The inhabitants have a story, found nowhere else in Greece, that Semele, after giving birth to her son by Zeus, was discovered by Cadmus and put with Dionysus into a chest, which was washed up by the waves in their country. Semele, who was no longer alive when found, received a splendid funeral, but they brought up Dionysus. For this reason the name of their city, hitherto called Oreiatae, was changed to Brasiae after the washing up of the chest to land.
City of Free Laconians.
Brasiae, Prasiai, Prasia, Brasiai, Eth. Brasiates, Prasieus. A town on the eastern coast of Laconia, described by Pausanias as the farthest of the Eleuthero-Laconian places on this part of the coast, and as distant 200 stadia by sea from Cyphanta. (Paus. iii. 24. § 3.) Scylax speaks of it as a city and a harbour. The name of the town was derived by the inhabitants from the noise of the waves (Brazein). It was burnt by the Athenians in the second year of the Peloponnesian War, B.C. 430. (Thuc. ii. 56; Aristoph. Pac. 242.) Also in B.C. 414 the Athenians, in conjunction with the Argives, ravaged the coast near Prasiae. (Thuc. vi. 105.) In the Macedonian period Prasiae, with other Laconian towns on this coast, passed into the hands of the Argives (Polyb. iv. 36); whence Strabo calls it one of the Argive towns (viii. p. 368), though in another passage he says that it belonged at an earlier period to the Lacedaemonians (viii. p. 374). It was restored to Laconia by Augustus, who made it one of the Eleuthero-Laconian towns. (Paus. iii. 21. § 7, iii. 24. § 3.) Among the curiosities of Prasiae Pausanias mentions a cave where Ino nursed Dionysus; a temple of Asclepius and another of Achilles, and a small promontory upon which stood four brazen figures not more than a foot in height. (Paus. iii. 24. §§ 4, 5.) Leake places Prasiae at St. Andrew in the Thyreatis; but it more probably stood at Tyro, which is the site assigned to it by Boblaye, Ross, and Curtius.
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
The temples here are those of Asclepius and of Achilles, in whose honor they hold an annual festival.
The temples here are those of Asclepius and of Achilles, in whose honor they hold an annual festival.
There is a small promontory at Brasiae, which projects gently into the sea; on it stand bronze figures, not more than a foot high, with caps on their heads. I am not sure whether they consider them to be Dioscuri or Corybants. They are three in number; a statue of Athena makes a fourth.
There is a small promontory at Brasiae, which projects gently into the sea; on it stand bronze figures, not more than a foot high, with caps on their heads. I am not sure whether they consider them to be Dioscuri or Corybants. They are three in number; a statue of Athena makes a fourth.
Putting out from Epidaurus, they (the Athenians) laid waste the territory of Troezen, Halieis, and Hermione, all towns on the coast of Peloponnese, and thence sailing to Prasiai, a maritime town in Laconia, ravaged part of its territory, and took and sacked the place itself; after which they returned home, but found the Peloponnesians gone and no longer in Attica.
Receive our daily Newsletter with all the latest updates on the Greek Travel industry.
Subscribe now!
