Erineus or Erineos (), also known as Erineum or Erineon (Ἐρινεόν) was a town and

polis Polis (: poleis) means 'city' in Ancient Greek. The ancient word ''polis'' had socio-political connotations not possessed by modern usage. For example, Modern Greek πόλη (polē) is located within a (''khôra''), "country", which is a πατ ...

(city-state) in ancient Doris, one of the towns of the

Doric Tetrapolis The Doric Tetrapolis () comprised a set of four closely situated cities in the valley of the Pindus River in the region of Doris in ancient Greece. The four cities were Erineus, Boium, Cytinium, and Pindus. (Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (mean ...

(along with

Pindus The Pindus (also Pindos or Pindhos; ; ; ) is a mountain range located in Northern Greece and Southern Albania. It is roughly long, with a maximum elevation of (Smolikas, Mount Smolikas). Because it runs along the border of Thessaly and Epiru ...

Cytinium Cytinium or Kytinion ( or Κυτείνιον) was an ancient city and polis (city-state) of Greece, one of the towns of the tetrapolis of Doris. Its site is within the bounds of the modern village of . Cytinium was more frequently mentioned in h ...

, and

Boium Boium or Boion () was a town and polis (city-state) of Doris, and one of the original towns of the Doric Tetrapolis (along with Pindus, Cytinium, and Erineus). According to Andron of Halicarnassus, the founders of these cities were coming from a ...

). According to Andron of Halicarnassus, the founders of these cities were coming from an area that was also called Doris, in

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 that was also called

Histiaeotis Histiaeotis () or ''Hestiaeotis'' (Ἑστιαιῶτις - Hestiaiotis) was a northwest district of ancient Thessaly, part of the Thessalian tetrarchy, roughly corresponding to the modern Trikala regional unit. Anciently, it was inhabited ...

. It is described by

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

as lying below the town of Pindus; it probably stood upon the river of the latter name. Recounting the ships in the

Battle of Salamis The Battle of Salamis ( ) was a naval battle fought in 480 BC, between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles, and the Achaemenid Empire under King Xerxes. It resulted in a victory for the outnumbered Greeks. The battle was fou ...

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 ...

notes the contingents of the Peloponnese, saying that the Dorians and Macedonians were originally from Pindus, Erineus, and Dryopis.

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

writes that during

First Peloponnesian War The First Peloponnesian War (460–445 BC) was fought between Sparta as the leaders of the Peloponnesian League and Sparta's other allies, most notably Thebes, and the Delian League led by Athens with support from Argos. This war consisted o ...

, about the year 458 or 457 BCE, the Phocians attacked the cities of Boium, Erineus and Cytinium in Doris. The Lacedemonians came to their defense, with troops commanded by

Nicomedes of Sparta Nicomedes () was a Spartan military commander and a scion of the royal Agiad dynasty. He was a regent of Sparta during the minority of Pleistoanax, the son of his brother Pausanias. Biography Nicomedes was the son of Cleombrotus (died 479 B ...

and forced the Phocians to retreat. According to

Tyrtaeus Tyrtaeus (; ''Tyrtaios''; fl. mid-7th century BC) was a Greek elegiac poet from Sparta whose works were speculated to fill five books. His works survive from quotations and papyri, and include 250 lines or parts of lines. He wrote at a time of t ...

, Erineus is the town from which the

Spartans Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern P ...

originally came. Its location within what is now the town of Kastellia (Καστέλλια), Greece.

References

Sources

*{{SmithDGRG, title=Erineus
STOA
Cities in ancient Greece Populated places in ancient Doris Former populated places in Greece Ancient Greek cities Dorian city-states