Echinus

A titular see of Thessaly, Greece. Echinus, ( Echinos , also Echinous ) was situated on the northern shore of the Gulf of Lamia ( Maliacus Sinus ). Today it is a small village, Akkhinos ( Achinos ), of 500 inhabitants, in the demos of Phalara and the eparchy of Phthiotis. On the conical hill which rises above the village are remains of the old walls. The city has been destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt many times, particularly in 426 B.C. and A.D. 551. Philip II of Macedon left it to the Malians, and Philip V took it from the Ætolians. It was fortified by Justinian. The see, mentioned in "Notitae episcopatuum" as late as the twelfth or thirteenth century, was a suffragan of Larissa. Three bishops are known: Theodore in 431, Peter in 451, and Aristotle in 459 ( Lequien, Oriens christianus, II 115).