Pistyrus or Pistyros (), or Pistirus or Pistiros (Πίστιρος), or Bistirus or Bistiros (Βίστιρος), also known as Pisteira (Πίστειρα),

Harpocration __NOTOC__ Valerius Harpocration ( or , ''gen''. Ἁρποκρατίωνος) was a Greek grammarian of Alexandria, probably working in the 2nd century AD. He is possibly the Harpocration mentioned by Julius Capitolinus (''Life of Verus'', 2) as ...

, p. 124. 11; Schol. ad Aesch. Pers. 2. was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

polis on the coast of Edonis, in

ancient Thrace The Thracians (; ; ) were an Indo-European languages, Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Southeast Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied the area that today is shared betwee ...

. It was founded as 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 ...

Thasos Thasos or Thassos (, ''Thásos'') is a Greek island in the North Aegean Sea. It is the northernmost major Greek island, and 12th largest by area. The island has an area of 380 km2 and a population of about 13,000. It forms a separate regiona ...

and itself may have founded

Pistiros Pistiros (, Ancient Greek, ''Πίστιρος'') was an inland Ancient Greek emporion, or trade center, in Ancient Thrace. It is located near the modern city of Vetren, in the westernmost part of the Maritsa River valley. The identification of ...

in inland Thrace.; "The emporion of Pistiros was an inland trading station originally founded by merchants coming from the polis of Pistiros a dependency of Thasos situated on the Thracian coast." The army of

Xerxes I Xerxes I ( – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was a List of monarchs of Persia, Persian ruler who served as the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 486 BC until his assassination in 465 BC. He was ...

passed by Pistyrus after crossing the Nestus River. The name Pistyrus was also applied to the adjoining lake (now called Vasova), which was described by

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 ...

as 30 stadia in circumference, full of fish, and exceedingly salty. Pistyrus has been identified with the remains of a fortified settlement east of Pontolivado located near the Vasova salt lake. The fortifications are of the regular "Thasian" type. Among the finds are coins from Neapolis and Thasos, dated to 520–510 BCE.

References

Populated places in ancient Thrace Former populated places in Greece Thasian colonies Greek colonies in Thrace {{AncientThrace-geo-stub