Larissa

Lārissa, ae, f., = Λάρισσα, the name of several cities.

• I In Thessaly, on the Peneus, now Yeni-shehr or Larissa, Mel. 2, 3; Plin. 4, 8, 15, § 29; Caes. B. C. 3, 80; Hor. C. 1, 7, 11; Luc. 6, 355.—
• • B Hence,
  • • 1 Lāris-saeus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to the town of Larissa, Larissean: Achilles, i. e. Thessalian, Verg. A. 2, 197; hence also, hasta, i. e. of Achilles, Ser. Samm. 46, 836: Coronis, Ov. M. 2, 542.—In plur. subst.: Lārissaei, ōrum, m., inhabitants of Larissa, Larisseans, Caes. B. C. 3, 81.—
    • 2 Lāris-senses, ĭum, m., the inhabitants of Larissa, Larisseans, Liv. 31, 31.—
• II A city in Phthiotis, also called Larissa Cremaste, near the modern Gardhiki, Liv. 31, 46; 42, 56.—
• III A fortress of Argos, Liv. 32, 25, 5.

LARISSA

LARISSA(Λάρισσα, but on coins and inscr Λάρισαor Λάρεισα: Eth. Λαρισσαῖος, Λαρισαῖος), a name common to many Pelasgic towns, and probably a Pelasgic word signifying city. (Comp. Strab. 13. p. 620; Dionys. 1.21; Niebuhr, Hist. of Rome, vol. i. note 60.) Hence in mythology Larissa is represented as the daughter of Pelasgus (Paus. 2.24. § 1), or of Piasus, a Pelasgian prince. (Strab. 14. p. 621.)

1.

An important town of Thessaly, the capital of the district Pelasgiotis, was situated in a fertile plain upon a. gently rising ground, on the right or south bank of the Peneius. It had a strongly fortified citadel. (Diod. 15.61.) Larissa is not mentioned by Homer. Some commentators, however, suppose it to be the same as the Pelasgic Argos of Homer (Hom. Il. 2.681), but the latter was the name of a district rather than of a town. Others, with more probability, identify it with the Argissa of the poet. ( Il. 2.738.) [See Vol. 1. p. 209.] Its foundation was ascribed to Acrisius. (Steph. B. s. v.) The plain of Larissa was formerly inhabited by the Perrhaebi, who were partly expelled by the Larissaeans, and partly reduced to subjection. They continued subject to Larissa, till Philip made himself master of Thessaly. (Strab. 9. p. 440.) The constitution of Larissa was democratical (Aristot. Pol. 5.6), and this was probably one reason why the Larissaeans were allies of the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War. (Thuc. 2.22.) During the Roman wars in Greece, Larissa is frequently mentioned as a place of importance. It was here that Philip, the son of Demetrius, kept all his royal papers during his campaign against Flamininus in Greece; but after the battle of Cynoscephalae, in B.C. 197, he was obliged to abandon Larissa to the Romans, having previously destroyed these documents. (Plb. 18.16.) It was still in the hands of the Romans when Antiochus crossed over into Greece, B.C. 191, and this king made an ineffectual attempt upon the town. (Liv. 36.10.) In the time of Strabo Larissa continued to be a flourishing town (9. p. 430). It is mentioned by Hierocles in the sixth century as the first town in Thessaly (p. 642, ed. Wessel.). It is still a considerable place, the residence of an archbishop and a pasha, and containing 30,000 inhabitants. It continues to bear its ancient name, though the Turks call it Yenishehér, which is its official appellation. Its circumference is less than three miles. Like other towns in Greece, which have been continually inhabited, it presents few remains of Hellenic times. They are chiefly found in the Turkish cemeteries, consisting of plain quadrangular stones, fragments of columns, mostly fluted, and a great number of ancient cippi and sepulchral stelae, which now serve for Turkish tombstones. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 1. p. 439, seq.) COIN OF LARISSA.

COIN OF LARISSA.

LARISSA CREMASTE(ἡ Κρεμαστὴ Λάρισσα), a town of Thessaly of less importance than the preceding one, was situated in the district of Phthiotis, at the distance of 20 stadia from the Maliac gulf, upon a height advancing in front of Mount Othrys. (Strab. 9. p. 435.) It occupied the side of the hill. and was hence surnamed Cremaste, as hanging on the side of Mt. Othrys, to distinguish it from the more celebrated Larissa, situated in a plain. Strabo also describes it as well watered and producing vines (9. p. 440). The same writer adds that it was surnamed Pelasgia as well as Cremaste (l. c.). From its being situated in the dominions of Achilles, some writers suppose that the Roman poets give this hero the surname of Larissaeus, but this epithet is perhaps used generally for Thessalian. Larissa Cremaste was occupied by Demetrius Poliorcetes in B.C. 302, when he was at war with Cassander. (Diod. 20.110.) It was taken by Apustius in the first war between the Romans and Philip, B.C. 200 (Liv. 31.46), and again fell into the hands of the Romans in the war with Perseus, B.C. 171. (Liv. 42.56, 57.) The ruins of the ancient city are situated upon a steep hill, in the valley of Gardhíki, at a direct distance of five or six miles from Khamcáko. The walls are very conspicuous on the western side of the hill, where several courses of masonry remain. Gell says that there are the fragments of a Doric temple upon the acropolis, but of these Leake makes no mention. (Gell, Itinerary of Greece, p. 252; Dodwell, Travels, vol. 2. p. 81; Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 4. p. 347.)

3.

The citadel of Argos, [Vol. 1. p. 202.]

LARISSA

LARISSA(Λάρισσα).

1.

A town in the territory of Ephesus, on the north bank of the Caystrus, which there flows through a most fertile district, producing an excellent kind of wine. It was situated at a distance of 180 stadia from Ephesus, and 30 from Tralles. (Strab. 9. p. 440, 13. p. 620.) In Strabo's time it had sunk to the rank of a village, but it was said once to have been a Πόλις, with a temple of Apollo. Cramer ( As. Min. 1. p. 558) conjectures that its site may correspond to the modern Tirieh.

2.

A place on the coast of Troas, about 70 stadia south of Alexandria Troas, and north of Hamaxitus. It was supposed that this Larissa was the one mentioned by Homer (Hom. Il. 2.841), but Strabo (13. p. 620) controverts this opinion, because it is not far enough from Troy. (Comp. Steph. B. s. v.) The town is mentioned as still existing by Thu cydides (8.101) and Xenophon (Hellen.iii 1.13; comp. Scylax, p. 36; Strab. 9. p. 440, 13. p. 604). Athenaeus (2. p. 43) mentions some hot springs near Larissa in Troas, which are still known to exist a little above the site of Alexandria Troas. ( Voyage Pittoresque, vol. 2. p. 438.)

3.

Larissa, surnamed PHRICONISa Pelasgiar town in Aeolis, but subsequently taken possession of by the Aeolians, who constituted it one of the towns of their confederacy. It was situated near the coast, about 70 stadia to the south-east of Cyme (ἡ περὶ τὴν Κύμην, Strab. 13. p. 621; Hdt. 1.149). Strabo, apparently for good reasons, considers this to be the Larissa mentioned in the Iliad (2.840). Xenophon (Xen. Hell. 3.1.7, comp. Cyrop. 7.1.45) distinguishes this town from others of the same name by the epithet of the Egyptian,because the elder Cyrus had established there a colony of Egyptian soldiers. From the same historian we must infer that Larissa was a place of considerable strength, as it was besieged in vain by Thimbrom; but in Strabo's time the place was deserted. (Comp. Plin. Nat. 5.32; Vellei. 1.4; Vit. Hom. 100.11; Steph. B. s. v.;Ptol. 5.2.5.) [L.S]

LARISSA

LARISSA(Λάρισσα, Xen. Anab. 3.4.7), a town of Assyria, at no great distance from the left bank of the Tigris, observed by Xenophon on the retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks. It appears to have been situated a little to the north of the junction of the Lycus ( Záb) and the Tigris. Xenophon describes it as a deserted city, formerly built by the Medes, with a wall 25 feet broad, and 100 high, and extending in circumference two parasangs. The wall itself was constructed of bricks, but had a foundation of stone, 20 feet in height (probably a casing in stone over the lower portion of the bricks). He adds, that when the Persians conquered the Medes, they were not at first able to take this city, but at last captured it. during a dense fog. Adjoining the town was a pyramid of stone, one plethron broad, and two plethra in height. It has been conjectured that this was the site of the city of Resen, mentioned in Genesis (10.12); and there can be little doubt, that these ruins represent those of Nimrúd, now so well known by the excavations which Mr. Layard has conducted.

[V]

LARISSA

LARISSA(Λάρισσα), a city of Syria, placed by Ptolemy in the district of Cassiotis, in which Antioch was situated (5.15.16), but probably identical with the place of the same name which, according to Strabo, was reckoned to Apamia (16. p. 572), and which is placed in the Itinerary of Antoninus 16 M. P. from Apamia, on the road to Emesa. D'Anville identifies it with the modern Kalaat Shyzar, on the left bank of the Orontes, between Hamahand Kalaat el-Medykor Apamia.

[G.W]

Larissa

(Λάρισσα). The name of several Pelasgian places, whence Larissa is called in mythology the daughter of Pelasgus. (1) An important town of Thessaly in Pelasgiotis, situated on the Peneus, in an extensive plain, and once the capital of the Pelasgi.

(2) Surnamed Cremasté, another important town of Thessaly in Phthiotia, distant twenty stadia from the Maliac Gulf.

(3) An ancient city on the coast of the Troad.

(4) L. Phricōnis, a city on the coast of Mysia, near Cymé, of Pelasgian origin, but colonized by the Aeolians. It was also called the Egyptian Larissa, because Cyrus the Great settled in it a body of his Egyptian mercenary soldiers.

(5) Larissa Ephesia, a city of Lydia, in the plain of the Caÿster.

(6) In Assyria, an ancient city on the eastern bank of the Tigris, some distance north of the mouth of the river Zabatus or Lycus. It was deserted when Xenophon saw it. The name Larissa is in this case no doubt a corruption of some Assyrian name (perhaps Al-Assur), which Xenophon naturally confounded with Larissa, through his familiarity with the word as the name of cities in Greece.

LARISSA or Larisa, or Pelasgis, Thessaly, Greece.

A city of Pelasgiotis on the right bank of the Peneios river, approximately in the center of the E Thessalian plain. Through it ran the major routes from S Greece to Macedonia, and routes across Thessaly and to the Gulf of Pagasai. The city and the plain around it were settled in prehistoric times, and its name must be early, but it is first mentioned in connection with the aristocratic Aleuadai, whose home it was. It flourished during the 5th c. and was a considerable artistic center, but was weakened by party dissensions by the end of the century. It was the leader of the resistance against the tyrants of Pherai, but felt it necessary to call in first Thebes and then Macedon to help. In 344 B.C. Philip II of Macedon directly annexed Thessaly, and from then to 196 B.C. Larissa was under Macedonian control. It was the capital of the post-196 B.C. Roman-organized Thessalian League and flourished during the Republic and Empire. Justinian refortified the city.

Very few visible remains of the ancient city are left in place. The Peneios bends in a rough arc around the N side of the city. A Turkish earth embankment (still visible in places) makes a wide arc around the S side. It is supposed the Turkish wall may lie on the line of the ancient one; if so, the circuit of Larissa (counting the river) would be approximately 7 km. There are no visible remains of the city wall, however. In the NW part of the city, close to the river, is a hill (96 m) which was the ancient acropolis. It was fortified in Byzantine times. No ancient wall is to be seen. The ancient theater, which dates to the later Hellenistic period, was dug into the S side of this hill. The seats are marble, and some have the names of notables of the city carved on them.

East of the acropolis hill, in modern Demeter St., a large, 4th c. B.C. votive stele, dedicated to Poseidon, was discovered in situ in 1955.

The agora of the ancient city was probably located near the center of the modern city, S of the citadel. Here, at the crossing of Roosevelt and Papakyriazis Sts., three large Doric poros column drums, two pieces of triglyph, and other architectural fragments were discovered recently. In the area were a row of statue bases and immediately W of them a massive 4th-3d c. B.C. foundation, which has been identified as some building of the agora, or possibly the Temple of Apollo Kerdoios, which is known to have been in the lower city. Near this were some Late Roman or Early Christian foundations. In this general area, in 1910, Arvanitopoullos discovered a few curved seats and a foundation which he ascribed to an odeion and dated to the 4th c. B.C. Stählin suggested it might have been a bouleuterion. What appear to be remains of a Classical temple lie just N of the Metropolis cathedral, N of the E end of the bridge which leads across the river to the W. Part of an Athena head and other statues of the Roman period have been found here.

Ca. 5 km S of the city at Palaiochori Larissis or Siïti, a Hellenistic underground vaulted chamber tomb has been excavated. At Kioski, across the river, a short way along the road leading to ancient Argura, a tomb containing two silver skyphoi was discovered. Hellenistic graves (terracotta comic masks) and a head of Dionysos were discovered at the airport SE of the city.

Numerous small finds, sculptures (6th c. B.C. through Roman), inscriptions giving a good deal of information about the ancient city, etc., have been found in Larissa and its vicinity. These, and objects from the Nome of Larissa are mainly housed in the local museum, a restored mosque E of the city center. Some are in the Volo Museum.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. S. Arvanitopoullos, ArchEph (1909) 24-44I; id., Praktika (1910) 174f; (1920) 26f; F. Stählin, Das Hellenische Thessalien (1924) 94-99PI; id., RE (1924) s.v. Larisa 3 (Larisa Pelasgis) P; Y. Béquignon, Mel. Oct. Navarre (1935) 1-10; N. I. Giannopoulos, ArchEph (1945-47) chron. 16f; T. D. Axenidis, Ἡ πελασγὶς Λάρισα I, II (1947); N. M. Verdelis, Praktika (1955) 147-50I; id., Thessalika (1958) 28-38I; BCH 80 (1956) 308fI; H. Biesantz, AA (1959) 90-108I; D. Theocharis, Deltion 16 (1960) chron. 174f, 184fI; 20 (1965) chron. 316f; 21 (1966) chron. 254; G. Chourmouziadis, ArchAnalekta 2 (1969) 167-69I.

T. S. MACKAY

Larissa Larisa Larissa, city of Thessaly beside sea

• Paus. 2.24.1

Larissa(2), city of Thessaly Larisa

• on the Peneus: Paus. 1.13.2, Paus. 2.16.2, Paus. 2.24.1, Paus. 9.30.9
• Pirithous at: Apollod. 1.8.2
• Teutamides, king of: Apollod. 2.4.4
• Perseus at: Apollod. 2.4.4
• allied with Troy: Apollod. E.3.34

Larissa(3), daughter of Pelasgus Larisa

• Paus. 2.24.1