Larissa (Elis)

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Larissa (Ancient Greek: Λάρισσα and Λάρισα) was a town in the borderlands of ancient Elis and ancient Achaea. According to a fragment of Theopompus, cited by Strabo, it was on the road between Elis and Dyme.[1] It is related to the Larissos River, which served as the border between Elis and Achaea and next to which was found a temple of Athena Larisea.[2][3] It is doubtful whether Xenophon wants to refer to the city or the river, by mentioning 'κατὰ Λάρισσαν' as the place where the Spartan king Agis II entered Elis from Achaea.[4][5]

The exact location of the city is unknown, but it has been suggested that it could be identified with the Dymaean Wall whose remains are adjacent to the current locations of Kalogria [el] and Araxus.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. 9.5.19. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
  2. ^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. 8.7.5. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
  3. ^ Pausanias (1918). "26.10". Description of Greece. Vol. 6. Translated by W. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – via Perseus Digital Library.
  4. ^ Xenophon. Hellenica. Vol. 3.2.23.
  5. ^ Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen (2004). "Elis". An inventory of archaic and classical poleis. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 499. ISBN 0-19-814099-1.
  6. ^ Ignacio Miguel Pascual Valderrama, Un estudio topográfico e histórico de Acaya entre los siglos VIII y III a.C., p.328, doctoral thesis, Madrid: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (2010) (in Spanish)