Scarphe ( grc, Σκάρφη) or Scarpheia (Σκάρφεια) was a town of the Epicnemidian Locrians, mentioned by Homer in the
Catalogue of Ships
The Catalogue of Ships ( grc, νεῶν κατάλογος, ''neōn katálogos'') is an epic catalogue in Book 2 of Homer's ''Iliad'' (2.494–759), which lists the contingents of the Achaean army that sailed to Troy. The catalogue gives the na ...
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 ...
it was 10 stadia from the sea, 30 stadia from Thronium, and a little less from some other place of which the name is lost, probably Nicaea. Moreover, Scarphe was reported to be occupying the territory of Augeiae, which had disappeared by his time. It appears from Pausanias that it lay on the direct road from Elateia to Thermopylae by Thronium, and likewise from Livy, who states that Lucius Quinctius Flamininus marched from Elateia by Thronium and Scarpheia to Heraclea. It was also the site of the
Battle of Scarpheia
The Battle of Scarpheia was a battle that took place in 146 BC between forces of the Roman Republic, led by the praetor Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, and an Achaean League force led by Critolaos of Megalopolis. The battle was a resound ...
in 146 BCE. Scarpheia is said by Strabo to have been destroyed by an inundation of the sea ( tsunami) caused by an earthquake in 426 BCE, but it must have been afterwards rebuilt, as it is mentioned by subsequent writers down to a late period, including Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy, Hierocles,
Stephanus of Byzantium
Stephanus or Stephan of Byzantium ( la, Stephanus Byzantinus; grc-gre, Στέφανος Βυζάντιος, ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD), was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethni ...
Lycophron
Lycophron (; grc-gre, Λυκόφρων ὁ Χαλκιδεύς; born about 330–325 BC) was a Hellenistic Greek tragic poet, grammarian, sophist, and commentator on comedy, to whom the poem ''Alexandra'' is attributed (perhaps falsely).
Life and ...
, Appian, and Pausanias.
It was, together with Thronium, one of the only cities of Epicnemidian Locris that minted coins.
The site of the ancient town is tentatively identified as near
Molos
Molos ( el, Μώλος, meaning “Jetty”) is a town and a former municipality in Phthiotis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it has been a part of the municipality Kamena Vourla
Kamena Vourla ( el, Καμένα Βούρλα, lit= ...