PELASGIOTIS, a third part of Thessaly, (Stra-
bo); so called from a very ancient people, the Pelas-
gi, called Pelasgiotæ, (Ptolemy); who formerly, to-
gether with the Æolians, occupied Thessaly, and
thence that part was called Pelasgicum Argos; besides
many other parts of Greece. Their name Pelasgi, or
Pelargi, denoting storks, was given them from their
wandering roving life, (Strabo). The poets extend
the appellation to Greeks in general. Pelasgius, the
epithet. Some of the inhabitants of Crete were called
Pelasgi, (Homer); who thus also called the neigh-
bouring people to the Cilicians in Troas. The Pe-
lasgi were originally of Arcadia, (Hesiod); but Æ-
schylus makes Argos, near Mycenæ, their country.
The Pelasgiotis was situate between Pieria and Mac-
edonia to the north and west, Thessaliotis to the south,
and Magnesia to the east, (Strabo, Pliny).