Hyampolis

Hyampolis (Greek Ὑάμπολις ( f sg ) ) was a city in ancient Greece.

Hyampolis was in Assos valley in the eastern part of the landscape Phocis, about two and a half kilometers west of Abai. The city was built on a high hill about 30 meters and its highest point is located at about 270 meters. To the north of the hill flows the stream of Exarchos in Assos (now Bogdanorema ). Hyampolis lay on the main route from Central to Northern Greece. The road from Orchomenus met from the east to the north-south connection from Livadia by Opus.

Tradition

Hyampolis, which was also briefly called Hya said to have been founded by the Hyanten after they were evicted from Cadmus of Thebes. Even in Homer's Iliad ( Catalogue of Ships ), the city was already mentioned. It was named supposedly after Hyamos, the son of Lykoros, who founded the city after the flood Deukalionischen.

To 490 BC were the Thessalians into Phocis and ravaged the country. In the Thessalian cavalry Hyampolis was defeated by a trick. It had been buried in a bottleneck near the town of empty amphorae and covered with soil. When the cavalry passed this place broke the amphorae under the weight, the horses plunged into the resulting hole and came to case. 480 BC during the Persian Wars, the city was destroyed by the Persians. 395 besieged the Boeotians the city, but could not take it. Jason, tyrant of Pherae, 371 destroyed the unprotected lower town when returning after the battle of Leuctra. In the year 346 BC was an attack again, this time by Philip II of Macedon, the Hyampolis destroyed again. After the reconstruction of the city was conquered by Titus Quinctius Flamininus 198 and fell under Roman rule. Hadrian built a portico in the city; on an inscription also appears Emperor Septimius Severus.

Pausanias reports that there are an agora, a theater and city hall was in Hyampolis. Within the city walls there should have been only one well. The main deity was Artemis Elaphebolos (Greek Έλαφηβόλος = the ( deer ) Hunter ) and you want to honor in her temple twice a year a festival have been celebrated. Sanctuary and the city were used and inhabited until the Roman Imperial period. According to an inscription from the reign of Trajan there were Hyampolis also a sanctuary for the Egyptian gods Serapis, Isis and Bastet. Another inscription mentions Anubis.

Description

Five kilometers north of Hyampolis found in Kalapodi the remains of a sanctuary. First, it was assumed that you would have discovered the Temple of Artemis Elaphebolos of Hyampolis, but recent findings suggest rather suggests that it is the Apollonion of Abai. Approximately 2 kilometers south, on the southwestern edge of the Kastro mountain they found the remains of a late Helladic settlement at the site Smixi.

Research

The English archaeologist William Martin Leake visited the early 19th century Hyampolis and described the facility. In spring 1894, the British School at Athens led under the direction of AG Bather and VW Yorke by archaeological excavations.