Olizon

39°08′07″N 23°13′02″E

Map showing ancient Thessaly. Olizon is shown to the lower right opposite Euboea (shown in pink).

Olizon (Ancient Greek: Ὀλιζών) was an ancient Greek town and polis (city-state) of Magnesia located in the region of Thessaly.^[1][2][3][4] Olizon is mentioned by Homer, who gives it the epithet of "rugged"; and in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad, Olizon formed part of the territories of Philoctetes.^[5]

It is also mentioned in the Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax as a city in Magnesia, together with Iolcus, Spalauthra, Methone and Coracae.^[6] In Strabo's time, it formed part of the dependent territories of Demetrias on a section of the coast where Thaumacia and Meliboea also stood.^[7] Plutarch wrote that it was located opposite Artemisium in Euboea.^[8]

Olizon is located at the Palaiokastro (old fort) at Agios Andreas.^[9][10]

References

1. Hansen & Nielsen 2004, "Thessaly and Adjacent Regions", p. 721.
2. Strabo. Geographica. Vol. ix. p.436. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
3. Pliny. Naturalis Historia. Vol. 4.9.16.
4. Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. Vol. s.v.
5. Homer. Iliad. Vol. 2.717.
6. Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax, 65.
7. Strabo. Geographica. Vol. 9.5.15-16. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
8. Plut. Them. 8.
9. 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.
10. Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.

Sources

• Hansen, Mogens Herman; Nielsen, Thomas Heine (2004). An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198140991.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Olizon". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.