PAGASAE
PAGASAE (
Παγασαί: also Pagasa, gen.--ae,
Plin. Nat. 4.8. s. 15; Mela, 2.3.6;
Prop. 1.20. 17: Eth.
Παγασαῖος, Eth.
Pagasaeus), a, town of Magnesia in Thessaly, situated at the northern extremity of the bay named after it. (
Παγασητικὸς κόλπος, Scylax, p. 24;
Strab. ix. p.438;
Παγασίτης, Dem.
Phil. Epist. 159; Pagasaeus Sinus, Mela, .
c. c. Pagasicus, Plin.
l.c.) Pagasae is celebrated in mythology as the port where Jason built the ship Argo, and from which he sailed upon his adventurous voyage: hence some of the ancients derived its name from the construction of that vessel, (from
πήγνυμι), but others from the numerous and abundant springs which were found at this spot. (
Strab. ix. p.436.) Pagasae was conquered by Philip after the defeat of Onomarchus. (Dem.
Ol. i. pp. 11, 13;
Diod. 16.31, where for
Παγαί we ought probably to read
Παγασαί.)
[p. 2.515]On the foundation of Demetrias in B.C. 290, Pagasae was one of the towns, whose inhabitants were transferred to the new city; but after the Roman conquest Pagasae was restored, and again became an important place.
In the time of Strabo it was the port of Pherae, which was the principal city in this part of Thessaly. Pagasae was 90 stadia from Pherae, and 20 from Iolcos. (Strab. L. C.) The ruins of the ancient city are to be seen near
Volo, which has given the modern name to the bay.
The acropolis occupied the summit of some rocky heights above
Cape Angkístri, and at the foot of the rocks are many copious sources of water, of which Strabo speaks.
But as these springs are rather saline to the taste, the city was provided in the Roman times with water from a distance by means of an aqueduct, the ruined piers of which are still a conspicuous object. (Leake,
Northern Greece, vol. iv. p. 368, seq.)
