Phocis (ancient region)

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Phocis Φωκίς
Region of ancient Greece
The ruins of the ancient Greek theatre of Delphi
Map showing location of ancient Phocis
Location	Central Greece
Major cities	Delphi, Elatea
Dialects	Doric
Key periods	Third Sacred War (355–346 BC)

Phocis was an ancient region in the central part of ancient Greece, which included Delphi. A modern administrative unit, also called Phocis, is named after the ancient region, although the modern region is substantially larger than the ancient one.

Geopolitically, Phocis was the country of the Phocians, who spoke their own version of Doric Greek, one of the three main dialects of ancient Greek. They were one of several small mountain states of Central Greece, whose dialects are classified as Northwest Doric.

It was from their region that the Dorians crossed the Gulf of Corinth at the beginning of the Greek Iron Age to burn Pylos and other southern Greek strongholds and seize control of the Peloponnesus. The dialects of the two groups of Dorians north and south of the Gulf then began to diverge. One of the states around Phocis was still called Doris in classical times. As there is considerable evidence that the invasion began about 1000 BC, the ancestors of the classical Phocians might be presumed to have been in place there, though not yet speaking Phocian.