Dyspontium

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Dyspontium (Ancient Greek : Δυσπόντιον) was one of the eight towns of Pisatis in ancient Elis. It was situated in the plain between Elis and Olympia, north of the river Alpheus and not far from the sea. [1] It has been identified with the modern village Skafidia. [2] Pausanias writes that in the time of king Pyrrhus of Pisatis, the cities of Pisa, Makistos, Scillus, and Dyspontium rebelled against the Eleans because of the organization of the Olympic Games. Pisa and its allies were defeated and their cities were destroyed (c.575 BCE). [3] After the city was destroyed, many of its inhabitants moved to Epidamnus and Apollonia. [1] According to local legend, the town was founded by Dysponteus, son of Oenomaus. [4]

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Styra was a town of ancient Euboea, on the west coast, north of Carystus, and nearly opposite the promontory of Cynosura in Attica. The town stood near the shore in the inner part of the bay, in the middle of which is the island Aegileia, now called Stouronisi. Styra is mentioned by Homer along with Carystus in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad. Its inhabitants were originally Dryopians, though they denied this origin, and claimed to be descended from the deme of Steiria in Attica. In the First Persian War (490 BCE) the Persians landed at Aegileia, which belonged to Styra, the prisoners whom they had taken at Eretria. In the Second Persian War (480-479 BCE) the Styrians fought at the battles of Artemisium, Salamis, and Plataeae. They sent two ships to the naval engagements, and at Plataeae they and the Eretrians amounted together to 600 men. They afterwards became the subjects of Athens, and paid a yearly tribute of 1200 drachmae. The Athenian fleet was stationed here in 356 BCE. Strabo relates that the town was destroyed in the "Maliac War" by the Athenian Phaedrus, and its territory given to the Eretrians; but as the Maliac War is not mentioned elsewhere, we ought probably to substitute Lamian War for it.

References

  1. 1 2 Strabo. Geographica . 8.3.32. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon 's edition.
  2. PD-icon.svg   Smith, William, ed. (1854). "Dyspontium". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography . 1. London: John Murray. p. 796.
  3. Pausanias. Description of Greece. 6.22.2.et seq.
  4. Pausanias. Description of Greece. 6.22.4.

PD-icon.svg  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Dyspontium". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography . London: John Murray.