Phrixae
Phrixa is rarely mentioned in history; but it shared the fate of the other Triphylian cities. It is cited by Xenophon in the war between Elis and Sparta and its allies led by Agis II about the year 400 BCE. After the end of the hostilities, Elis was forced to lose control of, among others, the city of Phrixa. It is also mentioned by Polybius; in the year 218 BCE, Philip V of Macedon took several cities of Elis among which was Phrixa.
Its position is determined by Pausanias, who says that it was situated upon a pointed hill, opposite the Leucanias, a tributary of the Alpheius, and at a ford of the latter river. This pointed hill is now called Paleofánaro, and is a conspicuous object from both sides of the river, whence the city received the name of Phaestus or Phaistos (Φαιστός) in later times. The city was in ruins in the time of Pausanias, who mentions there a temple of Athena Cydonia. Upon the summit of the hill, in the 19th century when visited by archaeologists, there were still remains of Hellenic walls.
The location of Phrixa is at modern Phixa.
References
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v.
- ^ Herodotus. Histories. Vol. 4.148.
- ^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. 8.3.12. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v. Μάκιστος.
- ^ Polybius. The Histories. Vol. 4.77, 80.
- ^ Xenophon. Hellenica. Vol. 3.2.30.
- ^ Pausanias (1918). "21.6". 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.
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v. Φαιστός.
- ^ Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Phrixa". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
- ^ Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 58, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.
- ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Phrixa". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.