Pallantium or Pallantion ( grc, Παλλάντιον), more rarely Palantium or Palantion (Παλάντιον), was one of the most ancient towns of

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

, in the district Maenalia, said to have been founded by

Pallas Pallas may refer to: Astronomy * 2 Pallas asteroid ** Pallas family, a group of asteroids that includes 2 Pallas * Pallas (crater), a crater on Earth's moon Mythology * Pallas (Giant), a son of Uranus and Gaia, killed and flayed by Athena * Pa ...

, a son of Lycaon. It was situated west of

Tegea Tegea (; el, Τεγέα) was a settlement in ancient Arcadia, and it is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the Tripoli municipality, of which it is a municipal unit w ...

, in a small plain called the Pallantic plain (Παλλαντικόν πεδίον) which was separated from the territory of Tegea by a choma (χῶμα) or dyke. It was from this town that

Evander of Pallene In Roman mythology, Evander (from Greek ''Εὔανδρος'' Euandros, "good man" or "strong man": an etymology used by poets to emphasize the hero's virtue) was a culture hero from Arcadia, Greece, who was said to have brought the Greek panth ...

was said to have led colonists to the banks of the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Riv ...

, and from it the

Palatino Palatino is the name of an old-style serif typeface designed by Hermann Zapf, initially released in 1949 by the Stempel foundry and later by other companies, most notably the Mergenthaler Linotype Company. Named after the 16th-century Italia ...

or Palatine Hill in Rome was reputed to have derived its name. Pallantium took part in the foundation of

Megalopolis A megalopolis () or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enoug ...

, 371 BCE; but it continued to exist as an independent state, since we find the Pallantieis mentioned along with the Tegeatae, Megalopolitae and Aseatae, as joining

Epaminondas Epaminondas (; grc-gre, Ἐπαμεινώνδας; 419/411–362 BC) was a Greek general of Thebes and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greek city-state, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a pre-eminent posit ...

before the Battle of Mantineia in 362 BCE. Pallantium subsequently sank into a mere village, but was restored and enlarged by the emperor

Antoninus Pius Antoninus Pius (Latin: ''Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius''; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161) was Roman emperor from 138 to 161. He was the fourth of the Five Good Emperors from the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. Born into a senatoria ...

, who conferred upon it freedom from taxation and other privileges, on account of its reputed connection with

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. The town was visited by

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 t ...

, who found here a shrine containing statues of Pallas and Evander, a temple of Core (

Persephone In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Persephone ( ; gr, Περσεφόνη, Persephónē), also called Kore or Cora ( ; gr, Κόρη, Kórē, the maiden), is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. She became the queen of the underworld after ...

), a statue of

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

; and on the hill above the town, which was anciently used as an

acropolis An acropolis was the settlement of an upper part of an ancient Greek city, especially a citadel, and frequently a hill with precipitous sides, mainly chosen for purposes of defense. The term is typically used to refer to the Acropolis of Athens, ...

, a temple of the pure (καθαροί) gods. Its site is located near the modern Palantio (formerly Berbati),
- which was renamed to reflect association with the ancient town. In 1939–1940, in fact, the archaeological site was discovered and excavated by the Italian Archaeological School of Athens (Guido Libertini, but especially Alfonso De Franciscis) and again in 1984-1986 (including two years for studying all the finds from both excavations) under a collaboration of the Norwegian Institut at Athens with the Italian School (Erik Østby and Mario Iozzo).

References

Populated places in ancient Arcadia Former populated places in Greece Arcadian city-states {{AncientArcadia-geo-stub