{{Short description|City in ancient Thessaly}} {{for|a group of stars|Asterism (astronomy)}} thumb|350px|Map showing ancient Thessaly. Asterium - under its later name Peiresiae - is shown toward the centre, near Mt. Titanus. '''Asterium ''' or '''Asterion''' ({{langx|grc|τὸ Ἀστέριον}}) was a city in ancient Thessaly mentioned in the Catalogue of Ships in Homer's ''Iliad'' as belonging to Eurypylus.<ref name=Iliad>{{Cite Iliad|II.735.}}</ref> Homer speaks of "Asterium and the white summits of Titanus – Ἀστέριον Τιτάνοιό τε λευκὰ κάρηνα.<ref name=Iliad/> Strabo places the city in the neighbourhood of Cierium.<ref>{{Cite Strabo|X., p. 438.}}</ref> Stephanus of Byzantium relates that the place was later called '''Peiresia''' (Πειρεσία),<ref>{{Cite Stephanus|''s.v.'' Ἀστέριον}}</ref><ref>{{Cite Pauly|II,2|1784||Asterion 1|Eugen Oberhummer|RE:Asterion 1|}}</ref> no doubt from the ''Argonautica'' of Apollonius of Rhodes who describes the place as near the junction of rivers Apidanus (the modern Pharsalitis) and Enipeus.<ref>{{Cite Apollonius|I.35.}}</ref>
Strabo, who places Titanus near Arne, also speaks of its white colour.<ref>{{Cite Strabo|ix. p.439}}</ref> Peiresiae is said by Apollonius to have been near Mount Phylleium.<ref>{{Cite Apollonius|I.35.}}</ref> Near Mount Phylleium Strabo places a city Phyllus, noted for a temple of Apollo Phylleius.<ref>{{Cite Strabo|ix. p.439}}</ref> Statius calls this city Phylli.<ref>Stat. ''Theb.'' 4.45.</ref> William Smith conjectures that the town of Iresiae mentioned by Livy,<ref>{{Cite Livy|32.13}}</ref> is perhaps a false reading for Peiresiae;<ref>{{Cite DGRG|title=Asterium}}</ref> however, modern scholars treat the town as distinct from Peiresiae and suggest the site is to be found in Magnesia not at Peiresiae.<ref name=Barrington>{{Barrington Atlas|page=55}}</ref>
Under its later name, Peiresia, the town was a polis (city-state), and minted silver coins with the legend «ΠΕΙΡΑΣΙΕΩΝ».<ref name=Poleis>{{cite book|author= Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen |title= An inventory of archaic and classical poleis|year= 2004|publisher= Oxford University Press|location=New York|isbn= 0-19-814099-1|chapter= Thessaly and Adjacent Regions|page= 700}}</ref>
The editors of the ''Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World'' identify Asterium's location at the modern village of Sykies (Συκιές) in the municipal unit of Fyllo, municipality of Palamas, Karditsa.<ref name=Barrington/>
==References== {{reflist}} {{DGRG|title=Asterium}}
Category:Former populated places in Greece Category:Places in the Iliad Category:Populated places in ancient Thessaly Category:Thessaliotis Category:Thessalian city-states Category:Cities in ancient Greece
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