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Hyampolis was a city in ancient
Phocis, Greece. A native of this city was called a Hyampolites. Some ancient
authors record that the city was also called simply Hya.
Contents:
1 Mythology and situation 2 History
Mythology and situation:
In the ancient tradition, the city was said to have been founded by the Hyantes
after their expulsion from Boeotia by the Cadmeians. Yet a scholiast on
Euripides mentions Hyamus, son of Lycorus, as the eponymous founder of
Hyampolis. The city is mentioned in Homer's Iliad (Catalogue of Ships).
Hyampolis lay in a valley in east Phocis, about eight kilometers from Abae,
north-northwest of Orchomenus, situated on the road leading from Orchomenus to
Opus, As it stood at the entrance of a valley which formed a convenient passage
from Locris into Phocis and Boeotia. Therefore, the city was of strategic
importance and is often mentioned in works on ancient history.
History:
During the Greco-Persian Wars, it was at the entrance of this pass that the
Phocians gained a victory over the Thessalians. Later in the same wars, in 480
the city was destroyed, along with the other Phocian towns, by the army of
Xerxes.
In 395, the Boeotians besieged the city, but failed to sack it. In 371, Jason, tyrant of Pherae, destroyed the unprotected lower
town (sometimes identified with the village Cleonae) as he was returning from
Boeotia after the Battle of Leuctra. In 347 a
battle was fought near Hyampolis between the Boeotians and Phocians. In the
year 346 the city was attacked once more, this time by
Philip II of
Macedon, who destroyed the city; Pausanias states that the ruins of the ancient
agora, a small council chamber building, and theatre were still remaining in
his time (2nd century), having survived destruction by Philip; it must have
been chiefly the fortifications which were destroyed by Philip. After
reconstruction, the city was once again captured in 198 by Titus Quinctius
Flamininus and fell under Roman rule.
Hadrian had a stoa constructed in the city; the Emperor Septimius Severus is
mentioned in a local inscription. Pausanias notes that a single well in the
whole city was the only freshwater source for the citizens unless they were
able to collect rainwater. Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy erroneously describe
Hyampolis as a city of Boeotia.
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