Pellana is a tiny village located in the North of Lakonia Greece. It may not mean much to readers, but it is this tiny village that was the ancient capital of Lakonia, long before the Dorians’ and subsequently the Spartans.A copy of the article may be downloaded by clicking on:PELLANA HELEN OF TROY PALACE TOMBS LOOTED
It was the home of King Tyndareus, Helen of Troy and her husband King Menelaus (master of the War cry) as depicted in Homers Iliad. Why is this tiny village so important to Western culture and why it must be preserved? The reason being is that this was the home of Helen of Troy when she was allegedly abducted by the Prince of Troy (Paris).
Recently tomb robbers seeking ancient artefacts and precious objects to be sold on the black market attempted to break into one of the many royal tombs located some 500 metres from the current township of modern Pellana. It appears that they had dug down at least four metres to reach the entrance to the tomb. To get into the tomb that had to excavate tons of stone fillings put into place by the Government Department of Archaeology.
The tomb located opposite other known royal tombs was sealed up for reasons known only to the Department of Antiquities. To the looters it was an open invitation to dig and steal any precocious items that may be of value to collectors.Given the current financial crisis in Greece at the moment, I am somewhat surprised that looters had not attempted it earlier.
It is of interest to note that the Archaeologist Spyropoulos who uncovered other major ruins near the rocky outcrop some 500 metres away from the royal tombs went on record, stating that it was the home of Helen of Troy and the ancient capital of Lakonia of the Hellenistic period and/or of the Mycenaeans. Spyropoulos has placed his reputation on the line by making these statements. Statements that have caught the attention of the British historian and author, Paul Cartledge known for his scholarship of the Spartans.
Modern new roads have been put into place leading to the fenced off tombs and the rocky outcrop that housed the palace. The palace itself is surrounded by the ruins of ancient homes, store houses and close to the ancient highway that led to Sparta itself. That ancient highway once dotted with small inns, towns and stopovers for the weary traveller have now all but been buried under concrete and asphalt after thoroughly been studied, photographed and recorded. These small hamlets were found every five kilometres reaching from Megalopolis down to Sparta and onto the seaport of Gytheio a seaport.
According to rumours circulated amongst the locals, the reason for the Pellana not obtaining approval for further excavation is based on rivalry with that of Modern Sparta who is concerned that it may lose its tourist trade. I am of the belief that this is not the case and that the Department of antiquities stopped the diggings for other reasons not made public at this point in time. In any case there is no infrastructure at this point in time to support tourism on a large scale and Pellana is visited occasionally by tourists on a bus using the modern freeway. This may soon change with the new highway as it is only a two hour drive from Athens, 40 minutes from Tripoli; 10 minutes from Sparta, 45 Minutes from Gytheio (sea port) and one and a half hours from Nauplio a tourist centre and first capital of Greece on gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire.
I cannot for the life of me cannot understand why such a wonderful and exciting find must be hidden from the world. A world eager to view and read further about the origins of the writings of Homer. It will be a wonderful opportunity to bring to light what has been covered for centuries. IfHeinrich Schliemanncan do it, then so can we. I am sure that the locals would welcome tourists eager to see the ruins of an ancient civilization that has its origins in Homer.
We shall wait and see what the Government and the Department of Antiquities decide upon and whether it will help the local and surrounding economy. I would like to think that with some good planning, external investors and with the support and assistance of local authorities, Pellana can once again became a centre of attraction without the looters taking preference. Pellana has been asleep for centuries and it is time to show case it to the world.
As a point of interest, I have for the past 40 years dedicated myself to researching the origins of the Sea Peoples and that of the history of the Pellana. Somehow I am of the opinion that the two are joined, but I don’t have the evidence to prove my point of view other than to rely on Homer. As I will be going to my place of Birth (Pellana Lakonia Greece) in April this year, I hope to conduct further research and publish whatever findings that I may discover so that the village once again becomes the focus it deserves. Therefore I hope that my research will be equal to the task of writing in English the history of Pellana. In any case it has long been on my bucket list. I will endeavour to keep readers posted. I do hope that the looters are apprehended and made an example of.
Peter Adamis is a Journalist/Social Media Commentator and writer. He is a retired Australian military serviceman and an Industry organisational & Occupational (OHS) & Training Consultant whose interests are within the parameters of domestic and international political spectrum. He is an avid blogger and contributes to domestic and international community news media outlets as well as to local and Ethnic News. He holds a Bachelor of Adult Learning & Development (Monash), Grad Dip Occupational Health & Safety, (Monash), Dip. Training & Assessment, Dip Public Administration, and Dip Frontline Management. Website: abalinx.com Contact via Email: [email protected] or via Mobile: 0409965538
Pellana (Greek: ἡ Πέλλανα, Paus. iii. 20. 2; τὰ Πέλλανα, Strabo viii. p. 386; Πελλήνη, Xen.Hell. vii. 5. 9; Polyb. iv. 81, xvi. 37;Plut.Agis, 8), was a city of Laconia, on the Eurotas river, and on the road from Sparta to Arcadia.
According to archaeologist Theodore Spyropoulos, Pellana was the Mycenaean capital of Laconia. It is also a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Sparta, of which it is a municipal unit. The seat of the municipality was in Kastoreio.
Today, Pellana is a small village in North Laconia, and it is located 27 kilometers north of Sparta, 5 kilometers west of the main road that connects Sparta with Tripoli. It is built on a hill that is an extension of the Taygetos mountains in the Peloponnese. Pellana is built on an area of 11 square kilometers, and is 370 meters above the sea level. The population of the modern village of Pellana peaked in the 1940s, and ever since it has been reduced to in excess of 200 inhabitants.
The town suffered badly during the second world War, especially during the Greek Civil war where brother fought brother and father against sons and daughters. It is a town that has lost more than its fair share of people as a result of the disastrous civil war. Today however with a population of more than 200 members it is beginning to see a revival of its past. This revival is attributed to the new highway that has been constructed with EU funds and grants.
The town offers visitors the opportunity to visit the ancient tombs located some 400 meters from the main palace that allegedly contained King Menelaus (Master of the war cry and his lovely wife Helen of Troy. It is hoped that a small museum will be located on site to house the many artifacts and objects excavated from the ruins of the palace and the tombs. Artifacts and objects that can rival even that of Mycenae according to Theodore SpyropoulosThis museum however can only be constructed with the support of those living in the Diaspora, the local inhabitants and the Hellenic Republic. The town school which once housed hundreds of pupils post World war II (now vacant) is one possible location for a museum. Another is a new building be constructed near the tombs and close to the ancient palace ruins. Access however is somewhat difficult and infrastructure and accommodation facilities need to be revised to accommodate the potential influx of visitors.
Pellana has seen many of its inhabitants leave the town during times of severe hardships beginning with oppression by Ottoman overlords, droughts, earthquakes, famine, unemployment and war. Although many return, few remain after being seduced by the quality of life found in the Diaspora and only the die-hard remain. Pellana can boast of men and women who have achieved high office and/or distinction in the fields of education, military, medical, academics, theologians, political, business and a host of other careers and employments throughout the ages. Many of them gaining recognition in the Diaspora. Suffice to say all of them are proud to point towards their origins and roots back to Pellana.
The arrival of the modern car has replaced the previous transport that of the horse, mule and donkey and now there are few of the animals to be seen within the confines of the town. Electricity, running water, telephone, internet and access to every day utilities and facilities are available in every household which has raised the standard of living and improved the health and well being if its inhabitants. The town has its own historical society administered traditionally by the women who periodically conduct events to celebrate its ancient past. The average age of its population is approximately 45 with many members reaching the age of 90 years plus. The clean air, access to to health and well being specialists, a strict Mediterranean diet and exercise appears to be the main reasons for longevity.
While agriculture is the main produce of the town, it is the oil groves that provide an income for the many small landowners who till and manage the small fields that dot the town and its surroundings. Many if not all of the agricultural products is for domestic consumption and only occasionally would excess produce be sold in the local markets such as Kastori, Sparta and surrounding smaller villages. The olive oil is pressed by the two main olive producing factories located within the confines of Pellana. These two factories also support the surrounding villages and towns small land owners. Sheep, goats, emus, chickens, cattle, ducks, cows are also maintained and sold to the major towns throughout the year while at the same time providing dairy and meat products for domestic consumption.
A new highway from Tripoli to Sparta as been constructed and goes past Pellana. The highway is scheduled to be completed by October 2014. The highway follows the same ancient road from Pellana in ancient Mycenaean and Spartan periods following the banks of the Eurotas River. Numerous ancient ruins of small towns on the side of the highway were excavated, analysed, recorded, photographed and in many cases covered with a fine layer of stones to preserve the antiquities. As a result of these findings it is believe that Pellana was the hub throughout the pre-Hellenistic, Spartan and Roman periods. Today a new hub is being created on the highway adjacent to the town of Pellana and its ancients ruins to allow tourists and locals to visit the ancient monuments.
It is envisaged that this new hub will also allow the towns and villages that are located up in the Taygetus mountain range better access to Sparta through the town of Pellana. Others are speculating that the highway will repopulate these small towns by the original owners returning to their ancestral and patriarchal homes. It is also speculated that these young families will be able to live in their homes and use the new highway to work at the major towns of Sparta, Tripoli, Kalamatta, or evens Athens and Nauplio which are now brought in closer. The nearest towns to Pellana are Pardali, Perivolia, Alevrou, Georgitis, Kastori (Kastania) Longanikos, Agios Konstandinos, Vergadeieka, Foundeika, Serveika and Agorgiani. Many of these towns were depopulated as a result of the post world war II mass migration to the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Germany and Argentina.
Today the second, third and fourth generations maintain contact using current social media outlets. The use of social media and with the introduction of the internet to the inhabitants to Pellana is opening up opportunities and projects unheard of before. It is of interest to note how quickly the young generation in Pellana has taken to the internet and for many it is an open window to the world. Access to online media such as Facebook, Ancestry sites, Educational sites such as Wikipedia, Encyclopedia Britannica and communication programs such as Skype and VoIP are but the tip of the iceberg.
There are more than two possibilities about the origin of the name “Pellana”. The name “Pellana” has its roots on the Greek word “pella” which can mean “stone” or a “rocky hill”. Indeed, the main waterway in the village is at the base of a rocky hill. Pellana, linguistically, is a cognate of Pella, the capital of Macedonia but also of Pallene, a deme of Attica, Pelle of Ithaca, Pellene of Achaia, Palamedion, the acropolis of Nauplion, Pelion of Epirus, etc., all of them being “citadels on a cliff” or a hill, except for Pelion of Thessaly which is a mountain.[5]
According to modern oral folk tradition is that it received its name by a woman named “Pellania.” This woman was going to get some water; as she was getting water, she slipped and fell into the waterway. So, the village was named “Pellana”, and the main waterway: “Pellania fountain.” Pausanias also mentions the same story during his travels in Laconia.
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 (or, alternatively, Aegys) 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 (Greek: Χαράκωμα), 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 [disambiguation needed], was to separate the lots of the Spartans from those of the Perioeci. (Plut. l. c.)
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. Burliá, which is distant 55 stadia from Sparta, and 100 from Mt. Khelmós, the site of Belemina. Mt. Burliá 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 a 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. (Leake, Morea, vol. iii. p. 13, seq.; Boblaye, Récherches, &c. p. 76 ; Ross, Reisen im Peloponnes, p. 191; Curtius, Peloponnesus, vol. ii. p. 255.)
References
De Facto Population of Greece Population and Housing Census of March 18th, 2001 (PDF 793 KB). National Statistical Service of Greece. 2003.
Miltiades E. Bolaris: “Macedonian names and makedonski pseudo-linguistics: The case of the name Pella”
Pausanias
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1854–1857). “article name needed”. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. London: John Murray.
Over the past 40 years of personal research into the village of Pellana, now and again I come across some gems of information that is relevant to the village and its surrounding environment. One of these were the Varoutios Family Tree Chronicles. The gentleman responsible were compiling the list knew full well the importance of recording families and he went to great pains to gather the information from sources still alive in his day.
This gentleman whose name escapes me was a relative to my mother and in fact I am of the belief that it was her Uncle who took the time and effort to put all together into one document. He was born in Pellana and left the village, travelling to Athens to develop further his goals in life. Whilst he lived alone in Athens, he always managed to return back home to his place of birth and speaking to the elders of his time.
He never married and remained a bachelor until his death. Upon his death other relative found the document which he had compiled and in the course of time and space, a copy of the document came into my possession in Melbourne Australia. At first I could not believe my eyes and it suddenly dawned upon me the value of such a historical document even though it had been copied from the original.
I gave a copy to my mother who pored over its contents and remarked that t brought back many memories of her time as a young girl in the village and remembered many of the names included n the document. She did however remark that the document was flawed in some places and that some errors had crept in. These errors were of little significance but still changes would need to be made according to my mother. To this day, I have not made those changes according to my mothers recollection of the past and of the people included in the document.
I took it home and created three volumes each interconnected wit one another in chronological sequence. Once this had been achieved the A3 size document was then reduced to A4 size in order to digitize all three chronicles. The digitization of the document took some time as every effort was made to ensure that the best possible copies were created in PDF format. On completion of the digitization, copies were also sent to Canada and the USA to ensure that they were never lost and at least a copy would remain in existence.
Another copy was entered onto the Pellana website on the server being run by myself in Melbourne Victoria, Australia. The idea was to assist others whose origins were from Pellana had access to the Varoutsios Chronicles.
Peter Adamis
The documents in PDF format found below may be downloaded by clicking on each of the chronicles:
In of 1926 two relatively small tholos graves were excavated by Th Karachalios on the place of assembly “Spelies”. On the same place of assembly vaulted a cutout was discovered 1970 by the director at that time of the Ephorate G. Steinchauer.
The large tholoi graves and the prehistoric remains on the Acropolis from Pellana became during the scooping out open, which were led by the present director of the Ephorate Dr. Th Spyropoulos, 1980-1995.
This formed specific studies for strengthening and covering the large tholos grave for direction of the re-establishment of antiques in the Ministry of the culture, but work did not still begin. This it most important monuments of the place of assembly:
Kirchhof of rock cut those tholos graves, dates period on the place of assembly “Spelies” to the Mycenaean. The largest was designed in the early Mycenaean period (1500 B.C.); the diameter of its tholos was 10m. It is certainly a royal grave.
The Acropolis of Pellana, on that of the conserved Remains of the walls dated also dated to the Hellenistic period is ruined and to the period of Frankish rule.
The Acropolis set up by Pellana on the hill “Palaiokastro”, where new scooping out into bright remains gotten by the dwelling led, dates to the early Helladic period (possibly one palatial structure).
On the first terrace east and after the top side of the Acropolis one was uncovered by probably many more tumuli, period (2500 B.C.) dates to the early Helladic. Tumulus by Steincrepis one surrounded. Goods in situ found funerals and dump.
On the south upward gradient of the hill was uncovered part of a regulation, which was inhabited in the Mycenaean and in the Hellenistic periods. A outstanding stone paved road of the Mycenaean of date, which was repaired later, lines of the east foot of the Acropolis to the top side or to another place of assembly on the hill, in which it is expected, to be found an important building, possibly the Mycenaean palace of the range.
The Excavator Dr. Th Spyropoulos suggests that Pellana is the Homeric city Lacedaemon, in which Menelaus and Helen its palaces had.
Source:Original online resources no longer available
Postscript:In 1973 on my first visit to Pellana as a young man I remember coming from Sparta on the bus and saw to my right opposite the ‘Rassias Castle’ to upright pillars with a ledge laid on top. May years later around 1991 I notice that the two pillars were no longer in place and that a small pillar was down. where the remains o the other pillars and ledge went is not known.
Klephtes (Greek: κλέφτης, pl. κλέφτες – kleftis, kleftes, which means “thief” – and maybe originally meant just “brigand” were highwaymen that turned self-appointed armatoloi, anti-Ottoman insurgents, and warlike mountain-folk who lived in the countryside when Greece was a part of the Ottoman Empire.
They were the descendants of Greeks who retreated into the mountains during the fifteenth century in order to avoid Ottoman oppression.[4] They carried on a continuous war against Ottoman rule and remained active as brigands until the nineteenth century.The terms kleptomania and kleptocracy are derived from the same Greek root, κλέπτειν (kleptein), “to steal”. Source: Wikipedia
Other Klephte sources may be found by visiting the following sites as in dicated below:
John Lee Comstock, author, born in Lyme, Connecticut, in 1789; died in Hartford, Connecticut, 21 November, 1858. After receiving a common-school education he studied medicine, and, a few months after receiving his diploma, became assistant surgeon in the 20th infantry. Photograph on the left is Elias Katsos depicted in a typical ‘klephte; outfit for the period.
His books include textbooks on natural philosophy, chemistry, mineralogy, botany, geology, physiology, natural history, and physical geography, a” History of the Greek Revolution” (New York, 1828),
He served at Fort Trumbull, New London, Connecticut, during part of the war of 1812, and then on the northern frontier, where he had charge of three hospitals. At the close of the war he settled in Hartford, Connecticut, and about 1830 began compiling schoolbooks. He possessed much mechanical ingenuity, was a skilful draughtsman, and made the drawings for most of the illustrations of his works.
THOMAS GORDON. Major-GeneralThomas Gordon (1788 – 20 April 1841) was a British army officer and historian. He is remembered for his role in the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s and 1830s and his History of the war published in 1833.
In 1813, he served as a captain on the staff of the Russian Army, and in November 1813 was in the army of Count von Walmoden at Pretzer in Mecklenburg. Early in 1814, he returned to his seat of Cairness House until 1815 when he went abroad again to Constantinople, where he married Barbara Kana (afterwards Baroness de Sedaiges).
Military service in Greece during the 1820s. Gordon returned to Greece in 1821 at the commencement of the Greek War of Independence. He served through the campaign of 1821 in the Morea in the Peloponnese as chef d’état major under Demetrios Ypsilantis. He took part in the siege of Tripolitza. After the capture, he strongly protested against the massacre by the Greeks of several thousand Turks there. On being ignored, he retired for a time from service.
In November 1822, the provisional Greek government at Hermione sent a letter asking him to return. He declined but joined the Greek committee in London (formed 8 March 1823) and contributed money and military supplies. He refused the committee’s invitation to go to Greece as one of three commissioners in charge of stores and funds stating that the Greeks were unwilling to submit to European discipline. As a committee member he strongly supported the appointment of George Byron, 6th Baron Byron.
Early in 1824, a Greek deputation raised a loan in London and again unsuccessfully asked Gordon to return. In 1826, renewed representations from Greece and the Greek deputies in London persuaded him to return to promote unity and military discipline. He reached Nafplion in May 1826 and found that bitter dissentions among the Greeks had quenched even their animosity against the Turks. He was well received and arrived in time to prevent the disbanding of the regular corps.
Towards the end of June, Rumeliots forced the government to seize $10,000 from Gordon to give to the SuliotKapetanioi from Epirus. By the end of 1826, Gordon had spent all the public funds which the Greek deputies in London had entrusted to him.
In 1827, Gordon accepted the command of the expedition to Piraeus, with the rank of brigadier, his troops consisting of the corps of Ioannes Notaras, that of Ioannis Makrygiannis, the regulars, and the foreign volunteers. His aim was to relieve Athens, which was being blockaded. Gordon successfully landed his troops at Faliro “under the nose of Reshid Pasha”.
Having found that the Greeks besieged in the Acropolis were still able to hold out, Gordon wished to resign and only continued on condition of receiving supplies and being “entirely master of his own operations”. He remained in command of the troops at Faliro until the arrival in April of General Richard Church, who took over the supreme command.
Archaeological and historical interests in Greece. Gordon returned to Greece in 1828. While at Argos from 1828 to 1831 with his secretary James Robertson and the historian George Finlay, he worked on the site of the ruinedHeraeum near Argos. Archaeological plans also included a proposal to form a joint stock company for the purchase of Epidaurus. Finlay also suggested that he might be president of the Greek national assembly, but Gordon had no such ambitions.
While at Argos, Gordon collected both written and oral material for a history of the Greek revolution. He also built a magnificent mansion which was modeled on Cairness Housealthough smaller. He returned to Cairness in 1831 and completed his book in 1833. It was acclaimed for its detail and accuracy.
Last military role in Greece. With the arrival of Prince Otto of Wittelsbach as the new King of Greece, Gordon returned to Greece in 1833 and was commissioned colonel in the Hellenic Army. His campaigns that year included rooting out brigands in Aetolia and Acarnania, who were supported by Turks across the border. Gordon spoke the Turkish language fluently, to the astonishment of local pashas, and this was of considerable value in negotiations. He was also appointed president of the military court set up to try the rebels in the Messeniandisturbances. Due to poor health, Gordon resigned his commission in February 1839 and returned to Cairness, although he made another short visit to Greece in 1840.
Honours. Gordon was awarded various honors, including being made Grand Commander of the Order of the Redeemer by the Greeks on his retirement. He was a member of many learned societies including the Royal Society (1821), the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1828), and the Royal Asiatic Society (1834), and in Greece the Society for Natural History (1837) and the Archaeological Society (1840)
I recall the astonishment with which I[1] first noted the unique position[2] of Sparta amongst the states of Hellas, the relatively sparse population,[3] and at the same time the extraordinary power and prestige of the community. I was puzzled to account for the fact. It was only when I came to consider the peculiar institutions of the Spartans that my wonderment ceased. Or rather, it is transferred to the legislator who gave them those laws, obedience to which has been the secret of their prosperity. This legislator, Lycurgus, I must needs admire, and hold him to have been one of the wisest of mankind. Certainly he was no servile imitator of other states. It was by a stroke of invention rather, and on a pattern much in opposition to the commonly-accepted one, that he brought his fatherland to this pinnacle of prosperity.
[1] See the opening words of the “Cyrop.” and of the “Symp.”
[2] Or, “the phenomenal character.” See Grote, “H. G.” ix. 320 foll.; Newman, “Pol. Arist.” i. 202.
[3] See Herod. vii. 234; Aristot. “Pol.” ii. 9, 14 foll.; Muller, “Dorians,” iii. 10 (vol. i. p. 203, Eng. tr.)
Take for example–and it is well to begin at the beginning[4]–the whole topic of the begetting and rearing of children. Throughout the rest of the world the young girl, who will one day become a mother (and I speak of those who may be held to be well brought up), is nurtured on the plainest food attainable, with the scantiest addition of meat or other condiments; whilst as to wine they train them either to total abstinence or to take it highly diluted with water. And in imitation, as it were, of the handicraft type, since the majority of artificers are sedentary,[5] we, the rest of the Hellenes, are content that our girls should sit quietly and work wools. That is all we demand of them. But how are we to expect that women nurtured in this fashion should produce a splendid offspring?
[4] Cf. a fragment of Critias cited by Clement, “Stromata,” vi. p. 741, 6; Athen. x. 432, 433; see “A Fragment of Xenophon” (?), ap. Stob. “Flor.” 88. 14, translated by J. Hookham Frere, “Theognis Restitutus,” vol. i. 333; G. Sauppe, “Append. de Frag. Xen.” p. 293; probably by Antisthenes (Bergk. ii. 497).
[5] Or, “such technical work is for the most part sedentary.”
Lycurgus pursued a different path. Clothes were things, he held, the furnishing of which might well enough be left to female slaves. And, believing that the highest function of a free woman was the bearing of children, in the first place he insisted on the training of the body as incumbent no less on the female than the male; and in pursuit of the same idea instituted rival contests in running and feats of strength for women as for men. His belief was that where both parents were strong their progeny would be found to be more vigorous.
And so again after marriage. In view of the fact that immoderate intercourse is elsewhere permitted during the earlier period of matrimony, he adopted a principle directly opposite. He laid it down as an ordinance that a man should be ashamed to be seen visiting the chamber of his wife, whether going in or coming out. When they did meet under such restraint the mutual longing of these lovers could not but be increased, and the fruit which might spring from such intercourse would tend to be more robust than theirs whose affections are cloyed by satiety. By a farther step in the same direction he refused to allow marriages to be contracted[6] at any period of life according to the fancy of the parties concerned. Marriage, as he ordained it, must only take place in the prime of bodily vigour,[7] this too being, as he believed, a condition conducive to the production of healthy offspring. Or again, to meet the case which might occur of an old man[8] wedded to a young wife. Considering the jealous watch which such husbands are apt to keep over their wives, he introduced a directly opposite custom; that is to say, he made it incumbent on the aged husband to introduce some one whose qualities, physical and moral, he admired, to play the husband’s part and to beget him children. Or again, in the case of a man who might not desire to live with a wife permanently, but yet might still be anxious to have children of his own worthy the name, the lawgiver laid down a law[9] in his behalf. Such a one might select some woman, the wife of some man, well born herself and blest with fair offspring, and, the saction and consent of her husband first obtained, raise up children for himself through her.
[6] “The bride to be wooed and won.” The phrase agesthai perhaps points to some primitive custom of capturing and carrying off the bride, but it had probably become conventional.
[7] Cf. Plut. “Lycurg,” 15 (Clough, i. 101). “In their marriages the husband carried off his bride by a sort of force; nor were their brides ever small and of tender years, but in their full bloom and ripeness.”
[8] Cf. Plut. “Lycurg.” 15 (Clough, i. 103).
[9] Or, “established a custom to suit the case.”
These and many other adaptations of a like sort the lawgiver sanctioned. As, for instance, at Sparta a wife will not object to bear the burden of a double establishment,[10] or a husband to adopt sons as foster-brothers of his own children, with a full share in his family and position, but possessing no claim to his wealth and property.
[10] Cf. Plut. “Comp. of Numa with Lycurgus,” 4; “Cato mi.” 25 (Clough, i. 163; iv. 395).
So opposed to those of the rest of the world are the principles which Lycurgus devissed in reference to the production of children. Whether they enabled him to provide Sparta with a race of men superior to all in size and strength I leave to the judgment of whomsoever it may concern.
II. With this exposition of the customs in connection with the birth of children, I wish now to explain the systems of education in fashion here and elsewhere. Throughout the rest of Hellas the custom on the part of those who claim to educate their sons in the best way is as follows. As soon as the children are of an age to understand what is said to them they are immediately placed under the charge of Paidagogoi[1] (or tutors), who are also attendants, and sent off to the school of some teacher to be taught “grammar,” “music,” and the concerns of the palestra.[2] Besides this they are given shoes[3] to wear which tend to make their feet tender, and their bodies are enervated by various changes of clothing. And as for food, the only measure recognised is that which is fixed by appetite.
[1] = “boy-leaders.” Cf. St. Paul, “Ep. Gal.” iii. 24; The Law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.
But when we turn to Lycurgus, instead of leaving it to each member of the state privately to appoint a slave to be his son’s tutor, he set over the young Spartans a public guardian, the Paidonomos[4] or “pastor,” to give them his proper title,[5] with complete authority over them. This guardian was selected from those who filled the highest magistracies. He had authority to hold musters of the boys,[6] and as their overseer, in case of any misbehaviour, to chastise severely. The legislator further provided his pastor with a body of youths in the prime of life, and bearing whips,[7] to inflict punishment when necessary, with this happy result that in Sparta modesty and obedience ever go hand in hand, nor is there lack of either.
[4] = “boyherd.”
[5] Cf. Plut. “Lycurg.” 17 (Clough, i. 107); Aristot. “Pol.” iv. 15, 13; vii. 17, 5.
[6] Or, “assemble the boys in flocks.”
[7]mastigophoroi = “flagellants.”
Instead of softening their feet with shoe or sandal, his rule was to make them hardy through going barefoot.[8] This habit, if practised, would, as he believed, enable them to scale heights more easily and clamber down precipices with less danger. In fact, with his feet so trained the young Spartan would leap and spring and run faster unshod than another shod in the ordinary way.
[8] Cf. Plut. “Lycurg.” 16 (Clough, i. 106).
Instead of making them effeminate with a variety of clothes, his rule was to habituate them to a single garment the whole year through, thinking that so they would be better prepared to withstand the variations of heat and cold.
Again, as regards food, according to his regulation the Eiren,[9] or head of the flock, must see that his messmates gathered to the club meal,[10] with such moderate food as to avoid that heaviness[11] which is engendered by repletion, and yet not to remain altogether unacquainted with the pains of penurious living. His belief was that by such training in boyood they would be better able when occasion demanded to continue toiling on an empty stomach. They would be all the fitter, if the word of command were given, to remain on the stretch for a long time without extra dieting. The craving for luxuries[12] would be less, the readiness to take any victual set before them greater, and, in general, the regime would be found more healthy.[13] Under it he thought the lads would increase in stature and shape into finer men, since, as he maintained, a dietary which gave suppleness to the limbs must be more conducive to both ends than one which added thickness to the bodily parts by feeding.[14]
[9] For the Eiren, see Plut. “Lycurg.” (Clough, i. 107).
[10] Reading sumboleuein (for the vulg. sumbouleuein). The emendation is now commonly adopted. For the word itself, see L. Dindorf, n. ad loc., and Schneider. sumbolon = eranosor club meal. Perhaps we ought to read ekhontas instead of ekhonta.
[11] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 17 (Clough, i. 108).
[12] Lit. “condiments,” such as “meat,” “fish,” etc. See “Cyrop.” I. ii. 8.
[13] Or, “and in general they would live more healthily and increase in stature.”
[14] See L. Dindorf’s emendation of this corrupt passage, n. ad loc. (based upon Plut. “Lycurg.” 17 and Ps. Plut. “Moral.” 237), kai eis mekos d’ an auxanesthai oeto kai eueidesterous vel kallious gignesthai, pros amphotera ton radina ta somata poiousan trophen mallon sullambanein egesamenos e ten diaplatunousan. Otherwise I would suggest to read kai eis mekos an auxanesthai ten [gar] radina . . . egesato k.t.l., which is closer to the vulgate, and gives nearly the same sense.
On the other hand, in order to guard against a too great pinch of starvation, though he did not actually allow the boys to help themselves without further trouble to what they needed more, he did give them permission to steal[15] this thing or that in the effort to alleviate their hunger. It was not of course from any real difficulty how else to supply them with nutriment that he left it to them to provide themselves by this crafty method. Nor can I conceieve that any one will so misinterpret the custom. Clearly its explanation lies in the fact that he who would live the life of a robber must forgo sleep by night, and in the daytime he must employ shifts and lie in ambuscade; he must prepare and make ready his scouts, and so forth, if he is to succeed in capturing the quarry.[16]
[15] See “Anab.” IV. vi. 14.
[16] For the institution named the krupteia, see Plut. “Lycurg.” 28 (Clough, i. 120); Plato, “Laws,” i. 633 B; for the klopeia, ib. vii. 823 E; Isocr. “Panathen.” 277 B.
It is obvious, I say, that the whole of this education tended, and was intended, to make the boys craftier and more inventive in getting in supplies, whilst at the same time it cultivated their warlike instincts. An objector may retort: “But if he thought it so fine a feat to steal, why did he inflict all those blows on the unfortunate who was caught?” My answer is: for the self-same reason which induces people, in other matters which are taught, to punish the mal- performance of a service. So they, the Lacedaemonians, visit penalties on the boy who is detected thieving as being but a sorry bungler in the art. So to steal as many cheeses as possible [off the shrine of Orthia[17]] was a feat to be encouraged; but, at the same moment, others were enjoined to scourge the thief, which would point a moral not obscurely, that by pain endured for a brief season a man may earn the joyous reward of lasting glory.[18]Herein, too, it is plainly shown that where speed is requisite the sluggard will win for himself much trouble and scant good.
[17] I.e. “Artemis of the Steep”–a title connecting the goddess with Mount Orthion or Orthosion. See Pausan. VIII. xxiii. 1; and for the custom, see Themistius, “Or.” 21, p. 250 A. The words have perhaps got out of their right place. See Schneider’s Index, s.v.
[18] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 18; “Morals,” 239 C; “Aristid.” 17; Cic. “Tusc.” ii. 14.
Furthermore, and in order that the boys should not want a ruler, even in case the pastor[19]himself were absent, he gave to any citizen who chanced to be present authority to lay upon them injunctions for their good, and to chastise them for any trespass committed. By so doing he created in the boys of Sparta a most rare modesty and reverence. And indeed there is nothing which, whether as boys or men, they respect more highly than the ruler. Lastly, and with the same intention, that the boys must never be reft of a ruler, even if by chance there were no grown man present, he laid down the rule that in such a case the most active of the Leaders or Prefects[20] was to become ruler for the nonce, each of his own division. The conclusion being that under no circumstances whatever are the boys of Sparta destitute of one to rule them.
[19] Lit. “Paidonomos.”
[20] Lit. “Eirens.”
I ought, as it seems to me, not to omit some remark on the subject of boy attachments,[21] it being a topic in close connection with that of boyhood and the training of boys.
[21] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 17 (Clough, i. 109).
We know that the rest of the Hellenes deal with this relationship in different ways, either after the manner of the Boeotians,[22] where man and boy are intimately united by a bond like that of wedlock, or after the manner of the Eleians, where the fruition of beauty is an act of grace; whilst there are others who would absolutely debar the lover from all conversation[23] and discourse with the beloved.
[22] See Xen. “Symp.” viii. 34; Plato, “Symp.” 182 B (Jowett, II. p. 33).
[23]dialegesthai came to mean philosophic discussion and debate. Is the author thinking of Socrates? See “Mem.” I. ii. 35; IV. v. 12.
Lycurgus adopted a system opposed to all of these alike. Given that some one, himself being all that a man ought to be, should in admiration of a boy’s soul[24] endeavour to discover in him a true friend without reproach, and to consort with him–this was a relationship which Lycurgus commended, and indeed regarded as the noblest type of bringing up. But if, as was evident, it was not an attachment to the soul, but a yearning merely towards the body, he stamped this thing as foul and horrible; and with this result, to the credit of Lycurgus be it said, that in Lacedaemon the relationship of lover and beloved is like that of parent and child or brother and brother where carnal appetite is in abeyance.
[24] See Xen. “Symp.” viii. 35; Plut. “Lycurg.” 18.
That this, however, which is the fact, should be scarcely credited in some quarters does not surprise me, seeing that in many states the laws[25] do not oppose the desires in question.
[25] I.e. “law and custom.”
I have now described the two chief methods of education in vogue; that is to say, the Lacedaemonian as contrasted with that of the rest of Hellas, and I leave it to the judgment of him whom it may concern, which of the two has prodcued the finer type of men. And by finer I mean the better disciplined, the more modest and reverential, and, in matters where self-restraint is a virtue, the more continent.
III Coming to the critical period at which a boy ceases to be a boy and becomes a youth,[1] we find that it is just then that the rest of the world proceed to emancipate their children from the private tutor and the schoolmaster, and, without substituting any further ruler, are content to launch them into absolute independence.
[1]eis to meirakiousthai, “with reference to hobbledehoy-hood.” Cobet erases the phrase as post-Xenophontine.
Here, again, Lycurgus took an entirely opposite view of the matter. This, if observation might be trusted, was the season when the tide of animal spirits flows fast, and the froth of insolence rises to the surface; when, too, the most violent appetites for divers pleasures, in serried ranks, invade[2] the mind. This, then, was the right moment at which to impose tenfold labours upon the growing youth, and to devise for him a subtle system of absorbing occupation. And by a crowning enactment, which said that “he who shrank from the duties imposed on him would forfeit henceforth all claim to the glorious honours of the state,” he caused, not only the public authorities, but those personally interested[3] in the several companies of youths to take serious pains so that no single individual of them should by an act of craven cowardice find himself utterly rejected and reprobate within the body politic.
[2] Lit. “range themselves.” For the idea, see “Mem.”I. ii. 23; Swinburne, “Songs before Sunrise”: Prelude, “Past youth where shoreward shallows are.”
[3] Or, “the friends and connections.”
Furthermore, in his desire to implant in their youthful souls a root of modesty he imposed upon these bigger boys a special rule. In the very streets they were to keep their two hands[4] within the folds of the cloak; they were to walk in silence and without turning their heads to gaze, now here, now there, but rather to keep their eyes fixed upon the ground before them. And hereby it would seem to be proved conclusively that, even in the matter of quiet bearing and sobreity,[5] the masculine type may claim greater strength than that which we attribute to the nature of women. At any rate, you might sooner expect a stone image to find voice than one of those Spartan youths; to divert the eyes of some bronze stature were less difficult. And as to quiet bearing, no bride ever stepped in bridal bower[6] with more natural modesty. Note them when they have reached the public table.[7] The plainest answer to the question asked–that is all you need expect to hear from their lips.
[4] See Cic. “pro Coelio,” 5.
[5] See Plat. “Charmid.” 159 B; Jowett, “Plato,” I. 15.
[6] Longinus, peri ups, iv. 4, reading ophthalmois for thalamois, says: “Yet why speak of Timaeus, when even men like Xenophon and Plato, the very demigods of literature, though they had sat at the feet of Socrates, sometimes forget themselves in the pursuit of such pretty conceits? The former in his account of the Spartan Polity has these words: ‘Their voice you would no more hear, than if they were of marble, their gaze is as immovable as if they were cast in bronze. You would deem them more modest than the very maidens in their eyes.’ To speak of the pupils of the eyes as modest maidens was a piece of absurdity becoming Amphicrates rather than Xenophon; and then what a strange notion to suppose that modesty is always without exception, expressed in the eye!”–H. L. Howell, “Longinus,” p. 8. See “Spectator,” No. 354.
[7] See Paus. VII. i. 8, the phidition or philition; “Hell.” V. iv. 28.
IV But if he was thus careful in the education of the stripling,[1] the Spartan lawgiver showed a still greater anxiety in dealing with those who had reached the prime of opening manhood; considering their immense importance to the city in the scale of good, if only they proved themselves the men they should be. He had only to look around to see what wherever the spirit of emulation[2] is most deeply seated, there, too, their choruses and gymnastic contests will present alike a far higher charm to eye and ear. And on the same principle he persuaded himself that he needed only to confront[3] his youthful warriors in the strife of valour, and with like result. They also, in their degree, might be expected to attain to some unknown height of manly virtue.
[1] See “Hell.” V. iv. 32.
[2] Cf. “Cyrop.” II. i. 22.
[3] Or, “pit face to face.”
What method he adopted to engage these combatants I will now explain. It is on this wise. Their ephors select three men out of the whole body of the citizens in the prime of life. These three are named Hippagretai, or masters of the horse. Each of these selects one hundred others, being bound to explain for what reason he prefers in honour these and disapproves of those. The result is that those who fail to obtain the distinction are now at open war, not only with those who rejected them, but with those who were chosen in their stead; and they keep ever a jealous eye on one another to detect some slip of conduct contrary to the high code of honour there held customary. And so is set on foot that strife, in truest sense acceptable to heaven, and for the purposes of state most politic. It is a strife in which not only is the pattern of a brave man’s conduct fully set forth, but where, too, each against other and in separate camps, the rival parties train for victory. One day the superiority shall be theirs; or, in the day of need, one and all to the last man, they will be ready to aid the fatherland with all their strength.
Necessity, moreover, is laid upon them to study a good habit of the body, coming as they do to blows with their fists for very strife’s sake whenever they meet. Albeit, any one present has a right to separate the combatants, and, if obedience is not shown to the peacemaker, the Pastor of youth[4] hales the delinquent before the ephors, and the ephors inflict heavy damages, since they will have it plainly understood that rage must never override obedience to law.
[4] Lit. “the Paidonomos.”
With regard to those who have already passed[5] the vigour of early manhood, and on whom the highest magistracies henceforth devolve, there is a like contrast. In Hellas generally we find that at this age the need of further attention to physical strength is removed, although the imposition of military service continues. But Lycurgus made it customary for that section of his citizens to regard hunting as the highest honour suited to their age; albeit, not to the exclusion of any public duty.[6] And his aim was that they might be equally able to undergo the fatigues of war with those in the prime of early manhood.
[5] Probably the agathoergoi, technically so called. See Herod. i. 67; Schneider, ap. Dindorf.
[6] Lit. “save only if some public duty intervened.” See “Cyrop.” I. ii.
V The above is a fairly exhaustive statement of the institutions traceable to the legislation of Lycurgus in connection with the successive stages[1] of a citizen’s life. It remains that I should endeavour to describe the style of living which he established for the whole body, irrespective of age. It will be understood that, when Lycurgus first came to deal with the question, the Spartans like the rest of the Hellenes, used to mess privately at home. Tracing more than half the current misdemeanours to this custom,[2] he was determined to drag his people out of holes and corners into the broad daylight, and so he invented the public mess-rooms. Whereby he expected at any rate to minimise the transgression of orders.
[1] Lit. “with each age.”; see Plut. “Lycurg.” 25; Hesychius, s. u. irinies; “Hell.” VI. iv. 17; V. iv. 13.
[2] Reading after Cobet, en touto.
As to food,[3] his ordinance allowed them so much as, while not inducing repletion, should guard them from actual want. And, in fact, there are many exceptional[4] dishes in the shape of game supplied from the hunting field. Or, as a substitute for these, rich men will occasionally garnish the feast with wheaten loaves. So that from beginning to end, till the mess breaks up, the common board is never stinted for viands, nor yet extravagantly furnished.
[3] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 12 (Clough, i. 97).
[4]paraloga, i.e. unexpected dishes, technically named epaikla (hors d’oeuvres), as we learn from Athenaeus, iv. 140, 141.
So also in the matter of drink. Whilst putting a stop to all unnecessary potations, detrimental alike to a firm brain and a steady gait,[5] he left them free to quench thirst when nature dictated[6]; a method which would at once add to the pleasure whilst it diminished the danger of drinking. And indeed one may fairly ask how, on such a system of common meals, it would be possible for any one to ruin either himself or his family either through gluttony or wine-bibbing.
[5] Or, “apt to render brain and body alike unsteady.”
[6] See “Agesilaus”; also “Mem.” and “Cyrop.”
This too must be borne in mind, that in other states equals in age,[7] for the most part, associate together, and such an atmosphere is little conducive to modesty.[8] Whereas in Sparta Lycurgus was careful so to blend the ages[9] that the younger men must benefit largely by the experience of the elder–an education in itself, and the more so since by custom of the country conversation at the common meal has reference to the honourable acts which this man or that man may have performed in relation to the state. The scene, in fact, but little lends itself to the intrusion of violence or drunken riot; ugly speech and ugly deeds alike are out of place. Amongst other good results obtained through this out-door system of meals may be mentioned these: There is the necessity of walking home when the meal is over, and a consequent anxiety not to be caught tripping under the influence of wine, since they all know of course that the supper-table must be presently abandoned,[10] and that they must move as freely in the dark as in the day, even the help of a torch[11] to guide the steps being forbidden to all on active service.
[8] Or, “these gatherings for the most part consist of equals in age (young fellows), in whose society the virtue of modesty is least likely to display itself.”
[9] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 12 (Clough, i. 98).
[10] Or, “that they are not going to stay all night where they have supped.”
[11] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 12 (Clough, i. 99).
In connection with this matter, Lycurgus had not failed to observe the effect of equal amounts of food on different persons. The hardworking man has a good complexion, his muscles are well fed, he is robust and strong. The man who abstains from work, on the other hand, may be detected by his miserable appearance; he is blotched and puffy, and devoid of strength. This observation, I say, was not wasted on him. On the contrary, turning it over in his mind that any one who chooses, as a matter of private judgment, to devote himself to toil may hope to present a very creditable appearance physically, he enjoined upon the eldest for the time being in every gymnasium to see to it that the labours of the class were proportional to the meats.[12] And to my mind he was not out of his reckoning in this matter more than elsehwere. At any rate, it would be hard to discover a healthier or more completely developed human being, physically speaking, than the Spartan. Their gymnastic training, in fact, makes demands alike on the legs and arms and neck,[13] etc., simultaneously.
[12] I.e. “not inferior in excellence to the diet which they enjoyed.” The reading here adopted I owe to Dr. Arnold Hug, os me ponous auton elattous ton sition gignesthai.
[13] See Plat. “Laws,” vii. 796 A; Jowett, “Plato,” v. p. 365; Xen. “Symp.” ii. 7; Plut. “Lycurg.” 19.
VI There are other points in which this legislator’s views run counter to those commonly accepted. Thus: in other states the individual citizen is master over his own children, domestics,[1] goods and chattels, and belongings generally; but Lycurgus, whose aim was to secure to all the citizens a considerable share in one another’s goods without mutual injury, enacted that each one should have an equal power of his neighbour’s children as over his own.[2] The principle is this. When a man knows that this, that, and the other person are fathers of children subject to his authority, he must perforce deal by them even as he desires his own child to be dealt by. And, if a boy chance to have received a whipping, not from his own father but some other, and goes and complains to his own father, it would be thought wrong on the part of that father if he did not inflict a second whipping on his son. A striking proof, in its way, how completely they trust each other not to impose dishonourable commands upon their children.[3]
[1] Or rather, “members of his household.”
[2] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 15 (Clough, i. 104).
[3] See Plut. “Moral.” 237 D.
In the same way he empowered them to use their neighbour’s[4] domestics in case of need. This communism he applied also to dogs used for the chase; in so far that a party in need of dogs will invite the owner to the chase, and if he is not at leisure to attend himself, at any rate he is happy to let his dogs go. The same applies to the use of horses. Some one has fallen sick perhaps, or is in want of a carriage,[5] or is anxious to reach some point or other quickly–in any case he has a right, if he sees a horse anywhere, to take and use it, and restores it safe and sound when he has done with it.
[4] See Aristot. “Pol.” ii. 5 (Jowett, i. pp. xxxi. and 34; ii. p. 53); Plat. “Laws,” viii. 845 A; Newman, “Pol. Aristot.” ii. 249 foll.
[5] “Has not a carriage of his own.”
And here is another institution attributed to Lycurgus which scarcely coincides with the customs elsewhere in vogue. A hunting party returns from the chase, belated. They want provisions–they have nothing prepared themselves. To meet this contingency he made it a rule that owners[6] are to leave behind the food that has been dressed; and the party in need will open the seals, take out what they want, seal up the remainder, and leave it. Accordingly, by his system of give-and- take even those with next to nothing[7] have a share in all that the country can supply, if ever they stand in need of anything.
[6] Reading pepamenous, or if pepasmenous, “who have already finished their repasts.”
[7] See Aristot. “Pol.” ii. 9 (Jowett, i. pp. xlii. and 52); Muller, “Dorians,” iii. 10, 1 (vol. ii. 197, Eng. tr.)
VII
There are yet other customs in Sparta which Lycurgus instituted in opposition to those of the rest of Hellas, and the following among them. We all know that in the generality of states every one devotes his full energy to the business of making money: one man as a tiller of the soil, another as a mariner, a third as a merchant, whilst others depend on various arts to earn a living. But at Sparta Lycurgus forbade his freeborn citizens to have anything whatsoever to do with the concerns of money-making. As freemen, he enjoined upon them to regard as their concern exclusively those activities upon which the foundations of civic liberty are based.
And indeed, one may well ask, for what reason should wealth be regarded as a matter for serious pursuit[1] in a community where, partly by a system of equal contributions to the necessaries of life, and partly by the maintenance of a common standard of living, the lawgiver placed so effectual a check upon the desire of riches for the sake of luxury? What inducement, for instance, would there be to make money, even for the sake of wearing apparel, in a state where personal adornment is held to lie not in the costliness of the clothes they wear, but in the healthy condition of the body to be clothed? Nor again could there be much inducement to amass wealth, in order to be able to expend it on the members of a common mess, where the legislator had made it seem far more glorious that a man should help his fellows by the labour of his body than by costly outlay. The latter being, as he finely phrased it, the function of wealth, the former an activity of the soul.
[1] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 10 (Clough, i. 96).
He went a step further, and set up a strong barrier (even in a society such as I have described) against the pursuance of money-making by wrongful means.[2] In the first place, he established a coinage[3] of so extraordinary a sort, that even a single sum of ten minas[4]could not come into a house without attracting the notice, either of the master himself, or of some member of his household. In fact, it would occupy a considerable space, and need a waggon to carry it. Gold and silver themselves, moreover, are liable to search,[5] and in case of detection, the possessor subjected to a penalty. In fact, to repeat the question asked above, for what reason should money-making become an earnest pursuit in a community where the possession of wealth entails more pain than its employment brings satisfaction?
[2] Or, “against illegitimate commerce.”
[3] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 9 (Clough, i. 94).
[4] = 40 pounds, circa.
[5] See Grote, “H. G.” ix. 320; Aristot. “Pol.” ii. 9, 37.
VIII
But to proceed. We are all aware that there is no state[1] in the world in which greater obedience is shown to magistrates, and to the laws themselves, than Sparta. But, for my part, I am disposed to think that Lycurgus could never have attempted to establish this healthy condition,[2] until he had first secured the unanimity of the most powerful members of the state. I infer this for the following reasons.[3] In other states the leaders in rank and influence do not even desire to be thought to fear the magistrates. Such a thing they would regard as in itself a symbol of servility. In Sparta, on the contrary, the stronger a man is the more readily does he bow before constituted authority. And indeed, they magnify themselves on their humility, and on a prompt obedience, running, or at any rate not crawling with laggard step, at the word of command. Such an example of eager discipline, they are persuaded, set by themselves, will not fail to be followed by the rest. And this is precisely what has taken place. It[4] is reasonable to suppose that it was these same noblest members of the state who combined[5] to lay the foundation of the ephorate, after they had come to the conclusion themselves, that of all the blessings which a state, or an army, or a household, can enjoy, obedience is the greatest. Since, as they could not but reason, the greater the power with which men fence about authority, the greater the fascination it will exercise upon the mind of the citizen, to the enforcement of obedience.
[1] See Grote, “H. G.” v. 516; “Mem.” III. v. 18.
[2] Or, reading after L. Dindorf, eutaxian, “this world-renowned orderliness.”
[3] Or, “from these facts.”
[4] Or, “It was only natural that these same . . .”
[5] Or, “helped.” See Aristot. “Pol.” v. 11, 3; ii. 9, 1 (Jowett, ii. 224); Plut. “Lycurg.” 7, 29; Herod. i. 65; Muller, “Dorians,” iii. 7, 5 (vol. ii. p. 125, Eng. tr.)
Accordingly the ephors are competent to punish whomsoever they choose; they have power to exact fines on the spur of the moment; they have power to depose magistrates in mid career[6]–nay, actually to imprison them and bring them to trial on the capital charge. Entrusted with these vast powers, they do not, as do the rest of states, allow the magistrates elected to exercise authority as they like, right through the year of office; but, in the style rather of despotic monarchs, or presidents of the games, at the first symptom of an offence against the law they inflict chastisement without warning and without hesitation.
[6] Or, “before the expiration of their term of office.” See Plut. “Agis,” 18 (Clough, iv. 464); Cic. “de Leg.” iii. 7; “de Rep.” ii. 33.
But of all the many beautiful contrivances invented by Lycurgus to kindle a willing obedience to the laws in the hearts of the citizens, none, to my mind, was happier or more excellent than his unwillingness to deliver his code to the people at large, until, attended by the most powerful members of the state, he had betaken himself to Delphi,[7] and there made inquiry of the god whether it were better for Sparta, and conducive to her interests, to obey the laws which he had framed. And not until the divine answer came: “Better will it be in every way,” did he deliver them, laying it down as a last ordinance that to refuse obedience to a code which had the sanction of the Pythian god himself[8] was a thing not illegal only, but profane.
[7] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 5, 6, 29 (Clough, i. 89, 122); Polyb. x. 2, 9.
[8] Or, “a code delivered in Pytho, spoken by the god himself.”
IX
The following too may well excite our admiration for Lycurgus. I speak of the consummate skill with which he induced the whole state of Sparta to regard an honourable death as preferable to an ignoble life. And indeed if any one will investigate the matter, he will find that by comparison with those who make it a principle to retreat in face of danger, actually fewer of these Spartans die in battle, since, to speak truth, salvation, it would seem, attends on virtue far more frequently than on cowardice–virtue, which is at once easier and sweeter, richer in resource and stronger of arm,[1] than her opposite. And that virtue has another familiar attendant–to wit, glory–needs no showing, since the whole world would fain ally themselves after some sort in battle with the good.
[1] See Homer, “Il.” v. 532; Tyrtaeus, 11, 14, tressanton d’ andron pas’ apolol arete.
Yet the actual means by which he gave currency to these principles is a point which it were well not to overlook. It is clear that the lawgiver set himself deliberately to provide all the blessings of heaven for the good man, and a sorry and ill-starred existence for the coward.
In other states the man who shows himself base and cowardly wins to himself an evil reputation and the nickname of a coward, but that is all. For the rest he buys and sells in the same market-place as the good man; he sits beside him at play; he exercises with him in the same gymnasium, and all as suits his humour. But at Lacedaemon there is not one man who would not feel ashamed to welcome the coward at the common mess-tabe, or to try conclusions with such an antagonist in a wrestling bout. Consider the day’s round of his existence. The sides are being picked up in a football match,[2] but he is left out as the odd man: there is no place for him. During the choric dance[3] he is driven away into ignominious quarters. Nay, in the very streets it is he who must step aside for others to pass, or, being seated, he must rise and make room, even for a younger man. At home he will have his maiden relatives to support in isolation (and they will hold him to blame for their unwedded lives).[4] A hearth with no wife to bless it –that is a condition he must face,[5] and yet he will have to pay damages to the last farthing for incurring it. Let him not roam abroad with a smooth and smiling countenance;[6] let him not imitate men whose fame is irreproachable, or he shall feel on his back the blows of his superiors. Such being the weight of infamy which is laid upon all cowards, I, for my part, am not surprised if in Sparta they deem death preferable to a life so steeped in dishonour and reproach.
[2] See Lucian, “Anacharsis,” 38; Muller, “Dorians,” (vol. ii. 309, Eng. tr.)
[3] The khoroi, e.g. of the Gymnopaedia. See Muller, op. cit. iv. 6, 4 (vol. ii. 334, Eng. tr.)
[4]tes anandrias, cf. Plut. “Ages.” 30; or, tes anandreias, “they must bear the reproach of his cowardice.”
[5] Omitting ou, or translate, “that is an evil not to be disregarded.” See Dindorf, ad loc.; Sturz, “Lex. Xen.” Estia.
[6] See Plut. “Ages.” 30 (Clough, iv. 36); “Hell.” VI. iv. 16.
X
That too was a happy enactment, in my opinion, by which Lycurgus provided for the continual cultivation of virtue, even to old age. By fixing[1] the election to the council of elders[2] as a last ordeal at the goal of life, he made it impossible for a high standard of virtuous living to be disregarded even in old age. (So, too, it is worthy of admiration in him that he lent his helping hand to virtuous old age.[3] Thus, by making the elders sole arbiters in the trial for life, he contrived to charge old age with a greater weight of honour than that which is accorded to the strength of mature manhood.) And assuredly such a contest as this must appeal to the zeal of mortal man beyond all others in a supreme degree. Fair, doubtless, are contests of gymnastic skill, yet are they but trials of bodily excellence, but this contest for the seniority is of a higher sort–it is an ordeal of the soul itself. In proportion, therefore, as the soul is worthier than the body, so must these contests of the soul appeal to a stronger enthusiasm than their bodily antitypes.
[1] Reading protheis. See Plut. “Lycurg.” 26 (Clough. i. 118); Aristot. “Pol.” ii. 9, 25.
[2] Or, “seniory,” or “senate,” or “board of elders”; lit. “the Gerontia.”
[3] Or, “the old age of the good. Yet this he did when he made . . . since he contrived,” etc.
And yet another point may well excite our admiration for Lycurgus largely. It had not escaped his observation that communities exist where those who are willing to make virtue their study and delight fail somehow in ability to add to the glory of their fatherland.[4] That lesson the legislator laid to heart, and in Sparta he enforced, as a matter of public duty, the practice of virtue by every citizen. And so it is that, just as man differs from man in some excellence, according as he cultivates or neglects to cultivate it, this city of Sparta, with good reason, outshines all other states in virtue; since she, and she alone, as made the attainment of a high standard of noble living a public duty.
[4] Is this an autobiographical touch?
And was this not a noble enactment, that whereas other states are content to inflict punishment only in cases where a man does wrong against his neighbour, Lycurgus imposed penalties no less severe on him who openly neglected to make himself as good as possible? For this, it seems, was his principle: in the one case, where a man is robbed, or defrauded, or kidnapped, and made a slave of, the injury of the misdeed, whatever it be, is personal to the individual so maltreated; but in the other case whole communities suffer foul treason at the hands of the base man and the coward. So that it was only reasonable, in my opinion, that he should visit the heaviest penalty upon these latter.
Moreover, he laid upon them, like some irresistible necessity, the obligation to cultivate the whole virtue of a citizen. Provided they duly performed the injunctions of the law, the city belonged to them, each and all, in absolute possession and on an equal footing. Weakness of limb or want of wealth[5] was no drawback in his eyes. But as for him who, out of the cowardice of his heart, shrank from the painful performance of the law’s injunction, the finger of the legistlator pointed him out as there and then disqualified to be regarded longer as a member of the brotherhood of peers.[6]
[5] But see Aristot. “Pol.” ii. 9, 32.
[6] Grote, “H. G.” viii. 81; “Hell.” III. iii. 5.
It may be added, that there was no doubt as to the great antiquity of this code of laws. The point is clear so far, that Lycurgus himself is said to have lived in the days of the Heraclidae.[7]But being of so long standing, these laws, even at this day, still are stamped in the eyes of other men with all the novelty of youth. And the most marvellous thing of all is that, while everybody is agreed to praise these remarkable institutions, there is not a single state which cares to imitate them.
[7] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 1.
XI
The above form a common stock of blessings, open to every Spartan to enjoy, alike in peace and in war. But if any one desires to be informed in what way the legislator improved upon the ordinary machinery of warfare and in reference to an army in the field, it is easy to satisfy his curiosity.
In the first instance, the ephors announce by proclamation the limit of age to which the service applies[1] for cavalry and heavy infantry; and in the next place, for the various handicraftsmen. So that, even on active service, the Lacedaemonians are well supplied with all the conveniences enjoyed by people living as citizens at home.[2] All implements and instruments whatsoever, which an army may need in common, are ordered to be in readiness,[3] some on waggons and others on baggage animals. In this way anything omitted can hardly escape detection.
[1] I.e. “in the particular case.” See “Hell.” VI. iv. 17; Muller, “Dorians,” iii. 12 (vol. ii. 242 foll., Eng. tr.)
[2] Or, “the conveniences of civil life at home.”
[3] Reading parekhein, or if paragein, “to be conveyed.” Cf. Pausan. I. xix. 1. See “Cyrop.” VI. ii. 34.
For the actual encounter under arms, the following inventions are attributed to him. The soldier has a crimson-coloured uniform and a heavy shield of bronze; his theory being that such an equipment has no sort of feminine association, and is altogether most warrior-like.[4]It is most quickly burnished; it is least readily soiled.[5]
[4] Cf. Aristoph. “Acharn.” 320, and the note of the scholiast.
[5] See Ps. Plut. “Moral.” 238 F.
He futher permitted those who were above the age of early manhood to wear their hair long.[6] For so, he conceived, they would appear of larger stature, more free and indomitable, and of a more terrible aspect.
[6] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 22 (Clough, i. 114).
So furnished and accoutred, he divided his citizen soldiers into six morai[7] (or regimental divisions) of cavalry[8] and heavy infantry. Each of these citizen regiments (political divisions) has one polemarch[9] (or colonel), four lochagoi (or captains of companies), eight penteconters (or lieutenants, each in command of half a company), and sixteen enomotarchs (or commanders of sections). At the word of command any such regimental division can be formed readily either into enomoties (i.e. single file) or into threes (i.e. three files abreast), or into sixes (i.e. six files abreast).[10]
[7] The mora. Jowett, “Thuc.” ii. 320, note to Thuc. v. 68, 3.
[8] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 23 (Clough, i. 115); “Hell.” VI. iv. 11; Thuc. v. 67; Paus. IV. viii. 12.
[9] See Thuc. v. 66, 71.
[10] See Thuch. v. 68, and Arnold’s note ad loc.; “Hell.” VI. iv. 12; “Anab.” II. iv. 26; Rustow and Kochly, op. cit. p. 117.
As to the idea, commonly entertained, that the tactical arrangement of the Laconian heavy infantry is highly complicated, no conception could be more opposed to fact. For in the Laconian order the front rank men are all leaders,[11] so that each file has everything necessary to play its part efficiently. In fact, this disposition is so easy to understand that no one who can distinguish one human being from another could fail to follow it. One set have the privilege of leaders, the other the duty of followers. The evolutional orders,[12] by which greater depth or shallowness is given to the battle line, are given by word of mouth by the enomotarch (or commander of the section), who plays the part of the herald, and they cannot be mistaken. None of these manouvres presents any difficulty whatsoever to the understanding.
[11] See “Anab.” IV. iii. 26; “Cyrop.” III. iii. 59; VI. iii. 22.
[12] I.e. “for doubling depth”; e.g. anglice, “form two deep,” etc., when marching to a flank. Grote, “H. G.” vii. 108; Thuc. v. 66; also Rustow and Kochly, op. cit. p. 111, S. 8, note 19; p. 121, $17, note 41.
But when it comes to their ability to do battle equally well in spite of some confusion which has been set up, and whatever the chapter of accidents may confront them with,[13] I admit that the tactics here are not so easy to understand, except for people trained under the laws of Lycurgus. Even movements which an instructor in heavy-armed warfare[14] might look upon as difficult are performed by the Lacedaemonians with the utmost ease.[15] Thus, the troops, we will suppose, are marching in column; one section of a company is of course stepping up behind another from the rear.[16] Now, if at such a moment a hostile force appears in front in battle order, the word is passed down to the commander of each section, “Deploy (into line) to the left.” And so throughout the whole length of the column, until the line is formed facing the enemy. Or supposing while in this position an enemy appears in the rear. Each file performs a counter-march[17] with the effect of bringing the best men face to face with the enemy all along the line.[18] As to the point that the leader previously on the right finds himself now on the left,[19] they do not consider that they are necessarily losers thereby, but, as it may turn out, even gainers. If, for instance, the enemy attempted to turn their flank, he would find himself wrapping round, not their exposed, but their shielded flank.[20] Or if, for any reason, it be thought advisable for the general to keep the right wing, they turn the corps about,[21] and counter-march by ranks, until the leader is on the right, and the rear rank on the left. Or again, supposing a division of the enemy appears on the right whilst they are marching in column, they have nothing further to do but to wheel each company to the right, like a trireme, prow forwards,[22] to meet the enemy, and thus the rear company again finds itself on the right. If, however, the enemy should attack on the left, either they will not allow of that and push him aside,[23] or else they wheel their companies to the left to face the antagonist, and thus the rear company once more falls into position on the left.
[13] Or, “alongside of any comrade who may have fallen in their way.” See Plut. “Pelop.” 23 (Clough, ii. 222); Thuc. v. 72.
[14] Or, “drill sergeant.”
[15] See Jebb, note to “Theophr.” viii. 3.
[16] Or, “marching in rear of another.”
[17] See Rustow and Kochly, p. 127.
[18] Or, “every time.”
[19] See Thuc. v. 67, 71.
[20] See Rustow and Kochly, p. 127.
[21] For these movements, see “Dict. of Antiq.” “Exercitus”; Grote, “H. G.” vii. 111.
[22] See “Hell.” VII. v. 23.
[23] I am indebted to Professor Jebb for the following suggestions with regard to this passage: “The words oude touto eosin, all apothousin e, etc., contain some corruption. The sense ought clearly to be roughly parallel with that of the phrase used a little before, ouden allo pragmateuontai e, etc. Perhaps apothousin is a corruption of apothen ousin, and this corruption occasioned the insertion of e. Probably Xenophon wrote oude touto eosin, all apothen ousin antipalous, etc.: ‘while the enemy is still some way off, they turn their companies so as to face him.’ The words apothen ousin indirectly suggest the celerity of the Spartan movement.”
XII
I will now speak of the mode of encampment sanctioned by the regulation of Lycurgus. To avoid the waste incidental to the angles of a square,[1] the encampment, according to him, should be circular, except where there was the security of a hill,[2] or fortification, or where they had a river in their rear. He had sentinels posted during the day along the place of arms and facing inwards;[3] since they are appointed not so much for the sake of the enemy as to keep an eye on friends. The enemy is sufficiently watched by mounted troopers perched on various points commanding the widest prospect.
[1] Or, “Regarding the angles of a square as a useless inconvenience, he arranged that an encampment should be circular,” etc. See Polyb. vi. 31, 42.
[2] Cf. “Hell.” VI. iv. 14; Polyaen. II. iii. 11, ap. Schneider.
[3] Lit. “these,” tas men. Or, “He had lines of sentinels posted throughout the day; one line facing inwards towards the place of arms (and these were appointed, etc.); while observation of the enemy was secured by mounted troopers,” etc.
To guard against hostile approach by night, sentinel duty according to the ordinance was performed by the Sciritae[4] outside the main body. At the present time the rule is so far modified that the duty is entrusted to foreigners,[5] if there be a foreign contingent present, with a leaven of Spartans themselves to keep them company.[6]
[4] See Muller’s “Dorians,” ii. 253; “Hell.” VI. v. 24; “Cyrop.” IV. ii. 1; Thuc. v. 67, 71; Grote, “H. G.” vii. 110.
[5] See “Hipparch.” ix. 4.
[6] Reading auton de. The passage is probably corrupt. See L. Dindorf ad loc.
The custom of always taking their spears[7] with them when they go their rounds must certainly be attributed to the same cause which makes them exclude their slaves from the place of arms. Nor need we be surprised if, when retiring for necessary purposes, they only withdraw just far enough from one another, or from the place of arms itself, not to create annoyance. The need of precaution is the whole explanation.
[7] See Critias, ap. Schneider ad loc.
The frequency with which they change their encampments is another point. It is done quite as much for the sake of benefiting their friends as of annoying their enemies.
Further, the law enjoins upon all Lacedaemonians, during the whole period of an expedition, the constant practice of gymnastic[8] exercises, whereby their pride[9] in themselves is increased, and they appear freer and of a more liberal aspect than the rest of the world.[10]The walk and the running ground must not exceed in length[11] the space covered by a regimental division,[12] so that no one may find himself far from his own stand of arms. After the gymnastic exercises the senior polemarch gives the order (by herald) to be seated. This serves all the purposes of an inspection. After this the order is given “to get breakfast,” and for “the outposts[13] to be relieved.” After this, again, come pastimes and relaxations before the evening exercises, after which the herald’s cry is heard “to take the evening meal.” When they have sung a hymn to the gods to whom the offerings of happy omen had been performed, the final order, “Retire to rest at the place of arms,”[14] is given.
[8] Cf. Herod. vii. 208; Plut. “Lycurg.” 22 (Clough, i. 113 foll.)
[9] Reading megalophronesterous (L. Dindorf’s emendation) for the vulg.megaloprepesterous. Xen “Opusc. polit.” Ox. MDCCCLVI.
[10] Or, “the proud self-consciousness of their own splendour is increased, and by comparison with others they bear more notably the impress of freemen.”
[11] The word masso is “poetical” (old Attic?). See “Cyrop.” II. iv. 27, and L. Dindorf ad loc.
[12] A single mora, or an army corps.
[13] Or, “vedettes,” proskopon. See “Cyrop.” V. ii. 6.
[14] ? Or, “on your arms.” See Sturz, “Lex. Xen.” s.v.
If the story is a little long the reader must not be surprised, since it would be difficult to find any point in military matters omitted by the Lacedaemonians which seems to demand attention.
XIII
I will now give a detailed account of the power and privilege assigned by Lycurgus to the king during a campaign. To begin with, so long as he is on active service, the state maintains the king and those with him.[1] The polemarchs mess with him and share his quarters, so that by dint of constant intercourse they may be all the better able to consult in common in case of need. Besides the polemarch three other members of the peers[2] share the royal quarters, mess, etc. The duty of these is to attend to all matters of commisariat,[3] in order that the king and the rest may have unbroken leisure to attend to affairs of actual warfare.
[1] I.e. “the Thirty.” See “Ages.” i. 7; “Hell.” III. iv. 2; Plut. “Ages.” 6 (Clough, iv. 6); Aristot. “Pol.” ii. 9, 29.
[2] For these oi omoioi, see “Cyrop.” I. v. 5; “Hell.” III. iii. 5.
[3] Lit. “supplies and necessaries.”
But I will resume at a somewhat higher point and describe the manner in which the king sets out on an expedition. As a preliminary step, before leaving home he offers sacrifice (in company with[4] his staff) to Zeus Agetor (the Leader), and if the victims prove favourable then and there the priest,[5] who bears the sacred fire, takes thereof from off the altar and leads the way to the boundaries of the land. Here for the second time the king does sacrifice[6] to Zeus and Athena; and as soon as the offerings are accepted by those two divinities he steps across the boundaries of the land. And all the while the fire from those sacrifices leads the way, and is never suffered to go out. Behind follow beasts for sacrifice of every sort.
[4] Lit. reading kai oi sun auto, after L. Dindorf, “he and those with him.”
[5] Lit. “the Purphuros.” See Nic. Damasc. ap. Stob. “Fl.” 44, 41; Hesych. ap. Schneider, n. ad loc.
[6] These are the diabateria, so often mentioned in the “Hellenica.”
Invariably when he offers sacrifice the king begins the work in the gloaming ere the day has broken, being minded to anticipate the goodwill of the god. And round about the place of sacrifice are present the polemarchs and captains, the lieutenants and sub- lieutenants, with the commandants of the baggage train, and any general of the states[7] who may care to assist. There, too, are to be seen two of the ephors, who neither meddle nor make, save only at the summons of the king, yet have they their eyes fixed on the proceedings of each one there and keep all in order,[8] as may well be guessed. When the sacrifices are accomplished the king summons all and issues his orders[9] as to what has to be done. And all with such method that, to witness the proceedings, you might fairly suppose the rest of the world to be but bungling experimenters,[10] and the Lacedaemonians alone true handicraftsmen in the art of soldiering.
[7] I.e. “allied”? or “perioecid”?
[8]sophronizousin, “keep every one in his sober senses.”
[9] See Thuc. v. 66.
[10]autoskhediastai, tekhnitai. See Jebb, “Theophr.” x. 3.
Anon the king puts himself at the head of the troops, and if no enemy appears he heads the line of march, no one preceding him except the Sciritae, and the mounted troopers exploring in front.[11] If, however, there is any reason to anticipate a battle, the king takes the leading column of the first army corps[12] and wheels to the right until he has got into position with two army corps and two generals of division on either flank. The disposition of the supports is assigned to the eldest of the royal council[13] (or staff corps) acting as brigadier–the staff consisting of all peers who share the royal mess and quarters, with the soothsayers, surgeons,[14] and pipers, whose place is in the front of the troops,[15] with, finally, any volunteers who happen to be present. So that there is no check or hesitation in anything to be done; every contingency is provided for.
[11] Or, “who are on scouting duty. If, however, they expect a battle,” etc.
[12] Technically, “mora.”
[13]ton peri damosian. See “Hell.” IV. v. 8; vii. 4.
[14] See “Anab.” III. iv. 30; “Cyrop.” I. vi. 15; L. Dindorf, n. ad loc.
[15] Schneider refers to Polyaenus, i. 10.
The following details also seem to me of high utility among the inventions of Lycurgus with a view to the final arbitrament of battle. Whensoever, the enemy being now close enough to watch the proceedings,[16] the goat is sacrificed; then, says the law, let all the pipers, in their places, play upon the pipes, and let every Lacedaemonian don a wreath. Then, too, so runs the order, let the shields be brightly polished. The privilege is accorded to the young man to enter battle with his long locks combed.[17] To be of cheery countenance–that, too, is of good repute. Onwards they pass the word of command to the subaltern[18] in command of his section, since it is impossible to hear along the whole of each section from the particular subaltern posted on the outside. It devolves, finally, on the polemarch to see that all goes well.
[16] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 22 (Clough, i. 114); and for the goat sacrificed to Artemis Agrotera, see “Hell.” IV. ii. 20; Pause. IX. xiii. 4; Plut. “Marcell.” 22 (Clough, ii. 264).
[17] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 22 (Clough, i. 114). The passage is corrupt, and possibly out of its place. I cite the words as they run in the MSS. with various proposed emendations. See Schneider, n. ad loc. exesti de to neo kai kekrimeno eis makhen sunienai kai phaidron einai kai eudokimon. kai parakeleuontai de k.t.l. Zeune, kekrimeno komen, after Plut. “Lycurg.” 22. Weiske, kai komen diakekrimeno. Cobet, exesti de to neo liparo kai tas komas diakekrimeno eis makhen ienai.
[18] Lit. “to the enomotarch.”
When the right moment for encamping has come, the king is responsible for that, and has to point out the proper place. The despatch of emissaries, however, whether to friends or to foes, is [not][19] the king’s affair. Petitioners in general wishing to transact anything treat, in the first instance, with the king. If the case concerns some point of justice, the king despatches the petitioner to the Hellanodikai (who form the court-martial); if of money, to the paymasters.[20] If the petitioner brings booty, he is sent off to the Laphuropolai (or sellers of spoil). This being the mode of procedure, no other duty is left to the king, whilst he is on active service, except to play the part of priest in matters concerning the gods and of commander-in-chief in his relationship to men.[21]
[19] The MSS. give au, “is again,” but the word mentoi, “however,” and certain passages in “Hell.” II. ii. 12, 13; II. iv. 38 suggest the negative ou in place of au. If au be right, then we should read ephoren in place of basileos, “belongs to the ephors.”
[20] Technically the tamiai.
[21] See Aristot. “Pol.” iii. 14.
XIV [1] Now, if the question be put to me, Do you maintain that the laws of Lycurgus remain still to this day unchanged? that indeed is an assertion which I should no longer venture to maintain; knowing, as I do, that in former times the Lacedaemonians preferred to live at home on moderate means, content to associate exclusively with themselves rather than to play the part of governor-general[2] in foreign states and to be corrupted by flattery; knowing further, as I do, that formerly they dreaded to be detected in the possession of gold, whereas nowadays there are not a few who make it their glory and their boast to be possessed of it. I am very well aware that in former days alien acts[3] were put in force for this very object. To live abroad was not allowed. And why? Simply in order that the citizens of Sparta might not take the infection of dishonesty and light-living from foreigners; whereas now I am very well aware that those who are reputed to be leading citizens have but one ambition, and that is to live to the end of their days as governors-general on a foreign soil.[4] The days were when their sole anxiety was to fit themselves to lead the rest of Hellas. But nowadays they concern themselves much more to wield command than to be fit themselves to rule. And so it has come to pass that whereas in old days the states of Hellas flocked to Lacedaemon seeking her leadership[5] against the supposed wrongdoer, now numbers are inviting one another to prevent the Lacedaemonians again recovering their empire.[6] Yet, if they have incurred all these reproaches, we need not wonder, seeing that they are so plainly disobedient to the god himself and to the laws of their own lawgiver Lycurgus.
[1] For the relation of this chapter to the rest of the treatise, see Grote, ix. 325; Ern. Naumann, “de Xen. libro qui” LAK. POLITEIA inscribitur, p. 18 foll.; Newmann, “Pol. Aristot.” ii. 326.
[2] Harmosts.
[3] “Xenelasies,” xenelasiai technically called. See Plut. “Lycurg.” 27; “Agis,” 10; Thuc. ii. 39, where Pericles contrasts the liberal spirit of the democracy with Spartan exclusiveness; “Our city is thrown open to the world, and we never expel a foreigner or prevent him from seeing or learning anything of which the secret, if revealed to an enemy, might profit him.”–Jowett, i. 118.
[4] Lit. “harmosts”; and for the taste of living abroad, see what is said of Dercylidas, “Hell.” IV. iii. 2. The harmosts were not removed till just before Leuctra (371 B.C.), “Hell.” VI. iv. 1, and after, see Paus. VIII. lii. 4; IX. lxiv.
[5] See Plut. “Lycurg.” 30 (Clough, i. 124).
[6] This passage would seem to fix the date of the chapter xiv. as about the time of the Athenian confederacy of 378 B.C.; “Hell.” V. iv. 34; “Rev.” v. 6. See also Isocr. “Panegyr.” 380 B.C.; Grote, “H. G.” ix. 325. See the text of a treaty between Athens, Chios, Mytilene, and Byzantium; Kohler, “Herm.” v. 10; Rangabe, “Antiq. Hellen.” ii. 40, 373; Naumann, op. cit. 26.
XV I wish to explain with sufficient detail the nature of the covenant between king and state as instituted by Lycurgus; for this, I take it, is the sole type of rule[1] which still preserves the original form in which it was first established; whereas other constitutions will be found either to have been already modified or else to be still undergoing modifications at this moment.
[1] Or, “magistracy”; the word arkhe at once signifies rule and governmental office.
Lycurgus laid it down as law that the king shall offer in behalf of the state all public sacrifices, as being himself of divine descent,[2] and whithersoever the state shall despatch her armies the king shall take the lead. He granted him to receive honorary gifts of the things offered in sacrifice, and he appointed him choice land in many of the provincial cities, enough to satisfy moderate needs without excess of wealth. And in order that the kings also might camp and mess in public he appointed them public quarters; and he honoured them with a double portion[3] each at the evening meal, not in order that they might actually eat twice as much as others, but that the king might have wherewithal to honour whomsoever he desired. He also granted as a gift to each of the two kings to choose two mess-fellows, which same are called Puthioi. He also granted them to receive out of every litter of swine one pig, so that the king might never be at a loss for victims if in aught he wished to consult the gods.
[2] I.e. a Heracleid, in whichever line descended, and, through Heracles, from Zeus himself. The kings are therefore “heroes,” i.e. demigods. See below; and for their privileges, see Herod. vi. 56, 57.
[3] See “Ages.” v. 1.
Close by the palace a lake affords an unrestricted supply of water; and how useful that is for various purposes they best can tell who lack the luxury.[4] Moreover, all rise from their seats to give place to the king, save only that the ephors rise not from their thrones of office. Monthly they exchange oaths, the ephors in behalf of the state, the king himself in his own behalf. And this is the oath on the king’s part: “I will exercise my kingship in accordance with the established laws of the state.” And on the part of the state the oath runs: “So long as he[5] (who exercises kingship) shall abide by his oaths we will not suffer his kingdom to be shaken.”[6]
[4] See Hartman, “An. Xen. N.” p. 274; but cf. “Cyneget.” v. 34; “Anab.” V. iii. 8.
[5] Lit. “he yonder.”
[6] Lit. “we will keep it for him unshaken.” See L. Dindorf, n. ad loc. and praef. p. 14 D.
These then are the honours bestowed upon the king during his lifetime [at home][7]–honours by no means much exceeding those of private citizens, since the lawgiver was minded neither to suggest to the kings the pride of the despotic monarch,[8] nor, on the other hand, to engender in the heart of the citizen envy of their power. As to those other honours which are given to the king at his death,[9] the laws of Lycurgus would seem plainly to signify hereby that these kings of Lacedaemon are not mere mortals but heroic beings, and that is why they are preferred in honour.[10]
[7] The words “at home” look like an insertion.
[8] Lit. “the tyrant’s pride.”
[9] See “Hell.” III. iii. 1; “Ages.” xi. 16; Herod. vi. 58.
[10] Intentionally or not on the part of the writer, the concluding words, in which the intention of the Laws is conveyed, assume a metrical form:
oukh os anthropous all os eroas tous Lakedaimonion basileis protetimekasin. See Ern. Naumann, op. cit. p. 18.
The Cretan constitution nearly resembles the Spartan, and in some few points is quite as good; but for the most part less perfect in form. The older constitutions are generally less elaborate than the later, and the Lacedaemonian is said to be, and probably is, in a very great measure, a copy of the Cretan. According to tradition, Lycurgus, when he ceased to be the guardian of King Charillus, went abroad and spent most of his time in Crete. For the two countries are nearly connected; the Lyctians are a colony of the Lacedaemonians, and the colonists, when they came to Crete, adopted the constitution which they found existing among the inhabitants.
The Cretan institutions resemble the Lacedaemonian. The Helots are the husbandmen of the one, the Perioeci of the other, and both Cretans and Lacedaemonians have common meals, which were anciently called by the Lacedaemonians not phiditia’ but andria’; and the Cretans have the same word, the use of which proves that the common meals originally came from Crete. Further, the two constitutions are similar; for the office of the Ephors is the same as that of the Cretan Cosmi, the only difference being that whereas the Ephors are five, the Cosmi are ten in number. The elders, too, answer to the elders in Crete, who are termed by the Cretans the council. And the kingly office once existed in Crete, but was abolished, and the Cosmi have now the duty of leading them in war. All classes share in the ecclesia, but it can only ratify the decrees of the elders and the Cosmi.
The common meals of Crete are certainly better managed than the Lacedaemonian; for in Lacedaemon every one pays so much per head, or, if he fails, the law, as I have already explained, forbids him to exercise the rights of citizenship. But in Crete they are of a more popular character. There, of all the fruits of the earth and cattle raised on the public lands, and of the tribute which is paid by the Perioeci, one portion is assigned to the Gods and to the service of the state, and another to the common meals, so that men, women, and children are all supported out of a common stock. The legislator has many ingenious ways of securing moderation in eating, which he conceives to be a gain; he likewise encourages the separation of men from women, lest they should have too many children, and the companionship of men with one another—whether this is a good or bad thing I shall have an opportunity of considering at another time.
But that the Cretan common meals are better ordered than the Lacedaemonian there can be no doubt. On the other hand, the Cosmi are even a worse institution than the Ephors, of which they have all the evils without the good. Like the Ephors, they are any chance persons, but in Crete this is not counterbalanced by a corresponding political advantage. At Sparta every one is eligible, and the body of the people, having a share in the highest office, want the constitution to be permanent. But in Crete the Cosmi are elected out of certain families, and not out of the whole people, and the elders out of those who have been Cosmi.
Some, indeed, say that the best constitution is a combination of all existing forms, and they praise the Lacedaemonian because it is made up of oligarchy, monarchy, and democracy, the king forming the monarchy, and the council of elders the oligarchy while the democratic element is represented by the Ephors; for the Ephors are selected from the people. Others, however, declare the Ephoralty to be a tyranny, and find the element of democracy in the common meals and in the habits of daily life. At Lacedaemon, for instance, the Ephors determine suits about contracts, which they distribute among themselves, while the elders are judges of homicide, and other causes are decided by other magistrates.
The license of the Lacedaemonian women defeats the intention of the Spartan constitution, and is adverse to the happiness of the state. For, a husband and wife being each a part of every family, the state may be considered as about equally divided into men and women; and, therefore, in those states in which the condition of the women is bad, half the city may be regarded as having no laws. And this is what has actually happened at Sparta; the legislator wanted to make the whole state hardy and temperate, and he has carried out his intention in the case of the men, but he has neglected the women, who live in every sort of intemperance and luxury. The consequence is that in such a state wealth is too highly valued, especially if the citizens fall under the dominion of their wives, after the manner of most warlike races, except the Celts and a few others who openly approve of male loves.
The old mythologer would seem to have been right in uniting Ares and Aphrodite, for all warlike races are prone to the love either of men or of women. This was exemplified among the Spartans in the days of their greatness; many things were managed by their women. But what difference does it make whether women rule, or the rulers are ruled by women? The result is the same. Even in regard to courage, which is of no use in daily life, and is needed only in war, the influence of the Lacedaemonian women has been most mischievous. The evil showed itself in the Theban invasion, when, unlike the women of other cities, they were utterly useless and caused more confusion than the enemy. This license of the Lacedaemonian women existed from the earliest times, and was only what might be expected.
For, during the wars of the Lacedaemonians, first against the Argives, and afterwards against the Arcadians and Messenians, the men were long away from home, and, on the return of peace, they gave themselves into the legislator’s hand, already prepared by the discipline of a soldier’s life (in which there are many elements of virtue), to receive his enactments. But, when Lycurgus, as tradition says, wanted to bring the women under his laws, they resisted, and he gave up the attempt. These then are the causes of what then happened, and this defect in the constitution is clearly to be attributed to them. We are not, however, considering what is or is not to be excused, but what is right or wrong, and the disorder of the women, as I have already said, not only gives an air of indecorum to the constitution considered in itself, but tends in a measure to foster avarice.
The mention of avarice naturally suggests a criticism on the inequality of property. While some of the Spartan citizens have quite small properties, others have very large ones; hence the land has passed into the hands of a few. And this is due also to faulty laws; for, although the legislator rightly holds up to shame the sale or purchase of an inheritance, he allows anybody who likes to give or bequeath it. Yet both practices lead to the same result. And nearly two-fifths of the whole country are held by women; this is owing to the number of heiresses and to the large dowries which are customary. It would surely have been better to have given no dowries at all, or, if any, but small or moderate ones. As the law now stands, a man may bestow his heiress on any one whom he pleases, and, if he die intestate, the privilege of giving her away descends to his heir. Hence, although the country is able to maintain 1500 cavalry and 30,000 hoplites, the whole number of Spartan citizens fell below 1000.
The result proves the faulty nature of their laws respecting property; for the city sank under a single defeat; the want of men was their ruin. There is a tradition that, in the days of their ancient kings, they were in the habit of giving the rights of citizenship to strangers, and therefore, in spite of their long wars, no lack of population was experienced by them; indeed, at one time Sparta is said to have numbered not less than 10,000 citizens Whether this statement is true or not, it would certainly have been better to have maintained their numbers by the equalization of property.
Again, the law which relates to the procreation of children is adverse to the correction of this inequality. For the legislator, wanting to have as many Spartans as he could, encouraged the citizens to have large families; and there is a law at Sparta that the father of three sons shall be exempt from military service, and he who has four from all the burdens of the state. Yet it is obvious that, if there were many children, the land being distributed as it is, many of them must necessarily fall into poverty.
The Lacedaemonian constitution is defective in another point; I mean the Ephoralty. This magistracy has authority in the highest matters, but the Ephors are chosen from the whole people, and so the office is apt to fall into the hands of very poor men, who, being badly off, are open to bribes. There have been many examples at Sparta of this evil in former times; and quite recently, in the matter of the Andrians, certain of the Ephors who were bribed did their best to ruin the state.
And so great and tyrannical is their power, that even the kings have been compelled to court them, so that, in this way as well together with the royal office, the whole constitution has deteriorated, and from being an aristocracy has turned into a democracy. The Ephoralty certainly does keep the state together; for the people are contented when they have a share in the highest office, and the result, whether due to the legislator or to chance, has been advantageous. For if a constitution is to be permanent, all the parts of the state must wish that it should exist and the same arrangements be maintained. This is the case at Sparta, where the kings desire its permanence because they have due honor in their own persons; the nobles because they are represented in the council of elders (for the office of elder is a reward of virtue); and the people, because all are eligible to the Ephoralty.
The election of Ephors out of the whole people is perfectly right, but ought not to be carried on in the present fashion, which is too childish. Again, they have the decision of great causes, although they are quite ordinary men, and therefore they should not determine them merely on their own judgment, but according to written rules, and to the laws. Their way of life, too, is not in accordance with the spirit of the constitution—they have a deal too much license; whereas, in the case of the other citizens, the excess of strictness is so intolerable that they run away from the law into the secret indulgence of sensual pleasures.
Again, the council of elders is not free from defects. It may be said that the elders are good men and well trained in manly virtue; and that, therefore, there is an advantage to the state in having them. But that judges of important causes should hold office for life is a disputable thing, for the mind grows old as well as the body. And when men have been educated in such a manner that even the legislator himself cannot trust them, there is real danger. Many of the elders are well known to have taken bribes and to have been guilty of partiality in public affairs. And therefore they ought not to be irresponsible; yet at Sparta they are so. But (it may be replied), ‘All magistracies are accountable to the Ephors.’
Yes, but this prerogative is too great for them, and we maintain that the control should be exercised in some other manner. Further, the mode in which the Spartans elect their elders is childish; and it is improper that the person to be elected should canvass for the office; the worthiest should be appointed, whether he chooses or not. And here the legislator clearly indicates the same intention which appears in other parts of his constitution; he would have his citizens ambitious, and he has reckoned upon this quality in the election of the elders; for no one would ask to be elected if he were not.
Yet ambition and avarice, almost more than any other passions, are the motives of crime. Whether kings are or are not an advantage to states, I will consider at another time; they should at any rate be chosen, not as they are now, but with regard to their personal life and conduct. The legislator himself obviously did not suppose that he could make them really good men; at least he shows a great distrust of their virtue. For this reason the Spartans used to join enemies with them in the same embassy, and the quarrels between the kings were held to be conservative of the state.
Neither did the first introducer of the common meals, called ‘phiditia,’ regulate them well. The entertainment ought to have been provided at the public cost, as in Crete; but among the Lacedaemonians every one is expected to contribute, and some of them are too poor to afford the expense; thus the intention of the legislator is frustrated. The common meals were meant to be a popular institution, but the existing manner of regulating them is the reverse of popular. For the very poor can scarcely take part in them; and, according to ancient custom, those who cannot contribute are not allowed to retain their rights of citizenship.
The law about the Spartan admirals has often been censured, and with justice; it is a source of dissension, for the kings are perpetual generals, and this office of admiral is but the setting up of another king. The charge which Plato brings, in the Laws, against the intention of the legislator, is likewise justified; the whole constitution has regard to one part of virtue only—the virtue of the soldier, which gives victory in war.
So long as they were at war, therefore, their power was preserved, but when they had attained empire they fell for of the arts of peace they knew nothing, and had never engaged in any employment higher than war. There is another error, equally great, into which they have fallen. Although they truly think that the goods for which men contend are to be acquired by virtue rather than by vice, they err in supposing that these goods are to be preferred to the virtue which gains them.
Once more: the revenues of the state are ill-managed; there is no money in the treasury, although they are obliged to carry on great wars, and they are unwilling to pay taxes. The greater part of the land being in the hands of the Spartans, they do not look closely into one another’s contributions. The result which the legislator has produced is the reverse of beneficial; for he has made his city poor, and his citizens greedy. Enough respecting the Spartan constitution, of which these are the principal defects.
Sources:
Aristotle, The Politics of Aristotle, trans. Benjamin Jowett (London: Colonial Press, 1900), pp. 30-49. Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Dept. of History, Cal. State Fullerton
Today Pellana is a small, humble village in northern Laconia, some 30 km from Sparta half way along the ancient road from Sparta to Megalopolis. To the S and W the site is dominated by the spectacular barrier of Mr. Taygetos, to the E it is open to a fertile and hollow plain, well watered and irrigated by a chain of copious springs, the most famous of which, named Pellanis, is located at the site of Pellana, just to the S of the ancient acropolis, which lies to the E of the hill occupied by the modern village.
The strategic position of the site, controlling the passage from Laconia to the Megalopolitis and Messenia, was recognised by the Spartans, who built there a tower, called Charakoma, the ruins of which are located to the S of the village. Pausanias, who made only one excursion towards Northern Laconia, after mentioning the tomb of Ladas, a renowned Olympic victor, notes ‘ΠροιόντιδέωςέπίτηνΜελλάνανχαράκομαέστινόωομαζόμενονκαιμετάτούτοΠελλάνα, πόλιςτοάρχαίον’ (iii 21 2)
The passage through Pellana was safely guarded by the Spartans during the critical events which preceded the famous battle at Mantinea in 362 BC, and the site was used as the base of operations by King Agesilaos against Epameinondas. Xenophon calls the town Πελλήνη(Hell. Vii 5 9), though the geographer Strabo speaks of a small Laconian village named, τάΠέλλαναπροςτηνΜεγαλοπολίτιννέυον, i.e. lying towards Megalopolitis (viii 7.5).
Finally Plutarch calls the town Πελλήνη (Agis 8). The identification of the hill called Palaiokastro with the ancient site and the acropolis of Pellana, is strengthened by the remains of a circuit wall, which surrounds the hill; parts of this wall are now visible on the SE side of the hill, and they are datable to fourth or early third century BC. The fields on and around Palaiokastro are covered today with innumerable shreds, dating from EH to Mediaeval times. The same hill was also inhabited in the Mycenaean period, as we shall see below.
The gradual decline of the site has been well portrayed by the references of the ancient writers mentioned above. The last to consider it worthwhile visiting the place was Pausanias, after the middle of the second century AD, who devoted some paragraphs to it recallings its earlier fame rather than stressing its contemporary importance. I refer to two passages in his text. The first refers to the sanctuary of Asklepios and the spring Pellanis.
The site of the spring is well – known, although it was encased some forty years ago in concrete, the beautiful plane trees were cut down, and many ancient finds were removed or destroyed during the construction of irrigation channels for the fields. The site of the sanctuary is still unknown, but we may assume that it lies somewhere on the hill of Palaiokastro. This assumption is based of the following reason. The Asklepieion was the main, if not the only sanctuary at Pellana, and it seems reasonable to look for it in the area of the Mycenaean palace, which is supposed to lie on the acropolis.
H. Waterhouse and R. Hope Simpson, in their important study of Prehistoric Laconia (1961: 125ff.), note three places with Mycenaean finds in the area of Pellana. The first is the cemetery of tholos tombs, the second the plateau of Tryporrachi, 400 m to the E, where some Mycenaean chamber tombs are still visible, and the third place is the hill of Palaiokastro itself. The first excavation at Pellana were conducted by the Ephor Konstantinos Rhomaios and immediately after him by Ephor Theodoros Karachalios in 1926. At the site called Spelies (Caves) or Pelekete they cleared two chamber tombs, lying on the N bed of a torrent, which flows in front of the entrances to the tombs.
The first was almost empty (FIG. 2.4), except for some shreds of Mycenaean vases, the second was filled with rubble and contained four cist graves cut in the floor of the chamber. The graves had been plundered long before their excavation and contained only disordered skeletal remains, though some of the offerings were found dispersed around the floor.
The last as described by the excavator (see A. Delt. 10 (1926) par. 42) were mainly vases and fragments of vases, a female figurine, one sealstone of amber (with its device effaced), another seal of semi-precious stone (without and device) 25 small and round glass-beads of violet colour, several stone buttons of different colours and some other beads of various materials and colours. The tomb measures: diameter of the tholos 6 m, height of the tholos 5 m, length of the entrance-message (dromos) 4.50 m, depth of the dromos 2.50 m and the height of the stomion (entrance) 2.50 m. The tomb has a relieving triangle over its stomion.
Research into prehistoric Pellana was halted and only after 60 years was reopened by the author of this article (FIGS. 2.1-3). Our first excavation took place in the area of the Cemetery of the Tholos Tombs. Our trail trenches brought to light three rock-cut tholos tombs. The biggest lies in the middle, the other two are placed either side. All of them were found plundered and disturbed in ancient times, their roofs had collapsed and the two lateral tombs were found hardly damaged. The central one – the biggest in the whole cemetery – deserves special mention and description.
We may refer in some detail to the Great Tomb of Pellana, the excavation of which lasted several months (FIG. 2.5). The long dromos leading to the Tomb is oriented from SW to NE. Its state of preservation is excellent. Both walls of the dromos converge gradually upwards without, however, meeting, and this observation offers the first chronological indication for the construction of the tomb. It is well-known that the dromoi of the earlier tombs of this type (fifteenth and fourteenth century BC) have almost vertical walls, while, from the thirteenth century on, the walls of the dromos tend to converge and almost join one another at the top.
The maximum preserved height of the dromos near the entrance attains 5.60 m. The width of the dromos starts at 2.10 m and reaches 2.55 m by the entrance of the tomb. The length of the dromos is preserved to 12.70 m and is small when seen in comparison with the chamber of the tomb, which exceeds 10 m. This is because deep torrent cut into the hill out of which the tomb was excavated, thereby shortening the dromos.
Some very important finds of the early Mycenaean period were found in the dromos, among them a button made of amber (FIG. 2.6). It is lens shaped and perforated; probably imported from the Baltic.
At the inner end of the dromos there was found the monumental façade of the Tomb. Its stomion, set in the middle of the façade, forms a rectangular opening, sloping slightly at the top, where it is crowned by a relieving triangle. The stomion leads to the chamber, where the burial of the dead took place, and was sealed with large stone, in dry-stone walling (FIG. 2.7). The fact that the stones had been dismantled, when the tomb was excavated, suggested that the tomb had already been robbed.
In different parts of the tomb and more specifically by its entrance we found numerous objects of later date, among them figurines, animal bones and vases dating to the late Hellenistic and early Roman period (FIGS. 2.8 and 2.9-10), which testify to the use of the tomb in the later periods for cult purposes.
Among the exquisite finds in the tomb we may mention two remarkable piriform jars (FIGS. 2.11 – 12). They are decorated with a marine landscape and seaweed and with rich ivy-leaves, tenderly drawn. Other finds such as alabastra (FIGS. 2.13-14), amber beads, fragments of gold foil (FIG. 2.15) and fine pottery shreds witness the original richness of the tomb. These brilliant finds present similarities with the well-known finds from Mycenae, Vapheio and Kakovatos in Trifilia, dated to around 1500 BC.
We have already mentioned that our investigations uncovered three tombs in the cemetery at the site known as Spelies or Pelekete. In addition to the Great Tomb two others of the same shape but of smaller size were place to the left and to the right of it. It is probable that these two smaller tombs belonged to members of the royal family in this theory is further supported by the fact that the graves of the ‘ordinary’ people were placed at a different site and more specifically on a slope called Tryporrachi, 400 m E of the cemetery for the royal family. During our first excavations we had the opportunity to dig one of the smaller tholos tombs, that to the left of the Great Tomb.
It proved to resemble the Great Tomb in shape and construction: dromos with vertical walls, tholos chamber, and a conical vault (not intact). It is generally admitted that this particular grave was used as a shelter during medieval times. By the entrance of the tomb we found a small number of bronze coins struck during the reign of the Emperor Phokas (AD 602-610). This is of great importance, considering that coins representing the Emperor Phokas in particular and more generally coins of the seventh century AD, are very rare in Greece, due to the Slavic invasions. On the floor of the tomb, in accordance with a well-known Mycenaean custom.
The contents of these cist graves provide chronological evidence for the construction of the tomb as well as for the surrounding Mycenaean cemetery. The finds, exclusively ceramic, date between 1350 – 1200 BC. Thus this tomb was in use 1350 – 1200 BC, and we may reasonably conclude that the whole Mycenaean cemetery of Pellana was in constant use from 1500 – 1200 BC; this also applies to the Great Tomb.
In the light of this, we are led to the conclusion that Pellana was an important Mycenaean centre in continuos use, a conclusion which will help our understanding of LBA society in Laconia, as reflected in the Homeric epics and the Linear B tablets. Pellana was then as its acme during the reigns of Tyndareos, Menelaos and Helen.
As far as the identity of the Great Tomb at Pellana is concerned, we note that is belongs to the same category of communal or family vaults as the chamber tombs and tumuli. These graves are very common in Greece from the Early Helladic periods onwards.
During the Middle Helladic period (1950 – 1580 BC) the prevailing type of grave is the cist tomb, though during the Mycenaean period (1580 – 1100 BC) the type of tomb with chamber and dromos reappears. The two main forms of family graves during the Mycenaean period are the tholos and chamber tomb. The first type is usually constructed in stone slabs in the so-called corbelled technique (beehive tombs), whereas the other is always hewn out of the soft rock. It has generally been held that the tholos tombs represent the majestic funeral monuments destined for royal burials.
To this variety belong the megalithic monuments of mainland Greece, such as the famous tombs at Mycenae, at Orchomenos in Boeotia, in the Pylos region, the tomb at Kapakli near Volos, those at Marathon and at Vapheio in Laconia and so on. The chamber tombs on the other hand have been found in their thousands from Thessaly to Crete and Rhodes and they were the graves of the ordinary people. The tombs at Pellana belong to specific category or a variation of the above main types. They are cut out of rock like the chamber tombs, but their chambers take the beehive shape, like the tholos tombs.
The creator of this type of grave must have been well aware of the techniques used in the chamber and tholos tombs. In the tholoi the linear and the curved components of the tomb are successfully harmonized. The dromos, the façade, the side walls of the stomion and the lintel are rectilinear and straight and wherever they join, they form right – angles, for example, at the junction with the dromos, behind the stomion, with the relevant parts of the beehive chamber (FIG. 2.18).
These features are necessary in construction a normal tholos tomb, both from the technical and the static point of view, but when they occur in the rock – cut tholos tombs, like the tombs at Pellana, they are properly characterised as stylizations, which show the efforts of the craftsman to imitate, with the greatest possible accuracy, the shape and appearance of the normal tholos tombs (see Iakovidis 1966: 98ff.).
Imitation is also shown in the cutting of a relieving triangle, which does not offer any significant relief for triangle, which does not offer any significant relief for the lintel above the stomion of the rock – cut tholos tombs. It is only a skeuomorph. On the other hand, the irregularity in the circumference of the chamber of the tomb is due to the nature of the monument (FIG. 2.1). In the case of the Great Tomb at Pellana the diameter of the chamber from the stomion to the opposite side of the tomb is 0.60-0.80 m. shorter than the other diameter of the chamber, which runs from N to S.
The stomion in the normal tholos tombs is rectilinear, the side walls perpendicular and the lintel straight and linear; because of that the starting point of the dome lies much higher than on the opposite side of the chamber; the result is that, in section, the two arcs of the dome are not equal and the point of their intersection, at the apex, is nearer to the entrance of the tomb. If this were not the case static problems could arise, even the collapse of the structure’s roof.
Therefore the cavity which is encountered in the inner part of the roof of the Tombs at Pellana is not found in the very centre of the ‘ideal’ circle of the chamber but nearer to the entrance of the tomb. This cavity has no constructional significance for these rock – cut tholos tombs; on the other hand, it is an organic component of the normal tholos tombs, because their upper courses converge at an angle of 30º and then a big horizontal stone, (the so-called key-stone) closes the opening giving the shape of a shallow cavity.
The above proves that the rock – cut tholos tombs have adopted several constructional features from the stone – built tholos tombs. It is then possible that the craftsman who made the Great Tomb at Pellana were familiar with the technical specifications of the normal tholos tombs, some of which are contemporary or earlier. We can refer to Tholos Tomb І at Peristeria, to the two tombs at Koukounara, to one of the tombs at Koryfasion, to the tombs at Vapheio and at Kampos in Mani, to the tomb at Analipsis in Arcadia etc. The imitation of certain constructions elements found in the stone – built tholos tombs does not prove, however, that their rock – cut counterparts are of lesser monumentality and significance.
The construction of a huge tholos tomb at Pellana during the LH IIв period, testifies to great expertise and technical virtuosity, of a kind not found in any other funeral monument of this type in the whole Greek mainland. Note, on the other hand, that the Royal Tomb of Mycenaean Thebes, the administrative and political centre of Boeotia, was also rock – cut, i.e. it was not made after the manner prevailing in other parts of Greece.
The tomb at Pellana is then a Royal Tomb, and Pellana was an administrative centre during the period. This period at Pellana, on the evidence of the finds from the Great Tomb and the other princely tombs beside it, extends from the LH II to the LH IIIc period, a chronological span of continuos habitation, which is encountered in other places in Laconia, even at the Menelaion itself.
Some tombs of the same type have been excavated by Marinatos at Volimidia in Messenia, some 5 km N of the Palace of Nestor. The smallest of those tombs has a diameter of 3.13 m and the largest, which has been characterised as monumental, has a diameter of 6.13 m. They are also dated in the LH II period (Marinatos 1952; 1953; 1954; Das Altertum I (1955): 141ff.). A similar tomb was found some years ago at Agrapidochori in Elis and has a diameter of c. 4 m (see Parlama 1971; Pelon 1976: 443, not 7). At the same time that Great Tomb at Pellana was made, another great tholos tomb was constructed at Vapheio in Laconia (see Tsountas 1889: p. 140-171; Vermeule 1964:90 ff. and 127 ff.). Two more similar tombs of the same date have been found in a wider area, at Kambos in Messenia and at Analypsis in Arcadia.
Without doubt this was a period of great prosperity and a climax in Mycenaean civilisation. During the thirteenth century BC, when the Mycenaean kingdoms in the Peloponnese were consolidated and their geographical borders were stabilised, as they are portrayed in Iliad ii, on of the princes of Laconia became the king (wanax) of the whole territory. The most probable place for this to take place was Pellana, which presents, among other evidence, to be discussed below, continuos habitation and continuos funerary use of the great Tombs until the beginning of the twelfth century BC.
The prehistoric and the classical acropolis of Pellana was undoubtedly situated on the hill of Palaiokastro, which lies opposite and to the E of the modern village. My excavations at the site during the last 15 years have brought to light ruins of an extensive settlement of the Early and the Middle Bronze Age Periods. On the summit of the acropolis only ruins of a spacious building were unearthed, which was destroyed by fire during the EH II Period. Everything above this layer was removed, probably during the Frankish occupation of the acropolis, to judge from a tower and other buildings erected over and amid the prehistoric ruins.
Whether there was a royal residence built on the top of the acropolis during the Middle Helladic or the Mycenaean period will remain a matter of speculation. On the next terrace down, just below the summit of the hill, where some signs of artificial terracing are visible, the stone krepis and the interior of tumulus was excavated (FIGS. 2.19-21); this contained burials of the EH II period, unfortunately without grave offerings. Next to it, however, a bothros was located (FIG. 2.22), containing ashes and a couple of vases of the same period. The bothros was attached to the tumulus and contained the ashes from the sacrificial rites and the bowls for offerings to those buried under the tumulus.
A channel runs through the interior of the sepulchral monument and recalling the blood – channels in Tomb II at Dendra and other funerary monuments of Mycenaean and later date in Greece (Andronikos 1968: s.v. ‘Blutrillen’). We have good reasons to believe that the tumulus at Pellana, the first to be found in Laconia, was not a single funeral monument. The size of the terrace suggests that more tumuli might have been erected there, a whole cemetery of tumuli, like that at Stavros in Lefkas (Dörpfeld 1927; A. Delt. 27 (1972) Chr: 211-6).
The place where the tumulus, or tumuli, at Pellana, were situated has a broad view over the whole plain, the beautiful mountain of Taygetos and the mountains of Arcadia. The tumulus occupies the best situation on the acropolis, just below the houses on the top of the hill, and undoubtedly contained the remains of the chieftains, who ruled over Pellana and perhaps over Laconia during the Early and Middle Bronze Aged Periods. The siting of the tombs is another argument in favour of Pellana’s special position and significance in the prehistoric civilisation of the whole area and argues for the primary role of the site and its development as an administrative centre in the later Mycenaean period as well. The line of chieftainship remained probably unbroken until the Early Mycenaean Period, when the royal tholos tomb was constructed nearby and survived up to the end of the Mycenaean period.
A small excavation on the second lower terrace of the acropolis to the S (FIGS. 2.23-25), opposite the copious spring Pellanis, has brought to light part of a settlement of the Late Mycenaean period (LH IIIA to LH IIIв2/сI). Despite the very small area excavated the discovery of a Mycenaean settlement at Pellana becomes a very important element for the topography of the site and presages further valuable finds and results (FIGS. 2.26-27).
The last but not least, important find at Pellana is a monumental road (FIG. 2.28), which starts at the foot of the acropolis to the E and ascends to the acropolis itself. It is one of the largest and best preserved roads ever found in Mycenaean Greece and we have good reasons to believe that it led either to a royal residence or to some other important installation on the acropolis.
If we now turn to the epic tradition and morspecifically to Iliad ii (581-7) we are informed that the following cities of Laconia took part in the expedition against Troy, under the leadership of Menelaos. Lakedaimon, Sparta, Pharis, Messe, Brysseai, Augeai, Amyklai, Helos, Laas, and Oitylos. The Homeric poems never refer to Sparta as the seat of King Menelaos, on the contrary the Odyssey (book iii) makes it clear that the palace of Tyndareos and Menelaos was in Lakedaimon, which, in both poems is characterised as ‘κοίλη’ and ‘κητώεσσα’ that is ‘hollow’ and ‘with subterranean trenches.’
Pellana is, in our opinion, Mycenaean Lakediamon, and the traditional epithets of κοίλη and κητώεσσα fit it geographical situation and its geological structure very well. Other Mycenaean sites in Laconia, which have been investigated or excavated have not yielded positive funds or indications for the identification or the discovery of a palatial centre of the fourteenth and the thirteenth centuries BC. Only a few sites date to the sixteenth and fifteenth centuries BC. Twenty sites were inhabited during the fourteenth century BC, 39 in the thirteenth and 17 places in twelfth century BC (Hookes 1976: 60 ff.; Furumark 1972: 49).
Two of the sites seemed to hold most promise for the discovery of a Mycenaean palatial centre: the site of Menelaion and Palaeopyrgi near Vapheio, which is generally identified with the Homeric city of Pharis. Unfortunately neither of these places supports the existence of a palace of the thirteenth century BC. The case consequently remains open and the palace of Tyndareos and Menelaos is still to be found.
The excavations at Pellana over the last 15 years have opened a new chapter and a new perspective on this question. We still do not have the palace there, but we can point to the impressive finds and to the royal administrative ideology, which underlines the chieftains’ tumulus, the magnificent tholos tomb, the majestic road, and the undoubtedly royal residences which existed at Pellana –Lakedaimon during the prehistoric and Mycenaean periods of Laconia (Kilian, 1988; Wright 1987).
Peter Adamis 30 January 2017
The tomb located opposite other known royal tombs was sealed up for reasons known only to the Department of Antiquities. To the looters it was an open invitation to dig and steal any precocious items that may be of value to collectors.Given the current financial crisis in Greece at the moment, I am somewhat surprised that looters had not attempted it earlier. 
According to rumours circulated amongst the locals, the reason for the Pellana not obtaining approval for further excavation is based on rivalry with that of Modern Sparta who is concerned that it may lose its tourist trade. I am of the belief that this is not the case and that the Department of antiquities stopped the diggings for other reasons not made public at this point in time. In any case there is no infrastructure at this point in time to support tourism on a large scale and Pellana is visited occasionally by tourists on a bus using the modern freeway. This may soon change with the new highway as it is only a two hour drive from Athens, 40 minutes from Tripoli; 10 minutes from Sparta, 45 Minutes from Gytheio (sea port) and one and a half hours from Nauplio a tourist centre and first capital of Greece on gaining independence from the Ottoman Empire.
