Teumessus in the context of Asopos (Boeotia)


Teumessus in the context of Asopos (Boeotia)

⭐ Core Definition: Teumessus

Teumessus or Teumessos (Ancient Greek: Τευμησσός) was a town in ancient Boeotia, situated in the plain of Thebes, upon a low rocky hill of the same name. The name of this hill appears to have been also given to the range of mountains separating the plain of Thebes from the valley of the Asopus. Teumessus was upon the road from Thebes to Chalcis, at the distance of 100 stadia from the former. It is mentioned in one of the Homeric hymns with the epithet λεχεποίη or grassy, an epithet justified by the rich plain which surrounds the town. Teumessus is celebrated in the epic legends, especially on account of the Teumessian fox, which ravaged the territory of Thebes. The only building at Teumessus mentioned by Pausanias was a temple of Athena Telchinia, without any statue. Pausanias also mentions that Zeus hid Europa in Teumessus. The torrent Thermodon ran down Mount Hypatus on its way to Teumessus.

Its site is located near modern Mesovouni.

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Teumessus in the context of Glisas

Glisas (Ancient Greek: Γλίσας), or Glissas (Γλίσσας), was a town of ancient Boeotia, mentioned by Homer in the Iliad's Catalogue of Ships in the same line with Plataea. It was celebrated in Greek mythology as the place where the Epigoni fought against the Thebans, and where the Argive chiefs were buried who fell in the battle. Pausanias, in his description of the road from Thebes to Chalcis, says that Glisas was situated beyond Teumessus, at the distance of seven stadia from the latter place; that above Glisas rose Mount Hypatus, from which flowed the torrent Thermodon. Strabo places it on Mt. Hypatus, and Herodotus describes the Thermodon as flowing between Glisas and Tanagra.

Glisas also figures in a tale in Greek mythology. Phocus of Glisas was father of a beautiful daughter Callirhoe. She was wooed by thirty suitors, but Phocus was hesitant to let his daughter marry one of them. At last he announced he would be consulting the Pythian Oracle before making a final decision; the suitors got outraged by that and killed Phocus. Callirhoe had to flee from the suitors; some peasants hid her away in the grain, and thus she escaped them. During the festival of Pamboeotia, she went to the shrine of Athena Itonia at Coroneia and revealed the crime of her suitors to the public; the people sympathized with her and declared a war on her father's murderers. Those sought refuge first in Orchomenus, and then in the town of Hippotae which lay between Thisbe and Coroneia. The inhabitants of Hippotae refused to deliver them up, so the Boeotian army under command of the Theban governor Phoedus captured the town, enslaved its citizens and stoned the suitors to death. The town was destroyed, and the land divided between Thisbe and Coroneia. The night before the capture of Hippotae, a voice coming from Mount Helicon had repeatedly been heard at the town; it would utter "I'm here", and the suitors recognized it as that of Phocus. On the day the suitors were executed, Phocus' tomb ran with saffron. Phoedus, on his way back home, received the news that a daughter was born to him, and decided to name her Nicostrate ("Victorious Army").

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Teumessus in the context of Mount Hypatus

Mount Sagmatas (Greek: Σαγματάς, Ancient Greek: Ὕπατος, romanizedHypatos, Latin: Hypatus) is a mountain of Boeotia, Greece. In antiquity, it was called Hypatos and hosted a temple of Zeus. It bounded the Theban plain on the east, towering over the town of Glisas, and the river Thermodon ran down it on course to Teumessus.

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Teumessus in the context of Thermodon (Boeotia)

The Thermodon (Ancient Greek: Θερμώδων) was a river of ancient Boeotia that rose in Mount Hypatus, and flowed past Teumessus, and emptied into the Asopus near Tanagra.

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