Pisa
- a city of Elis, on the Alphēus, near which the Olympic games were celebrated: aut Alphea rotis praelabi flumina Pisae, Verg. G. 3, 180: Pisa, Ov. Ib. 327; Stat. Th. 4, 238: Pisae Oenomai, Mel. 2, 3, 4.
- —Hence, Pīsaeus, a, um, adj., of or belonging to Pisa, Pisaean: Arethusa, so called because, acc. to the myth, it rose in Elis, Ov. M. 5, 409: hasta, of Oenomăus, king of Elis, id. Am. 3, 2, 15: Pisaeā lege trementem currere et Oenomai fremitus audire sequentis, i. e. the law by which any one who demanded Hippodamia in marriage, was compelled to contend in the chariot-race with her father Oenomaus, and, if defeated, was put to death, Stat. S. 1, 2, 41: Pisaeique tori legem, Nemes. Cyn. 23: Pisaeae ramus olivae, Juv. 13, 99: praemia, prizes, Att. ap. Prisc. p. 698 P.: annus, in which the Olympic games took place, Stat. S. 1, 3, 8; id. Th. 1, 421: ebur Pisaeo pollice rasum, by the hand which wrought the Olympic Jove, i. e. that of Phidias, id. S. 4, 6, 29.—
- B Subst.: Pīsaea, ae, f., Hippodamia, Ov. Tr. 2, 386.
PISA(Πῖσα: Eth. Πισάτης, Πισαιεύςa town in Peloponnesus, was in the most ancient times the capital of an independent district, called Pisatis (ἡ Πισᾶτις), which subsequently formed part of the territory of Elis. It was celebrated in mythology as the residence of Oenomaus and Pelops, and was the head of a confederacy of eight states, of which, besides Pisa, the following names are recorded:--Salmone, Heracleia, Harpinna, Cycesium, and Dyspontium. (Strab. 8. p. 356, seq.) Pisa had originally the presidency of the Olympic festival, but was deprived of this privilege by the Eleians. The Pisatans, however, made many attempts to recover it; and the history of their wars with the Eleians, which were at last terminated by the destruction of Pisa in B.C. 572, is narrated elsewhere. [ELISVol. 1. 818b.] Although Pisa ceased to exist as a city from this time, the Pisatans, in conjunction with the Arcadians, celebrated the 104th Olympic festival, B.C. . 364. [See Vol. 1. 819b.] Pisa was said to have been founded by an eponymous hero, Pisus, the son of Perieres, and grandson of Aeolus (Paus. 6.22.2); but others derived its name from a fountain Pisa. (Strab. 8. p. 356; Eustath. ad Dionys. Per. 409.) Modern writers connect its name with Πῖσος, a low marshy ground, or with Πίσσα, the name of the black fir or pinetree. So completely was Pisa destroyed by the Eleians, that the fact of its having existed was a disputed point in the time of Strabo (l. c.); and Pausanias found its site converted into a vineyard (6.22.1). Its situation, however, was perfectly well known to Pindar and Herodotus. Pindar frequently identifies it with Olympia (e. g. Ol. 2.3); and Herodotus refers to Pisa and Olympia as the same point in computing the distance from the altar of the twelve gods at Athens (2.7). Pisa appears from Pausanias to have occupied a position between Harpinna and Olympia, which were only 20 stadia asunder (Lucian, de Mort. Peregr. 35); and the Scholiast on Pindar (Pind. O. 11.51) says that Pisa was only 6 stadia from Olympia. It must therefore be placed a little east of Olympia, and its acropolis probably occupied a height on the western side of the rivulet of Miráka, near its junction with the Alpheius. Strabo (l. c.) says that it lay between the mountains Olympus and Ossa, which can only have been heights on different sides of the river. See its position marked in the map in Vol. 2. p. 477. (Leake, Morea, vol. 2. p. 211, Peloponnesiaca, p. 6, Mure, Tour in Greece, vol. 2. p. 283; Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. 2. p. 51.)
(Πῖσα). The capital of Pisātis (Πισᾶτις), the middle portion of the province of Elis, in the Peloponnesus. (See Elis.) Pisa itself was situated north of the Alphaeus, at a very short distance east of Olympia, and, in consequence of its proximity to the latter place, was frequently identified by the poets with it. The history of the Pisatae consists of their struggle with the Eleans, with whom they contended for the presidency of the Olympic Games. The Pisatae obtained this honour in the eighth Olympiad (B.C. 748), with the assistance of Phidon, tyrant of Argos, and also a second time in the thirty-fourth Olympiad (B.C. 644), by means of their own king Pantaleon. In the fifty-second Olympiad (B.C. 572) the struggle between the two peoples was brought to a close by the conquest and destruction of Pisa by the Eleans.
- its distance from Athens: Hdt. 2.7
- Paus. 6.22.1-4
- dear to Zeus: Paus. 5.3.1
- founded by Pisus: Paus. 6.22.2
- ruled by Oenomaus: Apollod. E.2.2, Paus. 5.1.6
- acquired by Pelops: Paus. 5.1.6ff.
- Pelops returns to: Apollod. 2.4.4
- spared by Herakles: Paus. 5.3.1
- boundary: Paus. 6.21.3, 4
- territory: Paus. 6.21.5
- bone of Pelops brought from Pisa to Troy: Paus. 5.13.4
- Pantaleon tyrant of: Paus. 6.21.1, Paus. 6.22.2
- people of Pisa contend with Arcadians and Eleans for presidency of Olympic games: Paus. 5.4.7, Paus. 6.22.2
- hold Olympic games: Paus. 6.4.2
- at war with Eleans: Paus. 5.6.4
- Pisa destroyed by Eleans: Paus. 6.22.4
- its site occupied by vineyards: Paus. 6.22.1
- statue of Herakles made by Daedalus at: Apollod. 2.6.3