ELIS, or ELEA, a province in the north-west of the Peloponnesus, which was comprehended in its greatest extent between the promontory Araxus, where it touched on Achaea, and the river Neda, which separated it from Messenia. In the interior it was separated from Arcadia by the ridges of Mount Pholoe, and farther south by a continuation of the mountains from Arcadia.
In earlier times this tract of country was divided into three distinct principalities independent of each other. The most northern was surrounded by the lofty mountain Pholoe, which, sending out two ridges towards the coast, the one towards the promontory Araxus, the other towards the promontory Chelmas, inclosed a large extent of champaign country, called from this circumstance the Hollow Elis (ἡ χαλῶν Ἑλισ). The second principality was named Pisatis, and through its territories flowed the river Alpheus; whilst the district to the south was called Triphylia.
Elis was by far the most fertile and populous district of the Peloponnesus, chiefly because its extensive plains enjoyed an almost uninterrupted state of peace. Towards the coast the soil becomes sandy; a broad belt of sand stretches along the sea nearly as far as the Triphylian Pylos, so often called by Homer "the sandy." This tract of country is but little raised above the level of the sea, and from that reason a number of small lakes or lagoons have been formed, which extend along the greater part of the coast. It was the only district in Greece which produced flax; but this, though equal in fineness, was far inferior in colour, to that of Palestine. Another extraordinary cir-
cumstance was, that no mules could be here engendered, though they abounded in the adjacent district.
At a very early period we find it under the government of Endymion, and called the kingdom of the Epei. Homer was acquainted with the divine Elis, where the Epei ruled. His son Ætolus having accidentally committed a murder, was obliged to fly, and proceeded to found a kingdom on the opposite coast, called from him Ætolia. He was succeeded by Eleus, the grandson of Endymion, who gave name to the country, and after him came Augeas, who was put to death by Hercules because he refused him the reward he had promised for clearing out his stables. We now lose sight of Elis till the irruption of the Heraclidae into Greece, eighty years after the destruction of Troy, when Oxylus, a descendant of Ætolus, offered to become their guide, on condition of receiving the province of Elis, which he considered as the inheritance of his family. A numerous body of Ætolians attended him, and uniting cordially with the native inhabitants of Elis, they conquered a great part of Pisatis, and took possession of Olympia about 1190 before Christ. Then it was that the Olympic games were first established on the banks of the river Alpheus, though they were not regularly celebrated till the year 776 before Christ, when Corœbus obtained the prize of victory. In the wars between Messenia and Sparta, they were faithful allies of the latter; and with their assistance they took possession of the whole country belonging to the Caucones and Minye, to which the name of Triphylia was then given. During the Peloponnesian war, we still find them staunch supporters of Spartan politics; and they continued so till the conclusion of the treaty after the battle of Amphipolis, when the countenance afforded by the Spartans to the independent movements of the people of Leptreum produced a rupture between the two nations. Elis endeavoured to take vengeance on the Spartans, by excluding them from all participation in the Olympic games; but the marauding invasions of the Spartans were soon so severely felt, that the inhabitants of Elis were glad to sue for peace, and to renew their ancient alliance with Sparta. In the year 365 before Christ, a few years after the battle of Leuctra, they were engaged in war with the Arcadians, and were so unsuccessful that they were compelled to cede the greater portion of their southern possessions. During the Social War, the Eleans were staunch allies of the Ætolians, and no reverses could detach them from the cause which they had joined, or induce them to unite with the Achaean League. These seem to have been the last events in which the Eleans took part as an independent people; and we find them finally included in the general decree which annexed the whole of Greece to the Roman empire.