Ambrysus or Ambrysos ( grc, Ἄμβρυσος) or Ambrosus or Ambrosos (Ἄμβρωσσος) or Amphrysus or Amphrysos (Ἄμφρυσος) was a town of

ancient Phocis Phocis was an ancient region in the central part of Ancient Greece, which included Delphi. A modern administrative unit, also called Phocis, is named after the ancient region, although the modern region is substantially larger than the ancient o ...

, situated 60

stadia Stadia may refer to: * One of the plurals of stadium, along with "stadiums" * The plural of stadion, an ancient Greek unit of distance, which equals to 600 Greek feet (''podes''). * Stadia (Caria), a town of ancient Caria, now in Turkey * Stadi ...

from

Stiris Stiris ( gr, Στῖρις) or Steiris (Στείρις) was a town of ancient Phocis situated 120 '' stadia'' from Chaeroneia, the road between the two places running across the mountains. The inhabitants of Stiris claimed descent from an Atheni ...

, northeast of

Anticyra Antikyra or Anticyra ( el, Αντίκυρα) is a port on the west coast of the Gulf of Antikyra named after it. That gulf is a north-coast bay of the Gulf of Corinth. The settlement was made basically on a floor and beach fringing the northeast ...

, at the southern foot of

Mount Cirphis Cirphis or Kirphis or Kirfis ( grc, Κίρφις, Kírphis, la, Cirphis Mons) is a mountain in Greece north of the Bay of Antikyra in the Gulf of Corinth. It is separated from Mount Parnassus by the valley of the Pleistos. In antiquity, it was r ...

(not at the foot of

Parnassus Mount Parnassus (; el, Παρνασσός, ''Parnassós'') is a mountain range of central Greece that is and historically has been especially valuable to the Greek nation and the earlier Greek city-states for many reasons. In peace, it offers ...

, as

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC *Pausanias of Sicily, physician of th ...

states), and in a fertile valley, producing abundance of wine and the coccus, or kermes berry, used to dye scarlet. It was located in the southern part of Phocis, bordering on the territory of Parapotamii. It was destroyed by order of the

Amphictyons In Archaic Greece, an amphictyony ( grc-gre, ἀμφικτυονία, a "league of neighbors"), or amphictyonic league, was an ancient religious association of tribes formed before the rise of the Greek ''poleis''. The six Dorian cities of coasta ...

, but was rebuilt and fortified by the

Thebans Thebes (; ell, Θήβα, ''Thíva'' ; grc, Θῆβαι, ''Thêbai'' .) is a city in Boeotia, Central Greece. It played an important role in Greek myths, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus, Heracles and others. Archaeolog ...

with a double wall, in their war against

Philip II of Macedon Philip II of Macedon ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 382 – 21 October 336 BC) was the king ('' basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the ...

, who had during the

Third Sacred War The Third Sacred War (356–346 BC) was fought between the forces of the Delphic Amphictyonic League, principally represented by Thebes, and latterly by Philip II of Macedon, and the Phocians. The war was caused by a large fine imposed in 3 ...

taken Ambrysus among other cities in Phocis (346 BCE). In , it was attacked by the Aetolians, like the city of

Daulis Daulis ( grc, Δαυλίς), at a later time Daulia (Δαυλία), and also Daulium or Daulion (Δαύλιον), was a town of ancient Phocis, near the frontiers of Boeotia, and on the road from Orchomenus and Chaeroneia to Delphi. Overview It ...

. Its fortifications were considered by Pausanias the strongest in Greece, next to those of

Messene Messene (Greek: Μεσσήνη 𐀕𐀼𐀙 ''Messini''), officially Ancient Messene, is a local community within the regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') of Messenia in the region (''perifereia'') of Peloponnese. It is best known for the ...

. It was taken by the

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

in the

Second Macedonian War The Second Macedonian War (200–197 BC) was fought between Macedon, led by Philip V of Macedon, and Rome, allied with Pergamon and Rhodes. Philip was defeated and was forced to abandon all possessions in southern Greece, Thrace and Asia Minor ...

, 198 BCE. During the visit of Pausanias, in the second century, the town had an

agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of t ...

of small size and statues of stone, most of which were broken. The site of Ambrysus is located near the modern village of

Distomo :"Distomo" ''may also refer to a work by Federico García Lorca'' Distomo ( el, Δίστομο) is a town in western Boeotia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Distomo-Arachova-Antikyra, of which it is t ...

(Distomon).

References

Populated places in ancient Phocis Former populated places in Greece {{AncientPhocis-geo-stub