ELIS or ELEIA, an ancient district of southern Greece, bounded on the N. by Achaea, E. by Arcadia, S. by Messenia, and W. by the Ionian Sea. The local form of the name was Valis, or Valeia, and its meaning, in all probability, "the lowland." In its physical constitution Elis is continuous with Achaea and Arcadia ; its mountains are offshoots of the Arcadian highlands, and its principal rivers are fed by Arcadian springs. From Erymanthus in the north, Skollis (now known as Mavri and Santameri in different parts of its length) stretches toward the west, and Pholoe along the eastern frontier; in the south a prolongation of Mt. Lycaeon bore in ancient times the names of Minthe and Lapithus, which have given place respectively to Alvena and to Kaiapha and Smerna. These mountains are well clothed with vegetation, and present a pleasing contrast to the picturesque wildness of the parent ranges. Towards the west they sink into what was one of the richest tracts in Peloponnesus. Except at the rocky promontories of Chelonatas (now Chlemutzi) and Ichthys (now Katakolo), the coast lies low, with stretches of sand in the north and lagoons and marshes towards the south. During the summer when they communicate with the sea, these lagoons yield a rich harvest of fish but the inhabitants are then almost driven from the coast by the mosquitoes. The district for administrative purposes forms part of the nome of Elis and Achaea (see GREECE).
Elis was divided into three districts—Hollow or Lowland Elis, Pisatis, the territory of Pisa, and Triphylia, the "country of the three tribes." (I) Hollow Elis, the largest and most northern of the three, was watered by the Peneus and its tributary the Ladon, whose united stream forms the modern Gastouni. It included not only the Champaign country originally designated by its name, but also the mountainous region of Acrorea, occupied by the offshoots of Erymanthus. Besides the capital city of Elis, it contained Cyllene, an Arcadian settlement on the sea-coast, whose inhabitants worshipped Hermes under the phallic symbol ; Pylus, at the junction of the Peneus and the Ladon, which, like so many other places of the same name, claimed to be the city of Nestor, and the fortified frontier town of Lasion, the ruins of which are still visible at Kuti, the village of Kumani. The district was famous in antiquity for its cattle, horses and byssus.
(3) Triphylia stretches south from the Alpheus to the Neda, which forms the boundary towards Messenia. Of nine towns men tioned by Polybius, Lepreum and Macistus gave their names to southern and northern Triphylia. The former had a strongly in dependent population, and took every opportunity of resisting the supremacy of the Eleans. In the time of Pausanias it was de cadent, and possessed only a brick-built temple of Demeter; but its outer walls still exist near the village of Strovitzi.
The original inhabitants of Elis were called Caucones and Paroreatae. Under the title of Epeians they are mentioned as setting out for the Trojan War, and as living in constant hostility with the Pylians. At the close of the 11th century B.C. the Do rians invaded the Peloponnesus, and Elis fell to the share of Oxylus and the Aetolians, who, amalgamating with the Epeians, formed a powerful kingdom in the north of Elis. After this many changes took place, till only three tribes, Epeians, Minyae and Eleans, remained independent. Before the end of the 8th cen tury B.C., however, the Eleans had established supremacy over the whole country with the right of celebrating the Olympic games, which had formerly been the prerogative of the Pisatans. The attempts which this people made to recover their lost privilege ended in the total destruction of their city by the Eleans in 572 B.C. Till the Peloponnesian War, Elis remained un disturbed. Though Elis sided at first with Sparta, that power, jealous of the increasing prosperity of its ally, picked a quarrel. At the battle of Mantinea (418 B.c.) the Eleans fought against the Spartans, who, as soon as the war came to a close, took vengeance upon them by depriving them of Triphylia and the towns of the Acrorea. The Eleans made no attempt to re-establish their authority till after the battle of Leuctra (371 B.c.), when they might have effected their purpose had not the Arcadian con federacy come to the assistance of the Triphylians. In 366 B.C. hostilities broke out and, though the Eleans were at first success ful, their capital very nearly fell and they applied for assistance to the Spartans, who forced the Arcadians to recall their troops from Elis. The result was the restoration of their territory to the Eleans, with the right of holding the Olympic games. During the Macedonian supremacy in Greece they sided with the victors, but refused to fight against their countrymen. After the death of Alexander they renounced the Macedonian alliance and later joined the Aetolian League, persistently refusing to identify themselves with the Achaeans. When the whole of Greece fell under the Roman yoke, the sanctity of Olympia secured for the Eleans a certain amount of indulgence. The games continued to attract large numbers of strangers, until they were finally put down by Theodosius in 394, two years before the Gothic in vasion under Alaric. In later times Elis fell successively into the hands of the Franks and the Venetians, under whose rule it recovered to some extent its ancient prosperity.