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II.—Topography: Bardoúnia and North-Eastern Maina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Extract

The following paper, which completes the series of papers on the classical topography of Laconia, is an account of the hill-country on the eastern side of Taÿgetos, bounded on the north by the road from Sparta to Anavryté, on the south by Gytheion and Pánitsa. (Fig.1.)

Type
Laconia
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1910

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References

page 62 note 1 The adjoining districts have been described recently by Prott, von, Die Ebene von Sparta, (Ath. Mitt. 1904, p. 1)Google Scholar; Woodward, A. M., Taenarum and Southern Maina (B.S.A. xiii, p. 238)Google Scholar; Forster, E. S., Gythium and the North-west coast of the Laconian Gulf (B.S.A. xiii, p. 219)Google Scholar; South-western Laconia (B.S.A. x, p. 158). The whole district is described by Ross, (Königsreisen, ii, p. 201)Google Scholar, who travelled through it in 1834.

page 62 note 2 The two parallel ranges are well shown in the frontispiece to B.S.A. xv. On the depression between the main ridge (the ‘Pentedaktylon’ of mediaeval days) and the outer chain, see Curtius, , Peloponnesos, ii, pp. 203–4.Google Scholar

page 64 note 1 Op. cit. ii, p. 203.

page 64 note 2 Op. cit. p. 10.

page 64 note 3 B.S.A. xvi, pp. 12 sqq.

page 64 note 4 Paus, iii, 20. 5.

page 64 note 5 I cannot follow von Prott (pp. S sqq.) in regarding this peak as the ancient Taleton. Curtius (ii, 204), Leake (Peloponnesica, p. 164), and Tsountas (᾿Εφ.᾿Αρχ, 1889, p. 132) regard Hagios Elias, the highest peak in the main chain, as Taleton. Bursian, (Geographie von Griechenland, ii, p. 104)Google Scholar rejects this view. The argument of von Prott depends on two hypotheses:—

1. The sites of the Eleusinion and Bryseai, over which was Taleton, are both to be sought at the Kalývia tes Sochás, the shrine of Dionysos at Bryseai standing in some sort of relation to the Eleusinion.

2. The goddesses Damia and Auxesia, worshipped together with Zeus Taletitas (Collitz-Bechtel, 4496), are identical with the goddesses of the Eleusinion. Accordingly it is necessary to find a hill near the Kalývia tes Sochás, and this is the most suitable.

We may fairly urge that Pausanias nowhere says that Bryseai and the Eleusinion lay together, nor gives any hint of a connection in cult between the shrines of Dionysos at Bryseai and of the Eleusinian goddesses. Secondly, though the origins of the divine pairs Damia-Auxesia and Demeter-Kore were due to a similar tendency (cf. Farnell, , Cults, iii, p. 113)Google Scholar, and their later identification was obvious, it would be remarkable that Pausanias, who is usually careful about such matters, should make no mention of Damia and Auxesia in the Eleusinion.

If we are to interpret Θῆραι as the ‘hunting-ground’ of the Laconians, as von Prott suggests, the ravine to the south of the hill on which the Kastro stands is wholly unsuitable. I would suggest that ‘Therai’ lay in the depression between the two parallel chains, in which case we should perhaps look for Taleton in the main chain, probably at Hagios Elias, and Evoras in the lower line of hills.

page 65 note 1 E.g. a bronze spear-head in the Sparta Museum (S.M.C. No. 533). Cf. also von Prott, op. cit. p. 13.

page 65 note 2 See Note, below, p. 70.

page 65 note 3 Op. cit. p. 12.

page 65 note 4 Paus, iii, 20. 7. Πεντεκαίδεκα δὲ τοῦ ᾿Ελευσινίου σταδίους ἀφέστηκε Λαπίθαιον καλούμενον ἀπὸ ἀνδρὸς ἐγχωρίου Λαπίθου. τοῦτό τε οὖν τὸ Λαπίθαιόν ἐστιν ἐν τῷ Ταϋγέτψ, καὶ πηγὴ παρ᾿ αὐτῷ ῆν ᾿´ Ανονον ὀνομάζουσιν. μετὰ δὲ τὸ Δέρειον σταδίους προελθόντι ὡς εἴκοσιν, ἔστιν ῾´ Αρπλεια καθήκοντα ἀχρὶ τοῦ πεδίου

Leake (Travels in the Morea, iii, 5) would place Harpleia at Mistra, in which case it could hardly have been described by Pausanias as καθήκοντα ἀχρὶ τοῦ πεδίου Curtius (ii, 251) follows Leake in making Pausanias' direction northerly from the Eleusinion. Bursian (ii, 132) rejects Curtius' view.

page 66 note 1 His alternative suggestion that we might look for Lapithaion at Sotíra is untenable, because of the distance from the Eleusinion.

page 66 note 2 Op. cit. ii, p. 209.

page 66 note 3 For this road see Tsountas (᾿Εφ. ᾿Αρχ 1889, p. 132), who points out that while Sparta and the northern villages use the Langáda route to Kalamáta, all the southern villages use the route by Arkines.

page 66 note 4 Op. cit. p. 132 and Πρακτικά 1889, p. 22.

page 66 note 5 The tomb has since been excavated by Dr. Sotiriades, and was found to contain nothing.

page 66 note 6 Op. cit. p. 132. When I enquired for this at Arkínes the name seemed unknown.

page 67 note 1 The village of Koumoustá has recently yielded two terracotta heads now in the possession of Dr. Komnenós of Xerokámpi.

page 67 note 2 Identified with the ancient Erasinos; see Bursian, ii, p. 132; Curtius, ii, p. 265.

page 67 note 3 Leake, Peloponnesiaca, p. 117 (‘The walls being indeed of the polygonal species, but not of very massy kind’). A drawing in Mure's, Journal of a Tour in Greece, (ii, Pl. VII)Google Scholar is reproduced by Leake. Cf. also Ross, ii, p. 243; Bursian, ii, p. 132; Curtius, ii, p. 265; Tsountas, op. cit. p. 132.

page 67 note 4 Góla may be reached by an alternative, but more difficult route by way of the monastery of Sérbitza. The relief, mentioned by Ross (ii, p. 243) at Sérbitza, is said to have been removed to Sparta, though I find no mention of it in the Museum catalogue.

page 67 note 5 Op. cit. ii, p. 212.

page 67 note 6 Leake, (Morea, i, pp. 255, 266 sqq.)Google Scholar Ross (ii, p. 216), and the local antiquarians identify the Arniótiko with the Smenos of Pausanias (iii, 24, 9). Curtius (ii, p. 275), Frazer, (Paus, iii, p. 392)Google Scholar and Forster, (B.S.A. xiii, p. 233)Google Scholar suggest the river of Passavá, which Forster calls Turkóvrysi.

page 67 note 7 Cf. Tsountas (op. cit.), who thinks that the name Arna is probably ancient.

page 68 note 1 The thigh measured ·58 m. from knee to hip.

page 68 note 2 Of. cit. ii, p. 221; B.S.A. xiii, pp. 226, 227, where no mention is made of Ross' account.

page 68 note 3 Op. cit. ii, p. 222. Cf. Paus, iii, 24. 9) ὕδωρ πιεῖν ἡδὺ εἴπερ ἄλλος τις παρασχόμενος ποταμός. The course down to Gytheion is described by Forster, B.S. A. loc. cit.

page 68 note 4 B.S.A. xiii, p. 231.

page 68 note 5 Ross, ii, p. 241.

page 68 note 6 Ross, loc. cit. When I visited Alai-bey in May, the ground, where these blocks are said to exist, was covered with corn. The man who undertook to show me the remains, was accordingly unable to find the exact spot.

page 69 note 1 On the quarries of Krokeai and the ‘Lapis Lacedaemonius’ (Pliny, , N.H. xxxvi, 55Google Scholar) cf. Curtius, ii, p. 266; Bursian, ii, p. 106; Boblaye, Recherches géographiques sur les ruines de la Morée, p. 85; Frazer, , Pausanias, vol. iii, p. 374.Google Scholar For the geology of the district see Expéd. Scientif. de la Morée, Géologie, pp. 114, 129–137; Philippson, Pelop., esp. p. 215.

The quarries were clearly worked at an early date; cf. Bosanquet, , J.H.S. xxiv, p. 320Google Scholar, who calls attention to the discovery of blocks of the porphyry at Knossos and Palaikastro. I have seen a large block lying to the south of the grave-circle at Mycenae.

page 69 note 2 It is a small gabled stele, measuring ·39 m. x ·59 m. (including the gable). The figures, which measure ·36 m. in height, are almost in full face. The faces of both are much worn. Each raises the left hand above the head, the figure to the left holding a staff in the raised hand, while the figure on the right extends a patera in the right hand. Between them are two urns, and behind appear two horses' heads. Below is a Latin inscription (v. Forster, , B.S.A. x, p. 187Google Scholar, No. 19).

page 69 note 3 Cf. Reinach, Répertoire de la Statuaire, p. 109, No. 3.

page 69 note 4 Mr. Wace tells me that this probably also represents one of the Dioskouroi, comparing S.M.C. Nos. 92, 513. The height from knee to neck is ·65m.

page 69 note 5 Ross, ii, p. 343. Cf. Bursian, ii, p. 132, and Curtius, ii, p. 266.

page 69 note 6 ii, p. 266.

page 70 note 1 I have to thank both Prof. Gardner and Mr. L. W. King of the British Museum for advice in the publication of this gem.

page 70 note 2 Cf. Babelon, , Traité des monnaies, ii, p. 251Google Scholar; Mr. Hill compares the type of the staters of Mallus (B.M. Cat. Lycaonia, PI. XVII, 4, 5).

page 70 note 3 Ant. Gemmen, iii, p. 98.

page 70 note 4 Op. cit. Pl. I, 14.

page 70 note 5 E.g. Furtwängler, op. cit. Pl. I, 14 slaying an animal; ib. vol. iii, Fig. 84, in combat with a Greek warrior.

page 71 note 1 Vol. v. p. 852, Fig. 499.