Styra
STYRA (τὰ Στύρα: Eth. Στυρεύς: Stura), a town of Euboea, on the W. coast, N. of Carystus, and nearly opposite the promontory of Cynosura in Attica. The town stood near the shore in the inner part of the bay, in the middle of which is the island Aegileia, now called Sturanísi. Styra is mentioned by Homer along with Carystus (Il. 2.539). Its inhabitants were originally Dryopians, though they denied this origin (Hdt. 8.46; Paus. 4.34.11), and claimed to be descended from the demus of Steiria in Attica. (Strab. 10. p. 446.) In the First Persian War (B.C. 490) the Persians landed at Aegileia, which belonged to Styra, the prisoners whom they had taken at Eretria. (Hdt. 6.107.) In the Second Persian War (B.C. 480, 479) the Styrians fought at Artemisium, Salamis, and Plataeae. They sent two ships to the naval engagements, and at Plataeae they and the Eretrians amounted together to 600 men. (Hdt. 8.1, 46, 9.28; Paus. 5.23.2.) They afterwards became the subjects of Athens, and paid a yearly tribute of 1200 drachmae. (Thuc. 7.57; Franz, Elem. Epigr. Gr. n. 49.) The Athenian fleet was stationed here B.C. 356. (Dem. c. Mid. p. 568.) Strabo relates (10. p. 446) that the town was destroyed in the Maliac war by the Athenian Phaedrus, and its territory given to the Eretrians; but as the Maliac war is not mentioned elsewhere, we ought probably to substitute Lamiac for it. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. ii. pp. 422, 432.)
(τὰ Στύρα). Now Stura; a town in Euboea on the southwest coast, not far from Carystus, and nearly opposite Marathon in Attica.
At modern Nea Styra on the W coast. Styra was the most substantial prehistoric settlement in the region. Two Cycladic figurines have been reported, and Neolithic, Early Helladic, and Middle Helladic sherds, as well as some obsidian, continue to be found at at least five sites.
Otherwise the only certain remains are Classical. The Dryopian inhabitants were no doubt in some sense subject to Eretria during the archaic period (cf. Strab. 446), but their formal independence dates at least from the Persian sack of Eretria in 490 B.C. Styrans served at Artemision, Salamis, and Plataia; joined the Delian League (normally paying one talent); and fought for Athens in the Peloponnesian War until 411, when they revolted with the other Euboians. At an unknown date before the 340s they had fallen back under Eretria, and shares its later history.
Quarries are frequent in the area. Three small dragon houses reminiscent of the great building on the summit of Mt. Ocha (see Karystos) are the principal remains. A further puzzle is provided by some 450 lead tablets with unusual names, dating from the early 5th c. The acropolis, now surmounted by the Frankish castle Larmena, still shows old fortifications.
Near the landing Nimporio are ancient quarries, and two tombs with monolithic sarcophagi; half an hour inland at Pyrgos there is a tower with reused Classical blocks.
BIBLIOGRAPHYHom. Il. 2.539; Hdt. 6.107, 8.1, 46.9.28, 31; Thuc. 7.57; Strab. 444; Ptol. 3.15.25; Paus. 4.34.11.
F. Geyer, Topographie und Geschichte der Insel Euboias (1903); F. Johnson, “The Dragon Houses of Southern Euboea,” AJA 29 (1925) 398-412I; K. A. Gounaropoulos, Historia tes Nesou Euboias (n.d.); W. P. Wallace, “The Demes of Eretria,” Hesperia 16 (1947) 115-46; id., “The Euboian League and its Coinage,” NNM 134 (1956); L. H. Sackett et al., “Prehistoric Euboia . . . ,” BSA 61 (1966) 33-11OMP; T. Zappa, Ta Styra tes Euboias (1967).
M. B. WALLACE- Paus. 4.34.11
- Styrians are of Dryopian descent: Paus. 4.34.11
- they fight at Plataea: Paus. 5.23.2