Son of Athamas and Themisto, mountain of Boeotia named after him.
A mountainous ridge E of Lake Kopais and N of Lake Iliki, in which
are the Sanctuaries of Ptoan Apollo and the Hero Ptoios; it lies somewhat E of
the village of Karditsa (mod. Akraiphnion). The highest point of the ridge, Mt.
Pelagia (726 m) is ringed with secondary peaks--Megalo Vouno (548 m) to the NW,
Tsoukourieli (698 m) and Malidarda (697 m) to the NE--and hills. It dominates
Lake Kopais to the W, Lakes Iliki and Paralimni and the Teneric plain to the E
and S, and the Gulf of Euboia to the N.
From Mycenaean times a number of dwellings and fortifications sprang
up in the region, notably at Haghios Joannis near the great Katavothra, at Haghia
Marina, on the Megalo Vouno (Hellenistic round tower and surrounding wall on the
Mycenaean site), and on Mt. Pelagia (Mycenaean wall, and round tower with polygonal
Hellenistic masonry).
The sanctuary of Apollo Ptoios is on the W slope of Mt. Pelagia, on
three terraces leading from SE to NW down to the Fountain of Perdiko Vrysi. It
is the seat of a very ancient infallible oracle that prophesied in the name of
a mountain divinity, soon identified with Apollo. It has been excavated since
1885.
In the upper terrace, near the oracular spring, are the sacred monuments.
The ancient temple, which no doubt dates from the time of the Pisistratids, may
have been built of wood on a subfoundation of poros. In front of it stood the
admirable archaic kouroi (National Museum and Museum of Thebes), masterpieces
of Boiotian sculpture of the 6th and 5th c. On the foundations of this temple,
which doubtless was destroyed in 335 B.C., another temple was built after 316.
It was peripteral Doric (11.8 x 23.3 m), with 6 columns in front and 13 along
each side. The very elongated sekos (4 x 12 m), which has a pronaos with two columns
in antis, has no opisthodomos. In front of the temple, on an esplanade surrounded
by sustaining walls, are the foundations (4 x 7 m) of a large altar or a naiskos
(Athena Pronais?), some bases of statues (6th-5th c.) and of tripods (4th-2d c.),
and a ramp that led to the cave of the original oracle, where the sacred spring
was. On the middle terrace is an archaic building of poros, on which two long
parallel porticos separated by a paved walk were built in the 3d c. Farther E
are the remains of a very large house. On the lower terrace, which is bounded
to the N by a long sustaining wall, is a large rectangular cistern with six compartments
into which water from the upper spring was fed by an artificial channel. Lower
down was a building where suppliants made their ablutions before consulting the
oracle.
The Sanctuary of the Hero Ptoios stands on the NE slope of the Kastraki
hill, S of the Karditsa road and W of the Sanctuary of Apollo. The upper terrace
bears the foundations of an archaic temple of local limestone. The sekos (6 x
17 m) was divided in two by a line of six wooden pillars. Possibly dedicated to
the mother of the Hero Ptoios, Gaia-Demeter or Gaia-Europa, it is said to date
from the end of the 7th c. (terracottas) and to have been restored at the end
of the 4th c. B.C. On the lower terrace, dedicated to the Hero Ptoios, are two
altars, several buildings, one of them an archaic polygonal structure, and 28
tripod bases offered by the city of Akraiphia between ca. 550 and 450.
Ptoion belonged to Thebes up to 335 except in the two periods when
Akraiphia was autonomous (550-480 and 456-446); after the cities were made independent
it became part of the territory of Akraiphia. The Ptoia, festivals held in honor
of Apollo Ptoios, included penteteric musical contests. Founded at an unknown
date, the contests were reorganized by agreement with the Delphic Amphictyony
in 227-226, then again in about 120 B.C. They were held up to the beginning of
the 3d c. A.D.
P. Roesch, 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.
Mountain of Boeotia.
Collection : Athens, National Archaeological Museum
Collection : Thebes Archaeological Museum
Collection : Athens, National Archaeological Museum
Torso of a small, nude, standing male figure, collection : Thebes Archaeological Museum
Collection : Thebes Archaeological Museum, date: ca. 550 B.C. - 540 B.C.
Collection: Thebes Archaeological Museum, date: ca. 560 B.C. - 550 B.C.
A temple of Apollo (hence Apollo Ptous), near Thebes in Boeotia, oracle there consulted by Mardonius.
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