Elateia (Phocis)
Elateia ( Greek Ἐλάτεια ) was an ancient Greek city and next to Delphi the most important place in the central Greek landscape of Phocis . It was located at the exit of the road from Thermopylae to the fertile valley of the Kephisos River and controlled an important route to southern Greece. Therefore, it repeatedly played a strategically important role in times of war.
Significant remains of Neolithic settlements and numerous graves from the Mycenaean period were found below Elateia . From the finds it can be concluded that the city flourished in pre-classical times. This flowering eventually came to a halt, and Homer does not mention Elateia among the Phocian cities in the ship's catalog .
According to Greek mythology , the Arcadian king Elatos , son of Arkas , is said to have founded Elateia; the Greek writer Pausanias saw his statue erected in the city . The Persian king Xerxes had during his war against Greece 480 BC. Cremate Elateia and other Phocian cities. Elateia was rebuilt, but its city wall was 426 BC. Partially collapsed by an earthquake. 346 BC After the Third Holy War , it was destroyed along with all the cities in Phocis in accordance with the amphictyon decree. When King Philip II of Macedonia was part of the Fourth Holy War in the autumn of 339 BC. When Elateia was conquered and its fortifications restored, the great Greek powers Thebes and Athens entered into a pact directed against Philip. But they were defeated the next year in the battle of Chaeronea ; this effectively ended Greek independence. 301 BC Elateia managed to successfully oppose the Diadoch Kassander .
The Macedonian King Philip V was able to conquer Elateia. In the course of its war against the Roman Empire, the consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus marched in 198 BC. In Phocis and only had major problems with the capture of Elateia, because a peaceful agreement with the noble Elateians failed due to the strong Macedonian occupation. He had to besiege the city for a longer period of time and finally storm it, allowing the remaining occupiers entrenched in the castle to withdraw. 86 BC Elateia resisted an attack by Taxiles , a general of King Mithridates VI. from Pontos. This city's military success came during the First Mithridatic War . Rome therefore declared Elateia free.
From 347 AD Elateia was temporarily the seat of a bishop; The titular bishopric of Elatea of the Roman Catholic Church goes back to the diocese . For the 4th century Elateia - now under the name Elatina - is referred to as a fortified city; there are also mentions in Byzantine times.
Insignificant remains of the ancient city, including the city wall and acropolis , lie near the present-day village of Elateia (Lefta). When describing the city, Pausanias reports that the agora , a temple of Asclepius , a theater and a bronze statue of Athena are particularly worth mentioning. He also names a sanctuary of Athena Kranaia, which was discovered three kilometers southeast of the city on a hill. During excavations, however, only relatively small remains of this temple were found.
literature
- Ernst Meyer : Elateia 1. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 2, Stuttgart 1967, Col. 232 f.
- Saul S. Weinberg: Elateia, Phokis, Greece . In: Richard Stillwell et al. a. (Ed.): The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1976, ISBN 0-691-03542-3 .
- Elateia 1 . In: William Smith (Ed.): Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography . Walton and Maberly et al., London 1854 ( online ).
Remarks
- ↑ Strabo 9, 2, 19, p. 407; 9, 3, 2, p. 418; Pausanias 10, 34, 1f.
- ↑ Pausanias 8: 4, 4; 10, 34, 2; 10, 34, 6.
- ↑ Herodotus , Histories 8, 33.
- ^ Strabo 1, 60.
- ↑ Diodor 16, 84f .; among others
- ↑ Titus Livius 32, 24, 1-7; Pausanias 10, 34, 4.
- ↑ Hierokles , Synekdemos 643, 8; Konstantin Porphyrogennetos , De thematibus 89; among others
- ↑ Pausanias 10, 34, 1-8.
Coordinates: 38 ° 38 ' N , 22 ° 46' E