Troezen ( /ˈtriːzən/ ; ancient Greek: Τροιζήν, modern Greek: Τροιζήνα [tri'zina] ) is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Troizinia-Methana, of which it is a municipal unit. It is part of the Islands regional unit. [2] Population 4,668 (2021).
Troezen is located southwest of Athens, across the Saronic Gulf, and a few miles south of Methana. The seat of the former municipality was in Galatas. Before 2011, Troizina was part of the Argolis and Korinthos prefecture from 1833 to 1925, Attica prefecture from 1925 to 1964, Piraeus Prefecture from 1964 to 1972 and then back in Attica prefecture (in antiquity it was part of Argolis). The municipality had a land area of 190.697 km2. [3] Its largest towns and villages are Galatás, Kalloní, Troizína, Taktikoúpoli, Karatzás, Dryópi, Ágios Geórgios, and Agía Eléni. There are numerous smaller settlements.
According to Greek mythology, Troezen came into being as a result of two ancient cities, Hyperea and Antheia, being unified by Pittheus, who named the new city in honor of his deceased brother, Troezen. [4]
Troezen was where Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, slept with both Aegeus and Poseidon on the same night and fell pregnant with the great Greek hero Theseus. Before returning to Athens, Aegeus left his sandals and sword under a large boulder in Troezen and requested that when the child was able to prove himself by moving the boulder, he must return the items to his father in Athens; Theseus lifted the boulder when he came of age. [5]
Troezen is the setting of Euripides' tragedy Hippolytus , which recounts the story of the eponymous son of Theseus who becomes the subject of the love of his stepmother, Phaedra. While fleeing the city, Hippolytus is killed when his chariot is attacked by a bull rising from the sea. [6] Other plays on the same subject have been written by Seneca and Jean Racine, which are also set in Troezen.
The ancient city had a spring that was supposedly formed where the winged horse Pegasus once came to ground.
A cult built up in the ancient city around the legend of Hippolytus. Troezen girls traditionally dedicated a lock of their hair to him before their marriage.
Sybaris in Magna Graecia was a Troezenian colony (founded 720 BC). [7]
Before the Battle of Salamis (480 BC), Athenian women and children were sent to Troezen for safety on the instructions of the Athenian statesman Themistocles. In 1959, a stele was found in a coffee house in Troezen, depicting the Decree of Themistocles , the order to evacuate Athens. The stele has since been dated to some 200 years after the Battle of Salamis, indicating that it is probably a commemorative copy of the original order.
The temple of Isis was built by the Halicarnassians in Troezen because it was their mother-city, but the image of Isis was dedicated by the people of Troezen. The city also bore the name Apollonia (Ancient Greek : Ἀπολλωνία) in antiquity. [8] [9]
In the Middle Ages, it was known as Damala (Δαμαλᾶ) and was the seat of a barony of the Principality of Achaea.
Aegeus was one of the kings of Athens in Greek mythology, who gave his name to the Aegean Sea, was the father of Theseus, and founded Athenian institutions.
Themistocles was an Athenian politician and general. He was one of a new breed of non-aristocratic politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy. As a politician, Themistocles was a populist, having the support of lower-class Athenians, and generally being at odds with the Athenian nobility. Elected archon in 493 BC, he convinced the polis to increase the naval power of Athens, a recurring theme in his political career. During the first Persian invasion of Greece, he fought at the Battle of Marathon (490 BC), and may have been one of the ten Athenian strategoi (generals) in that battle.
Theseus was a divine hero in Greek mythology, famous for slaying the Minotaur. The myths surrounding Theseus, his journeys, exploits, and friends, have provided material for storytelling throughout the ages.
The Battle of Salamis was a naval battle fought in 480 BC, between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles, and the Achaemenid Empire under King Xerxes. It resulted in a victory for the outnumbered Greeks.
Marathon is a town in Greece and the site of the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE, in which the heavily outnumbered Athenian army defeated the Persians. Legend has it that Pheidippides, a Greek herald at the battle, was sent running from Marathon to Athens to announce the victory, which is how the marathon running race was conceived in modern times. Today it is part of East Attica regional unit, in the outskirts of Athens and a popular resort town and center of agriculture.
In Greek mythology, Pittheus was the king of Troezen, city in Argolis, which he had named after his brother Troezen.
The Saronic Gulf or Gulf of Aegina in Greece is formed between the peninsulas of Attica and Argolis and forms part of the Aegean Sea. It defines the eastern side of the isthmus of Corinth, being the eastern terminus of the Corinth Canal, which cuts across the isthmus. The Saronic Islands in the gulf have played a pivotal role in the history of Greece, with the largest, Salamis being the location of a significant naval battle in the Greco-Persian wars. The Megara Gulf makes up the northern end of the Saronic Gulf.
Poros is a small Greek island-pair in the southern part of the Saronic Gulf, about 58 km south of the port of Piraeus and separated from the Peloponnese by a 200 m (656 ft) wide sea channel, with the town of Galatas on the mainland across the strait. Its surface area is about 31 square kilometres (12 sq mi) and it has 3,261 inhabitants (2021). The ancient name of Poros was Pogon. Like other ports in the Saronic, it is a popular weekend destination for Athenian travellers.
Attica, or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and the core city of the metropolitan area, as well as its surrounding suburban cities and towns. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Sea, bordering on Boeotia to the north and Megaris to the west. The southern tip of the peninsula, known as Lavrio, was an important mining region.
Hippolytus is an Ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides, based on the myth of Hippolytus, son of Theseus. The play was first produced for the City Dionysia of Athens in 428 BC and won first prize as part of a trilogy. The text is extant.
Methana is a town and a former municipality on the Peloponnese peninsula, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Troizinia-Methana, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 50.161 km2.
Gerakas is a town, a suburb of Athens and a former municipality in East Attica, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Pallini, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit.
Piraeus Prefecture was one of the prefectures of Greece. Created in 1964 as a separate Prefecture (Νομός) and after the dissolution of the prefecture in 1972 was one of the 4 prefectures (Νομαρχίες) of Attica prefecture, and from 1994, part of the Athens-Piraeus super-prefecture (1994–2011). The capital of the prefecture was Piraeus. As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis Programme, the prefecture was abolished, and its territory was divided into two regional units: Islands and Piraeus.
The Decree of Themistocles or Troezen Inscription is an ancient Greek inscription, found at Troezen, discussing Greek strategy in the Greco-Persian Wars, purported to have been issued by the Athenian assembly under the guidance of Themistocles. Since the publication of its contents in 1960, the authenticity of the decree has been the subject of much academic debate. The decree contradicted modern scholarly interpretations of Herodotus's account of the evacuation of Attica in 480 BC, in which it is stated that the evacuation was an emergency measure taken only after the Peloponnesian army failed to advance into Boeotia to fight the Persians. If the decree is authentic, the abandonment of Attica was part of a considered strategy aiming to draw the Persians into naval combat at Artemisium or Salamis.
The Islands Regional Unit is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Attica. The regional unit covers the Saronic Islands, a small part of the Peloponnese peninsula, and a few islands off the eastern Peloponnese coast.
Troizinia-Methana is a municipality in the Islands regional unit, Attica, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Galatas.
In Greek mythology, Troezen was the eponymous king of the city Troezen.
In Greek mythology, Aethra or Aithra was a Troezenian princess and the daughter of King Pittheus.
Melite was a deme of ancient Attica, located in the city centre of Athens, within the walls erected by Themistocles and to the west of the Acropolis. It included the Agora and the Pnyx. It belonged to the tribe of Kekropis.