Elaeus
- a city on the Hellespont in the Thracian Chersonesus, Liv. 31, 16, 5 Drak. N. cr.; Plin. 4, 11, 18, § 49.—Elēüs, Mel. 2, 2, 7.
ELAEUS
1.(Ἐλαῖος, written Ἐλαιοῦς in Marcian, Peripl. p. 70), was an emporium or trading place on the coast of Bithynia at the mouth of a river of the same name. Elaeus was 120 stadia west of Cales. [CALES]
2.Placed by Pliny in the Sinus Doridis; but nothing is known of it. [CERAMEICUS] [G.L]
ELAEUS (Ἐλαιοῦς, Ἐλεοῦς), the southernmost town of the Thracian Chersonese, within less than one day's sail of Lemnos with a northerly wind(Hdt. 6.140), and a colony of Teos in Ionia (Scymn. 786). It was celebrated for its tomb, temple, and sacred grove of the hero Protesilaus. The temple, conspicuously placed on the sea-shore, was a scene of worship and pilgrimage, not merely for the inhabitants of Elaeus, but also for the neighbouring Greeks generally; and was enriched with ample votive offerings, and probably deposits for security--money, gold and silver saucers, bronze implements, robes, and various other presents. (Hdt. 7.33, 9.116; Strab. 13. p. 595; Paus. 1.34.2, 3.4.5; Plin. Nat. 16.99; Philostr. Her. 2.1; Tzetz. ad Lye. 532.)
Artayetes, the Persian commander at Sestus, stripped the sacred grove of Protesilaus of all the treasures, and profaned it by various acts of outrage, in consequence of which the Athenian commander, Xanthippus, and the citizens of Elaeus crucified Artayctes, when Sestus was taken by the Greeks. (Hdt. 9.118--120.) In B.C. 411, the Athenian squadron under Thrasyllus escaped with difficulty from Sestus to Elaeus (Thuc. 8.102); and it was here, just before the fatal battle of Aegos-Potami, Potami, that the 180 Athenian triremes arrived in time to hear that Lysander was master of Lampsacus. (Xen. Hell. 2.1. 20)
In B.C. 200, Elaeus surrendered voluntarily to Philip V. (Liv. 31.16); but in B.C. 190 the citizens made overtures to the Romans. (Liv. 37.9.) Constantine's fleet in the Second Civil War, A.D. 323, took up its moorings at Elaeus, while that of Licinius was anchored off the tomb of Ajax, in the Troad. (Zosim. 2.23; Le Beau, Bas Empire, vol. 1. p. 216.)
Justinian fortified this important position (Procop. Aed. 4.16), the site of which has been fixed by D'Anville (Mém. de l'Acad. des Inscr. vol. 28. p. 338) to the SE. of the promontory of Mastusia.
[E.B.J]ELAEUS (Ἔλαιος), a town of Aetolia, belonging to Calydon, was strongly fortified, having received all the necessary munitions from king Attalus. It was taken by Philip V., king of Macedonia, B.C. 219. Its name indicates that it was situated in a marshy district; and it must have been on the coast to have received supplies from Attalus. We may therefore place it near Mesolonghi. (Plb. 5.65; Kruse, Hellas, vol. ii. pt, 2. p. 262.)
ELAEUS (Ἔλαιοῦς: Eth. Ἐλαιούσιος).
1.A demus of Attica. [ATTICA 330b.]
2.A town in the Argeia, mentioned only by Apollodorus (Apollod. 2.5.2) and Stephanus B. (s. v.). From the statement of the former writer we may conclude that it could not have been far from Lerna, since Heracles, after he had succeeded in cutting off the immortal head of the Hydra, is said to have buried it by the side of the way leading from Lerna to Elaeus. The remains of this town have been found in the unfrequented road leading from Lerna to Hysiae. (Ross, Reisen im Peloponnes, p. 155, seq.; Boblaye, Recherches, p. 49.; Curtius, Peloposnesos, vol. 2. p. 372.)
3.A town in Chaonia in Epeirus, mentioned only by Ptolemy (Ptol. 3.14.7), but probably situated in the plain Elaeon, of which Livy speaks (43.23). Leake supposes this plain to have been that between Arghyrókastro and Libókhovo, and that the town of Elaeus stood on the heights, opposite to Arghyrókastro, where it is said that some remains of Hellenic walls still exist. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. p, 75.)
or Eleus (Ἐλαιοῦς or Ἐλεοῦς). A town on the southeast point of the Thracian Chersonesus, with a harbour and an heroum of Protesilaüs. See Herod. vi. 140.
- Hdt. 6.140, Hdt. 7.22
- profanation of its shrine of Protesilaus: Hdt. 7.33, Hdt. 9.116, Hdt. 9.120
- Paus. 4.1.6