of Hermione, the regenerator of the dithyramb. Familiar
is the story of his unsuccessful contest with Corinna, and of the advice which
she gave the youthful poet when he crowded the opening of one of his hymns with
mythological figures: "Sow with the hand and not with the whole sack."
Pindar began his career as a local poet early in life, and the Tenth Pythian,
which is said to have been composed when he was only twenty years old, shows all
the elements of his future greatness. By the time of the Persian War Pindar had
risen to the position of a national poet, and though he was a good Theban and
a stanch aristocrat, though he was bound by the ties of his family, which belonged
to the old nobility, and by the ties of his people, who sided with the Persians,
he was too true a Greek, too thoroughly Pan-Hellenic not to be proud of the victory
of the Greeks of Attica over the Persians, and the victory of the Greeks of Sicily
over the Carthaginians. According to the well-known story the high praise which
he bestowed on Athens as the "Stay of Greece" roused the indignation
of the Thebans, who imposed on him a heavy fine, which the Athenians reimbursed
twofold, adding, as is further reported, a statue and other honours. Like the
other lyric poets of his time, Pindar travelled far and wide in fulfilment of
his calling, though, doubtless, he often sent his song instead of going himself.
A long sojourn in Sicily is beyond a doubt, and Aegina, which he loved only next
to Thebes, must have been to him a second home; nor is it unlikely that he knew
Macedon in the North and Cyrene in the South. He was received everywhere with
veneration and bore himself as a peer of princes. And not only was he honoured
by the highest on earth, but the gods themselves are said to have shown him special
favour and to have sent him at last the boon of a swift and easy death as he rested
his head on the lap of his favourite in the theatre or in the gymnasium of Argos.
The date of that death we do not know with certainty, but his life can hardly
have been prolonged much beyond the middle of the fifth century. The reverence
felt for the poet in his lifetime was paid to his genius after his death, and
when Thebes was pillaged and destroyed by the Macedonian soldiery in the next
century, the house of Pindar was spared by the express order of Alexander the
Great, whose ancestor he had celebrated in song.
Pindar was a consummate master of the whole domain of lyric
poetry, as is shown by the fragments of his hymns (humnoi), his paeans (paianes),
his dancing-songs (huporchemata), his processional songs (prosodia), his songs
for choruses of virgins (parthenia), his songs of praise (enkomia), his drinking-songs
(paroinia) and catches (skolia), his dithyrambs (dithuramboi) and dirges (threnoi).
These show the breadth of his genius; the height of it we must estimate by the
one group of his poems which we have entire, the Songs of Victory (epinikia or
epinikoi), composed to celebrate the successful contestants in the great national
games of Greece, Olympian (Olumpionikai, sc. humnoi), Pythian (Puthionikai), Nemean
(Nemeonikai), Isthmian (Isthmionikai). In these poems, which were delivered by
trained choruses, the poet is the spokesman, and this is an important point for
the appreciation of the often intensely personal tone of the lyric chorus as compared
with the chorus of the drama. A victory at one of the great games was a matter
of joy and pride not only to the victor himself and to his kindred, but also to
the community, so that there is a peculiar blending of the private with the public,
of intimate allusion with wide scope. The elements are many: festal joy, wise
and thoughtful counsel, the uplifting of the heart in prayer for prince and for
people, the inspiration of a fervent patriotism; but the victory is the dominant
theme, and that victory is raised to the high level of the eternal prevalence
of the beautiful and the good over the foul and the base; the victor is transfigured
into a glorious personification of his race, and the present is reflected, magnified,
illuminated in the mirror of the mythic past. The epinician becomes the triumphal
song of Hellenism and the triumphal song of idealized humanity. To understand
this it is necessary to understand also the deep religious and ethical and artistic
meaning of the great games of Greece, of which the Olympian Games were the crown;
so that whatever else a man might achieve or suffer, an Olympian victory was sunshine
for life. "To spend and to toil"--this is the motto of him who would
attain; a motto that means self-sacrifice, submission to authority, devotion to
the public weal; and this motto is incarnate in the Pindaric Heracles, who is
held up as the type of achievement and endurance in obedience to the divine will.
Heracles is the Doric ideal, and Pindar his last prophet. Pindar still lives in
the world of the old gods, still believes in the array of their shining forms,
and if he rejects a myth that dishonours god, his faith is intact, the priestly
temper conquers. Life was a serious thing to him. The melancholy strain that is
not absent from Homer, that dominates Hesiod, makes itself heard in Pindar. We
hear over and over again of the shortness and the sorrowfulness of human life,
the transitoriness of its pleasures, our utter dependence upon the will of an
envious god. And yet it is not a melancholy that degenerates into doleful brooding.
It is ‘a spur that the clear spirit doth raise’ to noble action. But for noble
action noble blood is necessary. Pindar is an aristocrat, and to him the blood
of the gods is the true channel of the grace of the gods. Government fitly reposes
only in the hands of those who are endowed by nature for the work of the ruler,
and what is true of government is true also of art. Art is divine, and the eagle,
the bird of Zeus, is its chosen symbol. Ineffectual chatter is all that can be
expected of crows and daws. But the divine right of government, the divine right
of genius, is not absolute, and is to be exercised only in obedience to divine
law. Native endowment being god-given involves the duty of self-restraint, which
is imposed by the giver. And this "measure," which is the summary of
Pindaric ethics, brings with it the recompense of reward in that other world which
Pindar sees and makes us see with a startling sense of reality.
Pindar was claimed by the ancient rhetoricians as an exemplar
of the "austere" style, as belonging to the same order as Aeschylus
in tragedy, as Thucydides in history. His style is the grand style, but grand
after the antique pattern of grandeur, which combines weight and fulness of meaning
with artistic exactness in every detail. The copiousness of Pindar is a commonplace,
but the subtle art of Pindar is often overlooked in the earlier characterizations
of his poetry, and it is safe to follow the poet himself, who bears ample witness
to his own excellences. Opulence, elevation, force, cunning workmanship, vigorous
execution--these are all claimed by the poet for himself; and his splendour, his
loftiness, his wealth of imagery, his forceful concentration, his varied metaphor,
his vivid narrative, his superb diction must be recognized at once, though the
admiration of these characteristics is indefinitely enhanced by closer study.
But what withdraws itself from the reader is the sequence of thought, the planfulness
of the epinician, and yet this is a point which Pindar also insists on. This planfulness,
though disregarded or denied by literary people ancient and modern, has been diligently
sought after by the best commentators and by the most thoughtful students of Pindar,
and while no consensus has been reached, much has been done to show sequence and
balance, to reproduce the architectonic principle, to bring out the relations
of the myth which forms the heart of every ode to the rest of the organism, to
trace the thread of the thought and to make audible the burden of the song as
revealed by the recurrence of significant words and significant sentiments. Despite
much straining and much overinterpretation, Pindar is much nearer to us than he
was ever before. The music and the dance are lost without which the full significance
of a Pindaric ode cannot be appreciated, but the rhythm remains, and under the
guidance of the rhythm we can penetrate into many of the recesses of Pindaric
songs.
The great Pindaric MSS. are, according to Mommsen's notation,
A (Ambrosianus A), twelfth century; B (Vaticanus B), also of the twelfth century;
C (Parisinus G), belongs to the close of the twelfth century); D (Mediceus B)
in the Laurentian Library at Florence, thirteenth or fourteenth century. The inferior
MSS. are called Thomani, Moschopulei, Tricliniani, as they represent the editions
of Thomas Magister, Moschopulos, and Triclinius. A good reading in them is a lucky
accident.
The older scholia to Pindar go back to Didymus as Didymus goes
back to an earlier time, and they have a certain value for the constitution of
the text; the later scholia have very little value of any kind. A critical edition
was begun by E. Abel with Nemeans and Isthmians in 1884.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Nov 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
EFXINOUPOLI (Small town) MAGNESSIA
25/3/1939
Member of Parliament
1956
General Secretary of Communications
KRANEA ELASSONAS (Small town) ELASSONA
1944
Former Deputy Minister of Social Affairs
RACHOULA (Village) KARDITSA
1914
FARSALOS (Ancient city) THESSALIA
Crastinus, one of Caesar's veterans, who had been the primipilus in the tenth legion in the year before the battle of Pharsalus, and who served as a volunteer in the campaign against Pompey. It was he who commenced the battle of Pharsalus, B. C. 48, saying that, whether he survived or fell, Caesar should be indebted to him : he died fighting bravely in the foremost line (Caes. B. C. iii. 91, 92; Flor. iv. 2.46; Lucan, vii. 471, &c.; Appian, B. C. ii. 82; Plut. Pomp. 71, Caes. 44).
KISSOS (Village) ZAGORA-MOURESI
Rigas Feraios (see Velestino).
He was a teacher in this village during the turkish domination in Greece. His
bust is placed in the school yard.
MAKRINITSA (Village) VOLOS
Theofilos Hajimichael was born round 1868 in Varia
in Mitilini. Travelling in search of a job reaches Volo and Pelion
in about 1899 where he stays for 30 years. Theofilos paints in the town of Volos,
mainly in cafenia1, taverns, inns and in the villages round Volos
in mansions, churches and shops.
In Makrinitsa he paints in a cafenio2 named after
him and is dated since 1910. In the eastern wall on the right of the entrance
of the cafenio, there is a fresco-painting with dimensions 3,15x2,50m with a theme
of Katsadoni in Joumerka.
The painting represents a feast of Katsadoni with his brave men in a mountainous
landscape.
1-2 : Cafenia - Cafenio (Small cafeteria)
This text is cited September 2004 from the Community of Makrinitsa URL below, which contains images
SKIATHOS (Small town) NORTH SPORADES
1884 - 1960
He was born in Skiathos on 20th November 1884 and he was related to
Papadiamantis on his mother's side. He attended Varvakio for two years where Alexandros
Moraitidis taught and in 1901 he received his diploma from the Didaskalion of
Athens. In the same year he was appointed in a teaching position in Skiathos where
he remained until 1940.In 1920 he attended the Hieratical frontistirion of the
Rizarios School for a year. He was ordained priest and immediately became intendant
and a prelatic church warden of Skiathos. He died in Athens on 11 July 1960 and
his funeral was held on his island with all the inhabitant's pesence.
He was involved from his early years with the folklore of his island
supported by his collective ability and conscientious nature. At the same time
he showed his love for Byzantine music and hymnography. He had a close relationship
from his early years with both Alexandros Papadiamantis and Alexandros Moraitidis
and this helped him later, in his intellectual pursuits and performance. Georgios
Rigas was a tireless and creative researcher, an authority on matters of the Church
Ritual and a folklore researcher characterised by scientific observation, conscientiousness
and gravity. He was also a methodic teacher and a master of liturgy. His presence
in the school and the church of Skiathos has remained historic.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from the Municipality of Skiathos URL below, which contains image.
TSARITSANI (Small town) ELASSONA
1780 - 1857
Cleric, theologist, philologist and writer.
FERES (Ancient city) RIGAS FERAIOS
Lycophron. A citizen of Pherae, where he put down the government of the nobles
and established a tyranny. Aiming further at making himself master of the whole
of Thessaly, he overthrew in a battle, with great slaughter (B. C. 404), the Larissaeans
and others of the Thessalians, who opposed him, adherents, no doubt, of the Aleuadae.
(Xen. Hell. ii. 3. 4.) Schneider (ad Xen. l. c.) conjectures that the troops and
money obtained in the preceding year by Aristippus of Larissa from Cyrus the Younger
were intended to resist the attempts of Lycophron (Xen. Anab. i. 1. 10). In B.
C. 395, Medius of Larissa, probably the head of the Aleuadae, was engaged in war
with Lycophron, who was assisted by Sparta, while Medius received succours from
the opposite confederacy of Greek states, which enabled him to take Pharsalus.
(Diod. xiv. 82.) Of the manner and period of Lycophron's death we know nothing.
He was probably the father of Jason of Pherae.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Jason (Iason), tyrant of Pherae and Tagus
of Thessaly, was probably the son of Lycophron, who established a tyranny
on the ruins of aristocracy at Pherae, about the end of the Peloponnesian war,
and aimed at dominion overall the Thessalians (Xen. Hell. ii. 3.4; Diod. xiv.
82). From this passage of Diodorus we know that Lycophron was still alive in B.
C. 395, but we cannot fix the exact time at which Jason succeeded him, nor do
we find anything recorded of the latter till towards the close of his life. Wyttenbach,
however (ad Plut. Mor. p. 89, c.), may possibly be right in his conjecture that
the Prometheus who is mentioned by Xenophon as engaged in struggles against the
old aristocratic families of Thessaly, with the aid of Critias, was no other than
Jason (Xen. Mem. i. 2.24, Hell. ii. 3.36). It is at least certain that the surname
in question could not have been applied more appropriately. He not only adopted,
but expanded the ambitious designs of Lycophron, and he advanced towards the fulfilment
of his schemes ably, energetically, and unscrupulously. In B. C. 377 we find him
aiding Theogenes to seize the Acropolis of Histiaea in Euboea, from which, however,
the latter was afterwards dislodged by the Lacedaemonians under Therippidas or
Herippidas (Diod. xv. 30). In B. C. 375 all the Thessalian towns had been brought
under Jason's dominion, with the exception of Pharsalus, which had been entrusted
by the citizens to the direction of Polydamas. Alcetas I., king of Epeirus, was
associated with him rather as a dependent than an ally, and Thebes was leagued
with him from enmity to Sparta, from which latter state, though it had supported
Lycophron (Diod. xiv. 82), he held aloof, probably because of its connection with
Pharsalus (Xen. Hell. vi. 2, 13), and also from the policy of taking the weaker
side. He already kept in his pay 6000 picked mercenaries, with whose training
he took personally the greatest pains; and if he could unite Thessaly under himself
as Tagus, it would furnish him, in addition, with a force of 6000 cavalry and
more than 10,000 foot. The neighbouring tribes would yield him a body of lightarmed
troops, with which no others could cope. The Thessalian Penestae would effectually
man his ships, and of these he would be able to build a far larger number than
the Athenians, as he might calculate on possessing as his own the resources of
Macedonia and all its ship-timber. If once therefore the lord of Thessaly, he
might fairly hope to become the master of Greece; and when Greece was in his power,
the weakness of the Persian empire, as shown especially by the retreat of the
Ten Thousand and the campaigns of Agesilaus in Asia, opened to him an unbounded
and glorious field of conquest (Xen. Hell. vi. 1. 4-12; comp. Isocr. ad Phil.;
Diod. xv. 60; Val. Max. ix. 10). But the first step to be taken was to secure
the dominion of Pharsalus. This he had the means of effecting by force, but he
preferred to carry his point by negotiation, and accordingly, in a personal conference
with Polydamas, he candidly set before him the nature and extent of his plans
and his resources, represented to him that opposition on the part of Pharsalus
would be fruitless, and urged him therefore to use his influence to bring over
the town to submission, promising him the highest place, except his own, in power
and dignity. Polydamas answered that he could not honourably accept his offer
without the consent of Sparta, with which he was in alliance ; and Jason, with
equal frankness, told him to lay the state of the case before the Lacedaemonians,
and see whether they could adequately support Pharsalus against his power. Polydamas
did so, and the Lacedaemonians replied that they were unable to give the required
help, and advised him to make the best terms he could for himself and his state.
Polydamas then acceded to the proposal of Jason, asking to be allowed to retain
the citadel of Pharsalus for those who had entrusted it to him, and promising
to use his endeavors to bring the town into alliance with him, and to aid [p.
555] him in getting himself chosen Tagus. Soon after this, probably in B. C. 374,
Jason was elected to the office in question, and proceeded to settle the contingent
of cavalry and heavy-armed troops which each Thessalian city was to furnish, and
the amount of tribute to be paid by the perioikoi, or subject people. He also
entered into an alliance with Amyntas II., king of Macedonia (Xen. Hell. vi. 1.2-19;
Diod. xv. 60; Plut. Pol. Praec. 24, Reg. et Imp. Apoph. Epam. 13). In B. C. 373
Jason and Alcetas I., king of Epeirus, came to Athens, with which they were both
in alliance at the time, to intercede on behalf of Timotheus, who was acquitted,
on his trial, in a great measure through their influence (Dem. c. Tim.; Corn.
Nep. Tim. 4). In B. C. 371, after the battle of Leuctra, the Thebans sent intelligence
of it to Jason, as their ally, requesting his aid. Accordingly, he manned some
triremes, as if he meant to go to the help of the Thebans by sea; and having thus
thrown the Phocians off their guard, marched repidly through their country, and
arrived safely at Leuctra. Here the Thebans were anxious that he should join them
in pressing their victory over the enemy; but Jason (who had no wish to see Thebes
any more than Sparta in a commanding position) dissuaded them, by setting forth
the danger of driving the Lacedaemonians to despair. The latter he persuaded to
accept a truce, which would enable them to secure their safety by a retreat, representing
himself as actuated by a kindly feeling towards them, as his father had been on
terms of friendship with their state, and he himself still stood to them in the
relation of proxenus. Such is the account of Xenophon (Hell. vi. 4.20, &c.). According
to that of Diodorus, Jason arrived before the battle, and prevailed on both parties
to agree to a truce, in consequence of which the Spartan king, Cleombrotus, drew
off his army; but Archidamus had been sent to his aid with a strong reinforcement,
and the two commanders, having united their forces, returned to Boeotia, in defiance
of the compact, and were then defeated at Leuctra (Diod. xv. 54). This statement,
however, cannot be depended on. On his return through Phocis, Jason took Hyampolis
and ravaged its land, leaving the rest of the country undisturbed. He also demolished
the fortifications of the Lacedaemonian colony of Heracleia in Trachinia, which
commanded the passage from Thessaly into southern Greece, evidently (says Xenophon)
entertaining no fear of an attack on his own country, but wishing to keep open
a way for himself should he find it expedient to march to the south (Xen. Hell.
vi. 4.27; comp. Diod. xv. 57, who refers the demolition of Heracleia to B. C.
370). Jason was now in a position which held out to him every prospect of becoming
master of Greece. The Pythian games were approaching, and he proposed to march
to Delphi at the head of a body of Thessalian troops, and to preside at the festival.
Magnificent preparations were made for this, and much alarm and suspicion appear
to have been excited throughout Greece. The Delphians, fearing for the safety
of the sacred treasures, consulted the oracle on the subject, and received for
answer that the god himself would take care of them (Comp. Herod. viii. 36; Suid.
s. v. emoi melesei tauta kai leukas korais). Jason, having made all his preparations,
had one day reviewed his cavalry, and was sitting in public to give audience to
all comers, when he was murdered by seven youths, according to Xenophon and Ephorus,
who drew near under pretence of laying a private dispute before him. Two of the
assassins were slain by the body guard, the rest escaped, and were received with
honour in all the Grecian cities to which they came -a sufficient proof of the
general fear which the ambitious designs of Jason had excited. The fact, however,
that his dynasty continued after his death shows how fully he had consolidated
his power in Thessaly (Xen. Hell. vi. 4.28-32). It does not clearly appear what
motive his murderers had for the deed. Ephorus (ap. Diod. xv. 60) ascribed it
to the desire of distinction, which seems to point to a strong political feeling
against his rule; and this is confirmed by the anecdote of a former attempt to
assassinate him, which accidentally saved his life by opening an impostume from
which he was suffering, and on which his physicians had tried their skill in vain
(Cic. de Nat. Deor. iii. 28; Val. Max. i. 8. Ext. 6; comp. Xen. Hell. vi. 1.14;
Diod. xv. 57). Valerius Maximus (ix. 10, Ext. 2) tells us that the youths who
murdered him were excited by revenge because they had been punished with blows
for an assault on one Taxillus, a gymnasiarch. According to Diodorus (xv. 60),
some accounts mentioned Jason's own brother and successor, Polydorus, as his murderer.
An insatiable appetite for power -to use his own metaphor- was Jason's
ruling passion (Arist. Pol. iii. 4, ed. Bekk. ephe peinein hote me turannoi);
and to gratify this, he worked perseveringly and without the incumbrance of moral
scruples, by any and every means. With the chief men in the several states of
Greece, as e. g. with Timotheus and Pelopidas (Plut. Pelop. 28), he cultivated
friendly relations; and the story told by Plutarch and Aelian of the rejection
of his presents by Epaminondas, shows that he was ready to resort to corruption,
if he saw or thought he saw an opportunity. (Plut. de Gen. Soc. 14, Apoph. Reg.
et Imp. Epam. 13; Ael. V. H. xi. 9). We find also on record a maxim of his, that
a little wrong is justifiable for the sake of a great good (Arist. Rh/et. i. 12.31;
Plut. Pol. Praec. 24). He is represented as having all the qualifications of a
great general and diplomatist--as active, temperate, prudent, capable of enduring
much fatigue, and no less skilful than Themistocles in concealing his own designs
and penetrating those of his enemies (Xen. Hell. vi. 1.6; Diod. xv. 60; Cic. de
Off. i. 30). Pausanias tells us that he was an admirer of the rhetoric of Gorgias;
and among his friends he reckoned Isocrates, whose cherished vision of Greece
united against Persia made him afterwards the dupe of Philip (Paus. vi. 17; Isocr.
Ep. ad Jas. Fil.).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Jan 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Jason of Pherai (d. 370 BC). Ruler of Thessaly,
who was the son of the tyrant of Pherai (just north of Volos).
When his father died in 380 BC he succeeded him, and took control of the whole
of Thessaly with his 6000
mercenaries.
The situation in Thessaly
was then infested with constant battles between the various aristocratic families
of the area, and Jason found support from Athens
and Thebes. When Thebes
had defeated the Spartans at the battle of Leuctra
Jason intermediated so that the Spartan army could go home.
He wanted to create a state of hegemony in Greece,
and had the strongest military power of his time, with 20 000 foot soldiers and
a cavalry of 8000. He also built a fleet and planned a pan-Hellenic attack on
the Persians.
In 370 BC he wanted to lead the Pythian Games but a group of young
Thessalian aristocrats murdered him. Philip II of Macedonia
was to continue his plans.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
Alexander (Alexandros), tyrant of Pherae. The accounts of his usurpation vary
somewhat in minor points; Diodorus (xv. 61 ) tells us that, on the assassination
of Jason, B. C. 370, Polydorus his brother ruled for a year, and was then poisoned
by Alexander, another brother. According to Xenophon (Hell. vi. 4.34), Polydorus
was murdered by his brother Polyphron, and Polyphron, in his turn, B. C. 369,
1 by Alexander--his nephew, according to Plutarch, who relates also that Alexander
worshipped as a god the spear with which he slew his uncle (Plut. Pelop). Alexander
governed tyrannically, and according to Diodorus, differently from the former
rulers, but Polyphron, at least, seems to have set him the example. The Thessalian
states, however, which had acknowledged the authority of Jason the Tagus (Xen.
Hell. vi. 1.4, 5, &c.; Diod. xv. 60), were not so willing to subinit to the oppression
of Alexander the tyrant, and they applied therefore (and especially the old family
of the Aleuadae of Larissa, who had most reason to fear him) to Alexander, king
of Macedon, son of Amyntas II. The tyrant, with his characteristic energy, prepared
to meet his enemy in Macedonia, but the king anticipated him, and, reaching Larissa,
was admitted into the city, obliged the Thessalian Alexander to flee to Pherae,
and left a garrison in Larissa, as well as in Cranon, which had also come over
to him (Diod. xv. 61). But the Macedonian having retired, his friends in Thessaly,
dreading the vengeance of Alexander, sent for aid to Thebes, the policy of which
state, of course, was to check a neighbour who might otherwise become so formidable,
and Pelopidas was accordingly despatched to succour them. On the arrival of the
latter at Larissa, whence according to Diodorus (xv. 67) he dislodged the Macedonian
garrison, Alexander presented himself and offered submission; but soon after escaped
by flight, alarmed by the indignation which Pelopidas expressed at the tales he
heard of his cruelty and tyrannical profligacy. These events appear to be referable
to the early part of the year 368. In the summer of that year Pelopidas was again
sent into Thessaly, in consequence of fresh complaints against Alexander. Accompanied
by Ismenias, he went merely as a negotiator, and without any military force, and
venturing incautiously within the power of the tyrant, was seized by him and thrown
into prison (Diod. xv. 71; Plut. Pelop; Polyb. viii. 1). The language of Demosthenes
(c. Aristocr.) will hardly support Mitford's inference, that Pelopidas was taken
prisoner in battle. The Thebans sent a large army into Thessaly to rescue Pelopidas,
but they could not keep the field against the superior cavalry of Alexander, who,
aided by auxiliaries from Athens, pursued them with great slaughter; and the destruction
of the whole Theban army is said to have been averted only by the ability of Epaminondas,
who was serving in the campaign, but not as general.
The next year, 367, was signalized by a specimen of Alexander's treacherous
cruelty in the massacre of the citizens of Scotussa; and also by another expedition
of the Thebans under Epaminondas into Thessaly, to effect the release of Pelopidas.
According to Plutarch, the tyrant did not dare to offer resistance, and was glad
to purchase even a thirty days' truce by the delivery of the prisoners. During
the next three years Alexander would seem to have renewed his attempts against
the states of Thessaly, especially those of Magnesia and Phthiotis, for at the
end of that time, B. C. 364, we find them again applying to Thebes for protection
against him. The army appointed to march under Pelopidas is said to have been
dismayed by an eclipse (June 13, 364), and Pelopidas, leaving it behind, entered
Thessaly at the head of three hundred volunteer horsemen and some mercenaries.
A battle ensued at Cynoscephalae, wherein Pelopidas was himself slain, but defeated
Alexander; and this victory was closely followed by another of the Thebans under
Malcites and Diogiton, who obliged Alexander to restore to the Thessalians the
conquered towns, to confine himself to Pherae, and to be a dependent ally of Thebes.
(Plut. Pel.; Diod. xv. 80; comp. Xen. Hell. vii. 5.4)
The death of Epaminondas in 362, if it freed Athens from fear of Thebes,
appears at the same time to have exposed her to annoyance from Alexander, who,
as though he felt that he had no further occasion for keeping up his Athenian
alliance, made a piratical descent on Tenos and others of the Cyclades, plundering
them, and making slaves of the inhabitants. Peparethus too he besieged, and "
even landed troops in Attica itself, and seized the port of Panormus, a little
eastward of Sunium." Leosthenes, the Athenian admiral, defeated him, and relieved
Peparethus, but Alexander delivered his men from blockade in Panormus, took several
Attic triremes, and plundered the Peiraeeus (Diod. xv. 95; Polyaen. vi. 2; Demosth.
c. Polycl.).
The murder of Alexander is assigned by Diodorus to B. C. 367. Plutarch
gives a detailed account of it, containing a lively picture of a semibarbarian
palace. Guards watched throughout it all the night, except at the tyrant's bedchamber,
which was situated at the top of a ladder, and at the door of which a ferocious
dog was chained. Thebe, the wife and cousin of Alexander, and daughter of Jason,
concealed her three brothers in the house during the day. caused the dog to be
removed when Alexander had retired to rest, and having covered the steps of the
ladder with wool, brought up the young men to her husband's chamber. Though she
had taken away Alexander's sword, they feared to set about the deed till she threatened
to awake him and discover all : they then entered and despatched him. His body
was cast forth into the streets, and exposed to every indignity. Of Thebe's motive
for the murder different accounts are given. Plutarch states it to have been fear
of her husband, together with hatred of his cruel and brutal character, and ascribes
these feelings principally to the representations of Pelopidas, when she visited
him in his prison. In Cicero the deed is ascribed to jealousy. (Plut. Pel.; Diod.
xvi. 14; Xen. Hell. vi. 4.37; Cic. de Off. ii. 7. See also Cic. de Inv. ii. 49,
where Alexander's murder illustrates a knotty point for special pleading; also
Aristot. ap. Cic. de Div. i. 25 ; the dream of Eudemus.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Lycophron. A son, apparently, of Jason, and one of the brothers of Thebe, wife of Alexander, the tyrant of Phlerae, in whose murder he tool part together with his sister and his two brothers, Tisiphonus and Peitholaus. On Alexander's death the power appears to have been wielded mainly by Tisiphonus, though Diodorus says that he and Lycophron made themselves joint-tyrants, with the aid of a mercenary force, and maintained their ascendancy by cruelty and violence. (Xen. Hell. vi. 4. 37; Con. Narr. 50; Diod. xvi. 14; Plut. Pel. 35; Clint. F. H. vol. ii. App. Ch. 15). In B. C. 352, by which time it seems that Tisiphonus was dead, Philip of Macedon, on the application of the Aleuadae and their party, advanced into Thessaly against Lycophron, who was now chief ruler. The latter was aided by the Phocians, at first under Phayllus, without success, and then with better fortune under Onomarchus, who defeated Philip in two battles and drove him back into Macedonia ; but soon after Philip entered Thessaly again, and Onomarchus, having also returned front Boeotia to the assistance of Lycophron, was defeated and slain. Lycophron, and his brother Peitholaus, being now left without resource, surrendered Pherae to Philip and withdrew from Thessaly with 2000 mercenaries to join their Phocian allies under Phayllus. An antithetic sarcasm, quoted by Aristotle, seems to imply that they did not give their services for nothing. In the hostilities between Sparta and Megalopolis, in this same year (B. C. 352), we find among the forces of the former 150 of the Thessalian cavalry, who had been driven out from Pherae with Lycophron and Peitholaus. (Diod. xvi. 35-37, 39; Paus. x. 2; Just. viii. 2; Dem. Olynth. ii.; Isocr. Phil.; Arist. Rhet. iii. 9. 8). From the downfall of Lycophron to the battle of Cynoscephalae, in B. C. 197, Thessaly continued dependent on the kings of Macedonia.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
LARISSA (Ancient city) THESSALIA
Heliodorus, of Larissa, the author of a little work on optics, entitled Kephalaia
ton Optikon, which seems to be a fragment or abridgement of the larger work, which
is entitled in some MSS. Daamianon philosophou tou Heliosorou Larissaiou peri
optikon hupotheseon Biblia b which makes it doubtful whether his true name was
Dalmianus or Heliodorus. The work is chiefly taken from Euclid's Optics. The work
was printed at Florence, with an Italian version, by Ignatius Dante, with the
Optics of Euclid, 1573, 4to.; at Hamburgh by F. Lindenbrog, 1610, at Paris,
by Erasmus Bartholinus, 1657, 4to (reprinted 1680); at Cambridge, in Gale's Opuscula
Mythologica, 1670. (but it is omitted in the Amsterdam edition, 1688); and
lastly, with a Latin version and a dissertation upon the author, by A. Matani,
Pistorii, 1758. Some other scientific works of Heliodorus are mentioned.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
SKIATHOS (Small town) NORTH SPORADES
Epifanios-Stefanos Dimitriadis was born in Skiathos in 1760 and belonged
to a noble family of the island. He learned the first things in Skiathos and later
attended schools in Pelio, Ambelakia, Constantinople and in places bordering on
the Danube. He started working in Bucharest for the leader Nikolaos Mavrogenis
together with Rigas Fereos (a very famous author and fighter for the liberation
of Greece ). As a result, the two men became close friends and partners. His acquaintance
with such a passionate personality as that of Rigas obviously influenced deeply
the inquiring mind of Epifanios Dimitriadis.
In 1787 he returned to Greece, first in Skiathos and then in Hydra
and Poros. He also travelled in Agio Oros (the mount of Athos), Constantinople,
Moldavia and Bucharest. In 1802 he was appointed voivod in Skiathos and in 1803-1805
he was appointed voivod in Alonisos. His contribution to the pre-revolutionary
movements of Vlahavas, Stathas and Nikotsaras was very important. In 1807 he attended
the assembly which was held in the monastery of Evagelistria where he met Theodoros
Kolokotronis. After 1811 he travelled throughout Greece and taught in many places.
In the beginning of the revolution he was in Kea but he immediately returned to
Skiathos in order to encourage his fellow - country men to participate in the
fight. In September 1821 he fought in the fall of Tripolis in Peloponissos while
he continuously offered, until his last moment, in the fight of Greece for freedom
both his military and his teaching skills. He died in 1827 in Skiathos.
He was a prolific writer and cultivated all forms of both prose and
poetry. Among his many works, he himself published only two. He wrote with ease
both in ancient and modern Greek but he also knew French and Italian. He knew
very well history and was well-grounded in philosophy and literature. His teaching
lectures which were encouraged by his knowledge of Greek and his fervent patriotism
was a real guideline for the enslaved Greek people. Epifanios -Stefanos Dimitriadis
is a very important representative of the Hellenic Enlightenment and is one of
the nation's teachers.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from the Municipality of Skiathos URL below, which contains image.
1760 - 1824
SKOPELOS (Small town) NORTH SPORADES
His house, which is preserved, is open to visitors.
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