Histiaeotis

Histiaeotis in NW Thessaly

Histiaeotis (Greek: Ἱστιαιῶτις) or Hestiaeotis was a Northwest district of ancient Thessaly, part of the Thessalian tetrarchy, roughly corresponding to modern Trikala regional unit. Cities of the district: Aeginion, Trikka, Pharkadon, Gomphoi, Pelinna, Metropolis, Phaloria and Ithome. Notable sanctuaries of the region were of Asclepius at Tricca, of Aphrodite Kastnia at Metropolis and of Zeus at Pelinna. In the Catalogue of Ships:[1] they that held Tricca and Ithome of the crags, and Oechalia, city of Oechalian Eurytus, these again were led by the two sons of Asclepius, the skilled healers Podaleirius and Machaon.

Histiaeotis is first mentioned by Herodotus,[2][3] when.. in the time of Dorus the son of Hellen, (Dorians) were in the territory around Mounts Ossa and Olympus, known as Histiaeotis. Then they were evicted from Histiaeotis by the Cadmeans and settled on Mount Pindus... Strabo[4] also confirms that in earlier times Histiaeotis was called Doris but when the Perrhaebians took possession of it, who had already subdued Histiaeotis in Euboea and had forced its inhabitants to migrate to the mainland, they called the country Histiaeotis after these Histiaeans, because of the large number of these people who settled there. Strabo adds that Histiaeotis and Dolopia comprise the Upper Thessaly, which is in a straight line with Upper Macedonia, as is Lower Thessaly with Lower Macedonia.

In epigraphy, the regional name occurs as Hestiōtai,[5] ambassadors in Athens and Histiōtai[6] in the Thessalian grain decree for Rome (see Pelasgiotis) but most similarly written names are related to Histiaea, an Attic deme and a city in North Euboea. The epigraphical Aeolic Greek vocalism of Hestiaeotis is bizarre and idiomatic.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Iliad 2.729
  2. ↑ Histories 1.56
  3. ↑ Herodotus, translated by Robin Waterfield; Carolyn Dewald (1998). The Histories. Oxford University Press. pp. 23-24. ISBN 0-19-282425-2, ISBN 978-0-19-282425-7.
  4. ↑ Geographica 9.5.17
  5. ↑ [Ἑ]στ[ι]ωτ[ῶ]ν
  6. ↑ Ἱστιώτας
  7. ↑ A history of ancient Greek: from the beginnings to late antiquity By Anastasios-Phoivos Christidēs, Maria Arapopoulou Page 467 ISBN 0-521-83307-8 (2007)

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