Melitaea
Vanished settlement · Greece
- Abandoned
- unknown
- Founded
- —
- Population
- —
- Coordinates
- 39.039, 22.457
Why it was abandoned
🏛️ Ancient ruins
Detected automatically from the text: ancient town of Phthiotis, Greece
History
Melitaea or Meliteia was a town and polis (city-state) of Phthiotis in ancient Thessaly, situated near the river Enipeus, at the distance of 10 stadia from the town of Hellas, whence the residents of Melitaea had come. The inhabitants of Melitaea affirmed that their town was anciently called Pyrrha, and they showed in the agora the tomb of Hellen, the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha. According to Greek mythology its eponymous founder had been Meliteus . There was a legend according to which Aspalis, a beautiful maiden of the place, had been hanged to avoid being possessed by a tyrant of the city which they called Tartarus. Astygites, the brother of Aspalis, killed the tyrant after disguising himself as his sister.