Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "PSOFIS Ancient city ACHAIA".
An old city NE of Olympia on the E side of Mt. Olonos, at an important intersection of streams and ancient routes. The fortifications enclosed the area between two spurs of a rocky ridge and the right bank of the Eurymanthos (Livartsino) making a naturally defensible site into a major stronghold, able to play a significant part in the Social War in 220 B.C. The site and its capture by Philip V are described at length by Polybios (4.706). The acropolis was probably on the highest part of the ridge at the NE, now crowned by a ruined mediaeval tower. The walls, of fairly regular blocks, were followed by Bursian for the complete circuit, and included one round tower and several square ones. The remains of several rows of theater seats were noted inside the W wall. Pausanias describes various sights (8.24) including a Sanctuary of Aphrodite Erykine in ruins, the Tomb of Alkmaion, and a Temple of Erymanthos with a marble statue of the river god. Bursian identified this last with some large foundations near the bank of the river; other ancient remains were seen near the place where the Aroanios joins the Erymanthos.
M. H. Mc Allister, 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.
Psophis: Eth. Psophidios, a city in the NW. extremity of Arcadia, bounded on the
N. by Arcadia, and on the W. by Elis. It was a very ancient place. It is said
to have been originally called Erymanthus, and its territory to have been ravaged
by the Erymanthian boar. (Paus. viii. 24. § 2; Hecat. ap. Steph. B. s. v. Psophis;
Apollod. ii. 5. § 4.) It afterwards received the name of Phegia or Phegeia (Phegia,
Phegeia), apparently from the oaks (phegoi), which are still found upon the site
of the town; though the ancients, as usual, derived the name from an eponymous
founder, Phegeus. (Steph. B. s. vv. Phegeia, Psophis; Paus. l. c.) It was called
Psophis by Echephron and Promachus, sons of Hercules, who are said to have come
from Sicily and given to the town this name after their mother Psophis. (Paus.
l. c.) Psophis, while still called Phegia, was celebrated as the residence of
Alcmaeon, who fled thither from Argos, after slaying his mother, and married Alphesiboea,
the daughter of Phegeus. (Paus. viii. 24. § 8; Dict. of Biogr. s. v. Alcmaeon.)
In consequence of their connection with Alcmaeon, the Psophidii took part in the
second expedition against Thebes, and refused to join the other Greeks in the
Trojan War. (Pans. viii. 24. § 10.)
Psophis is rarely mentioned in history. In B.C. 219 it was in possession
of the Eleians, and was taken by Philip, king of Macedonia, who was then in alliance
with the Achaeans. In narrating this event Polybius gives an accurate description
of the town. Psophis, he says, is confessedly an ancient foundation of the Arcadians
in the district Azanis. It is situated in the central parts of Peloponnesus, but
in the western corner of Arcadia, and adjoining the Achaeans dwelling furthest
towards the west. It also overhangs conveniently the country of the Eleians, with
whom the city was then in close alliance. Philip marched thither in three days
from Caphyae, and encamped upon the hills opposite to the city, where he could
safely have a view of the whole city and the surrounding places. When the king
observed the strength of the place, he was at a [p. 676] loss what to do. On the
western side of the town there is a rapid torrent, impassable during the greater
part of the winter, and which, rushing down from the mountains, makes the city
exceedingly strong and inaccessible, in consequence of the size of the ravine
which it has gradually formed. On the eastern side flows the Erymanthus, a large
and impetuous river, concerning which there are so many stories. As the western
torrent joins the Erymanthus on the southern side of the city, its three sides
are surrounded by rivers, and rendered secure in the manner described. On the
remaining side towards the north a strong hill hangs over, surrounded by a wall,
and serving the purpose of a well-placed citadel. The town itself also is provided
with walls, remarkable for their size and construction. (Polyb. iv. 70.) From
this description it is evident that the Erymanthus on the eastern side of the
city is the river of Sopoto; and that the western torrent, which we learn from
Pausanias (viii. 24. § 3) bore the name of Aroanius, is the river of Ghermotzana.
About 300 feet below the junction of these rivers the united stream is joined
by a third, smaller than the other two, called the river of Lopesi or Skupi, which
rises on the frontiers of Cleitor, near Seirae. From these three rivers the place
is now called Tripotamo. The banks of the Erymanthus and the Aroanius are precipitous,
but not very high; and between them and the steep summit of the hill upon which
the town stood there is a small space of level or gentlyrising ground. The summit
is a sharp ridge, sending forth two roots, one of which descends nearly to the
single of junction of the two streams, the other almost to the bank of the Erymanthus
at the eastern extremity of the city. (Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 242.)
Philip, in his attack upon Psophis, crossed the bridge over the Erymanthus,
which was probably in the same position as the modern bridge, and then drew up
his men in the narrow space between the river and the walls. While the Macedonians
were attempting to scale the walls in three separate parties, the Eleians made
a sally from a gate in the upper part of the town. They were, however, driven
back by the Cretans in Philip's army, who followed the fugitives into the town.
Euripidas and the garrison then retreated into the citadel, and shortly afterwards
surrendered to Philip. (Polyb. iv. 71, 72.)
Pausanias saw at Psophis a ruined temple of Aphrodite Erycina, heroa
of Promachus and Echephron, the tomb of Alcmaeon, and near the Erymanthus a temple
sacred to that stream. (Paus. viii. 24. § 7.) Leake also noticed a part of a theatre,
not mentioned by Pausanias, on the side of the hill towards the Aroanius. Nine
hundred feet above the junction of the two rivers, and near the walls on the bank
of the Erymanthus, Leake also found some remains of a public building, 96 feet
in length, below which there is a source of water in the bank. He conjectures
that they may be the remains of the temple of Erymanthus.
Psophis was about 2 miles in circumference. The town-walls followed
the crest of the ridge to the northward and the bank above the two rivers on the
opposite side; and they are traceable nearly throughout the entire circuit of
the place. On the northeastern side of the town, which is the only part not protected
by the two rivers or by the precipices at the back of the hill, there was a double
inclosure. Leake could not trace the inclosure of the citadel.
At the distance of 30 stadia from Psophis was Seirae (Seirai), which
Pausanias describes as the boundary of the Psophidii and Cleitorii (viii. 23.
§ 9, 24. § 3). On the road from Psophis to Thelpusa lay Tropaea, upon the left
bank of the Ladon, near which was the grove Aphrodisium, after which caine a column
with an ancient inscription upon it, marking the boundaries of Psophis and Thelpusa.
(Leake, More, vol. ii. p. 240, seq.; Boblaye, Recherches, &c. p. 158; Curtius,
Peloponnesos, vol. i. p. 384, seq.)
This 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
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