Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/143

 LARISSA. § 1 ), or of riasiis, a Pelasgiuii prince. (Strab. xlv. 1..G21.) 1. An important town of Thessaly, the capital of the district Pelasgiotis, was situated in a fertile plain npon a gently rising ground, on the right or south bank of the Peneius. It had a strongly forti- fied citadel. (Diod. xv. 61.) Laris3a is not men- tioned by Hoiner. Some commentators, however, suppose it to be the same as the Pelasgic Argos of llunier (//. ii. 681), but the latter was the name of a di.strict rather than of a town. Others, with more probability, identify it with the Argissa of the poet. {11. ii. 738.) [See Vol. I. p. 209.] Its foundation was ascribed to Acrisius. (Steph. B. s. f.) The plain of Larissa was formerly inhabited by the Perrhaebi, who were partly expelled by the Larissaeans, and jiartly reduced to subjection. They continued sub- ject to Larissa, till Philip made himself master of Thessaly. (Strab. is. p. 440.) The constitution of Larissa was democratical (Aristot. Pol. v. 6), and this was probably one reason why the Larissaeans were allies of the Athenians during tlie Pclopon- ncfian War. (Thuc. ii. 22.) During the Poman wars in Greece, Larissa is frequently mentioned as a place of importance. It was here that Philip, the son of Demetrius, kept all his royal papers during liis campaign against Flaminiims in Greece; but after the battle of Cynoscephalae, in B. c. 197, he was obliged to abandon Larissa to the Romans, having previously destroyed these documents. (Polyb. xviii. 1 6.) It was still in the hands of the Eomans when Anliochus crossed over into Greece, B.C. 191, and this king made an ineffectual attempt upon the town. (Liv. xxxvi. 10.) In the time of Strabo Larissa continued to be a flourishing town (ix. p. 430). It is mentioned by Hierocles in the sixth century as the first town in Thessaly (p. 642, ed. Wessel.). It is still a considerable place, the residence of an arch- bishop and a pasha, and containing 30,000 inhabit- ants. It continues to bear its ancient name, though the Turks call it Yeniskehcr, which is its official appellation. Its circumference is less than three miles. Like other towns in Greece, which have been continually inhabited, it presents few remains of Hel- lenic times. They are chiefly found in the Turkish cemeteries, consisting of plain quadrangular stones, fragments of columns, mostly fluted, and a great number of ancient cippi and sepulchral stelae, which now serve for Turkish tombstones. (Leake, North- ern Ch-eece, vol. 1. p. 439, seq.) LAPJSSA. 127 COIN OF LARISSA. 2. Lakissa Ckejiaste (?; Kpe^acrTTj Aaptcra-a), a town of Thessaly of less importance than the pre- ceding one, was situated in the district of Phthiotis, at the distance of 20 stadia from the Maliac gulf, npon a height advancing in front of Jlount Othrys. (Strab. ix. p. 435.) It occupied the side of the hill, and was hence surnamed Cremaste, as hanging on the bide of Mt. Othrys, to distinguish it from the more celebrated Larissa, situated in a plain. Strabo also describes it as well watered and producing vines (ix. p. 440). The same writer adds that it was sur- named Pelasgia as well as Cremaste (/. c). From its being situated in the dominions of Achilles, sonse writers suppose that the Eoman poets give this hero the surname of Larissaeus, but this epithet is per- haps used generally for Thessalian. Larissa Cre- maste was occupied by Demetrius Poliorcetes in b. c. 302, when he was at war with Cassander. (Diod. xx. 110.) It was taken by Apustius in the first war between the Romans and Philip, b c. 200 (Liv. xxxi. 4C), and again fell into the hands of the Eo- mans in the war with Perseus, B. c. 171. (Liv. xlii. 56, 57.) The ruins of the ancient city are situated upon a steep hill, in the valley of Gardhiki, at a di- rect distance of five or six miles from Khamalco. The walls are very conspicuous on the western side of the hill, where several courses of masoni^ remain. Gell says that there are the fragments of a Doric temple upon the acropolis, but of these Leake makes no mention. (Gell, Itinerarij of Greece, p. 252; Dodwell, Travels, vol. ii. p. 81; Leake, Northern Greece, voh iv. p. 347.) 3. The citadel of Argos- [Vol. I. p. 202.] LAKISSA (Aapiccro). 1. A to^^Tl in the territory of Ephesus, on the north bank of the Caystrus, which there flows through a most fertile district, producing an excellent kind of wine. It was situated at a distance of 180 stadia from Ephesus, and 30 from Tralles. (Strab. ix. p. 440, xiii. p. 620.) In Strabo's time it had sunk to the rank of a villace, but it was said once to have been a xtiAij, with a temple of Apollo. Cramer {As. Min. i. p. 558) conjectures that its site may correspond to the modem Tirieh. 2. A place on the coast of Troas, about 70 stadia south of Alexandria Troas, and north of Hamaxitus. It was supposed that this Larissa was the one men- tioned by Hoiner (//. ii. 841), but Strabo (xiii. p. 620) controverts this opinion, because it is not far enough from Troy. (Comp. Steph. B. s. r.) The town is mentioned as still existing by Thu cydides (viii. 101) and Xenophon {Hellen. iii 1. § 13 ; comp. Scylax, p. 36 ; Strab. ix. p. 440, xiii. p. 604). Athenaeus (ii. p. 43) mentions some hot Ejirings near Larissa in Troas, which are still known to exist a little above the site of Alexandria Troas. ( Voyage Pittoresque, vol. ii. p. 438.) 3. Larissa, surnamed Phriconis, a Pelasgiar town in Aeolis, but subsequently taken possession of by the Aeolians, who constituted it one of the towns of their confederacy. It was situated near the coast, about 70 stadia to the south-east of Cyme (J) vepi rrjv Kvfj.7iv, Str.ab. xiii. p. 621 ; Herod, i. 149). Strabo, apparently for good reasons, considers this to be the Larissa mentioned in the Iliad (ii. 840). Xenophon {ITellen. iii. 1. § 7, comp. Cyrop. vii. 1. § 45) distinguishes this town from others of the same name by the epithet of " the Egyptian," because the elder Cyrus had esta- blished there a colony of Egyptian soldiers. From the same historian we must infer that Larissa was a place of considerable strength, as it was besieged in vain by Thimbrom ; but in Strabo's time the place was' deserted. (Comp. Plin. v. 32 ; Veil. Pat. i. 4 ; Vit. Horn. c. 1 1 ; Steph. B. s. v. ; Ptol. v. 2. § 5.) [L. S] LAPISSA (Adpiffaa, Xen. Anab. iii. 4. § 7), a town of Assyria, at no great distance from the left bank of the Tigris, observed by Xenophon on the