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Elis (city)
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Elis (city)
Elis (Ancient Greek: Ἦλις, Doric Greek: Ἆλις, in the local dialect: Ϝᾶλις, Modern Greek: Ήλιδα, romanized: Elida) was the capital city of the ancient polis (city-state) of Elis, and at the time of Pausanias (2nd c. AD) one of the most populous and splendid cities of the ancient Greek world.
Its main importance was as the organiser of the ancient Olympic Games for more than 1000 years.
Many monumental buildings of the city have been excavated and can be seen today.
It was situated in the northwest of the Peloponnese, to the west of Arcadia. Just before the river Peneius emerges from the hills into the plain, the valley of the river is contracted on the south by a projecting hill of a peaked form, and nearly 500 feet (150 m) in height. This hill was the acropolis of Elis, and commanded the narrow valley of the Peneius as the open plain beyond. The city lay at the foot of the hill, and extended across the river, as Strabo says that the Peneius flowed through the city.
Elis is mentioned as a town of the Epeii by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad; but in the earliest times the two chief towns in the country appear to have been Ephyra, the residence of Augeias in the interior, and Buprasium on the coast. Some writers suppose that Ephyra was the more ancient name of Elis, but it appears to have been a different place, situated upon the Ladon.
The first synoecis (unification of neighbouring townships and settling of the Aetolians and Dorians under king Oxylus) of the city is placed by ancient authors at the end of the 12th-beginning of the 11th c BC, in the era of the "Descent of the Dorians" and is corroborated by excavation findings. A new phase of growth took place in the sub-Mycenaean and early Geometric times (11-9th c BC).
In the course of the Archaic period (8th-6th c BC), the city gradually came to organise the games at Olympia, even if 58 km distant, and the traditional origin story is that the first king of Elis, Aethlius, first organised the games, followed by successive kings. Probably in 776 BC King Iphitos of Elis, Lycurgus of Sparta and Kleosthenes of Pisa made the Olympic truce treaty which set the conditions for the acme achieved subsequently in Classical times. By this law the territories of Elis and Olympia were made sacrosanct so that no army or armed men could enter there, and all wars must stop for the month of the games (later extended to 3 months) to allow athletes and followers to travel and take part. The treaty was recorded by the Eleians on a bronze disc kept in the Temple of Hera at Olympia. It remained respected by all ancient Greeks as international law for centuries and violations were punished by the Olympic Council with heavy fines and other penalties.
Athletes participating in the games were obliged to train for at least the prior month at Elis or Olympia, which led to a great influx to the city. On the eve of the games the Hellanodicai, the athletes and their trainers had to walk the 58 km from Elis to Olympia along the sacred way, heading the procession of all other participants including foreign visitors and pilgrims with their rich votive offerings and the animals for sacrifice. The procession took 2 days passing Piera, a sacred spring, where they made sacrifices and stayed overnight at the town of Letrinoi.
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Elis (city) AI simulator
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Elis (city)
Elis (Ancient Greek: Ἦλις, Doric Greek: Ἆλις, in the local dialect: Ϝᾶλις, Modern Greek: Ήλιδα, romanized: Elida) was the capital city of the ancient polis (city-state) of Elis, and at the time of Pausanias (2nd c. AD) one of the most populous and splendid cities of the ancient Greek world.
Its main importance was as the organiser of the ancient Olympic Games for more than 1000 years.
Many monumental buildings of the city have been excavated and can be seen today.
It was situated in the northwest of the Peloponnese, to the west of Arcadia. Just before the river Peneius emerges from the hills into the plain, the valley of the river is contracted on the south by a projecting hill of a peaked form, and nearly 500 feet (150 m) in height. This hill was the acropolis of Elis, and commanded the narrow valley of the Peneius as the open plain beyond. The city lay at the foot of the hill, and extended across the river, as Strabo says that the Peneius flowed through the city.
Elis is mentioned as a town of the Epeii by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad; but in the earliest times the two chief towns in the country appear to have been Ephyra, the residence of Augeias in the interior, and Buprasium on the coast. Some writers suppose that Ephyra was the more ancient name of Elis, but it appears to have been a different place, situated upon the Ladon.
The first synoecis (unification of neighbouring townships and settling of the Aetolians and Dorians under king Oxylus) of the city is placed by ancient authors at the end of the 12th-beginning of the 11th c BC, in the era of the "Descent of the Dorians" and is corroborated by excavation findings. A new phase of growth took place in the sub-Mycenaean and early Geometric times (11-9th c BC).
In the course of the Archaic period (8th-6th c BC), the city gradually came to organise the games at Olympia, even if 58 km distant, and the traditional origin story is that the first king of Elis, Aethlius, first organised the games, followed by successive kings. Probably in 776 BC King Iphitos of Elis, Lycurgus of Sparta and Kleosthenes of Pisa made the Olympic truce treaty which set the conditions for the acme achieved subsequently in Classical times. By this law the territories of Elis and Olympia were made sacrosanct so that no army or armed men could enter there, and all wars must stop for the month of the games (later extended to 3 months) to allow athletes and followers to travel and take part. The treaty was recorded by the Eleians on a bronze disc kept in the Temple of Hera at Olympia. It remained respected by all ancient Greeks as international law for centuries and violations were punished by the Olympic Council with heavy fines and other penalties.
Athletes participating in the games were obliged to train for at least the prior month at Elis or Olympia, which led to a great influx to the city. On the eve of the games the Hellanodicai, the athletes and their trainers had to walk the 58 km from Elis to Olympia along the sacred way, heading the procession of all other participants including foreign visitors and pilgrims with their rich votive offerings and the animals for sacrifice. The procession took 2 days passing Piera, a sacred spring, where they made sacrifices and stayed overnight at the town of Letrinoi.
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