Listed 43 sub titles with search on: History for destination: "DIROS Village LACONIA".
ETHEA (Ancient city) LACONIA
Meanwhile the Thasians being defeated in the field and suffering siege, appealed
to Lacedaemon, and desired her to assist them by an invasion of Attica. Without
informing Athens she promised and intended to do so, but was prevented by the
occurrence of the earthquake, accompanied by the secession of the Helots and the
Thuriats and Aethaeans of the Perioeci to Ithome. Most of the Helots were the
descendants of the old Messenians that were enslaved in the famous war; and so
all of them came to be called Messenians.
SELLASIA (Ancient city) INOUDAS
The people of Sellasia, as I have stated already, were sold into slavery by the Achaeans after they had conquered in battle the Lacedaemonians under their king Cleomenes, the son of Leonidas.
The battle of Sellasia, of which Polybius gives a detailed account, requires a few words of explanation. In B.C. 221, Cleomenes, the Spartan king, expecting that Antigonus, the Macedonian king, and the Achaeans, would invade Laconia, fortified the other passes which led into the country, and took up his own position with the main body of his forces in the plain of Sellasia, since the roads to Sparta from Argos and Tegea united at this point. His army amounted to 20,000 men, and consisted of Lacedaemonians, Perioeci, allies, and mercenaries. His left wing, containing the Perioeci and allies, was stationed on Mt. Evas under the command of his brother Eucleidas; his right wing, consisting of the Lacedaemonians and mercenaries, encamped upon Mt. Olympus under his own command; while his cavalry and a part of the mercenaries occupied the small plain between the hills. The whole line was protected by a ditch and a palisade. Antigonus marched into Laconia from Argos with an army of 30,000 men, but found Cleomenes so strongly intrenched in this position. that he did not venture to attack him, but encamped behind the small stream Gorgylus. At length, after several days' hesitation, both sides determined to join battle. Antigonus placed 5000 Macedonian peltasts, with the greater part of his auxiliary troops, on his right wing to oppose Eucleidas; his cavalry with 1000 Achaeans and the same number of Megalopolitans in the small plain; while he himself with the Macedonian phalanx and 3000 mercenaries occupied the left wing, in order to attack Cleomenes and the Lacedaemonians on Mt. Olympus. The battle began on the side of Mt. Evas. Eucleidas committed the error of awaiting the attack of the enemy upon the brow of the hill, instead of availing himself of his superior position to charge down upon them; but while they were climbing the hill they were attacked upon the rear by some light troops of Cleomenes, who were stationed in the centre with the Lacedaemonian cavalry. At this critical moment, Philopoemen, who was in the centre with the Megalopolitan horse, diverted the attack of the light infantry by charging without orders the Lacedaemonian centre. The right wing of the Macedonians then renewed their attack, defeated the left wing of the Lacedaemonians, and drove them over the steep precipices on the opposite side of Mt. Evas. Cleomenes, perceiving that the only hope of retrieving the day was by the defeat [p. 960] of the Macedonians opposed to him, led his men out of the intrenchments and charged the Macedonian phalanx. The Lacedaemonians fought with great bravery; but after many vain attempts to break through the impenetrable mass of the phalanx, they were entirely defeated, and of 6000 men only 200 are said to have escaped from the field of battle. Cleomenes, perceiving all was lost, escaped with a few horsemen to Sparta, and from thence proceeded to Gythium, where he embarked for Aegypt. Antigonus, thus master of the passes, marched directly to Sellasia, which he plundered and destroyed, and then to Sparta, which submitted to him after a slight resistance.
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
AMYKLES (Ancient sanctuary) SPARTI
The Lacedaemonians were in a state of the utmost terror at this unexpected invasion and quite at a loss how to meet it. Philip on the first day pitched his camp at Amyclae. The district of Amcyclae, one of the most richly timbered and fertile in Laconia, lies about twenty stades from Sparta and includes a temple of Apollo, which is the most famous of all the Laconian shrines. It lies between Sparta and the sea (Polybius 5,18-19).
EGYS (Ancient city) PELANA
Of Lycurgus I shall make further mention later. Agesilaus had a son Archelaus. In his reign the Lacedaemonians took by force of arms Aegys, a city of the Perioeci, and sold the inhabitants into slavery, suspecting them of Arcadian sympathies. Charilaus, the king of the other house, helped Archelaus to destroy Aegys.
ELOS (Ancient city) LACONIA
After the capitulation, the Athenians occupied the town of Scandea near the harbour, and appointing a garrison for Cythera, sailed to Asine, Helus, and most of the places on the sea, and making descents and passing the night on shore at such spots as were convenient, continued ravaging the country for about seven days.
It now seemed somewhat more certain that they would make no further attempt upon the city; and in fact their army departed thence and took the road toward Helos and Gytheium. And they burned such of the towns as were unwalled and made a three days' attack upon Gytheium, where the Lacedaemonians had their dockyards.
The Lacedaemonians laid waste Helos, an Achaean town on the coast, and won a battle against the Argives who came to give aid to the Helots.
Changing the direction of his march he (Philip) next made for the arsenal of the Lacedaemonians, which is called Gythium and has a secure harbour, being about two hundred and thirty stades distant from Sparta. Leaving this place on his right he encamped in the district of Helos, which taken as a whole is the most extensive and finest in Laconia. (Polybius 5,19)
EPIDAVROS LIMIRA (Ancient city) MONEMVASSIA
From thence they sailed round to the Limeran Epidaurus, ravaged part of the country, and so came to Thyrea./ Now, however, under the command of Pythodorus, Laespodius, and Demaratus, they landed at Epidaurus, Limera, Prasiae, and other places, and plundered the country.
GYTHION (Ancient city) LACONIA
During this year (456 B.C.) Tolmides, who was commander of the naval forces and vied with both the valour and fame of Myronides, was eager to accomplish a memorable deed. Consequently, since in those times no one had very yet laid waste Laconia, he urged the Athenian people to ravage the territory of the Spartans, and he promised that by taking one thousand hoplites aboard the triremes he would with them lay waste Laconia and dim the fame of the Spartans. When the Athenians acceded to his request, he then, wishing to take with him secretly a larger number of hoplites, had recourse to the following cunning subterfuge. The citizens thought that he would enrol for the force the young men in the prime of youth and most vigorous in body; but Tolmides, determined to take with him in the campaign not merely the stipulated one thousand, approached every young man of exceptional hardihood and told him that he was going to enrol him; it would be better, however, he added, for him to go as a volunteer than be thought to have been compelled to serve under compulsion by enrolment. When by this scheme he had persuaded more than three thousand to enrol voluntarily and saw that the rest of the youth showed no further interest, he then enrolled the thousand he had been promised from all who were left. When all the other preparations for his expedition had been made, Tolmides set out to sea with fifty triremes and four thousand hoplites, and putting in at Methone in Laconia, he took the place; and when the Lacedaemonians came to defend it, he withdrew, and cruising along the cost to Gytheium, which was a seaport of the Lacedaemonians, he seized it, burned the city and also the dockyards of the Lacedaemonians, and ravaged its territory.
This extract is from: Diodorus Siculus, Library (ed. C. H. Oldfather, 1989). Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
And wherever the Thebans encamped they at once threw down in front of their lines the greatest possible quantity of the trees which they cut down, and in this way guarded themselves; the Arcadians, however, did nothing of this sort, but left their camp behind them and turned their attention to plundering the houses. After this, on the third or fourth day of the invasion, the horsemen advanced to the race-course in the sanctuary of Poseidon Gaeaochus by divisions, the Thebans in full force, the Eleans, and all the horsemen who were there of the Phocians, Thessalians, or Locrians. And the horsemen of the Lacedaemonians, seemingly very few in number, were formed in line against them. Meanwhile the Lacedaemonians had set an ambush of the younger hoplites, about three hundred in number, in the house of the Tyndaridae, and at the same moment these men rushed forth and their horsemen charged. The enemy, however, did not await their attack, but gave way. And on seeing this, many of the foot-soldiers also took to flight. But when the pursuers stopped and the army of the Thebans stood firm, the enemy encamped again. It now seemed somewhat more certain that they would make no further attempt upon the city; and in fact their army departed thence and took the road toward Helos and Gytheium. And they burned such of the towns as were unwalled and made a three days' attack upon Gytheium, where the Lacedaemonians had their dockyards. There were some of the Perioeci also who not only joined in this attack, but did regular service with the troops that followed the Thebans.
This extract is from: Xenophon, Hellenica. Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlink
A few days after the sea-fight, Philopoemen and his band, waiting for a moonless night, burnt down the camp of the Lacedaemonians at Gythium. Thereupon Nabis caught Philopoemen himself and the Arcadians with him in a disadvantageous position. The Arcadians, though few in number, were good soldiers, and Philopoemen, by changing the order of his line of retreat, caused the strongest positions to be to his advantage and not to that of his enemy. He overcame Nabis in the battle and massacred during the night many of the Lacedaemonians, so raising yet higher his reputation among the Greeks. After this Nabis secured from the Romans a truce for a fixed period, but died before this period came to an end, being assassinated by a man of Calydon, who pretended that he had come about an alliance, but was in reality an enemy who had been sent for this very purpose of assassination by the Aetolians.
This extract is from: Pausanias. Description of Greece (ed. W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., & H.A. Ormerod, 1918). Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KARYES (Ancient city) LAKEDEMONA
. . Accordingly, after these troops from Dionysius had sailed round to Lacedaemon, Archidamus took them, along with his citizen soldiers, and set out on an expedition. He captured Caryae by storm and put to the sword all whom he took prisoners.
There had come to them a few deserters, men of Arcadia, lacking a livelihood and desirous to find some service. Bringing these men into the king's presence, the Persians inquired of them what the Greeks were doing, there being one who put this question in the name of all. When the Arcadians told them that the Greeks were holding the Olympic festival and viewing sports and horseraces, the Persian asked what was the prize offered, for which they contended. They told him of the crown of olive that was given to the victor. Then Tigranes son of Artabanus uttered a most noble saying (but the king deemed him a coward for it); [3] when he heard that the prize was not money but a crown, he could not hold his peace, but cried, "Good heavens, Mardonius, what kind of men are these that you have pitted us against? It is not for money they contend but for glory of achievement!" Such was Tigranes' saying. (Herod. 8.26.1)
Commentary: These Arcadians have been identified with the inhabitants of Caryae on the borders of Laconia, who are said to have been all killed or enslaved for Medism (Vitruvius, i. 1. 5, explaining ‘Caryatides’ in architecture). They would seem, however, to be a band of adventurers seeking service as mercenaries; the Arcadians, like the Swiss at the end of the Middle Ages, often earned a livelihood thus (Thuc. iii. 34; vii. 57, 58).
This text is cited Apr 2003 from Perseus Project URL bellow, which contains interesting hyperlinks
PYRRICHOS (Ancient city) ANATOLIKI MANI
Next day Philip, continuing to pillage the country on his way, marched down to what is called Pyrrhus' camp. (Polyvius 5,19)
LAKEDEMON (Ancient country) PELOPONNISOS
ASSOPOS (Small town) LACONIA
Year of establishment and History. In comparison with other historical events of Lakonikis, the year of establishment of the city of Asopos is somewhere between the prehistoric year and the descent of the Doreis, who conquered Lakonia and did not allow the establishment of colonists. The Town had great prosperity during the Roman Years, and with 18 other coastland cities of Lakonia, were part of the so-called people of the Liberal - Lakonians. It had the luxury of independence, but that didn’t mean they had full independence, native minions commanded them and because of their privilege, they had cut their own coin, one side of it illustrated, the Gods of Posidona, Artemis, Nemesis, and the other side the inscription "Asopiton" or with the head of Dionysus in one and the other with Posidonas and the inscription "Asopiton". A coin like that is now exhibited in the Museum of Sparti.
During the Byzantine Years Asopos had a remarkable presence. Round 450ac. the Bishop of Salonika was elected Exarch of the Church of Greece, which consisted of 12 Cathedrals. In the Cathedral of Achaia came under the Bishopric of Asopos, which during the last Byzantine Years came under the Cathedral of Monemvasia. After the conquest of Lakonia from the Turks in 1461 ac., Asopos came under them. But it was a meaningless little village. The fear of the invasions of Pirates, made the colonists to move higher and build a village called "Kalivia", called like that most likely because of the sloppily and small houses. With the war of the Heneto-turkish, 1669ac. a lot of Cretes came and settled in the area, that is why a lot of names end with -akis. In the memory of their homeland, they named the village Konte-Vianika, the second theme of the name dictates the toponym of Creta, Vianos.
This extract is cited Apr 2003 from the Municipality of Assopos URL below.
DEMONIA (Village) ASSOPOS
According to archeological foundlings close to Demonia today, there was a city South of Plitra close to the coast, with an unknown name. Its position predominated, from the road from the Village Epidavro Limira and was also situated on the road to the plain of Asopos towards Neapoli. Perhaps we should connect it with the city of Kotyrta (which is mentioned by Thoukididis) while there was also the city of Afrodisias, which was later embodied with the city of Vion. The construction of the village to today's position was done during the years of the Turkish Domination. The habitants came from a lot of areas, most of them after the destruction of Psara, prevailing the family Lyra. Also habitants came from Kythira, but from Lyra as well after their destruction in 1770 bc from the Turkish Albanians.
This extract is cited Oct 2002 from the Municipality of Assopos URL below, which contains image.
FINIKI (Village) ASSOPOS
According to Kourtion (History of ancient Greece p.214) the name comes from Finikes "According to Maleon abound are Finikes, so years now the memorial village is called Finiki". So it is ancient. The settlement should have been established then, when the sea reached there or even higher, before the land was turned to a plain after the illuviations. The Finikes (850 bc) had established a merchant station to exploit and monopolize the exceptional quality of the purple shells, which, as Pafsanias mentions were found only on the beaches of Lakonias.
During the Byzantine Years, the habitants preferred the position of today's Krisa, where there are ruins of buildings and the Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary with an exceptional painting of Hers. During the Tourkish seisin, the habitants were transferred higher, today?s position. There was a density of Turkish population, which was attracted there by the plenteous water. The Turks treated the local Christians in a good manner. During the Greek Revolution the habitants took part in a lot of battles, such as the siege of Monambasia, and offered a lot of services.
This text is cited Apr 2003 from the Municipality of Assopos URL below.
MYSTRAS (Byzantine settlement) PELOPONNISOS
SPARTI (Town) LACONIA
1834. Sparta is reborn. The Greeks aim at creating a new city in the place
of olive oils and reeds. The area is surveyed by Yohmous, a resident of Magoula.
There are no other ancient remains but the Tomb of Leonidas, the shuttles of the
theatre, the Roman Baths. The governor Kapodistrias had disagreed with recreating
the city claiming that any excavations would only uncover more ancient ruins.
But Othon signed the recreation enactment based on Schtaufert's plans. It was
an ambitious idea, since the city was supposed to have 100.000 people while today
there are 20.000. Nevertheless, it was a noble idea: a Hippodamian system, wide
avenues, spacious squares, public buildings, shopping centers and commercial areas.
1837. Authorities are situated in Sparta and it becomes the capital with
Meletopoulos as its first Mayor. The Residency has already been built on the upper
square and simple, provincial buildings are starting to fill the space around
it. The new buildings are of pure Greek architecture, roofed verandah to the south
and a fireplace in the winteroom. This presented a problem for the gentry who
prefer high - ceiling houses with symmetrical windows, little decorated balconies
and trimmings under the roof like those of Mistras.
1840. The city becomes alive as Douroutis builds a silk factory, the first
of many, a very demanding and expensive task. Unfortunately, nothing is left of
those first constructions.
1860. The city is expanding. Shops are built on the upper square with high
roofs and arches and a second floor to the south where the craftshops are. The
money to finance new buildings comes from the division of the central square.
What's left today are the buildings on Palaiologou Street.
1870. The city is acculturated. The Ionic Museum is made of marble, which
will later be substituted, with cement. The construction of the Cathedral starts
at the top of the hill. The model is neoclassic like Athens,
except for the artificial decorative elements of course.
1890. The city is growing both upwards towards the acropolis and downwards
towards the Palace. The cost of this expansion will be the constant uncovering
of ancient ruins, just like Kapodistrias had foreseen.
1900. Neoclassicism is peeking influencing buildings that were of a different
style. It is the completion of the City
Hall, the Gallery
and many other houses of the gentry.
1930. The Bauhaus movement is beginning to simplify buildings. As a result
the noblemen now prefer an equally dominating but simpler way of expression. K.
Panagiotakos builds the High School for boys. Silk is becoming more rare. Gortsolagos
is responsible for the water supply of Sparta.
1940. The war breaks out. 118 fall victim to German troops at Monothendri.
1950. The need of work draws villagers to Sparta. It is the beginning of
peripheral construction. The houses are simple, rectangular with a traditional
roof. As time goes by and with the help of mechanics, they become more complicated
but not necessarily more beautiful. As far as beauty is concerned, the Xenia Hotel
is built kindly requesting our tending. As far as innovation is concerned, a house
by T. Zenetos is built opposite the 3rd Elementary School. Even today, the prominence
of that house is notable.
1970. Cement is everywhere and so are blocks of flats. The School of Professions
is pulled down as well as neoclassic buildings. The picturesque arches of the
square are vanishing. Cars fill the streets and the image of the old, calm city
is fading away.
1997. The palm trees of Palaiologou Street are still there. The houses
of craftsmen on Pirsogianni Street are still there. All remaining neoclassic buildings
are renovated. The pedestrian zone is alive and the parks are full of people again.
The State is transforming the square aiming at highlighting ancient Sparta and
turning the FIX building by T. Zenetos into a museum. The word is that a walk
on the Evrotas banks will be possible. The fragrance of the Spartan orange trees
is still in the air every Easter.
George Giaxoglou, ed.
This text is cited Apr 2003 from the Municipality of Sparti URL below.
LAKEDEMON (Ancient country) PELOPONNISOS
On the right wing were ten thousand Lacedaemonians; five thousand of these, who were Spartans, had a guard of thirty-five thousand light-armed helots, seven appointed for each man.
The following took part in the war: from the Peloponnese, the Lacedaemonians provided sixteen ships
The Lacedaemonians furnished ten ships
SPARTI (Ancient city) LACONIA
The Hellenes who awaited the Persians in that place were these:
three hundred Spartan armed men; one thousand from Tegea and Mantinea, half from
each place; one hundred and twenty from Orchomenus in Arcadia and one thousand
from the rest of Arcadia; that many Arcadians, four hundred from Corinth, two
hundred from Phlius, and eighty Mycenaeans. These were the Peloponnesians present;
from Boeotia there were seven hundred Thespians and four hundred Thebans.
This extract is from: Herodotus. The Histories (ed. A. D. Godley, 1920), Cambridge. Harvard University Press. Cited Apr 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
KARYES (Ancient city) LAKEDEMONA
(Aristomenes) . . he was making an attack by night on Sparta itself, but was deterred by the appearance of Helen and of the Dioscuri. But he lay in wait by day for the maidens who were performing the dances in honor of Artemis at Caryae, and capturing those who were wealthiest and of noblest birth, carried them off to a village in Messenia, entrusting them to men of his troop to guard, while he rested for the night. [10] There the young men, intoxicated, I suppose, and without any self-control, attempted to violate the girls. When Aristomenes attempted to deter them from an action contrary to Greek usage, they paid no attention, so that he was compelled to kill the most disorderly. He released the captives for a large ransom, maidens, as when he captured them.
VRONTAMAS (Village) SKALA
Near Vrontamas is Paleomonastiro, a monastery of the 12th century
built inside the rock. Paleomonastiro is a monument of the Struggle for Independence:
on September 15, 1825 500 men from Vrontamas refused to surrender to the army
of the Egyptian warlord Ibrahim and were burned alive in the monastery. The Municipality
of Skala holds a memorial service on that day.
This text (extract) is cited March 2004 from the Prefecture
of Laconia tourist pamphlet.
AMYKLES (Ancient sanctuary) SPARTI
Archelaus had a son Teleclus. In his reign the Lacedaemonians
conquered in war and reduced Amyclae, Pharis, and Geranthrae, cities of the Perioeci,
which were still in the possession of the Achaeans. The inhabitants of Pharis
and Geranthrae, panic-stricken at the onslaught of the Dorians, made an agreement
to retire from the Peloponnesus under a truce, but those of Amyclae were not driven
out at the first assault, but only after a long and stubborn resistance, in which
they distinguished themselves by glorious achievements. To this heroism the Dorians
bore witness by raising a trophy against the Amyclaeans, implying that their success
was the most memorable exploit of that time.
This extract is from: Pausanias. Description of Greece (ed. W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., & H.A. Ormerod, 1918). Cited May 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains comments & interesting hyperlinks.
FARAS (Ancient city) THERAPNES
Archelaus had a son Teleclus. In his reign the Lacedaemonians conquered in war and reduced Amyclae, Pharis, and Geranthrae, cities of the Perioeci, which were still in the possession of the Achaeans. The inhabitants of Pharis and Geranthrae, panic-stricken at the onslaught of the Dorians, made an agreement to retire from the Peloponnesus under a truce.
GERONTHRES (Ancient city) LACONIA
Archelaus had a son Teleclus. In his reign the Lacedaemonians conquered in war and reduced Amyclae, Pharis, and Geranthrae, cities of the Perioeci, which were still in the possession of the Achaeans. The inhabitants of Pharis and Geranthrae, panic-stricken at the onslaught of the Dorians, made an agreement to retire from the Peloponnesus under a truce.
SPARTI (Ancient city) LACONIA
He supported the Achaean League against Cleomenes, king of Sparta, whom he defeated at Sellasia in 221, and took Sparta.
AMYKLES (Ancient sanctuary) SPARTI
According to Pausanias, an Achaian or pre-Dorian stronghold, incorporated
by conquest as the fifth village of Sparta probably early in the 8th c. B.C. Excavation
has been almost entirely confined to the hill of Haghia Kyriaki about 5 km S of
Sparta. The prehistoric settlement, which spanned the entire Bronze Age, was concentrated
on the SE slopes; the historical site may have extended in an arc from N of the
hill to modern Amyklae.
A little way down the hill, immediately outside and below a terrace
wall, a small stratified deposit, composed of debris accumulated discontinuously
between the Byzantine and Early Mycenaean periods, has been identified.
The Sanctuary of Apollo was laid out in the 8th c. Its centerpiece
was the tomb (presumably an earthen tumulus) of Hyakinthus, a pre-Greek divinity
whose cult was conflated with that of Apollo in the annual festival of the Hyakinthia.
In the 7th or early 6th c. a 15 m-high statue of Apollo was fashioned in the form
of a cylinder with arms (holding spear and bow) and helmeted head. About 550 B.C.
the face of Apollo was plated with Lydian gold, a gift from King Croesus, and
shortly thereafter Bathykles of Magnesia designed the Doric-Ionic complex later
known as the throne of Apollo. The cult statue was set on an altar faced with
stone reliefs depicting mythological scenes; similar reliefs decorated the interior
and exterior friezes of the surrounding superstructure, whose main entrance was
formed by four half-columns crowned by console capitals. The rich archaic dedications
include bronze vessels and figurines, terracotta figurines (mainly female), and
a few lead and ivory pieces; pottery was comparatively scarce. A contemporary
deposit of over 10,000 dedications to Alexandra-Kassandra has been excavated at
Haghia Paraskevi nearby; these and sporadic finds from the neighborhood confirm
the evidence of Haghia Kyriaki that Amyklaean material culture, like that of Sparta,
reached its zenith in the 7th and 6th c. There is nothing noteworthy among the
later finds.
P. Cartledge, ed.
This text is from: The Princeton encyclopedia of classical sites,
Princeton University Press 1976. Cited Nov 2002 from
Perseus Project URL below, which contains bibliography & interesting hyperlinks.
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