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Hire (Messenia)
Eira ( grc, Εἶρα), also known as Hira or Ira (Ἰρά), and Hire or Ire (Ἱρὴ), was a fortified settlement on a mountain of the same name, in the north of ancient Messenia, near the Neda River. During the Second Messenian War the Messenians fortified the place, and Aristomenes defended it for ten years against the Spartans. Pausanias dates the capture of the city by the Lacedaemonians to the first year of the 28th Olympiad (668 BCE). The Arcadians welcomed many Messenians who withdrew thither after the capture of Eira, while the captured Messenian prisoners were converted to helots by the Lacedaemonians, and the rest of Messenians who lived on the coast were exiled to Cyllene, in Elis. Pausanias adds that 297 years after the capture of Eira, in the third year of the 102nd Olympiad (370 BCE), the Messenians regained their territory. Pausanias mentions the possibility that the city of Abia anciently had the name of ''Ιρή'' (Ire), the city cited by Homer, but see ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Messenia
Messenia or Messinia ( el, Μεσσηνία) was an ancient district of the southwestern Peloponnese, more or less overlapping the modern Messenia region of Greece. To the north it had a border with Elis along the Neda river. From there the border with Arcadia ran along the tops of Mount Elaeum and Mount Nomia and then through foothills of Taygetus. The eastern border with Laconia went along the Taygetus ridge up to the Koskaraka river, and then along that river to the sea, near the city of Abia. Ancient Messenia descended continuously without change of name and with little change of territory to the modern Regional Unit of Greece of the same name. History Bronze age The earliest inhabitants of Messenia were thought by the Greeks of the Classical period to have been 'Pelasgians', as in other regions of Greece. Supposedly, the Hellenic tribes had then arrived in Greece, and Messenia was settled by Aeolian Greeks. The Mycenaean city of Pylos has been identified with the modern ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancient Elis
Elis () or Eleia ( el, Ήλιδα, Ilida, grc-att, Ἦλις, Ēlis ; Elean: , ethnonym: ) is an ancient district in Greece that corresponds to the modern regional unit of Elis. Elis is in southern Greece on the Peloponnese, bounded on the north by Achaea, east by Arcadia, south by Messenia, and west by the Ionian Sea. Over the course of the archaic and classical periods, the ''polis'' "city-state" of Elis controlled much of the region of Elis, most probably through unequal treaties with other cities; many inhabitants of Elis were Perioeci—autonomous free non-citizens. Perioeci, unlike other Spartans, could travel freely between cities. Thus the polis of Elis was formed. The local form of the name was Valis, or Valeia, and its meaning, in all probability was, "the lowland" (compare with the word "valley"). In its physical constitution Elis is similar to Achaea and Arcadia; its mountains are mere offshoots of the Arcadian highlands, and its principal rivers are fed by Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Andania
Andania ( el, Ανδανία) is a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Oichalia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 88.694 km2. Population 2,327 (2011). The seat of the municipality was in Diavolitsi. History Anciently, Andania ( grc, Ἀνδανία) was a town of ancient Messenia, and was the capital of the kings of the race of the Leleges. It was celebrated as the birthplace of Aristomenes, but towards the end of the Second Messenian War it was deserted by its inhabitants, who took refuge in the strong fortress of Ira. From this time it was only a village. Livy describes it as a ''parvum oppidum'', and Pausanias, who extols the mysteries celebrated there, saw only its ruins when he visited in the second century. It was situated on the road leading from Messene to Megalopolis. The Homeric Oechalia is identified by Strabo with Andania, but by Pausania ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kakaletri
Kakaletri ( el, Κακαλέτρι) is a village in the municipality of Oichalia, Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. The name is related to the Greek family name "Kakaletris", which is often met in places around the village, including Pyrgos (Elis), Kalamata (Messenia) and Sparti Sparta ( el, Σπάρτη ) is a city and municipality in Laconia, Greece. It lies at the site of ancient Sparta. The municipality was merged with six nearby municipalities in 2011, for a total population (as of 2011) of 35,259, of whom 17,408 li ... ( Laconia). {{Oichalia div Populated places in Messenia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the most revered and influential authors in history. Homer's ''Iliad'' centers on a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles during the last year of the Trojan War. The ''Odyssey'' chronicles the ten-year journey of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, back to his home after the fall of Troy. The poems are in Homeric Greek, also known as Epic Greek, a literary language which shows a mixture of features of the Ionic and Aeolic dialects from different centuries; the predominant influence is Eastern Ionic. Most researchers believe that the poems were originally transmitted orally. Homer's epic poems shaped aspects of ancient Greek culture and education, fostering ideals of heroism, glory, and honor. To Plato, Homer was simply the one who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ire (Iliad)
Ira ( grc, Ἰρά), or Ire (Ἱρὴ), was a town of ancient Messenia, mentioned by Homer in the ''Iliad'', as one of the seven towns which Agamemnon offered to Achilles. It is identified with either the later Abia on the Messenian Gulf, or the later Eira Eira is a neighborhood in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. History The district dates back to the early 20th century and received its name after Eira Hospital in the neighboring district of Ullanlinna, which in turn took its name from Eira .... Its location necessarily depends on which identification is accepted. References Populated places in ancient Messenia Former populated places in Greece Locations in the Iliad Lost ancient cities and towns {{AncientMessenia-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abia (Messenia)
Avia ( el, Αβία, grc, ἡ Ἀβία) is a village and a former municipality in Messenia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality West Mani, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 179.828 km2. In 2011 its population was 281 for the village, 611 for the community and 2,246 for the municipal unit. The seat of the municipality was in Kampos. Avia is a popular tourist destination. It also has a large olive production. Avia is situated on the east coast of the Messenian Gulf, southeast of Kalamata, southwest of Sparta and northwest of Kardamyli. History Ancient Abia In the location where Paliochora is located today, the Homeric city of Ire (Ιρή) is supposed to have stood (''Iliad'' I 150 and I 292). The 2nd century traveller Pausanias mentioned in his ''Description of Greece'' that the city Ire was renamed Abia by Cresphontes, king of Messene, after Abia, the nursemaid of his great-grandfather H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyllene (Elis)
Cyllene or Kyllene ( grc, Κυλλήνη) 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. Cyllene was burnt by the Corcyraeans in 435 BCE, because it had supplied ships to the Corinthians. It is again mentioned in 429 BCE, as the naval station of the Peloponnesian fleet during the Peloponnesian War, when Phormion commanded an Athenian squadron in the Corinthian Gulf. Its name occurs on other occasions, clearly showing that it was the principal port in this part of Peloponnesus. Strabo describes Cyllene as an i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neda River
The Neda () is a river in the western Peloponnese in Greece. It is long, and its drainage area is . It is unique in the sense that it is the only river in Greece with a feminine name. It took its name from the nymph Neda. Geography The river begins on the southern slope of Mount Lykaion, near the village of Neda in northern Messenia. It flows to the west through a varied landscape of barren rock and forests. From near Figaleia until its mouth it forms the border of Messenia and Elis. There is a well known waterfall near the village Platania. The Neda flows into the Gulf of Kyparissia, a bay of the Ionian Sea, near the village Giannitsochori. Places along the river The Neda flows along the villages Neda, Kakaletri, Figaleia, Platania, Karyes and Giannitsochori. See also *List of rivers in Greece This is a list of rivers that are at least partially in Greece. The rivers flowing into the sea are sorted along the coast. Rivers flowing into other rivers are listed by the rive ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Helots
The helots (; el, εἵλωτες, ''heílotes'') were a subjugated population that constituted a majority of the population of Laconia and Messenia – the territories ruled by Sparta. There has been controversy since antiquity as to their exact characteristics, such as whether they constituted an Ancient Greek tribe, a social class, or both. For example, Critias described helots as " slaves to the utmost", whereas according to Pollux, they occupied a status "between free men and slaves". Tied to the land, they primarily worked in agriculture as a majority and economically supported the Spartan citizens. The number of helots in relation to Spartan citizens varied throughout the history of the Spartan state; according to Herodotus, there were seven helots for each Spartan at the time of the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC. Thus the need to keep the helot population in check and prevent rebellion was one of the main concerns of the Spartans. Helots were ritually mistreated and hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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