Listed 1 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for destination: "SKIRITIS Mountain settlement LAKEDEMON".
Sciritis (he Skiritis: Eth. Skirites, fem. Skiritis), a rugged and
barren mountainous district, in the north of Laconia, between the upper Eurotas
on the west and the Oenus on the east, and extending north of the highest ridge
of the mountains, which were the natural boundary between Laconia and Arcadia.
The name probably expressed the wild and rugged nature of the country, for the
word signified hard and rugged (skiron, skeiron, skleron, Hesych.). It was bounded
by the Maenalians on the north, and by the Parrhasians on the west, and was originally
part of Arcadia, but was conquered at an early period, and its inhabitants reduced
to the condition of Lacedaemonian Perioeci. (Steph. B. s. v. Skiros; Thuc. v.
33.) According to Xenophon they were subjected to Sparta even before the time
of Lycurgus. (De Rep. Lac. c. 12.) They were distinguished above all the other
Perioeci for their bravery; and their contingent, called the Skirites lochos,
600 in number, usually occupied the extreme left of the Lacedaemonian wing. (Thuc.
v. 67, 68.) They were frequently placed in the post of danger, and sometimes remained
with the king as a body of reserve. (Xen. Cyr. iv. 2. 1, Hell. v. 2. § 24, v.
4. § 52; Died. xv. 32.) On the first invasion of Laconia by the Thebans the Sciritae,
together with the Perioeci of Caryae and Sellasia, revolted from Sparta, in consequence
of which their country was subsequently ravaged by the Lacedaemonians. (Xen. Hell.
vii. 24. 1) The only towns in the Sciritis appear to have been Scirus and Oeum
called Ium by Xenophon. The latter is the only place in the district mentioned
in historical times. Scirus may perhaps have been the same as Scirtonium (Skirtonion),
in the district of Aegytis. (Paus. viii. 27. § 4; Steph. B. s. v.)
The road from Sparta to Tegea, which is the same as the present road
from Sparta to Tripolitza, led through the Sciritis. (Leake, Morea, vol. iii.
p. 28; Boblaye, Recherches, &c. p. 75; Ross, Reisen im Peloponnes, p. 178; Curtius,
Peloponnesos, vol. ii. p. 263.)
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited August 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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