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MANTINIA (Ancient city) ARCADIA
(Mantineia: Eth. Mantineus, Mantinensis: Paleopoli), one of the most ancient and
powerful towns in Arcadia, situated on the borders of Argolis, S. of Orchomenus,
and N. of Tegea. Its territory was called Mantinice (Mantinike). The city is mentioned
in the Homeric catalogue as Mantinee erateine, and, according to tradition, it
derived its name from Mantineus, a son of Lycaon. (Hom. Il. ii. 607; Pol. ii.
56; Paus. viii. 8. § 4.) Mantineia originally consisted of four or five distinct
villages, the inhabitants of which were collected into one city. (Xen. Hell. v.
2. 6, seq.; Strab. viii. p. 337; Diod. xv. 5.) If Strabo is correct in stating
that this incorporation was brought about by the Argives, we may conjecture, with
Mr. Grote, that the latter adopted this proceeding as a means of providing some
check upon their powerful neighbours of Tegea. The political constitution of Mantineia
is mentioned by Polybius as one of the best in antiquity; and the city had acquired
so great a reputation at an early period, that the Cyrenaeans, in the reign of
Battus III. (B.C. 550--530), when weakened by internal seditions, were recommended
to apply to the Mantineians, who sent to them Demonax to settle their constitution.
(Pol. vi. 43; Herod. iv. 161.) Some time before the Persian wars, Mantineia, like
the other Arcadian towns, had acknowledged the Spartan supremacy; and accordingly
the Mantineians fought against the Persians as the allies of Sparta. Five hundred
of their citizens fought at Thermopylae, but their contingent arrived on the field
of Plataea immediately after the battle. (Herod. vii. 202, ix. 77.) In the Peloponnesian
War, Mantineia was at first a member of the Peloponnesian confederacy; but several
causes tended to estrange her from the Spartan alliance. Mantineia and Tegea were,
at this time, the two most important Arcadian states, and were frequently engaged
in hostilities. In B.C. 423, they fought a bloody and indecisive battle, which
is mentioned by Thucydides (iv. 134). Tegea, being oligarchically governed, was
firmly attached to Sparta; whereas Mantineia, from her possessing a democratical
constitution, as well as from her hatred to Tegea, was disposed to desert Sparta
on the first favourable opportunity. In addition to this, the Mantineians had
recently extended their dominion over the Parrhasians and had garrisoned a fortress
at Cypsela, near the site where Megalopolis was afterwards built. Well aware that
the Lacedaemonians would not allow them to retain their recent acquisitions, as
it was the policy of Sparta to prevent the increase of any political power in
the Peloponnesus, the Mantineians formed an alliance with Argos, Elis, and Athens,
in B.C. 421, and thus became involved in war with Sparta. (Thuc. v. 29, 33, 47.)
This war was brought to a close by the decisive battle fought near Mantineia,
in June, 418, in which the Argives, Mantineians, and Athenians were defeated by
the Lacedaemonians under Agis. This battle was fought to the S. of Mantineia,
between the city and the frontiers of Tegea, and is the first of the five great
battles bearing the name of Mantineia. The Mantineians now concluded a peace with
Sparta, renouncing their dominion over the districts in Arcadia, which they had
conquered. (Thuc. v. 65, seq., 81.)
Mantineia continued an unwilling ally of Sparta for the next 33 years;
but in the second year after the peace of Antalcidas, which had restored to the
Spartans a great part of their former power, they resolved to crush for ever this
obnoxious city. Accordingly, they required the Mantineians to raze their walls;
and upon the refusal of the latter, they marched against the city with an army
under the command of their king Agesipolis (B.C. 385), alleging that the truce
for 30 years had expired, which had been concluded between the two states after
the battle of 418. The Mantineians were defeated in battle, and took refuge in
their city, prepared to withstand a siege; but Agesipolis having raised an embankment
across the river Ophis, which flowed through Mantineia, forced back the waters
of the river, and thus caused an inundation around the walls of the city. These
walls, being built of unbaked bricks, soon began to give way; and the Mantineians,
fearing that the city would be taken by assault, were obliged to yield to the
terms of the Spartans, who required that the inhabitants should quit the city,
and be dispersed among the villages, from the coalescence of which the city had
been originally formed. (Xen. Hell. v. 2. 6, 7; Diod. xv. 5; Ephorus, ap. Harpocrat.
s. v. Mantineon dioikismos; Pol. iv. 27; Paus. viii. 8. § 7, seq.) Of the forces
of Mantineia shortly before this time we have an account from the orator Lysias,
who says that the military population or citizens of Mantineia were not less than
3000, which will give 13,000 for the free population of the Mantineian territory.
(Lysias, ap. Dionys. p. 531; Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. p. 416.)
The Mantineians did not long remain in this dispersed condition. When
the Spartan supremacy was overthrown by the battle of Leuctra in 371, they again
assembled together, and rebuilt their city. They took care to exclude the river
from the new city, and to make the stone substructions of the walls higher than
they had been previously. (Xen. Hell. vi. 5. 3; Paus. viii. 8. § 10; Leake, Morea,
vol. iii. p. 73.) The Mantineians took an active part in the formation of the
Arcadian confederacy, and in the foundation of Megalopolis, which followed immediately
after the restoration of their own city; and one of their own citizens, Lycomedes,
was the chief promoter of the scheme. But a few years afterwards the Mantineians,
for reasons which are not distinctly mentioned, quarrelled with the supreme Arcadian
government, and formed an alliance with their inveterate enemies the Spartans.
In order to put down this new coalition, Epaminondas marched into the Peloponnesus;
and Mantineia was again the scene of another great battle (the second of the five
alluded to above), in which the Spartans were defeated, but which was rendered
still more memorable by the death of Epaminondas. (Xen. Hell. vii. 5; Diod. xv.
84.) The site of this battle is described below. The third and fourth battles
of Mantineia are only incidentally mentioned by the ancient writers: the third
was fought in 295, when Demetrius Poliorcetes defeated Archidamus and the Spartans
(Plut. Demetr. 35) ; the fourth in 242, when Aratus and the Achaeans defeated
the Spartans under Agis, the latter falling in the battle. (Paus. viii. 10. §
5, seq.)
Mantineia continued to be one of the most powerful towns of Arcadia
down to the time of the Achaean League. It at first joined this league; but it
subsequently deserted it, and, together with Orchomenus and Tegea, became a member
of the Aetolian confederacy. These three cities at a later time renounced their
alliance with the Aetolians, and entered into a close union with Sparta, about
B.C. 228. This step was the immediate cause of the war between the Achaeans and
the Spartans, usually called the Cleomenic War. In 226, Aratus surprised Mantineia,
and compelled the city to receive an Achaean garrison. The Mantineians soon afterwards
expelled the Achaeans, and again joined the Spartans ; but the city was taken
a second time, in 222, by Antigonus Doson, whom the Achaeans had invited to their
assistance. It was now treated with great severity. It was abandoned to plunder,
its citizens were sold as slaves, and its name changed to Antigoneia (Antigoneia),
in compliment to the Macedonian monarch (Pol. ii. 57, seq.; Plut. Arat. 45; Paus.
viii. 8. § 11). In 207, the plain of Mantineia was the scene of a fifth great
battle, between the Achaean forces, commanded by Philopoemen, and the Lacedaemonians,
under the tyrant Machanidas, in which the latter was defeated and slain. An account
of this battle is given by Polybius, from whom we learn that the Achaean army
occupied the entire breadth of the plain S. of the city, and that their light-armed
troops occupied the hill to the E. of the city called Alesium by Pausanias. The
Lacedaemonians were drawn up opposite to the Achaeans ; and the two armies thus
occupied the same position as in the first battle of Mantineia, fought in the
Peloponnesian War. (Pol. xi. 11.)
The Mantineians were the only Arcadian people who fought on the side
of Augustus at the battle of Actium. (Paus. viii. 8. § 12.) The city continued
to bear the name of Antigoneia till the time of Hadrian, who restored to it its
ancient appellation, and conferred upon it other marks of his favour, in honour
of his favourite, Antinous, because the Bithynians, to whom Antinous belonged,
claimed descent from the Mantineians. (Paus. viii. 8. § 12, viii. 9. § 7.)
The territory of Mantineia was bounded on the W. by Mt. Maenalus, and on the E.
by Mt. Artemisium, which separated it from Argolis. Its northern frontier was
a low narrow ridge, separating it from Orchomenia ; its southern frontier, which
divided it from Tegeatis, was formed by a narrow part of the valley, hemmed in
by a projecting ridge from Mt. Maenalus on the one side, and by a similar ridge
from Mt. Artemisius on the other. The territory of Mantineia forms part of the
plain now called the plain of Tripolitza, from the modern town of this name, lying
between the ancient Mantineia and Tegea, and which is the principal place in the
district. This plain is about 25 English miles in length, with a breadth varying
from 1 to 8, and includes, besides the territory of Mantineia, that of Orchomenus
and Caphyae on the N., and that of Tegea and Pallantium on the S. The distance
between Mantineia and Tegea is about 10 English miles in a direct line. The height
of the plain where Mantineia stood is 2067 feet above the level of the sea. Owing
to its situation, Mantineia was a place of great military importance, and its
territory was the scene of many important battles, as has been already related.
It stood upon the river Ophis, nearly in the centre of the plain of Tripolitza
as to length, and in one of the narrowest parts as to breadth. It was enclosed
between two ranges of hills, on the E. and the W., running parallel to Mts. Artemisium
and Maenalus respectively. The eastern hill was called Alesium (Alesion, Paus.
viii. 10. § 1), and between it and Artemisium lay the plain called by Pausanias
(viii. 7. § 1) to argon pedion, or the Uncultivated Plain. (viii. 8. § 1.) The
range of hills on the W. had no distinct name: between them and Mt. Maenalus there
was also a plain called Alcimedon (Alkimedon, Paus. viii. 12. § 2.)
Mantineia was not only situated entirely in the plain, but nearly
in its lowest part, as appears by the course of the waters. In the regularity
of its fortifications it differs from almost all other Greek cities of which there
are remains, since very few other Greek cities stood so completely in a plain.
It is now called Paleopoli. The circuit of the walls is entire, with the exception
of a small space on the N. and W. sides. In no place are there more than three
courses of masonry existing above ground, and the height is so uniform that we
may conclude that the remainder of the walls was constructed of unbaked bricks.
The city had 9 or 10 gates, the approach to which was carefully defended. Along
the walls there were towers at regular distances. Leake reckoned 118 towers, and
says that the city was about 21 miles in circumference ; but Ross makes the city
considerably larger, giving 129 or 130 as the number of the towers, and from 28
to 30 stadia, or about 3 1/2 English miles, as the circuit of the city. The walls
of the city are surrounded by a ditch, through which the river Ophis flows. This
stream is composed of several rivulets, of which the most important rises on Mt.
Alesium, on the E. side of the city: the different rivulets unite on the NW. side
of the town, and flow westward into a katavothra. Before the capture of Mantineia
by Agesipolis, the Ophis was made to flow through the city and it is probable
that all the water-courses of the surrounding plain were then collected into one
channel above the city. Of the buildings in the interior of the city, described
by Pausanias, few remains are left. Nearly in the centre of the city are the ruins
of the theatre, of which the diameter was about 2440 feet; and west of the theatre,
Ross observed the foundations of the temple of Aphrodite Symmachia, which the
Mantineians erected to commemorate the share they had taken in the battle of Actium.
(Paus. viii. 9. § 6.)
The territory of Mantineia is frequently described by the ancient
writers, from its having been so often the seat of war; but it is difficult, and
almost impossible, to identify any of the localities of which we find mention,
from the disappearance of the sanctuaries and monuments by which spots are indicated,
and also from the nature of the plain, the topography of which must have been
frequently altered by the change of the water-courses. On the latter subject a
few words are necessary. The plain of Tripolitza, of which Mantinice formed part,
is one of those valleys in Arcadia, which is so completely shut in by mountains,
that the streams which flow into it have no outlet except through the chasms in
the mountains, called katavothra. The part of the plain, which formed the territory
of Mantineia, is so complete a level, that there is not, in some parts, a sufficient
slope to carry off the waters ; and the land would be overflowed, unless trenches
were made to assist the course of the waters towards some one or other of the
katavothra which nature has provided for their discharge. (Pol. xi. 11.) Not only
must the direction of these trenches have been sometimes changed, but even the
course of the streams was sometimes altered, of which we have an interesting example
in the history of the campaign of 418. It appears that the regulation of the mountain
torrent on the frontiers of Mantinice and Tegeatis was a frequent subject of dispute
and even of war between the two states; and the one frequently inundated the territory
of the other, as a means of annoyance. This was done in 418 by Agis, who let the
waters over the plain of Mantineia (Thuc. v. 65). This river can only be the one
called Ophis by the Geographers of the French Commission. It rises a little N.
of Tegea, and after flowing through Tegeatis falls now into a katavothra north
of the hill Scope. In general the whole plain of Mantineia bears a very different
aspect from what it presented in antiquity; instead of the wood of oaks and cork-trees,
described by Pausanias, there is now not a single tree to be found; and no poet
would now think of giving the epithet of lovely (erateine) to the naked plain,
covered to a great extent with stagnant water, and shut in by gray treeless rocks.
(Ross, Reisen im Peloponnes, p. 128.)
About a mile N. of the ruins of Mantineia is an isolated hill called
Gurtzuli; north of which again, also at the distance of about a mile, is another
hill. The latter was probably the site of the ancient Mantineia, arid was therefore
called Ptolis in the time of Pausanias (viii. 12. § 7). This appears to have been
one of the five villages from the inhabitants of which the city on the plain was
peopled.
There were several roads leading from Mantineia. Two of these roads
led north of the city to Orchomenus: the more easterly of the two passed by Ptolis,
just mentioned, the fountain of Alalcomeneia, and a deserted village named Maera
(Maira), 30 stadia from Ptolis ; the road on the west passed over Mt. Anchisia,
on the northern slope of which was the temple of Artemis Hymnia, which formed
the boundary between Mantinice and Orchomenia. (Paus. viii. 12. §§ 5--9, comp.
viii. 5. § 11.)
A road led from Mantineia on the W. to Methydrium. It passed through
the plain Alcimedon, which was 30 stadia from the city, above which was Mount
Ostracina; then by the fountain Cissa, and, at the distance of 40 stadia from
the fountain, by the small place Petrosaka, which was on the confines of the Mantineian
and Megalopolitan territories. (Paus. viii. 12. §§ 2--4.)
Two roads led from Mantineia southwards,--the one SE. to Tegea, and
the other SW. to Pallantium. On the left of the road to Tegea, called Xenis by
Polybius (xi. 11, § 5), just outside the gates of Mantineia, was the hippodrome,
and a little further on the stadium, above which rose Mount Alesium: at the spot
where the mountain ceased was the temple of Poseidon Hippius, which was 7 stadia
from the city, as we learn from Polybius (xi. 11. § 4, compared with xi. 14. §
1). Here commenced the ditch, which is said by Polybius to have led across the
Mantineian plain to the mountains bordering upon the district of the Elisphasii
(he ton Elisphasion Chora Pol. xi. 11. § 6, comp. 15. § 7, xvii. 6). Beyond the
temple of Poseidon was a forest of oaks, called Pelagus (Pelagos), through which
ran the road to Tegea. On turning out of the road to the left, at the temple of
Poseidon, one found at the distance of 5 stadia the tombs of the daughters of
Pelias. Twenty stadia further on was a place called Phoezon (Phoizon). This was
the narrowest part of the plain between Tegea and Mantineia, the road being shortened
by the hill Scope on the W. and a similar projecting rock on the E. Here was the
tomb of Areithous, who was said to have been slain in a narrow pass by Lycurgus
(steinopoi en hodoi, Hom. Il. vii. 143). 2 This narrow valley, shut in by the
two projecting ridges already mentioned, formed the natural frontier between the
territories of Mantineia and Tegea. The boundary between the two states was marked
by a round altar on the road, which was about four miles distant from Mantineia,
and about six miles from Tegea. It was here that the Lacedaemonian army was posted,
over which Epaminondas gained his memorable victory. He had marched from Tegea
in a north-westerly direction, probably passing near the site of the modern Tripolitza,
and then keeping along the side of Mt. Maenalus. He attacked the enemy on their
right flank, near the projecting ridge of Mt. Maenalus, already described. It
was called Scope (Skope, now Myrtikas), because Epaminondas, after receiving his
mortal wound, was carried to this height to view the battle. Here he expired,
and his tomb, which Pausanias saw, was erected on the spot. (Paus. viii. 11. §§
6, 7)
The road from Mantineia to Pallantium ran almost parallel to the road
to Tegea till it reached the frontiers of Tegeatis. At the distance of one stadium
was the temple of Zeus Charmon. (Paus. viii. 10, 11, 12. § 1.)
Two roads led from Mantineia eastwards to Argos, called Prinus (Prinos) and Climax
(Klimaxi), or the Ladder, respectively. (Paus. viii. 6. § 4.) The latter was so
called from the steps cut out of the rock in a part of the road; and the Prinus
probably derived its name from passing by a large holm-oak (prinos), or a small
wood of holm-oaks; but the roads do not appear to have borne these names till
they entered Mantinice. There are only two passes through the mountains, which
separate the Argive plain from Mantinice, of which the southern and the shorter
one is along the course of the river Charadrus, the northern and the longer one
along the valley of the Inachus. Both Ross and Leake agree in making the Prinus
the southern and the Climax the northern of these two roads, contrary to the conclusions
of the French surveyors. Both roads quitted Argos at the same gate, at the hill
called Deiras, but then immediately parted in different directions. The Prinus
after crossing the Charadrus, passed by Oenoe, and then ascended Mount Artemisium
(Malevos), on the summit of which, by the road-side, stood the temple of Artemis,
and near it were the sources of the Inachus. Here were the boundaries of Mantinice
and Argolis. (Paus. ii. 25. §§ 1--3.) On descending this mountain the road entered
Mantinice, first crossing through the lowest and most marshy part of the Argon,
or Uncultivated Plain, so called because the waters from the mountains collect
in the plain and render it unfit for cultivation, although there is a katavothra
to carry them off. On the left of the plain were the remains of the camp of Philip,
son of Amyntas, and a village called Nestane, probably now the modern village
of Tzipiana. Near this spot the waters of the plain entered the katavothra, and
are said not to have made their exit till they reached the sea off the coast of
the Argeia. Below Nestane was the Dancing-place of Maera (Choros Mairas), which
was only the southern arm of the Argon Plain, by means of which the latter was
connected with the great Mantineian plain. The road then crossed over the foot
of Mount Alesium, and entered the great Mantineian plain near the fountain Arne
at the distance of 12 stadia from the city. From thence it passed into the city
by the south-eastern or Tegeatan gate. (Paus. viii. 6. § 6--viii. 8. § 4.)
The other road, called Climax ran from Argos in a north-westerly direction
along the course of the Inachus, first 60 stadia to Lyrceia, and again 60 stadia
to Orneae, on the frontiers of Sicyonia and Phliasia. (Paus. ii.25. §§ 4--6.)
It then crossed the mountain, on the descent of which into Mantinice were the
steps cut out of the rock. The road entered Mantinice at the upper or northern
corner of the Argon Plain, near the modern village of Sanga. It then ran in a
south-westerly direction, along the western side of Mount Alesium, to a place
called Melangeia (ta Melangeia), from which drinking-water was conducted by an
aqueduct to Mantineia, of which remains were observed by Ross. It corresponds
to the modern village of Pikerni, which is said to signify in the Albanian language
abounding in springs. The road next passed by the fountain of the Meliastae (Meliastai),
where were temples of Dionysus and of Aphrodite Melaenis: this fountain was 7
stadia from the city, opposite Ptolis or Old Mantineia. (Paus. viii. 6. §§ 4,
5.)
This extract is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited June 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
MANTINIA (Municipality) ARCADIA
ARTEMISSIO (Village) MANTINIA
MANTINIA (Ancient city) ARCADIA
Located in the plain N of modern Tripolis and off the road to Olympia.
Mentioned as lovely by Homer (Il. 2.607), it was formed by the synoecism of five
villages at some unknown date (Strab. 8.3.2). As an ally of Sparta, Mantinea took
part with 500 hoplites in the battle of Thermopylai (Hdt. 7.202), but came too
late for Plataia (Hdt. 9.77). Mantinea split with Sparta in 420 (Thuc. 5.29) when
interests collided, and was disbanded by Sparta in 385. After the battle of Leuktra
in 371 the city was reconstituted, and was a member of the Arkadian League until
362 (Xen. Hell. 7.5), at which time it returned to friendship with Sparta. In
223 Antigonos Doson destroyed the city which was then refounded under the name
of Antigoneia, a name which it retained until Hadrian's time. Numerous battles
took place in the vicinity (418: Thuc. 5.64-81; 362: Xen. Hell. 7.5; 207: Polyb.
11.11-19). Pausanias describes the city (8.8.3-8.12), thus disproving Strabo (8.8.2),
who included it among states no longer extant.
The 4th c. city--the most ancient site was at Ptolis, securely identified
with the hill Gourtsouli--is located nearly in the middle of the plain, and was
originally bisected by the Ophis river. Later, after Agesipolis had taken the
city in 385 (Xen. Hell. 5.2.4-7) by damming the river and thus causing the sun-dried
bricks of the walls to collapse, the river was diverted so as to flow around the
city. The circuit of the walls, 3942 m long and roughly oval in shape, is preserved
for nearly its entire extent. Originally built up in mudbrick, only the socle
of the inner and outer curtain remains, at a height varying between 1-1.8 m with
a width of 4.2-4.7 m. Over 100 towers (estimates vary as to the original number)
are built out from the wall, and there are at least nine, and possibly ten, gates.
Most of the gates are so constructed that one is forced to approach through towers
into a passage between sections of the wall. Excavators have cleared the agora
(85 x 150 m) with colonnades around it, and the remains of a 4th c. theater at
its W end. Though rebuilt and remodeled at various times, it may well be one of
the earlier Greek theaters.
W. F. Wyatt, Jr., ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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