The work On Delphi and Peloponnesian Cities is a lost historical treatise attributed to the Hellenistic author Apollas Ponticus. Its existence is recorded solely in the tenth-century Byzantine encyclopedia known as the Suda, which lists it among his writings. No direct quotations, fragments, or manuscripts of the text survive. Based on its title and the antiquarian interests typical of the period, the work likely compiled local histories, traditions, and religious customs. It would have encompassed foundation myths of Peloponnesian cities, details of religious rituals and oracular traditions associated with Delphi, and regional heroic genealogies and geography. The treatise exemplifies the Hellenistic scholarly practice of systematizing local lore, and its loss, while typical for this genre of writing, attests to the breadth of antiquarian research that informed later geographical and historical compilations.
ΔΕΛΦΙΚΑ.
Κλήμης ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς : Ἀπελλᾶς δὲ ἐν τοῖς Δελφικοῖς δύο φησὶ γεγονέναι τὰ Παλλάδια, ἄμφω δʼ ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπων δεδημιουργῆσθαι.
Σοῦδα : Ῥοδώπιδος ἀνάθημα. Ὀβελίσκοι ἐν Δελφοῖς πολλοί. Ἀπελλᾶς δὲ ὁ Ποντικὸς οἴεται καὶ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ πυραμίδα, Ἡροδότου ἐλέγχοντος τὴν δόξαν. Ἦν δὲ Θρᾷσσα τὸ γένος· ἐδούλευσε δὲ σὺν Αἰσώπῳ Ἰάδμονι Μυτιληναίῳ, ἐλυτρώσατο δὲ αὐτὴν Χάραξος, ὁ Σαπφοῦς ἀδελφός· ἡ δὲ Σαπφὼ Δωρίχαν αὐτὴν καλεῖ.
ΠΕΡΙ ΤΩΝ ΕΝ ΠΕΛΟΠΟΝΝΗΣῼ ΠΟΛΕΩΝ.
Ἀθήναιος : Γογγυλίδας. Ταύτας Ἀπόλλας ἐν τῷ Περὶ τῶν ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ πόλεων ὑπὸ Λακεδαιμονίων γαστέρας φησὶ καλεῖσθαι.
Ἀπολλᾶς ἐν τῷ Περὶ τῶν Πελοποννησιακῶν πόλεων τὸ πήγανον ὑπὸ Πελοποννησίων ῥυτὴν καλεῖσθαί φησιν.
Ἀθήναιος : Ἀπελλᾶς δὲ Λακεδαιμονίους φησὶ σέμελον τὸν κοχλίαν λέγειν.
Φώτιος : Κυψελιδῶν ἀνάθημα ἐν Ὀλυμπίᾳ.
