Pellene

Its name was derived by the inhabitants themselves from the giant Pallas, and by the Argives from the Argive Pellen, a son of Phorbas.{{Cite Herodotus|1.145}}{{Cite Polybius|2.41}}{{Cite Strabo|viii. p.386}}{{Cite Pausanias|7|26|12}}-14Apollon. 1.176. Pellene was a city of great antiquity. It is mentioned in the Homeric Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad;{{Cite Iliad|2.574}} and according to a tradition, preserved by Thucydides, the inhabitants of Scione in the peninsula of Pallene in Macedonia professed to be descended from the Achaean Pallenians, who were driven on the Macedonian coast, on their return from Troy.{{Cite Thucydides|4.120}}

At the commencement of the Peloponnesian War, Pellene was the only one of the Achaean towns which espoused the Spartan cause, though the other states afterwards followed their example.{{Cite Thucydides|2.9}} It was a member of the first Achaean League until that League was dissolved by Alexander the Great. In the time of Alexander the Great, Pellene fell under the dominion of one of its citizens of the name of Chaeron, a distinguished athlete, who raised himself to the tyranny by Alexander's assistance.{{Cite Pausanias|7|27|7}} Around 270/265 BCE it was again a democracy joining the revived Achaean League. In the wars which followed the re-establishment of the Achaean League, Pellene was several times taken and re-taken by the contending parties.{{Cite Polybius|2.52, 4.8, 13}} In 241 BCE, Pellene was briefly conquered by the Aetolian League, but the raiding party was expelled by Aratus of Sicyon in the Battle of Pellene.Plutarch, Aratus, 31–32; {{Cite Polybius|4.8.4}} In 225 BCE, it was captured by Cleomenes III of Sparta, but after the successful intervention of Macedon it was returned to Achaea the following year.Plutarch, Aratus, 39. Pellene remained a member of the Achaean League until the Roman conquest in 146 BCE.

The buildings of Pellene are described by Pausanias.{{Cite Pausanias|7|27|1}} et seq. Of these, the most important were a temple of Athena, with a statue of the goddess, said to have been one of the earlier works of Pheidias; a temple of Dionysus Lampter, in whose honour a festival, Lampteria, was celebrated; a temple of Apollo Theoxenius, to whom a festival, Theoxenia, was celebrated; a gymnasium, and more. Sixty stadia from the city was the Mysaeum (Μύσαιον), a temple of the Mysian Demeter; and near it a temple of Asclepius, called Cyrus (Κῦρος): at both of these places there were copious springs.

Between Aegium and Pellene, ancient writers mention a village also called Pellene, celebrated for the manufacture of a particular kind of cloaks, which were given as prizes in the agonistic contests in the city.{{Cite Strabo|viii. p.386}}Pindar O. 9.146, with Schol.; Aristophanes The Birds 1421, with Schol.; Hesych. and Phot. s. v. Πελληνικαὶ χλαῖναι. Others, however, questions this second Pellene, supposing that Strabo is describing Pellene as both citadel and village.E.g., K. O. Müller Dor. vol. ii. p. 430.

The ruins are southwest of Xylokastro on the northern coast of the Peloponnese.

• Phanas of Pellene (6th century BC), runner (Olympic victor 512 BC)
• Sostratus of Pellene (5th century BC), runner (Olympic victor 460 BC)
• Promachus of Pellene (5th century BC), pakratiast (Olympic victor 404 BC)
• Chaeron of Pellene (4th century BC), wrestler and tyrant (Olympic victor between 356 and 344 BC)

• Pellana

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Category:Populated places in ancient Achaea

Category:Former populated places in Greece

Category:Locations in the Iliad

Category:Achaean city-states

Category:Populated places in Corinthia

Category:Xylokastro-Evrostina