Dorio

Dorio, or Dorion is a settlement in the prefecture of Messinia, Greece. Dorio has a population of 1628, and is 170m above sea level. The small settlement of Ano Dorio is nearby.

Dorio is part of the synonymous municipality with a population 4069 (in 2001), Area 102.83 km².

Dorio has been mentioned in Homer's Iliad, and by Strabo and Pausanias. Homer recounts a myth that Dorio was the location of a music competition between Thamyris and the Muses. The Muses won.

Homer, Iliad Book 2

Men from Pylos, lovely Arene, Thryum,
by Apheus ford, well-built Aipy, Cyparisseis,
Amphigenea, Pteleum, Helos, Dorium,
where the Muses met the Thracian Thamyris,
and stopped his singing—he was coming back
from Oechalia, from the court of Eurytus the king,
having boasted his singing would surpass the Muses,
daughters of aegis-bearing Zeus, should they compete,
so in their anger the Muses mutilated Thamyris,
taking away his godlike power of song,
and making him forget his skill in playing the lyre.

Pausanias:

When the Electra is crossed, there is a spring called Achaia, and the ruins of a city Dorium. Homer states that the misfortune of Thamyris took place here in Dorium, because he said that he would overcome the Muses themselves in song. But Prodicus of Phocaea, if the epic called the Minyad is indeed his, says that Thamyris paid the penalty in Hades for his boast against the Muses. My view is that Thamyris lost his eyesight through disease, as happened later to Homer. Homer, however, continued making poetry all his life without giving way to his misfortune, while Thamyris forsook his art through stress of the trouble that afflicted him.

Division of the municipality

Dorion / Τ.δ. Δωρίου [ 1416 ]
- Dorion / το Δώριον [ 1139 ]
- Agios Georgios / ο Άγιος Γεώργιος [ 131 ]
- Agios Petros / ο Άγιος Πέτρος [ 34 ]
- Amfithea / η Αμφιθέα [ 12 ]
- Kato Amfithea / η Κάτω Αμφιθέα [ 100 ]
Ano Dorion / Τ.δ. Άνω Δωρίου -- το Άνω Δώριον [ 181 ]
Vasilikon / Τ.δ. Βασιλικού -- το Βασιλικόν [ 506 ]
Koklas / Τ.δ. Κόκλα [ 433 ]
- Koklas / ο Κόκλας [ 344 ]
- Kato Malthi / η Κάτω Μάλθη [ 89 ]
Kouvelas / Τ.δ. Κούβελα [ 353 ]
- Kouvelas / ο Κούβελας [ 262 ]
- Kypseli / η Κυψέλη [ 91 ]
Malthi / Τ.δ. Μάλθης -- η Μάλθη [ 155 ]
Chalkias / Τ.δ. Χαλκιά -- ο Χαλκιάς [ 108 ]
Chrysochorion / Τ.δ. Χρυσοχωρίου -- το Χρυσοχώριον [ 302 ]
Psarion / Τ.δ. Ψαρίου [ 615 ]
- Psarion / το Ψάριον [ 602 ]
- Agios Nikolaos / ο Άγιος Νικόλαος [ 13 ]
- Kato Meri / τα Κάτω Μέρη [ 0 ]

Municipalities and communities of the Messinia Prefecture

Trikorfo | Tripyla