Dium or Dion ( or Δίων or Δίον) was a town in the northwest of

ancient Euboea Euboea ( ; , ), also known by its modern spelling Evia ( ; , ), is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by ...

near the promontory

Cenaeum Mount Lichada and Cape Lichada () is a mountain and cape forming the northwest tip of the island of Euboea, Greece. Their ancient name was Κήναιον ''Kenaion'', Latinized as Cenaeum. There is a village called Lichada on the slopes of Mount Li ...

, from which

Canae Canae (; ) was, in classical antiquity, a city in ancient Aeolis, on the island of Argennusa in the Aegean Sea off the modern Dikili Peninsula on the coast of modern-day Turkey, near the modern village of Bademli. Today Argennusa has joined ...

Aeolis Aeolis (; ), or Aeolia (; ), was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islands (particularly Lesbos), where the Aeolian Greek city-states w ...

is said to have been a

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

. Dium is mentioned by

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

, as under the leadership of

Elephenor In Greek mythology, Elephenor ( ''Elephḗnōr'', ''-oros'') was the king of the Abantes of Euboea. Family Elephenor was the son of Chalcodon by either Imenarete, Melanippe or Alcyone.Apollodorus, E.3.11; Tzetzes, ''Allegories of the Iliad ...

, in the

Catalogue of Ships The Catalogue of Ships (, ''neōn katálogos'') is an epic catalogue in Book 2 of Homer's ''Iliad'' (2.494–759), which lists the contingents of the Achaean army that sailed to Troy. The catalogue gives the names of the leaders of each conting ...

in the ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

''. Dium is tentatively identified with the site of Likhas Kastri.

References

Populated places in ancient Euboea Former populated places in Greece Places in the Iliad {{ancientEuboea-geo-stub