Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1193

 THESSALIA. by the soldiers to take the command. So greatly uks Alexander htrenjjthened in liis power by this failure that all the Thessalian cities submitted to him, and the influence of Thebes in Thcssaly was for a time destroyed. Subsequently a second expedition was sent into Thessaly under the command of Kpaniinondas, who compelled the tyrant to release Pelopidas and Ismenias, but without restoring Thebes to the commanding position which she had formerly lielJ in Thessaly. (Diod. sv. 71 — 75; I'lut. Pelop. 27—29; Cornel Nep. PeZo^>. 5; Paus. ix. 15. § 1.) 'J'he continued oppressions of Alexander of Pherae became so intolerable that the Thessalian cities once more applied to Thebes for assistance. Accordingly in li. c. 364 Pelopidas was again sent into Thessaly at the head of a Theban army. In the first engage- ment Pelopidas was slain, but Alexander was de- feated. (Diud. XV. 80, 81; Pint. Pelop. 31, 32; Cornel. Nep. Pelop. 5 ; respecting the diiierent expe- ditions of Pelopidas into Thessaly, as to which there are discrepancies in the accounts, see Grote, IlUt. of Greece, vol. x. p. 361, note, p. 391, note.) The death of Pelopidas, however, proved almost fatal to Alexander. Burning to revenge his loss, the The- l)ans sent ii powerful army into Thessaly, which I oiiipelled him to renounce his supremacy in Thessaly, Id confine himself to Pherae, and to submit to all the demands of Thebes. (Plut. Pelop. 35.) After the death of Epaminondas at the battle of Jhmtineia (b. e. 362) the supremacy of Thebes in Thessaly was weakened, and Alexander of Pherae recovered nmch of his power, which he continued to exercise with his accustomed cruelty and ferocity till his assassination in li. c. 359 by his wife Thebe and her brothers. One of these brothers, Tisiphonus, fcucceeded to the supreme power, under the direction of Thebe; but his reign lasted only a short time, and lie was followed in the government by Lycopliron, another brother. (Xen. Hell. vi. 4. § 37; Diod. xvi. 14; Plut. Pelop. 35.) Meanwhile Philip, who liad ascended the throne of Macedon in u. c. 369, Lad been steadily extending his dominions and his influence; and the Aleuadae of Larissa now had re- course to him in preference to Thebes. Accordingly Philip inarched into Thessaly in b. c. 353. Lyco- phron, unable to resist him, invoked the aid of Onomarchus and the Phocians ; and Philip, after a severe struggle was driven out of Tiiessaly. (Diodor. xvi. 35.) in the following year Philip returned to Thessaly, and gained a signal victory over Onomarchus and Lycophron. Onomarchus was slain in the battle; and when Philip followed up his victory by laying siege to Piierae, Lyco])liron surrendered the city to him, upon being allowed 10 retire to Phocis with Lis mercenaries. (Diodor. xvi. 37.) Thus ended the powerful dynasty of the tyrants of Pherae. Philip established a popular government at Pherae (Diod. xvi. 38), and gave nominal independence to the Thessalian cities. But at the same time he garrisoned Magnesia and the jiort of Pagasae with his troops, and kept steadily in view the subjugation of the whole country. An attempt made in b. c. 344 to restore the dynasty of the tyrants at Pherae gave him an opportunity of carrying Lis designs inio efiiect. Not only did he garrison Pherae with his own troops, but lie revived the ancient division of the country into four tetiarchies or tetradarchies, and placed at the head of each some of the chiefs of the Aleuadae, who were entirely de- voted to his interests. The result of this arrangc- nieiit was the entire subjection of Theisaly to Philip, VOL. II. THESSALIA. 11C9 wlio drew from the country a considerable addition to his revenues and to his military resource.-;. (Har- pocrat. 5. V. Terpapx^a; Dem. Olijnth. i. § 23; Strab. ix. p. 440; Thirlwall, Hist, of Greece, vol. vi. pp. 12—14.) Upon the death of'philipthe Thes.salians were the first Grecian people who promised to sup- port Alexander in obtaining the supremacy of Greece. (Diod. xvii. 4.) After the death (,f Alexamler the Thessalians took an active part with the cither Gre- cian states in attempting to throw off the Jlaceduniaii yoke, but by the victory of Anlipater they were again united to the Macedonian inonarcliy, to which they remained subject till the defeat of Philip by the Romans at the battle of Cynoscephalae, n. c. 197. The lioman senate then declared Thessaly free (Liv. xxxiii. 32); but from this time it was virtually under the sovereignty of Pome. The government was vested in the hands of the more wealthy persons, who formed a kind of senate, which was accustomed to meet at Laris.sa. (Liv. x.xxiv. 52, sxxvi. 8, xlii. 38 ) When Macedonia was reduced to the form of a Roman province, Thessaly was incorporated with it. (Strab. xvii. p. 840.) Under Alexander Severus it formed a separate province governed by a procurator (Gruter, Imcr. p. 474. 4) ; and in the later consti- tution of the Empire after the time of Constantine, it also appears as a separate province under the administration of a jjraeses. (Ao^ D'hi. i. p. 7 ; Biicking, i. p. 151; JIar(iuardt, in Becker's Rom. Alterth. vol. iii. pt. i. p. 117.) In giving an enumeration of the Thessalian tribes and cities, we will first describe the four tetrarchies already mentioned, and then take the other divisions of the country. 1. HksTIAEOTIS or HiSTI.VEOTIS ('E(TTiai£T15| 'luTiaioiTts), inhabited by the Hesiiaeotae ('Etrri- aiiinai), was the northern part of Thessaly, of which the Peneius may be described in general as its southern boundary. It occupied the passes of Olym- pus, and extended westward as far as Pindus. (Pliii. iv. 1 ; Strab. ix. pp. 430, 437, 438.) It was the seat of the Perrhaebi (rieppaiSoi), a warlike and powerful tribe, who possessed in historical times seveial towns strongly situated upon the mountains. They are mentioned by Homer (//. ii. 749) as taking part in the Trojan War, and were regarded as genuine Hellenes, being one of the Anijjliictyonic states (Aeschin. ih Fals. Leg. p. 122). The part of lies- tiaeotis inhabited by them was frequently called Perrhaebia, but it never formed a separate The.s.saliaii province. The Perrhaebi are said at one time to have extended south of the Peneius as far as the lake Boebeis, but to Lave been driven out of this dis- trict by the mythical race of the Lapithae. (Strali. ix. pp. 439, 440.) It is probable that at an caily period the Perrhaebi occupied the whole (jfllestiacotis, but were subsequently driven out of the j>laiii and confined to the mountains by the Thessalian con- querors from Thesprotia. Strabo states that lles- tiaeotis, was formerly, according to some autlioritie.s, called Doris (ix. ). 4.37), and Herodotus relates that the Dorians once dwelt in this district at the foot of Mts. Ossa and Olympus (i. 56). It is said to have derived the name of Hcstiaeolis from the district of this name in Eubuea, thu inhabitants of wliieli were transjilanted to 'J'hessaly by the renhaebi (S;rab. ix. p. 437); but this Ls an uneortiiied statement, pro- bably founded alone upon similarity of name. Homer mentions another ancient tribe in this ]'urtof The.'.saly called the Aethices, who arc placed bv Strabo upon 4 I