Helisson () was a town in

ancient Arcadia Arcadia (; ) is a region in the central Peloponnese, Greece. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas, and in Greek mythology it was the home of the gods Hermes and Pan (god), Pan. In European Renaissance arts, Arcadia (utopia), Ar ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. It was situated in the district Maenalia, situated on

Mount Maenalus Mainalo (, ; ) is the tallest mountain in the Menalon highlands of the Peloponnese, and is located in Arcadia. The mountain's highest point, known as both ''Profitis Ilias'' and ''Ostrakina'', at a height of , is the highest point in Arcadia. ...

near the territory of Mantineia, near the source of the river ''Helisson'' (present Elissonas), a tributary of the Alpheius. According to

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

, the town was founded by Helisson, a son of Lycaon. The town was taken by the Lacedaemonians in one of their wars with the Arcadians, 352 BCE; but most of its inhabitants had been previously removed to

Megalopolis A megalopolis () or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enough ...

upon the foundation of the latter city in 371 BCE. There was a temple of

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

with a statue of the god. Pausanias (who visited in the 2nd century CE) found the head of the statue still remaining. The Elisphasii mentioned by

Polybius Polybius (; , ; ) was a Greek historian of the middle Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , a universal history documenting the rise of Rome in the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries BC. It covered the period of 264–146 ...

are conjectured by some writers to be a corrupt form of Helissontii. Its site is tentatively located south the modern Piana.

References

Populated places in ancient Arcadia Former populated places in Greece {{AncientArcadia-geo-stub