{{Short description|Town and polis (city-state) of Pelasgiotis in ancient Thessaly}} {{for|the modern village in Greek Macedonia|Skotoussa}} {{expand Greek|topic=geo|Σκοτούσσα Φαρσάλων|date=September 2018}}
{{infobox ancient site | native_name = Σκοτοῦσσα | native_name_lang = grc | image = File:Drachma, Skotoussa, Thessaly, late 5th century.jpg | imagealttext = Silver coin, two sides showing: one has a horse on it | region = Thessaly | coordinates = {{coords|39.38533|N|22.5403|E|format=dms|display=inline, title|source:http://dare.ht.lu.se/places/22746.html}} | caption = A fifth-century drachma of Scotussa, inscribed with the identifier ΣΚΟ ({{gloss|SCO}}) | map_type = Greece | epochs = {{hlist|Neolithic|Mycenaean|Early Iron Age|Classical| Roman}} | abandoned = After 48 BCE }}
'''Scotussa''' or '''Skotoussa''' ({{langx|grc|Σκοτοῦσσα}}<ref name="Strabo">{{Cite Strabo|vii. p.329}}</ref> or Σκοτοῦσα<ref>''Periplus of Pseudo-Scylax'', p. 64.</ref> or Σκοτοτοῦσαι<ref>{{Cite Pausanias|7|27|6}}</ref>) was a town and polis (city-state)<ref name="Poleis">{{cite book |author=Mogens Herman Hansen & Thomas Heine Nielsen |title=An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-19-814099-1 |location=New York |pages=706-707 |chapter=Thessaly and Adjacent Regions}}</ref> in the region of Pelasgiotis in ancient Thessaly.{{Refn|name=BNP|1={{cite web| last=Kramolisch| first=Herwig| website=Brill's New Pauly Online| url=https://referenceworks-brill-com/display/entries/NPOE/e1115390.xml?rskey=AsFMIt| publisher=Brill| title=Scotussa| access-date=2025-04-15}}}} It was between Pherae and Pharsalus, near the border of Phthiotis,{{refn|name=Smith|1={{cite book|last=Smith| first=William| date=1854| chapter=Scotussa| title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography| place=London| publisher=John Murray| chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=scotussa-geo02}}}} about {{Convert|20|km|mi|abbr=on}} to the west of Pherae.{{Refn|name=BNP}}
Scotussa shows evidence of human activity from the Neolithic period onwards, including a Mycenaean settlement in the Late Helladic period which persisted into the Early Iron Age.{{Refn|{{cite web| last1=La Torre| first1=Gioacchino Francesco| first2=Sophia| last2=Karapanou| first3=Vasiliki | last3=Noula| first4=Marta | last4=Venuti| title=The Archaeological Profile of Scotoussa Four Years after the Start of the Italian{{ndash}}Greek Program| url=https://www.academia.edu/122381244/THE_ARCHAEOLOGICAL_PROFILE_OF_SCOTOUSSA_FOUR_YEARS_AFTER| via=Academia.edu| url-access=registration| date=2022| access-date=2025-04-15| page=388}}}} It is not mentioned in Homer, though the geographer Strabo records an early tradition that the oracle of Dodona in Epirus originally came from this place.{{refn|name=Smith}} It was the home city of Polydamas, who won the pankration at the Olympic Games of 408 BCE.{{Refn|{{cite book| last=Miller| first=Stephen Gaylord| date=2004| title=Ancient Greek Athletics| publisher=Yale University Press| place=New Haven| page=161}}}} Xenophon records that the people of Scotussa, alongside the other peoples of Thessaly, fought against Agesilaus II of Sparta when he marched his forces through the region in 394 BCE.{{refn|name=Smith}} The city was taken by Alexander, tyrant of the nearby city of Pherae, in 367 BCE: it had previously been wealthy, and Alexander massacred its people, putting an end to its prosperity.{{Refn|name=BNP}}
The territory of Scotussa included the Cynoscephalae Hills,{{Refn|name=BNP}} at which Alexander was defeated in 364 BCE at the Battle of Cynoscephalae by an allied force of Thebans and Thessalians led by the Theban general Pelopidas: this battle ended Alexander's hegemony over Thessaly.{{Refn|{{cite book| last=Roy| first=Jim| date=1994| chapter=Thebes in the 360s BC| volume=6: The Fourth Century BC| edition=2nd |editor-last1=Lewis| editor-first1=J. M. | editor-last2=Boardman| editor-first2=John| editor-last3=Hornblower| editor-first3=Simon| editor-last4=Ostwald| editor-first4=M.| title=The Cambridge Ancient History| publisher=Cambridge University Press| isbn=978-1-139-05433-1| doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521233484| p=203}}}}
Scotussa was prominent during the late fourth century, during period of Macedonian hegemony over northern Greece, and in the ensuing Hellenistic period.{{Refn|name=BNP}} Between 346 and 330 BCE, the city may have expanded its fortification walls and established a religious cult of Polydamas.{{Refn|{{cite web| last1=La Torre| first1=Gioacchino Francesco| first2=Sophia| last2=Karapanou| first3=Vasiliki | last3=Noula| first4=Marta | last4=Venuti| title=The Archaeological Profile of Scotoussa Four Years after the Start of the Italian{{ndash}}Greek Program| url=https://www.academia.edu/122381244/THE_ARCHAEOLOGICAL_PROFILE_OF_SCOTOUSSA_FOUR_YEARS_AFTER| via=Academia.edu| url-access=registration| date=2022| access-date=2025-04-15| page=389}}}} It became a member of the Thessalian League after 197 BCE.{{Refn|name=BNP}} In that year, Scotussa was the site of a second Battle of Cynoscephalae, between the Macedonian king Philip V and the Roman consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus: the Macedonians were defeated, ending Macedonian hegemony over the region and establishing Roman dominance over Greece.{{Refn|{{cite book| last=Elton| first=Hugh| date=2023| title=Understanding Ancient Battle| publisher=Pen and Sword Books| place=Huddersfield| pages=100{{ndash}}105}}}} It was taken by the Seleucid king Antiochus III in 191 BCE, but soon after retaken by the Roman consul Manius Acilius Glabrio.{{refn|name=Smith}} At some point in the early Roman period, its eastern gate and a large public building collapsed, possibly as the result of an earthquake, and were never rebuilt.{{Refn|{{cite web| last1=La Torre| first1=Gioacchino Francesco| first2=Sophia| last2=Karapanou| first3=Vasiliki | last3=Noula| first4=Marta | last4=Venuti| title=The Archaeological Profile of Scotoussa Four Years after the Start of the Italian{{ndash}}Greek Program| url=https://www.academia.edu/122381244/THE_ARCHAEOLOGICAL_PROFILE_OF_SCOTOUSSA_FOUR_YEARS_AFTER| via=Academia.edu| url-access=registration| date=2022| access-date=2025-04-15| page=390}}}} Scotussa is mentioned by Plutarch as inhabited in 48 BCE, during the civil war between Julius Caesar and Pompey, but described as uninhabited by Pausanias, who wrote in the second century CE.{{refn|name=Smith}}
The ruins of Scotussa are at Agia Triada in the municipality of Farsala,<ref>{{Cite DARE|22746}}</ref><ref>{{Barrington Atlas|page=55}}</ref> and are known as "Portes" ({{Gloss|Gates}}).{{Refn|{{cite web| last1=La Torre| first1=Gioacchino Francesco| first2=Sophia| last2=Karapanou| first3=Vasiliki | last3=Noula| first4=Marta | last4=Venuti| title=The Archaeological Profile of Scotoussa Four Years after the Start of the Italian{{ndash}}Greek Program| url=https://www.academia.edu/122381244/THE_ARCHAEOLOGICAL_PROFILE_OF_SCOTOUSSA_FOUR_YEARS_AFTER| via=Academia.edu| url-access=registration| date=2022| access-date=2025-04-15| page=390}}}} Most of the walls have been lost, though they appear to have been around {{convert|2|to|3|mi|km}} in circumference, with an acropolis towards the southwest.{{refn|name=Smith}} A joint Greek and Italian team began archaeological investigation of the site in 2014, including a large-scale survey of the ancient city.{{Refn|{{cite web| last1=La Torre| first1=Gioacchino Francesco| first2=Sophia| last2=Karapanou| first3=Vasiliki | last3=Noula| first4=Marta | last4=Venuti| title=The Archaeological Profile of Scotoussa Four Years after the Start of the Italian{{ndash}}Greek Program| url=https://www.academia.edu/122381244/THE_ARCHAEOLOGICAL_PROFILE_OF_SCOTOUSSA_FOUR_YEARS_AFTER| via=Academia.edu| url-access=registration| date=2022| access-date=2025-04-15| page=387}}}}
==References== {{reflist}}
== Further reading ==
* {{Cite journal |last=Missailidou-Despotidou |first=V. |date=1993 |title=A Hellenistic Inscription from Skotoussa (Thessaly) and the Fortifications of the City |journal=Annual of the British School at Athens |volume=88 |pages=187{{ndash}}217 |jstor=30064366}}
Category:Former populated places in Greece Category:Thessalian city-states Category:Pelasgiotis