  Phigalia Shown within Greece | |
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Phigalia orPhigaleia orPhigalea (Ancient Greek:Φιγαλεία or Φιγαλέα[1] or Φιγάλεια[2] or Φιγαλία[3]), also known asPhialia (Φιαλία[3] or Φιάλεια[1]), was an ancient Greek city in the south-west corner ofancient Arcadia, in the region of ancientParrhasia[4] close to the frontiers ofMessenia, and upon the right bank of theNeda, about halfway between the sources and the mouth of this river. It is also the present name of anearby modern village, known up to the early 20th century asPavlitsa (Παύλιτσα). In modern geography it is located in southeasternElis. It is situated on an elevated rocky site, among some of the highest mountains in thePeloponnese, the most conspicuous being calledCotylium andElaeum; the identification of the latter is uncertain.
Within the ancient territory of Phigalia stands the Temple of Apollo Epicurius atBassae, which the Phigalians built on the mountain known as Cotylium in the late fifth century BC.
The name Phigalia was more ancient than that of Phialia, but the original name had again come into use in the time ofPausanias.[5] The city was said to have derived its more ancient name to from Phigalus, a son ofLycaon, its legendary original founder, and its later name from Phialus, a son of Lycaon, its second founder.[5][6]
In 659 BC, Phigalia was taken by theLacedaemonians, but soon after recovered its independence by the help of theOresthasians, who, according to an oracle, perished fighting against the Lacedaemonians.[7] In 375 BC, Phigalia was rent asunder by hostile factions; and the supporters of the Lacedaemonian party, being expelled from the city, took possession of a fortress in the neighbourhood namedHeraea, from which they made excursions against Phigalia.[8] During the struggle between theAchaean andAetolian leagues in 221 BC it was held byDorimachus, who left it on the approach ofPhilip V of Macedon. In common with the other cities of Arcadia, it appears inStrabo to have fallen into utter decay underRoman rule.
Phigalia was surrounded by mountains, of which Pausanias mentions two by name,Cotylium or Cotilium (τὸ Κωτίλιον) andElaeum (τὸ Ἐλάϊομ), the former to the left of the city, at the distance of 30 stadia, and the latter to the right at the distance of 30 stadia. As Cotilium lies to the northeast of Phigalia, and Pausanias in this description seems to have looked towards the east, Elaeum should probably be placed on the opposite side of Phigalia, and consequently to the south of the Neda, in which case it would correspond to the lofty mountain of Kúvela. Elaeum contained a cavern sacred to the BlackDemeter, situated in a grove of oaks.
Of the position of Cotylium there is no doubt. On it was situated the temple ofApollo Epicurius, which was built in thePeloponnesian War byIctinus, the architect of theParthenon atAthens. It was erected by the Phigaleans in consequence of the relief afforded by Apollo during the plague in the Peloponnesian War, whence he received the surname ofEpicurius. The temple stood in a place calledBassae, and according to Pausanias excelled all the temples of Peloponnesus, except that of Athena Alea atTegea, in the beauty of the stone and the accuracy of its masonry. He particularly mentions that the roof was of stone as well as the rest of the building.[9] This temple still remains almost entire, and is next to theTheseum at Athens the best preserved of the temples of Greece. It stands in a glen (whence the name Βᾶσσαι,Doric for Βήσση, Βῆσσαι) near the summit of Mt. Cotilium, in the midst of a wilderness of rocks, studded with old knotty oaks. Nineteenth-century British scholarWilliam Mure who visited the site wrote that “there is certainly no remnant of the architectural splendour of Greece more calculated to fascinate the imagination than this temple; whether by its own size and beauty, by the contrast it offers to the wild desolation of the surrounding scenery, or the extent and variety of the prospect from its site.”[10] A spring rises about ten minutes walk southwest of the temple, and soon afterwards loses itself in the ground, as Pausanias has described. North of the temple was the highest summit of the mountain, which one reaches in ten minutes' time by a broad road constructed by the Greeks. This summit was called Cotilum (Κώτιλον), whence the whole mountain derived the name of Cotilian; here was a sanctuary ofAphrodite, of which there are still some traces. The grandeur of the ruins of the temple have given to the whole of the surrounding district the name of the Columns (στοὺς στύλους or κολόνναις). The temple is at least two and a half hours walk from the ruins of the city, and consequently more than the 40 stadia, which Pausanias mentions as the distance from Phigalia to Cotilium; but this distance perhaps applies to the nearest part of the mountain from the city.
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Several curious cults were preserved near Phigalia, including that of the fishtailed goddessEurynome and the BlackDemeter with a horse's head, whose image was renewed byOnatas. Notices of it in Greek history are rare and scanty. Though its existing ruins and the description ofPausanias, who describes it as situated upon a lofty and precipitous hill, the greater part of the walls being built upon the rocks, show it to have been a place of considerable strength and importance, no autonomous coins of Phigalia are known. Nothing remained above ground of the temples of Artemis or Dionysus and the numerous statues and other works of art which existed at the time of Pausanias' visit, about AD 170.
A great part of the city wall, built in fine Hellenic masonry, partlypolygonal masonry and partly isodomicashlar, and a large square central fortress with a circular projecting tower, are the only remains now traceable, at least without the aid of excavation. The walls, once nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) in circuit, are strongly placed on rocks, which slope down to the little riverNeda.
The rock, upon which the city stood, slopes down towards the Neda; on the western side it is bounded by a ravine and on the eastern by the torrentLymax, which flows into the Neda. The walls are of the usual thickness, faced with masonry of the second order, and filled in the middle with rubble. On the summit of the acropolis within the walls are the remains of a detached citadel, 80 yards (73 m) in length, containing a round tower at the extremity, measuring 18 feet (5.5 m) in the interior diameter. In ancient times a temple ofArtemis Soteira stood on the summit of the acropolis. On the slope of the mountain lay the gymnasium and the temple ofDionysus Acratophorus; and on the ground below, where the village of upper Figaleia stands, was the agora, adorned with a statue of the pancratiastArrachion, who lost his life in the Olympic Games, and with the sepulchre of the Oresthasians, who perished to restore the Phigaleans to their native city.[11] Upon a rock, difficult of access, near the union of the Lymax and the Neda, was a temple ofEurynome, supposed to be a surname of Artemis, which was opened only once a year. In the same neighbourhood, and at the distance of 12 stadia from the city, were some warm baths, traces of which are visible at the village of Tragói, but the waters have long ceased to flow.[12]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Middleton, John Henry; Gardner, Ernest Arthur (1911). "Phigalia". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 366–367.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Phigalia".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.37°23′47″N21°50′21″E / 37.3963°N 21.8391°E /37.3963; 21.8391
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