Thaumaci
Thaumaci or Thaumacus (Ancient Greek: Θαυμακοί or Θαυμακός, romanized: Thaumakoi/Thaumakos), was a town and polis (city-state) of Phthiotis in Ancient Thessaly,[1] was situated on the pass called Coela, on the road from Thermopylae and the Maliac Gulf passing through Lamia. The modern city of Domokos occupies its site.
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At this place, says Livy, the traveller, after traversing rugged mountains and intricate valleys, comes suddenly in sight of an immense plain like a vast sea, the extremity of which is scarcely visible. From the astonishment which it excited in the traveller, the city was supposed to have derived its name. It stood upon a lofty and precipitous rock. It was besieged by Philip V of Macedon in 199 BCE; but a reinforcement of Aetolians having made their way into the town, the king was obliged to abandon the siege.[2] Thaumaci was taken by the consul Acilius in the war with Antiochus, 191 BCE.[3][4][5] The modern town of Domokos occupies the site of Thaumaci,[6][7] and at this place inscriptions were found containing the ancient name. Its situation and prospect are in exact accordance with the description of Livy, who copied from Polybius, an eye-witness. William Martin Leake observes that "at the southern end of the town a rocky point, overtopping the other heights, commands a magnificent prospect of the immense plain watered by the Peneius and its branches."[8] The town was Christianised at an early date and a bishopric was set up (see Thaumacensis).
References
- Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen (2004). "Thessaly and Adjacent Regions". An inventory of archaic and classical poleis. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 716-717. ISBN 0-19-814099-1.
- Livy. Ab Urbe Condita Libri (History of Rome). 32.4.
- Livy. Ab Urbe Condita Libri (History of Rome). 36.14.
- Strabo. Geographica. ix. p.434. Page numbers refer to those of Isaac Casaubon's edition.
- Stephanus of Byzantium. Ethnica. s.v. Θαυμακία.
- Richard Talbert, ed. (2000). Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World. Princeton University Press. p. 55, and directory notes accompanying.
- Lund University. Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire.
- Leake, Northern Greece, vol. i. p. 458.