Lilaia
At the N foot of Parnassus. It is mentioned in the Homeric Catalogue of Ships (Il. 2.523). It was sacked in 346, during the Third Sacred War (Paus. 10.3.1), but was reconstructed after Chaironeia.
Pausanias mentions (10.33.3-5) a theater, baths, and temples. A well-preserved fortification wall ascends from the plain to the citadel on the W side of the site. Some towers stand in part to the second story, and portions of the stepped curtain and screen-wall are almost intact. On the E side of the hill remains of buildings are recorded in the ravine below the E cliffs, as well as farther N at the edge of the plain. The W wall certainly continued some 150-200 m into the plain. The large tower at the SW corner of the citadel may have served as barracks for the garrison.
About 2 km E of Lilaia is a spring identified since Homeric times as the source of the Kephisos (see Il. 2.523; also Paus. 10.33.5). A shrine and dedications to the river god were found here; and the priest of Kephisos was eponymous magistrate of Lilaia. Near Suvala village, farther N from the spring, Karouzos found a Sanctuary of Demeter; material excavated ran from the 5th to the 2d c., and included bricks stamped “of the Lilaians.”
BIBLIOGRAPHYIG IX1232, 233; J. G. Frazer, Paus. Des. Gr. (1898) V 410-15P; J. B. Tillard, BSA 17 (1910-11) 60ffPI; F.W.G. Foat, BSA 23 (1918-19) 108; F. Schober, Phokis (1924) 35ff; Ch. Karouzos, ArchAnz (1928) 576; F. Winter, Greek Fortifications (1971) 141I.
F. E. WINTER- Paus. 10.33.3-5
- destroyed after Sacred War: Paus. 10.3.1
- source of Cephisus at: Paus. 9.24.1, Paus. 10.33.5
- Lilaeans throw cakes into spring of Cephisus: Paus. 10.8.10