Melitaea or Meliteia ( or Μελίτεια or Μελιτία) 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) of

Phthiotis Phthiotis (, ''Fthiótida'' ; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Φθιῶτις) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece (administrative region), Central Greece. The capital is the city of La ...

ancient Thessaly Thessaly or Thessalia (Attic Greek: , ''Thessalía'' or , ''Thettalía'') was one of the traditional regions of Ancient Greece. During the Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean period, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, a name that continued to be used for one of ...

, situated near the river Enipeus, at the distance of 10 stadia from the town of Hellas, whence the residents of Melitaea had come. The inhabitants of Melitaea affirmed that their town was anciently called Pyrrha, and they showed in the

agora The agora (; , romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Ancient Greece, Greek polis, city-states. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center ...

the tomb of

Hellen In Greek mythology, Hellen (; ) is the eponymous progenitor of the Greeks, Hellenes. He is the son of Deucalion (or Zeus) and Pyrrha, and the father of three sons, Dorus, Xuthus, and Aeolus (son of Hellen), Aeolus, by whom he is the ancestor of t ...

, the son of

Deucalion In Greek mythology, Deucalion (; ) was the son of Prometheus; ancient sources name his mother as Clymene (mythology), Clymene, Hesione (Oceanid), Hesione, or Pronoia (mythology), Pronoia.A Scholia, scholium to ''Odyssey'' 10.2 (=''Catalogue of W ...

and

Pyrrha In Greek mythology, Pyrrha (; ) was the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora and wife of Deucalion of whom she had three sons, Hellen, Amphictyon, Orestheus; and three daughters Protogeneia, Pandora and Thyia. According to some accounts, Hell ...

. 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 ...

its eponymous founder had been Melitaea and there was a legend according to which Aspalis, a beautiful maiden of the place, had been hanged to avoid being possessed by a tyrant of the city which they called Tartarus. Astygites, the brother of Aspalis, killed the tyrant after disguising himself as his sister. It was believed that the body of Aspalis was not found because it was taken by the gods and in its place a statue appeared next to another statue of

Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

that was already in the city. In this new statue, called ''Aspalis Amilete Hekaërge'', the maidens of the city hung a virgin goat every year, just as Aspalis had been hanged as a virgin.

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 ...

relates that during the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

, when Brasidas was marching through Thessaly to

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

, his Thessalian friends met him at Melitaea in order to escort him (424 BCE), learning from this narrative that the town was one day's march from Pharsalus, whither Brasidas proceeded on leaving the former place. In the Lamiac War the allies left their baggage at Melitaea, when they proceeded to attack

Leonnatus Leonnatus (; 356 BC – 322 BC) was a Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Gre ...

. Subsequently Melitaea was in the hands of the Aetolians.

Philip V of Macedon Philip V (; 238–179 BC) was king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon from 221 to 179 BC. Philip's reign was principally marked by the Social War (220–217 BC), Social War in Greece (220-217 BC) ...

attempted to take it (217 BCE), but he did not succeed, in consequence of his scaling-ladders being too short. Melitaea is also mentioned in the ''

Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax The ''Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax'' is an ancient Greek periplus (περίπλους ''períplous'', 'circumnavigation') describing the sea route around the Mediterranean and Black Sea. It probably dates from the mid-4th century BC, specifically t ...

'', and by

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 ...

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder ( ), was a Roman Empire, Roman author, Natural history, naturalist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the Roman emperor, emperor Vesp ...

, and

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

who erroneously calls it Μελίταρα (Melitara). Melitaea's site is near the town of Melitaia (Μελιταία), formerly Avaritsa but renamed to reflect its association with the ancient city, in the municipality of Domokos.

References

Populated places in ancient Thessaly Former populated places in Greece Achaea Phthiotis Thessalian city-states Cities in ancient Greece {{AncientThessaly-geo-stub