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Listed 13 sub titles with search on: Information about the place  for wider area of: "KARYSTOS Town EVIA" .


Information about the place (13)

Greek & Roman Geography (ed. William Smith)

Geraestus

GERESTOS (Ancient port) KARYSTOS
Geraistos: Eth. Geraistios. A promontory of Euboea, forming the south-west extremity of the island, now called Cape Mandili. There was a town on this cape, with a celebrated temple of Poseidon, and at its foot there was a well-frequented port, which seems to have been small, though Livy, as Leake observes, calls it nobilis Euboeae portus.

Carystus

KARYSTOS (Ancient city) EVIA
  Karustos: Eth. Karustios. A town of Euboea, situated on the south coast of the island, at the foot of Mt. Oche. It is mentioned by Homer (Il. ii. 539), and is said to have been founded by Dryopes. (Thuc. vii. 57; Diod. iv. 37; Scymn. 576.) Its name was derived from Carystus, the son of Cheiron. (Steph. B. s. v.; Eustath. ad Hom. l. c.) The Persian expedition under Datis and Artaphernes (B.C. 490) landed at Carystus, the inhabitants of which, after a slight resistance, were compelled to submit to the invaders. (Herod. vi. 99.) Carystus was one of the towns, from which Themistocles levied money after the battle of Salamis. (Herod. viii. 112.) A few years afterwards we find mention of a war between the Athenians and Carystians; but a peace was in the end concluded between them. (Thuc. i. 98; Herod. ix. 105.) The Carystians fought on the side of the Athenians in the Lamian war. (Diod. xviii. 11.) They espoused the side of the Romans in the war against Philip. (Liv. xxxii. 17; Pol. xviii. 30.)
  Carystus was chiefly celebrated for its marble, which was in much request at Rome. Strabo places the quarries at Marmarium, a place upon the coast near Carystus, opposite Halae Araphenides in Attica ; but Mr. Hawkins found the marks of the quarries upon Mt. Ocha. On his ascent to the summit of this mountain he saw seven entire columns, apparently on the spot where they had been quarried, and at the distance of three miles from the sea. This marble is the Cipolino of the Romans,- a green marble, with white zones. (Strab. x. p. 446; Plin. iv. 12. s. 21, xxxvi. 6. s. 7 ; Plin. Ep. v. 6; Tibull. iii. 3. 14; Senec. Troad. 835; Stat. Theb. vii. 370; Capitol. Gordian. 32.) At Carystus the mineral asbestus was also obtained, which was hence called the Carystian stone (lithos Karustios, Plut. de Def. Orac. p. 707; Strab. l. c.; Apoll. Dysc. Hist. Mirab. 36.) There are very few remains of the ancient Carystus.
  Antigonus, the author of the Historiae Mirabiles, the comic poet Apollodorus, and the physician Diocles were natives of Carystus.

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


Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities

Geraestus

GERESTOS (Ancient port) KARYSTOS
(Geraistos). A promontory and harbour at the southern extremity of Euboea, with a celebrated temple of Poseidon.

Carystus

KARYSTOS (Ancient city) EVIA
A town on the southern coast of Euboea, founded by Dryopes, celebrated for its marble quarries and for the mineral known as asbestos

Individuals' pages

Perseus Project index

The Catholic Encyclopedia

Carystus

KARYSTOS (Ancient city) EVIA
  A titular see of Greece. According to legend it was named after Carystus, a son of Chiron.
  The ancient city is often mentioned by geographers, chiefly on account of its beautiful marble and its amianth obtained from Mount Oche.
  The see was at first a suffragan of Corinth, but early in the ninth century was made a suffragan of Athens and before 1579 of Euripos (Chalcis). The bishopric was maintained in 1833, but under the district name of Carystia, its titular residing at Kyme. In 1900 it was united to Chalcis (Euripos), the capital of the island.
  Carystus is to-day a village on the southern coast of Euboea.

S. Petrides, ed.
Transcribed by: Gerald M. Knight
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.


The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites

Geraistos

GERESTOS (Ancient port) KARYSTOS
  The site of a Sanctuary of Poseidon, near Platanistos in the S part of the region. The name was also used for the cape, now called Mandeli, and a harbor 3 km to its N at Porte Kastri. As the only good harbor on the S coast, the town was visited by merchant ships throughout antiquity. The sanctuary, of pre-Hellenic origin, is mentioned by Homer and Strabo. Bursian and others have located it at Helleniko 5 km N of the harbor, as no remains have been found at Porto Kastri, though Geyer thought the cape itself would be a more appropriate location. Bursian found a terrace with traces of walls around the remains of a white marble temple, and cited an inscription mentioning Artemis Bolosia.

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.


Karystos

KARYSTOS (Ancient city) EVIA
  At modern Palaiochora under Castel Rosso hill, over a km inland from the N shore of the great bay. Sparse Neolithic and Early Helladic finds occur at half a dozen nearby spots. The Dryopian town probably dates from the Dark Ages. It stood Persian siege in 490 B.C. (the alleged traces of city walls are uncertain), but in 480 contributed to Xerxes' fleet, and so was ravaged by the Greeks. Karystos entered the Delian League after war with Athens, and revolted with the other Euboians in 411. The only Classical remains are the walls at Platanisto. In 411 or after the Lamian War the town probably lost territory to Eretria and by ca. 290 joined the Euboian League. Later 3d c. coins show a pro-Macedonian tyrant and in 196 B.C. Karystos shared Eretria's fall to Rome.
  The vogue at Rome for greenish Karystian marble, begun possibly by Mamurra, revivified the area, its prosperity rising to a peak under Hadrian. Dozens of quarries are known, though mostly for local stone, especially NW of Marmari (Strabo's Marmarion) and above Karystos where unfinished columns 13 m long may still be seen near Myloi. Monumental buildings spread now if not before to the coast. A four-stepped heptastyle peripteral Ionic temple of the 2d c. has been excavated there. Many marble and poros blocks, including a battered Roman pedimental relief, were built into the 14th c. Venetian coastal fort, the Bourtzi.
  The port of Geraistos to the E, with its Sanctuary of Poseidon, was on the main route from the Euripos SE and from Athens NE, and probably had an Athenian clerouchy. It is referred to from Homer to Procopios, and finds continue to be made.
  The region's most dramatic monument is the megalithic place of worship atop Mount Ocha, the Dragon House, where the excavators found sherds inscribed in archaic Chalkidian script outside, and Classical and Hellenistic pottery inside. The building is a rectangle ca. 10 x 5 m, interior dimensions, with a door and two windows in the S side. The roughly isodomic walls are ca. one m thick. In the interior the blocks are smoothed; on the exterior many show a curious rustication. The roof consists of four superimposed layers of great blocks corbeled inward, but not meeting, at least today, in the center. (Cf. Styra.)
  Other, comparatively undatable, remains have been found at Philagra and at Archampolis (perhaps associated with iron mining), and on promontories in the Karystos and Geraistos bays. Late Roman columnar members are found in churches near Marmari, Metochi, and Zacharia.

M. B. Wallace, 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.


Geraistos

MANDILI (Cape) EVIA
  The site of a Sanctuary of Poseidon, near Platanistos in the S part of the region. The name was also used for the cape, now called Mandeli, and a harbor 3 km to its N at Porte Kastri. As the only good harbor on the S coast, the town was visited by merchant ships throughout antiquity. The sanctuary, of pre-Hellenic origin, is mentioned by Homer and Strabo. Bursian and others have located it at Helleniko 5 km N of the harbor, as no remains have been found at Porto Kastri, though Geyer thought the cape itself would be a more appropriate location. Bursian found a terrace with traces of walls around the remains of a white marble temple, and cited an inscription mentioning Artemis Bolosia.

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.


Mt. Ocha

OCHI (Mountain) KARYSTIA
  This is the site of perhaps the best known of a series of stone-built structures first recognized in the rugged country of S Euboia, where peasants call them Drakospitia (Spitia or Sentia tou Drakou). Frequently mentioned in the reports of 19th c. travelers, these structures have certain architectural characteristics in common. All are built of a local gray-green schist which readily splits into flattish slabs that were laid (without mortar) in basically horizontal courses, sometimes with indications of polygonal masonry and stacking. There is very little evidence of the use of wood in the construction; even the floors and roofs were of stone. The latter are particularly interesting since, when sufficiently preserved, they reflect the use of corbeling.
  Although some 40 Dragon Houses have been reported, the best known examples are three in the neighborhood of Styra and one on Mt. Ocha. The latter is located near the crest of the mountain, some 1,400 m above sea level, and can be reached only after a difficult climb from Karystos (preferably in the company of a guide). It is a simple one-roomed structure (interior dimensions: ca. 5 x 10 m), entered by means of a single door in one (S) of the long sides. Two small windows flank the door. Although some of the earliest visitors mention an altar or offering table, there are no extant indications of special features inside the building. It is not certain whether the roof was entirely corbeled or only partially so, thus leaving a small opening through which smoke could escape.
  No excavation had been carried out at any of these sites until 1959, when a small investigation was conducted in the Dragon House on Mt. Ocha. The results indicate that the building itself had been used at least in Classical and Hellenistic times and the site had been frequented at least since the archaic period. There is no evidence of prehistoric occupation. The finds tend to support the early theories attaching a religious significance to this building, but no concrete evidence of the deity (or deities) worshiped here has yet been reported.
  In spite of the new information about the date and function of the Dragon House on Mt. Ocha, there is no reason to assume that all structures of this type in S Euboia ought to be regarded similarly. It is quite possible that some served no religious purpose at all and were nothing more than dwellings. (Those near the marble quarries of Styra, for example, may have been merely quarters for the officials or laborers in the quarries.) Nor is it necessary to regard all of them as of similar date, for village houses in the neighborhood are still being made of the same materials today. Although their architectural style has been termed Dryopian after the name of the early inhabitants of the region, it should perhaps be noted that structures of comparable style can be found in geologically related areas elsewhere, e.g., Andros, Tenos, Keos, and Mt. Hymettos in Attica. This suggests that local building materials played a more important role in the resulting architecture than has usually been recognized.

T. W. Jacobsen, 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.


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