Location information

Nicaea fortress

EPIKNIMIDIA LOKRIS (Ancient area) FTHIOTIDA
  Nicaea (Nikaia: Eth. Nikaieus), a fortress of the Locri Epicnemidii, situated upon the sea, and close to the pass of Thermopylae. It is described by Aeschines as one of the places which commanded the pass. (De Fals. Leg. p. 45, ed. Steph.) It was the first Locrian town after Alpenos, the latter being at the very entrance of the pass. The surrender of Nicaea by Phalaecus to Philip, in B.C. 346, made the Macedonian king master of Thermopylae, and brought the Sacred War to an end. (Diod. xvi. 59.) Philip kept possession of it for some time, but subsequently gave it to the Thessalians along with Magnesia. (Dem. Phil. ii. p. 153, ed. Reiske; Aesch. c. Ctesiph. p. 73, ed. Steph.) But in B.C. 340 we again find Nicaea in the possession of Philip. (Dern. in Phil. Ep. p. 153.) According to Memnon (ap. Phot. p. 234, a., ed. Bekker; c. 41; ed. Orelli) Nicaea was destroyed by the Phocians, and its inhabitants founded the Bithynian Nicaea. But even if this is true, the town must have been rebuilt soon afterwards, since we find it in the hands of the Aetolians during the Roman wars in Greece. (Polyb. x. 42, xvii. 1; Liv. xxviii. 5, xxxii. 32.) Subsequently the town is only mentioned by Strabo (ix. p. 426). Leake identifies Nicaea with the castle of Pundonitza, where there are Hellenic remains. (Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 5, seq.)

This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD)
• http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Per...