Malea
- a promontory in the Peloponnesus, at the south of Laconia, now C. Malea, Liv. 34, 32, 19; Mel. 2, 3, 7; Plin. 4, 5, 8, § 22; Cic. Fam. 4, 12; Verg. A. 5, 193; Ov. Am. 2, 16, 24; Prop. 3, 17 (4, 18), 8; Stat. Th. 2, 33.—Hence,
- II Mălēus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to the promontory of Malea, Malean: jugum, Flor. 2, 9, 4; 3, 6, 3.
➳ Maleæ, ārum, Cic. Fam. 4, 12, 1.
MA´LEA(Μαλέα), a town in the district of Aegytis in Arcadia, the inhabitants of which were transferred to Megalopolis upon the foundation of the latter city. (Paus. 8.27.4.) Its territory was called the Maleatis (ἡ Μαλεᾶτις). Xenophon describes Leuctra as a fortress situated above the Maleatis; and as Leuctra was probably at or near Leondári, Malea must have been in the same neighbourhood. [LEUCTRA] Leake, however, connecting Malea with the river MALUS(Μαλοῦς, Paus. 8.35.1), a tributary of the Alpheius, places the town on this river, and on the road from Megalopolis to Carnasium (Leake, Peloponnesiaca, p. 248); but this is not probable. The place MIDEA(Μιδέα) mentioned by Xenophon (Xen. Hell. 7.1.28) is probably a corrupt form of Malea. (Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. 1. p. 336.)
MA´LEA(Μαλέα, Steph. B. s. v. et alii; Μαλέαι, Hdt. 1.82; Strab. 8. p. 368), still called Maliá, a promontory of Laconia, and the most southerly point in Greece with the exception of Taenarum. For details see Vol. 2. p. 114.
MA´LEA(Μαλέα, Thucyd. 3.4, 6; Xen. Hell. 1.6. §§ 26, 27; Μαλία, Strab. 13. p. 617; Μανία, Ptol. 5.2; see Schol. ad Aristoph. Ran. p. 33), the southernmost point of the island of LESBOSreckoned by Strabo to be 70 stadia distant from Mytilene, 560 stadia from Cape Sigrium, and 340 from Methymna. Immediately opposite, on the mainland, were the point of CANEand the islands of ARGINUSAE[see those articles]. The modern name of Males is Zeitoun Bouroun, or Cape St. Mary, and it is a high and conspicuous point at sea. Xenophon says (l. c.) that the fleet of Callicratidas occupied this station before the sea-fight off Arginusae. There is some obscurity in Xenophon's topography in reference to this place; and the Malea of Thucydides (l. c.) can hardly have been C. St. Mary, unless there is some error in his relation. He says distinctly (100.4.), that Malea lay to the north of Mytilene, and (100.6.) that the Athenians had their market there, while besieging the city. The first statement is inconsistent with the position of Cape St. Mary, and the second with its distance from Mytilene. Possibly the Malea of Thucydides had some connection with the sanctuary of Apollo Maloeis. (See the notes of Arnold and Poppo, and Thirlwall's Greece, vol. 3. p. 173.)
[J.S.H]MA´LEA(Μαλέα, or Μαλαία ὄρος, Ptol. 7.4.8), a large group of mountains in the southern part of the ancient Taprobane or Ceylon. There can be little doubt that it comprehends the mountain tract now known by the name of Newera Ellia, one of the chief mountains of which is called, from the Arabs, Adam's Peak, by the natives Sripada. Ptolemy states, that it is the water-shed of three rivers, which he calls the Soanas, the Azanus, and the Baraces, and describes with remarkable truth the present condition of the island, when he adds that in the low ground below it, towards the sea, are the pastures of the elephants. Pliny speaks of a mountain in the interior of India, which he calls Mons Maleus (6.19. s. 22). It has been supposed that he may refer to the western Gháts;but as Maleus is evidently derived from the Sanscrit mala, a mountain, this identification cannot, we think, be maintained.
[V](Μαλέα). (1) A promontory on the southeast of Laconia, separating the Argolic and Laconic gulfs. At this point the sea is so rough as to give rise to the proverb, Cum ad Maleam deflexeris, obliviscere quae sunt domi (Mela, ii. 3).
(2) A promontory on the coast of Lesbos.
- Paus. 3.23.1, Paus. 3.25.2
- all western Greece as far as Malea once ruled by Argos: Hdt. 1.82
- Iason's voyage near it: Hdt. 4.179
- the centaurs pursued by Herakles to: Apollod. 2.5.4
- Corcyraeans' pretext that they could not pass Malea: Hdt. 7.168