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The Aleuadae () were an ancient
Thessalian
Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia (, ), and appea ...
family of
Larissa
Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...
, who claimed descent from the mythical Aleuas (Ἀλεύας).
The Aleuadae were the noblest and most powerful among all the families of Thessaly, whence
Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
calls its members "rulers" or "kings" ().
[Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...]
, vii. 6">
Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...
, vii. 6
Aleuas
The first Aleuas, who bore the epithet of ''Pyrrhos'' (), that is, "red-haired", is called king, or ''Tagus'', of
Thessaly
Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...
, and a
descendant of Heracles through
Thessalus
In Greek mythology, the name Thessalus is attributed to the following individuals, all of whom were considered possible eponyms of Thessaly.
*Thessalus, son of Haemon (mythology), Haemon,Strabo, 9.5.23 son of Chlorus, son of Pelasgus.
*Thessalus, ...
.
Ulpian
Ulpian (; ; 223 or 228) was a Roman jurist born in Tyre in Roman Syria (modern Lebanon). He moved to Rome and rose to become considered one of the great legal authorities of his time. He was one of the five jurists upon whom decisions were to ...
, ''ad Dem. Olynth.'' i Aleuas played no role his eponymous dynasty outside his kinship's veneration of him at an unidentified sanctuary in Thessaly, but
Aelian recorded the myth of how he became a divinely-inspired seer, in the fashion of a gift from a
serpent: while he was tending sheep on the slopes of
Mount Ossa, a serpent became enamored of him, kissed his hair, licked his face and brought him gifts. According to the ''
Bibliotheca'', a grateful brood of serpents, in return for his having erected a
funeral pyre for their serpent-mother, purified his ears with their tongues, so that he might understand the language of birds, and interpret their flight in
augury
Augury was a Greco- Roman religious practice of observing the behavior of birds, to receive omens. When the individual, known as the augur, read these signs, it was referred to as "taking the auspices". "Auspices" () means "looking at birds". ...
.
Plutarch
Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...
wrote that he was hated by his father on account of his haughty and savage character; but his uncle nevertheless contrived to get him elected king and sanctified by the god of
Delphi
Delphi (; ), in legend previously called Pytho (Πυθώ), was an ancient sacred precinct and the seat of Pythia, the major oracle who was consulted about important decisions throughout the ancient Classical antiquity, classical world. The A ...
. His reign was more glorious than that of any of his ancestors, and the nation rose in power and importance. This Aleuas belongs to the mythical period of Greek history. According to
Aristotle
Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
the division of Thessaly into four parts took place in the reign of the first Aleuas. German philologist
Philipp Karl Buttmann places this hero in the period between the so-called return of the
Heraclids
The Heracleidae (; ) or Heraclids were the numerous descendants of Heracles, especially applied in a narrower sense to the descendants of Hyllus, the eldest of his four sons by Deianira (Hyllus was also sometimes thought of as Heracles' son ...
and the age of
Peisistratus
Pisistratus (also spelled Peisistratus or Peisistratos; ; – 527 BC) was a politician in ancient Athens, ruling as tyrant in the late 560s, the early 550s and from 546 BC until his death. His unification of Attica, the triangular ...
.
Historical Aleuadae
But even earlier than the time of Peisistratus the family of the Aleuadae appears to have become divided into two branches, the Aleuadae and the Scopadae, called after Scopas (though ''not'' the sculptor
Scopas). The Scopadae inhabited
Crannon and perhaps
Pharsalus also, while the main branch, the Aleuadae, remained at
Larissa
Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...
. The influence of the families, however, was not confined to these towns, but extended more or less over the greater part of Thessaly. They formed in reality a powerful aristocratic party () in opposition to the great body of the Thessalians. For many generations the Aleuadae enjoyed the privilege of furnishing the ''Tagus'', or chief commander, of the combined forces of Thessaly.
The earliest historical person who probably belongs to the Aleuadae is the general
Eurylochus, who terminated the
First Sacred War about 590 BC. In the time of the poet
Simonides
Simonides of Ceos (; ; c. 556 – 468 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, born in Ioulis on Kea (island), Ceos. The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria included him in the canonical list of the nine lyric poets esteemed by them as worthy of criti ...
we find a second Aleuas, who was a friend of the poet. He is called a son of Simus; but besides the suggestion of
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso (; 20 March 43 BC – AD 17/18), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a younger contemporary of Virgil and Horace, with whom he i ...
that he had a tragic end, nothing is known about him. At the time when
Xerxes invaded Greece, three sons of this Aleuas,
Thorax
The thorax (: thoraces or thoraxes) or chest is a part of the anatomy of mammals and other tetrapod animals located between the neck and the abdomen.
In insects, crustaceans, and the extinct trilobites, the thorax is one of the three main di ...
, Eurypylus, and Thrasydaeus, came to him as ambassadors, to request him to go on with the war, and to promise him their assistance.
[Herodotus
Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...]
, vii. 6"/> When, after the