Strabo Geography 10.4.18

[18] Lycurgus the Spartan law-giver, Ephorus continues, was five generations later than the Althaemenes who conducted the colony to Crete; ¹ for historians say that Althaemenes was son of the Cissus who founded Argos about the same time when Procles was establishing Sparta as metropolis; ² and Lycurgus, as is agreed by all, was sixth in descent from Procles; and copies are not earlier than their models, nor more recent things earlier than older things; not only the dancing which is customary among the Lacedaemonians, but also the rhythms and paeans that are sung according to law, and many other Spartan institutions, are called “Cretan” among the Lacedaemonians, as though they originated in Crete; and some of the public offices are not only administered in the same way as in Crete, but also have the same names, as, for instance, the office of the “Gerontes,” ³ and that of the “Hippeis” ⁴ (except that the “Hippeis” in Crete actually possessed horses, and from this fact it is inferred that the office of the “Hippeis” in Crete is older, for they preserve the true meaning of the appellation, whereas the Lacedaemonian “Hippeis” do not keep horses); but though the Ephors have the same functions as the Cretan Cosmi, they have been named differently; and the public messes are, even today, still called “Andreia” among the Cretans, but among the Spartans they ceased to be called by the same name as in earlier times; ⁵ at any rate, the following is found in Alcman: ⁶