Αἴπεια

Aipeia

Translated by Catharine Roth2 Feb 2003Vetting: high6 revisions

4 words

Name of a city.

Greek original · Adler’s text

Αἴπεια· ὄνομα πόλεως.

Betacode

*ai)/peia: o)/noma po/lews.

Stephanus of Byzantium s.v. registers three poleis of this name, in 'Lakonike', Cyprus and Crete. The first of them is most likely to have generated this Suda entry and its counterparts (Hesychius alpha2045; Ambrosian Lexicon 320, according to Adler; and Etymologicum Magnum 37.38), given its mention in Homer: at Iliad 9.152 (again 294) it is one of the seven named ptoliethra given by Agamemenon to appease Achilles.
That they are all described as being 'near sandy Pylos' places them not in Argos [Myth, Place] (Hesychius) or Laconia (Steph.Byz.) but Messenia, in the SW Peloponnese. As to Aipeia itself, specifically, Strabo 8.4.5 noted identifications of it with Thouria or Methone/Mothone (mu 1189), while in Pausanias 4.34.5 it is Korone.
See Graham Shipley, 'Messenia' in Hansen & Nielsen 540-568, at 552 and (twice) 555.