Pandosia (Ancient Greek : Πανδοσία) was an ancient Greek city of Epirus. Together with the other Elean colonies Bucheta and Elatea it was a city of the Cassopaeans, [1] who were a sub-tribe of the Thesprotians. It was located south of the river Acheron. [2]
Very little is known about its history, save that Pandosia and its neighbours Bucheta and Elatea were conquered by Philip of Macedon. He transferred the cities to the possession of Alexander I of Epirus. [1]
Alexander was allegedly warned by an oracle to beware of Pandosia and the Acheron river. When he left Epirus for a military campaign on the Italian Peninsula he thought himself to be safe, far away from the two places. He did not realize there was also a city called Pandosia and identically named river in Bruttium until it was too late. He was killed there during the Battle of Pandosia. [3]
In 1994, archaeological surveys were started on small number of fortified town sites in Southern Epirus. The modern village Kastri is most frequently identified as the site of the ancient city. The ruins of an acropolis can be seen on a hill near Kastri. This site 33 hectares (82 acres) occupies and was investigated with an archaeological survey in 1994. Over 85,000 artifacts were uncovered, more than 15,000 pottery sherds and more than 70,000 tile and brick fragments. [4]
A definitive identification of this site as Pandosia has not been possible however, because Strabo described the city as situated to the south of the Acheron, but Kastri is just north of the river. This uncertainty has led to the suggestion that it might have been located much further inland at Gourana. Alternatively, the Acheron river might have changed its course over time to the south of the city. [5]
Aeacus was a king of the island of Aegina in Greek mythology. He was a son of Zeus and the nymph Aegina, and the father of the heroes Peleus and Telamon. According to legend, he was famous for his justice, and after he died he became one of the three judges in Hades alongside Minos and Rhadamanthus. In another story, he assisted Poseidon and Apollo in building the walls of Troy.
In Greek mythology, Styx, also called the River Styx, is a goddess and river of the Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the mother of Zelus, Nike, Kratos, and Bia. She sided with Zeus in his war against the Titans, and because of this, to honor her, Zeus decreed that the solemn oaths of the gods be sworn by the water of Styx.
In Greek mythology, Acherusia was a name given by the ancients to several lakes or swamps, which, like the various rivers called Acheron, were at some time believed to be connected with the underworld, until at last the Acherusia came to be considered to be in the lower world itself.
Sybaris was an important ancient Greek city situated on the coast of the Gulf of Taranto in modern Calabria, Italy.
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The Panionion is a sacred ground in Mykale, facing north; it was set apart for Poseidon of Helicon by the joint will of the Ionians. Mykale is a western promontory of the mainland opposite Samos; the Ionians used to assemble there from their cities and keep the festival to which they gave the name of Panionia.
In Greek mythology, Makedon, also Macedon or Makednos, was the eponymous ancestor of the ancient Macedonians according to various ancient Greek fragmentary narratives. In most versions, he appears as a native or immigrant leader from Epirus, who gave his name to Macedonia, previously called Emathia according to Strabo, which according to Marsyas of Pella was until then a part of Thrace.
The Battle of Pandosia was fought in 331 BC between a Greek force led by Alexander I of Epirus against the Lucanians and Bruttians, two southern Italic tribes. The Italic army soundly defeated the invading Greeks and killed Alexander I of Epirus during the battle.
The Nekromanteion was an ancient Greek temple of necromancy devoted to Hades and Persephone. According to tradition, it was located on the banks of the Acheron river in Epirus, near the ancient city of Ephyra. This site was believed by devotees to be the door to Hades, the realm of the dead. The site is at the meeting point of the Acheron, Pyriphlegethon and Cocytus rivers, believed to flow through and water the kingdom of Hades. The meaning of the names of the rivers has been interpreted to be "joyless", "burning coals" and "lament", respectively.
Cichyrus, earlier called Ephyra, was the capital of ancient Thesprotia, according to the myth built by the Arcadian leader Thesprotos. Thucydides describes it as situated in the district Elaeatis in Thesprotia, away from the sea. At its site is the famous Necromanteion. First settled during the Bronze Age and resettled in the 14th century BC by colonists most probably from Chaonia and the west Peloponnese region, the city is about 800 m north of the junction of the Kokytos River with the Acheron, and about 4.5 km east of the bay of Ammoudia. Near it was the outlet into the sea of the Acherusian Lake. Strabo (7.7.5) gives the same information and adds that in his time Ephyra was called Kichyros. The name had been changed from Ephyra back to the more ancient name about 200 years earlier.
Heraclea, also Heracleia or Herakleia, was an ancient city. It was situated on the Gulf of Taranto between the rivers Aciris and Siris. The ruins of the city are located in the modern comune of Policoro in the Province of Matera, Basilicata, Italy.
Pandosia was an ancient city in Bruttium, in what is now Calabria, southern Italy. According to Livy it was situated near the border between Bruttium and Lucania. Strabo writes it was located in Bruttium, a "little above" Consentia. The Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World places the site of the city in the vicinity of Cosenza, but the village Acri and Castrolibero has been suggested as a more precise location.
Epirus was an ancient Greek kingdom, and later republic, located in the geographical region of Epirus, in parts of north-western Greece and southern Albania. Home to the ancient Epirotes, the state was bordered by the Aetolian League to the south, Ancient Thessaly and Ancient Macedonia to the east, and Illyrian tribes to the north. The Greek king Pyrrhus is known to have made Epirus a powerful state in the Greek realm that was comparable to the likes of Ancient Macedonia and Ancient Rome. Pyrrhus' armies also attempted an assault against the state of Ancient Rome during their unsuccessful campaign in what is now modern-day Italy.
Elateia or Elatia, also Elatreia or Elatria (Ἐλατρία), was a town of the Cassopaei in Thesprotia, in ancient Epirus, mentioned by Strabo, along with Batiae and Pandosia. It is said to have been a colony of Elis.
Batiae or Batiai, also known as Bitia (Βιτία), was an ancient Greek city located in the region of Epirus. It was located in Thesprotia, mentioned along with Elateia, and situated in the interior in the neighbourhood of Pandosia. The city-site is located near modern Kastri, Thesprotiko, Lelovo.
Cheimerium or Cheimerion was a fortified settlement and harbour of ancient Thesprotia in ancient Epirus, on an eponymous promontory. It lay between the rivers Acheron and Thyamis, and opposite the southern point of Corcyra. In the two naval engagements between the Corcyraeans and Corinthians just before the Peloponnesian War, Cheimerium was the station of the Corinthian fleet.
Terina was an ancient city located on the Piano di Tirena hill in Nocera Terinese about 20 km (12 mi) from Lamezia Terme in Calabria. The site of the city was allegedly found in 1922 by the archaeologist Paolo Orsi near the modern village of Sant'Eufemia Vetere. A systematic archaeological investigation was made from 1997 and coins, inscriptions and other artefacts retrieved from the site can be seen in the Museo Archeologico Lametino in Lamezia Terme.
Kastri is a village and a community of the Parga municipality. Before the 2011 local government reform it was part of the municipality of Fanari, of which it was a municipal district. The 2021 census recorded 239 inhabitants in the village. The community of Kastri covers an area of 4.476 km2.
Caulonia or Caulon was an ancient city on the shore of the Ionian Sea near Monasterace, Italy.
The Cassopaei were an ancient Greek tribe living in ancient Epirus and occupying the coast between Thesprotia and the Ambracian Gulf, and bordering upon Nicopolis; their chief town was Cassope (Κασσώπη). The Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax describes the Cassopaei as living in villages; but they afterwards rose to such power as to obtain possession of Pandosia, Buchaetium, and Elateia. We learn from another authority that Batiae was also in their territory.
Elaea or Elaia, also Elea (Ἐλέα), was a town of Thesprotia in ancient Epirus toward the mouth of the Acheron river. The town is mentioned by Ptolemy. Thucydides calls the surrounding district Elaeatis (Ἐλαιατις) and indicates that Ephyra was in the territory of Elaea. Its port was Elaias Limen, literally the "Bay of Elaea", which the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax asserts was the main port of Thesprotia.
39°16′26″N20°41′13″E / 39.2739°N 20.6869°E
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