HALONNE´SUS
HALONNE´SUS (
Ἁλόννησος: Eth.
Ἁλοννήσιος), an island in the Aegaean sea, lying off the southern extremity of the Magnesian coast in Thessaly.
The possession of this island gave rise to a dispute between Philip and the Athenians in B.C. 343,
[p. 1.1029]and is the subject of an oration which is included among the works of Demosthenes, but which was ascribed, even by the ancients, to Hegesippus, who was the head of the embassy sent by the Athenians to Philip to demand restitution of Halonnesus. [See
Dict. of Biogr. Vol. I. p. 989.] Halonnesus lies between Sciathus and Peparethus, and appears to be the same island as the one called
SCOPELUS (
Σκόπελος) by Ptolemy (
3.13.47) and Hierocles (p. 643, Wessel.), which name the central one of these three islands still bears. Strabo (
ix. p.436) speaks of Sciathus, Halonnesus, and Peparethus without mentioning Scopelus; while in the lists of Ptolemy and Hierocles the names of Sciathus, Scopelus, and Peparethus occur without that of Halonnesus. Halonnesus is also mentioned by Pliny (
4.12. s. 23), Mela (2.7), and Stephanus B. (s. v.); but they do not speak of Scopelus.
The modern island of
Skopelo is one of the most flourishing in the Aegaean, in consequence of its wines, which it exports in large quantities. (Leake,
Norther Greece, vol. iii. p. 111, seq.; Fiedler,
Reise durch Griechenland, vol. ii. p. 13, seq.)
