ASTE´RIUM
ASTE´RIUM (
Ἀστέριον: Eth.
Ἀστεριώτης), a town of Thessaly, mentioned by Homer, who speaks of “Asterium and the white summits of Titanus.”
Ἀστέριον Τιτάνοιό τε λευκὰ κάρηνα, II. 2.735.) Asterium was said to be the same city as Peiresia or Peiresiae (
Steph. B. sub voce Ἀστέριον), which is described by Apollonius Rhodius (1.35) as placed near the junction of the Apidanus and Enipeus, and by the author of the Orphica as near the confluence of the Apidanus and Enipeus. (Orphic.
Argon. 164.) Leake remarks that both these descriptions may be applied to the hill of
Vlokhó, which is situated between the junction of the Apidanus and the Enipeus and that of the united stream with the Peneius, and at no great distance from either confluence.
There are some ruins at
Vlockhó, which represent Asterium or Peiresiae; while the white calcareous rocks of the hill explain and justify the epithet which Homer gives to Titanus. Strabo (
ix. p.439), who places Titanus near Arne, also speaks of its white colour. Peiresiae is said by Apollonius (
l.c.) to have been near Mount Phylleium, which Leake supposes to be the heights separated by the river from the hill of
Vlokhó. Near Mount Phylleium Strabo (
ix. p.435) places a city Phyllus, noted for a temple of Apollo Phylleius. Statius (
Stat. Theb. 4.45) calls this city Phylli.
The town of
IRESIAE mentioned by Livy (
32.13), is perhaps a false reading for Peiresiae. (Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 322, seq.)
