Pharae

{{Short description|The ancient name of modern Fares, Achaea, Greece}}

{{other uses}}

Pharae ({{langx|grc|Φαραί}}),{{Cite Stephanus|s.v. ἡ Φαραική}} otherwise known as Phara (Φᾶρα),{{cite Strabo|viii. p.388}} and Pherae,{{cite Pliny|4.6}} was a town and polis (city-state),{{cite book|author= Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen |title= An inventory of archaic and classical poleis|url= https://archive.org/details/inventoryarchaic00hans |url-access= limited |year= 2004|publisher= Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn= 0-19-814099-1|chapter= Achaia|page= [https://archive.org/details/inventoryarchaic00hans/page/n501 485]}} situated by the Peiros River, approximately {{convert|11|km}} from the sea and {{convert|23.5|km}} from the town of Patras, in what is now southern Greece. It was one of the twelve Achaean cities, and one of the four major cities which spearheaded the restoration of the Achaean League in 280 BC.

In an event called the Social War (220–217 BC), it suffered from various setbacks caused by the attacks of the Aetolians and Eleans. Its territory was later annexed by Augustus, and after the Battle of Actium, it was made a colony of Rome.

As of the 19th century, Pharae still contained a large agora with a statue of Hermes.{{cite DGRG|title=Pharae}} The modern village Fares was named after Pharae.