Listed 4 sub titles with search on: Ancient literary sources for wider area of: "THESSALIA Ancient area GREECE" .
THESSALIA (Ancient area) GREECE
In the great flood, inhabited by the Aeolians, Salmoneus at first dwelt in, Pelias dwelt in, Pheres founds Pherae in, Herakles left behind by the Argonauts at Aphetae in, Phlegyas in, the country of the Pelasgians, Pelasgians formerly there, Darius' European tribute from nations east of it, Thessalian allies of Pisistratus, Lacedaemonian invasion of Thessaly, Aleuadae of Thessaly at Xerxes' court, description of Thessaly, its submission to Xerxes, Greek force there, danger to Phocis from Thessalians, Xerxes' march through it, Thessalian cavalry inferior to Asiatic, defeats of Thessalians by Phocians, and Thessalian revenge, Mardonius in Thessaly, Thessalians in his army, Artabazus in Thessaly, Melampus goes to, betrayed to Xerxes by Aleuads, invaded by Lacedaemonians under Leotychides, Agesilaus marches through, conquered by Pyrrhus, overrun by Gauls, cows of Thessalian breed.
Tagus (tagos), a commander or ruler, was more particularly the name applied to
the chief magistrate of Thessaly, and to magistrates of the Thessalian towns,
at various periods of the history of that country. Under this head it is proposed
to give a short account of the constitution of Thessaly.
The Thessalians are said to have been an Epirot tribe, which crossed
the Pindus, conquered the country to which it subsequently gave its name, and
either drove out or reduced to subjection the original inhabitants (Herod. vii.
176; Thuc. i. 12; Diod. iv. 57). They seem to have settled originally in that
part of Thessaly known as Thessaliotis, and soon after to have completed the conquest
of Pelasgiotis, for it was to these two districts that the Penestae,
who were the remains of the earliest of the native tribes which submitted to their
dominion, belonged. They then completed the conquest of the rest of Thessaly,
and reduced the neighbouring tribes of Achaeans, Perrhaebi, and Magnetes, with
which they had been long at war, to the condition of permanent dependencies (hupekooi,
Thuc. ii. 101, iv. 78, viii. 3; see Perioeci).
The princes who led the Thessalians to their new homes across the
Pindus were, like the leaders of the Dorian invasion, Heracleidae. As the Heracleidae
were found at Sparta in the families of the Agids and Eurypontids, and at Corinth
in that of the Bacchiadae, so in Thessaly they were represented chiefly by the
Aleuadae and Scopadae; and it is with the names first of Aleuas (see article at
Ancient Larisa) and
later of Scopas that the organisation of Thessaly is connected. Thessaly appears
as a united whole under the rule of Aleuas the Redhaired (Aleuas ho Purros), a
semi-mythical personage, to whom no date can even approximately be assigned. We
are told, on the authority of Aristotle, that he divided the country into the
four districts of Thessaliotis, Phthiotis, Pelasgiotis, and Histiaeotis, which
were called tetrades. This division, which was probably based on some preceding
natural division due to the mode in which the country had been conquered, continued
unchanged to the latest times; and that it was not merely nominal, but had a material
significance of the nature of which we are ignorant, is shown by the frequency
with which it asserted itself as a real element in the Thessalian constitution.
Aleuas is also said to have fixed certain regular military contingents, enjoining
each kleros, which was perhaps a subdivision of the tetras, to furnish forty horsemen
and eighty hoplites. We are further told that the tribute to be paid by the subject
states was fixed by a certain Scopas (Xen. Hell. vi. 1, 19, proeipe de kai tois
perioikois pasi ton psoron hosper epi Skopa tetagmenos en pserein), who is assigned
by modern authorities to the first half of the sixth century B.C.
From this time to the Persian wars Gilbert thinks that there was always
a king of Thessaly, and that he was chosen from the Heracleidae, though not always
from the same family of this race. Herodotus calls the Aleuadae kings of Thessaly
at the time of the Persian invasion (Herod. vii. 6), and he also states that in
510 B.C. Thessaly as a united whole (koinei gnomei chreomenoi) sent their king
Kineen andra Koniaion (Kutinaion, Stein) to help the Pisistratidae (Herod. v.
63). As late as 454 B.C. we find a certain Orestes of Pharsalus called king of
Thessaly (Thuc. i. 111), and even at this period Thessaly may have been a united
nation, and the noble families have still considered. themselves vassals to a
king of their own race and perhaps of their own choosing. There is no evidence
to show that the names basileus and taeos were interchangeable; taeos may have
been one of the titles of the monarch, as dictator and magister populi were probably
amongst the titles of the ancient kings of Rome; and as the king at Athens became
the. archon, so in Thessaly he may have become the taeos. The office was a temporary
resumption of the monarchy, chiefly in respect of its military authority, and
was created for the purpose of uniting the independent states of Thessaly for
some common purpose. The Tagus was apparently elected by a majority of the states
(Xen. Hell. vi. 1, 8) and the whole military force of the country was placed under
his command: the surrounding tribes, which seem, after the fall of the monarchy,
to have been dependent on particular states, as the Perrhaebi in Larisa, were
all brought under the control of this temporary central government (Xen. Hell.
vi. 1, 9, panta ta kukloi ethne hupekoa men estin, hotan taeos enthade katastei).
The tribute (psoros), which they seem usually to have paid to the particular states
on which they were directly dependent, was now exacted for the common purposes
of the league (Xen. Hell. vi. 1, 12); and they were made to furnish light-armed
troops, which the Tagus levied (ib. vi. 1, 9). At the same time he raised the
greatest force which the free states of Thessaly were capable of affording, and
which amounted on these occasions to 6,000 cavalry and more than 10,000 infantry
(Xen. Hell. vi. 1, 8).
But such a union of the states of Thessaly was rarely realised; and
we meet with no actual instance of the appointment of a Tagus until after the
Peloponnesian war. It is not known when the monarchy came to an end, but it probably
continued, in name at least, down to the year 454 B.C. (Thuc. i. 111); it was
followed by a general break--up of the union of Thessaly; and though the words
of Thucydides (iv. 78, 3), to panton koinon, may point to some loose confederacy
or common council, and though there seems to have been a strong common democratic
sentiment running through the whole country, yet the different states were largely
independent of one another and almost entirely under the control of their separate
hereditary oligarchies (Thuc. l. c.). Thus Larisa was governed by the Aleuadae,
Cranon by the Scopadae, and Pharsalus by the Creondae (Herod. vi. 127, vii. 6,
ix. 58; Diod. xv. 61, xvi. 14). The Aleuadae and Scopadae we know were related,
and perhaps most of the great families of Thessaly were connected, at least by
being Heraclidae, and therefore of the original royal race, if not by being offshoots
of the Aleuadae, who, we are told, ruled in many cities (Pind. Pyth. 10 ad fin.,
en d' agathoisi keitai patroiai kednai polion kubernasies). Sometimes a powerful
state, like Pharsalus, extended its rule over other smaller cities (Xen. Hell.
vi. 1, 8), but each of the larger states seems to have been practically independent
both in foreign and domestic politics. In 431 B.C., at the commencement of the
Peloponnesian war, we find that each of the cities which sent help to the Athenians
appointed its own commander, and that the forces from Larisa were led by two generals,
each chosen from a separate clan or faction in the city (apo tes staseos hekateros,
Thuc. ii. 22); and we also find nobles, like Menon of Pharsalus in 364 B.C., arming
their Penestae and taking an independent part in the wars of foreign nations (Dem.
c. Aristocr.238). These instances point to the disorganised condition of Thessaly,
which was indeed a noted characteristic of the country throughout its history
(Liv. xxxiv. 51). The towns were under the control of a feudal nobility, who maintained
their power the more easily through the preponderance of cavalry amongst the Thessalians,
which their wealth and the character of the country enabled them to support, and
the comparative unimportance of the hoplitai (Arist. Pol. iv. 3, 3; Thuc. ii.
22; Herod. v. 63). The country was distracted at once by clan-feuds and by the
struggles of the democracy against the dominant castes. In some states a compromise
was for a time effected, as at Larisa, where a mediator (archon mesidios) was
at one time called in to allay the feuds in the ruling family (Arist. Pol. v.
6, 13), and where different magistrates of a democratic character, called politopsulakes
and demiourgoi, were appointed, to satisfy the claims of the popular party.
The rule of the nobility continued until the close of the Peloponnesian
war; and it was not until 404 B.C. that the democratical reaction became strong
enough to cause its overthrow. In this year Lycophron of Pherae attempted to raise
himself to the position of Tagus of Thessaly (Xen. Hell. ii. 3, 4). Unable to
secure his election by constitutional means, he made himself tyrant (Diod. xiv.
82), and attempted to unite the whole of Thessaly under his sway. This object
was actually accomplished by his successor Jason in 375 B.C. (Xen. Hell. vi. 1
sq.; Diod. xv. 60); but after the assassination of the latter in 370 B.C., his
successors Polydorus, Polyphron, and Alexander of Pherae were unable to maintain
the constitutional hegemony, and the office of Tagus developed into an irregular
tyranny (Xen. Hell. vi. 4, 33; Diod. xv. 61), for the suppression of which the
aid of the Thebans under Pelopidas was repeatedly called in.
Meanwhile we find that, about 364 B.C., an attempt was made at a reconstruction
of the constitution of united Thessaly, for the purpose of joint action against
Alexander of Pherae. We find again the koinon ton pettalon, composed of the four
tetrades (C. I. A. ii. n. 88). At its head stood an archon, and each teras seems
to have had its polemarchoi, with pezarchoi for the command of the foot-soldiers
and hipparchoi for the command of the cavalry, and other officers, apparently
of a religious character, called leromnemones (C. I. A. ii. n. 88, where polemarchoi
and pezarchoi are mentioned; Dittenberger, n. 85--a treaty of alliance between
Athens and Thessaly in 361 B.C.--l. 17, to koinon to thettalon--ton archonta hon
heilonto thettaloi: l. 24, exorkososin Agelaon ton archonta kai tous polemarchous
kai tous hipparchous kai tous hippeas kai tous leromnemonas kai tous allous archontas,
hoposoi huper to koino to thettalon archosin). But this independent organisation
was not of long duration. The subsequent usurpations of Sisiphorus and Lycophron
induced the aristocracy to call in the assistance of Philip of Macedon, who deprived
Lycophron of his power in 352 B.C. (Dem. Olynth. ii. p. 19,7); and this interference
in the affairs of Thessaly paved the way for its subjection to Macedonia, which
was effected in 344 B.C.
Philip re-organised the country by instituting tetrarchies (tetrarchiai,
Dem. Phil. iii., 35) and decarchies (dekadarchiai, Dem. Phil. ii., 24); but it
is doubtful whether these two modes of organisation were coexistent, and, if so,
what relation the latter bore to the former. The tetrarchy was no doubt a re-institution
of the division into tetrades: and the decarchy has been variously explained as
a council of ten under which each of the principal cities was placed, or as a
similar council which governed each of the four divisions, or as a supreme council
which was invested with the government of the whole country: this last alternative
being on the whole the most probable. Thessaly remained henceforth dependent on
the Macedonian kings until the year 196 B.C., when the Romans, by the victory
of Cynoscephalae, wrested it from Philip V., and restored the autonomy of the
country.
From this time we get a renewal of the alliance of the Thessalian
states (koinon thessalon); at the head of this confederacy stood a strategos,
appointed yearly, and we find the names of such strategoi recorded both in inscriptions
and on coins. The tribes formerly dependent on Thessaly--the Dolopes, Perrhaebi,
and Magnetes--were now constituted as independent states (Liv. xxxiii. 34; Polyb.
xviii. 30, 6): thus we find that the Magnetes had a general council of their own
(Magnetum consilium, Liv. xxxv. 31), and a supreme magistrate who bore the title
Magnetarches (Liv. xxxv. 39 and 43). The constitution of the separate Thessalian
states, as they were organised by T. Quintius Flamininus, was of a timocratic
character (Liv. xxxiv. 51, a cursu maxime et senatum et judices legit, potentioremque
eam partem civitatium fecit, cui salva et tranquilla omnia magis expediebant ).
On the occasions when the states were summoned to discuss measures which concerned
the whole of Thessaly, the general council met at Larisa (Liv. xxxv. 31; xlii.
38, Thessalorum Larissae fuit consilium ).
During the Macedonian and Roman rule we find the word tagos occurring frequently
as a title of the magistrates of the Thessalian states; it is found in the fourth
century B.C. at Pharsalus and Cranon, in the third century at Larisa, and about
the year 196, at the commencement of the period of Roman rule, at Cyretiae (C.
I. G. n. 1770). At Larisa and Cyretiae they were the chief magistrates; thus letters
of Philip V. of Macedon and of T. Quintius Flamininus are addressed tois tagois
kai tei polei chairein (C. I. G. n. 1770): in other states they appear as directing
the proceedings of the ekklesia, and as the executive and finance officers.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ICHNES (Ancient city) THESSALIA
These places are in Thessaliotis, one of the four portions of all Thessaly, in which were not only the regions that were subject to Eurypylus, but also Phyllus, where is the temple of Phyllian Apollo, and Ichnae, where the Ichnaean Themis is held in honor.
PHYLLUS (Ancient city) THESSALIA
These places are in Thessaliotis, one of the four portions of all Thessaly, in which were not only the regions that were subject to Eurypylus, but also Phyllus, where is the temple of Phyllian Apollo, and Ichnae, where the Ichnaean Themis is held in honor.
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