Ancient Sparta in the context of "Lechaeum"

Oeniadae or Oiniadai (Ancient Greek: Οἰνιάδαι), or Oeneiadae or Oineiadai (Οἰνειάδαι), was a town in ancient Acarnania, situated on the west bank of the Achelous River, about 10 miles (16 km) from its mouth. It was one of the most important of the Acarnanian towns, being strongly fortified both by nature and by art, and commanding the whole of the south of Acarnania. It was surrounded by marshes, many of them of great extent and depth, which rendered it quite inaccessible in the winter to an invading force. Its territory appears to have extended on both sides of the Achelous, and to have consisted of the district called Paracheloitis, which was very fertile. It seems to have derived its name from the mythical Oeneus, the great Aetolian hero.

The town is first mentioned about 455 BCE. The Messenians, who had been settled at Naupactus by the Athenians at the end of the Third Messenian War, shortly afterwards made an expedition against Oeniadae, which they took; but after holding it for a year, they were attacked by the Acarnanians and compelled to abandon the town. Oeniadae is represented at that time as an enemy of Athens, which is said to have been one of the reasons that induced the Messenians to attack the place. Twenty-three years before the Peloponnesian War (454 BCE) Pericles laid siege to the town, but was unable to take it. In the Peloponnesian War, Oeniadae still continued opposed to the Athenians, and was the only Acarnanian town, with the exception of Astacus, which sided with the Lacedaemonians. In the third year of the war (429 BCE) Phormion made an expedition into Acarnania to secure the Athenian ascendancy; but though he took Astacus, he did not continue to march against Oeniadae, because it was the winter, at which season the marshes secured the town from all attack. In the following year (428 BCE) his son Asopius sailed up the Achelous, and ravaged the territory of Oeniadae; but it was not till 424 BCE that Demosthenes, assisted by all the other Acarnanians, compelled the town to join the Athenian alliance.

Phlius (/ˈflaɪəs/; Ancient Greek: Φλιοῦς) or Phleius (Φλειοῦς) was an independent polis (city-state) in the northeastern part of Peloponnesus. Phlius' territory, called Phliasia (Φλιασία), was bounded on the north by Sicyonia, on the west by Arcadia, on the east by Cleonae, and on the south by Argolis. This territory is a small valley about 900 feet (270 m) above the level of the sea, surrounded by mountains, from which streams flow down on every side, joining the river Asopus in the middle of the plain. The mountain in the southern part of the plain, from which the principal source of the Asopus springs, was called Carneates (Καρνεάτης). The territory of Phlius was celebrated in antiquity for its wine. According to Strabo, the ancient capital of the country was Araethyrea (Ἀραιθυρέα) on Mt. Celosse, which city is mentioned by Homer; but the inhabitants subsequently deserted it and built Phlius at the distance of 30 stadia. Pausanias, however, does not speak of any migration, but says that the ancient capital was named Arantia (Ἀραντία), from its founder Aras, an autochthon, that it was afterwards called Araethyrea from a daughter of Aras, and that it finally received the name of Phlius, from Phlias, a son of Ceisus and grandson of Temenus. The name of Arantia was retained in the time of Pausanias in the hill Arantinus, on which the city stood. Hence the statement of grammarians that both Arantia and Araethyrea were ancient names of Phlius. According to Stephanus of Byzantium, Phlius derived its name from Dionysus and Chthonophyle. Phlius was subsequently conquered by Dorians under Rhegnidas, who came from Sicyon. Some of the inhabitants migrated to Samos, others to Clazomenae; among the settlers at Samos was Hippasus, from whom Pythagoras derived his descent.

Like most of the other Doric states, Phlius was governed by an aristocracy, though it was for a time subject to a tyrant Leon, a contemporary of Pythagoras. Phlius sent 200 soldiers to the Battle of Thermopylae, and 1000 to the Battle of Plataea. Although geographically close to Argos, it was an ally of Sparta and a member of the Peloponnesian League. During the whole of the Peloponnesian War it remained faithful to Sparta and hostile to Argos.

Leuctra or Leuktra (Ancient Greek: τὰ Λεῦκτρα, romanized: tà Leûktra, Attic Greek pronunciation: [tà lêu̯k.tra] or τὸ Λεῦκτρον, tò Leûktron [tò lêu̯k.tron]) was a village in ancient Boeotia, situated on the road from Thespiae to Plataea, and within the territory of the former city. Leuctra is most notable for the Battle of Leuctra, fought in its neighbourhood between the Spartans and Thebans in 371 BCE, by which the supremacy of Sparta was demolished. In the plain of Leuctra, was the tomb of the two daughters of Scedasus, a Leuctrian. The daughters were violated by Spartans, and had afterwards slain themselves. Before the battle, Epaminondas crowned the tomb with wreaths, fulfilling an oracle's prophecy that the Spartans would be defeated at this spot.

The site of Leuctra is near the modern village of Lefktra, renamed to reflect to connection with the ancient place.

37°38′02″N 21°28′54″E / 37.633865°N 21.481638°E / 37.633865; 21.481638Epitalium or Epitalion (Ancient Greek: Ἐπιτάλιον) was a town of Triphylia in ancient Elis, near the coast and a little south of the river Alpheius. It was identified with the Homeric Thryon (Θρύον) or Thryoessa (Θρυόεσσα), a town listed in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad as in the dominions of Nestor, which the poet describes as a place upon a lofty hill near the ford of the river Alpheius.

Epitalium was an important military post, because it commanded the ford of the Alpheius and the road leading along the coast. Xenophon relates that, like the other dependent townships of Triphylia, it revolted from Elis when Agis II, the Spartan king, invaded the country in 401 BCE; and when Agis returned home, after ravaging Elis, he left a garrison in Epitalium. It is also mentioned by Polybius; in the year 218 BCE, Philip V of Macedon took several cities of Elis among which was Epitalium.

Aphidna (Ancient Greek: Ἄφιδνα) or Aphidnae or Aphidnai (Ἀφίδναι) was one of the twelve ancient towns of ancient Attica. It was celebrated in the mythical period as the place where Theseus deposited Helen of Troy, entrusting her to the care of his friend Aphidnus. When the Dioscuri invaded Attica in search of their sister, the inhabitants of Deceleia informed the Lacedaemonians where Helen was concealed, and showed them the way to Aphidna. The Dioscuri thereupon took the town, and carried off their sister. We learn, from a decree quoted by Demosthenes, that Aphidna was, in his time, a fortified town, and at a greater distance than 120 stadia from Athens. As an Attic deme, it belonged in succession to the tribes Aeantis, Leontis, Ptolemais, and Hadrianis.

The site of Aphidna is located at Kotroni near the modern town of Afidnes.

Medeon (Ancient Greek: Μεδεών) or Medion (Μεδίων) was a town in the interior of ancient Acarnania, on the road from Stratus and Phytia (or Phoeteiae) to Limnaea on the Ambraciot Gulf. Thucydides mentions that it was crossed by the Spartan army during the Peloponnesian War, under the command of Eurylochus, between Phytia and Limnaea, on its march to Battle of Olpae in 426 BCE. It was one of the few towns in the interior of the country which maintained its independence against the Aetolians after the death of Alexander the Great. At length, in 231 BCE, the Aetolians laid siege to Medeon with a large force, and had reduced it to great distress, when they were attacked by a body of Illyrian mercenaries, who had been sent by sea by Demetrius, king of Macedonia, in order to relieve the place. The Aetolians were defeated, and obliged to retreat with the loss of their camp, arms, and baggage. Medeon is again mentioned in 191 BCE, as one of the Acarnanian towns, of which Antiochus, king of Syria, obtained possession in that year.

The site of Medeon is near the modern village of Katouna.

Halieis (Ancient Greek: Ἁλιεῖς), or Halice or Halike (Ἁλίκη), or Halia (Ἁλία), or Alycus or Alykos (Ἄλυκος), or Haliai (Ἁλιαί), was a port town of Hermionis, in ancient Argolis at the mouth of the Argolic Gulf. The district is called Halias (ἡ Ἁλιάς) by Thucydides.

The townsfolk derived their name from their fisheries. The Tirynthians and Hermionians took refuge at Halieis when they were expelled from their own cities by the Argives. This town was taken about Olympiad 80 (c. 460 BCE) by Aneristus, the son of Sperthias, and made subject to Sparta. The district was afterwards ravaged on more than one occasion by the Athenians. After the Peloponnesian War Halieis is mentioned by Xenophon as autonomous.

Leucophrys or Leukophrys (Ancient Greek: Λευκόφρυς) was a town of the ancient Ionia, and earlier of Caria in the plain of the Maeander river. It was on the borders of a lake, whose water was hot and in constant commotion. The town possessed a very revered sanctuary of Artemis; hence surnamed Artemis Leucophryene or Leucophryne. The poet Nicander spoke of Leucophrys as a place distinguished for its fine roses. Xenophon records that, in 398 BCE, Leucophrys was the site to which the Greek troops, under the command of the Spartan Dercylidas withdrew after the meeting between them and the troops of Achaemenid Empire led by the satraps Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus II. The next day in the place they had agreed to, they negotiated peace. The Persians would allow the Greek cities to be autonomous and the Greek army and the Laconian harmosts would return across the Aegean Sea.

Its site was later occupied by Magnesia ad Maeandrum.

Methone (Ancient Greek: Μεθώνη, Methṓnē) or Mothone (Μοθώνη, Mothṓnē) was a town in the southwestern corner of ancient Messenia. It was an important place in ancient times on account of its excellent harbour and salubrious situation. It is situated at the extreme point of a rocky ridge, which runs into the sea, opposite the island Sapientza, one of the group called in ancient times Oenussae. Off the outer end of the town, is the little insulated rock which Pausanias calls Mothon, and which he describes as forming at once a narrow entrance and a shelter to the harbour of his time: in the 19th century, when visited by William Martin Leake, it was occupied by a tower and lantern, which is connected by a bridge with the fortification of modern Methoni. A mole branched from it, which ran parallel to the eastern wall of the town, and forms a harbour for small vessels, which to Leake seems to be exactly in the position of the ancient port, the entrance into which was probably where the bridge now stands.

According to the testimony of the ancient writers, Methone was the Homeric Pedasus, one of the seven cities which Agamemnon offered to Achilles. Homer gives to Pedasus the epithet ἀμπελόεσσα (vine-covered), and Methone seems to have been celebrated in antiquity for the cultivation of the vine. The eponymous heroine Methone, is called the daughter of Oeneus, the 'wineman'; and the same name occurs in the islands Oenussae, lying opposite the city. The name of Methone first occurs in the Messenian Wars. Methone and Pylus were the only two places which the Messenians continued to hold in the Second Messenian War, after they had retired to the mountain fortress of Ira. At the end of the Second Messenian War, the Lacedaemonians gave Methone to the inhabitants of Nauplia, who had lately been expelled from their own city by the Argives. The descendants of the Nauplians continued to inhabit Methone, and were allowed to remain there even after the restoration of the Messenian state by Epaminondas. In the first year of the Peloponnesian War, 431 BCE, the Athenians attempted to obtain possession of Methone, but were repulsed by Brasidas. Methone suffered greatly from an attack of some Illyrian privateers, who, under the pretext of purchasing wine, entered into discussions with the inhabitants and carried off a great number of them. Shortly before the Battle of Actium, Methone, which had been strongly fortified by Mark Antony, was besieged and taken by Agrippa, who found there Bogud, king of Mauretania, whom he put to death. Methone was favoured by Trajan, who made it a free city. Pausanias found at Methone a temple of Athena Anemotis, the 'storm-stiller,' and one of Artemis. He also mentions a well of bituminous water, similar both in smell and colour to the ointment of Cyzicus. It is also mentioned by Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder, Ptolemy, and Hierocles.