Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "PAGASSES Ancient city VOLOS".
The city seems to have existed from the 7th or the 6th c. B.C. as
the port of Pherai. In 353-352 B.C. it was taken by Philip II of Macedon, who
made it an independent city, probably of Magnesia (Diod. Sic. 16.31.6, 35.5; Theopomp.:
FGrH 115 fr. 53, 54; Dem. 4.35). In 293 B.C. it was absorbed into Demetrias. Pagasai
was supposed to be 90 stades (14 km) from Pherai, 20 stades (ca. 4 km) from Iolkos
(Strab. 9.436), between the latter and Amphanai (Skylax 64f). Ruins on the W shore
of the Gulf of Volo, ca. 4 km S of Volo, were long recognized as those of Pagasai.
Walls of two periods were involved. In 1908, however, Arvanitopoullos determined
that the later part of the walls belonged to Demetrias and only the older wall
circuit adjoining it to the S were the walls of Pagasai.
This wall runs from a hill called Prophitis Elias (44 m) which is
ca. one km from the sea just to the E of the modern shore road Volo, SW across
a dry wash (Ligarorema) and along the SW side of a low ridge about 2 km long,
then around its end (Damari) and along the N side. The wall crosses the Ligarorema
a little less than 2 km NW of the Prophitis Elias hill. It runs less than 1 km
NW to the Kastro hill (201 m), and then N for a short distance where it disappears.
Both ends of the wall are very close to the walls of Demetrias. There is no indication
of how the two ends joined; it seems likely the wall must have curved through
the city area of later Demetrias. The masonry varies from roughly polygonal to
rectangular blocks, depending on the native type of rock. It is poorly preserved.
There are the remains of 69 towers to be seen, but apparently traces of 138 regularly
spaced along the wall. The preserved section is 5 km long; the estimated original
length about 8 km. The wall seems to date from the first half of the 4th c. The
walls seem not to have included a harbor. Just to the E of the city is a promontory
(modern Pevkakia, formerly Tarsanas, ancient Neleia). To the S and N of this are
possible harbors (the N later included in the walls of Demetrias); it is not clear
which Pagasai's harbor was or whether both were used. Only one small square foundation
has been found inside the city's SE wall and no buildings certainly earlier than
Demetrias' foundation outside. Some sculpture, including a head of the 5th c.,
now in Volo, has been found in the area, and some graves belonging to the city.
It has been suggested that the walled area was generally disused after Demetrias'
foundation, as Hellenistic graves have been found outside the walls of Demetrias
but inside those of Pagasai.
T. S. Mackay, 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 28/6/2001: 39 for Pagasai, 25 for Pagasae.
Pagasai: also Pagasa, gen. - ae, Eth. Pagasaios, Pagasaeus. A town of Magnesia in Thessaly, situated at the northern extremity of the bay named after it. (Pagasetikos kolpos, Scylax, p. 24; Strab. ix. p. 438; Pagasites, Dem. Phil. Epist. 159; Pagasaeus Sinus, Mela, . c. c. Pagasicus, Plin. iv. 8. s. 15.) Pagasae is celebrated in mythology as the port where Jason built the ship Argo, and from which he sailed upon his adventurous voyage: hence some of the ancients derived its name from the construction of that vessel, (from pegnumi), but others from the numerous and abundant springs which were found at this spot. (Strab. ix. p. 436.) Pagasae was conquered by Philip after the defeat of Onomarchus. (Dem. Ol. i. pp. 11, 13; Diod. xvi. 31, where for Pagai we ought probably to read Pagasai.) On the foundation of Demetrias in B.C. 290, Pagasae was one of the towns, whose inhabitants were transferred to the new city; but after the Roman conquest Pagasae was restored, and again became an important place. In the time of Strabo it was the port of Pherae, which was the principal city in this part of Thessaly. Pagasae was 90 stadia from Pherae, and 20 from Iolcos. (Strab. l. c.) The ruins of the ancient city are to be seen near Volo, which has given the modern name to the bay. The acropolis occupied the summit of some rocky heights above Cape Angkistri, and at the foot of the rocks are many copious sources of water, of which Strabo speaks. But as these springs are rather saline to the taste, the city was provided in the Roman times with water from a distance by means of an aqueduct, the ruined piers of which are still a conspicuous object. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 368, seq.)
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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