Megalopolis, Greece in the context of "Pallantium (Arcadia)"

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⭐ Core Definition: Megalopolis, Greece

Megalopoli (Greek: Μεγαλόπολη, romanizedMegalópolē) is a town in the southwestern part of the regional unit of Arcadia, southern Greece. It is located in the same site as ancient Megalopolis (Ancient Greek: Μεγαλόπολις, romanizedMegalópolis, lit.'large/great city'). When it was founded in 371 BC, it was the first large urbanization in rustic Arcadia. Its theatre had a capacity of 20,000 visitors, making it one of the largest ancient Greek theatres.

Today, Megalopoli has several schools, shops, churches, hotels and other services. The population of Megalopoli in 2021 was 5,344 residents.

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👉 Megalopolis, Greece in the context of Pallantium (Arcadia)

Pallantium or Pallantion (Ancient Greek: Παλλάντιον), more rarely Palantium or Palantion (Παλάντιον), was one of the most ancient towns of Arcadia, in the district Maenalia, said to have been founded by Pallas, a son of Lycaon. It was situated west of Tegea, in a small plain called the Pallantic plain (Παλλαντικόν πεδίον) which was separated from the territory of Tegea by a dyke. It was from this town that Evander of Pallene was said to have led colonists to the banks of the river Tiber, and from it the Palatino or Palatine Hill in Rome was reputed to have derived its name.

Pallantium took part in the foundation of Megalopolis, 371 BCE; but it seems to have continued to exist as an independent state, since the Pallantieis is mentioned along with the Tegeatae, Megalopolitae, and Aseatae as joining Epaminondas before the Battle of Mantineia in 362 BCE. Pallantium subsequently shrank into a village, but was restored and enlarged by the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, who conferred upon it freedom from taxation and other privileges, on account of its reputed connection with Rome. The town was visited by the geographer Pausanias, who found at Pallantium a shrine containing statues of Pallas and Evander, a temple of Core (Persephone), a statue of Polybius, and on the hill above the town, which was anciently used as an acropolis, a temple of the pure (καθαροί) gods.

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Megalopolis, Greece in the context of Aphrodite Pandemos

Aphrodite Pandemos (Ancient Greek: Πάνδημος, romanizedPándēmos; "common to all the people") occurs as an epithet of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. This epithet can be interpreted in different ways. In Plato's Symposium, Pausanias of Athens describes Aphrodite Pandemos as the goddess of sensual pleasures, in opposition to Aphrodite Urania, or "the heavenly Aphrodite". At Elis, she was represented as riding on a ram by Scopas. Another interpretation is that of Aphrodite uniting all the inhabitants of a country into one social or political body. In this respect she was worshipped at Athens along with Peitho (persuasion), and her worship was said to have been instituted by Theseus at the time when he united the scattered townships into one great body of citizens. According to some authorities, it was Solon who erected the sanctuary of Aphrodite Pandemos, either because her image stood in the agora, or because the hetairai had to pay the costs of its erection. The worship of Aphrodite Pandemos also occurs at Megalopolis in Arcadia, and at Thebes. A festival in honour of her is mentioned by Athenaeus. The sacrifices offered to her consisted of white goats. Pandemos occurs also as a surname of Eros. According to Harpocration, who quotes Apollodorus, Aphrodite Pandemos has very old origins, "the title Pandemos was given to the goddess established in the neighborhood of the Old Agora because all the Demos (people) gathered there of old in their assemblies which they called agorai." To honour Aphrodite's and Peitho's role in the unification of Attica, the Aphrodisia festival was organized annually on the fourth of the month of Hekatombaion (the fourth day of each month was the sacred day of Aphrodite). The Synoikia that honoured Athena, the protectress of Theseus and main patron of Athens, also took place in the month of Hekatombaion.

Christine Downing comments that, "Pausanias's description of the love associated with Aphrodite Pandemos as dedicated only to sensual pleasure and therefore directed indifferently to women and men, and that associated with the Ouranian Aphrodite as "altogether male" and dedicated to the education of the soul of the beloved is actually an innovation—for Aphrodite Ourania was served in Corinth by prostitutes and Aphrodite Pandemos was the goddess as worshipped by the whole community."

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Megalopolis, Greece in the context of Cleomenean War

The Cleomenean War (229/228–222 BC) was fought between Sparta and the Achaean League for the control of the Peloponnese. Under the leadership of king Cleomenes III, Sparta initially had the upper hand, which forced the Achaean League to call for help the Macedonian king Antigonos Doson, who decisively defeated Cleomenes in the battle of Sellasia in 222.

In 235 BC, Cleomenes III (r. 235–222 BC) ascended the throne of Sparta and began a program of reform aimed at restoring traditional Spartan discipline while weakening the influence of the ephors, elected officials who, though sworn to uphold the rule of Sparta's kings, had by the time of Cleomenes come to wield extraordinary political power in the Spartan system. When, in 229 BC, the ephors sent Cleomenes to seize a town on the border with Megalopolis, the Achaeans declared war. Cleomenes responded by ravaging Achaea. At Mount Lycaeum he defeated an army under Aratus of Sicyon, the strategos of the Achaean League, that had been sent to attack Elis, and then routed a second army near Megalopolis.

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Megalopolis, Greece in the context of Histories (Polybius)

Polybius' Histories (Ancient Greek: Ἱστορίαι Historíai) were originally written in 40 volumes, only the first five of which are extant in their entirety. The bulk of the work was passed down through collections of excerpts kept in libraries in the Byzantine Empire. Polybius, a historian from the Greek city of Megalopolis in Arcadia, was taken as a hostage to Rome after the Roman victory in the Third Macedonian War (171–168 BC), and there he began to write an account of the rise of Rome to a great power.

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Megalopolis, Greece in the context of Bassae

Bassae (Latin: Bassae, Ancient Greek: ΒάσσαιBassai, meaning "little vale in the rocks") is an archaeological site in Oichalia, a municipality in the northeastern part of Messenia, Greece. In classical antiquity, it was part of Arcadia. Bassae lies near the village of Skliros, northeast of Figaleia, south of Andritsaina and west of Megalopolis. It is famous for the well-preserved mid- to late-5th century BC Temple of Apollo Epicurius.

Although this temple is geographically remote from major polities of ancient Greece, it is one of the most studied ancient Greek temples because of its multitude of unusual features. Bassae was the first Greek site to be inscribed on the World Heritage List, in 1986.

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Megalopolis, Greece in the context of Falaisia

Falaisia (Greek: Φαλαισία, before 1918: Μπούρα - Boura) is a village and a former municipality in southwestern Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Megalopoli, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 274.926 km. The seat of the municipality was in Leontari, 5 km northwest of the village Falaisia. The municipal unit Falaisia is located in the northern foothills of the Taygetus mountains, south of Megalopoli and north of Kalamata. It borders on Laconia to the southeast, and Messenia to the southwest.

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Megalopolis, Greece in the context of Longanikos

Longanikos (Greek: Λογκανίκος, also transliterated as Logkanikos) is a traditional Greek village, located in Laconia, in the ancient and historical Peloponnese area of southern Greece. It is also referred to sometimes in English as "Logganiko(s)" or "Longanico(s)". It is about 30 kilometers north of Sparta, the capital city of Lakonia, and is also very close to the cities of Kalamata, Tripolis and Megalopolis. It rests on the eastern slope of Mount Taigetos. The population of Longanikos is 404 inhabitants according to the 2021 census. This figure includes the population of the surrounding smaller villages Vergadeika, Kyparrissi, Giakoumaiika, and Kotitsa. Because of the small size of this village, residents of this town often identify themselves as Spartans to other Greeks or foreigners. For those who are familiar with this area, a resident or person from Longanikos is referred to as a "Longanikiotes" (masc) or "Longanikiotissa" (fem).

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Megalopolis, Greece in the context of Aliphera (Greece)

Aliphera (Ancient Greek: Ἀλίφηρα) or Alipheira (Ἀλίφειρα) was a town of ancient Arcadia, in the district Parrhasia, said to have been built by Alipherus, a son of Lycaon. It was situated upon a steep and lofty hill, 40 stadia (about 8 km) south of the Alpheius, and the same distance from Heraea, and near the frontiers of Elis. It was a member of the Arcadian League. A large number of its inhabitants removed to Megalopolis upon the foundation of the latter city in 371 BCE; but it still continued to be a place of some importance. It was ceded to the Eleans by Lydiades, when tyrant of Megalopolis (224 BCE); but it was taken from them by Philip V of Macedon in the Social War, in 219 BCE after a long siege, and restored to Megalopolis. Later it joined the Achaean League and minted its own currency. Later, the city was subject to the Romans. When Pausanias visited it in the 2nd century, the town contained temples of Asclepius and Athena, and a celebrated bronze statue by Hypatodorus of the latter goddess, who was said to have been born here.

Its site is located near the modern Alifeira, which was renamed to reflect association with the ancient town. The first excavations were done by Anastasios Orlandos in 1932. In the ancient city the temples of Athena and Asclepius, the acropolis, the cemetery wall and some buildings have been found.

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