Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "METHANA Ancient city METHANA".
Methana (ta Methana, Paus., Strab., et alii; Methone1 , Thuc. iv.
45; Diod. xii. 65; Methene, Ptol. iii. 16. § 12: Methana), a striking rocky peninsula,
connected by a narrow isthmus with the territory of Troezen in Argolis, and containing
a city of the same name. Pausanias describes Methana as an isthmus running far
into the sea (ii. 34. § 1); Thucydides more correctly distinguishes between the
isthmus and chersonesus (iv. 45); and Ptolemy also speaks of the chersonesus (iii.
16. § 12). The isthmus is only about 1000 feet broad, but it immediately spreads
out equally on both sides; The outline of the peninsula is grand and picturesque.
The highest mountain, called Chelona, which is 2281 (French) feet above the level
of the sea, is of a conical form, and was thrown up by a volcano. The whole peninsula
bears marks of volcanic agency. The rocks are composed chiefly of that variety
of lava called trachyte; and there are hot sulphureous springs, which were used
in antiquity for medicinal purposes. Pausanias speaks of hot baths at the distance
of 30 stadia from the city of Methana, which were said to have first burst out
of the ground in the time of Antigonus, son of Demetrius, king of Macedon, after
a violent volcanic eruption. Pausanias adds that there was no cold water for the
use of the bather after the warm bath, and that he could not plunge in the sea
in consequence of the sea-dogs and other monsters. (Paus. l. c.) Strabo, in describing
the same volcanic eruption to which Pausanias alludes, says that a hill 7 stadia
high, and fragments of rocks as high as towers, were thrown up; that in the day-time
the plain could not be approached in consequence of the heat and sulphureous smell,
while at night there was no unpleasant smell, but that the heat thrown out was
so great that the sea boiled at the distance of 5 stadia from land, and its waters
were troubled for 20 stadia (i. p. 59). Ovid describes, apparently, the same eruption
in the lines beginning
Est prope Pittheam tumulus Troezena
(Met. xv. 296), and says that a plain was upheaved into a hill by the confined
air seeking vent. (Comp. Lyell's Principles of Geology, pp. 10, 11, 9th ed.) The
French Commission point out the site of two hot sulphureous springs; one called
Vroma, in the middle of the north coast, and the other near a village Vromolimni,
a little above the eastern shore. There are traces of ancient baths at both places;
but the northern must be those alluded to by Pausanias.
The peninsula Methana was part of the territory of Troezen; but the
Athenians took possession of the peninsula in the seventh year of the Peloponnesian
War, B.C. 425, and fortified the isthmus. (Thuc. iv. 45.) There are still traces
of an ancient fortification, renewed in the middle ages, and united by means of
two forts. In the peninsula there are Hellenic remains of three different mountain
fortresses; but the capital lay on the west coast, and the ruins are near the
small village of the same name. Part of the walls of the acropolis and an ancient
town on the north side still remain. Within the citadel stands a chapel, containing
stones belonging to an ancient building, and two inscriptions on marble, one of
which refers [p. 350] to Isis. This, accordingly, was the site of the temple of
Isis, mentioned by Pausanias, who also speaks of statues of Hermes and Hercules,
in the Agora. (Leake, Morea vol. ii. p. 453, seq., Peloponnesiaca, p. 278; Boblaye,
Recherches, &c. p. 59; Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. ii. p. 438, seq.)
1 Strabo says (viii. p. 374), that in some copies of Thucydides
it was written Methone, like the town so called in Macedonia. This form is now
found in all the existing MSS. of Thucydides. But there can be no doubt that Methana,
which has prevailed down to the present day, is the genuine Doric form of the
name.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
The southern half of the Argolid is dominated by the Adheres mountains in the
interior, of which the highest is Mt. Didymo (1113 m). To the south of the Adheres
Mountains is rolling hill country composed mostly of soft conglomerates and other
rocks. This district (c. 250 sq km) has good soils and many springs to counteract
the general aridity of the climate. The principal prehistoric and Classical sites
of Franchthi Cave, Mases, Halieis, and Hermione are found on three good harbors
that are the most conspicuous feature of the region. The volcanic cone of Methana
rises out of the Saronic Gulf near the eastern coast of the southern Argolid and
is joined to the mainland by a narrow isthmus. The last eruption was in the Hellenistic
period, and the fertile volcanic soil allows the inhabitants to be largely self-sufficient.
As a consequence, the Classical polis of Methana on the southeast coast facing
the mainland was always independent and somewhat isolated...
The remains of ancient Methana are found on a small coastal plain on the southeast
coast of the peninsula. They have not been excavated, but large stretches of well-preserved
Classical and Hellenistic fortifications are a notable feature. There is an early
Christian chapel here also.
Traces of volcanic agency are visible in many parts of Greece, although no volcanoes, either in activity or extinct, are found in the country. There were hot-springs at Thermopylae, Aedepsus in Euboea, and other places; but the peninsula of Methana in the Peloponnesus, opposite Aegina, and the island of Thera in the Aegaean are the two spots which exhibit the clearest traces of volcanic agency. The greater part of Methana consists of trachyte; and here in historical times a volcanic eruption took place, of which the particulars are recorded both by Strabo and Ovid (Strab. i.; Ov. Met. xv. 296, seq). In this peninsula there are still two hot sulphureous springs, near one of which exist vestiges of volcanic eruption. The island of Thera is covered with pumice-stone; and it is related by Strabo that on one occasion flames burst out from the sea between Thera and the neighbouring island of Therasia, and that an island was thrown up four stadia in circumference. In modern times there have been eruptions of the same kind at Thera and its neighbourhood: of one of the most terrible, which occurred in 1650, we possess a circumstantial account by an eye-witness.
This extract is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited Aug 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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