Listed 23 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "ERMIONI Municipality ARGOLIS" .
ALIIS, ALIA (Ancient city) KRANIDI
The city was inhabited by fishermen from Hermione and by inhabitants from Tiryns. It did not exist in the time of Strabo.
ALIIS, ALIA (Ancient city) KRANIDI
The name of a sea-faring people on the coast of Hermionis, who derived
their name from their fisheries. (Strab. viii. p. 373.) They gave their name to
a town on the coast of Herinionis, where the Tirynthians and Hermionians took
refuge when they were expelled from their own cities by the Argives. (Ephor. ap.
Byz. s. v. Halieis; Strab. viii. p. 373.) This town was taken about Ol. 80 by
Aneristus, the son of Sperthias, and made subject to Sparta (hos heile Halieas
[not alieas] tous ek Tirunthos, Helod. vii. 137). The district was afterwards
ravaged on more than one occasion by the Athenians. (Thuc. i. 105, ii. 56, iv.
45; Diod. xi. 78.) After the Peloponnesian War the Halieis are mentioned by Xenophon
as an autonomous people. (Xen. Hell. iv. 2. 6, vi. 2, § 3.)
The district is called e Halias by Thucydides (ii. 56, iv. 45), who
also calls the people or their town Halieis; for, in i. 105, the true reading
is es Halias, i.e. Halieas. (See Meineke, and Steph. B. s. v. Halieis.) In an
inscription we find en Halieusin. (Bockh, Inscr. no. 165.)
Scylax speaks of Halia as a port at the mouth of the Argolic gulf.
Callimachus calls the town Alycus (Alukos, Steph. B. s. v.), and by Pausanias
it is named Halice (Halike), and its inhabitants Halici. (Paus. ii. 36. § 1.)
The town was no longer inhabited in the time of Pausanias, and its position is
not fixed by that writer. He only says that, seven stadia from Hermione, the road
from Halice separated from that to Mases, and that the former led between the
mountains Pron and Coccygius, of which the ancient name was Thornax. In the peninsula
of Kranidhi, the French Commission observed the remains of two Hellenic sites,
one on the southern shore, about three miles from Hermione and the same distance
from C. Musadki, the other on the south-western side, at the head of a deep bay
called Kheli or Bizati: the former they suppose to represent Halice, and the latter
Mases, and, accordingly these two places are so placed in Kiepert's map. But Leake,
who is followed by Curtius, observes that the ruins which the French Commission
have named alice are probably some dependency of Hermione of which the name has
not been recorded, since the position is too near to Hermione to have been that
of Halice, and the harbour is too inconvenient for a people who were of considerable
maritime importance. It is far more likely that such a people possessed the port
of Cheli, the situation of which at the mouth of the Argolic gulf agrees exactly
with the description of Scylax. Mases probably stood at the head of the bay of
Kiladhia.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ERMIONI (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
Hermion (Hermione, Herod., Xen., Strab.; Hermion Eurip. Here. Fur.
615; Polyb. ii. 52; Hermion, Scylax, p. 20: Eth. Hermioneus; fem. Hermionis: Adj.
Hermionikos, Hermioneus, Hermionius, Hermionicus). The territory Hermionis a town
at the southern extremity of Argolis, in the wider use of this term, but an independent
city during the flourishing period of Grecian history, and possessing a territory
named Hermionis. The sea between the southern coast of Argolis and the island
of Hydrea was called after it the Hermionicus Sinus (Hermionikos kolpos, Strab.
viii. p. 335), which was regarded as distinct from the Argolic and Saronic gulfs.
Hermione was founded by the Dryopes, who are said to have been driven
out of their original abodes on Mount Oeta and its adjacent valleys by Heracles,
and to have settled in the Peloponnesus, where their three chief towns were Hermione,
Asine, and Eion. (Herod. viii. 43. 47; Diod. iv. 37.) Hermione is mentioned by
Homer along with its kindred city Asine. (Hom. Il. ii. 560.) Asine and Eion were
conquered at an early period by the Dorians, but Hermione continued to exist as
an independent Dryopian state long afterwards. Hermione appears to have been the
most important of the Dryopian towns, and to have been in possession at one time
of a larger portion of the adjacent coast, as well as of several of the neighboring
islands. Strabo, following ancient authorities, places the promontory Scyllaeum
in Hermionis (Strab. viii. p. 373), and the Helnionic gulf extended along the
coast of Troezen as far as this promontory. Hermione is mentioned first among
the cities of the Amphictyony, the representatives of which were accustomed to
meet in the adjacent island of Calaureia (Strab. viii. p. 374), from which it
has been inferred that Hermione had the presidency of the confederacy, and that
the island belonged to this city. It is expressly stated that Hydreia belonged
to the Hermionians, and that they surrendered this island to the Samian pirates,
who gave it into the charge of the Troezenians. (Herod. iii. 59.) The Hermionians
are mentioned as Dryopes at the time of the Persian wars: they sent three ships
to Salamis, and 300 men to Plataea. (Herod. viii. 43, ix. 28.) Subsequently the
Argives took possession of Hermione, and settled there an Argive colony. There
is no account of its conquest, and Pausanias supposes that the Argives obtained
peaceable possession of the town; but it probably came into their power about
the same time that they subdued Mycenae and Tiryns, B.C. 464. Some of the expelled
Hermionians took refuge at Halieis, where the Tirynthians had also settled; and
it was perhaps at this time that the lower city was deserted. (Paus. ii. 34. §
5; Strab. viii. p. 373; comp. Steph, B. s. v.) Hermione now became a Doric city;
but the inhabitants still retained some of the ancient Dryopian customs. Thus
it continued to be the chief seat of the worship of Demeter Chthonia, who appears
to have been the principal deity of the Dryopians; and we learn from a remarkable
inscription that the Asinaeans, who had settled in Messenia after their expulsion
from Argolis, continued to send offerings to Demeter Chthonia at Hermione. (Bockh,
Inscr. no. 1193.) Although Hermione had fallen into the hands of the Argives,
it did not continue permanently subject to Argos, and it is mentioned subsequently
as an independent town and an ally of Sparta. (Thuc. ii. 56, viii. 3) After the
capture of the Acrocorinthus by Aratus, the tyrant who governed Hermione voluntarily
surrendered his power, and the city joined the Achaean league. (Polyb. ii. 44.)
Hermione continued to exist long afterwards, as is proved by its numerous coins
and inscriptions
Pausanias describes Hermione at considerable length. The old city,
which was no longer inhabited in his time, stood upon a promontory seven stadia
in length, and three in breadth at its widest part; and on either side of this
promontory there was a convenient harbour. There were still several temples standing
on this promontory in the time of Pausanias, of which the most remarkable was
one sacred to Poseidon. The later town, which Pausanias visited, stood at the
distance of four stadia from this temple upon the slopes of the hill Pron. It
was entirely surrounded by walls, and was in earlier times the Acropolis of the
city. Among its ruins lies the modern village of Kastri. Of the numerous temples
mentioned by Pausanias the most important was the ancient Diyopian sanctuary of
Demeter Chthonia, situated on a eight of Mount on, said to have been founded by
Chthonia, daughter of Phoroneus, and Clymenus her brother. (Eur. Herc. Fur. 615.)
It was an inviolable sanctuary; but it was plundered by there Cilician pirates.
(Phot. Lex. s. v. Hermione; Plut. Pomp. 24.) Opposite this temple was one sacred
to Clymenus and to tie right was the Stoa of Echo, which repeated the voice three
times. In the same neighbourhood there were three sacred places surrounded with
stone fences; one named the sanctuary of Clymenus, the second that of Pluto, and
the third that of the Acherusian lake. In the sanctuary of Clymenus there was
an opening in the earth which the Hermionians believed to be the shortest road
to Hades, and consequently they put no money in the mouths of their dead to pay
the ferryman of the lower world. (Paus. ii. 35; Strab. viii. p. 373.) From
Hermione a peninsula, now called Kranidhi, extends towards the south and west
It contains two promontories, on each of which there are Hellenic remains. Pausanias
names two ancient places, called Halice and Mases, on the road from Hermione to
Asine, both of which must have been situated in this peninsula, but he gives no
further indication of their position. It has been conjectured that the Hellenic
remains near C. Muzaki, on the more easterly of the two promontories above mentioned,
are those of Halice; and that the remains on the more westerly promontory at Port
Kheli represent Mases. but there are good reasons for believing that the ruins
near C. Muzaki are those of some town the name of which has not been recorded;
that Halice, or, as it is also called, Halieis, stood at Port Kheli; and that
Mases was situated more to the north, on the western coast, at Port Kiladhia.
In the time of Pausanias, Mases served as the harbour of Hermione. Towards the
east the frontier of the Hermionis and Troezenia was marked by a temple of Demeter
Thermasia, close to the sea, 80 stadia westward of Cape Scyllaeum, the name of
which has been preserved in that of Thermisi. (Pans. ii. 34. § 6.) Near this temple,
on the road from Troezen to Hermione, was a small place called Eilei (Eileoi),
the name of which has been preserved in the modern Ilio. Westward the Hermionis
seems to have extended as far as the territory of Asine. On the road from Mases
to Asine, Pausanias mentions the promontory Struthus (Struthous); at the distance
of 250 stadia from which, by a mountain path, were Philanorium (Philanorion) and
Bolei (Boleoi), the latter being the name of a heap of stones: 20 stadia beyond
Bolei was a place called Didymi.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
IIONES (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
Eion (Eiones). A town in the Argolic peninsula, mentioned by Homer along
with Troezen and Epidaurus. It is said to have been one of the towns founded by
the Dryopes, when they were expelled from their seats in Northern Greece by Hercules.
Strabo relates that the Mycenacans expelled the inhabitants of Eiones, and made
it their sea-port, but that it had entirely disappeared in his time. Its position
is uncertain; but, in consequence of the preceding statement of Strabo, it is
placed by Curtius in the plain of Kandia.
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
MASSIS (Ancient city) KRANIDI
he Masetos, Eth Masetios. An ancient city in the district Hermionis,
in the Argolic peninsula, mentioned by Homer along with Aegina. In the time of
Pausanias it was used as a harbour by Hermione. (Hom. Il. ii. 562; Strab. viii.
p. 376; Paus. ii. 36. § 2; Steph. B. s. v.) It was probably situated on the western
coast of Hermionis, at the head of the deep bay of Kiladhia, which is protected
by a small island in front. The possession of this harbour on the Argolic gulf
must have been of great advantage to the inhabitants of Hermione, since they were
thus saved the navigation round the peninsula of Kranidhi: The French Commission,
however, place Mases more to the south, at port Kheli, which we suppose to have
been the site of Halice.
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
ERMIONI (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
A town on the eastern coast of Argolis on a bay deriving its name (Hermionicus Sinus) from the town. It was originally founded by the Dryopes, and was long a flourishing city, famous for its temple of Demeter Cthonia. It belonged to the Achaean League.
ALIIS, ALIA (Ancient city) KRANIDI
FOURNI (Village) KRANIDI
A valley W of the modern village of Phournoi in the S part of the region.
KRANIDI (Small town) ARGOLIS
Perched high up in the steep hills, halloed by the idyllic pine tree
forest of Agia Anni, Kranidi supervises from above the entire peninsula of Ermionis.
Located in a most charismatic position, in the midst of the peninsula's plains,
Kranidi today,- the capital of Ermionis- is built on the boundaries of the ancient
city of Masitos, which also included the area of today's Kilada as well as a section
of the near by community of Fourni.
Kranidi acquires its recent name in the beginning of the 16th century,
but it has been inhabited since the 13th, when the Byzantine emperor Andronikos
II allotted the area to Theodoros Nomikopoulos. Its name is possibly credited
to another version of the word Koronida which was the name of the small islet
of Kilada.
With its permanent residents occupying themselves with agriculture
and cattle breeding but also with commerce and shipping, Kranidi started to develop
around the chapel of Agios Ioannis - the Metropolis of Kranidi today- and reached
a great economic peak which allowed it to have a leading role in Greece's effort
to overthrow the Turks and win back its independence. Kranidi took part in the
revolution with a part of its fleet, soldiers and material goods needed. It is
the birthplace of the great monk and fighter of 1821's revolution Paparsenis Krestas
who, as the leader of the battalion of Kranidi participated in the battle and
freed Palamidi. During the civil war in 1823, Kranidi will become the seat of
the Executing Committee for a few months.
After the revolution and until the beginning of the 20th century,
Kranidi owned a large commercial fleet. But the weakness of its people to respond
to the challenges of the time and to replace their boats with steam -driven ones,
led commercial activities to a deadlock.
Irrefutable proof of its economic flourishing is the traditional
and characterized as preservable settlement with its impressive mansions resembling-
not by coincidence- those of Spetses. The sweet-smelling yards, the freshly painted
walls and fountains, the rooms and old balconies, all create a unique sensation.
The characteristic buildings of the local architectural style like the Town Hall
and the Library, the five big churches of the 19th century- the most important
one being the Metropolis of Agios Ioannis- the Well of Pyrgos, the three fully
restored windmills and the traditional oilmills, make you feel as if you have
traveled back in time. Wherever you look, you will see small white chapels embracing
the city. One is located at the top of Agia Anna's hill offering a great, panoramic
view and the chapels of Agios Ioannis Theologos at Artiki and of prophet Eliseos
are also worth seeing. The most important one of all though is the Byzantine chapel
of Agia Triada in the area of Pikrodafni. It was built in 1224 by "lord"
Michael Mourmoura deputy of the Franks in the area. The church has the shape of
a cross and its saddled roof valuable murals have survived until today.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from the WebSite of the Prefecture of Argolis
PORTO HELI (Village) ARGOLIS
(Following URL information in Greek only)
ERMIONI (Small town) ARGOLIS
Bisti is a small pine-clad peninsula at the end of the city and
at the same time an open-air archaeological site. In the summer, the limpid
waters of its beaches render it a most enjoyable spot for swimming, while it
is also an inviting place for walkers all year round and at all times of the
day.
Lavish temples have been built here. On the most central, flat hill
of Bisti visitors can still see today the stone foundations at the base of the
temple of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and the Temple of Poseidon, both of which
extend towards the renovated stark white windmill.
Bisti used to be surrounded by “Cyclopean Walls”, the
remains of which are still conspicuous today, mainly in the northern part of the
city; in the same area lie the remnants of the workshops wherein the porphyra
was produced.
This text is cited March 2004 from the Municipality
of Ermioni tourist pamphlet.
ALIIS, ALIA (Ancient city) KRANIDI
On an excellent harbor near the S tip of the peninsula. Occupied from
Protogeometric times, it enters recorded history with Athens unsuccessful attack
in 460 B.C. Not long before, refugees from Tiryns in the Argive Plain had settled
here, probably without displacing the natives. Sometime before 431 B.C. the town
was captured by Sparta but with the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War it was subject
to further raids by the Athenians to whom the use of acropolis and harbor was
granted in 424-423 B.C. by treaty. In the next century Halieis appears as a Spartan
ally through 370-369 B.C., after which there is no sure historical reference.
Under the name Tirynthioi coinage was issued in the 4th c. as from an independent
city-state. The site was abandoned near the end of the century. Scattered remains,
including a calidarium built on classical fortifications, testify to some occupation
in late Roman times.
The town is located on the slopes and shore below a low hill on the
S side of the circular harbor, across from the modern village of Porto Cheli.
From at least the 8th c. B.C. mudbrick walls enclosed a small acropolis, the site
of the shrine of an unidentified goddess. The military role of the hill is shown
by a series of fortifications and associated structures, culminating before the
mid 4th c. in an impressive semicircular tower. By the shore a settlement from
at least the early 7th c. had a separate wall. In the Classical period a circuit
with no less than four gates and a number of rectangular and round towers ran
down from the acropolis to, and along, the shore. Private houses and workshops
of mudbrick on stone socles have been found over the whole site, affording a rare
glimpse at the plan of a provincial town. Changes in sea level have covered up
to 50 m of the town along the shore; there appears to have been a small war harbor
enclosed within the circuit of the walls.
On the E side of the bay, some 500 m from the city, a Sanctuary of
Apollo has been found at a depth of ca. 2 m below sea level. A temple (27 x 4
m) divided into three chambers was probably in existence by ca. 675 B.C.; it has
yielded quantities of metal and votive pottery and much of a marble statue of
the god. To the S of the temple are the foundations of a long altar and a stadium
with two stone starting lines, 167 m apart. The temple appears to have been destroyed
near the mid 5th c., perhaps in the Athenian attack, and never rebuilt on that
site. Athletic activities occasioned the construction of various other buildings
and flourished until close to the end of the city's life. Finds from the city,
sanctuary, and necropolis are kept in the Nauplion Museum.
M. H. Jameson, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Oct 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 11 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Though only a small place(Tiryns) in Classical times, it sent a contingent to fight at Plataia and was a thorn in the side of Argos until the Argives destroyed it, probably in the sixties of the 5th c. B.C. The exiled Tirynthians settled in Halieis in the S Argolid. . . The exile of the Tirynthians at Halieis (Porto Cheli) is confirmed by Tirynthian coins found in excavations there
This extract is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites, Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Oct 2002 from Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
Epidauros and Troizen on the east coast were independent of Argos, as were the three small poleis, Hermione, Halieis, and Mases in southern Argolid. According to tradition, Halieis was settled by Tirynthians after their defeat by the Argives, and none of the cities in the north or south ever lived in anything more than an uneasy truce with one another. . There was no lasting peace after the Peloponnesian War, and as a consequence Halieis and other sites were abandoned early in the Hellenistic period.
A Classical and early Hellenistic polis at the southern tip of the Argolid. The town was laid out in the 5th century B.C. on an orthogonal street plan, perhaps the earliest use of this system in Greece, and was occupied until 300-280 B.C. when the town was abandoned. American archaeologists excavating since 1962 have revealed religious buildings on the acropolis and blocks of houses on the slopes below the acropolis. Early use of underwater excavation techniques were used here to explore an early stone temple of Apollo with a stoa and stadium and nearby house blocks that had been submerged by rising sea level in the last 2000 years. The underwater remains may be viewed from a boat or by snorkeling, and many typical houses are still visible in the trenches on the east side of the Porto Kheli bay.
This extract is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites, Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Oct 2002 from Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
ERMIONI (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
It is found in the Argolic Akte between Troizene and Halieis. Its
remote location tended to keep it out of the mainstream of Hellenic affairs, and
Lasos is the only even minor notable to have originated there. Reputed to be one
of the Dryopian cities of the Peloponnese (Hdt. 8.73.2), it was part of Diomedes'
realm in heroic times (Il. 2.560), and was a member of the Kalaurian amphictyony
(Strab. 8.6.14). Hermione sent three ships to Salamis (Hdt. 8.43) and 300 men
to Plataia (Hdt. 9.28.4). During the 5th c. Hermione was a member of the Peloponnesian
League, and as a result had its territory plundered by the Athenians in 430 (Thuc.
2.56.5). It remained faithful to Sparta during the 4th c. (and perhaps later),
but in 229 was forced to join the Achaian League by Aratos (Strab. 8.7.3). Little
is known of Hermione later, though Plutarch (Pomp. 24) tells us that the Temple
of Demeter Chthonia was plundered by pirates, and we know from Pausanias (2.34.9-35)
that in his time the older part of the town was no longer inhabited.
The ancient city was located on a promontory separating two harbors,
but by Pausanias' time had moved W, to approximately the location of the modern
town, at the foot of a hill anciently called the Pron. Three stretches of the
ancient circuit wall (late 5th c.) of polygonal masonry are preserved, the most
easily visible being that on the Kranidi road on the right as one enters the town.
The best preserved stretch extends ca. 19 m. Other walls, to be found on the seaward
end of the promontory, prove that it was the only defended portion of the city,
and that the higher Pron to the W was outside the ancient fortifications. On the
promontory there is preserved the euthynteria course of a temple with polygonal
joints, probably of the late 6th or early 5th c., and almost certainly to be identified
with the Temple of Poseidon mentioned by Pausanias. The Temple of Athena, also
mentioned by Pausanias, may have stood on a large conglomerate foundation about
50 m SE of the modern quay. Most of the other sanctuaries mentioned by Pausanias
have now disappeared, but it is a highly reasonable assumption that that of Demeter
Chthonia lay roughly in the area of the Church of Haghii Taxiarchi on the Pron
where there is preserved, both in the church wall and across the street, a wall
of ashlar masonry, possibly a peribolos wall. The E portion, preserved only in
part, is ca. 10 m from the N portion which extends W at a height of two to three
courses for ca. 20 m. Some 25 m N of the church and forming the N wall of the
Koinotiko Grapheio, there is preserved to a height of ca. 3 m approximately 20
m of a wall of polygonal ashlar masonry. Another stretch has been reported, which
would yield a total length of ca. 95 m. It has the appearance of a retaining wall
and seems to be of late 4th c. date, but some scholars assign it a 5th-4th c.
date, and connect it either with the Demeter sanctuary or with the Echo Colonnade.
There are a number of Late Roman and Early Byzantine mosaics in the area of the
municipal school, as well as a section of a Roman brick aqueduct to the N of the
Pron. The Mycenaean settlement seems to have lain to the W, near the sea, on a
small mound known as Magoula.
W. F. Wyatt, Jr., 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 3 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
FILANORION (Ancient city) KRANIDI
A valley W of the modern village of Phournoi in the S part of the
region. It has been identified with the Philanoreia found in inscriptions; Pausanias
mentions Philanorion. About 200 m from the Argolic Gulf, the watchtower of a small
border fort is preserved to a height of several courses, with traces of adjoining
structures. The large blocks of coursed polygonal masonry suggest a date in the
late 5th or 4th c. B.C.
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.
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