Location information

Thymoetadae

THYMETADES (Ancient demos) KERATSINI
Thymoetadae (Thumoitadai), deriving its name from Thymoetas, a king of Attica, possessed a port, from which Theseus secretly set sail on his expedition to Crete. (Plut. Thes. 19.) This retired port seems to have been the same as the Phoron limen or Thieves' port, so called from its being frequented by smugglers. (Dem. c. Lacrit. p. 932; Strab. ix. p. 395.) It is a small circular harbour at the entrance to the bay of Salamis, and according to Dodwell is still called Klephtho-limani. Leake noticed the foundations of a temple upon a height near the beach, and other remains at a quarter of a mile on the road to Athens. This temple was probably the Heracleium mentioned above. It was situated on the Attic side of the Strait of Salamis (Ctesias, Pers. c. 26, ed. Lion; Died. xi. 18); and it was from the heights of Aegaleos, above this temple, that Xerxes witnessed the battle of Salamis. (Phanodemus, ap. Plut. Them. 13; comp. Herod. viii. 90.) It is true that this temple was not situated at the narrowest part of the strait, as some writers represent; but Leake justly remarks, that the harbour was probably the point from whence the passage-boats to Salamis departed, as it is at the present day, and consequently the Heracleium became the most noted place on this part of the Attic shore. At the foot of Mt. Aegaleos are still seen vestiges of an ancient causeway, probably the road leading from Athens to the ferry. The sisurai, or garments of goatskins of Thymoetadae, appear to have been celebrated. (Aristoph. Vesp. 1138.)

This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited July 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD)
• http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Per...