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Listed 34 sub titles with search on: Ancient literary sources  for wider area of: "OLYMPIA Province ILIA" .


Ancient literary sources (34)

Homeric Hymns

Chalkis - Homeric Hymns

CHALKIS (Ancient city) ILIA
So the ship ran on its course and came to Arena and lovely Argyphea and Thryon, the ford of Alpheus, and well placed Aepy and sandy Pylos and the men of Pylos;past Cruni it went and Chalcis and past Dyme and fair Elis, where the Epei rule.

Crouni

KROUNI (Village) ILIA
So the ship ran on its course and came to Arena and lovely Argyphea and Thryon, the ford of Alpheus, and well placed Aepy and sandy Pylos and the men of Pylos;past Cruni it went and Chalcis and past Dyme and fair Elis, where the Epei rule.

Pausanias

Aliphera

ALIFIRA (Ancient city) ILIA
Aliphera has continued to be regarded as a city from the beginning to the present day.

THISSOA (Ancient city) ANDRITSENA
There is a place on Mount Lycaeus called Cretea, on the left of the grove of Apollo surnamed Parrhasian. The Arcadians claim that the Crete, where the Cretan story has it that Zeus was reared, was this place and not the island. The nymphs, by whom they say that Zeus was reared, they call Theisoa, Neda and Hagno. After Theisoa was named a city in Parrhasia; Theisoa to-day is a village in the district of Megalopolis. From Neda the river Neda takes its name; from Hagno a spring on Mount Lycaeus, which like the Danube flows with an equal volume of water in winter just as in the season of summer. Should a drought persist for a long time, and the seeds in the earth and the trees wither, then the priest of Lycaean Zeus, after praying towards the water and making the usual sacrifices, lowers an oak branch to the surface of the spring, not letting it sink deep. When the water has been stirred up there rises a vapor, like mist; after a time the mist becomes cloud, gathers to itself other clouds, and makes rain fall on the land of the Arcadians.

Perseus Encyclopedia

Aliphera or Alipheira

ALIFIRA (Ancient city) ILIA
Town of Arcadia.

Arene

ARINI (Ancient city) ILIA
City in Messenia, founded by Aphareus, mentioned by Homer, perhaps identical with Samicum.

Bassae

BASSAE (Ancient sanctuary) ILIA
Place in territory of Phigalia.

Epium

EPION (Ancient city) ILIA
A town in the western Peloponnese, founded by the Minyae.

Phigalia

FIGALIA (Ancient city) ILIA
A city of Arcadia, a seer from it, for a time called Phialia, captured by Lacedaemonians, Lepreus killed at, wizards at.

Phrixa

FRIZA (Ancient city) SKILOUNTA
City of Elis.

Lapithus

LAPITHAS (Mountain) OLYMPIA
Mountain in Arcadia.

Lepreum (also Lepreus)

LEPREON (Ancient city) ILIA
A town in Elis, founded by the Minyae, its contingent at Plataea.

Macistus

MAKISTOS (Ancient city) ILIA
Town of Triphylia in the west of the Peloponnese, founded by the Minyae, inhabitants revolt against Eleans.

Samicum

SAMIKON (Ancient city) ILIA
Place in Elis.

Samia

City of Elis.

Skillous (Scillus)

SKILLOUS (Ancient city) ILIA
City of Triphylia, revolts against Elis, destroyed by Eleans, given by Lacedaemonians to Xenophon, people of Scillus build temple of Hera at Olympia.

Thisoa

THISSOA (Ancient city) ANDRITSENA
On Mt. Lycaeus, city of Arcadia, in Pausanias's time a village belonging to Megalopolis, its district.

Strabo

Arene

ARINI (Ancient city) ILIA
... perhaps Samicum was the acropolis of Arene, which the poet mentions in the Catalogue: "And those who dwelt in Pylus and lovely Arene." For while they cannot with certainty discover Arene anywhere, they prefer to conjecture that this is its site; and the neighboring River Anigrus, formerly called Minyeius, gives no slight indication of the truth of the conjecture, for the poet says: "And there is a River Minyeius which falls into the sea near Arene." For near the cave of the nymphs called Anigriades is a spring which makes the region that lies below it swampy and marshy. The greater part of the water is received by the Anigrus, a river so deep and so sluggish that it forms a marsh; and since the region is muddy, it emits an offensive odor for a distance of twenty stadia, and makes the fish unfit to eat.
    In the mythical accounts, however, this is attributed by some writers to the fact that certain of the Centaurs here washed off the poison they got from the Hydra, and by others to the fact that Melampus used these cleansing waters for the purification of the Proetides.80 The bathing-water from here cures leprosy, elephantiasis, and scabies. It is said, also, that the Alpheius was so named from its being a cure for leprosy. At any rate, since both the sluggishness of the Anigrus and the backwash from the sea give fixity rather than current to its waters, it was called the "Minyeius" in earlier times, so it is said, though some have perverted the name and made it "Minteius" instead.
    But the word has other sources of derivation, either from the people who went forth with Chloris, the mother of Nestor, from the Minyeian Orchomenus, or from the Minyans, who, being descendants of the Argonauts, were first driven out of Lemnos into Lacedaemon, and thence into Triphylia, and took up their abode about Arene in the country which is now called Hypaesia, though it no longer has the settlements of the Minyans. Some of these Minyans sailed with Theras, the son of Autesion, who was a descendant of Polyneices, to the island which is situated between Cyrenaea and Crete ("Calliste its earlier name, but Thera its later," as Callimachus says), and founded Thera, the mother-city of Cyrene, and designated the island by the same name as the city.

Chalkis

CHALKIS (Ancient city) ILIA
   At any rate, if one should conceive the notion that the Eleian Pylus is the Pylus of Nestor, the poet could not appropriately say that the ship, after putting to sea from there, was carried past Cruni and Chalcis before sunset, then drew near to Phea by night, and then sailed past Eleia; for these places are to the south of Eleia: first, Phea, then Chalcis, then Cruni, and then the Triphylian Pylus and Samicum. & Then comes the mountain of Triphylia that separates Macistia from Pisatis; then another river called Chalcis, and a spring called Cruni, and a settlement called Chalcis, and, after these, Samicum, where is the most highly revered temple of the Samian Poseidon.

Epitalium

EPITALION (Ancient city) ILIA
   The city which the poet (Homer) now calls Thryum he elsewhere calls Thryoessa: "There is a certain city, Thryoessa, a steep hill, far away on the Alpheius." He calls it "fording-place of the Alpheius" because the river could be crossed on foot, as it seems, at this place. But it is now called Epitalium (a small place in Macistia) ..
Thryum, or Thryoessa, they say, is Epitalium, because the whole of this country is full of rushes, particularly the rivers; and this is still more conspicuous at the fordable places of the stream. But perhaps, they say, Homer called the ford "Thryum" and called Epitalium "well-built Aepy"; for Epitalium is fortified by nature. And in fact he speaks of a "steep hill" in other places:
   "There is a certain city, Thryoessa, a steep hill, far away on the Alpheius, last city of sandy Pylus."

Aepy

EPY (Ancient city) ILIA
As for "well-built Aepy," some raise the question which of the two words is the epithet and which is the city, and whether it is the Margalae of today, in Amphidolia.

Cruni

KROUNI (Village) ILIA
At any rate, if one should conceive the notion that the Eleian Pylus is the Pylus of Nestor, the poet could not appropriately say that the ship, after putting to sea from there, was carried past Cruni and Chalcis before sunset

Then comes the mountain of Triphylia that separates Macistia from Pisatis; then another river called Chalcis, and a spring called Cruni, and a settlement called Chalcis

Lepreum

LEPREON (Ancient city) ILIA
   To the south of Pylus is Lepreum. This city, too, was situated above the sea, at a distance of forty stadia; and between Lepreum and the Annius is the temple of the Samian Poseidon, at a distance of one hundred stadia from each. This is the temple at which the poet says Telemachus found the Pylians performing the sacrifice: "And they came to Pylus, the well-built city of Neleus; and the people were doing sacrifice on the seashore, slaying bulls that were black all over, to the dark-haired Earth-shaker." Now it is indeed allowable for the poet even to fabricate what is not true, but when practicable he should adapt his words to what is true and preserve his narrative; but the more appropriate thing was to abstain from what was not true. The Lepreatans held a fertile territory; and that of the Cyparissians bordered on it. Both these districts were taken and held by the Cauconians.

Macistus

MAKISTOS (Ancient city) ILIA
The Lepreatans held a fertile territory; and that of the Cyparissians bordered on it. Both these districts were taken and held by the Cauconians; and so was the Macistus (by some called Platanistus). The name of the town is the same as that of the territory.

Minthe mountain

MINTHI (Mountain) ILIA
Near Pylus, towards the east, is a mountain named after Minthe, who, according to myth, became the concubine of Hades, was trampled under foot by Core, and was transformed into garden-mint, the plant which some call Hedyosmos. Furthermore, near the mountain is a precinct sacred to Hades, which is revered by the Macistians too, and also a grove sacred to Demeter, which is situated above the Pylian plain. This plain is fertile; it borders on the sea and stretches along the whole distance between Samicum and the River Neda. But the shore of the sea is narrow and sandy, so that one could not refuse to believe that Pylus got its epithet "emathoeis" therefrom.

Triphylian Pylus

PYLOS TRIFYLIAS (Ancient city) ILIA
Triphylian Pylus, also called the Lepreatic Pylus, which Homer calls emathoeis and transmits to posterity as the fatherland of Nestor, as one might infer from his words, whether it be that the river that flows past Pylus towards the north now called Mamaus, or Arcadicus was called Amathus in earlier times, so that Pylus got its epithet emathoeis from Amathus, or that this river was called Pamisus, the same as two rivers in Messenia, and that the derivation of the epithet of the city is uncertain; for it is false, they say, that either the river or the country about it is amathodes.

.. most of the more recent writers, both historians and poets, say that Nestor was a Messenian, thus adding their support to the Pylus which has been preserved down to their own times. But the writers who follow the words of Homer more closely say that the Pylus of Nestor is the Pylus through whose territory the Alpheius flows. And the Alpheius flows through Pisatis and Triphylia.

Samos

SAMIKON (Ancient city) ILIA
Samicum is now only a fortress, though formerly there was also a city which was called Samus, perhaps because of its lofty situation; for they used to call lofty places "Samoi." .. Between the Anigrus and the mountain from which it flows are to be seen the meadow and tomb of Iardanus, and also the Achaeae, which are abrupt cliffs of that same mountain above which, as I was saying the city Samus was situated. However, Samus is not mentioned at all by the writers of the Circumnavigations perhaps because it had long since been torn down and perhaps also because of its position; for the Poseidium is a sacred precinct, as I have said, near the sea, and above it is situated a lofty hill which is in front of the Samicum of today, on the site of which Samus once stood, and therefore Samus was not visible from the sea. Here, too, is a plain called Samicum; and from this one might get more conclusive proof that there was once a city called Samus.

Tympaneae

TYPANEES (Ancient city) ILIA
   Towards the north, on the borders of Pylus, were two little Triphylian cities, Hypana and Tympaneae; the former of these was incorporated into Elis, whereas the latter remained as it was. And further, two rivers flow near these places, the Dalion and the Acheron, both of them emptying into the Alpheius. The Acheron has been so named by virtue of its close relation to Hades; for, as we know, not only the temples of Demeter and Core have been held in very high honor there, but also those of Hades, perhaps because of "the contrariness of the soil," to use the phrase of Demetrius of Scepsis. For while Triphylia brings forth good fruit, it breeds red-rust and produces rush; and therefore in this region it is often the case that instead of a large crop there is no crop at all.

Hypana

YPANA (Ancient small town) ILIA
   Towards the north, on the borders of Pylus, were two little Triphylian cities, Hypana and Tympaneae; the former of these was incorporated into Elis, whereas the latter remained as it was. And further, two rivers flow near these places, the Dalion and the Acheron, both of them emptying into the Alpheius. The Acheron has been so named by virtue of its close relation to Hades; for, as we know, not only the temples of Demeter and Core have been held in very high honor there, but also those of Hades, perhaps because of "the contrariness of the soil," to use the phrase of Demetrius of Scepsis. For while Triphylia brings forth good fruit, it breeds red-rust and produces rush; and therefore in this region it is often the case that instead of a large crop there is no crop at all.

Thucydides

Lepreum during the Peloponnesean war

LEPREON (Ancient city) ILIA
Immediately afterwards an Elean embassy arrived, and first making an alliance with Corinth went on from thence to Argos, according to their instructions, and became allies of the Argives, their country being just then at enmity with Lacedaemon and Lepreum.

Xenophon

Epeum

EPION (Ancient city) ILIA
The Eleans, however, claimed the right to hold Epeum, the town between Heraea and Macistus; for they said that they had bought the whole territory for thirty talents from the people to whom the town at that time belonged, and had paid the money.

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