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Phlegra (mythology)

Phlegra () is both a real and a mythical location in Greek and Roman mythology.

Phlegra is a peninsula of Macedonia (more specifically in Chalkidike) in modern Greece; it is an ancient name for Pallene in historical Thrace, the latter as per the toponymy of the ancients. Pallene and Phlegra is most commonly called nowadays Kassandra, or Peninsula of Kassandra.Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy: Inferno (commentary by Charles S. Singleton). Volumes 1-2 Princeton University Press, 1990.

The Greek geographer Strabo (c.63 BC – c. 24 AD) writes:

Nevertheless, various places have been associated with the Gigantomachy. The presence of volcanic phenomena, and the frequent unearthing of the fossilized bones of large prehistoric animals throughout these locations may explain why such sites became associated with the Giants. Pindar writes that the battle occurred at Phlegra ("the place of burning"), Phlegra was an ancient name for Pallene, and Phlegra/Pallene was the usual birthplace of the Giants and site of the battle. Apollodorus, who placed the battle at Pallene, says the Giants were born "as some say, in Phlegrae, but according to others in Pallene". The name Phlegra and the Gigantomachy were also often associated, by later writers, with the Phlegraean Plain, the volcanic fields, at the east of Cumae. Diodorus Siculus presents a war featuring multiple battles, with one at Pallene, one on the Phlegraean Fields, and one on Crete. Even when, as in Apollodorus, the battle starts at one place, individual battles between Giant and god might range further afield, with Enceladus buried beneath Sicily, and Polybotes under the island of Nisyros (or Kos).

Strabo also refers to the Phlegraean Plain (Φλέγρας πεδίον, grc, or Φλεγραία πλάξ, grc, later Campi Flegrei ), in Campania, "which mythology has made the setting of the story of the Giants":

According to the Greek geographer, the Giants who survived, were driven out by Heracles, finding refuge with their mother in Leuca (Apulia), in Italy's 'heel'. A fountain there had smelly water the locals claimed to be from the ichor of the giants.

References

References

  1. In Greek mythology, it is the site of Zeus's overthrowing of the Giants ([[Gigantes]]) at the end of the [[Gigantomachy]].{{in lang|it}} Ferrari, Anna. [https://books.google.com/books?id=G5j7eMWdff0C&dq=Dizionario+dei+luoghi+del+mito%3A+Geografia+reale+e+immaginaria+del+mondo+classico&pg=PT13 ''Dizionario dei luoghi del mito - Geografia reale e immaginaria del mondo classico'': "Flegra"]. Milano: Bur, 2011.
  2. "Geography 7.Fr. 27".
  3. Mayor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9TwhfvU08UcC&pg=PA197 p. 197 ff.]; Apollodorus [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Apollod.%201.6.1 1.6.1 n. 3]; Frazer 1898b, note to Pausanias 8.29.1 "the legendary battle of the gods and the giants" [https://archive.org/stream/pausaniassdescr01pausgoog#page/n336/mode/2up pp. 314–315]; [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+8.32.5 8.32.5]; [[Philostratus]], ''[[Life of Apollonius of Tyana]]'' [https://archive.org/stream/lifeofapollonius01phil#page/498/mode/2up 5.16 (pp. 498–501)], ''On Heroes'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=R8nMVkv_lZ4C&pg=PA14 8.15–16 (p. 14)].
  4. {{Rp. 235 (58) as do other early sources.[[Aeschylus]], ''[[Oresteia
  5. [[Herodotus]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0126%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3D123%3Asection%3D1 7.123.1]; [[Strabo]], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3Dfragments%3Asection%3D25 7 Fragment 25], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0198%3Abook%3D7%3Achapter%3Dfragments%3Asection%3D27 27]; [[Philostratus]], ''On Heroes'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=R8nMVkv_lZ4C&pg=PA14 8.16 (p. 14)]; [[Stephanus Byzantius]], ''s.v.'' [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_mZ5bAAAAQAAJ/page/n248 ''Παλλήνη''] (Hunter [https://books.google.com/books?id=46QD6MxdH8cC&pg=PA81 p. 81]), [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_mZ5bAAAAQAAJ/page/n326 ''Φλέγρα'']; Liddell and Scott, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=fle/gra ''Φλέγρα''];
  6. Gantz, p. 419; Frazer 1898b, note to Pausanias 8.29.1 "the legendary battle of the gods and the giants" [https://archive.org/stream/pausaniassdescr01pausgoog#page/n336/mode/2up pp. 314–315]; [[Lycophron]], ''Alexandra'' [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/504/mode/2up 115–127 (pp. 504–505)], [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/606/mode/2up 1356–1358 (pp. 606–607)], [https://archive.org/stream/callimachuslycop00calluoft#page/610/mode/2up 1404–1408 (pp. 610–611)]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html 4.15.1]; [[Pausanias (geographer)
  7. [[Strabo]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/5D*.html 5.4.4], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/5D*.html 5.4.6], [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+6.3.5 6.3.5]; [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html 4.21.5–7], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html 5.71.4].
  8. [[Diodorus Siculus]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html 4.15.1], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/4B*.html 4.21.5–7], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/5D*.html 5.71.2–6].
  9. Hanfmann 1937, p. 475 n. 52.
  10. {{LSJ. fle/gra. φλέγρα. ref.
  11. . (1923). ["Strabo: The Geography, Book V Chapter IV"](https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/strabo/5d*.html). *Loeb Classical Library edition*.
  12. Smith, William. (1865). "Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography". Little, Brown & Company.
  13. Strabo also mentions an account of Heracles battling Giants at [[Phanagoria]], a Greek colony on the shores of the [[Black Sea]].[[Strabo]], ''Geography'' [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Strab.+11.2.10 11.2.10].
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