Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/656

 640 PLATAEA. vantage of it to restore the Plataeans to tlicir native city. (Paus. is. 1. § 4; Isocrat. Plntaic.^ 13, seq.) But the Plataeans did not Ions; retain possession of their city, for in b. c. 372 it was surprised by the Thebans and again destroyed. The Plataeans were compelled once more to seek refuge at Athens. (Paus. is. 1. §§ 5 — 8; Diodor. xv. 46.) The wrongs done to the Plataeans by Thebes are set forth in a speech of Isocrates, entitled Plataicus, which was perhaps actually delivered at this time by a Plataean speaker before the public assembly at Athens. (Grote's Greece, vol. x. p. 220.) After the battle of Chaeroneia (b. c. 338) the Plataeans were once more restored to their city by Philip. (Paus. ix. 1. § 8, iv. 27. § 11.) It was shortly after this time that Plataea vas visited by Dicaearchus, who calls the Plataeans 'Adrjvaioi. Boiwroi, and remarks that they have nothing to s.ay for themselves, except that they are colonists of the Athenians, and that the battle between the Greeks and the Persians took place near their town. {^Descript. Graec. p. 14, Hudson.) After its restoration by Philip, the city continued to be inhabited till the latest times. It was visited by Pausanias, who mentions three temples, one of Hera, another of Athena Areia, and a third of De- meter Eleusinia. Pausanias speaks of only one tem- ple of Hera, which lie describes as situated within the city, and worthy of admiration on account of its magnitude and of the offerings with which it was adorned (ix. 2. § 7). This was apparently the temple built by the Thebans after the destruction of Plataea. (Thuc. iii. 68.) It is probable that the old temple of Hera mentioned by Herodotus, and which he de- scribes as outside the city (ix. .52), was no longer repaired after the erection of the new one, and had disappeared before the visit of Pausanias. The temple of Athena Areia was built according to Pau- sanias (ix. 4. § 1) out of a share of the spoils of Marathon, but according to Plutarch (^Arist. 20) with the 80 talents out of the spf>ils of Plataea, as mentioned above. The temple was adorned with pictures by Polygnotus and Onatas, and with a statue of the goddess by Pheidias. Of the temple of De- meter Eleusinia we have no details, but it was pro- bably erected in consequence of the battle having been fought near a temple of Demeter Eleusinia at Argiopius. (Herod, ix. 57.) The temple of Zeus Eleutherius (Strab. ix. p. 412) seems to have been reduced in the time of Pausanias to an altar and a statue. It was situated outside the city. (Paus. ix. 2. §§ 5-7.) Plataea is mentioned in the sixth century by Hierocles (p. 645, Wesseling) among the cities of Boeotia ; and its walls were restored by Justinian. (Procop. de Aedif. iv. 2.) The ruins of Plataea are situated near the small village of KolMa. The circuit of the walls may still be traced in great part. They are about two miles and a half in circumference; but this was the size of the city restored by Philip, for not only is the earlier city, before its destruction by the The- bans, described by Thucydides (ii. 77) as small, but we find at the southern extremity of the existing remains more ancient masonry than in any other part of the ruins. Hence Leake supposes that the ancient city was confined to this part. He observes that " the masonry in general, both of the Acropolis and of the town, has the appearance of not being so old as the time of the battle. The greater part is of the fourth order, but mixed with portions of a PL AT A>^ US. less regular kind, and with some pieces of polygonal masonry. The Acropolis, if an interior inclosure can be so called, which is not on the highest part of tlie site, is constructed in part of stones which have evidently been taken from earlier buildings. The towers of this citadel are so formed as to present flanks to the inner as well as to the outer face of the intermediate walls, whereas the town walls have towers, like those of the Turks, open to the interinr. Above the southern wall of the city are foundations of a third inclosure; which is evidently more ancient; than the rest, and is probably the only part as old as the Persian War, when it may have been the Acropolis of the Plataea of that age. It surrounds a rocky height, and terminates to the S. in an acute angle, which is only separated by a level of a few yards from the foot of the great rocky slojje of Cithae- ron. This inclosure is in a situation higher than any other part of the ancient site, and higher than the village of Kokhla, from which it is 500 yards distant to the E. Its walls are traceable on the eastern side along a torrent, a branch of the Oeroe, nearly as far as the south-eastern angle of the main inclosure of the city. In a church within this upper inclosure are some fragments of an inscribed marble. ' (^Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 325 ) (Compare Friederich, Specimen Rei~um Plataic. Berol. 1841 ; MUnscher, Diss, de Rebus Plataeens. 1841.) COIN OF PLATAEA. PLATAMO'DES. [Messenia, p. 341, b.] PLATAKISTAS. [Spakta.] PLATANISTON (XlXaTavicrdiv). 1. A foun- tain in Messenia, near Corone. (Paus. iv. 34. § 4.) [CORONE.] 2. A river of Arcadia, aud a tributary of the Neda, flowing westward of Lycosura, which it was necessary to cross in going to Phigalia. (Paus. viii. 39. § 1 ; Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 10.) PLATANISTUS (nkaTWiarovs). 1. The north- ern promontory of Cythera. (Paus. iii. 23. § 1.) 2. Another name of Macistus or Macistum, a town of Triphylia in Elis. [MAcisxas.] PLATA'NIUS (nA.aTo;'(os), a river of Boeotia, flowing by Corseia into the sea. [Cor.sklv.] PLA'TANUS (JlKaravovs), according to the Stadiasmus (§§ 178, 179), a coast-town of Cilicia Aspera, 350 stadia west of Anemurium. This distance is incorrect. Beaufort remarks that " bo- tween the plain of Selinti and the promontory of Anamur, a distance of 30 miles, the ridge of bare rocky hills forming the coast is interrupted but twice by narrow valleys, which conduct the mountain tor- rents to the sea. The first of these is Kharadra ; the other is halfway between that place and Ana- mur." The latter, therefore, seems the site of Pla- tanus, that is, about 150 stadia from Anemurium. The whole of that rocky district, which was very dangerous to navigators, seems to have derived the name of Platanistus (Strab. xiv. p. 669) from Pla- tanus. (Leake, Asia Minor, p. 200). [L. S.] PLA'TANUS (UKlravos, Polyb. v. 68 ; Steph.B. s. V. XWaravr]; Joseph. Ant. xvi. 11. § 1 : Eth. nAarafeus), a town of Phoenicia, described by Jo- sephus (/. c.) as a village of the Sidonians, and situated upon a pass between Mount Lebanon and