Troezen is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern Peloponnese

Peloponnese

The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...

, Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Troizinia

Troizinia

Troizinia is a municipality in the Islands regional unit, Attica, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Galatas.-Municipality:The municipality Troizinia was formed at the 2011 local government reform by the merger of the following 2 former municipalities, that became municipal units...

, of which it is a municipal unit.

Troezen is located southwest of Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, across the Saronic Gulf

Saronic Gulf

The Saronic Gulf or Gulf of Aegina in Greece forms part of the Aegean Sea and defines the eastern side of the isthmus of Corinth. It is the eastern terminus of the Corinth Canal, which cuts across the isthmus.-Geography:The gulf includes the islands of; Aegina, Salamis, and Poros along with...

, and a few miles south of Methana

Methana

Methana is a town and a former municipality on the Peloponnese peninsula, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Troizinia, of which it is a municipal unit....

. The seat of the former municipality

Communities and Municipalities of Greece

For the new municipalities of Greece see the Kallikratis ProgrammeThe municipalities and communities of Greece are one of several levels of government within the organizational structure of that country. Thirteen regions called peripheries form the largest unit of government beneath the State. ...

 (pop. 6,507) was in Galatas

Galatás

Galatas , is a town located in the eastern part of the peninsula of the Peloponnese. It is the seat of the municipality of Troizinia, which belongs to the Islands regional unit. It is located on a road connecting the rest of the Peloponnese: Argolis and Ligouri and Galatas and the road to Ermioni...

. Troizina was part of Piraeus Prefecture

Piraeus Prefecture

Piraeus Prefecture was one of the prefectures of Greece. It was part of the Attica region and the Athens-Piraeus super-prefecture. The capital of the prefecture was the city of Piraeus...

 (in antiquity it was part of Argolis

Argolis

Argolis is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula.-Geography:...

). The municipality had a land area of 190.697 km². Its largest towns and villages are Galatás (pop. 2,592 in 2001), Kalloní (pop. 751), Troizína (pop. 671), Taktikoúpoli (391), Karatzás (350), Dryópi (318), Ágios Geórgios (284), and Agía Eléni (227). There are numerous smaller settlements.

Troezen in mythology

According to Greek mythology

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

, Troezen came into being as a result of two ancient cities, Hyperea and Anthea, being unified by Pittheus

Pittheus

In Greek mythology, Pittheus was a son of Pelops, father of Aethra, and grandfather of Theseus. He was the King of Troezen, which he had named after his brother Troezen...

, who named the new city in honor of his deceased brother Troezen

Troezen (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Troezen was one of the children of Pelops and Hippodamia, eponym of the city Troezen.Troezen and his brother Pittheus were said to have come from Pisatis to King Aetius, son of Anthas and grandson of Poseidon and Alcyone, who reigned over the cities of Hyperea and Anthea, and to...

.

Troezen was the place where Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, slept with both Aegeus

Aegeus

In Greek mythology, Aegeus , also Aigeus, Aegeas or Aigeas , was an archaic figure in the founding myth of Athens. The "goat-man" who gave his name to the Aegean Sea was, next to Poseidon, the father of Theseus, the founder of Athenian institutions and one of the kings of Athens.-His reign:Upon the...

 and Poseidon

Poseidon

Poseidon was the god of the sea, and, as "Earth-Shaker," of the earthquakes in Greek mythology. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology: both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon...

 the same night, and fell pregnant with the great Greek hero Theseus

Theseus

For other uses, see Theseus Theseus was the mythical founder-king of Athens, son of Aethra, and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, both of whom Aethra had slept with in one night. Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were...

. Before returning to Athens, Aegeus left his sandals and sword under a large boulder in Troezen, and requested that when the child was able to prove himself by moving the boulder he must return the items to his father in Athens; Theseus did indeed lift the boulder when he came of age.

Troezen is also the setting of the Euripides

Euripides

Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...

 tragedy Hippolytus

Hippolytus (play)

Hippolytus is an Ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides, based on the myth of Hippolytus, son of Theseus. The play was first produced for the City Dionysia of Athens in 428 BC and won first prize as part of a trilogy....

, which recounts the story of the eponymous son of Theseus who becomes the subject of the love of his stepmother, Phaedra

Phaedra (mythology)

In Greek mythology, Phaedra is the daughter of Minos and Pasiphaë, wife of Theseus and the mother of Demophon of Athens and Acamas. Phaedra's name derives from the Greek word φαιδρός , which meant "bright"....

. While fleeing the city, Hippolytus is killed when his chariot is attacked by a bull rising from the sea. Other plays on the same subject have been written by Seneca

Seneca the Younger

Lucius Annaeus Seneca was a Roman Stoic philosopher, statesman, dramatist, and in one work humorist, of the Silver Age of Latin literature. He was tutor and later advisor to emperor Nero...

 and Jean Racine

Jean Racine

Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...

, also set in Troezen.

The ancient city also possessed a spring, supposedly formed where the winged horse Pegasus

Pegasus

Pegasus is one of the best known fantastical as well as mythological creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine horse, usually white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. He was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing...

 once came to ground.

Troezen in history

A cult built up in the ancient city around the legend of Hippolytus. Troezen girls traditionally dedicated a lock of their hair to him before marriage.

Before the Battle of Salamis

Battle of Salamis

The Battle of Salamis was fought between an Alliance of Greek city-states and the Persian Empire in September 480 BCE, in the straits between the mainland and Salamis, an island in the Saronic Gulf near Athens...

 (480 BC), Athenian women and children were sent to Troezen for safety on the instructions of the Athenian statesman Themistocles

Themistocles

Themistocles ; c. 524–459 BC, was an Athenian politician and a general. He was one of a new breed of politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy, along with his great rival Aristides...

. In 1959 a stele

Stele

A stele , also stela , is a stone or wooden slab, generally taller than it is wide, erected for funerals or commemorative purposes, most usually decorated with the names and titles of the deceased or living — inscribed, carved in relief , or painted onto the slab...

 was found in a coffee house in Troezen, depicting the Decree of Themistocles

Decree of Themistocles

The Decree of Themistocles is an ancient Greek inscription discussing Greek strategy in the Greco-Persian Wars, purported to have been issued by the Athenian assembly under the guidance of Themistocles. Since the publication of its contents in 1960, the authenticity of the decree has been the...

, the order to evacuate Athens. The stele has since been dated to some 200 years after the Battle of Salamis, indicating that it is probably a commemorative copy of the original order.

The temple of Isis

Isis

Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...

 was built by the Halicarnassians

Halicarnassus

Halicarnassus was an ancient Greek city at the site of modern Bodrum in Turkey. It was located in southwest Caria on a picturesque, advantageous site on the Ceramic Gulf. The city was famous for the tomb of Mausolus, the origin of the word mausoleum, built between 353 BC and 350 BC, and...

in Troezen, because this was their mother-city, but the image of Isis was dedicated by the people of Troezen.