Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "LOUSSES Ancient city KALAVRYTA".
Originally an independent town, it later came under the jurisdiction of Kleitor; the site lies between the modern villages of Sudena and Chamaku. According to one legend, it was at a rock spring there where the daughters of Proitos were purified and cured of madness by Melampos; in gratitude their father established the Sanctuary of Artemis Hemerasia, which was surrounded by a deer park. A draught of the spring water was supposed to result in a permanent aversion to wine. Although Pausanias found nothing left at Lousoi, 19th c. travelers reported numerous springs in the area; excavations in 1898 uncovered a fountain-house, bouleuterion, propylaia, and temple. These structures appeared to be of the late 4th or early 3d c. B.C. although other finds indicated that the sanctuary had been in use as early as the 6th.
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.
Total results on 16/5/2001: 4 for Lousoi, 26 for Lusi.
Lusi, Lousoi, Lousoi, Loussoi, ta Loussa. Eth. Lousios, Louseus, Lousiates,
Lousieus. A town in the north of Arcadia, originally independent of, but afterwards
subject to, Cleitor. Lusi was situated in the upper valley of the Aroanius, and
probably on the site of Sudhena, which stands in the NE. corner of the valley
at the foot of Mt. Khelmos (the ancient Aroanian mountains), and on the road from
Tripolitza to Kalavryta. The upper valley of the Aroanius, now called the plain
of Sudhena, consists of two plains, of which the more easterly is the one through
which the Aroanius flows, the waters of which force their way through a gorge
in the mountains into the plain of Cleitor, now Katzana, to the south. The more
westerly plain of Sudhena is entirely shut in by a range of hills; and the waters
of three streams which flow into this plain are carried off by a katavothra, after
forming an inundation, apparently the Lacus Clitorius mentioned by Pliny (xxxi.
2. s. 13). The air is damp and cold; and in this locality the best hemlock was
grown (Theophr. ix. 15. § 8).
Lusi was still independent in the 58th Olympiad; since one of its
citizens is recorded to have gained the victory in the 11th Pythiad. (Paus. viii.
18. § 8.) Its territory was ravaged by the Aetolians in the Social War (Polyb.
iv. 18); but in the time of Pausanias there were no longer even any ruins of the
town. Its name, however, was preserved in consequence of its temple of Artemis
Lusia or Hemerasia (the Soother ). The goddess was so called, because it was here
that the daughters of Proetus were purified from their madness. They had concealed
themselves in a large cavern, from which they were taken by Melampus, who cured
them by sacred expiations. Thereupon their father Proetus founded this temple
of Artemis Hemerasia, which was regarded with great reverence throughout the whole
Peloponnesus as an inviolable asylum. It was plundered by the Aetolians in the
Social War. It was situated near Lusi, at the distance of 40 stadia from Cynaetha.
(Paus.; Polyb. ll. cc.; Callim. Dian. 233.) The interior of the temple, with the
purification of the daughters of Proetus, is represented on an ancient vase. The
ruins, which Dodwell discovered above Lusi towards the end of the plain, and on
the road to Cynaetha, are probably those of the temple of Artemis Leake discovered
some ancient foundations at the middle fountain of the three in the more westerly
of the two plains of Sudhena, which he supposes to be the remains of the temple.
One of the officers of the French Commission observed a large cave on the western
side of the Aroanian mountains, in which the inhabitants of Sudhena were accustomed
to take refuge during war, and which is probably the one intended in the legend
of the daughters of Proetus.
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
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