Phthia

Phthia is an ancient region in southern Thessaly, Greece. In Homeric and later Greek literature it is described as the homeland of the Myrmidons, a Thessalian people who fight under Achilles in the Trojan War. The region is also associated with Peleus, Achilles’ father, who in some traditions is portrayed as king of Phthia and whose palace is placed within the region.

Mythology and people center Phthia around the Myrmidons. Accounts of their origin vary: some present them as a local Thessalian tribe, while others recount a magical or mythic transformation—often Gaia or Zeus transforming ants into a people to repopulate the land after a catastrophe. Regardless of origin, the Myrmidons are characterized as formidable warriors, and Achilles leads them as the principal Greek force at Troy.

Geographically, ancient writers treated Phthia as a distinct district within Thessaly, typically situated in the southern part of the region with access to the coastal areas along the Aegean. The precise borders and notable cities cited for Phthia vary across sources. In later antiquity, the name Phthia or Phthiotis is used to denote the broader southern Thessalian area, while the Myrmidons remain the region’s best-known inhabitants. The mythic prominence of Phthia is closely tied to the Achilles legend and to the wider Greek heroic tradition surrounding the Trojan War.