# Meliboea (Magnesia)

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**Meliboea** or **Meliboia** (Ancient Greek: Μελίβοια) was a town and [polis](/source/Polis) (city-state)[1] of [Magnesia](/source/Ancient_Magnesia) in [ancient Thessaly](/source/Ancient_Thessaly), mentioned by [Homer](/source/Homer), in the [Catalogue of Ships](/source/Catalogue_of_Ships) in the *[Iliad](/source/Iliad)*, as one of the places subject to [Philoctetes](/source/Philoctetes).[2] It was situated upon the sea coast,[3][4] and is described by [Livy](/source/Livy) as situated at the roots of [Mount Ossa](/source/Mount_Ossa_(Greece)),[5] and by [Strabo](/source/Strabo) as lying in the gulf between Mount Ossa and [Mount Pelion](/source/Mount_Pelion).[6]

The town was famous for its [purple dye](/source/Tyrian_purple).[7] Even down to the 19th century, the shellfish from which the purple dye is obtained were found off the coast of Thessaly.[8]

[Herodotus](/source/Herodotus) mentions it as the place where several [Persian](/source/Achaemenid_Empire) ships under command of [Xerxes I](/source/Xerxes_I) crashed during a storm, prior to the [Battle of Thermopylae](/source/Battle_of_Thermopylae) (480 BCE), while other Persian ships crashed adjacent to [Sepias](/source/Sepias) and others in front of [Casthanaea](/source/Casthanaea).[3]

During the [Roman-Seleucid War](/source/Roman-Seleucid_War), it was one of the Thessalian cities that in the year 191 BCE, being held by [Athamanians](/source/Athamanians), was taken by a joint army of the Roman [Marcus Baebius Tamphilus](/source/Marcus_Baebius_Tamphilus) and [Philip V of Macedon](/source/Philip_V_of_Macedon).[9] It was conquered by the [Romans](/source/Ancient_Rome) in 168 BCE and plundered.[10]

Meliboea was taken and plundered by the [Romans](/source/Ancient_Rome) under [Gnaeus Octavius](/source/Gnaeus_Octavius_(consul_165_BC)) in 168 BCE.[10] Meliboea is also mentioned by [Strabo](/source/Strabo),[11] [Stephanus of Byzantium](/source/Stephanus_of_Byzantium),[12] [Pomponius Mela](/source/Pomponius_Mela),[13] and [Pliny the Elder](/source/Pliny_the_Elder).[14]

Its exact location is unknown, but it is usually located near the modern [Agia](/source/Agia,_Larissa), at the place called *Kastro Velika*, located in the community of [Velika](/source/Velika,_Larissa), municipal unit of [Melivoia](/source/Melivoia,_Larissa), which echoes the ancient name.[15]

## References

1. Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen (2004). "Thessaly and Adjacent Regions". *An inventory of archaic and classical poleis*. New York: [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press). p. 720. ISBN 0-19-814099-1.

1. *[Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax](/source/Periplus_of_Pseudo-Scylax)*, p. 25

1. [Lucretius](/source/Lucretius), *[De rerum natura](/source/De_rerum_natura)* 2.499; [Virgil](/source/Virgil), *[Aeneid](/source/Aeneid)* 5.251.

1. "Meliboea"

1. Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen (2004). "Thessaly and Adjacent Regions". *An inventory of archaic and classical poleis*. New York: [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press). p. 720. ISBN 0-19-814099-1.

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