Pteleum

{{short description|Ancient human settlement}} {{Redirect|Pteleon|the insect genus|Pteleon (beetle)}} {{about||the town of ancient Elis|Pteleum (Elis)|the town of ancient Ionia|Pteleum (Ionia)}} '''Pteleum''' or '''Pteleon''' ({{langx|grc|Πτελεόν}}), also '''Pteleos''' (Πτελεός), was a town of ancient Thessaly, on the south-western side of Phthiotis, and near the entrance of the Sinus Pagasaeus. It stood between Antron and Halos, and was distant from the latter 110 stadia, according to Artemidorus.<ref>{{Cite Strabo|ix. p.433}}</ref> It is mentioned by Homer in the Catalogue of Ships in the ''Iliad'' as governed by Protesilaus, to whom the neighbouring town of Antron also belonged.<ref>{{Cite Iliad|2.697}}</ref>

In 200 BCE, during the Second Macedonian War, while the Romans and the forces of Attalus I besieged Oreus (on Euboea), Pteleum was attacked by part of Attalus' army.<ref>{{Cite Livy|36.46}}</ref> In 192 BCE, Antiochus III landed at Pteleum in order to carry on the war against the Romans in Greece.<ref>{{Cite Livy|35.43}}</ref> In 171 BCE, the town, having been deserted by its inhabitants, was destroyed by the consul Licinius.<ref>{{Cite Livy|42.67}}</ref> It seems never to have recovered from this destruction, as Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century, speaks of Pteleum only as a forest.<ref>"nemus Pteleon" {{Cite Pliny|4.8.15}}</ref> Strabo relates that this city established a colony (also named Pteleum) in Elis.<ref>{{Cite Strabo|8.3.25}}</ref> The form Pteleos is used by Lucan<ref>Lucan, ''Pharsalia'', 6.352.</ref> and Pomponius Mela.<ref>{{Cite Mela|2.3}}</ref>

Pteleum's location is at a site called Ftelio near Gritsa.<ref>{{Barrington Atlas|page=55}}</ref><ref>{{Cite DARE|29454}}</ref>

==See also== *List of ancient Greek cities

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DGRG|title=Pteleum}} {{Authority control}} {{coord|39.03369|N|22.97464|E|display=title|format=dms|source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/29454}}

Category:Populated places in ancient Thessaly Category:Former populated places in Greece Category:Places in the Iliad Category:Achaea Phthiotis