HYPATA
Aitolia, Greece.
A city of Ainis,
which first appears when it issued coinage of the Ainianes ca. 400-344 B.C.; from 302 B.C. it was in the Aitolian League. In 191 B.C. it was an Aitolian strong point
and its territory laid waste by M' Acilius Glabrio. It remained with the Aitolians after 189 B.C., but after 168
B.C. was part of the free League of Ainis, which was
finally joined to Thessaly by Augustus in 27 B.C. (
Livy
28.5.15; 36.14.15, 16.4, 26.1, 27.4, 28.8, 29.5; Polyb.
20.9.6, 10.13, 11.5;
Livy 37.6.2, 7.1; Polyb. 21.2.7, 3.7,
3.13). The city prospered in the Roman Imperial period
(Apul.,
Met. 1.5) and was the site of a bishopric in
Christian times. It came to be known as Neai Patrai, an
important mediaeval city.
Hypata is located above the Spercheios valley, on the
N slope of Oeta, on a hillside flanked on the W by the
Xerias river and on the E by a ravine. The acropolis hill
is a small, rocky peak (661 m) which falls away steeply
on all sides. It is connected to the main mass of Oeta to
the S by a narrow saddle. A road led S over Oeta to Kallipolis. On the acropolis are some remains of the ancient
wall circuit, although these have largely disappeared under later Byzantine and Frankish walls. Stählin saw some
of the ancient wall on the S side with a gate giving on
the saddle which connects the hill to Oeta. The wall was
ca. 4 m thick, of good 4th-3d c. B.C. masonry. Béquignon
noted an ancient Hellenic wall inside the acropolis on
the SE side at right angles to the circuit wall, perhaps
the foundation of some building. modern Hypati is set
on a terrace on the steep N face of the hillside, below
the acropolis. It occupies the site of the ancient city.
Stählin saw traces of the ancient city walls on the N and
E sides of this terrace. Inscriptions and various ancient
blocks have been built into the modern houses. Béquignon saw a marble head and a mutilated relief, and other
pieces of sculpture have been seen. In 1921 a late Roman
(?) mosaic was found near the church of Haghios Nikolaus in the town. Graves have been discovered in the
vicinity, particularly outside the city to the W. At the
beginning of the century Giannopoullos reported an ancient Greek naiskos at Rigoziano (Rogozinon) on the
left bank of the Xerias opposite Hypata's acropolis; this
has apparently not been checked since. Several inscriptions exist relative to Hypata's boundaries (see Stählin)
which included a considerable amount of the river plain.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
W. M. Leake,
Nor. Gr. (1835) II 18f,
23; L. Stephani,
Reise durch Einige Gegenden des Nordlichen Griechenland (1843) 52;
IG IX 2.56: inscription
concerning the building of a gymnasium in 131 B.C.;
N. I. Giannopoullos,
Ἁρμονία 1 (1900) 633-45; id.,
ArchEph (1914) 89-90
I;
BCH 45 (1921) 524; F. Stählin,
RE (1914) s.v. Hypata; id.,
Das Hellenische Thessalien
(1924) 220-22
I; Y. Béquignon,
La Vallée du Spercheios
(1937) 307-12
MPI.
T. S. MACKAY
