Rhypes

38°13′11″N 22°00′44″E / 38.2198°N 22.01219°E / 38.2198; 22.01219 Rhypes (Ancient Greek: Ῥύπες), or Rhypae or Rhypai (Ῥύπαι)[1] was a polis (city-state)[2] of ancient Achaea, 30 stadia west of Aegium, and was one of the original twelve Achaean cities.[3] It had ceased to be a member of the Achaean League in the time of Polybius, who mentions Leontium in its place.[4] Rhypes, however, continued to exist down to the time of Augustus; but this emperor destroyed the city and transferred its inhabitants to Patrae, and its territory (Ῥυπίς, or ἡ Ῥυπική) was divided between Aegium and Pharae.[5] Its ruins were seen by Pausanias, in the 2nd century, at a short distance from the main road from Aegium to Patrae.[6] We learn from Strabo that this town was mentioned by Aeschylus as κεραυνίας Ῥύπας, or "Rhypes stricken by the thunderbolt." It was the birthplace of Myscellus, the founder of Croton.[7]

In the territory of Rhypes there was a suburb called Leuctrum (Λεῦκτρον),[7] and also a seaport named Erineum (Ἐρινεόν or Ἐρινεὸς λιμήν) which is mentioned by Thucydides,[8] and which is described by Pausanias as 60 stadia from Aegium.[9][10]

The site of Rhypes is located south of modern Koumari.[11][12]

  1. ^ Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v.
  2. ^ Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen (2004). "Achaia". An inventory of archaic and classical poleis. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 485–486. ISBN 0-19-814099-1.
  3. ^ Herodotus. Histories. Vol. 1.145.
  4. ^ Polybius. The Histories. Vol. 2.41.
  5. ^ Pausanias (1918). "18.7". Description of Greece. Vol. 7. Translated by W. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – via Perseus Digital Library.
  6. ^ Pausanias (1918). "6.1". Description of Greece. Vol. 7. Translated by W. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – via Perseus Digital Library., 7.23.4.
  7. ^ a b Strabo. Geographica. Vol. 8.7.5. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
  8. ^ Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War. Vol. 7.34.
  9. ^ Pausanias (1918). "22.10". Description of Greece. Vol. 7. Translated by W. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – via Perseus Digital Library.
  10. ^ Pliny. Naturalis Historia. Vol. 4.6.
  11. ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
  12. ^ 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.