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Phtia
In Greek mythology Phthia (; grc-gre, Φθία or Φθίη ''Phthía, Phthíē'') was a city or district in ancient Thessaly. It is frequently mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'' as the home of the Myrmidones, the contingent led by Achilles in the Trojan War. It was founded by Aeacus, grandfather of Achilles, and was the home of Achilles' father Peleus, mother Thetis (a sea nymph), and son Neoptolemus (who reigned as king after the Trojan War). Phthia is referenced in Plato's ''Crito'', where Socrates, in jail and awaiting his execution, relates a dream he has had (43d–44b): "I thought that a beautiful and comely woman dressed in white approached me. She called me and said: 'Socrates, may you arrive at fertile Phthia on the third day. The reference is to Homer's ''Iliad'' (ix.363), when Achilles, upset at having his war-prize, Briseis, taken by Agamemnon, rejects Agamemnon's conciliatory presents and threatens to set sail in the morning; he says that with good weather he might ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and has been narrated through many works of Greek literature, most notably Homer's ''Iliad''. The core of the ''Iliad'' (Books II – XXIII) describes a period of four days and two nights in the tenth year of the decade-long siege of Troy; the ''Odyssey'' describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the war's heroes. Other parts of the war are described in a cycle of epic poems, which have survived through fragments. Episodes from the war provided material for Greek tragedy and other works of Greek literature, and for Roman poets including Virgil and Ovid. The ancient Greeks believed that Troy was located near the Dardanelles and that the Trojan War was a historical event of the 13th or 12th century BC, but by the mid-19th century AD, both the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greek Mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical cosmology, nature of the world, the lives and activities of List of Greek mythological figures, deities, Greek hero cult, heroes, and List of Greek mythological creatures, mythological creatures, and the origins and significance of the ancient Greeks' own cult (religious practice), cult and ritual practices. Modern scholars study the myths to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece, and to better understand the nature of myth-making itself. The Greek myths were initially propagated in an oral tradition, oral-poetic tradition most likely by Minoan civilization, Minoan and Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean singers starting in the 18th century BC; eventually the myths of the heroes of the Trojan War and its after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euripides
Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy i ... of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him, but the ''Suda'' says it was ninety-two at most. Of these, eighteen or nineteen have survived more or less complete (''Rhesus (play), Rhesus'' is suspect). There are many fragments (some substantial) of most of his other plays. More of his plays have survived intact than those of Aeschylus and Sophocles together, partly because his popularity grew as theirs declinedMoses Hadas, ''Ten Plays by Euripides'', Bantam Classic (2006), Introduction, p. ixhe became, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phthiotis
Phthiotis ( el, Φθιώτιδα, ''Fthiótida'', ; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Φθιῶτις) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. The capital is the city of Lamia. It is bordered by the Malian Gulf to the east, Boeotia in the south, Phocis in the south, Aetolia-Acarnania in the southwest, Evrytania in the west, Karditsa regional unit in the north, Larissa regional unit in the north, and Magnesia in the northeast. The name dates back to ancient times. It is best known as the home of Achilles. Geography Phthiotis covers the northern and southern shorelines of the Malian Gulf, an inlet of the Aegean Sea. It stretches inland towards the west along the valley of the river Spercheios. In the south it covers the upper part of the Cephissus valley. There are several mountain ranges in Phthiotis, including the Othrys in the northeast, the Tymfristos in the west, the Vardousia in the southwest, Oeta in the south ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spercheios
The Spercheios (, ''Sperkheiós''), also known as the Spercheus from its Latin name, is a river in Phthiotis in central Greece. It is long, and its drainage area is . It was worshipped as a god in the ancient Greek religion and appears in some collections of Greek mythology. In antiquity, its upper valley was known as Ainis. In AD 997, its valley was the site of the Battle of Spercheios, which ended Bulgarian incursions into the Byzantine Empire. It is referenced in a surviving fragment of Aeschylus' play ''Philoctetes'', quoted in ''The Frogs'', as a place for cattle. River The river begins in the Tymfristos mountains on the border with Evrytania and flows to the east through the village Agios Georgios Tymfristou, entering a wide plain. It flows along the towns Makrakomi and Leianokladi, and south of the Phthiotidan capital Lamia. The river flows through an area of former wetlands, that have been reclaimed for agriculture. It empties into the Malian Gulf of the Aegean Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Achaeans (Homer)
The Achaeans (; grc, Ἀχαιοί ''Akhaioí,'' "the Achaeans" or "of Achaea") is one of the names in Homer which is used to refer to the Greeks collectively. The term "Achaean" is believed to be related to the Hittite term Ahhiyawa and the Egyptian term Ekwesh which appear in texts from the Late Bronze Age and are believed to refer to the Mycenaean civilization or some part of it. In the historical period, the term fell into disuse as a general term for Greek people, and was generally reserved for inhabitants of the region of Achaea, a region in the north-central part of the Peloponnese. The city-states of this region later formed a confederation known as the Achaean League, which was influential during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. Etymology According to Margalit Finkelberg, the name Ἀχαιοί/Ἀχαιϝοί is derived from Hittite ''Aḫḫiyawā''. However, Robert S. P. Beekes doubted the validity of this derivation and suggested a Pre-Greek proto-form ''*Akayw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Myrmidons
In Greek mythology, the Myrmidons (or Myrmidones; el, Μυρμιδόνες) were an ancient Thessalian Greek tribe. In Homer's ''Iliad'', the Myrmidons are the soldiers commanded by Achilles. Their eponymous ancestor was Myrmidon, a king of Phthiotis who was a son of Zeus and "wide-ruling" Eurymedousa, a princess of Phthiotis. She was seduced by him in the form of an ant. An etiological myth of their origins, simply expanding upon their supposed etymology—the name in Classical Greek was interpreted as "ant-people", from ''murmekes'', "ants"—was first mentioned by Ovid, in ''Metamorphoses'': in Ovid's telling, the Myrmidons were simple worker ants on the island of Aegina. Ovid's myth of the repopulation of Aegina Hera, queen of the gods, sent a plague to kill all the human inhabitants of Aegina because the island was named for one of the lovers of Zeus. King Aeacus, a son of Zeus and the intended target of Hera along with his mother, prayed to his father for a means to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trachis
Trachis ( grc-gre, , ''Trakhís'') was a region in ancient Greece. Situated south of the river Spercheios, it was populated by the Malians. It was also a polis (city-state). Its main town was also called ''Trachis'' until 426 BC, when it was refounded as a Spartan colony and became Heraclea Trachinia. It is located to the west of Thermopylae. Trachis is located just west of the westernmost tip of the island of Euboea, north of Delphi. Near this place archaeologists discovered tombs from the Mycenaean period. According to Greek mythology Trachis was the home of Ceyx and Alcyone. Heracles went to Trachis after the death of Eunomus. The town is mentioned by Homer (as one of the cities subject to Achilles) and for the last time in antiquity by Pausanias. Trachis/Heraclea in ancient and modern times In antiquity the settlement was famous for being at the base of the mountain where Heracles is said to have died (Mount Oeta) as well as being the place where the descendants of Heracl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alope (Thessaly)
Alope ( grc, Ἀλόπη, Alópē) was a town of Phthiotis in Ancient Thessaly, placed by Stephanus of Byzantium between Larissa Cremaste and Echinus. There was a dispute among the ancient critics whether this town was the same as the Alope in Homer's Catalog of Ships. Strabo distinguishes the town from two others of the same name, Alope in the area of Opuntian Locris and Alope in that of Ozolian Locris. The editors of the ''Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World'' tentatively locate Alope with the modern village of Fournoi in the municipality of Echinaioi Echinaioi ( el, Εχιναίοι) is a former municipality in Phthiotis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Stylida, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 133.052 km2. Pop .... References Former populated places in Greece Populated places in ancient Thessaly Locations in the Iliad Achaea Phthiotis {{AncientThessaly-geo-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Halos (Thessaly)
Halos ( grc-gre, Ἅλος), Latinised as Halus, was a town and polis in the region of Achaea Phthiotis in ancient Thessaly, on the west side of the Pagasetic Gulf. Location It is located 10 km south from present-day Almyros. In Greek mythology Halos and Orchomenus are variously recorded as starting point of Phrixos' and Helle's flight to Colchis. The classical city, sometimes referred to as Old Halos, is located at Chorostasi, located at while the Hellenistic city, sometimes referred to as New Halos, is located nearby at Neos Platanos, located at . History The Hellenistic city lies very close to the surface and is greatly disturbed, but several houses have been excavated by Dutch archaeologists. Greek colleagues have investigated a part of the city walls. This city was abandoned in the mid-third century, perhaps after an earthquake. A Byzantine fort is the last building phase from Antiquity. The town is mentioned in Homer's Catalogue of Ships in the ''Iliad.'' Acc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Argos Pelasgikon
Argos Pelasgikon ( grc, Ἄργος Πελασγικόν) is a Homeric location of Thessaly mentioned in the "Catalogue of Ships" passage: It has been interpreted to be a city in the Pelasgiotis district or an alternative name of Phthia, the kingdom of Peleus and Achilles or pertaining to the whole Thessaly. Strabo reports that: ''Some take the Pelasgian Argos as a Thessalian city once situated in the neighborhood of Larisa but now no longer existent; but others take it, not as a city, but as the plain of the Thessalians, which is referred to by this name because Abas, who brought a colony there from Argos, so named it''. Strabo gives also the following post-classical meaning of the word 'argos': ''And in the more recent writers the plain, too, is called Argos, but not once in Homer. Yet they think that this is more especially a Macedonian or Thessalian usage''. Finally, although Homeric geography of Thessaly is not limited in this passage, the toponym "Thessalia" is absent in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catalogue Of Ships
The Catalogue of Ships ( grc, νεῶν κατάλογος, ''neōn katálogos'') is an epic catalogue in Book 2 of Homer's ''Iliad'' (2.494–759), which lists the contingents of the Achaean army that sailed to Troy. The catalogue gives the names of the leaders of each contingent, lists the settlements in the kingdom represented by the contingent, sometimes with a descriptive epithet that fills out a half-verse or articulates the flow of names and parentage and place, and gives the number of ships required to transport the men to Troy, offering further differentiations of weightiness. A similar, though shorter, Catalogue of the Trojans and their allies follows (2.816–877). A similar catalogue appears in the Pseudo-Apollodoran ''Bibliotheca''. Historical background In the debate since antiquity over the Catalogue of Ships, the core questions have concerned the extent of historical credibility of the account, whether it was composed by Homer himself, to what extent it reflec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
