previous next

CHAP. 6. (5.)—ACHAIA.

The province called Achaia1 begins at the Isthmus; from the circumstance of its cities being ranged in regular succession on its coast, it formerly had the name of Ægialos2. The first place there is Lecheæ, already mentioned, a port of the Corinthians; next to which is Olyros3, a fortress of the people of Pellene4; then the former towns of Helice and Bura5, and the places in which their inhabitants took refuge after their towns had been swallowed up by the sea, Sicyon6 namely, Ægira7, Ægium, and Erineos8. In the interior are Cleonæ and Hysiæ9; then come the port of Panormus10, and Rhium already mentioned; from which promontory, Patræ, of which we have previously spoken, is distant five miles; and then the place where Pheræ11 stood. Of the nine mountains of Achaia, Scioessa is the most famous; there is also the Fountain of Cymothoë. Beyond Patræ we find the town of Olenum12, the colony of Dyme13, the places where Bupra- sium14 and Hyrmine once stood, the Promontory of Araxus15, the Bay of Cyllene, and the Promontory of Chelonates, at five miles' distance from Cyllene16. There is also the fortress of Phlius17; the district around which was called by Homer Aræthyrea18, and, after his time, Asopis.

The territory of the Eleans then begins, who were formerly called Epei, with the city of Elis19 in the interior, and, at a distance of twelve miles from Phlius, being also in the interior, the temple of Olympian Jupiter, which by the universal celebrity of its games, gives to Greece its mode of reckoning20. Here too once stood the town of Pisa21, the river Alpheus flowing past it. On the coast there is the Promontory of Ichthys22. The river Alpheus is navigable six miles, nearly as far as the towns of Aulon23 and Leprion. We next come to the Promontory of Platanodes24. All these localities lie to the west.

1 Originally a district in the south of Thessaly had this name; but to distinguish it from that in the Peloponnesus, its people were called the Phthiotian Achæi.

2 From the Greek word αἰγιαλὸς, "the sea-shore."

3 Situate on the coast, about five miles from the present Vostitza.

4 In the interior. The modern Trikala stands on its site.

5 Helice was the place of meeting of the Achæan league; when, in B.C. 373, together with Bura, it was swallowed up by an earthquake, and their sites were covered by the sea. Such of the people as escaped fled to the places mentioned above by Pliny. Pouqueville says that some remains of these places may still be seen emerging from the sea.

6 The modern Basilico or Vasilika stands on its site.

7 The places called Paleo-Kastro and Vostitza are supposed to occupy the sites of Ægira and Ægium. To the east of Vostitza considerable ruins are still to be seen.

8 Supposed to be the present Artotina.

9 Towns of Roman Argolis. The ruins of the former are supposed to be those at a spot still called Klenes, near the village of Curtesi. The remains of Hysieæ, on the road from Argos to Tegea, stand on a hill above the plain of Achladokampos.

10 Now called Tekieh; fifteen stadia from Rhium.

11 Or Pharæ; 150 stadia from Patre.

12 The modern Kato-Achaia.

13 Its remains are to be seen near the modern village of Karavostasi. Pliny is mistaken probably in calling it a colony, as we know that it was placed under the authority of the colony of Patræ, which alone was allowed to enjoy the privilege of self-government.

14 Pouqueville thinks that it was situate on the river now called the Verga. Leake supposes that the town of Hyrmine stood on the site of the present Kastro Tornese on the peninsula of Khlemutzi; but Boblaye and Curtius place it further north, at the modern harbour of Kunupeli, where there are some ancient ruins.

15 Now Capo Papa.

16 The locality of Cyllene is doubtful. Most writers place it at Glarentza, but Pouqueville suggests Andravida or Andravilla, and Mannert places it near Clarenza. Chelinates or Chelonatas was probably the name originally of the whole peninsula of Khlemutzi, but the point here mentioned was most probably the modern Cape Tornese.

17 It lay in the interior, south of Sicyonia, and north of Argos. Pouqueville found its ruins on the banks of the Asopus.

18 Strabo says that this was the name of the most ancient town of Phliasia, and that the inhabitants afterwards deserted it for Phlius.

19 Some small ruins of it are to be seen at the foot of the hill of Kaloskopi, its ancient Acropolis.

20 By Olympiads, which were reckoned according to the order of celebration of the Olympic games: they were established in the year B.C. 776, and were celebrated every fourth year.

21 It was destroyed in the year B.C. 572 by the Eleans, not a vestige of it being left. The Alpheus retains the name of Alfio.

22 Or "the Fish," from its peculiar shape. It is now called Katakolo.

23 Probably situate in the valley between Elis and Messenia, which was so called. It is not elsewhere mentioned; and its ruins are thought to be those near the sea, on the right bank of the river Cyparissus. Leprion is again mentioned in c. x.

24 Or Platamodes. Supposed to be the present Aja Kyriaki.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

load focus Latin (Karl Friedrich Theodor Mayhoff, 1906)
hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

hide Dates (automatically extracted)
Sort dates alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a date to search for it in this document.
776 BC (1)
572 BC (1)
373 BC (1)
hide References (33 total)
  • Cross-references to this page (21):
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ACHA´IA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AEGEIRA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AE´GIUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), ALIPHE´RA
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CLEITOR
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), CLEO´NAE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), DYME
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), GORTYS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), HE´LICE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MAE´NALUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), MELAENEAE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), METHY´DRIUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), NONÁCRIS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), O´LENUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PALLA´NTIUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PARTHE´NIUM
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PELLE´NE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), PHARAE
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), RHYPES
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), STYMPHA´LUS
    • Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), THELPU´SA
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page (12):
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: