Hyle

HYLE(Ὕλη: Eth. Ὑλαῖος).

1. An ancient town in Boeotia, situated upon the lake Hylica, which derived its name from this place. (Horm. Il. 2.500, 5.708, 7.221; Strab. ix. pp. 407, 408; Nonn. Dionys. 13.66; Plin. Nat. 4.7. s. 12; Steph. B. s. v.) Moschus, who calls the town Hylae, speaks of it as if he seemed to believe that it was the native place of Pindar (Πίνδαρον οὐ ποθέοντι τόσον Βοιωτίδες ὗλαι, Mosch. 3.89); but this is in opposition to all other ancient authorities. The site of Hyle is uncertain, and is variously placed by modern authorities. Leake supposes it to be represented by the Paleókastroon the height between the northern end of the lake and the foot of Mount Paleá. Ulrichs places it at the southern end of the lake, near the mouth of the river Ismenus. (Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 2. p. 313; Ulrichs, Reisen in Griechenland, p. 257.)


2. A town in Locris Ozolis, mentioned by Stephanus B. (s. v. Ὕλη), from which the river Hylaethus perhaps derived its name. Thucydides (Thuc. 3.101) speaks of a Locrian people named HYAEI(Ὑαῖοι), which name Leake supposes to be a corruption of Hylaei; but the objection to this hypothesis is that Stephanus, who mentions Hyle as a Locrian town, also speaks of Hyaea as a Locrian town, giving Hyaeus as their ethnic name, whence we may infer that he distinguished between the two towns. (Steph. B. s. v. Ὑαία;comp. Leake, Northern Greece, vol. 2. p. 615.)