sanctuaries and traditions in ancient sparta

Cultures in Comparison

Religion and Politics in Ancient Mediterranean Regions

Edited by

Thomas R Kaumlmmerer and Mait Kotildeiv

Alter Orient und Altes Testament

Veroumlffentlichungen zur Kultur und Geschichte des Alten Orients und des Alten Testaments

Band 390 3

Herausgeber

Manfried Dietrich bull Ingo Kottsieper bull Hans Neumann

Lektoren

Kai A Metzler bull Ellen Rehm

Beratergremium

Rainer Albertz bull Joachim Bretschneider bull Stefan Maul Udo Ruumlterswoumlrden bull Walther Sallaberger bull Gebhard Selz

Michael P Streck bull Wolfgang Zwickel

Acta Antiqua Mediterranea et Orientalia

Band 3

Herausgeber

Peter Funke bull Jaakko Haumlmeen-Anttila Thomas R Kaumlmmerer bull Mait Kotildeiv

Anne Lill bull Hans Neumann Urmas Notildemmik bull Juha Pakkala

Peeter Roosimaa



Edited by


2015 Ugarit-Verlag

Muumlnster

Cultures in Comparison Religion and Politics in Ancient Mediterranean Regions

Thomas R Kaumlmmerer and Mait Kotildeiv (eds)

Acta Antiqua Mediterranea et Orientalia 3

Alter Orient und Altes Testament Band 390 3

copy 2015 garit-Verlag Muumlnster wwwugarit-verlagcom

All rights preserved No part of this publication may be reproduced stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means

electronic mechanical photo-copying recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher

Printed in Germany ISBN 978-3-86835-122-4 Printed on acid-free paper

Inhaltsverzeichnis Mait Kotildeiv Vorwort 1 Sebastian Fink Robert Rollinger Sports in the Ancient Near East revisited running gods and balaĝs 7 Thomas Kaumlmmerer Kultisch-politische Beziehungen zwischen den Euphrat aufwaumlrts gelegenen Kultorten Māri Terqa Tuttul Emar und Aleppo dargestellt als wechselseitiges Spannungsfeld 15 Mait Kotildeiv Sanctuaries and traditions in Ancient Sparta25 Neeme Naumlripauml Die Politik in den Beispielen des Hermogenes im Werk uumlber die Staseis67 Kadri Novikov Gods and religion in ldquoLeukippe and Kleitophonrdquo 81 Kurt A Raaflaub The politics of peace cults in Greece and Rome 103 Maximiliam Raumlthel Das Datum der Eroberung von Sardeis131 Peeter Roosimaa bdquoJesus von Nazarethldquo als sozialpolitisches Problem143 Vladimir Sazonov Einige Bemerkungen zur fruumlhmittelassyrischen Koumlnigstitulatur155 Sergei Stadnikow Von der goumlttlichen Vorherbestimmung und der menschlichen Willensfreiheit in der bdquoLehre des Ptahhotepldquo177 Christoffer Theis Die Inschrift der Truhe Kairo Aumlg Mus JdEacute 61478 aus KV 62 187 Index 203

Sanctuaries and traditions in Ancient Spartalowast

Mait Kotildeiv Tartu

Introduction Communities have histories remembered by the people This remembrance is a dynamic process where preserving and transmitting of traditions is combined with deleting and reshaping and only those accounts which are considered es-sential will survive over time1 In early societies the traditions were generally transmitted orally However the people not only told the stories but also re-enacted them through commemorative ceremonies2 which made the ceremonial centres the focal places of memory3 In the Greek world as often in early socie-ties the most notable ceremonial centres were the sanctuaries They provided context for the rituals uniting the people and attracting spectators from else-where and their history was inevitably intermingled with what was believed about the past of both the sanctuaries themselves and the communities to which they belonged Quite naturally the sanctuaries anchored the traditional stories concerning the events of the past

This paper will consider how such a connection between the traditional ac-counts and the communal cults functioned in ancient Sparta As with every com-munity the Spartans sanctioned their identity through common cults and rituals expressing the civic pride and enhancing the feeling of unity among the citizens They had naturally a number of precincts many of which are documented by archaeological record and literary sources but there is no doubt that the sanctu-aries of Apollo particularly the Amyklaion about 6 kilometres southward of the main Spartan settlement complex (the conglomerate of villages as an Athenian like Thukydides would have said)4 and the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia5 on the outskirts of the Spartan town were outstanding among them (map and figure 1) In the following discussion these cults will appear as the focal points for the ex-pression of the political identity of the Spartan polity in the context of which the traditions concerning the past were tied with the cult practice It will be shown how the stories and the rituals were knit into comprehensive wholes where the

lowast The research has been supported by Estonian Science Foundation Grants 8669 and 8993 I wish to thank Janusz Peters for his help with my English text 1 For the function and the development of the traditions see especially Vansina 1985 Connerton 1989 Assmann 2000 29ndash160 2006 24ndash30 Gehrke 1994 2001 2010 Cubitt 2007 Shear 2011 6ndash12 etc 2 Connerton 1989 41ndash71 3 For the concept of the places of memory see Stein-Houmllkeskamp ndash Houmllkeskamp 2010 Haake ndash Jung 2011 4 Thuc I 102 On the problems concerning this statement see Stibbe 1996 22ndash23 Lupi 2006 202ndash204 Kotildeiv 2013a 164ndash165 On the town of Sparta see Shipley 2004 592 5 The cult probably belonged initially to a local deity Orthia who was gradually merged with the pan-Hellenic Artemis See Rose 1929 400ndash402

26 Mait Kotildeiv

rituals inevitably shaped the traditional accounts and the accounts probably had their own impact on the ritual practice and suggest that the connection between the cult places and the traditions probably established in the formative period of the Spartan state reflects the real historical significance of these sanctuaries for polity formation

The origins of the Spartan state retrospective traditions and archaeology The Spartan traditions concerning the origin of their statehood focused on the conquest of the land and the establishment of the communityrsquos internal order by the legendary lawgiver Lykurgos It was generally believed that the Spartan state was created through the Dorian conquest The ancestors of the Spartans the Dorians led by the descendants of Herakles supposedly invaded the Peloponnese from north conquered at least a part of Lakedaimon overthrew its previous rulers and founded the city of Sparta at the northern edge of the Eurotas plain on the western bank of the river This conquest was supposed to have taken place roughly two generations after the Trojan War and was consequently dated to ca 1100 BC6 The later accounts transmitting the story diverge if either the whole of the Lakedaimon was subjected to the Spartans during this invasion and the few immediately following generations or did the Spartans conquer most of the dis-trict only many centuries later during what we count as the eighth century7 However there was a general agreement that the conquest of Amyklai in the middle of the Lakonian inland plain south of Sparta and of Helos on the coastal plain further south were crucial in this process The Amyklaians were later probably counted as Spartan citizens while the people of Helos were reduced to slavery and were supposedly the first helots (heilotes) ndash the serfs tilling lands of the Spartiates When Lakedaimon was under Spartan sway they attacked Messenia on the western side of the Taigetos mountain range and enslaved its inhabitants as well8 6 Henceforth all the dates will be BC if not stated differently The ancients calculated different dates for the Trojan War but the years 1194ndash1184 proposed by Eratosthenes (FGrHist 241 F 1) were probably the most popular The invasion of the Dorians placed 80 years after the fall of Troy fell thus to the year 1104 according to the chronology of Eratosthenes 7 The most compact account of the Dorian invasion of Lakedaimon is given by Ephoros (FGrHist F 117 118 16) and Pausanias (III 1ndash2 71ndash4) Their accounts diverge essentially because Ephoros dates the conquest of the whole Lakonika by the Spartans to the first two generations after the initial invasion while according to Pausanias the Spartans launched their attack against Amyklai and southern Lakedaimon only several generations later in a period which could be tentatively identified as the 8th century The picture is completed by Herodotos (above all IV 145ndash149) and several other authors (Arist fr 532 Rose Nic Dam FGrHist 90 F 28 Konon FGrHist 26 F 1 36 47 etc) For a detailed dis-cussion of the traditions concerning the Spartan conquests see Kotildeiv 2003 69ndash140 for a more concise overview see Kennel 2010 31ndash38 8 The earliest evidence is given by the 7th century Spartan poet Tyrtaios (fr 5 West) the more detailed accounts in Ephoros FGrHist 70 F 216 Antiochos FGrHist 555 F 9 13 and especially Pausanias IV 4ndash14 whose detailed and embellished narrative can hardly be

Sanctuaries and traditions in Ancient Sparta 27

The establishment of the internal order specific to Classical Sparta was how-ever usually dissociated from the initial conquest and ascribed to the legendary lawgiver Lykurgos who was usually dated to the period between the Dorian invasion and the conquest of Messenia9 It was generally believed both by the Spartans and by the rest of the Greeks that the Lykurgan legislation was pre-ceded by a period of extreme lawlessness (anomia) or bad order (kakonomia) Lykourgos the brother of a king either of Eunomos (Good order) or Polydektes (in which case he was Eunomosrsquo son) and the ward of the young king Charillos consulted the Delphic oracle and established the good order (eunomia) according to a prescription of Apollo10 This eunomia consisted of both the political organi-sation of the state (the principles of which were stated by a supposed Delphic utterance ndash the Great Rhetra)11 and its strict social order including the austere way of life which was essentially based on the system of education of the youth as one of the principal lsquoLykourganrsquo establishments

The reliability of these accounts concerning both the conquest and the Lykurgan legislation is of course highly questionable The very core of the tra-dition of the Dorian invasion has been strongly contested and even if accepting some historical kernel of the migration stories we are scarcely in position of specifying the more or less exact movements of people after the Mycenaean Bronze Age12 We therefore cannot tell how and when the Dorians might have arrived at Sparta and Lakedaimon and there is no way of establishing when exactly the inhabitants of Sparta in the northern Lakedaimon subjected to their power the communities in the other part of the district including Amyklai and Helos

regarded as representing an authentic tradition For the origins and historical worth of the traditional accounts see Pearson 1962 397ndash426 Kotildeiv 2003 100ndash118 Luraghi 2008 68ndash106 9 However Hellanikos ascribed the creation of the Spartan institutions to the first Hera-ckleid kings Eurythenes and Prokles (FGrHist 4 F 116) and Plato spoke about an equal division of land among the Dorians right after the conquest (Nom 684 dndashe) which explains why Xenophon dated Lykurgos to the time of the first Herakleids (Lac Pol 108) and perhaps also why Herodotos regarded him as the son of King Agis (compare I 65 and VII 204) 10 The standard genealogy is given by Simonides fr 628 PMG (= Plut Lyc 1) Ephoros FGrHist F 149 174 Arist Pol 1271b fr 535 611 Rose Diod VII 12 The detailed account of Lykurgosrsquo supposed life and work is given in Plut Lyc The mythological nature of this tradition is obvious and has long been recognised (Gilbert 1872 80ndash120 Wilamowitz-Moellendorff 1884 283ndash285 Meyer 1892 269ndash283 Beloch 1913 253ndash256 Jeanmaire 1939 575ndash588 Szegedy-Maszak 1978 Mosseacute 1988 Kunstler 1991 201ndash205 Kotildeiv 2003 161ndash168 Houmllkeskamp 2010 317ndash320) 11 Plut Lyc 6 quoting Arist fr 563 Rose For the recent discussion of this highly contro-versial text see Van Wees 1999 Kotildeiv 2003 186ndash198 2005 Luther 2004 29ndash59 Ruzeacute ndash Christian 2007 53ndash58 Nafissi 2010 102ndash113 Kennel 2010 45ndash50 Schulz 2011 141ndash155 12 See Prinz 1979 Osborne 1996 32ndash37 Hall 2007 43ndash51 Kennell 2010 20ndash35 I myself would side with those accepting some kernel of truth in the invasion traditions (Malkin 1994 43ndash45 Gehrke 2003 12ndash16)

28 Mait Kotildeiv

The tradition concerning Lykurgos although taking shape in a fairly early pe-riod13 was obviously stereotypic in both its general outline and many details14 and can hardly pretend to have much historical reliability Though we cannot exclude the possibility that some lsquoreformerrsquo of that name was once active in Sparta or that some kind of internal arrangement took place before the Mes-senian conquest as the tradition suggests it is virtually certain that the complex order of the Spartan state and society developed during a long period and its creation was telescoped to an early past and ascribed to a (quasi)mythical law-giver15

On the other hand there is reason to believe that a relatively well organised political community of Sparta emerged in the eighth century at the latest Since at the end of this century (or maybe at the beginning of the next) the Spartans attacked Messenia beyond the Taigetos Mountain range and conquered at least part of it we must assume that it had already emerged as a strong military power had thus developed an effective communal organisation and that the Spartans had by that time subjected a considerable part of Lakonika16 If we do not suppose that the Spartans governed the whole of the Lakedaimon throughout the Early Iron Age we can surmise that the account of the conquest of the dis-trict has at least some kernel of truth and must assume that much of this took place before the end of the eighth century

Some indications for the emergence of the Spartan state can be gauged from the archaeological record The Spartan settlement probably a rather loose con-

13 The earliest evidence is given by the poet Simonides (fr 628 PMG) and the earliest more or less detailed version of the story by Herodotos I 65 More is told by Ephoros FGrHist F 149 174 Arist Pol 1271 b fr 535 611 Rose Diod VII 12 while the most de-tailed lsquobiographyrsquo can be found in Plut Lyc 1ndash6 31 The only principal disagreement between the different writers concerns the identification of the king during whose reign Lykurgos legislated resulting in different dating of the legislation Simonides and most of the later writers connected the lawgiver with king Charillos (or Charilaos) (so Ephoros Aristotle Diodoros loci cit Plut Lyc 1 3ndash5 etc) which placed him about two genera-tions before the Messenian conquest while according to Herodotos he tutored king Leobotas four or five generations before Charillos according to the list of the Spartan kings and Xenophon (Lac pol 108) dated him to the time of the Herakleids probably keeping in mind the period of the Dorian invasion 14 The mythological nature of Lykurgosrsquo lsquobiographyrsquo has been generally recognized Jeanmaire 1939 575ndash588 Szegedy-Maszak 1979 C Mosseacute 1988 Kunstler 1991 201ndash205 Kotildeiv 2003 161ndash168 Houmllkeskamp 2010 15 Lykurgos has been viewed as a deity (Gilbert 1872 Wilamowitz-Moellendorff1884 283ndash285 Meyer 1892 269ndash283 Beloch 1913 253ndash256 Jeanmaire 1939 575ndash588) while other historians have accepted him as a historical figure (Huxley 1962 41ndash49 Forrest 1968 60 Stibbe 1996 69ndash88) Nevertheless there is no doubt about the long development of the lsquoLykurganrsquo order of Sparta see Tigerstedt 1965 36ndash78 Cartledge 1998 102ndash159 Thommen 1996 Hodkinson 1997 Meier 1998 222ndash226 Welwei 2004 34ndash93 Christien ndash Ruzeacute 2007 51ndash52 16 This was what the ancients unanimously believed (the sources quoted in note 7)


stellation of villages came into existence during the tenth century17 From almost the same time we can observe cult activity at the sanctuary of Orthia at its edge on the bank of Eurotas (see figures 2ndash3) From the late eighth and early seventh century however we can see a remarkable revival of cult activity in the sanctu-ary sites both in and around the town of Sparta The dedications in the Orthia sanctuary increased remarkably and the precinct received its first archaeologi-cally detectable permanent structures ndash an altar and a small temple18 Sanctuaries were established at Therapne on a hill on the eastern bank of the river Eurotas dedicated to Helen and Menelaos (Menelaion ndash see figures 3ndash4)19 in the modern village of Kalybia Sochas at the foot of Mount Taigetos dedicated to Demeter Eleusinia20 and at Tsakona north-east of Sparta dedicated to Zeus Messapeus (see map)21 Cult activity also intensified in the sanctuary of Apollo Hyakinthios at Amyklai about six kilometres south of Sparta (figure 5) where a cult place had existed in the Bronze Age and could have continued without a significant break into the Early Iron Age A monumental statue of the god the so-called throne of Apollo was erected there in the sixth century22

The late eighth century was thus the period when the Spartans virtually en-circled with the sanctuaries the territory which was later known as the citizen land (politike ge) as opposed to the territory of the subjected communities of the perioikoi23 In all likelihood this manifested their political identity and testifies to the emergence of the Spartan political community possibly as a union of the previously independent settlements This circle marked by the sanctuaries clearly included Amyklai indicating that this settlement was integrated to the Spartan state by that time The emergence of the sanctuaries thus appears as the clearest mark of the emergence of the Spartan state that we have

All these sanctuaries must have had some traditions attached to them and these are often recorded by the later sources Unfortunately we cannot tell any-thing concerning the shrine of Zeus Messapeus at Tsakona which is not recorded 17 See Welwei 2004 23ndash24 Nafissi 2009 117ndash118 Kennell ndash Luraghi 2009 240 Zavvou ndash Themos 2009 112ndash113 Kennell 2010 30 18 The sanctuary with its cult legend and ritual is described in Paus III 166ndash11 For the archaeological evidence see Dawkins 1929a 8ndash27 Kirsten 1958 171ndash175 Boardman 1963 Drerup 1969 19ndash21 Faringgerstroumlm 1988 31ndash32 Cartledge 1979 357ndash361 19 Catling 1976-1977 35ndash36 2002 153 219ndash229 Cartledge 1979 121 For the history and the description of the sanctuary see Stibbe 1996 41ndash49 The sanctuary was ascribed to either Helen or Menelaos by Hdt VI 61 Isocr Helena 63 Paus III 199 20 Parker 1987 101ndash103 Stibbe 1996 58-68 The sanctuary is mentioned in Paus III 205 21 Cartledge 1998 44 Catling 2002 153 218ndash220 22 The much disputed question of possible cult continuity with the Bronze Age (Cartledge 1979 81ndash83 Calligas 1992 40 Petersson 1992 97ndash100 Eder 1998 100 Kotildeiv 2003 62ndash63 Kennell 2010 31) does not concern us here but there is no doubt about a rapid growth in dedications in the 8th century (Calligas 1992 42 Kennell 2010 25) The massive statue of Apollo seated on a gigantic throne is described in detail in Paus III 189ndash195 (see Frankoferri 1993 1996 181ndash280 Stibbe 1996 49ndash58 Kennell ndash Luraghi 2009 243 Richer 2012 350ndash351) 23 Cartledge 1998 44 Richer 2010 243 2012 201ndash202 Kennell 2010 39

30 Mait Kotildeiv

by the literary sources the archaeological record suggest some sexual aspect of the cult indicated by the ithyphallic figurines found on the spot24 The Menelaion at Therapne obviously marked an earlier Bronze Age mansion and as the recipi-ents of the cult indicate it must have been regarded as the site of the heroic dy-nasty and thus connected to the traditions the Tyndarids (Helen Kastor Pollux) and Menelaos25 The ritual in the Orthia sanctuary at the outskirts of the Spartan town was believed to have been established by the Spartan lawgiver Lykurgos which warrants the suggestion that the precinct was connected with the tradition of the Lykurgan legislation26 The Amyklaian sanctuary however was clearly tied to the traditions concerning the conquest of Lakedaimon and as will be suggested below the nearby Eleusinion at Kalybia Sochas was probably also connected to that traditional complex

The cults of Apollo and the traditions of conquest Although Amyklaion with its yearly Hyakinthian festival was perhaps the most prominent sanctuary of the Spartan state and as demonstrated below closely connected to the traditions concerning the establishment of the Spartan con-quest-state it was by no means the only important cult of Apollo nor the only one linked to the conquest traditions The cults and celebrations of Karneia and Gymnopaidiai in the Spartan town connected respectively with the traditions of the Dorian invasion into the Peloponnese and the successful wars against the Argives over the district of Thyrea between them were of almost equal renown These three cults of Apollo Karneios Apollo Hyakinthios and the festival of Gymnopaidiai all of great significance for the Spartan state thus covered almost the whole range of the traditions concerning conquests the Dorian invasion the conquest of Amyklai and the whole of the Lakedaimon and the heroic fighting against the archenemy ndash the Argives27

I will pass briefly over the festival of Gymnopaidiai or Naked Dances which took place in midsummer in the town centre28 and where three lsquochoirsrsquo (choroi)

24 Cartledge 1998 44 Catling 2002 153 218ndash220 25 See the literature and the sources quoted in note 19 26 Xenoph Lac pol 2 9 Plat Nom I 633b Paus III 169ndash10 The case will be considered below 27 For detailed discussion of these cults and their significance for the Spartan state including the connected traditions see Jeanmaire 1939 524ndash540 Brelich 1969 126ndash207 Petterson 1992 Robertson 1992 147ndash165 (Gymnopaidiai) 2002 36ndash74 (Karneia) Richer 2012 342ndash456 28 The exact place ndash either in the theatre or in a special place called Choros (the dancing-place) is uncertain According to Hdt VI 67 Leotychidas insulted the deposed Demaratos during the Gymnopaidiai in the theatre Xenphon Hell VI 416 tells that the news of the Leuktran disaster arrived at Sparta during the last day of Gymnopaidiai when the menrsquos choir was lsquoinsidersquo (endon ontos) without specifying inside of what According to Paus III 119 the Gymnopaidiai were celebrated on a place called Choros at the agora and according to Anecdota Graeca I p32 118ndash20 Bekker simply on agora See Robertson 1992 154ndash156 Richer 2012 384ndash389


ndash the boys (paides) the men (andres or akmazontes) and the seniors (gerontes) ndash performed dances either naked or unarmed (gymnos may signify both)29 The dances lasted during many days in the summer heat and were regarded by Plato as a test of endurance30 Some survived scraps of the text of the songs performed during the occasion suggest a kind of competition between the age groups which was probably meant for educating the youth and promoting the sense of unity among the citizens There is hardly any doubt that the festival was integrated into the Spartan system of education Concerning the connected traditions we are told that during the festival the feathery crowns called thyreatikoi were worn by the performers for commemorating the victory won against the Argives in district of Thyrea and those fallen in the famous battle31 in which 300 chosen fighters from both sides fought the death and the heroism of the only Spartan survivor Othryades decided the issue in the Spartan favour32 The heroism of Othryades and the 300 fighters was later regarded as paradigmatic of the Spartan bravery and endurance33 which makes it quite natural to commemorate this exploit during the celebration that was viewed as a test of endurance and a dis-play of physical fitness as the nakedness in the Gymnaopaidiai implies The battle could have been remembered as a chronologically rather floating event in an unspecified past but as the victory was celebrated with the songs of several

29 See Richer 2012 395ndash402 30 Plat Nom 633c See Ducat 2009 Richer 2012 402ndash404 31 Sosibios FGrHist 595 F 5 (ap Athen XV 678bndashc) Θυρεατικοί οὕτω καλοῦνταί τινες στέφανοι παρὰ Λακεδαιμονίοις ὥς φησι Σωσίβιος ἐν τοῖς περὶ Θυσιῶν φέρειν δ αὐτοὺς ὑπόμνημα τῆς ἐν Θυρέᾳ γενομένης νίκης τοὺς προστάτας τῶν ἀγομένων χορῶν ἐν τῇ ἑορτῇ ταύτῃ ὅτε καὶ τὰς Γυμνοπαιδιὰς ἐπιτελοῦσιν On the connection between the Gymnopaidiai and the tradition concerning the Thyrean battle see Brelich 1961 22ndash34 Robertson 1992 161ndash164 179ndash207 Kotildeiv 2003 125ndash133 Richer 2012 404ndash413 Ber-shadsky 2012 32 The battle was touched upon by many sources and described most profoundly by Herodotos (Hdt I 82 Chrysermos FGrHist 287 F 2 Theseus FGrHist 453 F 2 Anthol Pal 430 (Dioskourides) 431 (Simonides) 526 (Nikandros) for a full collection of the ancient evidence see Kohlmann 1874 Phaklaris 1987 102ndash107 Robertson 1992 181ndash188 199ndash204) The story goes that the opponents agreed that the issue must be decided by 300 chosen fighters all of whom perished in the encounter except two Agives and the Spartan Othryades The Argives hurried to Argos to announce their victory while Othryades heavily wounded stayed on the field stripped the bodies of the dead Argives of their armour erected a trophy (the victory mark) of a shield and inscribed it with his blood or carried the armour to the Spartan camp According to one version of the story Othryadesrsquo heroism was decisive (Chrysermos FGrHist 287 F 2) while according to Herodotos the opponents disagreed about which side was the winner and a battle of the full armies followed the next day where the Spartans proved victorious and thus gained the district 33 Isocr Archid 99 and numerous Latin authors ndash see Kohlmann 1874 475ndash480

32 Mait Kotildeiv

archaic poets34 there is no reason to doubt that the memory of it was attached to the celebration of Gymnopaidiai in the Archaic period35 Since the Spartans cer-tainly came to control the district of Thyrea which was situated much closer to Argos they probably must have taken it from the Argives which suggests that an early conflict (or a series of conflicts) between Argos and Sparta over the dis-trict must have been a historical reality and that the Gymnopaidian choirs were likely to have been arranged to celebrate a real military event

However this tradition though important for the Spartansrsquo identity and vi-sion of the past did not concern the origins of their statehood differing in that respect from the complexes of accounts tied to the cults of Karneia and Apollo Hyakinthios

Apollo Karneios having at least two sanctuaries in Sparta36 was often de-picted with ramrsquos horns and was honoured in connection with his human coun-terpart Karnos who could have been imagined as a youth loved by the god37 or as an Akarnanian seer assisting the Dorians and accidentally killed during their invasion to the Peloponnese38 In both cases he appears as a mortal counterpart of the immortal Apollo The Karneian cult was connected specifically with Dorians and the traditions concerning their migrations and invasions into different dis-tricts There was a pan-Dorian tradition focusing on the death of the Akarnanian seer killed by the Herakleids (or particularly by a man called Hippotas destined to become the father of the founder of Dorian Corinth) when the Dorians were about to cross over from the Central Greece to the Peloponnese His death caused pestilence as divine vengeance and required expiation by the expulsion of the culprit and the establishment of the cult and festival of Karneia for enabling the

34 Sosibios FGrHist 595 F 5 mentions that the Thyrean victory was commemorated in the Gymnopaidiai with the songs of Thaletas Alkman and Dionysodotos of whom the first two composed during the 7th century (the date of Dionysodotos is unknown) 35 One ancient chronology dated the establishment of Gymnopaidiai to 668 (Euseb Chron II 86ndash87 Schoene gives the dates 669 and 665 but the correct Eusebian date seems to have been Ol 281 thus 668 as suggested by Mosshammer 1979 224) and the circumstance that the victory was celebrated with the songs of the archaic poets (see the previous note) can suggest an early origin of the connection between the festival and the event Some of the ancients ascribed the victory to the Spartan king Polydoros a few years after the conquest of Messenia (Plut Apophth Lac Polyd 231dndashf) this understanding is reflected in the chronologies given by Eusebios II 83 Schoene and Solinus VII 9 both dating the battle a few years after the end of the Messenian war ndash see Kotildeiv 2003 125) Herodotos on the other hand dated the battle more than a century later to the time of the Lydian king Kroisos 36 There was a statue or small shrine of Karneios Oiketas (boiketas according to IG 51497 line 11) at the agora (Paus III 133ndash6) and another shared with Eileithyia and Artemis Hegemone on a promenade to the west near a running track (dromos ndash see Paus III 146) ndash see Robertson 2002 53 n 136 37 Scol Theocr Idyll V 82a Praxilla fr 753 PMG ap Paus III 134 See Burkert 1985 Richer 2012 435ndash436 38 Konon 26 Apollod II 83 Paus III 134 Schol Theocr V 83 The story was touched upon by Theopompos (FGrHist 115 F 375) and Aristotle (fr 554 Rose)


subsequent conquest39 The cult was connected to the foundation stories of vari-ous Dorian communities Noel Robertson has suggested that it was especially linked to sailing overseas and demonstrated that in the Peloponnesian case it certainly was tied to the tradition of the sea voyage from Naupaktos to Rhion launching the Dorian invasion40

Besides this pan-Hellenic tradition there was a specifically Spartan story which connected the god particularly with the foundation of Dorian Sparta We are told that Apollo Karneios was worshipped in Sparta before the Dorians ar-rived and that the Dorian invaders were helped by a Karneian priest (mantis) called Krios (the Ram) whose daughter had accidentally met the spies of the Dorians during their invasion which was the reason why the statue of the god was therefore erected in Kriosrsquo house and the Karneian cult was known under the name of Oiketas (of the House)41 The connection with the invasion and con-quest is obvious both on the general Dorian and on the local Spartan level

The Karneian ritual as known from Sparta was said to have resembled mili-tary training (μίμημα εἶναι στρατιωτικῆς ἀγωγῆς) the men ate under nine tent-like installations (called shades ndash skiades) nine men from three phratries under each and did everything according to the orders proclaimed by a herald42 The numbers nine and three suggest that the participants were organised according to the three Dorian phylai which were supposedly the units of the Dorians at the time of their invasion They were certainly the military units in Sparta in the Archaic era43 and probably continued to function as the subdivisions of citizens during the historical period when the military was probably organised differ-ently44 The festival had thus a clearly military connotation Indeed the Spartan soldiers seem to have fought under the Karneian auspices as suggested by the depiction of the ram horns on the cheeks of the helmet of the Spartan hoplite statue known as the bust of Leonidas (figure 6)45

Besides this military aspect the festival included song contest and dances of youths and girls some of them apparently under the full moon in a nocturnal

39 Konon 26 Paus III 134 Apollod II 83 Schol Pind V (106) clearly states that the cult and the festival were established for expiating the murder of Karnos 40 See Robertson 2002 44ndash48 41 Paus III 133 Pausanias explicitly distinguishes between this Spartan story and the pan-Hellenic tradition (related above) which he relates immediately afterwards 42 Demetrios of Skepsis by Athenaios IV 141endashf The full evidence of the Spartan Karneia is presented in Petterson 1992 134ndash137 43 Testified by Tyrtaios fr 198 West 44 The traditional modern suggestion is that the classical Spartan army was divided into five lochoi (the lochos of Pitane is mentioned by Hdt IX 533 but its existence denied by Thuc I 203) based on the five villages (obai) constituting the Spartan state (Wade-Gery 1944 116ndash121 Cartledge 1987 427ndash431 etc) For the criticism of this opinion see Lupi 2006 45 The military importance of the festival and the cult and the statue of lsquoLeonidasrsquo as an additional demonstration of this is strongly pointed out by Petterson 1992 62ndash66 who views this as a confirmation of the Spartan hegemony in Lakedaimon

34 Mait Kotildeiv

setting46 and Karnos indeed could have been imagined as a beautiful young eromenos of Apollo Another rite performed in the course of the Karneia was a somewhat curious race of staphylodromoi (the grape-runners) A man adorned with garlands (stemmata) ran to escape the young unmarried men called staphy-lodromoi who had to catch him for the good of the state47 The significance of the race is obscure but it is noteworthy that stemmatiaion ndash the word obviously recalling the stemmata (the garlands) adorning the escaping runner in this race ndash was known as an imitation of the ship with which the Dorians sailed from cen-tral Greece to the Peloponnese48 A ship adorned with garlands was indeed the one that was about to sail We can therefore suggest that the race of staphylo-dromoi also was in some not specifiable way connected to the tradition of the Dorians sea voyage from the Central Greece to the Peloponnese hence with the Dorian invasion On the road to the north from Sparta there was a cult place of Kranios ndash a possible alternative for Karneios ndash called Stemmatios49 It was situ-ated on the way which the Dorians were probably imagined to have taken when coming to Sparta which suggests that this small sanctuary was again linked to the tradition concerning the invasion50 All this can warrant the suggestion that the ritual resembling some form of military discipline in the tents with the divi-sion of the participants into three Dorian phylai was imagined as one more piece of recollection of the Dorian invasion

We have thus in the case of the Spartan Karneia the tradition of the founda-tion of Dorian Sparta attached to the cult and festival sanctifying the military order and discipline On the other hand since the young men played an essential part in these rituals both in the songs the dances and in the race of staphylo-dromoi and since Karnos could have been imagined as a young paramour of the always youthful Apollo it is natural that Karneia has been with good reasons viewed as an integral part of the Spartan education system and thus as an initia-tion ritual51 Initiation into adulthood thus to the citizen status and the manifes- 46 The musical contests were mentioned by Hellanikos FGrHist 4 F 85a ap Athen XIV 635e and the nocturnal setting of at least some musical events is suggested by Eurip Alcestis 445ndash454 See Richer 1212 432ndash434 47 Bekker Anecd I 305 Hesych sv Staphylodromoi sv karneatai For the possible significance of the rite including the suggestions that it was meant to promote fertility see Wide 1893 77ndash79 Burkert 1984 234ndash236 Petterson 1992 68ndash71 Richer 1212 428ndash431 48 Bekker Anecd I 305 sv στεμματιαῖονmiddot μίμημα τῶν σχεδιῶν αἷς ἔπλευσαν οἱ Ηρακλεῖδαι τὸν μεταξὺ τῶν ῾Ρίων τόπον See Robertson 2002 47ndash48 49 Paus III 209 50 The whole argument has been put forward by Robertson 2002 47ndash48 See also Richer 1212 440ndash441 with 609 n 43 51 Jeanmaire 1939 524ndash526 Brelich 1969 150ndash153 179ndash187 Sergent 1984 142ndash148 Petterson 1992 87ndash90 For the initiation rituals in different cultures see Van Gennep 1960 (especially 65ndash115) and Eliade 1995 the rites of initiation in Ancient Greece and their relation to the mythology including the ostensibly historical stories are considered in detail by Jeanmaire 1937 Brelich 1969 Sergent 1984 Vidal-Naquet 1981a 1981b Moreau 1992 Bremmer 1994 44ndash50 Versnel 1990 44ndash59 Dowden 2011 see also Kotildeiv 2003 77ndash118 The warnings against a loose use of the term lsquoinitiationrsquo and weeping conclusions


tation of martial qualities were obviously connected as the whole education of the Spartiates was arranged for achieving military goals Military discipline education of the youth and the traditions of the foundation of the state through the conquest were tied into an inseparable whole in this context

Besides what has been said it must be noted that there was a particular group in Sparta strongly connected both to both the Karneian cult and the traditions of the conquest known as the Aigeidai a lsquogreat tribersquo (phyle megale) in Sparta ac-cording to Herodotos52 These Aigeidai were supposedly a group of Theban ori-gin The tradition tells that Apollo instructed the Herakleids to call them to assist in conquering the Peloponnese53 and that the Herakleids met them in Boiotia (their homeland according to the tradition) when they were sacrificing to Apollo Karneios54 The supposed ancestor of the subsequent members of the clan Theras was according to the tradition the maternal uncle of the first Spartan kings Eurysthenes and Prokles He acted as the regent in Sparta during the mi-nority of the kings but resented the diminishing of his influence when the boys grew up and decided to emigrate overseas He thus founded the Spartan colony on the island Thera named after him implanted there the cult of Apollo Kar-neios55 From Thera the cult was later brought to Kyrene in northern Africa56

Aigeidai certainly resided in the historical period both in Thera and in Sparta57 In Sparta they had a special shrine58 but were above all reputed as the

based on it are certainly justified (see the papers in Dodd ndash Faraone 2011) However the term seems appropriate here if accepting that Karneia was connected to the Spartan cycle of education (thus using the term according to the criteria of Graf 2011 9ndash15) 52 Hdt IV 1491 53 The earliest evidence comes from Pindar (Isthm VII 14ndash15 Pyth V 72ndash81) who mentioned that at the time of the Dorian invasion the Aigeidai from Thebes conquered Amyklai following the Pythian prescription and that from Sparta they travelled to Thera taking with them the cult of Karneian Apollo that was further transferred to Kyrene The detailed account is given by the scholia to Pyth V 69ndash(106) and Isthm VII 12 where Ephoros (FGrHist 70 F 16) and Aristotle (fr 532 Rose) are quoted as the authorities On the traditions concerning the Aigeidai and the supposed immigrants from Lemnos who were closely connected with them in the traditional accounts (discussed below) see Kiechle 1963 60ndash63 75ndash95 Nafissi 1980-81 1985 Vannicelli 1992 Petterson 1992 66ndash68 Malkin 1994 111ndash113 Kotildeiv 2003 77ndash100 Kennell 2010 32ndash35 The connection of the traditions to the Spartan cults (Karneia and Hyakinthia) has been pointed out by Petterson (loc cit) and Kotildeiv 2003 89ndash91 54 As stated in schol Pind Pyth V (106) 55 This migration was briefly touched upon by Pindar Pyth V 69ndash76 and described in detail by Hdt IV 145ndash149 The transfer of the Karneia cult from Sparta to Thera by Theras is recorded by Kallimachos (Hymn Ap 71ndash87 speaking of the genos Oidipodao which clearly marks Theras as made clear by Hdt IV 1472 149) 56 Pind Pyth V 69ndash76 Callim Hymn Ap 71ndash78 57 Their presence in Thera is suggested by the epigraphic evidence recording the presence of Aigeid names such as Aigeus Hoiolykos (the name of the son of Theras and the father of Aigeus ndash Hdt IV 149 Paus III 15 8) and Maisiadas (alluding to Aigeusrsquo grandson

36 Mait Kotildeiv

conquerors of Amyklai Their supposed leader during this conquest Timo-machos was therefore greatly honoured in the context of the Amyklaian cult as his armour called Theban hoplon was paraded during the annual Hyakinthian festival59 The tradition concerning them was thus strongly connected besides Karneia to the cult of Apollo at Amyklai

We have already noted that Amyklaion was probably the most prominent sanctuary of the Spartan state and the yearly festival of Hyakinthia of paramount political significance Its importance was comparable to that of the Great Diony-sia for Athens shown by the fact that the treaty of peace and alliance between Athens and Sparta concluded in 421 was to be sworn during the Athenian Dio-nysia and the Spartan Hyakinthia and the stele with the treaty was displayed in the respective sanctuaries60 Amyklaion received rich dedications from the eighth century onwards while in the sixth century witnessed the erection of a monu-mental statue of the god the so-called throne of Apollo which was perceived as the altar for the god and the tomb of his human counterpart Hyakinthos The latter was supposedly a beautiful youth loved by Apollo whom the god acciden-tally killed with a discus-throw61 We also know that there was a Hykinthian road (Hyakinthis hodos) connecting Amyklaion to Sparta This suggests a proces-sion from Sparta to Amyklai during the Hyakinthian festival forming a ritual axis between these two principal settlements of the Spartan state62 There is a good reason to view this procession as the supposed commemoration of the Spar-tan conquest of Amyklai the Spartans indeed believed that during the conquest Apollo had appeared to them with four hands and four ears (Apollon Tetracheir) and they therefore worshipped the god in such a form in Amyklai63 and as has been said during the Hyakinthian festival the Spartans carried the armour of

Maisis ndash Paus loc cit) see Hiller von Gaertringen 1940-41 644 Kiechle 1963 87 Kotildeiv 2003 80 n 62 In Sparta Herodotos indeed knew them as a phyle megale (IV 1491) 58 Hdt IV 1492 Paus III 158 For the nature of this guilt see below with note 75 59 Pind Isthm VII 12 with the scholia quoting Aristotle (fr 532 Rose) See also schol Pind Pyth V 76 60 Thuc V 234ndash5 For the Hyakinthian festival and its significance see especially Petterson 1992 9ndash41 and Richer 1212 343ndash382 61 For the textual and archaeological evidence for Amyklaion see note 22 above The earliest evidence for the myth of Hyakinthos comes from Euripides Helen 1465ndash1475 (for the myth and its significance for the Amyklaian cult see Eitrem 1914 9f Mellink 1943 161ndash176 Robertson 1992 30 Petterson 1992 30ndash41 Richer 1212 345ndash350) 62 Athen IV 173f a Hyacinthia pompa is mentioned in Ovid Met X 219 Pausanias III 162 mentions that the Spartan women brandished a chiton for Apollo every year and it has been plausibly suggested that this was carried in the procession from Sparta to Amyklai (Mellink 1943 17 Calame 1977 310 Petterson 1992 11) The political significance of the sanctuary and the procession is pointed out by Polignac 1984 70ndash74 63 Sosibios FGrHist 595 F 25 (ap Zenob Prov I 54) οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἀψευδέστερος τοῦ ᾿Απόλλωνος ὃν τετράχειρα καὶ τετράωτον ἱδρύσαντο Λακεδαιμόνιοι ὥς φησι Σωσίβιος ὅτι τοιοῦτος ὤφθη τοῖς περὶ ᾿Αμύκλαν μαχομένοις On the worship of this Apollon Tetracheir at Amyklai see Wide 1893 95 Kennell 1995 162ndash163


Timomachos the Aigeid conqueror of Amyklai64 All this leaves no doubt about the close connection between the cult and the traditions concerning the conquest

The Aigeid Timomachos whose armour was displayed at Hyakinthia was be-lieved to have been lsquothe first to arrange everything for war in Spartarsquo65 The Aigeidai were thus ascribed a crucial role not only in the conquest but also in the military arrangement of the state They were supposedly involved in the establishment of the Spartan double kingship because their ancestor Theras was reputed as the guardian of the first two kings during their minority The part they supposedly played in the establishment of the Spartan state was confirmed by the close connection to the Karneian and Hyakinthian cults the most promi-nent cults of Apollo in Dorian Sparta Paradoxically despite this prominent role they were assigned they were viewed as a non-Dorian group of lsquoforeignrsquo (Theban) descent thus outsiders in Dorian Sparta and their leader Theras was believed to have left the country

This foreign descent and emigration can hardly be occasional considering that the Aigeidai were by no means the only non-Dorian group figuring in the accounts of the conquest particularly that of Amyklai who were eventually forced to emigrate We are told that when the Spartans first held Amyklai they gave it as a reward to a certain Philonomos an Achaian (thus a member of the original population) who had betrayed Amyklai to the Dorians The Spartans also settled there immigrants from the islands of Imbros and Lemnos66 known in the stories either as Tyrrhenians and Pelasgians67 a supposedly non-Hellenic people who inhabited these islands in the historical period or as the Minyans the de-scendants of the Argonauts and the Lemnian women who had previously killed their menfolk and conceived children with the Argonauts when they stopped on the island during their sea voyage68 These Lemnians either the Tyrrheni-ansPelasgians or the Minyans were believed to have sailed to the Lakedaimon and asked the Spartans to accept them The Spartans agreed included them into

64 Arist fr 532 Rose 65 Arist fr 532 Rose ὃς πρῶτος μὲν πάντα τὰ πρὸς πόλεμον διέταξε Λακεδαιμονίοις middot 66 Nic Dam FGrHist 90 F 28 Konon 36 47 These authors were almost certainly following Ephoros whose account of the beginnings of Dorian Sparta can be found in FGrHist 70 F 117 118 ndash see especially Jacoby 1926 242ndash243 Andrewes 1951 39ndash42 67 In the account of Ephoros and the authors following him (see the previous note) and in the more detailed story told by Plutarchos (Mul Virt 8) 68 According to Pindar and Herodotos Pindar noted that the descendants of the Argo-nauts whom he called Minyans (for the reasons of this identification see Kotildeiv 2013b 340ndash343) and the man-slaying Lemnian women had in the company of the Lakonian men settled on the island of Thera and from Thera to Kyrene (Pyth IV 43ndash75 174ndash175 252ndash262 for a detailed analysis of the story in Pindarrsquos fourth Pythian see Calame 1990 281ndash294) Herodotos told the story in connection with the emigration to Theras (IV 145ndash149) called the Minyans the sons of the Argonauts (1452 5) and mentioned elsewhere the murderous act of the Lemnian women (VI 138) which was indeed proverbial by his time (the Lemnia kaka mentioned in Aesch Choeph 614) For the story of the Lemnian women and the Argonauts see Jessen 1914 437ndash441 Burkert 1983 190ndash196

38 Mait Kotildeiv

their tribes (phylai) intermarried with them and according to some accounts settled them in Amyklai69 The immigrants in turn helped the Spartan in the war against the helots But they began to make unseemly demands of having a share in the kingship and other political rights from which they were excluded70 and the Spartans therefore imprisoned them and sentenced them to death They were however rescued by their Spartan wives who were allowed to visit the husbands in the prison secretly exchanged with them their clothes and thus allowed the men to escape in female disguise The Lemnians subsequently took refuge on the slopes of Taigetos and helped the helots to revolt against the Spartans The Spartans thereafter preferred to send the immigrants overseas The destination of their emigration differed in various accounts depending on if they were imag-ined as Minyans or Pelasgians and Tyrrhenians The Minyans or at least a part of them migrated together with Theras to the island Thera whence their de-scendants led the foundation of Kyrene many generations later71 The Pelasgians Tyrrhenians sailed to Crete founding the colony on the island of Melos on their way and eventually the Cretan cities Lyttos andor Gortyn72 This expulsion of the Lemnian and Imbrian immigrants was supposedly connected to the final subjection of Amyklai and Helos by the Spartans in which course the inhabitants of the latter were reduced into the permanent servitude73

We have thus a complex of different though connected accounts about vari-ous non-Dorian groups involved in the conquest of Lakedaimon with specific connections to Amyklai the Theban Aigeidai the Lemnian Minyans and the TyrrheniansPelasgians from Lemnos and Imbros Besides being imagined as foreign to the Dorian Spartans these groups were marginal and ambiguous in other respects as well The Aigeidai were according to one account the descen-dants of a people called the Phlegyans who were notorious for their violent deeds most notably setting fire to the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi74 The Theban ancestor of the Aigeidai Laios was known for his crime of abducing and causing the death of a beautiful youth called Chrysippos the son of Pelops and the sanctuary of the Aigeidai in Sparta was supposedly established exactly for

69 Acceptance into the phylai and intermarriage in Hdt IV 1455 1463 Plut Mul Virt 8 Their settlement at Amyklai stated in Nic Dam FGrHist 90 F 28 and Konon 36 both probably following Ephoros 70 Hdt IV 1461 states that their discontent was caused by their exclusion from a share in kingship according to Plutarch (Mul Virt 8) they were excluded archeion kai boules 71 Pind Pyth IV 43ndash75 252ndash262 Hdt IV 150 72 Gortyn according to Ephoros and his followers Lyttos according to Plutarch (quoted in notes 66ndash67) 73 Konon 36 places the emigration to the third generation (counted inclusively) from the Dorian invasion which was the time when according to Ephoros (FGrHist 70 F 117) the Spartans definitely subjugate the whole of the Lakedaimon and reduced the people of Helos into the servitude 74 The Phlegyan ancestry of the Aigeidai is mentioned in schol Pind Isthm VII 12 (label-led Phlegraioi) the Phlegyan attack against Delphi noted in Paus IX 362 X 71 (for the mythology of the Phlegyans see Robert 1921 26ndash29 Eitrem 1941)


expiating the guilt of the crime75 This presents on the one hand a parallel to the relationship of Apollo with both Karnos and Hyakinthos both of whom were accidentally killed by their divine erastes while on the other hand it gave the Aigeidai a kind of lsquocriminalrsquo background confirmed through their own cult pointing thus to the liminality of their status The Minyans in turn were the de-scendants of the man-murdering Lemnian women and offspring of the illegiti-mate unions between these women and the Argonauts76 which pointed out their highly suspicious descent The Tyrrenians Pelasgians were reputed to be formi-dable sea-robbers of barbarian stock77 thus as dangerous outsiders in the Hel-lenic world The ambiguous nature of the Lemnian immigrants is further empha-sised by the story of their escape from the prison in the womenrsquos clothes thus assuming temporarily the role of the females

All these foreigners were thus imagined as having somewhat suspicious backgrounds and playing an ambiguous part during the conquest They mingled for a while with the Spartans and were helpful to them but were never accepted as completely equal to the Dorian citizens and were expelled or preferred to emigrate as in the case of Theras when failing in the attempts to attain the equal status The Lemnians were moreover ambivalently connected to the helots the outcasts of the Spartan society first helping to subjugate them and then exhort-ing them to fight against their masters All in all these groups were imagined as strongly involved in the Dorian conquest and the establishment of the Spartan supremacy while on the other hand they remained outsiders creating a state of danger potential chaos and their expulsion or emigration appears as essential for the definite establishment of the Spartan hegemony over Lakedaimon including the enslavement of the helots establishing the lsquonormalrsquo social hierarchies of Dorian Sparta

These features of the tradition become well understandable when looking at the ritual practice of Apollo Hyakinthios at Amyklai to which a number of these accounts was connected (the Aigeidai were indeed reputed as the conquerors of Amyklai and the armour of Timomachos was displayed in the Hyakinthian pro-cession and as the immigrants from Lemnos and Imbros were associated with either Amyklai or the Aigeid Theras we can reasonably assume some connec-tions with Hyakinthia in their case as well)

The Hyakinthia festival was clearly built on a juxtaposition of the mortal and

75 An account of Chrysipposrsquo death and its causes by the house of Laios is given by Peisandros FGrHist 16 F 10 ap schol Eurip Phoen 1760 (see also Hypot Eurip Phoin Hypoth Aesch Sept Athen XIII 602ndash603 Hygin Fab 85) For the legend of the house of Labdakos Laios and Oidipous see Lamer 1924 especially 474ndash481 Delcourt 1944 Vernant 1982 22ndash25 Bremmer 1987 The establishment of the sanctuary as an act of expiation for this crime appears from Hdt IV 149 2 and Paus III 15 8 76 See note 68 above 77 For example according to Hdt VI 137ndash138 they raped Athenian women when they lived in Attika in ancient times and even planned to attack Athens for which they were expelled and immigrated to Lemnos From there they came to kidnap the Athenian women from Brauron killing them afterwards together with their sons

40 Mait Kotildeiv

dying Hyakinthos and the immortal Apollo As has been said before the Throne of Apollo at Amyklai marked both the tomb of the hero and the altar for the god Pausanias relates that the sacrifice (thysia) to the god was preceded by another kind of sacrifice ndash enagismos ndash in honour of the dead Hyakinthos78 From the Hellenistic writer Polykrates we know that the first of the three festival days marked the grief and mourning for Hyakinthos79 The wreaths and the singing of Paian which had a special significance in the worship of Apollo in Hyakinthia80 were forbidden on that day and the people ate with great restraint before depart-ing In the middle of the three days period thus presumably on the second day the character of the festival changed Boys (paides) praised the god with kithara play and songs to flute accompaniment and the choirs of youths (neaniskoi) performed local songs some boys or young men rode on adorned horses and girls were carried in litters or paraded on chariots There were many sacrifices to the god followed by the ritual meal (probably called kopis ndash the cleaver) where the citizens entertained at dinner foreigners and slaves ndash no doubt the helots81 This joyful disorder created a state of inversion exemplified by the common feasting with the helots who normally were strictly subjected to their masters Polykrates does not tell how this state of inversion was terminated and normalcy restored but in some way it almost certainly must have been done ndash the fact that the armour of Timomachos the supposed creator of the Spartan military ar-rangement was paraded in the festive procession clearly indicates that order and hierarchy must have eventually prevailed and we can reasonably suppose that this restoration took place during the last day of the festival82 The reliefs on the throne of Apollo depicted the apotheosis of Hyakinthos and his sister Polyboia suggesting that the resurrection of Hyakinthos was a part of this restoration phase83

The Hyakinthia thus appears as a festival of an initial sorrow followed first by a state of inversion and next by the final restoration of normal order Besides there is every reason to believe that like Karneia it was connected to the educa-

78 Paus III 193 79 The account of Polykrates (FGrHist 588) is transmitted to us by Athenaios who took it from Didymos (Athen IV 139cndashf) 80 Mentioned by Xenophon Hell IV 511 and Ages 217 See Brelich 1969 143 81 Athenaios IV 138endashf quotes Polemon mentioning a meal at Sparta called Kopis Kratinos who told that all the strangers were richly feasted at Kopis and Eupolis who connected Kopis with the helots Petterson 1992 15ndash17 has convincingly demonstrated that Kopis was the feast on the second day of Hyakinthia 82 Sergent 1984 118 83 Paus III 194 Sergent 1984 108 has seen here an allusion to the symbolic rebirth of adolescent (young Hyakinthos) as an adult (bearded Hyakinthos as it was depicted on the throne) Petterson 1992 38ndash41 views it as pertaining to the marriage initiation of the girls (apotheosis of Polyboia) The importance of the motif of apotheosis is also emphasised by Richer 1212 348ndash350


tion of the young Spartans and can be thus regarded as a ritual of initiation84 This is indicated by the prominent part played by boys young men and girls in the festival but also by the very figures of Apollo and Hyakinthos the youthful god and his dying adolescent paramour Like in the case of Apollo and Karnos this relationship can be regarded as reminiscent of the Spartan practice of peder-asty which clearly played an important part in the Spartan education85 Pau-sanias tells that Hyakinthos was contrary to the usual imagination depicted as bearded on the Throne of Apollo which suggests that the previously dying youth reappeared as an adult man symbolizing his transformation into a full citizen86 The sorrow inversion and restoration on the one hand and the death of the ado-lescent and the emergence of the adult man on the other were thus organically connected

It is easy to see how the traditions concerning the conquest of Amyklai and the related events recall this ritual pattern The initial invasion of the Dorians was followed by a state of inversion Amyklai was temporarily occupied by the non-Dorian immigrants who were connected to the helots and wished to have the full rights but were never able to attain them just like the foreigners and helots were entertained as mock citizens during the Hyakinthian feast but never permanently accepted The general logic of a temporary acceptance of outsiders creating a state of disorder and followed by the establishment of the normalcy is obvious on both levels Moreover many particulars in these accounts can be brought into connection with the state of inversion characteristic to the Hyakin-thian ritual and can be connected with the rituals of initiation known from dif-ferent cultures87 The descent of the Minyans from the illegitimate unions of the men-murdering women accords with the ritual inversion at Hyakinthia The pederastic guilt of Laios the ancestor of the Aigeidai couples with both the rela-tionship of Apollo and Hyakinthos and the homosexual practices tied to the Spar-tan practice of education The threats with death and escape in womenrsquos disguise recalls the allusion to death and the sexual role reversal characteristic of the ini-tiation rituals in many parts of the world and visible in the related stories in

84 Jeanmaire 1939 526ndash531 Brelich 1969 141ndash147 Sergent 1984 115ndash119 Petterson 1992 35ndash41 75ndash77 85 For the pederasty in Sparta and its role in the process of education see Cartledge 1981 Sergent 1984 402ndash423 and Link 2009 (who questions the institutionalised character of pederasty in the Spartan state but not its importance in the process of education) The connection between Hyakinthos and Spartan pederasty is especially pointed out by Sergent 1984 107ndash109 86 See especially Sergent 1984 117ndash119 87 This was pointed out by Jeanmaire 1939 570ndash575 The standard work on the initiation rituals is still Van Gennep 1960 (especially 65ndash115) Temporary separation and marginal status of the initates terrifying tests trickery and periods of licence and sexual role reversal are all known from ethnographic cultures despite the lack of a strict universal pattern and although there is no clear connections between many Greek stories and particular rituals it is obvious that these features appear in Greek ritual and storytelling (see the literature quoted and the discussion referred to in note 51)

42 Mait Kotildeiv

Greek mythology88 Even the son of Theras called Hoiolykos (Wolf-like) because he preferred to stay in Sparta lsquolike among the wolvesrsquo when his father sailed to Thera as Herodotos tells us can be viewed as personifying the temporary sepa-ration of the adolescents from society as a part of the process of initiation89 The expulsion or emigration of these ambiguous and in many ways marginal groups meant the establishment of the supremacy of the Dorian Spartans just as the foreigners and the helots were probably shown their proper place on the final day of Hyakinthia and the youths became citizens and thus the masters of their state after a period of inversion and separation

This correspondence between the stories and the ritual practice on the level of both the general logic of narrative and ritual and of the several details in them as well as the explicit connection of the stories with Amyklai warrants the sug-gestion that these accounts were woven into the ritual framework of the Hyakin-thian cult and transmitted in that context This is indeed highly natural given the central position of Amyklai in the plain south of Sparta and thus its likely sig-nificance in the conquest of Lakedaimon and maintaining control over it ndash a circumstance that is indeed pointed out by the very accounts under the discus-sion The strategically important site its prominent sanctuary and the traditions about its conquest were firmly tied together

It seems that the nearby Eleusinion at Kalybia Sochas at the foot of Taigetos near Amyklai was also connected to this circle of traditions It was indeed the most likely place where the immigrants from Lemnos and Imbros settled at Amyklai were believed to have taken refuge when escaping from imprisonment (both Herodotos and Plutarch explicitly placed them on Taigetos suggesting that this detail derives from the oral tradition) Pausanias relates that in the Eleusin-ion there was a statue of Orpheus made by the Pelasgians which infers a connec-tion of the Lemnian immigrants with this place and that nearby there was a place called Theras which suggest that the tradition concerning Theras the Aigeid was also attached to this locality Pausanias further records a yearly pro-cession connecting Eleusinion with Helos which couples well with the traditions of the Lemnian involvement in the war against the helots90

All this said we can be fairly confident that the traditions concerning the conquest of Amyklai the subjection of the helots and sending out colonies over-seas either to Thera to Melos or to Crete were essentially tied to the Hyakin-

88 Note especially the examples in Vidal-Naquet 1981a 155ndash158 89 Hdt IV 1491 ὄϊν ἐν λύκοισι On the initiatory significance of the wolf-like separation and it possible connection with the Spartan institution of krypteia see for example Jeanmaire 1939 540ndash565 Sourvinou-Inwood 1988 90 Paus III 205 (the sanctuary of Demeter Eleusinia the lsquoPelasgianrsquo statue and nearby Therai) 7 (the procession from Helos to the Eleusinion see Parker 1987 103) Hiller von Gaertringen 1940-41 61 63 68 has noted the importance of the cult of Demeter Eleusinia on the island Thera which again can point to the connection between the Lakeadimonian Therai and the island


thian cult and probably transmitted in this context91 just like the tradition of the Dorian invasion is likely to have been linked particularly to the cult of Apollo Karneios and the stories of the fighting against the Argives for Thyrea were transmitted in the framework of the Gymnopaidian festival An essential part of the traditions of the Spartan early conquests was thus attached to these three cults of Apollo all of which were of great political importance and connected to the process of educating the citizens The traditions tied to Karneia and the Hyakinthia concerned the very foundation of statehood ndash the Dorian conquest of Sparta and the submission of Amyklai and thus the acquisition of the two set-tlements the inhabitants of which formed the Spartan citizen body in the histori-cal period In the case of Amyklai the tradition also involved the enslavement of the Lakonian helots thus the establishment of the fundamentals of social hierar-chy in Sparta The traditions describing the formation of the state through the conquest were thus connected to the prominent stately cults responsible for the reproduction of the new soldiers-citizens through the system of education and the related rituals and this ritual practice in turn left clear traces in the ostensi-bly historical accounts

Orthia Lykurgos and the foundation of the internal order The Spartan internal order was according to the almost unanimous belief of the ancients established by the great lawgiver Lykurgos who saved his city from a terrible chaos (kakonomia) and created the wonderful order (eunomia) for which Sparta was famous in the Greek world92 Besides this general account of the change brought by Lykurgos there was a specific story depicting the lawgiver as the founder of the central ritual at the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia The relevant account states that the deity was worshipped by the inhabitants of the four Spar-tan villages (Limnai Pitane Mesoa and Kynosura ndash see figure 1) which suggests that the Lykurgan establishment was seen as uniting these constitutional parts into the joint Spartan State The story apparently the cult legend of Orthia is told by the perieget Pausanias writing in the second century AD Pausanias de-scribes how two persons Astrabakos and Alopekos found the xoanon (wooden statue) of Artemis in the bushes and immediately went mad after which the Spartans from Limnai Kynosoureis Mesoa and Pitane fell to quarrelling and

91 Another example is the story of the Spartan foundation of Taras in Italy by another marginal group called the Partheniai (Maiden boys or Maidenrsquos boys) supposedly born at the time of the Messenian war and closely connected to the helots and was believed to have been launched by a failed plot in the Hyakinthian sanctuary (Antiochos FGrHist 555 F 13 different versions of the story in Ephoros FGrHist 70 F 216 Diod VIII 21) In this case we find again a company of young men of illegal birth (the offspring of promiscuous unions between young Spartans and Spartan maidens) failing to acquire full membership in the Spartan state and therefore forced to emigrate with some signs of inversion of sexual roles (implied by the very name Partheniai) and can suppose that the tradition was connected to the Hyakinthia ritual and probably transmitted in this context (see Corsano 1979 Malkin 1994 111ndash113 Nafissi 1999 Kotildeiv 2003 108ndash117) 92 See above with note 10

44 Mait Kotildeiv

killing at the altar when about to sacrifice to the goddess This sacrilege caused disease that was divinely prescribed to be expunged by staining the altar with human blood The Spartans therefore began to sacrifice people selected by lot Lykourgos averted the custom of human sacrifice establishing the practice of scourging the male youths at the altar and staining it with human blood in that way93

Lykurgos was thus regarded as the creator of both the internal order of the Spartan State in general and of the ritual practice of Orthia in particular The ritual supposedly established by him is known to us from historical times Xeno-phon and Plato in the fourth century related that it was a ritual fight in the course of which a group of epheboi (adolescents) tried to steal cheese from the altar (see figure 2) while others repelled them by using whips Both authors viewed this as a test for the endurance of pain94 By the time of Pausanias in the Roman period the ritual fight had been replaced by basic flagellation the youths were whipped on the altar and the observing priestess held a small statue of the goddess in her hands which supposedly turned heavy when the youths were insufficiently scourged95 The whipping ritual was apparently followed by a pro-cession called Lydon pompe (the procession of the Lydians)96

We have thus the rituals from the Classical and the Roman periods and the aetiology given by Pausanias The story obviously suits the ritual mentioned by Xenophon and Plato the madness and fighting around the altar in the story cor-responds to the theft struggle and whipping in the rite97 A specific connection of

93 Paus III 169ndash10 94 Xenoph Lac pol 2 9 καὶ ὡς πλείστους δὴ ἁρπάσαι τυροὺς παρ ᾿Ορθίας καλὸν θείς μαστιγοῦν τούτους ἄλλοις ἐπέταξε τοῦτο δηλῶσαι καὶ ἐν τούτῳ βουλόμενος ὅτι ἔστιν ὀλίγον χρόνον ἀλγήσαντα πολὺν χρόνον εὐδοκιμοῦντα εὐφραίνεσθαι Plat Nom I 633b τὸ περὶ τὰς καρτερήσεις τῶν ἀλγηδόνων πολὺ παρ ἡμῖν γιγνόμενον ἔν τε ταῖς πρὸς ἀλλήλους ταῖς χερσὶ μάχαις καὶ ἐν ἁρπαγαῖς τισιν διὰ πολλῶν πληγῶν ἑκάστοτε γιγνομένωνmiddot Since Plato counts here three exercises of endurance in Sparta the rites of Orthia the krypteia and the Gymnopaidiai it looks obvious that both χερσὶ μάχαις and ἁρπαγαῖς must belong to this first context The ascription of the custom to the lawgiver becomes apparent from 633a On the whole ritual see especially Nilsson 1906 192ndash195 Brelich 1969 133ndash136 Ducat 2006 249ndash254 (see also Paradiso 2007 suggesting that the item robbed from the altar was wheat not cheese) 95 Paus III 1610ndash11 Plut Lyc 18 Inst Lac 40 See Kennell 1995 70ndash78 and the full evidence collected in 149ndash161 The winner of this contest was honoured as βωμονείκης (Hygin Fab 261 and the inscriptions on their statue bases (IG V 1 554 652ndash654 see Woodward 1929 no 142ndash144) On the ritual and its significance for Spartan upbringing see Nilsson 1906 191ndash195 Brelich 1969 130ndash138 Jeanmaire 1939 515ndash523 Calame 1977 276ndash281 Kennell 1995 70ndash97 96 Plut Arist 1710 Plutarch explains the name of the procession with a story of how the Spartan commander Pausanias had before the Battle of Plataia during the Persian War whipped back the Lydians trying to rob sacred objects from a sacrificial altar 97 The significance of fighting in the ritual of Xenophon and Plato was pointed out by Jeanmaire 1939 516ndash517 It is inferred also by a story from Plutarch (previous note) ex-plaining the ritual as a commemoration of the repulsion of an attack (see Brelich 1969


the aetiology with the early cult practice is indicated by the persons who accord-ing to the story found the statue of the goddess and thus caused the sacrilege Alopekos and Astrabakos

The name Alopekos obviously derives from ἀλώπηξ ndash the fox Fox is gener-ally known as a cunning and flexible animal and as a superb thief Alopekos is therefore highly suitable for exemplifying a ritual theft in the course of a struggle where swiftness flexibility and perhaps some cunning played a crucial part Moreover we are told that the Spartan youths endured a fox period (φούαξιρ) before taking part in the whipping ritual98 We also know that they were encour-aged to steal but where whipped when caught99 We also have the famous story of a Spartan boy hiding a stolen fox beneath his cloth and suffering the animal to tear out his bowels with its teeth and claws and dying rather than having his theft detected100 Theft determination endurance to suffering whipping fox and fox-likeness clearly belonged together revealing the natural connection between Alopekos and the Orthian cult

Astabakos also must have had his place in the ritual He had a heroon near the Orthian sanctuary101 and we are told that the bucolic choirs performed in honour of Artemis at Karyai in northern Lakonika included songs called As-trabika demonstrating that Astrabakos was connected to the cult of the god-dess102 Herodotos relates a story about the heros Astrabakos in Sparta taking the shape of King Ariston to sleep with his wife and siring the next king Demaratos who was later deposed because of his supposed illegal birth103 The name Astra-

135) Therefore I cannot agree with the scholars who have recently suggested that the story was a late invention created as the aetion of the ritual during the Roman period (Bonnechere 1993 15ndash18 Kennell 1995 79ndash82 Ducat 2006 251ndash252) the madness and fighting in the story do not accord with the late ritual of basic flagellation but suits perfectly to the ritual described by Xenophon and Plato Nor is it possible that the true aetiology of the ritual of the Classical period was given by the story of the Lydians (previous note) because all the ancients ascribed the ritual to Lykurgos and therefore could not have believed that it was established to commemorate an incident during the Persian War The story given by Pausanias contains even more elements deriving from the early ritual as will be shortly demonstrated 98 Hesychios sv φούαξιρmiddot ἡ ἐπὶ τῆς χώρας σωμασκία τῶν μελλόντων μαστιγοῦσθαι See Vernant 1992 241 Kennell 1995 122 Ogden 1997 113 Ducat 2006 185 254ndash255 Hesychios also tells that φοῦαι means foxes to the Spartans (φοῦαιmiddot ἀλώπεκες) 99 Plut Lyc 17 We know from Xen Lac Pol II 2 that the lsquoLykurganrsquo education of the youth contained scourging by especial whip-bearers (μαστιγοφόροι) serving as the assistants of the overseer of the boys (παιδονόμος) See Ducat 2006 159ndash160 100 Plut Lyc 18 note the way Plutarchos connected this with the sufferings in the Orthian ritual 101 Paus III 166 102 Probus quoted in Nillson 1906 198 n1 ritum autem sacrorum Bucolicon apellaratus ---- hoc idem carmen Astrabicon dictum est a forma sedilis 103 Hdt VI 69 For various interpretations of the story see Burkert 1965 (who completely disregards the phallic and grotesque nature of Astrabakos for which see below) and Seeberg 1966 62ndash64

46 Mait Kotildeiv

bakos derives from astrabe a special packsaddle for mules designed for woman riders104 We are also told that the deposed king Demaratos was mocked by the new king Leotychides his rival as a son of a muleteer105 Astrabakos and mule were clearly connected Mules indeed were imagined as phallic creatures having according to Aristotle exceptionally large penises and were depicted so on vases usually in carrying Hephaistos amidst the sexually excited silens (figures 7ndash8)106 This obviously suggests a phallic nature for Astrabakos which is demonstrated by the trick he played on Ariston and his wife according to Herodotosrsquo story107

As a phallic and cunning creature Astrabakos the mule-saddle-man obviously relates to his fox-like brother Alopekos Moreover he fits perfectly into the con-text of the early Orthian cult where we have various pieces of evidence suggest-ing that it had grotesque and sexual aspects The archaeology has revealed the images severe winged goddess terrifying and grotesque masks the terracotta and lead figurines of satyr-like men often ithyphallic and of padded dancers evoking Dionysian revelry (figures 9ndash10)108 The popularity of this kind of ritual in Ar-chaic Sparta is demonstrated by an archaic Lakonian vase-painting (figure 11)109

104 Athen XIII 583bndashc See Mau 1896 105 Hdt VI 682 106 Arist HA 577 b28 LIMC Hephaistos nos 106 116 117 133 138bcd 139acd 142af 144b 154 156b 157deg 163a 164a 165d 166 but note also the Laconian cup in Rhodes (Seeberg 1966 53 Pipili 1987 54) and the Corinthian amphora from Berlin (F 1652) presented and discussed in Seeberg 1966 53ndash55 107 For the evidence for and the character of Astrabakos and his connections to the Or-thian cult see Wide 1893 279ndash280 Bethe 1896 Burkert 1965 171ndash174 Seeberg 1966 Ogden 1997 111ndash115 Seeberg 1966 61ndash62 and Ogden 1997 112ndash113 have suggested that Astrabakos was lame bringing this in connection with the seemingly crippled padded dancers on the one hand and the supposed sexual potency of cripples on the other (ex-pressed in the Spartan saying ῎Αριστα χωλὸς οἰφεῖ lsquoa lame man screws bestrsquo ndash see Mimnermos fr 21a West) 108 For the representations of the winged deity see Dawkins 1929c (Plates XCI 1ndash2 XCII 2 XCIII XCVIII CVII 1) Among the masks note especially the types labelled by Dickins 1929 166ndash169 as lsquoOld Womenrsquo lsquoSatyrsrsquo and lsquoCaricaturesrsquo although some of the lsquoWarriorsrsquo for which Dickins notes (p 167) that the title lsquois perhaps hardly justified by the evidencersquo could be perhaps better regarded as silens (note the masks on Plate LIV nos 1 2) Dawkins 1929b 155ndash156 in discussing the terracotta figurines notes that lsquothe very great majority of the figurines appear to be intended for bearded males The fullface type also represents a man or more probably a satyr with beard and whiskersrsquo The nude and spirited male dancers mentioned in Wace 1929 276 109 As noted by Seeberg 1966 71ndash72 See the catalogue of the Laconia lsquopadded dancersrsquo vases in Seeberg 1966 65ndash71 the satyrs and komos scenes in Pipili 1987 65ndash68 71ndash75 and the discussion in Powell 1998 129ndash139 Sosibios and Pollux report the Lakonian comic dances imitating persons stealing fruits (an ill-placed allusion to the Orthian theft ritual) and performed by certain dekelistai who elsewhere notably in Sikyon were called phal-lophoroi (Sosibios FGrHist 595 F 7 ap Athen XIV 621 dndashe παρὰ δὲ Λακεδαιμονίοις κωμικῆς παιδιᾶς ἦν τις τρόπος παλαιός ὥς φησι Σωσίβιος ἐμιμεῖτο γάρ τις ἐν εὐτελεῖ τῇ λέξει κλέπτοντάς τινας ὀπώραν Pollux Onom IV 104 τὸ ὄρχημα τὸ διθυραμβικόν μιμητικὴν δὲ δι ἧς ἐμιμοῦντο τοὺς ἐπὶ τῇ κλοπῇ τῶν ἑώλων κρεῶν


The sexual implications of the cult are further emphasised by the dedication of the statuettes of ithyphallic males and of females in a sitting posture with the legs apart displaying conspicuously marked genitals110

One partially preserved Laconian cup dedicated in the sanctuary dating from the first half of the sixth century can be particularly significant in the present context (figure 12)111 It depicts three seemingly fat persons wearing buttock-cups probably indicating their ritual costume two of whom are dancing and one apparently defecating is chased by a satyr-like figure with a huge hanging penis Among them there is a central couple depicted in an act of copulation The gen-der of the penetrated person may be debatable but as the whole company seems to be male and nothing positively indicates the female sex of this person the natural conclusion would be that we have a scene of male homosexuality112 The active man in this intercourse stretches his right hand over the back of his part-ner and may be holding a stick in the hand This interpretation is supported by the five parallel strips on the back of the penetrated person which could be un-derstood as the marks of whipping113 In such a case we have a depiction of an obvious sexual act involving humiliation

We do not know what all this is about The buttock-caps of the dancers and of the person approached by the satyr suggest that it could be a depiction of a ritual and the satyr-like figure can be also viewed as a man wearing ritual costume while the dedication of the cup to Orthia could indicate that the ritual took place in that sanctuary114 If the reading of the central scene as male homosexuality combined with whipping is correct it would immediately call to mind ritual scourging

The depicted scene does not of course correspond to either the Classical or the Roman period ritual as described by our sources and any more or less precise interpretation of it will be inevitably debated It might be tentatively connected to the statement of a late source that young Spartiates had regularly to display ἁλισκομένους) 110 Dawkins 1929a 156 notes besides the great number of the ithyphallic males 11 figu-rines lsquoof women in a sitting posture with the legs apart the pudenda often marked con-spicuouslyrsquo 111 First briefly discussed by Lane 1933ndash34 160 (drawing and photograph in Plate 39andash40) see also the detailed description in Stibbe 1972 221ndash222 no 64 (dating it ca 580ndash575) the short treatment in Pipili 1987 65 (no 179 Fig 95) and the discussion in Seeberg 1966 65ndash69 Powell 1998 130ndash135 Waugh 2009 163ndash164 112 The penetrated person appears virtually sexless and has been viewed as both female (Lane 1933ndash34 160 Stibbe 1972 222 Pipili 1987 65) and male (Powell 1998 131ndash135 Ducat 2006 200) 113 Powell 1998 132ndash134 114 Powell 1998 139ndash135 Pipili 1987 65 has followed the long accepted concept of Orthia as a fertility goddess (Rose 1929 Carter 1987 1988) and speculated a fertility ritual seeing the satyr with phallus as a fertility daemon The aspect of fertility and childbirth could well have been present in the cult (but see Waugh 2009 who seems to be rather sceptical about this) but there is no particular reason to view either the satyrs or the padded dancers as promoters of fertility (see Lissarague 1993 207ndash220)

48 Mait Kotildeiv

themselves naked before the ephors (high officials) and were whipped when found to be soft and weak115 However what matters is that the whole scene reveals a reversal of the military virtues and discipline of which the Spartans were normally so proud of Fatness unmanliness revelry and sexual humiliation present an almost complete inversion of the acceptable order for the warrior-citizens At the same time this inversion fits perfectly with the grotesque and sexual features of the archaic Orthian cult and fits equally well with the figures of the cunning and phallic Alopekos and Astrabakos Such inversion must have been a natural part of the Orthian ritual during the early period from which this archaeological evidence derives Alopekos and Artrabakos represent this aspect in the corresponding aetiology

However any state of inversion must be in the end averted and order re-stored and we can be fairly sure that in the sanctuary of Orthia this restoration was enacted through the victory achieved and the hierarchy established in the course of the ritual contest involving the whipping at the altar and through the following procession of the participants who had victoriously emerged from the fighting and suffering116

As in the case of the cults of Apollo and the conquest traditions we can see here an obvious parallel in the ritual practice and the aetiological story demon-strating a connection between the rites and the traditions in the context of a sanctuary which was of paramount significance for the Spartan state and the education of its citizens117 There was a ritually enacted state of inversion in the cult exemplified by the grotesque features revelry licentiousness trickery vio-lence and perhaps sexual humiliation from which an order and hierarchy must have been re-created There was a corresponding state of inversion in the story including madness fighting and sacrilegious killing by the altar from which Lykurgos created order through establishing the scourging ritual Astrabakos and Alopekos launched the chaos in the story and probably exemplified it in the ritual while the solution enacted by Lykurgos obviously stands for the restora-tion of what was considered normal

Moreover the creation of the ritual practice in the Orthian sanctuary parallels the creation of the general order in the whole of the Spartan State in both cases there was the initial state of chaos and in both cases normalcy was re-established by Lykurgos The very name of Orthia meaning lsquothe one making things straightrsquo118 fits perfectly for embodying the general rectification of the Spartan affairs The scourging of the youths on the altar can be seen as representing the harsh way of life that Lykurgos had imposed on the Spartans including the

115 Aelian Var hist 147 see Vernant 1992 235 116 Paradiso 2007 314 plausibly suggests that lsquothe Lydiansrsquo of the procession were those who had played the part of the Lydians in the theft contest that is the attackers whipped by the defenders as described in the story of Plut Arist 17 (see note 94) 117 See notes 92ndash93) 118 Schol Plat Nom 633b For an interpretation of the name Orthia see Calame 1977 289ndash290


whipping of boys during their education119 Since the cult and the rites of Orthia played an important part in the lsquoLykurganrsquo education of the Spartan youth we can legitimately suggest that the re-establishment of the order by Lykurgos in the sanctuary of Orthia and the adjustment of the whole state were intimately con-nected in the eyes of the Spartans and that the annual ritual re-creation of the normal ways in the cult context was seen as confirming the Lykurgan system in general This intimate connection between the lsquoLykurganrsquo traditions and the cult of Artemis Orthia legitimates seeing the precinct as an institution preserving and transmitting the tradition of the Lykurgan establishment and the rituals per-formed in the sanctuary appear as the ceremonial re-enactment of this suppos-edly crucial event of the past

Conclusion emergence of statehood cults and memories We see how the principal sanctuaries as the focal ceremonial centres of the Spar-tan polis shaping the common identity of the people served as the places of memorial preserving and transmitting the traditions concerning the past No doubt the Spartans had numerous localities connected to the traditional ac-counts but we can reasonably believe that the more importance the people as-cribed to the places and the rituals enacted there the more significant the tradi-tions were likely to have been linked to them It is therefore natural to find the accounts of the creation of the state both the conquest that brought the land under the Spartan control and the establishment of the political and social insti-tutions attached to the prominent sanctuaries of Apollo and of Artemis Orthia The cults of Orthia on the verge of the Spartan town and Apollo Hyakinthios in Amyklai seem to have been particularly important in this respect because they formed a ritual axis uniting the crucial settlements of the Spartan polis120 There is of course no reason to suppose that the Lykurgan traditions were connected exclusively to the Orthian ritual and the conquest accounts to the cults of Apollo The whole Lykurgan order was viewed as a prescription of Apollo in Delphi and thus protected by the god121 which gives us every reason to suppose that the Lykurgan establishment was regularly evoked in Apollonian cult contexts122

119 The lsquoLykurganrsquo education included inspection by special whip-bearers (see note 99) Besides the boys were allegedly encouraged to steal but scourged when caught in the act (Xen Anab IV 1614ndash15 Isocr Panath 211ndash212 Plut Lyc 173ndash4) 120 Polignac 1984 70ndash74 121 The Delphic prescription of the good order was an invariable element of the Lykurgos legend and the Great Rhetra stating the principles of political decision-making was indeed known as a Delphic utterance (see the sources and literature quoted in notes 10ndash11) The Apollonic origin of the Spartan order was proclaimed by Tyrtaios (fr 4 West) 122 The Gymnopaidiai were celebrated in honour of Apollo Pythaeus (Paus III 119) implying connections to the Delphic (Pythian) sanctuary and Hesychios sv Lykourgos in fact ascribes the foundation of the festival to the lawgiver the Cretan poet Thaletas who also was reputed as the establisher of the festival ([Plut] Mus 9 according to Athenaios XV 678 bndashc the songs of Thaletas were performed during the festival) was therefore

50 Mait Kotildeiv

However the evidence we have still suggests a difference in emphasis between the different cults and sanctuaries through the lines as demonstrated above Apollo and Artemis the deities honoured with these cults were regarded by the Greeks as the paramount protectors of youth and all these sanctuaries probably played an essential role in the process of educating and initiating the young Spartans into adulthood and thus to the full citizenship This vitally important function of preparing the citizen-soldiers gave these cults a great martial andor political significance for the Spartan state Educating meant also introducing the youth into the traditional knowledge including what was believed about the origins which makes it natural that in Sparta like in numerous cultures of the world the rituals of initiation and the respective cults provided the framework for transmitting the traditional accounts123 The education of the citizens the maintenance and sacral confirmation of the military and political order and the traditions concerning the creation of the state were almost inseparably tied in the preeminent cult contexts

The connection between the cult places and the quasi-historical accounts had obvious effects on the traditional stories As the traditions were preserved and transmitted by integrating them into the ritual celebrations and since they func-tioned as aetiologies for the cults their structure was shaped according to the ritual logic frequently according to the narrative model of the development from chaos and inversion to the establishment of order and hierarchy This is indeed a widespread pattern of structuring myths and rituals124 known from both Greece and adjacent cultures which can be connected equally with the fertility rites and the rituals concerning initiation125 Both these aspects could have been essentially present in the cults of Apollo and Orthia discussed here126 This ritual back-

considered as Lykurgosrsquo contemporary (Arist Pol 1274 a 28ff who himself disagreed with this opinion see also Plut Lyc 4 Agis 10 Hieronymos ap Athen XIV 635 endashf) 123 This function of the initiation rituals in various cultures has been pointed out by Eliade 1995 18ndash20 124 On this model of mythological thinking in different cultures see especially Eliade 1965 51ndash137 Assmann 2000 52ndash56 125 We can recall the festivals of Thesmophoria in various Greek poleis including the encounter with death on the first day the aischrologia (indecent speech) sexual symbolism and womenrsquos alleged threats against men during the celebration and the hailing of Kalligeneia (the Beautiful Birth) on the last day possibly marking the re-appearance of Persephone from underworld and the re-establishment of the normal order (Burkert 1984 242ndash246 Golden 1988 5ndash7 Dillon 2002 110ndash120) and the grotesque and ecstatic sexless (or bisexual) devotees of Ištar (assinnus kurgarrucircs kulursquous) in the Near East probably creating a state of licence which was eventually to be averted in accordance with the re-emergence of the goddess from the underworld in the myth (see Roscoe 1996 213ndash216 Teppo 2008) It can be noted that Carter 1987 has postulated a strong eastern impact on the Orthian cult which can be seen in the archaeological record (Kopanias 2009) For comparable features in the initiation ritual see the literature in note 51 126 Hyakinthos has been often viewed as a spirit of fertility and the Hyakinthia correspon-dingly as a fertility rite (the different interpretations are summarised in Petterson 1992


ground shaped both the general story structure and several particulars in the accounts We can reasonably suppose that the elements in the stories pointing to the marginality of the actors and the state of inversion preceding the final solu-tion are influenced by the rituals This pertains for example to the ambiguous and foreign descent of the groups supposedly involved in the conquest of Amyk-lai their temporary acceptation and consequent expulsion from the land as well as the initial madness and fighting around the altar of Orthia and the figures of Astrabakos and Alopekos initiating this state of chaos

The cults had thus a double effect on the traditional accounts On the one hand they provided the context and hence some stability for the transmission while on the other hand shaped the stories according to the overall logic and even certain peculiarities of the rituals It is however difficult to pinpoint the exact interplay between the rituals and the narrative accounts The cult practice shaped the stories but to what extent could the rituals have been inspired by the real events of the past and hence to have had their own effect on the ritual prac-tice and to what extent could the traditions despite their ritually induced pat-terning have preserved some historical kernel It is clear on the one hand that historical events have often given birth to commemorative ritual traditions and on the other hand that the model of order and success arising from initial chaos ndash the crisis followed by a solution ndash does not pertain only to the ritual practice and mythology but can fairly adequately describe countless cases in the real history127

In the present case no definite answer to these questions suggests itself be-cause we have no independent evidence for checking the worth of the accounts On the one hand the early and (half) legendary setting of the stories transmitted by much later sources does not inspire confidence On the other hand there is almost no doubt that most of the relevant traditions were of comparatively early origin dating from the Archaic period The Dorian invasion was indeed an ac-cepted fact for Tyrtaios in the seventh century and all the principal points of the complex account were familiar to the fifth century authors128 The stories of the Aigeidai Theras and the immigrants from Lemnos were referred to by Pindar and told in detail by Herodotos and there is no reason to suppose that the alter-native versions known to Ephoros and Aristotle were recent inventions during their time In the case of the foundation of the Orthia ritual we have unfortu-nately no evidence prior to Pausanias and Plutarch except for the supposed fact

12ndash14) For the interpretation of the meaning Karneia particularly the rite of staphylodromoi see the literature quoted in note 47 for Orthia as a fertility cult sees note 112 For the interpretation of these cults and rites in the terms of initiation see notes 51 84 93 There is no need to choose between the fertility and the initiatory practices be-cause they could well have been combined 127 Note the statement of Burkert (1979 18) that lsquotale structures as sequences of motifemes are founded on basic biological or cultural programs of actionsrsquo 128 Tyrt fr 2 11 West Pind Pyth I 61ndash66 V 69ndash76 Isthm VII 12ff IX 1ndash4 Hdt I 56 144ndash147 IV 145ndash149 V 65 3ndash4 76 VI 51ndash55 VIII 31 43 73 IX 26 Thuc I 123 Hellanikos FGrHist 4 F 116 125

52 Mait Kotildeiv

of the Lykurgan origin assumed by Xenophon and Plato but the accordance of the story with the rite mentioned by these fourth century writers and especially with the features of the Archaic cult point to an early origin of this tradition as well129

The connection of the tradition to the cults was probably equally ancient We have noted that as far as the archaeological evidence suggests the formation of the Spartan state embracing the villages of Sparta and Amyklai was marked by the emergence sanctuaries The formation of the state obviously involved the establishment and promotion of the cults and their integration into the commu-nityrsquos religious system These crucial events must have left memories behind and these memories concerning the very origins of the polis and the cults must have been of great significance for the subsequent generations This warrants the sug-gestion that the connection between the cults and the foundation traditions dates from this formative period More specifically we can trust that Karneia as an universal Dorian cult was very ancient in Sparta130 although we have no archeo-logical evidence at this point and its usual connection with the Dorian founda-tion stories suggests that it was tied to the account of the foundation of Dorian Sparta from an early period The origins of the Hyakinthia may or may not go back to the Bronze Age but as the worship at Amyklaion was practiced through-out the history of Dorian Sparta we need not doubt that whenever and in whichever way the Spartans established their control over the village they must have also taken over the cult Hyakinthia was thus probably adopted into the Spartan religious system at the time of Amyklairsquos submission and the ritual axis between these settlements built at this very period We can suppose that the memories concerning this event were tied to the cult from that time onwards From the site of Orthia the archaeological record begins almost synchronically with the evidence from the Spartan Dark Age settlement which suggests that the cult played a crucial part in the development of early Sparta and in the formation of the political union of the villages the people of which subsequently partici-pated in the worship131 From early on it was likely to have anchored the memo-ries concerning this process

All in all as the formation of the Spartan polity went hand in hand with the rise of its principal sanctuaries we can surmise that the memories of this devel-opment were instantly tied to the cults and thus transmitted in that context con-tinuously from the very emergence of the state We can therefore believe that the traditions crystallized at an early period probably from the eighth and seventh

129 For the reasons of my disagreement with the contrary view see note 95 above 130 The statement of Lakonian antiquarian Sosibios FGrHist 595 F 3 about the establishment of the festival at the 26th Olympiad (676ndash673) is transmitted in the context of the beginning of the Karneian song contests and was probably meant to indicate exactly that (Athenaios XIV 635endashf reports that according to Hellanikos (FGrHist 4 F 85) the poet Terpandros was the first winner of the Karneia contest and that according to Sosibios (loccit) the celebration of Karneia began at Ol 26) ndash so for example Robertson 2002 52 131 So Huxley 1962 17 Cartledge 1979 106 Sakellariou 1989 308 Kotildeiv 2003 178


centuries which seem to have marked the emergence of the Spartan state and preserved despite all the ritually induced and other kind of modifications their kernel throughout the following periods The least we can say is that the organic link between the cults and the traditions reflects adequately the central role of these sanctuaries in the polis formation What else of the historical truth could have been preserved can be only guessed Bibliography Assmann J (2000) Das kulturelle Gedaumlchtnis Schrift Erinnerung und politische

Identitaumlt in fruumlhen Hochkulturen Muumlnchen Assmann J (2006) Religion and Cultural Memory Stanford Beloch K J (1913) Griechische Geschichte I 2 Straszligburg Bethe E (1896) Astrabakos In RE 4 1792 Boardman J (1963) Artemis Orthia and Chronology In BSA 58 1ndash7 Bonnechere P (1993) Orthia et la flagellation des eacutephegravebes spartiates Un souve-

nir chimeacuterique de sacrifice humain In Kernos 6 11ndash22 Brelich A (1961) Guerre agoni e culti nella Grecia arcaica Bonn Brelich A (1969) Paides e parthenoi Roma Bremmer J (1987) Oedipus and the Greek Oedipus complex In JBremmer (Ed)

Interpretations of Greek Mythology 41ndash59 London ndash Sidney Bremmer J (1994) Greek religion Oxford Burkert W (1965) Demaratos Astrabakus und Herakles Koumlnigsmythos und

Politik zur Zeit der Perserkriege (Herodot 6 67ndash69) In Museum Helveticum 22 166ndash177

Burkert W (1979) Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual London Burkert W (1984) Greek Religion Oxford Calame C (1977) Les chœurs des jeunes filles en Gregravece archaiumlque I Morpholo-

gie fonction religieuse et social Roma Calligas PG (1992) From the Amyklaion In J M Sanders (Ed) Philolakon

Lakonian Studies in Honour of Hector Catling London 31ndash48 Carter JB (1987) The masks of Ortheia In AJA 91 355ndash383 Carter JB (1988) Masks and poetry in early Sparta In R Haumlgg ndash N Marinatos

ndash GC Nordquist (Eds) Early Greek Cult Practice 88ndash98 Stockholm Cartledge P (1979) Sparta and Lakonia London Cartledge P (1981) The politics of Spartan pederasty In PCPhS 27 17ndash36 Cartledge P (1987) Agesilaos and the Crisis of Sparta London ndash Baltimore Cartledge P (1998) City and chora in Sparta Archaic to Hellenistic In WG

Cavanagh ndash SEC Walker (Eds) Sparta in Laconia Proceedings of the 19th British Museum Classical Colloquium 39ndash49 London

Catling H (1976ndash77) Excavations at the Menelaion Sparta 1973ndash1976 In Ar-chaeological Reports 23 24ndash42

Catling RWV (2002) The survey area from the Early Iron Age to the Classical period In W Cavanagh ndash J Crouwel ndash R W V Catling ndash G Shipley (Eds) Continuity and Change in a Greek Rural Landscape Laconian Survey 151ndash

54 Mait Kotildeiv

256 London Christien J ndash Ruzeacute F (2007) Sparte Geacuteographie mythes et histoire Paris Connerton P (1989) How Societies Remember Cambridge Corsano M (1979) Sparte et Tarante le mythe de fondation drsquoune colonie In

Revue de lrsquohistoire des religions 196 113ndash140 Cubitt G (2007) History and Memory Manchester Dawkins R M (1929a) The sanctuary In RM Dawkins (Ed) The Sanctuary of

Artemis Orthia at Sparta Excavated and Described by Members of the British School at Athens 1906ndash1910 London 1ndash51

Dawkins R M (1929b) The terracotta figurines In R M Dawkins (Ed) The Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta Excavated and Described by Members of the British School at Athens 1906ndash1910 London 145ndash162

Dawkins R M (1929c) Objects carved in ivory and bone In R M Dawkins (Ed) The Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta Excavated and Described by Members of the British School at Athens 1906ndash1910 London 203ndash248

Delcourt M (1944) Oedipe ou la leacutegende conquerant Lieacutege ndash Paris Dickins G (1929) The masks In R M Dawkins (Ed) The Sanctuary of Artemis

Orthia at Sparta Excavated and Described by Members of the British School at Athens 1906ndash1910 London 163ndash186

Dillon M (2002) Girls and Women in Classical Greek Religion London ndash New York

Dodd D B ndash Faraone C A (Eds) (2011) Initiation in Ancient Greek Rituals and Narratives New Critical Perspectives London ndash New York

Dowden K (2011) Initiation the key to myth In K Dowden ndash N Livingstone (Eds) A Companion to Greek Mythology MaldenndashOxfordndash Chichester 487ndash505

Drerup H (1969) Griechische Baukunst in geometrischer Zeit Goumlttingen Ducat J (2006) Spartan Education Youth and Society in the Classical Period

Swansea Eder B (1998) Argos Lakonien Messenien vom Ende der mykenischen Palast-

zeit bis zur Einwanderung der Dorier Wien Eitrem S (1941) Phlegyas In RE 19 266ndash269 Eliade M (1965) The Myth of the Eternal Return Or Cosmos and History

Princeton Eliade M (1995) Rites and Symbols of Initiation The Mystries of Birth and

Rebirth Woodstock Faringgerstroumlm K (1988) Greek Iron Age Architecture Developments through

Changing Times Goumlteborg Faustoferri A (1996) Il trono di Amyklai e Sparta Bathycles al servizio del pote-

re Napoli Forrest WG (1968) A History of Sparta 950ndash192 BC London Gehrke H-J (1994) Mythos Geschichte Politik ndash antik und modern In Sae-

culum 45 239ndash264 Gehrke H-J (2001) Myth history and collective identity uses of past in An-

cient Greece and beyond In N Luraghi (Ed) Historianrsquos Craft in the Age of


Herodotus Oxford 286ndash313 Gehrke H-J (2003) Sullrsquoetnicitagrave elea In Geographia Antica 12 5ndash22 Gehrke H-J (2010) Representations of the past in Greek culture In L Foxhall ndash

H-J Gehrke ndash N Luraghi (Eds) Intentional History Spinning Time in An-cient Greece 15ndash33 Stuttgart

Gilbert G (1872) Studien zur altspartanischen Geschichte Goumlttingen Golden M (1988) Male chauvinists and pigs In Echos du Monde Classi-

queClassical Views 32 ns 7 1ndash12 Graf F (2011) Initiation a concept with a troubled history In Dodd ndash Faraone

3ndash24 Haake M ndash Jung M (Hrsg) (2011) Griechische Heiligtuumlmer als Erinnerungs-

orte Von der Archaik bis in den Hellenismus Ertraumlge einer internationalen Tagung in Muumlnster 20ndash2112006 Stuttgart

Hall J (2007) A History of the Archaic Greek World ca 1200ndash749 BCE Malden ndash Oxford ndash Clarton

Henderson J (1975) The Maculate Muse Obscene language in Attic Comedy New Haven ndash London

Hiller von Gaertringen F (1940-41) Alt-Thera vor der Gruumlndung von Kyrene In Klio 33 57ndash72

Hodkinson S (1997) The development of Spartan society and institutions in the Archaic period In LG Mitchell ndash PJ Rhodes (Eds) The Development of the Polis in Archaic Greece London ndash New York 1997 83ndash102

Houmllkeskamp K J (2010) Lykurg ndash der Mythos vom Verfassungsstifter und Er-zieher In Stein-Houmllkeskamp ndash Houmllkeskamp 316ndash335

Huxley G (1962) Early Sparta London Jacoby F (1926) FGrHist II C Zeitgeschichte (Kommentar zu Nr 64ndash105) Berlin Jacoby F (1955a) FGrHist III B 1 Autoren uumlber einzelne Staumldte (Laumlnder) (Kom-

mentar zu Nr 297ndash607 Text) Leiden Jacoby F (1955b) FGrHist III B 2 Autoren uumlber einzelne Staumldte (Laumlnder) (Kom-

mentar zu Nr 297ndash607 Noten) Leiden Jeanmaire H (1939) Couroi et Couretes Essai sur lrsquoeducation spartiate et sur les

rites drsquoadolescence dans lrsquoantiquiteacute helleacutenique Lille Kennell N M (1995) The Gymnasium of Virtue Education and Culture in An-

cient Sparta Chapel Hill ndash London Kennell N M (2010) Spartans A New History Malden ndash Oxford ndash Chichester Kennell N ndash Luraghi N (2009) Laconia and Messenia In K A Raaflaub ndash H

van Wees (Eds) A Companion to Archaic Greece 339ndash254 Malden ndash Oxford ndash Chichester

Kiechle F (1963) Lakonien und Sparta Muumlnchen ndash Berlin Kilmer M (1982) Genital phobia and depilation In JHS 1002 104ndash112 Kirsten E (1958) Heiligtum und Tempel der Artemis Orthia In Bonner Jahrbuuml-

cher 158 170ndash176 Kohlmann P (1874) Othryades Ein historisches-kritisches Untersuchung In

RhM NF 29 463ndash480 Kotildeiv M (2003) Ancient Tradition and Early Greek History The Origins of States

56 Mait Kotildeiv

in Early-Archaic Sparta Argos and Corinth (Tallinn 2003) Kotildeiv M (2005) The origins development and reliability of the ancient tradition

about the formation of the Spartan constitution In Historia 54 233ndash264 Kotildeiv M (2013a) Early history of Elis and Pisa invented or evolving traditions

In Klio 95 15ndash68 Kotildeiv M (2013b) Urbanisation and political community in early Greece In TR

Kaumlmmerer ndash S Rogge (Eds) Patterns of Urban Societies AOATAAMO 2 149ndash208 Muumlnster

Kopanias K (2009) Some ivories from the Geometric stratum at the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia Sparta interconnections between Sparta Crete and the Orient during the late eighth century BC In W G Cavanagh ndash C Gallou ndash M Georgiadis (Eds) Sparta and Laconia from Prehistory to Pre-Modern (British School at Athens Studies 16) London 123ndash131

Kunstler B (1991) The werewolf figure and its adoption into the Greek political vocabulary In CW 84 189ndash205

Lamer (1924) Laios In RE XII 1 467ndash513 Lane E A (1933-34) Lakonian vase painting In BSA 34 99ndash198 Link S (2009) Education and pederasty in Spartan and Cretan society In S

Hodkinson (Ed) Sparta Comparative Approaches Swansea 98ndash111 Lissarague F (1993) On the wildness of satyrs In TH Carpenter ndash C Faraone

(Eds) Masks of Dionysos 207ndash220 London ndash Ithaca Lupi M (2006) Amompharetos the lochos of Pitane and the Spartan system of

villages In S Hodkinson ndash A Powell (Eds) Sparta and War Swansea 185ndash218

Luraghi N (2008) The Ancient Messenians Construction of Ethnicity and Mem-ory Cambridge UP

Luther A (2004) Koumlnige und Ephoren Untersuchungen zur spartanischen Ver-fassungsgeschichte Frankfurt am Main

Malkin I (1994) Myth and territory in the Spartan Mediterranean Cambridge Mau A (1896) Astrabe In RE 4 1792ndash1793 Meier M (1998) Aristokraten und Damoden Untersuchungen zur inneren Ent-

wicklung Spartas im 7 Jahrhundert v Chr und zur politischen Funktion der Dichtung des Tyrtaios Stuttgart

Meyer E (1892) Forschungen zur alten Geschichte I Halle Moreau A (1992) Initiation en Grece antique In DHA 18 191ndash244 Mosseacute C (1988) La construction drsquoun mythe historique la vie de Lycurge de

Plutarque In D Bouvier ndash C Calame (Eds) Mythoi Philosophes et histo-riens anciens face aux mythes (Etudes de Lettres 2) 83ndash88

Mosshammer A A (1979) The Chronicle of Eusebius and Greek Chronographic Tradition Lewisburg ndash London

Nafissi M (1999) From Sparta to Taras nomima ktiseis and the relationship be-tween colony and mother city In S Hodkinson ndash A Powell (Eds) Sparta New Perspectives 245ndash272 London

Nafissi M (2009) Sparta in K A Raaflaub ndash H van Wees (Eds) A Companion to Archaic Greece Malden ndash Oxford ndash Chichester 117ndash137


Nafissi M (2010) The Great Rhetra In L Foxhall ndash H-J Gehrke ndash N Luraghi (Eds) Intentional History Spinning Time in Ancient Greece 89ndash119 Stutt-gart

Nilsson M P (1906) Griechische Feste von religioumlse Bedeutung Leipzig Ogden D (1997) The Crooked Kings of Ancient Greece London Ogden D (2005) Aristomenes of Messene Legends of Spartarsquos Nemesis Swan-

sea Osborne R (1996) Greece in the Making 1200 ndash 479 BC London New York Paradiso A (2007) Ravir des fromages agrave lrsquoautel drsquoOrthia In Ktema 32 311ndash325 Parker R (1987) Demeter Dionysus and the Spartan pantheon In R Haumlgg ndash N

Marinatos ndash GC Nordquist (Eds) Early Greek Cult Practice 99ndash103 Stock-holm

Pearson L (1962) The pseudo-history of Messenia and its authors In Historia 11 397ndash426

Pettersson M (1992) Cults of Apollo at Sparta the Hyakinthia the Gym-nopaidiai and the Carneia Stockholm

Phaklaris P B (1987) He mache tes Thyreas (546 p Ch) In Horos 5 101ndash119 Pipili M (1987) Laconian Iconography of the Sixth Century BC Oxford Polignac F de (1984) La naissance de la citeacute grecque Paris Powell A (1998) Sixth-century Lakonian vase-painting continuities and dis-

continuities with the lsquoLykourganrsquo ethos In N Fisher ndash H van Wees (Eds) (1998) Archaic Greece New Approach and New Evidence 119ndash146 London

Qviller B (1996) Reconstructing the Spartan Partheniai many guesses and few facts In SO 71 34ndash41

Richer N (2010) The religious system at Sparta In D Ogden (Ed) A Compan-ion to Greek Religion 236ndash252 Wiley-Blackwell

Richer N (2012) La religion des spartiates Croyances et cultes dans lrsquoAntiquiteacute Paris

Robertson N (1992) Festivals and Legends The Formation of Greek Cities in the Light of Public Ritual Toronto ndash Buffalo ndash London

Robertson N (2002) The religious criterion in Greek ethnicity the Dorians and the festival Carneia In American Journal of Ancient History NS 12 5ndash74

Rose HJ (1929) The cult of Orthia In R M Dawkins (Ed) The Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta Excavated and Described by Members of the British School at Athens 1906ndash1910 London 399ndash407

Roscoe W (1996) Priests and goddesses gender transgression in ancient relig-ions In History of Religions 35 195ndash230

Ruzeacute F ndash Chistien J (2007) Sparte geacuteographie mythes histoire Paris Sakellariou M B (1989) The Polis-State Definition and Origins Athens Schulz F (2011) Die homerischen Raumlte und die spartanischen Gerusie Duumlssel-

dorf Seeberg A (1966) Astrabica (Herodotus VI 68ndash69) In SO 61 48ndash74 Shear J L (2011) Polis and Revolution Responding to Oligarchy in Classical

Athens Cambridge Shipley G (2004) Lakedaimon In MH Hansen ndash TH Nielsen (Eds) An Inven-

58 Mait Kotildeiv

tory of Archaic and Classical Greek Poleis An Investigation Conducted by the Copenhagen Polis Centre for the Danish National Research Foundation 569ndash598 Oxford ndash New York

Sourvinou-Inwood C (1988) ldquoMythrdquo and history on Herodotus III 48 and 50ndash53 In OA 17 167ndash182

Stein-Houmllkeskamp E ndash Houmllkeskamp K-J (Hrsg) Die griechische Welt Erinne-rungsorte der Antike Muumlnchen

Stibbe CM (1972) Lakonische Vasenmaler der sechsten Jahrhunderts v Chr Amsterdam London

Stibbe CM (1996) Das andere Sparta Mainz am Rhein Szegedy-Maszak A (1978) Legends of the Greek Lawgivers In GRBS 19 199ndash

209 Teppo S (2008) Sacred marriage and the devotees of Ištar In M Nissinen ndash R

Uro (Eds) Sacred Marriages The Devine-Human Sexual Metaphor from Sumer to Early Christianity 75ndash92 Winona Lake Indiana

Thommen L (1996) Lakedaimonion Politeia Stuttgart Tigerstedt E N (1965) The Legend of Sparta in Classical Antiquity I Stockholm

ndash Goumlteborg ndash Uppsala Vansina J (1985) Oral Tradition as History London ndash Nairobi Van Gennep A (1960) The rites of passage Chicago Van Wees H (1999) Tyrteausrsquo Euromia nothing to do with the Great Rhetra In

S Hodkinson ndash A Powell (Eds) Sparta New Perspectives 1ndash41 London Vernant J-P (1982) From Oedipus to Periander lameness tyranny incest in

legend and history In Arethusa 15 19ndash38 Vernant J-P (1992) Mortals and Immortals Collected Essays Princeton ndash New

Jersey Versnel HS (1990) Myth and ritual Whatrsquos sauce for the goose is sauce for the

gander myth and ritual old and new In L Edmunds (Ed) Approaches to Greek Myth 25ndash90 Baltimore ndash London

Vidal-Naquet P (1981a) The black hunters and the origins of Athenian ephebia In RL Gordon (Ed) Myth Religion and Society Structuralist Essays by M Detienne L Gernet J-P Vernant and P Vidal-Naquet 147ndash162 Cambridge

Vidal-Naquet P (1981b) Recipes for Greek adolescence In RLGordon (Ed) Myth Religion and Society Structuralist Essays by M Detienne L Gernet J-P Vernant and P Vidal-Naquet 163ndash185 Cambridge

Wace AJB (1929) The lead figurines In RM Dawkins (Ed) The Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta Excavated and Described by Members of the British School at Athens 1906 ndash 1910 London 249ndash284

Wade-Gery H T (1944) The Spartan Rhetra in Plutarch Lycurgus VI C What is the Rhetra In CQ 38 115ndash126

Waugh N (2009) Visualising fertility at Artemis Orthiarsquos site In W G Cavanagh ndash C Gallou ndash M Georgiadis (Eds) Sparta and Laconia from Pre-history to Pre-Modern (British School at Athens Studies 16) 159ndash167 London

Welwei K-W (2004) Sparta Aufstieg und Niedergang einer antiken Groszligmacht Stuttgart


Wilamowitz-Moellendorff U v (1884) Homerische Untersuchungen (Philologi-sche Untersuchungen 7) Berlin

Zavvou E ndash Themos A (2009) Sparta from prehistory to Early Christian times observations from the excavations of 1994ndash2005 in W G Cavanagh ndash C Gallon ndash M Georgiadis (Eds) Sparta and Laconia From Prehistory to Pre-Modern London 105ndash122

Map Southern Peloponnese with Sparta and its sanctuaries 1 ndash Amyklai 2 ndash Kalybia Sochas 3 ndash Menelaion 4 ndash Tsakona

(drawn by the author)

60 Mait Kotildeiv

Figure 1 Topographical map of the villages of Sparta (from Cartledge 1979 105)


Figure 2 The sanctuary of Artemis Orthia the temple the altar (marked with arrow) and the Roman period seats for the spectators on the foreground

(photograph by the author)

Figure 3 View on Sparta from the site of Menelaion A ndash Spartan acropolis O ndash the site of Orthia E ndash Eurotas (photograph by the author)

62 Mait Kotildeiv

Figure 4 Menelaion with Taigetos on the background (photograph by the author)

Figure 5 Amyklaion with Taigetos an Sparta (marked with arrow) on the background (adapted from httpamyklaiongrwp-contentuploads201406Lofos20101jpg)


Figure 6 The statue of lsquoLeonidasrsquo in the museum of Sparta with the depiction of ramrsquos horns on the cheeks (photograph by the author)

Figure 7 An Archaic vase-painting of Hephaistos on mule accompanied by silens and maenads (LIMC Hephaistos no 142a)

64 Mait Kotildeiv

Figure 8 Hephaistos on mule on an Archaic Laconian cup from Rhodes (from Pilili 1987 54 fig 80)

Figure 9 Orthian masks (from Carter 1987 90 fig 3ndash4)


Figure 10 The figurines of the padded dancers from the Orthian sanctuary in the Spartan museum (photograph by the author)

Figure 11 Dionysian scenery on the Archaic Laconian pottery (from Stibbe 1972 Supplement Tafel 24)

66 Mait Kotildeiv

Figure 12 An early 6th century Laconian cup from the Orthian sanctuary (from Lane 1933-34 plate 39)

Alter Orient und Altes Testament

Veroumlffentlichungen zur Kultur und Geschichte des Alten Orients und des Alten Testaments

Band 390 3

Herausgeber

Manfried Dietrich bull Ingo Kottsieper bull Hans Neumann

Lektoren

Kai A Metzler bull Ellen Rehm

Beratergremium

Rainer Albertz bull Joachim Bretschneider bull Stefan Maul Udo Ruumlterswoumlrden bull Walther Sallaberger bull Gebhard Selz

Michael P Streck bull Wolfgang Zwickel


Band 3

Herausgeber



Peeter Roosimaa



Edited by


2015 Ugarit-Verlag

Muumlnster















26 Mait Kotildeiv







28 Mait Kotildeiv









30 Mait Kotildeiv








32 Mait Kotildeiv











34 Mait Kotildeiv








36 Mait Kotildeiv









38 Mait Kotildeiv










40 Mait Kotildeiv








42 Mait Kotildeiv










44 Mait Kotildeiv










46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv



Band 3

Herausgeber



Peeter Roosimaa



Edited by


2015 Ugarit-Verlag

Muumlnster















26 Mait Kotildeiv







28 Mait Kotildeiv









30 Mait Kotildeiv








32 Mait Kotildeiv











34 Mait Kotildeiv








36 Mait Kotildeiv









38 Mait Kotildeiv










40 Mait Kotildeiv








42 Mait Kotildeiv










44 Mait Kotildeiv










46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv
















26 Mait Kotildeiv







28 Mait Kotildeiv









30 Mait Kotildeiv








32 Mait Kotildeiv











34 Mait Kotildeiv








36 Mait Kotildeiv









38 Mait Kotildeiv










40 Mait Kotildeiv








42 Mait Kotildeiv










44 Mait Kotildeiv










46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv






28 Mait Kotildeiv









30 Mait Kotildeiv








32 Mait Kotildeiv











34 Mait Kotildeiv








36 Mait Kotildeiv









38 Mait Kotildeiv










40 Mait Kotildeiv








42 Mait Kotildeiv










44 Mait Kotildeiv










46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv






30 Mait Kotildeiv








32 Mait Kotildeiv











34 Mait Kotildeiv








36 Mait Kotildeiv









38 Mait Kotildeiv










40 Mait Kotildeiv








42 Mait Kotildeiv










44 Mait Kotildeiv










46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv





32 Mait Kotildeiv











34 Mait Kotildeiv








36 Mait Kotildeiv









38 Mait Kotildeiv










40 Mait Kotildeiv








42 Mait Kotildeiv










44 Mait Kotildeiv










46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv








34 Mait Kotildeiv








36 Mait Kotildeiv









38 Mait Kotildeiv










40 Mait Kotildeiv








42 Mait Kotildeiv










44 Mait Kotildeiv










46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv







36 Mait Kotildeiv









38 Mait Kotildeiv










40 Mait Kotildeiv








42 Mait Kotildeiv










44 Mait Kotildeiv










46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv







38 Mait Kotildeiv










40 Mait Kotildeiv








42 Mait Kotildeiv










44 Mait Kotildeiv










46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv








40 Mait Kotildeiv








42 Mait Kotildeiv










44 Mait Kotildeiv










46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv






42 Mait Kotildeiv










44 Mait Kotildeiv










46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv






44 Mait Kotildeiv










46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv







46 Mait Kotildeiv









48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv







48 Mait Kotildeiv










50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv






50 Mait Kotildeiv









52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv







52 Mait Kotildeiv


















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv















54 Mait Kotildeiv









































56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv























56 Mait Kotildeiv







































58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv





















58 Mait Kotildeiv

























60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv







60 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv






62 Mait Kotildeiv






64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv





64 Mait Kotildeiv






66 Mait Kotildeiv





66 Mait Kotildeiv


sanctuaries and traditions in ancient sparta

Documents