Cardamyle

For the modern town, see Kardamyli. For the ancient town of Chios, see Cardamyle (Chios).

Cardamyle or Kardamyle (Ancient Greek: Καρδαμύλη) was a town of ancient Messenia. It is mentioned by Homer in the Iliad as one of the seven places offered by Agamemnon to Achilles.[1] It was situated on a strong rocky height at the distance of seven stadia from the sea, and sixty from Leuctra.[2][3] It is called a Laconian town by Herodotus, since the whole of Messenia was included in the territories of Laconia at the time of the historian.[4] It again became a town of Messenia on the restoration of the independence of the latter; but it was finally separated from Messenia by Augustus, and annexed to Laconia.[2] Pausanias mentions at Cardamyle sanctuaries of Athena and of Apollo Carneius; and in the neighbourhood of the town a temenos of the Nereids.[5][6][7]

Its site is located northeast the modern Kardamyli, at the distance of 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) from the sea, where there are considerable ruins of the town.[8][9]

  1. ^ Homer. Iliad. Vol. 9.150, 9.292.
  2. ^ a b Pausanias (1918). "26.7". Description of Greece. Vol. 3. Translated by W. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – via Perseus Digital Library.
  3. ^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. viii. p.360, et seq. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
  4. ^ Herodotus. Histories. Vol. 8.73.
  5. ^ Pliny. Naturalis Historia. Vol. 4.5.8.
  6. ^ Ptolemy. The Geography. Vol. 3.16.22.
  7. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v.
  8. ^ Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 58, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.
  9. ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.