Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/366

 S50 JIKTHONE. to Isis. This, accordingly, was the site of the tem- ple of Isis, mentioned by Pausanias, who also speaks of statues of Hermes and Hercules, in the Atjora. (Leake, Morea vol. ii. p. 453, seq., Peloponnesiaca, p. 278 ; Boblaye, Recherches, ij-c. p. 59; Curtius, Peloponncsos. vol. ii. p. 438, seq.) METHO'NE (MeecirT?, Sleph. B.), a town of Pieria in Macedonia, on the Thermaic gulf, mentioned in the Feriplus of Scylax (p. 26), and therefore one of the Greek colonies established in early times on this coast. According to Plutarch (Quaest. Graec. p. 293), a party of Eretrians settled there, who were ciiUed by the natives aTroffcpevOovriroi, and who appear to have come there nearly at the same time as the occupation of Corcyra by the Corinthians B. c. 730—720. The town was occupied by the Athenians with a view of annoying Perdiccas, by ravaging his ter- ritory, and artbrding a refuge to his discontented .subjects. (Thuc. vi. 7.) It appears to have been in 354 — 353 B. c. that Philip attacked Methone, the last remaining possession of Athens on the Mace- donian coast. The position was a convenient station for Athenian privateers to intercept trading vessels, not merely to and from Macedonian ports, but also from Olynthus and Potidaea. The siege was vigo- rously pressed by Philip ; and the ]Iethonaeans, who gallantly held out until all their means were ex- hausted, were at length compelled to surrender. The inhabitants were allowed to depart with one garment ; but the walls were razed to the ground, and the land apportioned among Macedonian co- lonists. Philip lost the sight of one eye in this siege. (Diod. xvi, 31— 34; Dem. Ohjnth. i. p. 12, Philip. i. p. 41, iii. p. 117; Plut. Pur. 8 ; Luc. de Scrib. Hist. 38 ; Strab. vii. p. 330 ; Justin, vii. 6.) Mr. Grote {Tlist. of Greece, vol. xi. pp. 363, foil, comp. p. 488) is of opinion that this happened afterwards (li.c. 348), at another place called Methone, situated in the Chalcidic peninsula, near Olynthus and Apol- lonia. The epitomiser of Strabo (vii. p. 330) places Methone at a distance of 40 stadia from Pydna. This statement does not agree v«th the position assigned by Leake {North. Greece, vol. iii. p. 435) to Methone at EleJ'thero-khori, 2 miles from the sea ; but the Epitome is not much to be depended on in this passage. [E. B. J.] METHO'NE. 1. (Medwuv, Strab.; Moewi'ri,Vnus., Scylax, p. 17 : Eth. Modcovcuos, Pans, iv. 18. § 1, and Coins; MiOoivaieiis, Steph. B. s. ». : Mothoni, Mo- don), an ancient town in the SW. corner of Jlessenia, iias always been an important place, both in ancient and in modern times, on account of its excellent liarbour and salubrious situation. It is situated at the extreme point of a rocky ridge, which runs into the sea, opposite the island Sapienza, one of the group called in ancient times Oenussae. " Off the outer end of the town, is the little insulated rock which Pausanias (iv. 35. § 1) calls Muthon, and which he describes as forming at once a narrow entrance and a shelter to the liarbour of his time : it is now occupied by a tower and lantern, which is connected by a bridge with the fortification of Mothoni. A mole branches from it, which runs parallel to the eastern wall of the town, and forms a harbour for small vessels. It seems to be exactly in tiie position of the ancient port, the entrance into which was probably where the bridge now stands." (Leake.) According to the unanimous testimony of Ibe ancient writers (Strab. viii. p. 359; Pans. iv. 35. § 1), Methone was the Homeric Pedaaus, one METHONE. of the seven cities which Agamemnon offered to Achilles. (Horn. II. ix. 294.) Homer gives to Pedasus the epithet duTreAoeiro-a, and Methone seems to have been celebrated in antiquity for the cultivation of the vine. The eponymous heroine Me- thone, is called the daughter of Oeneus, the " wine- man" (Paus. I. c); and the same name occurs in the islands Oenussae, lying opposite the city. The name of Methone first occurs in the Messenian wars. Methone and Pylus were the only two places which the Messenians continued to hold in the second war, after they had retired to the mountain fortress of Ira. (Paus. iv. 18. § 1, iv. 23. § 1.) At the end of the Second Messenian War, the Lacedaemonians gave Jlethone to the inhabitants of Nauplia, who had lately been expelled from their own city bv the Argives. (Paus. iv. 24. § 4, iv. 35. § 2.) The de- scendants of the Nauplians continued to inhabit Methone, and were allowed to remain there even ' after the restoration of the Messenian state by Epaminondas. (Paus. iv. 27. § 8.) In the first year of the Peloponnesian War, B.C. 431, the Athe- nians attempted to obtain possession of Methone, but were repulsed by Brasidas. (Thuc. ii. 25.) IMethone suffered greatly from an attack of some Illyrian privateers, who, under the pretext of purchasing wine, entered into intercourse with the inhabitants and carried off a great number of them. (Paus. iv. 35. §§ 6, 7.) Shortly before the battle of Aetium, Methone, which had been strongly fortified by Antony, was besieged and taken by Agrippa, who found there Bogud, king of Mauretania, whom he put to death. (Dion Cass. 1. 11; Strab. viii. p. 359 ; Oros. vi. 19.) Methone was favoured by Trajan, who made it a free city. (Paus. iv. 35. § 3.) It is also mentioned by Mela (ii. 3), Pliny (iv. 5. s. 7), Ptolemy (iii. 15. § 7), and Hierocles (p. 647). Pausanias found at Methone a temple of Athena Anemotis, the " storm-stiller," and one of Artemis. He also mentions a well of bituminous water, similar both in smell and colour to the ointment of Cyzicus, but of which no trace is now found. In 1124 Modon was conquered by Venice, but did not become a permanent possession of the republic till 1204. In the middle of the old Venetian piazza there still stands the shaft of an ancient granite column, about 3 feet in diameter and 12 feet high, with a bar- barous base and capital, which appear to have been added by the Venetians, when they fixed upon the top of it, in 1493, a figure of the Lion of St. Mark. Five years afterwards it was taken by the Turks, and remained in their hands till it was recaptured by Morosini. In 1715 the Turks again took pos- session of it, and retained it till the last Greek re- volution, when it was wrested from them by the French in 1828. Like other places in Greece, which have been continuously inhabited, Modon contains few ancient remains. Some Hellenic foun- dations may be traced in the city-walls, and ancient sepulchres may be seen above the subm'b. (Leake, Morea, vol. i. p. 429. seq.; Boblaye, Recherches, (fc. p. 113; CurtiiLS, Peloponnesos, vol. ii. p. 169, seq.) 2. A town of Thessaly, mentioned by Homer {II. ii. 716) as belonging to Philoctetes. Later writers describe it as a town of JIagnesia, but we have no further particulars respecting it. (Scylax, p. 25 ; Strab. ix. p. 436 ; Plin. iv. 9. s. 16; Solin. c. 14; Steph. B. s. ».) 3. Jlore properly called Methana, a town and pen- insula of Troezenia. [Methana.]