Alorus or Aloros () was a town of

ancient Macedonia Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

in the district

Bottiaea Bottiaea (Greek: ''Bottiaia'') was a geographical region of ancient Macedonia and an administrative district of the Macedonian Kingdom. It was previously inhabited by the Bottiaeans, a people of uncertain origin, later expelled by the Macedon ...

, placed by

Stephanus of Byzantium Stephanus or Stephen of Byzantium (; , ''Stéphanos Byzántios''; centuryAD) was a Byzantine grammarian and the author of an important geographical dictionary entitled ''Ethnica'' (). Only meagre fragments of the dictionary survive, but the epit ...

in the innermost recess of the

Thermaic Gulf The Thermaic Gulf (, ), also called the Gulf of Thessaloniki and the Macedonian Gulf, is a Gulf (geography), gulf constituting the northwest corner of the Aegean Sea. The city of Thessaloniki is at its northeastern tip, and it is bounded by Pie ...

. According to the ''

Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax The ''Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax'' is an ancient Greek periplus (περίπλους ''períplous'', 'circumnavigation') describing the sea route around the Mediterranean and Black Sea. It probably dates from the mid-4th century BC, specifically t ...

'' it was situated between the

Haliacmon The Haliacmon (, ''Aliákmonas''; formerly: , ''Aliákmon'' or ''Haliákmōn'') is the longest river flowing entirely in Greece, with a total length of . In Greece there are three rivers longer than Haliacmon: Maritsa (), Struma (Strymónas), bot ...

and Lydias. The town is chiefly known on account of its being the birthplace of

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

, who usurped the Macedonian throne after the murder of

Alexander II of Macedon Alexander II (; 368 BC) was king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon from around 370 BC until his death in 368 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty through his father Amyntas III. Family He was the eldest of the three sons of king Amy ...

, son of Amyntas, and who is usually called Ptolemaeus Alorites. It was also the birthplace of

Pantauchus Pantauchus () (late 4th century BC – 3rd century BC), (son of Nicolaus, from Aloros) was a Ancient Macedonians, Macedonian trierarch of Nearchus's fleet and general during the short reign of Demetrius I of Macedon, Demetrius Poliorcetes (294 - 28 ...

, the general of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

. It is located near the modern Kypseli.

References

William Hazlitt William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary criticism, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history ...

, '' The Classical Gazetteer'', 1851, p. 27. Populated places in ancient Macedonia Former populated places in Greece Bottiaea Imathia {{AncientMacedonia-geo-stub