Petra ( grc, Πέτρα) was an ancient settlement belonging to ancient Corinthia. Herodotus, who calls the place a deme (a district or municipality), mentions Petra as the origin of Cypselus, tyrant of Corinth. When he was a child, the

Bacchiadae The Bacchiadae ( grc, Βακχιάδαι ''Bakkhiadai''), a tightly knit Doric clan, were the ruling family of ancient Corinth in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, a period of Corinthian cultural power. History Corinth had been a backwater ...

family, then reigning in Corinth, planned to assassinate him to try to avoid an

oracle An oracle is a person or agency considered to provide wise and insightful counsel or prophetic predictions, most notably including precognition of the future, inspired by deities. As such, it is a form of divination. Description The word '' ...

that had predicted that the child was going to overthrow them. That is why several of them went to Petra to kill him but his mother safely hid him in a chest or an ark. It has been suggested that Petra was in an elevated place south of Corinth. However, its precise location is unknown.

References

Populated places in ancient Corinthia Former populated places in Greece Lost ancient cities and towns {{AncientCorinthia-geo-stub