Phigalia

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Phigalia, or Phigaleia (Greek Φιγαλεία or Φιγάλεια) is an ancient Greek city in the south-west angle of Arcadia. It is also the present name of a nearby modern village, known up to the 20th century as Pavlitsa (Παύλιτσα). In modern geography it is located in the southeastern Ilia Prefecture. It is situated on an elevated rocky site, among some of the highest mountains in the Peloponnese, the most conspicuous being Mt Cotylium and Mt Elasum; the identification of the latter is uncertain.

In 659 B.C. Phigalia was taken by the Lacedaemonians, but soon after recovered its independence by the help of the Orasthasians. During the struggle between Achaeans and anti-Aetolians in 221 B.C. it was held by Dorimachus, who left it on the approach of Philip V of Macedon. In common with the other cities of Arcadia, it appears from Strabo to have fallen into utter decay under the Roman rule. Several curious cults were preserved near Phigalia, including that of the fishtailed goddess Eurynome and the Black Demeter with a horses head, whose image was renewed by Onatas. Notices of it in Greek history are rare and scanty. Though its existing ruins and the description of Pausanias 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 A.D. 170. A great part of the city wall, built in fine Hellenic masonry, partly polygonal and partly isodomos, 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 m. in circuit, are strongly placed on rocks, which slope down to the little river Neda.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.