Medeon (Boeotia)

Cylindrical stone seal from Medeon in Boeotia ( Middle Helladic , 2000–1700 BC)

Medeon ( Greek Μεδεών ) was an ancient city in Boeotia . She was listed in the ship catalog of the Iliad among the contingents of Boeotia. The city was on the Kastraki hill west of Mount Fagas . After this mountain, which was called Sphingion or Phoinikion in ancient times, the city was also called Phoinikis . According to Strabo , the place got its name from the Phocian Medeon .

The elongated hill with a north-south orientation on which the city was built is about 140 m high and rises about 40 m above the Kopaïs plane . The limestone cliff drops vertically to the west and south. There is a steep embankment to the east and there is good access only from the north. In ancient times, the Kopaisee reached as far as the city. Medeon was under the influence of Haliartos, 7 km southwest . The famous Poseidon sanctuary of Onchestos was located 5 km south of the city . Parts of the polygonal city wall and house foundations of the former city have been preserved. Today there is a Profitis Ilias chapel on Kastraki Hill .

Web links

Commons : Medeon  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

• William Smith : Medeon. In: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. 1854 ( online ).
• Siegfried Lauffer (Ed.): Greece: Lexicon of historical sites - from the beginning to the present . Bechtermünz, Augsburg 1999, ISBN 3-8289-4144-3 , p. 410.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Pliny the Elder , Naturalis historia 4.12.
2. ↑ Homer , Iliad 2,501.
3. ↑ Strabo, Geographika 9,2,26.

Coordinates: 38 ° 24 ′ 24 ″  N , 23 ° 9 ′ 47 ″  E