Pyrasus

Pyrasus or Pyrasos (Ancient Greek: Πύρασος[1] or Πύρρασος[2]) was a town and polis (city-state) of Phthiotis in ancient Thessaly,[3] mentioned by Homer along with Phylace and Iton as ruled by Protesilaus, in the Catalogue of Ships in the Iliad, and described by him as "Πύρρασον ἀνθεμόεντα, Δήμητρος τέμενος" (Pyrasus having a temple of Demeter)[4] Pyrasus was situated on the Pagasaean Gulf, at the distance of 20 stadia from Phthiotic Thebes, and possessed a good harbour.

early first century CE), the town having moved to a nearby site, called Demetrium or Demetrion (Δημήτριον), derived from the temple of Demeter, spoken of by Homer, and which Strabo describes as distant two stadia from Pyrasus.

[6] At the end of the 4th century BCE, it was united (synoecism) with the neighboring cities of Phylace and Phthiotic Thebes to form a polis.

[8] It was destroyed in 217 BCE by the army of Philip V of Macedon,[10] and its inhabitants were enslaved and the city became a Macedonian colony.

Possibly the most important finding is a small fragment of an old epigraph, discovered in the remains of the great Basilica D with the name Pyrasus, which confirms the location of the town.