Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "SIKYONIA Ancient area CORINTHIA".
A small district in the northeast of the Peloponnesus, whose
area was probably somewhat less than one hundred square miles. It consisted
of a plain near the sea with mountains in the interior. Its rivers, which ran
in a northeasterly direction, were Sythas on the frontier of Achaia, Helisson,
Selleis, and Asopus in the interior, and Nemea on the frontier of the territory
of Corinth. The land was fertile, and produced excellent oil. Its almonds and
its fish were also much prized.
Its chief town was Sicyon (Sikuon, "cucumbertown"),
which was situated a little to the west of the river Asopus. The ancient city,
which was situated in the plain, was destroyed by Demetrius Poliorcetes, and
a new city, which bore for a short time the name of Demetrius, was built by
him on the high ground close to the Acropolis. The harbour, which, according
to some, was connected with the city by means of long walls, was well fortified,
and formed a town of itself. Sicyon was one of the most ancient cities of Greece.
It is said to have been originally called Aegialea or Aegiali (Aigialeia, Aigialoi),
after an ancient king, Aegialeus; to have been subsequently named Mecone (Mekone,
"poppy-town"), and to have been finally called Sicyon from an Athenian
of that name. Sicyon is represented by Homer as forming part of the empire of
Agamemnon; but on the invasion of Peloponnesus it became subject to Phalces,
the son of Temenus, and was henceforward a Dorian State. The ancient inhabitants,
however, were formed into a fourth tribe called Aegialeis, which possessed equal
rights with the three tribes of the Hylleis, Pamphyli, and Dymanatae, into which
the Dorian conquerors were divided. Sicyon, on account of the small extent of
its territory, never attained much political importance, and was generally dependent
either on Argos or Sparta. At the time of the Second Messenian War it became
subject to a succession of tyrants, who administered their power with moderation
and justice for a hundred years. The first of these tyrants was Andreas, who
began to rule B.C. 676. He was followed in succession by Myron, Aristonymus,
and Clisthenes, on whose death, about 576, a republican form of government was
established. Clisthenes had no male children, but only a daughter, Agariste,
who was married to the Athenian Megacles. In the Persian Wars the Sicyonians
sent fifteen ships to the battle of Salamis, and three hundred hoplites to the
battle of Plataea. In the interval between the Persian and the Peloponnesian
Wars the Sicyonians were twice defeated and their country laid waste by the
Athenians, first under Tolmides in 456, and again under Pericles in 454. In
the Peloponnesian War they took part with the Spartans. From this time till
the Macedonian supremacy their history requires no special mention; but in the
middle of the third century Sicyon took an active part in public affairs in
consequence of its being the native town of Aratus, who united it to the Achaean
League in 251. Under the Romans it gradually declined; and in the time of Pausanias,
in the second century of the Christian era, many of its public buildings were
in ruins. These ruins have been of late carefully studied by the members of
the American School at Athens, who have excavated the tiers of seats and supports
of the stage of a theatre. The position of the Acropolis, the temple of the
Dioscuri, and the Stadium can also still be traced.
Sicyon was for a long time the chief seat of Grecian art.
It gave its name to one of the great schools of painting, which was founded
by Eupompus, and which produced Pamphilus and Apelles. It is also said to have
been the earliest school of statuary in Greece, which was introduced into Sicyon
by Dipoenus and Scyllis from Crete about 560; but its earliest native artist
of celebrity was Canachus. Lysippus was also a native of Sicyon.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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