Pteleum or Pteleon (Ancient Greek: Πτελεόν), also Pteleos (Πτελεός), was a town of ancient Thessaly, on the south-western side of Phthiotis, and near the entrance of the Sinus Pagasaeus. It stood between Antron and Halos, and was distant from the latter 110 stadia, according to Artemidorus.[1] It is mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad as governed by Protesilaus, to whom the neighbouring town of Antron also belonged.[2]
In 200 BCE, during the Second Macedonian War, while the Romans and the forces of Attalus I besieged Oreus (on Euboea), Pteleum was attacked by part of Attalus' army.[3] In 192 BCE, Antiochus III landed at Pteleum in order to carry on the war against the Romans in Greece.[4] In 171 BCE, the town, having been deserted by its inhabitants, was destroyed by the consul Licinius.[5] It seems never to have recovered from this destruction, as Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century, speaks of Pteleum only as a forest.[6] Strabo relates that this city established a colony (also named Pteleum) in Elis.[7] The form Pteleos is used by Lucan[8] and Pomponius Mela.[9]
Pteleum's location is at a site called Ftelio near Gritsa.[10][11]
See also
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Pteleum". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
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