Acroreia or Akroreia () was a mountainous district of
ancient Elis
Elis () or Eleia (; ; Elean: ; ) is an ancient district in Greece that corresponds to the modern regional unit of Elis.
Elis is in southern Greece on the Peloponnese, bounded on the north by Achaea, east by Arcadia, south by Messen ...
on the borders of
Arcadia, in which the rivers
Peneius and
Ladon take their rise. The inhabitants of the district were called Acrocreii (Ἀκρωρεῖοι), and their towns appear to have been
Thraustus,
Alium,
Opus
Opus (: opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera ...
, and
Eupagium, to which
Lasion may be added. The name is used in opposition to Κοίλη or Hollow Elis.
Diodorus Siculus
Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...
writes that the Spartans, under command of
Pausanias of Sparta
Pausanias () was the Agiad King of Sparta; the son of Pleistoanax. He ruled Sparta from 445 BC to 427 BC and again from 409 BC to 395 BC. He was the leader of the faction in Sparta that opposed the imperialist policy conducted by Lysander.
Pa ...
, marched against Elis with 4,000 men in 402 BCE, and that the towns of Opus, Alium, Eupagium, Thraustus, and Lasion were subdued.
Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...
mentions an
Arcadian raid into Elis and took several towns of Acroreia around 365 BCE.
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 ...
,
who is followed by many modern writers, makes Acrocreii a town, and places it in
Triphylia
Triphylia (, ''Trifylia'', "the country of the three tribes") was an area of the ancient Peloponnese. Strabo and Pausanias both describe Triphylia as part of Elis, and it fell at times under the domination of the city of Elis, but Pausanias ...
; but this error appears to have arisen from confounding the Acrocreii with the
Paroreatae in Triphylia.
References
Historical regions in Greece
Populated places in ancient Elis
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