Melpeia (Ancient Greek: Μέλπεια) was a locality (Ancient Greek: χωρίον) in ancient Arcadia, situated on the mountain Nomia, which is a part of Mount Lycaeus.[1] There was a sanctuary of the Nomian Pan, who is said to have discovered the pan flute here. According to the Arcadians, the name "Nomia" was derived from the nymph Nomia. It was situated near Lycosura.[2]
A sanctuary of Pan, very likely the one reported by Pausanias, was excavated in 1902 at a ruined chapel of Ai Strategos near the village of Neda (formerly Berekla). Finds included bronze figurines of the archaic and classical periods and an ash altar.[3]
The present villages Kato Melpeia and Ano Melpeia in the municipality of Oichalia in northern Messenia were named after Melpeia.
References
edit- ^
Smith, William, ed. (1857). "Melpeia". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Vol. 2. London: John Murray. p. 323.
- ^ Pausanias (1918). "38.11". Description of Greece. Vol. 8. Translated by W. H. S. Jones; H. A. Ormerod. Cambridge, Massachusetts; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann – via Perseus Digital Library.
- ^ "Αριστομένης ο Μεσσήνιος: Ο Νόμιος Παν: Το ιερό και η λατρεία του Θεού στην Μπέρεκλα (Νέδα)".
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). "Melpeia". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
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