on the sea-coast, whose inhabitants worshipped Hermes under the phallic symbol; Pylus, at the junction of the Peneus and the Ladon, which, like so many other places of the same name, claimed to be the city of Nestor, and the fortified frontier town of Lasion, the ruins of which are still visible at Kuti, near the village of Kumani. The district was famous in antiquity for its cattle and horses; and its byssus, supposed to have been introduced by the Phoenicians, was inferior only to that of Palestine. (2) Pisatis extended south from Hollow Elis to the right bank of the Alpheus, and was divided into eight departments called after as many towns. Of these Salmone, Heraclea, Cicysion, Dyspontium and Harpina are known—the last being the reputed burial-place of Marmax, the suitor of Hippodamia. From the time of the early investigators it has been disputed whether Pisa, which gave its name to the district, has ever been a city, or was only a fountain or a hill. By far the most important spot in Pisatis was the scene of the great Olympic games, on the northern bank of the Alpheus (see Olympia). (3) Triphylia stretches south from the Alpheus to the Neda, which forms the boundary towards Messenia. Of the nine towns mentioned by Polybius, only two attained to any considerable influence—Lepreum and Macistus, which gave the names of Lepreatis and Macistia to the southern and northern halves of Triphylia. The former was the seat of a strongly independent population, and continued to take every opportunity of resisting the supremacy of the Eleans. In the time of Pausanias it was in a very decadent condition, and possessed only a poor brick-built temple of Demeter; but considerable remains of its outer walls are still in existence near the village of Strovitzi, on a part of the Minthe range.
The original inhabitants of Elis were called Caucones and Paroreatae. They are mentioned for the first time in Greek history under the title of Epeians, as setting out for the Trojan War, and they are described by Homer as living in a state of constant hostility with their neighbours the Pylians. At the close of the 11th century B.C. the Dorians invaded the Peloponnesus, and Elis fell to the share of Oxylus and the Aetolians. These people, amalgamating with the Epeians, formed a powerful kingdom in the north of Elis. After this many changes took place in the political distribution of the country, till at length it came to acknowledge only three tribes, each independent of the others. These tribes were the Epeians, Minyae and Eleans. Before the end of the 8th century B.C., however, the Eleans had vanquished both their rivals, and established their supremacy over the whole country. Among the other advantages which they thus gained was the right of celebrating the Olympic games, which had formerly been the prerogative of the Pisatans. The attempts which this people made to recover their lost privilege, during a period of nearly two hundred years, ended at length in the total destruction of their city by the Eleans. From the time of this event (572 B.C.) till the Peloponnesian War, the peace of Elis remained undisturbed. In that great contest Elis sided at first with Sparta; but that power, jealous of the increasing prosperity of its ally, availed itself of the first pretext to pick a quarrel. At the battle of Mantinea (418 B.C.) the Eleans fought against the Spartans, who, as soon as the war came to a close, took vengeance upon them by depriving them of Triphylia and the towns of the Acrorea. The Eleans made no attempt to re-establish their authority over these places, till the star of Thebes rose in the ascendant after the battle of Leuctra (371 B.C.). It is not unlikely that they would have effected their purpose had not the Arcadian confederacy come to the assistance of the Triphylians. In 366 B.C. hostilities broke out between them, and though the Eleans were at first successful, they were soon overpowered, and their capital very nearly fell into the hands of the enemy. Unable to make head against their opponents, they applied for assistance to the Spartans, who invaded Arcadia, and forced the Arcadians to recall their troops from Elis. The general result of this war was the restoration of their territory to the Eleans, who were also again invested with the right of holding the Olympic games. During the Macedonian supremacy in Greece they sided with the victors, but refused to fight against their countrymen. After the death of Alexander they renounced the Macedonian alliance. At a subsequent period they joined the Aetolian League, but persistently refused to identify themselves with the Achaeans. When the whole of Greece fell under the Roman yoke, the sanctity of Olympia secured for the Eleans a certain amount of indulgence. The games still continued to attract to the country large numbers of strangers, until they were finally put down by Theodosius in 394, two years previous to the utter destruction of the country by the Gothic invasion under Alaric. In later times Elis fell successively into the hands of the Franks and the Venetians, under whose rule it recovered to some extent its ancient prosperity. By the latter people the province of Belvedere on the Peneus was called, in consequence of its fertility, “the milch cow of the Morea.”
ELIS, the chief city of the ancient Greek district of Elis, was
situated on the river Peneus, just where it passes from the
mountainous district of Acrorea into the champaign below.
According to native tradition, it was originally founded by
Oxylus, the leader of the Aetolians, whose statue stood in the
market-place. In 471 B.C. it received a great extension by the
incorporation (synoecism) of various small hamlets, whose
inhabitants took up their abode in the city. Up to this date it
only occupied the ridge of the hill now called Kalaskopi, to the
south of the Peneus, but afterwards it spread out in several
suburbs, and even to the other side of the stream. As all the
athletes who intended to take part in the Olympic games were
obliged to undergo a month’s training in the city, its gymnasiums
were among its principal institutions. They were three in number—the
“Xystos,” with its avenues of plane-trees, its plethrion
or wrestling-place, its altars to Heracles, to Eros and Anteros, to
Demeter and Kore (Cora), and its cenotaph of Achilles; the
“Tetragonon,” appropriated to boxing exercises; and the
“Maltho,” in the interior of which was a hall or council chamber
called Lalichmion after its founder. The market-place was of
the old-fashioned type, with porticoes at intervals and paths
leading between them. It was called the Hippodrome because
it was commonly used for exercising horses. Among the other
objects of interest were the temple of Artemis Philomirax; the
Hellanodicaeon, or office of the Hellanodicae; the Corcyrean
Hall, a building in the Dorian style with two façades, built of
spoils from Corcyra; a temple of Apollo Acesius; a temple
of Silenus; an ancient structure supported on oaken pillars and
reputed to be the burial-place of Oxylus; the building where
the sixteen women of Elis were wont to weave a robe for the
statue of Hera at Olympia; the temple of Aphrodite, with a
statue of the goddess by Pheidias as Urania with a tortoise
beneath her foot, and by Scopas as Pandemos, riding on a goat;
and the shrine of Dionysus, whose festival, the Thyia, was
yearly celebrated in the neighbourhood. On the acropolis was a
temple of Athena, with a gold and ivory statue by Pheidias.
The history of the town is closely identified with that of the
country. In 399 B.C. it was occupied by Agis, king of Sparta.
The acropolis was fortified in 312 by Telesphorus, the admiral
of Antigonus, but it was shortly afterwards dismantled by
Philemon, another of his generals. A view of the site is given by
Stanhope. It is now called Palaeopolis. No traces of any
buildings can be identified, the only remains visible dating from
Roman times.
See Pausanias vi. 23-26; J. Spencer Stanhope, Olympia and Elis (1824), folio; W. M. Leake, Morea (1830); E. Curtius, Peloponnesus (1851–1852); Schiller, Stämme und Staaten Griechenlands; C. Bursian, Geographie von Griechenland (1868–1872); P. Gardner, “The Coins of Elis,” in Num. Chr. (1879). (E. Gr.)
ELIS, PHILOSOPHICAL SCHOOL OF. This school was
founded by Phaedo, a pupil of Socrates. It existed for a very
short time and was then transferred by Menedemus to Eretria,
where it became known as the Eretrian school. Its chief
members, beside Phaedo, were Anchipylus, Moschus and Pleistanus
(see Phaedo and Menedemus).
ELISAVETGRAD, a fortress and town of Russia, in the
government of Kherson, 296 m. by rail N.E. of Odessa on the
Balta-Kremenchug railway, and on the Ingul river, in 48° 31′ N.
and 32° 10′ E. The population increased from 23,725 in 1860 to
