Alalcomenae orAlalkomenai (Ancient Greek:Ἀλαλκομέναι), orAlalcomenium orAlalkomenion (Ἀλαλκομένιον),[1] was a town inancient Boeotia, situated at the foot ofMount Tilphossium, a little to the east ofCoroneia, and nearLake Copais. It was celebrated for the worship ofAthena, who was said to have been born there, and who is hence called Alalcomeneis (Ἀλαλκομενηΐς) inHomer'sIliad.[2] The temple of the goddess stood, at a little distance from the town, on theTriton River, a small stream flowing into Lake Copais.[3] The town was by a hill whichStrabo calls Mount Tilphossium (named forTelphousa, the spring visited by the godApollo). Strabo also records that the tomb of the seerTeiresias, and the temple of Tilphossian Apollo, were located just outside Alalcomenae.[4]
Ancient sources preserve three accounts of the origin of the town's name:
- Stephanus of Byzantium and the geographerPausanias — and probablyHomer — preserve the story that it was named afterAlalcomenes (or Alalkomenes, inStephanus), who raised the goddessAthena there.[5][1]
- Pausanias also records an account that it was named afterAlalcomenia, daughter ofOgygus, King of theEctenes, the people to first occupy the land ofThebes.[5]
- According to Stephanus of Byzantium, the Alexandrian scholarAristarchus of Samothrace believed the town was named from the Greek verbἀλαλκεῖν "to protect" (<ἀλέξω), to reflect Athena's role as defender of the town. The early "D"scholia on theIliad also reflects this account, so the idea may pre-date Aristarchus.[1][6]
In view of the cult of Athena there, presumably local myth in Alalcomenae followed the first of these theories.
Beyond the modern village ofSolinari (Solinarion), the site of Alalcomenae,[7][8] are some polygonal foundations, apparently those of a single building, which are probably remains of theperibolus of the temple. Both the town and the temple were plundered by theRoman generalSulla, who carried off the statue of the goddess. Pausanias recalls a story after Sulla stole the statue of Athena from the temple, in revenge Athena sent a plague of lice upon him; but afterwards the temple was neglected.[9][1][10][5] The nearbyAlalkomenes was renamed in 1928 to reflect its association with the ancient town.
References
edit- ^abcdStephanus of Byzantium.Ethnica. Vol. s.v.
- ^Homer.Iliad. Vol. 4.8, 5.908.
- ^Pausanias (1918)."3.4".Description of Greece. Vol. 9. Translated byW. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – viaPerseus Digital Library., 9.33.5,et seq.
- ^Strabo.Geographica. Vol. 9.2.27, 9.2.36. Page numbers refer to those ofIsaac Casaubon's edition.
- ^abcPausanias (1918)."33.5".Description of Greece. Vol. 9. Translated byW. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – viaPerseus Digital Library.
- ^Schol. D onIliad 4.8, 5.908.
- ^Richard Talbert, ed. (2000).Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 55, and directory notes accompanying.ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.
- ^Lund University.Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
- ^Strabo.Geographica. Vol. pp. 410, 411, 413. Page numbers refer to those ofIsaac Casaubon's edition.
- ^William Martin Leake,Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 135; Forchhammer,Hellenica, p. 185.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Alalcomenae".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
38°23′07″N23°00′06″E / 38.385259°N 23.00169°E /38.385259; 23.00169