Listed 86 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "LAKEDEMONA Province LACONIA" .
EGYS (Ancient city) PELANA
Aigns: Eth. Aignhates, (Paus.); Aignen (Theopomp. ap. Steph. B. s.
v.) A town of Laconia, on the frontiers of Arcadia, originally belonged to the
Arcadians, but was conquered at an early period by Charilaus, the reputed nephew
of Lycurgus, and annexed to Laconia. Its territory, called Aegetis (Aientis),
appears to have been originally of some extent, and to have included all the villages
in the districts of Maleatis and Cromitis. Even at the time of the foundation
of Megalopolis, the inhabitants of these Arcadian districts, comprising Scirtonium,
Malea, Cromi, Belbina, and Leuctrum, continued to be called Aegytae. The position
of Aegys is uncertain. Leake places it at Kamara, near the sources of the river
Xerilo, the ancient Carnion.
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ELOS (Ancient city) LACONIA
A town of Laconia, situated east of the mouth of the Eurotas, close
to the sea, in a plain which, though marshy near the coast, is described by Polybius
as the most fertile part of Laconia. (Polyb. v. 19.) In the earliest times it
appears to have been the chief town on the coast, as Amyclae was in the interior;
for these two places are mentioned together by Homer (Il. ii. 584, Hymn. in Apoll.
410). Helos is said to have been founded by Heleius, the youngest son of Perseus.
On its conquest by the Dorians its inhabitants were reduced to slavery; and, according
to a common opinion in antiquity, their name became the general designation of
the Spartan bondsmen, but the name of these slaves (heilotes) probably signified
captives, and was derived from the root of helein. (Pans. iii. 20. § 6: the account
differs a little in Strab. viii. p. 365, and Athen. vi. p. 265, c.) In the time
of Strabo Helos was only a village; and when it was visited by Pausanias, it was
in ruins. (Strab. viii. p. 363; Paus. iii. 22. § 3: Helos is also mentioned by
Thuc. iv. 54; Xen. Hell. vi. 5. § 32; Steph. B. s. v.) Leake conjectures that
Helos may have stood at Priniko, since this place is distant from Trinisa, the
ancient Trinasus, about 80 stadia, which, according to Pausanias, was the distance
between these two places; but we learn from the French Commission that Priniko
contains only ruins of the middle ages, and that there are some Hellenic remains
a little more to the east near Bizani, which is therefore probably the site of
Helos. The name of Helos is still given to the plain of the lower Eurotas.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited May 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
FARAS (Ancient city) THERAPNES
or Pharis, afterwards called Pharae (Phare, Pharis, Pharai). A town
of Laconia in the Spartan plain, situated upon the road from Amyclae to the sea.
(Paus. iii. 20. § 3.) It was mentioned in the Iliad (ii. 582), and was one of
the ancient Achaean towns. It maintained its independence till the reign of Teleclus,
king of Sparta; and, after its conquest, continued to be a Lacedaemonian town
under the name of Pharae. (Paus. iii. 2. § 6.) It was said to have been plundered
by Aristomenes in the Second Messenian War. (Paus. iv. 16. § 8.) It is also mentioned
in a corrupt passage of Strabo (viii. p. 364), and by other ancient writers. (Lycophr.
552; Stat. Theb. iv. 226; Steph. B. s. v. Pharis.)
Pharis has been rightly placed at the deserted village of Bafio, which
lies south of the site of Amyclae, and contains an ancient Treasury, like those
of Mycenae and Orchomenus, which is in accordance with Pharis having been one
of the old Achaean cities before the Dorian conquest. It is surprising that the
French Commission have given no description or drawing of this remarkable monument.
The only account we possess of it, is by Mulre, who observes that it is, like
that of Mycenae, a tumulus, with an interior vault, entered by a door on one side,
the access to which was pierced horizontally through the slope of the hill. Its
situation, on the summit of a knoll, itself of rather conical form, while it increases
the apparent size of the tumulus, adds much to its general loftiness and grandeur
of effect. The roof of the vault, with the greater part of its material, is now
gone, its shape being represented by a round cavity or crater on the summit of
the tumulus. The doorway is still entire. It is 6 feet wide at its upper and narrower
part. The stone lintel is 15 feet in length. The vault itself was probably between
30 and 40 feet in diameter. Mure adds: Menelaus is said to have been buried at
Amyclae. This may, therefore, have been the royal vault of the Spartan branch,
as the Mycenaean monument was of the Argive branch of the Atridan family. But
even if we suppose the monument to have been a sepulchre, and not a treasury,
it stood at the distance of 4 or 5 miles from Amyclae, if this town is placed
at Aghia Kyriaki, and more than 2 miles, even if placed, according to the French
Commission, at Sklavokhori. In addition to this, Menelaus, according to other
accounts, was buried at Therapne. (Mure, Tour in Greece, vol. ii. p. 246; Leake,
Morea, vol. iii. p. 3, Peloponnesiaca, p. 354; Curtius, Peloponnesos, vol. ii.
p. 248.)
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GERONTHRES (Ancient city) LACONIA
Geranthrae (Geronthrai, Paus. iii. 21. § 7, 22. § 6; Geranthrai, Paus.
iii. 2. § 6; Steph. B. s. v.; Gerenthrai, Hierocl. 392, 14: Eth. Geronthretes).
An ancient town of Laconia, situated in a commanding position upon the south-westrern
face of the mountain above the plain of the Eurotas. It is represented by Gheraki,
a ruined town of the middle ages, the name of which is a corruption of Geronthrae,
while its distance from the site of Acriae upon the coast corresponds to the 120
stadia mentioned by Pausanias. We learn from the same writer that Geronthrae possessed
a temple and grove of Ares, to whom a yearly festival was celebrated, from which
women were excluded. Around the agora there were fountains of potable water. On
the acropolis stood a temple of Apollo. (Paus. iii. 22. § § 6, 7; stala petrina
en to hiero to tou Atollonos, Bockh, Inscr. no. 1334.) On the northern side of
the summit of the citadel are the remains of a very ancient wall: the position
of the agora is indicated by the fountains of water lower down the hill.
Geronthrae was one of the ancient Achaean cities which resisted for
a long time the Dorian conquerors. It was at length taken and colonised by the
Spartans, along with Amyclae and Pharis. In the time of the Roman empire it belonged
to the Eleuthero-Lacones. (Paus. iii. 2. § 6, 21. § 7, 22. § 6.) At the beginning
of the fourth century of the Christian era it must have been a market-town of
some importance, since a Greek translation of the edict of Diocletian, De Pretiis
Rerum Venalium, has been discovered at Gheraki. In the middle ages it was the
seat of a bishopric, and one of the most important places in the valley of the
Eurotas.
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KARYES (Ancient city) LAKEDEMONA
Karuai: Eth. Karuates. A town of Laconia upon the frontiers of Arcadia.
It was originally an Arcadian town belonging to Tegea, but was conquered by the
Spartans and annexed to their territory. (Phot. Lex. s. v. Karuateia;; Paus. viii.
45. § 1.) Caryae revolted from Sparta after the battle of Leuctra (B.C. 371),
and offered to guide a Theban army into Laconia; but shortly afterwards it was
severely punished for its treachery, for Archidamus took the town and put to death
all the inhabitants who were made prisoners. (Xen. Hell. vi. 5. 24--27, vii. 1.
§ 28.) Caryae was celebrated for its temple of Artemis Caryatis, and for the annual
festival of this goddess, at which the Lacedaemonian virgins used to perform a
peculiar kind of dance. (Paus. iii. 10. § 9 ; Lucian. de Salt. 10.) This festival
was of great antiquity, for in the second Messenian war, Aristomenes is said to
have carried off the Lacedaemonian virgins, who were dancing at Caryae in honour
of Artemis. (Paus. iv. 16. § 9.) It was, perhaps, from this ancient dance of the
Lacedaemonian maidens, that the Greek artists gave the name of Caryatides to the
female figures which were employed in architecture instead of pillars. The tale
of Vitruvius respecting the origin of these figures, is not entitled to any credit.
He relates (i. 1. § 5) that Caryae revolted to the Persians after the battle of
Thermopylae; that it was in consequence destroyed by the allied Greeks, who killed
the men and led the women into captivity; and that to commemorate the disgrace
of the latter, representations of them were employed in ar. chitecture instead
of columns.
The exact position of Caryae has given rise to dispute. It is evident
from the account of Pausanias (iii. 10. § 7), and from the history of more than
one campaign that it was situated on the road from Tegea to Sparta. (Thuc.v. 55;
Xen. Hell. vi. 5. 25, 27 ; Liv. xxxiv. 26.) If it was on the direct road from
Tegea to Sparta, it must be placed, with Leake, at the Khan of Krevata: but we
are more inclined to adopt the opinion of Boblaye and Ross, that it stood on one
of the side roads from Tegea to Sparta. Ross places it NW. of the Khan of Krevata,
in a valley of a tributary of the Oenus, where there is an insulated hill with
ancient ruins, about an hour to the right or west of the village of Arakhova.
Although the road from Tegea to Sparta is longer by way of Arakhova, it was, probably,
often adopted in war in preference to the direct road, in order to avoid the defiles
of Klisura, and to obtain for an encampment a good supply of water. Boblaye remarks,
that there are springs of excellent water in the neighbourhood of Aralkhova, to
which Lycophron, probably, alludes (Karikon or Karukon poton, Lycophr. 149).
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KARYSTOS (Ancient city) PELANA
Karustos: Eth. Karustios. A town in Laconia, in the district Aegytis, near the
frontiers of Laconia. Its wine was celebrated by the poet Alcman. Leake supposes
that Carystus stood at the Kalyvia of Ghiorghitzi.
KROKEES (Ancient city) LACONIA
Krokeai: Eth. Krokeates. A village of Laconia on the road from Sparta
to Gythium, and near the latter place, celebrated for its marble quarries. Pausanias
describes the marble as difficult to work, but when wrought forming beautiful
decorations for temples, baths, and fountains. There was a marble statue of Zeus
Croceates before the village, and at the quarries bronze statues of the Dioscuri.
(Paus. iii. 21. § 4.) The most celebrated of the Corinthian baths was adorned
with marble from the quarries at Croceae. (Paus. ii. 3. § 5.) These quarries have
been discovered by the French Commission two miles SE. of Levetzova; and near
the village have been found some blocks of marble, probably the remains of the
statue of Zeus Croceates. A memorial of the worship of the Dioscuri at this place
still exists in a bas-relief, representing the two gods with their horses: beneath
is a Latin inscription. The marble in these quarries is green porphyry; and though
not suitable for Grecian temples, it would be greatly prized by the Romans, who
employed extensively variegated kinds of marble for the decoration of their buildings.
Hence it is probable that the marble celebrated by the Romans under the name of
Laconian was this green porphyry from Croceae; and that it was the quarries of
this place which, Strabo says were opened by the Romans at Taygetus.
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OINOUS (Ancient city) INOUDAS
Oinous: Eth. Oinountios. A small town in Laconia, celebrated for its
wine, from which the river Oenus, a tributary of the Eurotas, appears to have
derived its name. From its being described by Athenaeus as near Pitane, one of
the divisions of Sparta, it was probably situated near the junction of the Oenus
and the Eurotas. (Steph. B. s. v.; Athen. i. p. 31.) The river Oenus, now called
Kelefina, rises in the watershed of Mt. Parnon, and, after flowing in a general
south-westerly direction, falls into the Eurotas, at the distance of little more
than a mile from Sparta. (Polyb. ii. 65, 66; Liv. xxxiv. 28.) The principal tributary
of the Oenus was the Gorgylus (Gorgulos, Polyb. ii. 66), probably the river of
Vrestena.
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PELLANA (Mycenean settlement) PELANA
he Pellana, ta Pellana, Pellene. A town of Laconia, on the Eurotas,
and on the road from Sparta to Arcadia. It was said to have been the residence
of Tyndareos, when he was expelled from Sparta, and was subsequently the frontier-fortress
of Sparta on the Eurotas, as Sellasia was on the Oenus. Polybius describes it
(iv. 81) as one of the cities of the Laconian Tripolis, the other two being probably
Carystus and Belemina. It had ceased to be a town in the time of Pausanias, but
he noticed there a temple of Asclepius, and two fountains, named Pellanis and
Lanceia. Below Pellana, was the Characoma (Charakoma), a fortification or wall
in the narrow part of the valley; and near the town was the ditch, which according
to the law of Agis, was to separate the lots of the Spartans from those of the
Perioeci. (Plut. Agis, 8) Pausanias says that Pellana was 100 stadia from Belemina;
but he does not specify its distance from Sparta, nor on which bank of the river
it stood. It was probably on the left bank of the river at Mt. Burlia, which is
distant 55 stadia from Sparta, and 100 from Mt. Khelmos, the site of Belemina.
Mt. Burlia has two peaked summits, on each of which stands a chapel; and the bank
of the river, which is only separated from the mountain by a narrow meadow, is
supported for the length of 200 yards by an Hellenic wall. Some copious sources
issue from the foot of the rocks, and from a stream which joins the river at the
southern end of the meadow, where the wall ends. There are still traces of an
aqueduct, which appears to have carried the waters of these fountains to Sparta.
The acropolis of Pellana may have occupied one of the summits of the mountain,
but there are no traces of antiquity in either of the chapels.
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SELLASIA (Ancient city) INOUDAS
Sellasia (Selasia). The latter is perhaps the correct form, and may come from
selas; the name is connected by Hesychius with Artemis Selasia: Eth. Sellasieus,
Selasieus.
A town of Laconia, situated in the valley of the Oenus, on the road
leading from Tegea and Argos, and one of the bulwarks of Sparta against an invading
army. Its distance from Sparta is nowhere mentioned; but from the description
which Polybius gives of the celebrated battle fought in its neighbourhood between
Antigonus and Cleomenes, it is probable that the plain of Krevata was the site
of the battle. We learn from Polybius that this battle took place in a narrow
opening of the vale of the Oenus, between two hills named Evas and Olympus, and
that the river Gorgylus flowed across the plain into the Evenus. South of the
Khan of Krevata is a small plain, the only one in the valley of the Oenus, about
ten minutes in width and a quarter of an hour in length, at the end of which the
rocks again approach so close as barely to leave room for the passage of the river.
The mountain, which bounds this plain on the east, is Olympus, a continuation
of the mountain of Vresthena: it rises very steep on the left bank of the Oenus.
The mountain on the western side is Evas, now Turlaes, which, though not so steep,
is still inaccessible to cavalry. Towards the north the plain is shut in by a
mountain, over which the road leads to Tegea, and towards the south by a still
higher mountain. The Oenus, which flows near the eastern edge of the plain, can
be crossed at any point without difficulty. It receives on its right side a small
brook, the Gorgylus, which descends from a ravine on the northern side of Mt.
Evas. On the summit of the hill, more than 2800 feet above the sea, which shuts
in the plain on the south, and over which the road leads to Sparta, are the ruins
of Sellasia, described below.
The French Commission had previously supposed the plain of Krevata
to be the site of the battle of Sellasia (Boblaye, Recherches, &c. p. 73); and
the same opinion has been adopted by Curtius. (Peloponnesos, vol. ii. p, 260.)
Leake, however, places Sellasia to the SE., near the monastery of the Forty Saints
(Hagioi Saranta), and supposes the battle to have been fought in the pass to the
eastward of the monastery. The ruins near the Khan of Krevata he maintains to
be those of Caryae. (Leake, Morea, vol. ii. p. 529, Peloponnesiaca, p. 341, seq.)
But Ross informs us that in the narrow pass NE. of the monastery of the Forty
Saints there is barely room for a loaded mule to pass; and we know moreover that
Sellasia was situated on the high road from Sparta to Tegea and Argos, which must
have led through the plain of Krevata. (kata ten leophoron, Paus. iii. 10. § 7;
Plut. Cleom. 23; Xen. Hell. vi. 5. 27; Diod. xv. 64; Liv. xxxiv. 28.) On leaving
the plain of Krevata, the road southwards ascends the mountain, and at the distance
of a quarter of an hour leaves a small ruin on the left, called by the peasants
Palaeogula (he Palaiogoula). The remains of the walls are Hellenic, but they are
of very small extent, and the place was probably either a dependency of Sellasia
or one to which the inhabitants of the latter fled for refuge at one of the periods
when their city was destroyed.
The ruins of Sellasia lie 1 1/2 miles beyond Palaeogula upon the summit
of the mountain. The city was about 1 1/2 miles in circumference, as appears from
the foundation of the walls. The latter were from 10 to 11 feet thick, and consist
of irregular but very small stones. The northern and smaller half of the city
was separated by a wall from the southern half, which was on lower ground.
From its position Sellasia was always exposed to the attacks of an
invading army. On the first invasion of Laconia by the Thebans in B.C. 369, Sellasia
was plundered and burnt (Xen. Hell. vi. 5. 27); and because the inhabitants at
that time, together with several others of the Perioeci, went over to the enemy,
the town was again taken and destroyed four years later by the Lacedaemonians
themselves, assisted by some auxiliaries sent by the younger Dionysius. (Xen.
Hell. vii. 4. 12) It suffered the same fate a third time after the defeat of Cleomenes,
as has been already related. It appears to have been never rebuilt, and was in
ruins in the time of Pausanias (iii. 10. § 7).
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VRYSSES (Ancient city) SPARTI
Bruseiai, Bruseai, Brusiai. A town of Laconia, SW. of Sparta, at the
foot of the ordinary exit from Mt. Taygetus. Its name occurs in Homer, but it
had dwindled down to a small village in the time of Pausanias, who mentions, however,
a temple of Dionysus at the place, into which women alone were permitted to enter,
and of which they performed the sacred rites. Leake discovered the site of Bryseae
at the village of Sinanbey near Sklavokori. He remarks that the marble from Sklavokhori,
which was presented by the Earl of Aberdeen to the British Museum, probably came
from the above-mentioned temple at Bryseae: it bears the name of two priestesses,
and represents various articles of female apparel. Leake found another marble
at Sinanbey, which is also in the British Museum.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
ELOS (Ancient city) LACONIA
A town in Laconia, on the coast, in a marshy situation, whence its name (helos=marsh). It was commonly said that the Spartan slaves called Helotes (Heilotes), were originally the Achaean inhabitants of this town who were reduced by the Dorian conquerors to slavery.
ERMES (Ancient location) LACONIA
A district in the north of Laconia.
EVROTAS (River) PELOPONNISOS
The chief river in Laconia, on which Sparta stood, rises in Mount Boreum, in Arcadia, and flows into the Laconian Gulf
GERONTHRES (Ancient city) LACONIA
A town of Laconia, to the north of Helos, founded by the Achaeans long before the invasion of the Dorians and the Heraclidae, and subsequently colonized by the latter. When Pausanias visited Laconia, he found Geronthrae in possession of the Eleuthero-Lacones. It contained a temple and grove of Ares, and another temple of Apollo.
KARYES (Ancient city) LAKEDEMONA
A town in Laconia near the borders of Arcadia, originally belonged
to the territory of Tegea in Arcadia. Female figures in architecture that support
burdens are said to have been called Caryatides in token of the abject slavery
to which the women of Caryae were reduced by the Greeks, as a punishment for joining
the Persians at the invasion of Greece
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OINOUS (Ancient city) INOUDAS
A town of Laconia, supposed to have been situated on the river of the same name flowing near Sellasia
PARNONAS (Mountain) PELOPONNISOS
A mountain which separated Laconia from the Arcadian district Tegeatis. Its height is about 6500 feet.
PELLANA (Mycenean settlement) PELANA
Often called Pellana, a town in Lucania on the Eurotas, northwest of Sparta.
SELLASIA (Ancient city) INOUDAS
A town in Laconia, north of Sparta, near the river Oenus. Here was fought a great battle between Cleomenes III. and Antigonus Doson in B.C. 221, resulting in the defeat of the former.
(Sparte, Dor. Sparta), also called Lacedaemon (Lakedaimon).
The capital of Laconica and the chief city of the Peloponnesus, was situated
on the right bank of the Eurotas (Iri), about twenty miles from the sea. It
stood on a plain which contained within it several rising grounds and hills.
It was bounded on the east by the Eurotas, on the northwest by the small river
Oenus (Kelesina), and on the southeast by the small river Tisia (Magula), both
of which streams fell into the Eurotas. The plain in which Sparta stood was
shut in on the east by Mount Menelaieum, and on the west by Mount Taygetus;
whence the city is called by Homer "the hollow Lacedaemon." It was
of a circular form, about six miles in circumference, and consisted of several
distinct quarters, which were originally separate villages, and which were never
united into one regular town. Its site is occupied by the modern villages of
Magula and Psykhiko; and the principal modern town in the neighbourhood is Mistra,
which lies about two miles to the west on Mount Taygetus.
During the flourishing times of Greek independence, Sparta
was never surrounded by walls, since the bravery of its citizens, and the difficulty
of access to it, were supposed to render such defences needless. It was first
fortified by the tyrant Nabis; but it did not possess regular walls until the
time of the Romans. Sparta, unlike most Greek cities, had no proper Acropolis,
but this name was given to one of the steepest hills of the town, on the summit
of which stood the Temple of Athene Poliuchus, or Chalcioecus.
Five distinct quarters of the city are mentioned: (1) Pitane
(Pitane), which appears to have been the most important part of the city, and
in which was situated the Agora, containing the council-house of the Senate,
and the offices of the public magistrates. It was also surrounded by various
temples and other public buildings. Of these, the most splendid was the Persian
Stoa or portico, originally built of the spoils taken in the Persian War, and
enlarged and adorned at later times. A part of the Agora was called the Chorus
or dancing-place, in which the Spartan youths performed dances in honour of
Apollo. (2) Limnae (Limnai), a suburb of the city, on the banks of the Eurotas,
northeast of Pitane, was originally a hollow spot covered with water. (3) Mesoa
or Messoa (Mesoa, Messoa), also by the side of the Eurotas, southeast of the
preceding, containing the Dromus and the Platanistas, which was a spot nearly
surrounded with water, and so called from the plane-trees growing there. (4)
Cynosura (Kunosoura), in the southwest of the city, and south of Pitane. (5)
Aegidae (Aigeidai), in the northwest of the city, and west of Pitane.
The two principal streets of Sparta ran from the Agora to
the extreme end of the city: these were, (1) Aphetae or Aphetais (Aphetai, Aphetais
sc. hodos), extending in a southeasterly direction, past the temple of Dictynna
and the tombs of the Eurypontidae; and (2) Skias (Skias), running nearly parallel
to the preceding one, but farther to the east, and which derived its name from
an ancient place of assembly, of a circular form, called Skias. The most important
remains of ancient Sparta are the ruins of the theatre, which was near the Agora.
Sparta is said to have been founded by Lacedaemon, a son
of Zeus and Taygete, who married Sparta, the daughter of Eurotas, and called
the city after the name of his wife. His son Amyclas is said to have been the
founder of Amyclae, which was for a long time a more important town than Sparta
itself. In the mythical period, Argos was the chief city in Peloponnesus, and
Sparta is represented as subject to it. Here reigned Menelaus, the younger brother
of Agamemnon; and by the marriage of Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, with Hermione,
the daughter of Menelaus, the two kingdoms of Argos and Sparta became united.
The Dorian conquest of the Peloponnesus, which, according to tradition, took
place thirty years after the Trojan War, made Sparta the capital of the country.
Laconica fell to the share of the two sons of Aristodemus, Eurysthenes and Procles,
who took up their residence at Sparta, and ruled over the kingdom conjointly.
The old inhabitants of the country maintained themselves at Amyclae, which was
not conquered for a long time. After the complete subjugation of the country
we find three distinct classes in the population: the Dorian conquerors, who
resided in the capital, and who were called Spartiatae or Spartans; the Perioeci
or old Achaean inhabitants, who became tributary to the Spartans, and possessed
no political rights; and the Helots, who were also a portion of the old Achaean
inhabitants, but were reduced to a state of slavery. From various causes the
Spartans became distracted by intestine quarrels, till at length Lycurgus, who
belonged to the royal family, was selected by all parties to give a new constitution
to the State. The date of Lycurgus is uncertain; but it is impossible to place
it later than B.C. 825.
The constitution of Lycurgus laid the foundation of Sparta's
greatness; yet this constitution, traditionally ascribed to Lycurgus, is not
to be regarded as wholly due to him. It represents the union of three distinct
principles: the monarchical principle was represented by the kings, the aristocracy
by the Senate, and the democratical element by the assembly of the people, and
subsequently by their representatives, the ephors. The kings had originally
to perform the common functions of the kings of the Heroic Age. They were high-priests,
judges, and leaders in war; but in all of these departments they were in course
of time superseded more or less. As judges they retained only a particular branch
of jurisdiction, that referring to the succession of property. As military commanders
they were to some extent restricted and watched by commissioners sent by the
Senate; the functions of high-priest were curtailed least, perhaps because least
obnoxious. In compensation for the loss of power, the kings enjoyed great honours,
both during their life and after their death. The Senate (gerousia) consisted
of thirty members, one from each obe (oba), all elected except the two kings,
who were ex officio members, and represented each his own obe. In their functions
they replaced the old council of the nobles as a sort of privy council to the
kings, but their power was greater, since the votes of the kings were of no
greater weight than those of other senators; they had the right of originating
and discussing all measures before they could be submitted to the decision of
the popular assembly; they had, in conjunction (later) with the ephors, to watch
over the due observance of the laws and institutions; and they were judges in
all criminal cases, without being bound by any written code. For all this they
were not responsible, holding their office for life.
But with all these powers the elders formed no real aristocracy.
They were not chosen either for property qualification or for noble birth. The
Senate was open to the poorest citizen, who during sixty years had been obedient
to the laws and zealous in the performance of his duties. The mass of the people--that
is, the Spartans of pure Doric descent --formed the sovereign power of the State.
The popular assembly consisted of every Spartan of thirty years of age, and
of unblemished character; only those were excluded who had not the means of
contributing their portion to the syssitia. They met at stated times to decide
on all important questions brought before them, after a previous discussion
in the Senate. They had no right of amendment, but only that of simple approval
or rejection, which was given in the rudest form possible, by shouting. The
popular assembly, however, had neither frequent nor very important occasions
for directly exerting their sovereign power. Their chief activity consisted
in delegating it; hence arose the importance of the ephors, who were the representatives
of the popular element of the constitution. The five ephors answer in many points
to the Roman tribunes of the people. Their appointment is included by Herodotus
among the institutions of Lycurgus, but it is probable that Aristotle is right
in dating these later, from the reign of Theopompus. Their appointment was perhaps
a concession to the people, at first as overseers of the markets and as magistrates
who might check illegal oppression by kings or great men. Subsequently they
absorbed most of the power in the State. To Lycurgus was ascribed also a prohibition
to use written laws, or to have any coinage but iron: but these traditions must
refer to later customs, since there were neither coins nor written laws in Greece
as early as Lycurgus.
With reference to their subjects, the few Spartans formed
a most decided aristocracy. On the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians,
part of the ancient inhabitants of the country, under name of the Perioeci (Perioikoi),
were allowed indeed to retain their personal liberty, but lost all civil rights,
and were obliged to pay to the State a rent for the land that was left them.
But a great part of the old inhabitants were reduced to a state of perfect slavery,
different from that of the slaves of Athens and Rome, and more similar to the
villanage of the feudal ages. These were called Helots (heilotai). They were
allotted, with patches of land, to individual members of the ruling class. They
tilled the land, and paid a fixed rent to their masters, not, as Perioeci, to
the State. The Spartans formed, as it were, an army of invaders in an enemy's
country; their city was a camp, and every man a soldier. At Sparta the citizen
only existed for the State; he had no interest but the State's, and no property
but what belonged to the State. It was a fundamental principle of the constitution
that all citizens were entitled to the enjoyment of an equal portion of the
common property. This was done in order to secure to the commonwealth a large
number of citizens and soldiers free from labour for their sustenance, and able
to devote their whole time to warlike exercises, in order thus to keep up the
ascendency of Sparta over her Perioeci and Helots. The Spartans were to be warriors,
and nothing but warriors. Therefore, not only all mechanical labour was thought
to degrade them; not only was husbandry despised and neglected, and commerce
prevented, or at least impeded, by prohibitive laws and by the use of iron money;
but also the nobler arts and sciences were so effectually stifled that Sparta
is a blank in the history of the arts and literature of Greece. The State took
care of a Spartan from his cradle to his grave, and superintended his education
in the minutest points; and this was not confined to his youth, but extended
throughout his whole life. The syssitia, or, as they were called at Sparta,
phiditia, the common meals, may be regarded as an educational institution; for
at these meals subjects of general interest were discussed and political questions
debated. The youths and boys used to eat separately from the men, in their own
divisions.
Sparta gradually extended her sway over the greater part
of the Peloponnesus. In B.C. 743 the Spartans attacked Messenia, and after a
war of twenty years subdued this country, 723. In 685 the Messenians again took
up arms, but at the end of seventeen years were again completely subdued; and
their country from this time forward became an integral portion of Laconia.
After the close of the Second Messenian War the Spartans continued their conquests
in Peloponnesus. They defeated the Tegeans, and wrested the district of Thyreae
from the Argives. At the time of the Persian invasion they were confessedly
the first people in Greece, and to them was granted by unanimous consent the
chief command in the war. But after the final defeat of the Persians the haughtiness
of Pausanias disgusted most of the Greek States, particularly the Ionians, and
led them to transfer the supremacy to Athens (477). From this time the power
of Athens steadily increased, and Sparta possessed little influence outside
of the Peloponnesus. The Spartans, however, made several attempts to check the
rising greatness of Athens, and their jealousy of the latter led at length to
the Peloponnesian War (431). This war ended in the overthrow of Athens, and
the restoration of the supremacy of Sparta over the rest of Greece (404). But
the Spartans did not retain this supremacy more than thirty years. Their decisive
defeat by the Thebans under Epaminondas at the battle of Leuctra (371) gave
the Spartan power a shock from which it never recovered; and the restoration
of the Messenians to their country two years afterwards completed the humiliation
of Sparta. Thrice was the Spartan territory invaded by the Thebans, and the
Spartan women saw for the first time the watch-fires of an enemy's camp. The
Spartans now finally lost their supremacy over Greece, but no other Greek state
succeeded to their power; and about thirty years afterwards the greater part
of Greece was obliged to yield to Philip of Macedon. The Spartans, however,
kept aloof from the Macedonian conqueror, and refused to take part in the Asiatic
expedition of his son, Alexander the Great.
Under this later Macedonian king the power of Sparta declined
still further. The simple institutions of Lycurgus were abandoned, and little
by little luxury crept into the State. The number of citizens diminished, and
the landed property became vested in a few families. Agis endeavoured to restore
the ancient institutions of Lycurgus, but he perished in the attempt (240).
Cleomenes III., who began to reign 236, was more successful. He succeeded in
putting the ephors to death, and overthrowing the existing government (225);
and he then made a redistribution of the landed property, and augmented the
number of the Spartan citizens by admitting some of the Perioeci to this honour.
His reforms infused new blood into the State, and for a short time he carried
on war with success against the Achaeans. But Aratus, the general of the Achaeans,
called in the assistance of Antigonus Doson, the king of Macedonia, who defeated
Cleomenes at the decisive battle of Sellasia (221), and followed up his success
by the capture of Sparta. Sparta now sank into insignificance, and was ruled
by a succession of native tyrants, till at length it was compelled to abolish
its peculiar institutions, and to join the Achaean League. Shortly afterwards
it fell, with the rest of Greece, under the Roman power.
This text is cited Sep 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
TAYGETOS (Mountain) PELOPONNISOS
(Taugetos) or Taygetum (Taugeton) or Taygeta (ta Taugeta). A lofty range of mountains, of a wild and savage character, separating Laconia and Messenia, and extending from the frontiers of Arcadia down to the Promontorium Taenarum.
THERAPNI (Ancient city) SPARTI
A town in Laconia, on the left bank of the Eurotas and a little above Sparta, celebrated in mythology as the birthplace of Castor and Pollux. Menelaus and Helen were said to be buried here.
SPARTI (Ancient city) LACONIA
City of Laconia
in southern Peloponnese.
Sparta, also called Lacedaemon, was the capital of the province of
Laconia in southern Peloponnese
and one of the leading cities of Greece.
In the Homeric world, Laconia
was the kingdom of Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon (himself king of Argos,
or of Mycenae) and husband
of Helen. At the beginning of his Histories of the Persian Wars, Herodotus, talking
about the relationship between Croesus, king of Lydia
in the middle of the VIth century B. C., and Greece,
presents Sparta and Athens
as the two most powerful cities of Greece,
Sparta leading the Dorians, described as a migrant people eventually settled in
Peloponnese, and Athens
the Ionians, presented as a people that always lived in the land (the autochtons
as they liked to call themselves, that is, the ones born from the land itself).
Most of the history of the Vth and IVth centuries, leading eventually
to the rise of the Macedonian Empire, may be viewed as a struggle between Athens
and Sparta for leadership over Greece.
The Peloponnesian War, whose chronicle makes up Thucydides' Histories, was the
climax of this struggle.
In the time of Socrates and Plato, Sparta enjoyed a rather unique
constitution and way of life which fascinated, or at least questioned, many Greeks,
including Plato and above all Xenophon. This fascination, under various forms,
lasted till our day. The origin of Sparta's constitution was ascribed to Lycurgus,
a half legendary lawgiver who, if he ever existed, should have lived around the
Xth century B. C. Lycurgus was supposed to have received the constitution of Sparta,
a document called the Rhetra, from Apollo himself at Delphi.
But modern historians doubt Lycurgus ever existed and would rather ascribe the
origin of the constitution that existed in Sparta in the Vth century to the second
half of the VIIth century B. C.
No matter what, the most striking features of this constitution were:
•Its aristocratic, or more properly, oligarchic, and war-geared
regime, with a limited class of full-right citizens, the “Equals”
(homoioi in Greek), whose role was mostly to defend the city in case of war, and
among whom were chosen each year five ephors in charge of most of the day to day
administration of the city, under the supervision of a “Council of the Elders”
(gerousia), a body of 28 citizens aged over 60 elected for life by the assembly
of the citizens by acclamation. The city also had two hereditary kings from two
different families, endowed with mostly religious functions but also involved
in political life through their membership in the Council of the Elders, one of
whom was chosen as commander in chief in case of war.
•Its reliance on a form of slavery for survival: the citizens
were not supposed to work or cultivate the earth. This role was attributed to
a special class of enslaved people known as the “Helots”, mostly made
up of local people subjected by the Spartans, especially neighboring Messenians.
In between the Equals and the Helots, was a population of half-grade citizens
enjoying freedom but not citizenship, living in the countryside and surrounding
villages as farmers, craftsmen or merchants, and participating in the army in
separate units.
•Its “communist”-like system of ownership: land
and Helots were owned by the state, not by the citizens. Land was alloted among
citizens in lots called “kleroi”, which were not inherited, but were
supposed to go back to the state at the death of their “owner” to
be reassigned to another citizen (though, over time, the system was more and more
often bypassed and inequality eventually prevailed among the “Equals”).
•Its special program of education for the citizens, the agoge,
which lasted from the age of 7 to the age of 30 in common quarters under the supervision
of the state, and was a prerequisite to enjoy the rights of a citizen. It focused
primarily on physical education and the art of war, but there were also specific
provisions for women and strict rules about marriage and procreation. It included
occasional raids against the Helots in which future citizens were allowed to kill
slaves, to prepare them for war in actual conditions. The last step of this education,
reserved to the best ones, was known as the cryptia (from the Greek word meaning
“hidden”, “secret”) and consisted in living alone for
one year in the countryside and neighboring moutains without being seen by anyone
but with the right to kill Helots. Its daily common meals, known as syssitia,
reserved to citizens but for them mandatory, and to which they were required to
bring their share lest they lose their citizenship.
All in all, the terms that best describe Sparta are austerty, frugality,
discipline: the city was never adorned with beautiful temples (at the beginning
of his history of the war between Sparta and Athens,
Thucydides remarks that, were Sparta to be destroyed, future generations centuries
later, judging by the remains of its buildings, would never imagine how powerful
the city was, whereas were the same fate to happen to Athens,
by the same criterion, one might judge it much more powerful it ever was !); it
never fostered great poets and writers, nor great orators, as did Athens, and
was rather known for its concise style (hence the word “laconic”,
from the name of Sparta's district, Laconia).
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1999), ed.
This extract is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
AGII ANARGYRI (Village) THERAPNES
After Goritsa and close to Geraki lies the village of Agii Anargyri. The cathedral of the village is the church of Agion Anargyron, whereas magnificient is the cavernous church of Agio Giannaki in Poros that features important hagiographies of the 11th and the 13th century.
AGRIANI (Village) THERAPNES
Agriani, is a beautiful mountainous village that is inhabited only during the summertime. It is well known for its healthy climate, its wonderful natural water and its traditional taverns. Many excursions in the woods can be arranged through the village.
CHRYSSAFA (Village) THERAPNES
Chryssafa (formerly the capital of the municipality) dates back to the Neolithic era. Today it is decorated by a variety of churches and temples that feature important hagiographies and wall paintings of the Byzantine and post Byzantine era. Chryssafa also features a number of magnificent19th century mansions, build by the locals after their return from Hydra where the have escaped after "Orlof's situation".
GORITSA (Village) THERAPNES
Continuing our journey, after Kefala we come across "Goritsa", the capital of the municipality of Therapnes that was built by the people of Tsintzina. Goritsa is a lively village with many traditional taverns and a magnificent folklore museum. The village is beautifully laid on the side of a hill and most of its inhabitants are engaged in olive production and poultry. The village's main square is located on the main road that leads to Agii Anargyri and there the visitor can rest and enjoy the view of the mountain "Taygetos".
KALONI (Village) THERAPNES
Kalloni is a small but very beautiful village between Gkoritsa and Chrysafa. It used to be more inhabited however its remaining occupants have close relationships with Agriani and Chrysafa. The village has many sightseeing's including the Byzantine church of Agio Nikola, the Tower and many more.
KEFALAS (Village) THERAPNES
Leaving Skoura the next village that we come across is "Kefalas". It is situated on the top of the hill thus it has a spectacular and panoramic view of the πεδιαδα. The area has developed during the 20th century and its inhabitants are mainly engaged with cattle-raising and olive production. With its inclusion lately in the program of olive organic production new opportunities have arise for its citizens. The region has several churches and chapels that can be visited. In addition the village square has many cafeterias and taverns where one can enjoy the hospitality of the locals.
PARNONAS (Mountain) PELOPONNISOS
PLATANA (Village) THERAPNES
Starting from Sparti and heading east to mount "Parnonas", one can reach "Zagana" and afterwards the village of "Platana". Those two villages have been nestablished right after the Greek Revolution by a group of people named "Kefaleous". In addition, Doukas informs us that the name "Zagana" comes from a regional Byzantine Lord.
POLYDROSSO (Settlement) THERAPNES
Polydroso (Tzintzina) is the capital village of Goritsa and Zoupenas (Agii Anargyri). It has several churches, the most important being the one of Agios Vlasis which is located inside the village. During summertime the village becomes very lively as many people from various places come to visit it. The local hostel accommodates many tourists that choose Polydroso not only for its natural beauty but also for the good quality of food and drink that it offers
SKOURA (Village) THERAPNES
Skoura is situated on the left bank of the river "Evrotas", 13 kilometers at the northeast of Sparti. It is thought that the name Skoura was given in the area after a significant local Byzantine lord named Skouros. In 1821 after the Turks left, the citizens of "Barbitsa" with the guidance of captain Peter Barbitsioti partially settled in the area of Skoura.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from the Municipality of Therapnes URL below, which contains image.
TAYGETOS (Mountain) PELOPONNISOS
It is situated in the east of the perfecture and it constitutes a natural boundary among Messinia, Lakonia and Arkadia. It stretches to a distance of 110 km from Megalopoli to cape Taenaro and it's the highest mountain of the Peloponnese. The most important peaks are Prophet Elias (2407 m.), Neraedovouna (2025 m.) and Xerovouna (1852 m.). It has got plentiful vegetation of herbs like oregano, mint and tea bushes while on central Taygetos (Alagonia) and at Vasiliki (Mani) there are forests of black pine and conifer in such variety that it composes a vegetation structure with interest in all time.
This extract is cited March 2003 from the Messenia Prefecture Tourism Promotion Commission URL below, which contains image.
SMYNOUS (Municipality) LACONIA
THERAPNES (Municipality) LACONIA
MYSTRAS (Municipality) PELOPONNISOS
GERONTHRES (Ancient city) LACONIA
KARYES (Ancient city) LAKEDEMONA
TAYGETOS (Mountain) PELOPONNISOS
EVROTAS (River) PELOPONNISOS
Total results: 111
ERMES (Ancient location) LACONIA
It was the triangle of the borders between Arkadia, Lakonia and Argolida, close to the peak Zygos (1309m), where there were three piles of stones. The name Fonemeni (murdered) had been given by the inhabitants, who thought that those piles of stones were graves.
SPARTI (Ancient city) LACONIA
A celebrated town of the Peloponnesus,
mentioned several times under this name or under that of Lacedaemon in the Bible.
Letters were exchanged between Onias I, high priest of the Jews, and Arius I,
King of Sparta, about the years 309 or 300 B. C. Arius, who sought to maintain
the independence of his country against the Syrian successors of Alexander by
creating a diversion against them in Palestine,
pretended to have found a writing relative to the Spartans, showing that they
themselves and the Jews were two peoples, brothers both descending from Abraham.
This assertion has little foundation, although perhaps there had been such a tradition.
Christianity was introduced into Sparta at an early date. In the beginning
suffragan of Corinth, then
of Patras, the see was made
a metropolis in 1082 and numbered several suffragan bishoprics, of which there
were three in the fifteenth century. In 1833; after the Peloponnesus
had been included in the Kingdom of Greece,
Sparta was reduced to the rank of a simple bishopric.
When the region fell into the power of the Franks, Honorius III established
there in 1217 a Latin see which by degrees became a titular and finally disappeared.
S. Vailhe, ed.
Transcribed by: Douglas J. Potter
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
SELLASIA (Ancient city) INOUDAS
Settlement a few km to the N of Sparta overlooking the valley of the
Oinous (modern Kelephina), a tributary of the Eurotas. Situated at the issue of
the road from Arkadia by way of Tegea and Kynouria by way of Karyai, it occupies
a strategic position. It was burned and pillaged in 370 B.C. by the Thebans of
Epaminondas (Xen. Hell. 6.5.27). Retaken in 365 by the Spartans, who were aided
by the Syracusans (ibid., 7.4.12), it was destroyed and its population reduced
to slavery after the defeat in 222 B.C. of King Kleomenes III of Sparta (Polyb.
2.65-69; Plut. Cleom. 27 & Phil. 6; Paus. 2.9.2; 3.10.7).
The site itself has not been identified with certainty. The hill of
Haghios Konstantinos (9 km to the N of Sparta and 830 m high) is surmounted by
an important fortress of apparently triangular shape (ca. 480 x 260 m). The walls,
which are 2 to 3 m thick, are constructed without mortar of undressed stone. Two
faces of large blocks hold together rubble-work. A cross wall isolated the summit
of the hill to the NE. Inside the walls there are few signs of occupation, but
the site has never been excavated.
The lower hill of Palaiogoulas (1.5 km to the N, 108 m in height)
is surmounted by a wall with a perimeter of some 300 m. There also a cross wall
isolates a part of the fortress. The walls, which are ca. 1.75 m thick, are constructed
in the same fashion as those of Haghios Konstantinos. Inside the walls are to
be found numerous signs of dense habitation: walls of small houses and sherds
dating from the 5th to the 2d c. B.C. These finds, and the situation itself of
Palaiogoulas, correspond most closely to Polybios' account and Pausanias' description
of the final destruction in the Roman period. But Diodoros (15.64) describes Sellasia
as a polis. The small dimensions of Palaiogoulas suggest only a small settlement
of perioikoi, while the greater dimensions of Haghios Konstantinos do not correspond
to those of a nameless fort. The question cannot, therefore, be considered as
resolved.
C. Le Roy, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
SPARTI (Ancient city) LACONIA
In the heart of the fertile Eurotas valley ca. 56 km S of Tegea and
48 km N of Gytheion; the alluvial soil is fertile, the climate auspicious, and
the low hill site protected by mountains and sea. Very few prehistoric remains
are known, but a major contemporary settlement has been excavated about 3 km NE
at the Menelaion. About 950 B.C. at the earliest Sparta was occupied by Dorians
and settled as an agglomeration of villages (Pitana, Limnai, Mesoa, and Kynosura);
the city wall, not begun until the late 4th c. and eventually completed in 184,
measured 10 km in circumference and enclosed an elliptical area 3 x 2 km lying
N-S.
In the 8th c. B.C. led by its two kings, the city embarked on the
warmaking which by about 545 had brought "two-fifths of the Peloponnese"
(Thuc.) under her immediate control. The inhabitants of the fertile Eurotas and
Pamisos (Messenia) valleys were reduced to serfdom (Helots); those occupying more
marginal land remained free but were denied political rights in Sparta (perioikoi).
Thereafter Sparta expanded through diplomacy and by 500 B.C. had organized its
subject-allies into the Peloponnesian League. In 405, supported by its allies
and Persian gold it defeated Athens, but its supremacy in Greece was soon cut
short by the Thebans: defeat at Leuktra in 371 was followed by the very first
invasion of Lakonia and the liberation of Messenia in 369. After 243 Sparta was
weakened by successive attempts, also led by its kings, at necessary social reform
and in 195 lost its perioikic dependencies. But under the Roman Empire the city
enjoyed a remarkable renascence of prosperity and reverted superficially to the
rigid self-discipline of its heyday. Having survived the incursion of the Heruli
in A.D. 267, the city was ruined by the Goths in 395, and finally abandoned.
As Thucydides warned, the power of Sparta should not be gauged from
its surviving monuments. Of the settlement all but the foundations of a few Classical
houses and some fine Roman mosaic floors is lost irreparably; only seven datable
graves, four of about 600 B.C. and three Hellenistic, have been found, although
burial was permitted within the settlement area, contrary to normal Greek practice;
of the agora not even the location is certain. The acropolis is comparably denuded
but at least its chief edifice, the Temple of Athena Chalkioikos, has yielded
a crude two-layer stratigraphy. The material associated with part of the earliest
altar consisted of a fair quantity of Protogeometric and Geometric pottery, none
certainly earlier than the 8th c., and a few bronze votives. The temple was rebuilt
in the 6th c. and the richer "Classical" stratum contained, inter alia,
pottery, including Panathenaic amphora fragments; objects in bronze, ivory, and
lead; the fine late archaic marble statue known as "Leonidas" (in the
National Museum of Athens); and a number of bronze plates, some with nails still
attached, which may have been used to face the temple and have given rise to the
epithet of the goddess. The Hellenistic theater built into the foot of the acropolis
is remarkably well preserved.
Our main evidence for the early settlement and the entire development
of Spartan art is derived from careful excavations at the Sanctuary of Ortheia
(later assimilated to Artemis) situated on the W bank of the Eurotas in the village
of Limnai; it remained throughout its history closely linked to the severe military
and educational regime. The earliest known worship centered on an earthen altar
with a polar orientation, but toward the end of the 8th c. (on the current interpretation
of the stratigraphy) the sacred area was paved with cobbles, enclosed by a peribolos
wall, and the altar was given a stone casing; simultaneously a primitive temple,
measuring at least 12.5 x 4.5 m, was built on an interpolar axis. About 570 B.C.
the entire sanctuary was remodeled, perhaps in consequence of a flood of the Eurotas.
The sacred area was enlarged and covered by a layer of sand, the altar refurbished
and the first temple replaced. Its successor, built entirely of limestone and
measuring ca. 16.75 x 7.5 m, was in the Doric style; the scanty remains of the
substructure suggest it was prostyle in antis, and a few gaily painted fragments
probably belong to a pedimental group of heraldic lions. The sand, besides being
a clearcut stratigraphical feature, has sealed in a treasury of early Greek art
from the late 8th to the early 6th c.; dedications continued above the sand into
the Roman era. The material includes bronze figurines, mainly of animals, and
other bronze objects; over 100,000 lead figurines; some of the earliest and finest
figural ivory carvings in Greece; a plethora of mold-made terracotta figurines
and masks; finally, and most important for chronology, a continuous pottery series.
The picture which seems to be emerging indicates that Spartan craftsmen,
especially bronzesmiths, shared in the Greek cultural renaissance of the 8th c.;
in the 7th, her ivory-carvers were quick to assimilate and adapt oriental types
and motifs, but the vase-painters appear backward by comparison with those of
Corinth and Athens; in the 6th c. the roles are reversed and the potters and painters,
soon followed by the bronze-workers, produce high-quality wares both for domestic
and, more especially, foreign consumption. We know from Pausanias the names of
several Lakonian craftsmen and some were almost certainly Spartan citizens; Sparta
was also the temporary domicile of foreign artists from at least the early 7th
c.
But about 525 B.C. the whole picture changed; imports, which had never
been plentiful, ceased--apparently abruptly; so did exports, although painted
pottery and superior bronze figurines continued to be made for local use. By the
5th c. Sparta seemed to have acquired the sterile character for which she was
praised or blamed by other Greeks; her retention of an iron currency is a symptom,
though not a cause, of the change. Not altogether surprisingly the next major
alteration to the Sanctuary of Artemis was the construction of a semicircular
theater to enable spectators, including foreign tourists, to watch Spartan youths
being flogged to death in a painful simulacrum of the initiation rite which had
performed so useful a military and political function in a better age.
P. Cartledge, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains 27 image(s), bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
THERAPNI (Ancient city) SPARTI
The site lay at the top of the bluffs beside the E bank of the river
Eurotas, to the SE of Classical Sparta. Remains of a Late Helladic settlement
have been found on the hill tops, but nothing of a palatial character. It has
been suggested that the Homeric city of Lakedaimon was at or near Therapnai (Toynbee);
others, however, argue that Lakedaimon in Homer means the country ruled by Menelaos,
not the seat of his power (Hope Simpson & Lazenby).
A massive platform (16 x 23 m) built in the 5th c. B.C. supported
an altar--and perhaps a temple--of Helen, who together with Menelaos was worshiped
at Therapnai as a divinity. A temple at Therapnai is mentioned by Alkman (F 14
Page). The cult center was also called the Menelaion (Polyb. 5.18.3; 5.22.3).
Helen of Therapnai may originally have been a Lakonian nature goddess (cf. Helen's
tree: Theok. Idyll 18.47). Bronze, lead, and other votives found at the Menelaion
show that a cult lasted from early Geometric times until the 4th c. B.C. Pindar
in Nemean 10 associates the Dioskouroi with Therapnai, but they were less significant
there than Helen and her husband.
G. L. Huxley, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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