Listed 68 sub titles with search on: The inhabitants for wider area of: "PELOPONNISOS Region GREECE" .
ARGOS (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
Gymnesii or Gymnetes (gumnesioi or gumnetes). A class of bond-slaves at Argos, who may be compared with the Helots at Sparta (Steph. Byz. s. v. Chios; Pollux, iii. 83). Their name shows that they attended their masters on military service in the capacity of light-armed troops, but no particulars are known about them.
This word primarily denotes the inhabitants of a district lying around some particular locality, but is generally used to describe a dependent population, living without the walls or in the country provinces of a dominant city, and, although personally free, deprived of the enjoyment of citizenship and the political rights conferred by it.
...From the account given above of the probable origin of the Perioeci of Sparta
we should naturally expect to find a subject population of this kind existing
in most Greek states, which are known to have experienced immigrations not resulting
in a total change of population, but in a combined residence of populations of
different nationality. Immigrations of this kind, which resulted in combined settlements,
were in a high degree the characteristic of Dorian movements; and accordingly
we should expect to find a Perioecic population as the basis of the early Dorian
states. This is in the main verified by facts. In Argos, for instance, we have
an undoubted Perioecic population; and although no true Perioeci can be identified
in cities like Sicyon and Corinth, or most of the later Dorian colonies, this
is easily explained by the fact that these states were created after the movement
of the great Dorian migration was over. The Perioeci of Argos were called Orneatae
from the town of Orneae, apparently the first or the most important town reduced
to this condition by the Argives (Herod. viii. 73). These Orneatae are called
summachoi of the Argives by Thucydides (v. 67, and Arnold's note), and with them
are classed the inhabitants of Cleonae; but that they were Perioeci appears from
the passage of Herodotus, in which he is evidently translating the less familiar
Argive term Orneatae into the more familiar Spartan one Perioeci, to show the
status of the Cynurian population he is describing. How large the Perioecic population
of Argolis was we do not know. A large part of it, Cynuria, was taken by the Spartans
(Herod. i. 82); and the two great Achaean townships, Mycenae and Tiryns, were
certainly not Perioecic towns at the time of the Persian war (Id. vii. 102, ix.
28). After their destruction by Argos about 468 B.C. (Diod. xi. 65), they may
possibly have been reduced to this condition.
This extract is from: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890) (eds. William Smith, LLD, William Wayte, G. E. Marindin). Cited May 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
AZANIA (Ancient area) ARKADIA
The Arcadian tribes "the Azanes, the Parrhasians, and other such peoples" are reputed to be the most ancient tribes of the Greeks
KAFYES (Ancient city) LEVIDI
The inhabitants say that originally they were from Attica, but on being expelled from Athens by Aegeus they fled to Arcadia, threw themselves on the mercy of Cepheus, and found a home in the country. (Paus. 8.23.2)
LAKEDEMON (Ancient country) PELOPONNISOS
(Heilotai), and Helotes (Heilotes). The Helots or bondsmen of the
Spartans. The common account of the origin of this class is, that the inhabitants
of the maritime town of Helos were reduced by Sparta to this state of degradation,
after an insurrection against the Dorians already established in power. This explanation,
however, rests merely on an etymology, and that by no means probable. The word
Heilos is probably a derivative from helein in a passive sense, and consequently
means "a prisoner"- a derivation known in ancient times. It seems likely
that they were an aboriginal race, which was subdued at a very early period, and
which immediately passed over as slaves to the Doric conquerors. In speaking of
the condition of the Helots, their political rights and their personal treatment
will be considered under different heads, though in fact the two subjects are
very nearly connected.
The first were doubtless exactly defined by law and custom, though
the expressions made use of by ancient authors are frequently vague and ambiguous.
"They were," says Ephorus, "in a certain point of view public slaves.
Their possessor could neither liberate them nor sell them beyond the borders."
From this it is evident that they were considered as belonging properly to the
State, which to a certain degree permitted them to be possessed by individuals,
reserving to itself the power of enfranchising them. But to sell them out of the
country was not in the power even of the State; and such an event seems never
to have occurred. It is, upon the whole, most probable that individuals had no
power to sell them at all, as they belonged chiefly to the landed property, and
this was inalienable. On these lands they had certain fixed dwellings of their
own, and particular services and payments were prescribed to them. They paid as
rent a fixed measure of corn; not, however, like the Perioeci, to the State, but
to their masters. As this quantity had been definitely settled at a very early
period, the Helots were the persons who profited by a good, and lost by a bad,
harvest, which must have been to them an encouragement to industry and good husbandry,
as would not have been the case if the profit and loss had merely affected the
landlords. In fact, by this means, as is proved by the accounts respecting the
Spartan agriculture, a careful cultivation of the soil was kept up. By means of
the rich produce of the lands, and in part by plunder obtained in war, they collected
a considerable property, to the attainment of which almost every access was closed
to the Spartans. The cultivation of the land, however, was not the only duty of
the Helots; they also, at the public meals, attended upon their masters, who,
according to the Lacedaemonian principle of a community of property, mutually
lent them to one another. A large number of them was also employed by the State
in public works. In the field the Helots never served as hoplites, except in extraordinary
cases; and then it was the general practice afterwards to give them their liberty.
This seems first to have occurred under Brasidas in B.C. 424. On other occasions
they attended the regular army as light-armed troops (psiloi); and that their
numbers were very considerable may be seen from the battle of Plataea, in which
5000 Spartans were attended by 35,000 Helots. Although they did not share the
honour of the heavy-armed soldiers, they were in turn exposed to a less degree
of danger; for, while the former, in close rank, received the onset of the enemy
with spear and shield, the Helots, armed only with their slings and javelins,
were in a moment either before or behind the ranks, as Tyrtaeus accurately describes
the relative duties of the light-armed soldier (gumnes) and the hoplite. Sparta,
in her better days, is never recorded to have unnecessarily sacrificed the lives
of her Helots. A certain number of them were allotted to each Spartan. At the
battle of Plataea this number was seven. Those who were assigned to a single master
were probably called ampittares. Of these, however, one in particular was the
servant (therapon) of his master, as in the story of the blind Spartan, who was
conducted by his Helot into the thickest of the battle of Thermopylae, and, while
the latter fled, fell with the other heroes. It appears that the other Helots
were in the field placed more immediately under the command of the king than the
rest of the army. In the fleet they composed the large mass of the sailors, in
which service at Athens the inferior citizens and slaves were employed. It is
a matter of much greater difficulty to form a clear notion of the treatment of
the Helots, and of their manner of life; for the rhetorical spirit with which
later historians have embellished their views has been productive of much confusion
and misconception. Myron of Priene, in his account of the Messenian War, drew
a very dark picture of Sparta, and endeavoured at the end to rouse the feelings
of his readers by a description of the fate which the conquered underwent. "The
Helots," says he, "perform for the Spartans every ignominious service.
They are compelled to wear a cap of dog's skin (kune), to have a covering of sheep's
skin (diphthera), and are severely beaten every year without having committed
any fault, in order that they may never forget they are slaves. In addition to
this, those among them who, either by their stature or their beauty, raise themselves
above the condition of a slave, are condemned to death, and the masters who do
not destroy the most manly of them are liable to punishment." Myron's statements,
however, are to be received with considerable caution.
Plutarch relates that the Helots were compelled to intoxicate themselves,
and to perform indecent dances, as a warning to the Spartan youth. Yet Helot women
discharged the office of nurse in the royal palaces, and doubtless obtained the
affection with which the attendants of early youth were honoured in ancient times.
It is, however, certain that the Doric laws did not bind servants to strict temperance;
and hence examples of drunkenness among them might well have served as a means
of recommending sobriety. It was also an established regulation that the national
songs and dances of Sparta were forbidden to the Helots, who, on the other hand,
had some extravagant and lascivious dances peculiar to themselves, which may have
given rise to the above report. It was the curse of this bondage, which Plato
terms the hardest in Greece, that the slaves abandoned their masters when they
stood in greatest need of their assistance; and hence the Spartans were even compelled
to stipulate in treaties for aid against their own subjects. A more favourable
side of the Spartan system of bondage is seen in the fact that a legal way to
liberty and citizenship stood open to the Helots. The many intermediate steps
seem to prove the existence of a regular mode of transition from the one rank
to the other. The Helots who were esteemed worthy of an especial confidence were
called argeioi; the aphetai were probably released from all service. The desposionautai,
who served in the fleets, resembled probably the freedmen of Attica, who were
called "the out-dwellers" (hoi choris oikountes). When they received
their liberty, they also obtained permission to dwell where they wished, and probably,
at the same time, a portion of land was granted them without the lot of their
former masters. After they had been in possession of liberty for some time, they
appear to have been called neodamodeis, the number of whom soon came near to that
of the citizens. The mothones or mothakes were Helots, who, being brought up together
with the young Spartans, obtained freedom without the rights of citizenship.
The number of the Helots has been estimated by K. O. Muller and Schomann
as having been some 225,000 at the time of the battle of Plataea, as against an
estimated total population of 380,000 or 400,000.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
MANTINIA (Ancient city) ARCADIA
Wars of, five hundred Mantineans sent to Thermopylae, their late arrival at Plataea, allied with Eleans, Athenians, and Argives, dispersed in villages by Agesipolis, at war with Lacedaemonians, fight on Roman side at Actium, dedicate image of Apollo at Delphi and image of Victory at Olympia.
TAINARON (Cape) ANATOLIKI MANI
One of the chief recruiting places in the fourth century was Corinth, and afterwards for a time the district near the promontory of Taenarum in Lacedaemon.
TEGEA (Ancient city) ARCADIA
Save the sons of Alcmaeon from the pursuing Psophidians, formerly dwelt in townships, at war with Lacedaemonians, defeat and capture Lacedaemonians, five hundred Tegeans sent to Thermopylae, offerings of Tegeans at Delphi made from Lacedaemonian booty, Tegean tribes.
EPIDAVRIA (Ancient area) PELOPONNISOS
ERMIONI (Ancient city) ARGOLIS
An ancient race in N. Greece, their settlements in the Peloponnese, dwell on Parnassus, Herakles traverses their country and conquers them, settled at Asine in Argolis, serve in Lacedaemonian army, people of Styra in Euboea are Dryopians.
ERMIONIS (Ancient area) ARGOLIS
The Hermioneans are Dryopians, driven out of the country now called Doris by Herakles and the Malians.
Halieis (Halieis), the name of a sea-faring people on the coast of
Hermionis, who derived their name from their fisheries. (Strab. viii. p. 373.)
They gave their name to a town on the coast of Herinionis, where the Tirynthians
and Hermionians took refuge when they were expelled from their own cities by the
Argives. (Ephor. ap. Byz. s. v. Halieis; Strab. viii. p. 373.) This town was taken
about Ol. 80 by Aneristus, the son of Sperthias, and made subject to Sparta (hos
heile Halieas [not alieas] tous ek Tirunthos, Helod. vii. 137). The district was
afterwards ravaged on more than one occasion by the Athenians. (Thuc. i. 105,
ii. 56, iv. 45; Diod. xi. 78.) After the Peloponnesian War the Halieis are mentioned
by Xenophon as an autonomous people. (Xen. Hell. iv. 2. 6, vi. 2, § 3.)
The district is called e Halias by Thucydides (ii. 56, iv. 45), who
also calls the people or their town Halieis; for, in i. 105, the true reading
is es Halias, i.e. Halieas. (See Meineke, and Steph. B. s. v. Halieis.) In an
inscription we find en Halieusin. (Bockh, Inscr. no. 165.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
KORINTHIA (Ancient area) PELOPONNISOS
LAKEDEMON (Ancient country) PELOPONNISOS
Leleges, an ancient race which was spread over Greece, the adjoining
islands, and the Asiatic coast, before the Hellenes. They were so widely diffused
that we must either suppose that their name was descriptive, and applied to several
different tribes, or that it was the name of a single tribe and was afterwards
extended to others. Strabo (vii. p. 322) regarded them as a mixed race, and was
disposed to believe that their name had reference to this (to sullektous gegonenai).
They may probably be looked upon, like the Pelasgians and the other early inhabitants
of Greece, as members of the great Indo-European race, who became gradually incorporated
with the Hellenes, and thus ceased to exist as an independent people.
The most distinct statement of ancient writers on the origin of the
Leleges is that of Herodotus, who says that the name of Leleges was the ancient
name of the Carians (Herod. i. 171). A later Greek writer considered the Leleges
as standing in the same relation to the Carians as the Helots to the Lacedaemonians
and the Penestae to the Thessalians. (Athen. vi. p. 271.) In Homer both Leleges
and Carians appear as equals, and as auxiliaries of the Trojans. (Il. x. 428.)
The Leleges are ruled by Altes, the father-in-law of Priam, and inhabit a town
called Pedasus at the foot of Mount Ida. (Il. xxi. 86.) Strabo relates that Leleges
and Carians once occupied the whole of Ionia, and that in the Milesian territory
and in all Caria tombs and forts of the Leleges were shown. He further says that
the two were so intermingled that they were frequently regarded as the same people.
(Strab. vii. p. 321, xiii. p. 611.) It would therefore appear that there was some
close connection between the Leleges and Carians, though they were probably different
peoples. The Leleges seem at one time to have occupied a considerable part of
the western coast of Asia Minor. They were the earliest known inhabitants of Samos.
(Athen. xv. p. 672.) The connection of the Leleges and the Carians was probably
the foundation of the Megarian tradition, that in the twelfth generation after
Car, Lelex came over from Egypt to Megara, and gave his name to the people (Paus.
i. 39. § 6); but their Egyptian origin was evidently an invention of later times,
when it became the fashion to derive the civilisation of Greece from that of Egypt.
A grandson of this Lelex is said to have led a colony of Megarian Leleges into
Messenia, where they founded Pylus, and remained until they were driven out by
Neleus and the Pelasgians from Iolcos; whereupon they took possession of Pylus
in Elis. (Paus. v. 36. § 1.) The Lacedaemonian traditions, on the other hand,
represented the Leleges as the autochthons of Laconia; they spoke of Lelex as
the first native of the soil, from whom the people were called Leleges and the
land Lelegia; and the son of this Lelex is said to have been the first king of
Messenia. (Paus. iii. 1. § 1, iv. 1. § § 1, 5.) Aristotle seems to have regarded
Leucadia, or the western parts of Acarnania, as the original seats of the Leleges;
for, according to this writer, Lelex was the autochthon of Leucadia, and from
him were descended the Teleboans, the ancient inhabitants of the Taphian islands.
He also regarded them as the same people as the Locrians, in which he appears
to have followed the authority of Hesiod, who spoke of them as the subjects of
Locrus, and as produced from the stones with which Deucalion repeopled the earth
after the deluge. (Strab. vii. pp. 321, 322.) Hence all the inhabitants of Mount
Parnassus, Locrians, Phocians, Boeotians, and others, are sometimes described
as Leleges. (Comp. Dionys. Hal. i. 17.) (See Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece, vol.
i. p. 42, seq.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
MESSINIA (Ancient area) MESSINIA
Pylos the son of Cleson, bringing from the Megarid the Leleges who then occupied the country.
ORCHOMENOS (Ancient city) LEVIDI
Minyae (Minuai), an ancient race in Greece, said to have been descended from Minyas, the son of Orchomenus, who originally dwelt in Thessaly, and afterwards migrated into Boeotia, and founded Orchomenus. Most of the Argonautic heroes were Minyae; and some of them having settled in the island of Lemnos, continued to be called Minyae. These Lemnian Minyae were driven out of the island by the Tyrrhenian Pelasgians, and took refuge in Lacedaemon, from whence some of them migrated to Thera, and others to Triphylia in Elis, where they founded the six Triphylian cities. (Herod. iv. 145--148.)
SIKYON (Ancient city) CORINTHIA
SIKYONIA (Ancient area) CORINTHIA
TEGEA (Ancient city) ARCADIA
Tegean tribes.
TRIZINIA (Ancient area) PELOPONNISOS
MESSINIA (Prefecture) PELOPONNISOS
The dirge in Mani is a kind of folk song and popular poetry which
is not met anywhere else in Greece. The dirge of Inside Mani has an eight-syllable
metre while the one of Outside Mani has a fifteen-syllable metre and are sung
during funerals and masses. Men do not participate in the «clama» (=mourning ,
crying) as the dirge is called so that they won’t show their sensitivity while
the women mourn the dead person hierarchically. When it is a man being mourned,
the «clama» starts from the mother, then the sister, the daughter and finally
ends at the wife.
Being mourned by individuals outside the family is also an honour
for the family of the dead person. In Mani, the women who sing dirges, and at
the moment of singing, are in a psychological state of ecstacy and speak in verse
using characterizations and comments on the dead person’s life and social activities.
A good dirge singer is thought of very highly in the local community and everybody
respects and admires her, while, when she is at a «clama», everyone hangs on her
every word to listen to what she has to say. The people present learn and remember
the best dirges, and sing those in various moments of their lives, creating the
«tragoudomirologia» (=song-dirges), from which the saddest words have been removed.
This extract is cited March 2003 from the Messenia Prefecture Tourism Promotion Commission URL below.
EPIDAVROS LIMIRA (Ancient city) MONEMVASSIA
The people say that they are not descended from the Lacedaemonians
but from the Epidaurians of the Argolid, and that they touched at this point in
Laconia when sailing on public business to Asclepius in Cos. Warned by dreams
that appeared to them, they remained and settled here. They also say that a snake,
which they were bringing from their home in Epidaurus, escaped from the ship,
and disappeared into the ground not far from the sea. As a result of the portent
of the snake together with the vision in their dreams they resolved to remain
and settle here.
PAPADIANIKA (Small town) ASSOPOS
Round 1821 a lot of colonists (from Assopos) receded and created the village Papadianika, which was called like that after the family Papadaki, which had a lot of members.
ASSINI (Ancient city) KORONI
The people of Asine originally adjoined the Lycoritae on Parnassus.
Their name, which they maintained after their arrival in Peloponnese, was Dryopes,
from their founder. Two generations after Dryops, in the reign of Phylas, the
Dryopes were conquered in battle by Heracles and brought as an offering to Apollo
at Delphi. When brought to Peloponnese according to the god's instructions to
Heracles, they first occupied Asine by Hermion. They were driven thence by the
Argives and lived in Messenia. This was the gift of the Lacedaemonians, and when
in the course of time the Messenians were restored, they were not driven from
their city by the Messenians.
But the people of Asine give this account of themselves. They admit
that they were conquered by Heracles and their city in Parnassus captured, but
they deny that they were made prisoners and brought to Apollo. But when the walls
were carried by Heracles, they deserted the town and fled to the heights of Parnassus,
and afterwards crossed the sea to Peloponnese and appealed to Eurystheus. Being
at feud with Heracles, he gave them Asine in the Argolid.
The men of Asine are the only members of the race of the Dryopes to
pride themselves on the name to this day. The case is very different with the
Euboeans of Styra. They too are Dryopes in origin, who took no part in the battle
with Heracles, as they dwelt at some distance from the city. Yet the people of
Styra disdain the name of Dryopes, just as the Delphians have refused to be called
Phocians. But the men of Asine take the greatest pleasure in being called Dryopes,
and clearly have made the most holy of their sanctuaries in memory of those which
they once had, established on Parnassus. For they have both a temple of Apollo
and again a temple and ancient statue of Dryops, whose mysteries they celebrate
every year, saying that he is the son of Apollo.
The town itself lies on the coast just as the old Asine in Argive
territory. It is a journey of forty stades from Colonides to Asine, and of an
equal number from Asine to the promontory called Acritas. Acritas projects into
the sea and has a deserted island, Theganussa, lying off it. After Acritas is
the harbor Phoenicus and the Oenussae islands lying opposite. (Paus. 4.34.9-12)
ORNIES (Ancient city) NEMEA
The Cynurians are aboriginal and seem to be the only Ionians, but they have been Dorianized by time and by Argive rule. They are the Orneatae and the perioikoi. (Herdt 8.73.3)
It has to do with the wealth and the prosperity that the town used to have, thanks to the great oil export from its port.
AKAKISSION (Ancient city) MEGALOPOLI
District of Arcadia, Parrhasians, towns of the Parrhasians.
AKONTION (Ancient city) MEGALOPOLIS
District of Arcadia, Parrhasians, towns of the Parrhasians.
ARKADIA (Ancient area) PELOPONNISOS
Aboriginal inhabitants of Peloponnese, formerly called Pelasgians, and Azanians, an inland people, their confederacy, live on acorns, wear wolfskins and bearskins, partial to square images, their foreign wars, army collected by Herakles, robbed of their cattle by a satyr, join Herakles in his attack on Oechalia, help the Dioscuri to capture Athens, cross to Asia with Telephus, go to Troy in borrowed ships, their muster for the Trojan war, catalogue of A. in Homer, side with Messenians against Lacedaemonians, number of A. sent to Thermopylae, defeated by Lacedaemonians at Dipaea, hold Olympic games, invades Elis, tomb of A. at Olympia, adhere to Achaean League, defeated by Romans at Chaeronea, side with Antony against Augustus, Common Hearth of.
DASSES (Ancient city) MEGALOPOLI
District of Arcadia, Parrhasians, towns of the Parrhasians.
ELOS (Ancient city) LACONIA
Originally inhabitants of Helos, afterwards general name for slaves of Lacedaemonians:
<b>Helotae</b> (Heilotai), and Helotes (Heilotes). The Helots or bondsmen
of the Spartans. The common account of the origin of this class is, that the inhabitants
of the maritime town of <b>Helos</b> were reduced by Sparta to this
state of degradation, after an insurrection against the Dorians already established
in power. This explanation, however, rests merely on an etymology, and that by
no means probable. The word Heilos is probably a derivative from helein in a passive
sense, and consequently means "a prisoner"--a derivation known in ancient
times. It seems likely that they were an aboriginal race, which was subdued at
a very early period, and which immediately passed over as slaves to the Doric
conquerors. In speaking of the condition of the Helots, their political rights
and their personal treatment will be considered under different heads, though
in fact the two subjects are very nearly connected.
The first were doubtless exactly defined by law and custom, though the expressions
made use of by ancient authors are frequently vague and ambiguous. "They
were", says Ephorus, "in a certain point of view public slaves. Their
possessor could neither liberate them nor sell them beyond the borders".
From this it is evident that they were considered as belonging properly to the
State, which to a certain degree permitted them to be possessed by individuals,
reserving to itself the power of enfranchising them. But to sell them out of the
country was not in the power even of the State; and such an event seems never
to have occurred. It is, upon the whole, most probable that individuals had no
power to sell them at all, as they belonged chiefly to the landed property, and
this was inalienable. On these lands they had certain fixed dwellings of their
own, and particular services and payments were prescribed to them. They paid as
rent a fixed measure of corn; not, however, like the Perioeci, to the State, but
to their masters. As this quantity had been definitely settled at a very early
period, the Helots were the persons who profited by a good, and lost by a bad,
harvest, which must have been to them an encouragement to industry and good husbandry,
as would not have been the case if the profit and loss had merely affected the
landlords. In fact, by this means, as is proved by the accounts respecting the
Spartan agriculture, a careful cultivation of the soil was kept up. By means of
the rich produce of the lands, and in part by plunder obtained in war, they collected
a considerable property, to the attainment of which almost every access was closed
to the Spartans. The cultivation of the land, however, was not the only duty of
the Helots; they also, at the public meals, attended upon their masters, who,
according to the Lacedaemonian principle of a community of property, mutually
lent them to one another. A large number of them was also employed by the State
in public works. In the field the Helots never served as hoplites, except in extraordinary
cases; and then it was the general practice afterwards to give them their liberty.
This seems first to have occurred under Brasidas in B.C. 424. (Cf. Thuc. iv. 80,
vii. 19.) On other occasions they attended the regular army as light-armed troops
(psiloi); and that their numbers were very considerable may be seen from the battle
of Plataea, in which 5000 Spartans were attended by 35,000 Helots. Although they
did not share the honour of the heavy-armed soldiers, they were in turn exposed
to a less degree of danger; for, while the former, in close rank, received the
onset of the enemy with spear and shield, the Helots, armed only with their slings
and javelins, were in a moment either before or behind the ranks, as Tyrtaeus
accurately describes the relative duties of the light-armed soldier (gumnes) and
the hoplite. Sparta, in her better days, is never recorded to have unnecessarily
sacrificed the lives of her Helots. A certain number of them were allotted to
each Spartan ( Herod.ix. 28; Thuc.iii. 8). At the battle of Plataea this number
was seven. Those who were assigned to a single master were probably called ampittares.
Of these, however, one in particular was the servant (therapon) of his master,
as in the story of the blind Spartan, who was conducted by his Helot into the
thickest of the battle of Thermopylae, and, while the latter fled, fell with the
other heroes ( Herod.vii. 229). It appears that the other Helots were in the field
placed more immediately under the command of the king than the rest of the army
( Herod.vi. 80Herod., 81). In the fleet they composed the large mass of the sailors
( Hist. Gr. vii. 1, 12), in which service at Athens the inferior citizens and
slaves were employed. It is a matter of much greater difficulty to form a clear
notion of the treatment of the Helots, and of their manner of life; for the rhetorical
spirit with which later historians have embellished their views has been productive
of much confusion and misconception. Myron of Priene, in his account of the Messenian
War, drew a very dark picture of Sparta, and endeavoured at the end to rouse the
feelings of his readers by a description of the fate which the conquered underwent.
"The Helots", says he, "perform for the Spartans every ignominious
service. They are compelled to wear a cap of dog's skin (kune), to have a covering
of sheep's skin (diphthera), and are severely beaten every year without having
committed any fault, in order that they may never forget they are slaves. In addition
to this, those among them who, either by their stature or their beauty, raise
themselves above the condition of a slave, are condemned to death, and the masters
who do not destroy the most manly of them are liable to punishment". Myron's
statements, however, are to be received with considerable caution.
Plutarch relates (Lycurg. 28) that the Helots were compelled to intoxicate
themselves, and to perform indecent dances, as a warning to the Spartan youth.
Yet Helot women discharged the office of nurse in the royal palaces, and doubtless
obtained the affection with which the attendants of early youth were honoured
in ancient times. It is, however, certain that the Doric laws did not bind servants
to strict temperance; and hence examples of drunkenness among them might well
have served as a means of recommending sobriety. It was also an established regulation
that the national songs and dances of Sparta were forbidden to the Helots, who,
on the other hand, had some extravagant and lascivious dances peculiar to themselves,
which may have given rise to the above report.
It was the curse of this bondage, which Plato terms the hardest in
Greece, that the slaves abandoned their masters when they stood in greatest need
of their assistance; and hence the Spartans were even compelled to stipulate in
treaties for aid against their own subjects (Thuc.i. 118Thuc., v. 14; cf. Aristot.
Pol.ii. 6 Pol., 2). A more favourable side of the Spartan system of bondage is
seen in the fact that a legal way to liberty and citizenship stood open to the
Helots. The many intermediate steps seem to prove the existence of a regular mode
of transition from the one rank to the other. The Helots who were esteemed worthy
of an especial confidence were called argeioi; the aphetai were probably released
from all service. The desposionautai, who served in the fleets, resembled probably
the freedmen of Attica, who were called "the out-dwellers" (hoi choris
oikountes). When they received their liberty, they also obtained permission to
dwell where they wished (Thuc.iv. 80Thuc., v. 34), and probably, at the same time,
a portion of land was granted them without the lot of their former masters. After
they had been in possession of liberty for some time, they appear to have been
called neodamodeis (Thuc.vii. 58), the number of whom soon came near to that of
the citizens (Plut. Ages.6). The mothones or mothakes were Helots, who, being
brought up together with the young Spartans, obtained freedom without the rights
of citizenship.
The number of the Helots has been estimated as having been some 225,000
at the time of the battle of Plataea, as against an estimated total population
of 380,000 or 400,000.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
FLIASIA (Ancient area) PELOPONNISOS
Their history, originally Argives, become Dorians after return of Heraclids, found Clazomenae, two hundred Phliasians sent to Thermopylae, revolt from Macedonia, tell tales about the Asopus, dedicate images of Zeus and Aegina at Delphi, dedicate images of Zeus, Asopus, and daughters of Asopus at Olympia, ancient Phliasian authorities.
Perseus Project Index. Total results on 21/5/2001: 96 for Phliasians.
KLEONES (Ancient city) NEMEA
Settle at Clazomenae, dedicate bronze goat to Apollo, grave of Cleonaeans at Athens.
Perseus Project Index. Total results on 21/5/2001: 8 for Cleonaeans, 1 for Kleonaians.
MAKARIE (Ancient city) MEGALOPOLI
District of Arcadia, Parrhasians, towns of the Parrhasians.
MESSINIA (Ancient area) MESSINIA
First war of Messenians with Lacedaemonians, second war of Messenians with Lacedaemonians, Messenians defeated at Great Trench, settle on Mount Ira, conquered a second time by Lacedaemonians and banished from Peloponnese, exiled Messenians settle at Zancle (Messene) in Sicily, Messenians revolt from Lacedaemonians a second time and take refuge on Ithome, but are subdued and allowed to depart (third Messenian war), receive Naupactus from Athenians, restored to Messenia by Thebans after battle of Leuctra, in exile forget their country's history, and are unsuccessful at Olympic games, form an alliance with Philip, son of Amyntas, revolt from Macedonia, aid Lacedaemonians against Pyrrhus, join Achaean League, welcome fugitives from Megalopolis.
Perseus Project Index. Total results on 20/4/2001: 514 for Messenians.
MYCENAE (Mycenean palace) ARGOLIS
At Thermopylae, Heraclidae and Mycenaeans, Mycenaeans in Pausanias' army, Io tethered to a tree in the grove of the, commanded by an oracle to choose a Pelopid for king, Agamemnon king of the, their muster for the Trojan war.
SIKYON (Ancient city) CORINTHIA
A "Pelasgian" people, of Sicyon.
Become Dorians, foiled by stratagem of Hyperesians, defeated by people of Orneae, aid Messenians in their wars against Spartans, defeated by Athenians under Tolmides, revolt from Macedonia, join Achaean League, hold Isthmian games after destruction of Corinth, intervene in dispute between Athenians and Oropians, give Furies title of Eumenides, treasury of Sicyonians at Delphi, treasury of Sicyonians at Olympia, grave of Sicyonians slain in battle, Sicyonian tombs described.
SPARTI (Ancient city) LACONIA
Most superstitious of all the Greeks, keen breeders of horses, marched to battle to music of flutes, lyres, and lutes, do not march to war before the full moon, inclined to conceal their losses, deem it infamous to let king's body fall into hands of enemy, the first to bribe an enemy.
Perseus Project Index : Lacedaemonians, Lakedaimonians, Spartans, Spartan
THOKNIA (Ancient city) MEGALOPOLI
District of Arcadia, Parrhasians, towns of the Parrhasians.
MESSINIA (Ancient area) MESSINIA
After the return of the Heracleidae (Dorians) ,when they assigned Argos to Temenus, Cresphontes asked them for the land of Messenia Aristodemus was now dead, but Cresphontes was vigorously opposed by Theras the son of Autesion... who was at that time guardian of the sons of Aristodemus, being their uncle Cresphontes, wishing to obtain Messenia as his portion at all costs, approached Temenus, and having suborned him pretended to leave the decision to the lot. Temenus put the lots of the children of Aristodemus and of Cresphontes into a jar containing water, the terms being that the party whose lot came up first should be the first to choose a portion of the country. Temenus had caused both lots to be made of clay, but for the sons of Aristodemus sun-dried, for Cresphontes baked with fire. So the lot of the sons of Aristodemus was dissolved, and Cresphontes, winning in this way, chose Messenia.
This extract is from: Pausanias, Description of Greece. Harvard University Press
Cited Aug 2002 from Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
SPARTI (Ancient city) LACONIA
Achaei (Achaioi), one of the four races into which the Hellenes are usually divided.
In the heroic age they are found in that part of Thessaly in which Phthia and
Hellas were situated, and also in the eastern part of Peloponnesus, more especially
in Argos and Sparta. Argos was frequently called the Achaean Argos (Argos Achaiikon,
Hom. Il. ix. 141) to distinguish it from the Pelasgian Argos in Thessaly; but
Sparta is generally mentioned as the head-quarters of the Achaean race in Peloponnesus.
Thessaly and Peloponnesus were thus the two chief abodes of this people; but there
were various traditions respecting their origin, and a difference of opinion existed
among the ancients, whether the Thessalian or the Peloponnesian Achaeans were
the more ancient. They were usually represented as descendants of Achaeus, the
son of Xuthus and Creusa, and consequently the brother of Ion and grandson of
Hellen. Pausanias (vii. 1) related that Achaeus went back to Thessaly, and recovered
the dominions of which his father, Xuthus, had been deprived; and then, in order
to explain the existence of the Achaeans in Peloponnesus, he adds that Archander
and Architeles, the sons of Achaeus, came back from Phthiotis to Argos, married
the two daughters of Danaus, and acquired such influence at Argos and Sparta,
that they called the people Achaeans after their father Achaeus. On the other
hand, Strabo in one passage says, that Achaeus having fled from Attica, where
his father Xuthus had settled, settled in Lacedaemon and gave to the inhabitants
the name of Achaeans. In another passage, however, he relates, that Pelops brought
with him into Peloponnesus the Phthiotan Achaeans, who settled in Laconia. It
would be unprofitable to pursue further the variations in the legends; but we
may safely believe that the Achaeans in Thessaly were more ancient than those
in Peloponnesus, since all tradition points to Thessaly as the cradle of the Hellenic
race. There is a totally different account, which represents the Achaeans as of
Pelasgic origin. It is preserved by Dionysius of Halicarnassus (i. 17), who relates
that Achaeus, Phthius, and Pelasgus were sons of Poseidon and Larissa; and that
they migrated from Peloponnesus to Thessaly, where they divided the country into
three parts, called after them Achaia, Phthiotis and Pelasgiotis. A modern writer
is disposed to accept this tradition so far, as to assign a Pelasgic origin to
the Achaeans, though he regards the Phthiotan Achaeans as more ancient than their
brethren in the Peloponnesus.The only fact known in the earliest history of the
people, which we can admit with certainty, is their existence as the predominant
race in the south of Thessaly, and on the eastern side of Peloponnesus. They are
represented by Homer as a brave and warlike people, and so distinguished were
they that he usually calls the Greeks in general Achaeans or Panachaeans (Panachaioi
Il. ii. 404, vii. 73, &c.). In the same manner Peloponnesus, and sometimes the
whole of Greece, is called by the poet the Achaean land. (Achaiis gaia, Hom. Il.
i. 254, Od. xiii. 249.) On the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians, 80 years
after the Trojan war, the Achaeans were driven out of Argos and Laconia, and those
who remained behind were reduced to the condition of a conquered people. Most
of the expelled Achaeans, led by Tisamenus, the son of Orestes, proceeded to the
land on the northern coast of Peloponnesus, which was called simply Aegialus (Aigialos)
or the Coast, and was inhabited by Ionians. The latter were defeated by the Achaeans
and crossed over to Attica and Asia Minor, leaving their country to their conquerors,
from whom it was henceforth called Achaia. (Strab. p. 383; Pans. vii. 1; Pol.
ii. 41; comp. Herod. i. 145.) The further history of the Achaeans is given under
Achaia.
The Achaeans founded several colonies, of which the most celebrated were Croton
and Sybaris.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
AKROKORINTHOS (Castle) KORINTHOS
Bunaea, (Bounaia), a surname of Hera, derived from Bunus, the son of Hermes and Alcidameia,
who is said to have built a sanctuary to Hera on the road which led up to Acrocorinthus.
(Paus. ii. 4.7, 3.8.)
ANDANIA (Ancient city) ANDANIA
I sanctified houses of Hermes and paths of holy Demeter and Kore her firstborn, where they say that Messene established the feast of the Great Goddesses, taught by Caucon, sprung from Phlyus' noble son. And I wondered that Lycus, son of Pandion, brought all the Attic rite to wise Andania.
Agyieus (Aguieus), a surname of Apollo describing him as the protector of the streets and public places. As such he was worshipped at Acharnae (Paus. i. 31.3), Mycenae (ii. 19.7), and at Tegea. (viii. 53.1.) The origin of the worship of Apollo Agyieus in the last of these places is related by Pausanias. (Compare Hor. Carm. iv. 6. 28; Macrob. Sat. i. 9.)
SIKYON (Ancient city) CORINTHIA
SPARTI (Ancient city) LACONIA
My own three favorite cities," answered Hera, "are Argos, Sparta, and Mycenae.
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