Erineus or Erineos ( grc, Ἐρινεός), also known as Erineum or Erineon (Ἐρινεόν) was a town and

polis ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

(city-state) in ancient Doris, one of the towns of the

Doric Tetrapolis The Doric Tetrapolis ( gr, Δωρική Τετράπολις) comprised a set of four closely situated cities in the valley of the Pindus River in the region of Doris in ancient Greece. The four cities were Erineus, Boium, Cytinium, and Pindus. ...

(along with

Pindus The Pindus (also Pindos or Pindhos; el, Πίνδος, Píndos; sq, Pindet; rup, Pindu) is a mountain range located in Northern Greece and Southern Albania. It is roughly 160 km (100 miles) long, with a maximum elevation of 2,637 metres ...

Cytinium Cytinium or Kytinion ( el, Κυτίνιον or Κυτείνιον) was an ancient city and polis (city-state) of Greece, one of the towns of the tetrapolis of Doris. Its site is within the bounds of the modern village of . Cytinium was more freq ...

, and

Boium Boium or Boion ( grc, Βοιόν) was a town and polis (city-state) of Doris, and one of the original towns of the Doric Tetrapolis (along with Pindus, Cytinium, and Erineus). According to Andron of Halicarnassus, the founders of these cities we ...

). According to Andron of Halicarnassus, the founders of these cities were coming from an area that was also called Doris, in

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thes ...

, and that was also called

Histiaeotis Histiaeotis ( grc, Ἱστιαιῶτις, Histiaiōtis) or ''Hestiaeotis'' (Ἑστιαιῶτις - Hestiaiōtis) was a northwest district of ancient Thessaly, part of the Thessalian tetrarchy, roughly corresponding to modern Trikala regiona ...

. It is described by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...

as lying below the town of Pindus; it probably stood upon the river of the latter name. Recounting the ships in the

Battle of Salamis The Battle of Salamis ( ) was a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles and the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC. It resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks. The battle was ...

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

notes the contingents of the Peloponnese, saying that the Dorians and Macedonians were originally from Pindus, Erineus, and

Dryopis Dryopes (; grc, Δρύοπες) or Dryopians () were one of the aboriginal tribes of ancient Greece. According to Herodotus, their earliest abode is said to have been on Mount Oeta and its adjacent valleys, in the district called after them, Dryopi ...

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 "scientifi ...

writes that during

First Peloponnesian War The First Peloponnesian War (460–445 BC) was fought between Sparta as the leaders of the Peloponnesian League and Sparta's other allies, most notably Thebes, and the Delian League led by Athens with support from Argos. This war consisted of ...

, about the year 458 or 457 BCE, the Phocians attacked the cities of Boium, Erineus and Cytinium in Doris. The Lacedemonians came to their defense, with troops commanded by

Nicomedes of Sparta Nicomedes () was a Spartan military commander and a scion of the royal Agiad dynasty. He was a regent of Sparta during the minority of Pleistoanax, the son of his brother Pausanias. Biography Nicomedes was the son of Cleombrotus (died 479 BC), ...

and forced the Phocians to retreat. According to

Tyrtaeus Tyrtaeus (; grc-gre, Τυρταῖος ''Tyrtaios''; Floruit, fl. mid-7th century BC) was a Greeks, Greek Elegy, elegiac poet from Sparta. He wrote at a time of two crises affecting the city: a civic unrest threatening the authority of kings and e ...

, Erineus is the town from which the

Spartans Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred t ...

originally came. Its location within what is now the town of

Kastellia Kastellia ( el, Καστέλλια, before 1979: Καστέλλι - ''Kastelli'') is a village in the municipal unit of Gravia, Phocis, Greece. It is situated at the western end of the wide Cephissus valley, at the foot of the mountains Giona a ...

(Καστέλλια), Greece.

References

Sources

*{{SmithDGRG, title=Erineus
STOA
Cities in ancient Greece Populated places in ancient Doris Former populated places in Greece Ancient Greek cities Dorian city-states