Araethyrea or Araithyrea ( /ˌærəˈθɪriə/ ; Ancient Greek : Ἀραιθυρέα) was the ancient capital of Phliasia, in ancient Argolis. It is said by Pausanias to have been originally named Arantia (Ἀραντία), after Aras, its mythical founder, and to have been called Araethyrea after Araethyrea, a daughter of Aras. The name of its founder was retained in the time of Pausanias in the hill Arantinus, on which it stood. [1] Araethyrea is mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad . [2] We learn from Strabo that its inhabitants quitted Araethyrea, and founded Phlius, at the distance of 30 stadia from the former town. [3] Hence the statement of the grammarians, that Araethyrea and Arantia were both ancient names of Phlius. [4] [5]
Its site is unlocated. [6]
Calydon was a Greek city in ancient Aetolia, situated on the west bank of the river Evenus, 7.5 Roman miles from the sea. Its name is most famous today for the Calydonian boar that had to be overcome by heroes of the Olympian age.
Cleonae or Kleonai was a city in ancient Peloponnesus, described by writers of the Roman period as a city of Argolis, but never included in the Argeia or territory of Argos, in the flourishing period of Greek history. Cleonae was situated on the road from Argos to Corinth, at the distance of 120 stadia from the former city, and 80 stadia from the latter. There was a narrow pass through the mountains, called Tretus, leading from Argos to Cleonae. Cleonae stood in a small plain upon a river flowing into the Corinthian Gulf a little westward of Lechaeum. In its territory was Mount Apesas, now Mount Phoukas, connected with the Acrocorinthus by a rugged range of hills. Both Strabo and Pausanias describe Cleonae as a small place; and the former writer, who saw it from the Acrocorinthus, says that it is situated upon a hill surrounded on all sides by buildings, and well walled, so as to deserve the epithet given to it by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad – ἐϋκτιμένας Κλεωνάς. Statius also speaks of "ingenti turritae mole Cleonae."
Phlius or Phleius (Φλειοῦς) was an independent polis (city-state) in the northeastern part of Peloponnesus. Phlius' territory, called Phliasia (Φλιασία), was bounded on the north by Sicyonia, on the west by Arcadia, on the east by Cleonae, and on the south by Argolis. This territory is a small valley about 900 feet (270 m) above the level of the sea, surrounded by mountains, from which streams flow down on every side, joining the river Asopus in the middle of the plain. The mountain in the southern part of the plain, from which the principal source of the Asopus springs, was called Carneates (Καρνεάτης). The territory of Phlius was celebrated in antiquity for its wine. According to Strabo, the ancient capital of the country was Araethyrea (Ἀραιθυρέα) on Mt. Celosse, which city is mentioned by Homer; but the inhabitants subsequently deserted it and built Phlius at the distance of 30 stadia. Pausanias, however, does not speak of any migration, but says that the ancient capital was named Arantia (Ἀραντία), from its founder Aras, an autochthon, that it was afterwards called Araethyrea from a daughter of Aras, and that it finally received the name of Phlius, from Phlias, a son of Ceisus and grandson of Temenus. The name of Arantia was retained in the time of Pausanias in the hill Arantinus, on which the city stood. Hence the statement of grammarians that both Arantia and Araethyrea were ancient names of Phlius. According to Stephanus of Byzantium, Phlius derived its name from Dionysus and Chthonophyle. Phlius was subsequently conquered by Dorians under Rhegnidas, who came from Sicyon. Some of the inhabitants migrated to Samos, others to Clazomenae; among the settlers at Samos was Hippasus, from whom Pythagoras derived his descent.
Helos, also Hele (Ἕλη), was a town of ancient Laconia, situated east of the mouth of the Eurotas, close to the sea, in a plain which, though marshy near the coast, is described by Polybius as the most fertile part of Laconia. In the earliest times it appears to have been the chief town on the coast, as Amyclae was in the interior; for these two places are mentioned together by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad. Helos is said to have been founded by Heleius, the youngest son of Perseus. On its conquest by the Dorians its inhabitants were reduced to slavery; and, according to a common opinion in antiquity, their name became the general designation of the Spartan bondsmen, helots, but the name of these slaves (εἵλωτες) probably signified captives, and was derived from the root of ἑλεῖν. In the time of Strabo Helos was only a village; and when it was visited by Pausanias, it was in ruins. Helos is also mentioned by Thucydides, Xenophon, and Stephanus of Byzantium.
Pylus or Pylos was a town in hollow Elis, described by Pausanias as situated upon the mountain road leading from Elis to Olympia, and at the place where the Ladon flows into the Pineus. Strabo, in a corrupt passage, assigns to it the same situation, and places it in the neighbourhood of Scollium or Mount Scollis. Pausanias says that it was 80 stadia from the city of Elis. Diodorus gives 70 stadia as the distance, and Pliny the Elder 12 Roman miles.
Orneae or Orneai was a town in ancient Argolis, mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad, which is said to have derived its name from Orneus, the son of Erechtheus. Orneae retained its ancient Cynurian inhabitants, when Argos was conquered by the Dorians. According to Pausanias, it continued independent of Argos for a long time; but it was finally conquered by the Argives, who removed the Orneatae to their own city. Thucydides mentions the Orneatae and Cleonaei as allies (σύμμαχοι) of the Argives in 418 BCE; and the same historian relates that Orneae was destroyed by the Argives in 416 BCE. It might therefore be inferred that the destruction of Orneae by the Argives in 416 BCE is the event referred to by Pausanias. But Herodotus states that Orneae had been conquered by Argos long before; that its inhabitants were reduced to the condition of Perioeci; and that all the Perioeci in the Argeia were called Orneatae from this place. But the Orneatae mentioned by Thucydides could not have been Perioeci, since they are called allies. "The Cynurians," says Herodotus, "have become Doricized by the Argives and by time, being Orneatae and Perioeci." These words would seem clearly to mean that, while the other Cynurians became Perioeci, the Orneatae continued independent, an interpretation which is in accordance with the account of Thucydides.
Haliartus or Haliartos, also known as Ariartus, Ariartos, Hariartus, or Hariartos, was a town of ancient Boeotia, and one of the cities of the Boeotian League. It was situated on the southern side of Lake Copais in a pass between the mountain and the lake. It is mentioned in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad by Homer, who gives it the epithet ποιήεις (grassy) in consequence of its well-watered meadows.
In Greek mythology, Aras was an autochthon who was believed to have built Arantea, the most ancient town in Phliasia, Peloponnese.
Aulis was a Greek port town, located in ancient Boeotia in central Greece, at the Euripus Strait, opposite of the island of Euboea, at modern Mikro Vathy/Ag. Nikolaos. Livy states that Aulis was 3 miles (4.8 km) from Chalcis.
Pleuron was a city in ancient Aetolia, Greece. The name refers to two settlements, the older of which was at the foot of Mount Curium between the river Acheloos and the river Evenos, and was mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad. The territory of Pleuron was called Pleuronia. The ruins of this more ancient city are 1.5 km to the southeast of the newer one. The circuit wall exhibits "the large roughly shaped stones and small stones in the interstices which are the characteristics of Cyclopean masonry."
Araethyrea was in Greek mythology a daughter of Aras, an autochthon who was believed to have built Arantea, the most ancient town in Phlius. She had a brother called Aoris, and is said to have been fond of the chase and warlike pursuits.
Gerenia, or Gerena, or Gerenus or Gerenos (Γέρηνος), was a town of ancient Messenia, where, according to Greek mythology, Nestor was said to have been brought up after the destruction of Pylos, and whence he derived the surname Gerenian, which occurs so frequently in the Iliad of Homer. There is, however, no town of this name mentioned in Homer, and many of the ancient critics identified the later Gerenia with the Homeric Enope.
Pharae was an ancient town of Messenia, situated upon a hill rising from the left bank of the river Nedon, and at a distance of a mile (1.5 km) from the Messenian Gulf. Strabo describes it as situated 5 stadia from the sea, and Pausanias 6. William Smith states that it is probable that the earth deposited at the mouth of the river Nedon has, in the course of centuries, encroached upon the sea. Pausanias distinguishes this city from the Achaean city of Pharae (Φαραὶ), 150 stadia from Patrae and 70 stadia from the coast. Pherae occupied the site of Kalamata, the modern capital of Messenia; and in antiquity also it seems to have been the chief town in the southern Messenian plain.
Oechalia or Oichalia was a town in ancient Messenia, in the plain of Stenyclerus. It was in ruins in the time of Epaminondas, and its position was a matter of dispute in later times. Strabo identified it with Andania, the ancient residence of the Messenian kings, and Pausanias with Carnasium, which was only 8 stadia distant from Andania, and upon the river Charadrus. Carnasium, in the time of Pausanias, was the name given to a grove of cypresses, in which were statues of Apollo Carneius, of Hermes Criophorus, and of Persephone. It was here that the mystic rites of the great goddesses were celebrated, and that the urn was preserved containing the bones of Eurytus, the son of Melaneus.
Scarphe or Scarpheia (Σκάρφεια) was a town of the Epicnemidian Locrians, mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad. According to Strabo it was 10 stadia from the sea, 30 stadia from Thronium, and a little less from some other place of which the name is lost, probably Nicaea. Moreover, Scarphe was reported to be occupying the territory of Augeiae, which had disappeared by his time. It appears from Pausanias that it lay on the direct road from Elateia to Thermopylae by Thronium, and likewise from Livy, who states that Lucius Quinctius Flamininus marched from Elateia by Thronium and Scarpheia to Heraclea. It was also the site of the Battle of Scarpheia in 146 BCE. Scarpheia is said by Strabo to have been destroyed by an inundation of the sea (tsunami) caused by an earthquake in 426 BCE, but it must have been afterwards rebuilt, as it is mentioned by subsequent writers down to a late period, including Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy, Hierocles, Stephanus of Byzantium, and the Geographer of Ravenna. Scarpheia is also mentioned by Lycophron, Appian, and Pausanias.
Cyllene or Kyllene was a seaport town of ancient Elis, distant 120 stadia from the city of Elis. Cyllene was an ancient place. It is mentioned by Homer as one of the towns of the Epeians; and if we are to believe Dionysius Periegetes, it was the port from which the Pelasgians sailed to Italy. Pausanias, moreover, mentions it as visited at an early period by the merchants of Aegina, and as the port from which the exiled Messenians after the conclusion of the Second Messenian War, sailed away to found a colony in Italy or Sicily.
Elis was the capital city of the ancient polis (city-state) of Elis, in ancient Greece. It was situated in the northwest of the Peloponnese, to the west of Arcadia. Just before the Peneius emerges from the hills into the plain, the valley of the river is contracted on the south by a projecting hill of a peaked form, and nearly 500 feet (150 m) in height. This hill was the acropolis of Elis, and commanded as well the narrow valley of the Peneius as the open plain beyond. The ancient city lay at the foot of the hill, and extended across the river, as Strabo says that the Peneius flowed through the city; but since no remains are now found on the right or northern bank, it is probable that all the public buildings were on the left bank of the river, more especially as Pausanias does not make any allusion to the river in his description of the city.
Alalcomenae or Alalkomenai, or Alalcomenium or Alalkomenion (Ἀλαλκομένιον), was a town in ancient Boeotia, situated at the foot of Mount Tilphossium, a little to the east of Coroneia, and near Lake Copais. It was celebrated for the worship of Athena, who was said to have been born there, and who is hence called Alalcomeneis (Ἀλαλκομενηΐς) in Homer's Iliad. The temple of the goddess stood, at a little distance from the town, on the Triton River, a small stream flowing into Lake Copais. The town was by a hill which Strabo calls Mount Tilphossium. Strabo also records that the tomb of the seer Teiresias, and the temple of Tilphossian Apollo, were located just outside Alalcomenae.
Mycalessus or Mykalessos was a town of ancient Boeotia, mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad. It was said to have been so called, because the cow, which was guiding Cadmus and his comrades to Thebes, lowed (ἐμυκήσατο) in this place. In 413 BCE, some Thracians, whom the Athenians were sending home to their own country, were landed on the Euripus, and surprised Mycalessus. They not only sacked the town, but put all the inhabitants to the sword, not sparing even the women and children. Thucydides says that this was one of the greatest calamities that had ever befallen any city. Strabo calls Mycalessus a village in the territory of Tanagra, and places it upon the road from Thebes to Chalcis.
Mideia was a city of ancient Boeotia mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad. Pausanias relates that Mideia occupied the height adjacent to the later town of Lebadeia, and its inhabitants, under the conduct of Lebadus, an Athenian, migrated into the plain, and founded there the city named after him. On the other hand, Strabo maintains that the Homeric cities Arne and Mideia were both swallowed up by Lake Copais.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Araethyrea". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography . London: John Murray.