Cranon

About

Cranon (Ancient Greek: Κρανών) or Crannon (Κραννών) was a town and polis (city-state) of Pelasgiotis, in ancient Thessaly, situated southwest of Larissa, and at the distance of 100 stadia from Gyrton, according to Strabo. Spelling differs among the sources: Κράννων and ῂ Κράννωνοϛ; Κραννών, Κράννουν, and Κράννουϛ. To the west it bounded with the territory of Atrax and to the east with that of Scotussa. To the south the ridges of the Revenia separated it from the valley of the river Enipeus. Its most ancient name is said to have been Ephyra (Ὲφύρη or Ὲφύρα), so called prior to the arrival of the Thessalians; and Homer, in his account of the wars of the Ephyri and Phlegyae, is supposed by the ancient commentators to have meant the people afterwards called Crannonians and Gyrtonians respectively. Pindar likewise speaks of the Crannonii under the name of Ephyraei. In the Ancient Olympic Games of 648 BCE, Crauxidas the Crannonian (or Craxilas) won the horse race. In the 6th century BCE the most prominent family in the city's political life was the Scopadae, whose numerous flocks and herds grazed in the fertile plain surrounding the city. Diactorides, one of the Scopadae of Crannon, was a...

The first epigraphic reference to the polis of the Cranionians (πόλις Κραννουνίων) is in an honorific decree of the 3rd century BCE.

First side of the image: O: Horseman Λ E

- Second side of the image: R: Bull, trident above IΠ/KPAN

There are ruins of Cranon at a place called Palealarissa, in the modern municipal unit of Krannonas.

At an indeterminate date Cranon was a walled and fortified city, but almost nothing is known about the urban centre and the acropolis, except for a possible temple of Athena Polias erected on it. There were also temples of Aesclepius, Apollo, Poseidon and Zeus. The city minted silver coins in the fifth century BCE (480-400 BCE) and bronze coins in the fourth century BCE. Drachmas, tetrobols, triobols, obols and hemiobols of the Aeginan type have been preserved, with the legend ΚΡΑ or ΚΡΑΝ or ΚΡΑΝΟ.