Pyrrhichus

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Pyrrhichus or Pyrrhichos (Ancient Greek : Πύρριχος) was a town of ancient Laconia, situated about the centre of the promontory ending in Cape Taenarum, and distant 40 stadia from the river Scyras. According to some it derived its name from Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles, according to others from Pyrrhichus, one of the Curetes. Silenus was also said to have been brought up here. It contained temples of Artemis Astrateia and of Apollo Amazonius the two surnames referring to the tradition that the Amazons did not proceed further than this place. There was also a well in the agora . The ruins of this town have been discovered by the French Commission near the village of Kavalos near Kotronas, where they found the well of which Pausanias speaks, the torso of a female statue, the remains of baths, and several Roman ruins. [1] [2]

Its site is located near the modern Kotronas. [3] [4]

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Sumatia or Soumatia, or Sumetia or Soumetia (Σουμητία), also known as Sumateium or Soumateion (Σουμάτειον), or Sumeteia or Soumeteia (Σουμήτεια), was a town of ancient Arcadia in the district Maenalia, on the southern slope of Mount Maenalus. According to Greek mythology, Sumatia was founded by Sumateus, a son of Lycaon. Pausanias says that Sumatia was one of the towns in the territory of Maenalus, and was one of the towns that united to form Megalopolis.

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Gortys, or Gortyna (Γόρτυνα), was a town of ancient Arcadia in the district Cynuria, situated near the river Gortynius (Γορτύνιος), also called Lusius (Λούσιος) nearer its sources, which was a tributary of the Alpheius, and was remarkable for the coldness of its waters. The town is said to have been founded by Gortys, a son of Stymphalus, and is described by Pausanias as a village in his time, though it had formerly been a considerable city. Most of its inhabitants were removed to Megalopolis upon the foundation of the latter city in 371 BCE; but it must have continued to be a place of some importance, since Polybius says that it was taken by Euripidas, the general of the Eleians, in the Social War in 219 BCE. At that time it was subject to Thelpusa. It contained a celebrated temple of Asclepius, built of Pentelic marble, and containing statues of Asclepius and Hygieia by Scopas. Cicero alludes to this temple, when he says that near the river Lusius was the sepulchre of one of the Aesclepii, of whom he reckoned three.

Teuthrone was a town of ancient Laconia, situated upon the western side of the Laconian Gulf, 150 stadia from Cape Taenarum.

Asopus or Asopos, also known as Asopolis (Ἀσώπολις), was a town of ancient Laconia, on the eastern side of the Laconian Gulf, 60 stadia south of Acriae. It possessed a temple of the Roman emperors, and on the citadel a temple of Athena Cyparissia. At the distance of 12 stadia above the town there was a temple of Asclepius. Pausanias says that at the foot of the acropolis of Asopus were the ruins of the city of the Achaei Paracyparissii. Asopus was a town of the Eleuthero-Laconians.

Cyphanta or Kyphanta was a town on the eastern coast of ancient Laconia, belonging to the Eleuthero-Lacones. It was in ruins in the time of Pausanias, but from the notice of it in other writers, it was evidently at one period a place of some importance. Pausanias describes it as situated 6 stadia from Zarax, and 10 stadia inland; and Ptolemy speaks separately of the port-town and city. Pausanias adds that Cyphanta contained a temple of Asclepius, called Stethaeum, and a fountain issuing from a rock, said to have been produced by a blow of the lance of Atalanta. The numbers in Pausanias, however, cannot be correct. At the distance of 6 stadia from Zarax, there is no site for a town or a harbour; and it is scarcely conceivable that, on this rocky and little-frequented coast, there would be two towns so close to one another. Moreover, Pausanias says that the distance from Prasiae to Cyphanta is 200 stadia; whereas the real distance from Prasiae to Zarax is more than 300 stadia. In addition to this Ptolemy places Cyphanta considerably further north than Zarax; and it is not till reaching Cyparissia that there is any place with a harbour and a fountain.

Caenepolis or Kainepolis, also called Caene or Kaine (Καινή), was a town of ancient Laconia north of the Cape Taenarum. It is probably the same town as mentioned by Strabo under the corrupt form Cinaedium or Kinaidion (Κιναίδιον). It contained a temple of Demeter and another of Aphrodite, the latter near the sea.

References

  1. Pausanias (1918). "21.7". Description of Greece. Vol. 3. Translated by W. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann via Perseus Digital Library., 3.25.1-3.
  2. Émile Puillon Boblaye, Récherches, p. 88.
  3. Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World . Princeton University Press. p. 58, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN   978-0-691-03169-9.
  4. Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.

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

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