Phocians
The Phocian contingent came from nine cities or localities (Iliad, 2.517-526). Their names in the Catalogue are consistent with historical, post-Homeric place names. They provided forty ships which were drawn up beside the Boeotians at the Greek camp during the Trojan campaign. Like the Boeotians, the Phocians played little role in the poem. The leaders were Schedius and Epistrophus. Schedius was killed by Hector with a spear aimed at Ajax who saw it coming and ducked. Epistrophus survived the war and returned safely home, according to Pausanias (10.36.8-10). The bones of both brothers were buried at Antikyra.
Cyparissus
Cyparissus (Iliad, 2.519,) was apparently the old name of Antikyra, a port city on the northern part of the Gulf of Corinth. Pausanias visited and left a description of "a sanctuary of Artemis surnamed Dictynnaean, a goddess worshipped with great reverence by the citizens." (10.36.5) Today there are ruins of an ancient city wall and a temple of Athena on the slopes of a hill above the modern city of Antikyra (Kastro tou Stenou). Archaeologists have found Mycenaean sherds and those from later periods, as well as inscriptions that confirm the identity of Antikyra. However, whether it had once been Cyparissus was hearsay passed on to Pausanias: "They say that in days of old the name of the city was Cyparissus." On the top of the hill above the ruins of the temple of Athena is a beautiful Prophet Elias Church.
Locations: 38°22'23"N 22°37'24"E (Ancient City Wall & Temple of Athena), 38°22'17"N 22°37'10"E (Prophet Elias Church)
Pytho
The "rocky Pytho" of Homer (Iliad, 2.519, 9.405) was the ancient name of Delphi. It was known as Pytho until the 8th-7th century B.C., Homer's period. The poet knew it as a cult site and treasury for Apollo (Iliad, 9.405), and the place where Agamemnon consulted the oracle (Odyssey, 8.80). The site is magnificent: below towering cliffs, beside an ever-flowing spring, high above plains with the sea in the distance beyond. William Smith wrote in 1854: "its situation is one of the most striking and sublime in all Greece" (Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography). The Mycenaean settlement occupied an area north-east and east of the Temple of Apollo where sherds ranging from the Neolithic have been found. (It is not permitted to walk in this area today.) Many of the well-known ruins date from the Archaic period into Roman times, like the Temple of Apollo, the Sanctuary of Athena Pronaia, and the Castalian Spring. The spring itself still flows and is used by locals and visitors as a welcome source of pure, fresh water.
Location: 38°28'58.0"N 22°30'06.4"E (north-east of the Temple of Apollo)
Crisa
The “sacred Crisa” mentioned by Homer (Iliad, 2.520) is assumed to have been about four kilometres along an ancient path descending from Pytho (Delphi) to the port of Kirra on the Corinthian Gulf. It was also mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo "under snowy Parnassus, a west-facing spur with the cliff hanging over it, and a hollow, rugged glen extending below" (282-5). (This description melds Crisa and Pytho, however, for there is no over-hanging cliff at Crisa but there is at Pytho, and Pytho is not on a spur.) The "hill of Crisa" (Pindar, Pythian Odes, 5.37) has become known in modern times as Agios Georgios (Saint George). There is a small, modern chapel on the hill of that name. On three sides, in the Pleistos valley below, is a sea of olive trees. On the fourth side, about a kilometre away on the slopes of Mt Parnassus, is the modern village of Chryso. Excavations on the north side of the hill have demonstrated Crisa was an important Mycenaean settlement. There are a few remnants of a Cyclopean circuit wall. The accompanying video shows photos of part of the ancient path, and a panoramic sweep from the acropolis, with the sound of chainsaws pruning olive trees in the valley below.
Locations: 38°27'56"N 22°27'46"E (acropolis), 38°27'57.6"N 22°27'50.4"E (Chapel of St George)
Daulis
Daulis (Iliad, 2.520) was near the border of Boeotia, on the road from Orchomenus and Chaeroneia to Delphi. The hill has obvious strategic advantages, with cliffs or steep sides for protection. Pausanias observed: "The men there are few in number, but for size and strength no Phocians are more renowned even to this day. They say that the name of the city is derived from Daulis, a nymph, the daughter of the Cephisus. Others say that the place, on which the city was built, was wooded, and that such shaggy places were called daula by the ancients." (10.4.7) Strabo took the latter view (9.3.13). There are signs to the "Akropolis of Ancient Daulis" in the modern nearby town Davleia. The surrounds are still wooded, and with springs. The impressive remnants of walling on the path up to the acropolis date from the late Classical or Hellenistic periods. Mycenaean sherds have been found on the hill, and evidence of continuous settlement through the Homeric to the Roman periods. A small chapel on top of the hill, Agioi Theodoroi, is now in ruins, covered in bushes. The site attracts strong winds.
Location: 38°30'23"N 22°43'48"E (geo-marker on top of the hill)
Panopeus
Panopeus (Iliad, 2.520) was on a hill along the “Sacred Road” from Athens to Delphi. The city was home to the Phocian leader Schedius, killed by Hector (Iliad, 306-308). It was therefore probably the capital of Phocia. It was no longer a city in Pausanias's day: the people had "no government offices, no gymnasium, no theater, no market-place, no water descending to a fountain, but live in bare shelters just like mountain cabins, right on a ravine. (10.4.1) Today the hilltop is bare except for a dense covering of bushes, and people live in the village of Ag. Vlasios below. Signs in the village point to the "Acropolis and fortification of ancient Panopeas". There is a small Chapel of Agios Athanasios near the summit. On the the north, the hill is enclosed naturally by precipitous rocks. On the south there in extensive walling, in some parts intact and very impressive, particularly the south-east gate. Most of the walling dates from the Hellenistic period. There are remnants of Mycenaean walling outside these later structures. Archaeologists have uncovered sherds from the Mycenaean era. The site overlooks extensive agricultural land. In the Odyssey (11.581) Homer gives Panopeus the epithet "fine-lawned" or "beautiful dancing-lawns". It was also the home of Epeius, son of Panopeus, who built the Trojan horse - with the help of Athena (Od., 8.493).
Locations: 38°29'44"N 22°47'46"E (geo-marker on top of the acropolis), 38°29'44.6"N 22°47'49.0"E (Chapel of Agios Athanasios), 38°30'02.6"N 22°47'55.0"E (Ag. Vlasios)
Anemoreia
The location of Anemoreia (Iliad, 2.521) is uncertain. Two proposals have been put forward based on Strabo's observation: "Anemoreia ["windy place"] has its name from a physical accident, to which it is liable. It is exposed to violent gusts of wind from a place called Catopterius ["The Lookout"], a precipitous mountain, extending from Parnassus. It was a boundary between Delphi and the Phocians.... Some call the place Anemoleia...." (9.3.15) Commentators have located this place at the modern village of Arachova near Delphi, beneath towering cliffs on the slopes of Mt Parnassus. No ancient remains have been found here. Another location proposed by the Southern Phokis Regional Project is about 10 kilometres further south at Desfina-Kastrouli, the site of a major Mycenaean settlement. It is on a low hill, about 550 metres above sea level, with the tracing of a circuit wall, and many clearings among the bushes. There are many partial walls from different periods made of rough rocks. There are level terraces for dwellings. There is evidence of modern excavations. There is no particular view from the top because of the bushes.
Locations: 38°28'57.4"N 22°35'00.3"E (Arachova), 38°23'57"N 22°34'31"E (top of the hill of Kastrouli), 38°23'56"N 22°34'39"E (roadside sign 200 metres from access track to Kastrouli)
Hyampolis
Homer's Hyampolis (Iliad, 2.521) was probably on the hilltop known as Kastro Bogdanou about 4 kilometres north-east of the modern village of Exarchos. Facing a pass coming from the north-east, it was in a strategically important location. Inscriptions found on the hill and its slopes from the Hellenistic and Roman periods have identified the place as Hyampolis (or Hya). A few sherds from the Mycenaean period have also been found on the slopes. There are remnants of the late Classical or Hellenistic walling that encircled the top of the hill. Two kilometres to the south-east, on a taller hill, lie the ruins of Abai (Palaiochori) where there was a sanctuary of Apollo. The two settlements are so close to one another that in the Catalogue of Ships they may together have comprised Hyampolis.
Locations: 38°35'45"N 22°54'21"E (Hyampolis, flagpole on the acropolis), 38°34'49.0"N 22°55'00.1"E (Abai)
River Cephisus
"Those who lived along the holy river Cephisus" (Iliad, 2.522) were many. The Cephisus river was the principal river of Phocia. It flowed from upland springs on the north-western slopes of Parnassus near Lilea down to Lake Copais in the south-east. The Cephisus valley was fertile and well populated. There were many settlements. One of the ancient and revered springs was Agia Eleousa near Lilea. There are ruins of a sanctuary above it, and of a nearby Byzantine Church of the Theotokos Eleousa, partly built with stones from the sanctuary. The natural setting of the spring beneath plane trees, in a pool constructed in Classical times with rock-carved benches to sit on while dangling hot feet, is very beautiful.
Locations: 38°37'46"N 22°31'12"E (spring of Agia Eleousa), 38°37'45"N 22°31'11"E (sanctuary), 38°37'45"N 22°31'17"E (Church of the Theotokos Eleousa)
Lilea
The location of Lilaea "beside the well springs of Cephisus" (Iliad, 2.523) is on the eastern periphery of the modern village of Lilea (formerly Kato Agoriani), about a kilometre from the ruins of historic Lilaea. It is a low hill, about 340 metres above sea level, with a small rocky outcrop with an acropolis (not a place to inhabit). The hill was once fortified. People lived on the lower slopes where the remains of about three metres of ancient walling is visible, mostly covered by brambles. Bronze Age pottery has been found on the slopes. The site is very difficult to access as the hill is surrounded by private residences, farms and a cemetery bounded by dense shrubbery. About a kilometre south, on a higher hill partly protected by cliffs, are the more substantial ruins of historic Lilaea (4th century BC), with walls of trapezoidal masonry. There is no evidence that historic Lilaia was inhabited in the Bronze Age or Early Iron Age. The spring of Agia Eleousa near Polydrosos, one of the sources of the River Cephisus, is about a kilometre east of both pre-historic and historic Lilaea.
Locations: 38°37'58"N 22°30'5"E ("acropolis" of Lilaea), 38°37'46"N 22°31'12" (well springs of Cephisus, spring of Agia Eleousa), 38°37'33"N 22°30'21"E (historic Lilaea), 38°37'58.1"N 22°29'46.0"E (modern village of Lilea).
End of Phocian contingent
Nine localities, two leaders, 40 ships, unspecified number of men.