Dryopes (; grc, Δρύοπες) or Dryopians () were one of the aboriginal tribes of ancient
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...
. According to
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...
, their earliest abode is said to have been on
Mount Oeta
Mount Oeta (; el, Οίτη, polytonic , ''Oiti'', also transcribed as ''Oite'') is a mountain in Central Greece. A southeastern offshoot of the Pindus range, it is high. Since 1966, the core area of the mountain is a national park, and much of ...
and its adjacent valleys, in the district called after them, Dryopis (Δρυοπίς). The Dorians settled in that part of their country which lay between Oeta and Parnassus, and which was afterwards called Doris; but Dryopis originally extended as far north as the river
Spercheius
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 ...
. The name of Dryopis was still applied to the latter district in the time of
Strabo, who calls it a tetrapolis, like
Doris.
Heracles
Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...
, in conjunction with the Malians, is said to have driven the Dryopes out of their country, and to have given it to the Dorians; whereupon the expelled Dryopes settled at
Hermione
Hermione may refer to:
People
* Hermione (given name), a female given name
* Hermione (mythology), only daughter of Menelaus and Helen in Greek mythology and original bearer of the name
Arts and literature
* ''Cadmus et Hermione'', an opera by ...
and
Asine
Asine (; grc, Ἀσίνη) was an ancient Greek city of ancient Argolis, located on the coast. It is mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the ''Iliad'' as one of the places subject to Diomedes, king of Argos. It is said to have bee ...
in the
Argolic peninsula, at
Styrus and
Carystus
Carystus (; el, Κάρυστος, near modern Karystos) was a polis (city-state) on ancient Euboea. It was situated on the south coast of the island, at the foot of Mount Oche. It is mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the '' Iliad' ...
in
Euboea
Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...
, and in the islands of
Cythnus
Kythnos ( el, Κύθνος), commonly called Thermia ( el, Θερμιά), is a Greek island and municipality in the Western Cyclades between Kea and Serifos. It is from the Athenian harbor of Piraeus. The municipality Kythnos is in area and has a ...
and
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
. These are the six chief places in which we find the Dryopes in historical times. Later,
Thucydides
Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...
identifies
Carystus
Carystus (; el, Κάρυστος, near modern Karystos) was a polis (city-state) on ancient Euboea. It was situated on the south coast of the island, at the foot of Mount Oche. It is mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the '' Iliad' ...
as Dryopian, but nearby Styria as
Ionian.
Dicaearchus
Dicaearchus of Messana (; grc-gre, Δικαίαρχος ''Dikaiarkhos''; ), also written Dikaiarchos (), was a Greek philosopher, geographer and author. Dicaearchus was a student of Aristotle in the Lyceum. Very little of his work remains exta ...
gives the name of Dryopis to the country around
Ambracia
Ambracia (; grc-gre, Ἀμβρακία, occasionally , ''Ampracia'') was a city of ancient Greece on the site of modern Arta. It was captured by the Corinthians in 625 BC and was situated about from the Ambracian Gulf, on a bend of the navigabl ...
, from which we might conclude that the Dryopes extended at one time from the
Ambraciot Gulf to Mount Oeta and the Spercheius.
See also
*
Dryope
In Greek mythology, Dryope (; Ancient Greek: Δρυόπη derived from δρῦς ''drys'', "oak"; ''dryope'' "woodpecker") is the name attributed to several distinct figures:
* Dryope, daughter of Dryops and mother of Amphissus by Apollo.
* Dry ...
*
Dryops
*
Dryopida
Dryopida ( el, Δρυοπίδα) is a village in Kythnos island, Greece. It most likely got its name from the first residents of the island, the Dryopes. It is declared as a traditional settlement because of its architecture. The village has an e ...
References
Ancient tribes in Greece
Ancient tribes in Euboea
Ancient tribes in central Greece
Ancient tribes in Thessaly
{{AncientGreece-stub
Mythology of Heracles