Thetidium
39°21′36″N 22°30′11″E / 39.360086°N 22.502967°E Thetidium or Thetidion or Thetideion (Ancient Greek: Θετίδιον,[1][2] Θετίδειον,[3] or Θεστίδειον[4]) was a town in Thessaliotis in ancient Thessaly, close to Pharsalus, where Flamininus encamped at the end of the second march from Pherae towards Scotussa, before the Battle of Cynoscephalae. It derived its name from Thetis, the mother of Achilles, the national hero of the Achaean Phthiotae.[5] According to Phylarchus, after Thetis had Hephaestus make armor for her son, he agreed to give the armor to her if she would sleep with him. Thetis agreed, but told him she would have to try it on first, as to see if it would fit her son. Armed, she fled his advances. Hephaestus, in his anger, hit her ankle with a hammer. She landed in Thessaly and healed the wound, and thus the place was named after her.
Its site is at a location called Agios Athanasios or Kato Dasolofos, within the boundaries of the modern village of Thetidio, which echoes the ancient name.[6][7]
References
[edit]- ^ Strabo. Geographica. Vol. ix. p.431. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
- ^ Polybius. The Histories. Vol. 18.3, 4.
- ^ Euripides, Androm. 20.
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v. Θετιδεύς.
- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Thetidium
- ^ Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
- ^ Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 55, and directory notes accompanying. ISBN 978-0-691-03169-9.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Thetidium". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
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