Asine ( grc, Ἀσίνη) was a town of

ancient Laconia Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word '' laconic''—to speak in a blunt, co ...

. According to Strabo, it was situated between Amathus (a false reading for Psamathus) and Gythium. It was often under

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

n control. Polybius relates that Philip V of Macedon, in his invasion of Laconia, suffered a repulse before Asine (218 BCE), which appears from his narrative to have been near Gythium.

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

, in describing the same event as Polybius, says that Philip was repulsed before "Las", which originally stood on the summit of "Mount Asia". There can therefore be no doubt that the "Las" of Pausanias and the "Asine" of Polybius are the same place; and the resemblance between the names "Asia" and "Asine" probably led Polybius into the error of calling Las by the latter name; an error which was the more likely to arise, because

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

and

Thucydides Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scienti ...

speak of the Messenian Asine as a town in Laconia, since Messenia formed a part of Laconia at the time when they wrote. The error of Polybius was perpetuated by Strabo and Stephanus of Byzantium. During the Roman period Asine belonged to Sparta although most of the other towns in the area were part of the Union of Free Laconians. The site was resettled in 1451 as Skoutari. Its site is located near the modern Skoutari.

References

Populated places in ancient Laconia Former populated places in Greece Cities in ancient Peloponnese {{AncientLaconia-geo-stub

See also

References