Nicaea or Nikaia (Greek: Νίκαια), was an ancient fortress of the Locri Epicnemidii, situated upon the sea, and close to the pass of Thermopylae. It is described by Aeschines as one of the places which commanded the pass. (De Fals. Leg. p. 45, ed. Steph.) It was the first Locrian town after Alpenos, the latter being at the very entrance of the pass. The surrender of Nicaea by Phalaecus to Philip II, in 346 BCE, made the Macedonian king master of Thermopylae, and brought the Third Sacred War to an end. (Diod. xvi. 59.) Philip kept possession of it for some time, but subsequently gave it to the Thessalians along with Magnesia. (Dem. Phil. ii. p. 153, ed. Reiske; Aesch. c. Ctesiph. p. 73, ed. Steph.) But in 340 BCE we again find Nicaea in the possession of Philip. (Dern. in Phil. Ep. p. 153.) According to Memnon (ap. Phot. p. 234, a., ed. Bekker; c. 41; ed. Orelli) Nicaea was destroyed by the Phocians, and its inhabitants founded the Bithynian Nicaea. But even if this is true, the town must have been rebuilt soon afterwards, since we find it in the hands of the Aetolians during the Roman wars in Greece. (Polyb. x. 42, xvii. 1; Livy xxviii. 5, xxxii. 32.) Subsequently the town is only mentioned by Strabo (ix. p. 426). Leake identifies Nicaea with the castle of Pundonítza, where there are Hellenic remains. (Northern Greece, vol. ii. p. 5, seq.)
References
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography by William Smith (1857).
