Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1259

 TROEZEN. approach of Xerxes, the majority of them took refuge at Troezeii, where they were received with the greatest kindness by the semi-Ionic population. (Herod, viii. 41; Phit. Them. 10.) The Troezenians sent 5 ships to Artemisium and Salamis, and 1000 men to Plataeae,andthey also fought at the battle of Jlycale. (Herod, viii. 1, is. 28, 102.) After the Persian war the friendly connection between Athens and Troezen appears to have continued ; and during the greatness of tiie Athenian empire before the thirty years' peace (b. c. 455) Troezen was an ally of Athens, and was apparently garrisoned by Athenian troops ; but by this peace the Athenians were compelled to relinquiah Troezen. (Thuc. i. 115, iv. 45.) Before the Pelo- jjonnesian War the two states became estranged from one another ; and the Troezenians, probably from hostility to Argos, entered into close alliance with the Lacedaemonians. In the Peloponnesian War the Troezenians remained the firm allies of Sparta, although their countiy, from its maritime situation and its proximity to Attica, was especially expo-sed to the ravages of the Athenian fleet. (Thuc. ii. 5G, iv. 45.) In the Corinthian War, b. c. 394, the Troezenians fought upon the side of the Lacedae- monians (Xen. llell. iv. 2. § 16) ; and again in u. c. 373 they are numbered among the allies of Sparta against Athens. (Xen. Hell. vi. 2. § 3.) In the Macedonian period Troezen passed alternately into the hands of the contending powers. In b. c. 303 it was delivered, along with Argos, from the IIacedonian yoke, by Demetrius Poliorcetes ; but it soon became subject to Macedonia, and remained so till it was taken by the Spartan Cleonymus in B. c. 278. (Polyaen. Strat. ii. 29. § 1 ; Frontin. Strut, iii. 6. § 7.) Shortly afterwards it again became a Mace- donian dependency ; but it was united to the Achaean League by Aratus after he had liberated Corinth. (Pans. ii. 8. § 5.) In the war between the Achaean League and the Spartans, it was taken by Cleomenes, in B.C. 223 (Polyb. ii. 52 ; Plut. Cleom. 19) ; but after the defeat of this monarch at Sellasia in b. c. 221, it was doubtless restored to the Achaeans. Of its subsequent history we have no information. It was a place of importance in the time of Strabo (viii. p. 373), and in the second century of the Christian era it continued to possess a large number of public buildings, of which Pausanias has given a detailed account. (Pans. ii. 31, 32.) According to the description of Pausanias, the monuments of Troezen may be divided into three classes, those in the Agora and its neighbourhood, those in the sacred inclosure of Hippolytus, and those upon the Acropolis. The Agora seems to liave been surrounded with stoae or colonnades, in which stood marble statues of the women and children who fled for refuge to Troezen at the time of the Persian invasion. In the centre of the Agora was a temple of Artemis Soteira, said to have been dedicated by Theseus, which contained altars of the infernal gods. Behind the temple stood the monu- ment of Pittheus, the founder of the city, sur- mounted by three chairs of white marble, upon which he and two assessors are said to have administered justice. Not far from thence was the temple of the iMuses, founded by Ardalus, a son of Hephaestus, where Pittheus himself was said to have learnt the art of discourse; and before the temple was an altar where sacrifices were offered to the Muses and to Sleep, the deity whom the Troezenians considered the most friendly to these goddesses. Near the tla-atre was the tcnijile of Artemis TROEZEN. 1235 Lyceia, founded by Ilippulytus. Before the temple there was the very stone upon which Orestes was purified by nine Troezenians. The so-called tent of Orestes, in which he took refuge before his e-xjii- ation, stood in front of the temple of Apollo The- arius, which was the most ancient temple that Pausanias knew. The water used in the purification of Orestes was drawn from the sacred fountain Ilij)- pocrene, struck by the hoof of Pegasus. In the neighbourhood was a statue of Hermes Polvgius, with a wild olive tree, and a temple of Zeus Sutcr, said to have been erected by Autius, one of the my- thical kings of Troezen. The sacred enclosure of Hippolytus occu])ied a large space, and was a most conspicuous object in the city. The Troezenians denied the truth of the ordinai-y story of his being dragged to death by liis horses, but worshipped him as the constellation Au- riga, and dedicated to him a spacious sanctuary, the foundation of which was ascribed to Diomcde. He was worshipped with the greatest honours; and each virgin, before her marriage, dedicated a lock of lier hair to him. (Eurip. Ilippol. 1424; Pans. ii. 32. § ] .) The sacred enclosure contained, besides the tenijile of Hippolytus, one of Apollo Epibaterius, also dedicated by Diomede. On one side of the enclosure was the stadium of Hippolytus, and above it the temple of Aphrodite Calascopia, so called because Phaedra beheld from this spot Hippolytus as he exercised in the stadium. In the neighbourhood was shown the tomb of Phaedra, the monument of Hippolytus, and the house of the hero, with the fountain called the Herculean in front of it. The Acropolis was crowned with the temple of Athena Polias or Sthenias; and ujwn the slope of the mountain was a sanctuary of Pan Lyterius, so called because ke put a stop to the plague. Lower down was the temple of Isis, built by the Halicar- nassians, and also one of Aphrodite Ascraea. The ruins of Troezen lie west of the village of Dhamald. They consist only of pieces of wall of Hellenic masonry or of Roman brickwork, dispersed over the lower slopes of the height, upon which stood the Acropolis, and over the jilain at its foot. The Acropolis occupied a rugged and lofty hill, com- manding the plain below, and presenting one of the most extensive and striking jirosjiects in Greece. There are in the plain several ruined churches, which probably mark the site of ancient temples; and several travellers have noticed the remains of the temple of Aphrodite Calascopia, overlooking the cavity formerly occupied by the .stadium. The cliicf river of the plain flows by the ruins of 'i'roezen, and is now called Potdmi. It is the ancient Taurius, afterwards called Hyllicus (Paus. ii. 32. § 7), fid by several streams, of which the most inijiortant was the Chrysorrhoas, flowing tlirougii the city, and which still jiresorved its water, when all the other streams had been dried up by a nine year.s' drought (Paus.ii. 31.§ 10) The territory of Troezen was bounded on the V. by that of Epidaurus, on the SV. by that of Ilermione, and was surrounded on every other side by the sea. The most imjiortnnt ))art of the territory was the fertile maritime plain, in which Troezen stood, and which was bounded on the soutli by a ranee of mountains, tenninating in the jiniiiionlorics Scyllacum and I>uce|)bala, the nio.st *-;islerly points of the Pciopoimcsus. [Scyi-LAKIi.m.] Above (he lironiontory Scyllaeum, and nearly due E. of Troe- zen, was a l.Dge bav, prutcdcd by the island of ' 4 K 2