[1] Be this as it may, after the Messenian Gulf comes the Laconian Gulf, lying between Taenarum ¹ and Maleae, ² which bends slightly from the south towards the east; and Thyrides, ³ a precipitous rock exposed to the currents of the sea, is in the Messenian Gulf at a distance of one hundred and thirty stadia from Taenarum. Above Thyrides lies Taÿgetus; it is a lofty and steep mountain, only a short distance from the sea, and it connects in its northerly parts with the foothills of the Arcadian mountains in such a way that a glen is left in between, where Messenia borders on Laconia. Below Taÿgetus, in the interior, lies Sparta, and also Amyclae, where is the temple of Apollo, ⁴ and Pharis. Now the site of Sparta is in a rather hollow district, ⁵ although it includes mountains within its limits; yet no part of it is marshy, though in olden times the suburban part was marshy, and this part they called Limnae; ⁶ and the temple of Dionysus in Limnae ⁷ stood on wet ground, though now its foundations rest on dry ground. In the bend of the seaboard one comes, first, to a headland that projects into the sea, Taenarum, with its temple of Poseidon situated in a grove; and secondly, near by, to the cavern ⁸ through which, according to the myth writers, Cerberus was brought up from Hades by Heracles. From here the passage towards the south across the sea to Phycus, ⁹ a cape in Cyrenaea, is three thousand stadia; and the passage towards the west to Pachynus, ¹⁰ the promontory of Sicily, is four thousand six hundred, though some say four thousand; and towards the east to Maleae, following the sinuosities of the gulfs, six hundred and seventy; and to Onugnathus, ¹¹ a low-lying peninsula somewhat this side of Maleae, five hundred and twenty; off Onugnathus and opposite it, at a distance of forty stadia, lies Cythera, an island with a good harbor, containing a city of the same name, which Eurycles, the ruler of the Lacedaemonians in our times, seized as his private property; and round it lie several small islands, some near it and others slightly farther away; and to Corycus, ¹² a cape in Crete, the shortest voyage is seven hundred stadia. ¹³

[2] After Taenarum, on the voyage to Onugnathus and Maleae, one comes to the city Psamathus; then to Asine, and to Gythium, the seaport of Sparta, situated at a distance of two hundred and forty stadia from Sparta. The roadstead of the seaport was dug by the hand of man, so it is said. Then one comes to the Eurotas, which empties between Gythium and Acraea. Now for a time the voyage is along the shore, for about two hundred and forty stadia; then comes a marshy district situated above the gulf, and also a village called Helus. ¹⁴ In earlier times Helus was a city, just as Homer says: ¹⁵ It is said to have been founded by Helius, a son of Perseus. And one comes also to a plain called Leuce; ¹⁶ then to a city Cyparissia, which is situated on a peninsula and has a harbor; then to Onugnathus, which has a harbor; then to the city Boea; and then to Maleae. And the distance from Onugnathus to Maleae is one hundred and fifty stadia; and there is also a city Asopus ¹⁷ in Laconia.

[3] They say that one of the places mentioned in Homer’s Catalogue, ¹⁸ Messe, is nowhere to be seen; and that Messoa was not a part of the country but of Sparta, as was the case with Limnaeum, ¹⁹ . . . ²⁰ But some take “Messe” as an apocopated form of “Messene,” for, as I have said, ²¹ Messene too was a part of Laconia. As examples of apocope from the poet himself, writers cite “kri,” “do,” and “maps,” ²² and also the passage ²³ for “Alcimedon”; then from Hesiod, who uses “bri” for “brithu” or “briaron”; and Sophocles and Ion, “rha” for “rhadion”; and Epicharmus, “li” for “lian,” and “Syraco” for “Syracuse”; and in Empedocles, ²⁴ “ops” for “opsis”: ²⁶ and in Antimachus, ²⁷ and “alphi” for “alphiton”; and Euphorion even uses “hel” for “helos”; and in Philetas, “eri” for “erion”: ²⁹ and Aratus says “peda” for “pedalia”: “the ‘peda’ ³⁰ towards the wind”; and Simmias, “Dodo” for “Dodona.” As for the rest of the places listed by the poet, some have been destroyed; of others traces are still left; and of others the names have been changed, for example, Augeiae ³¹ to Aegaeae; ³² for the Augeiae in Locris ³³ no longer exists at all. As for Las, the story goes, the Dioscuri ³⁴ once captured it by siege, and it was from this fact that they got the appellation “Lapersae.” ³⁵ And Sophocles says, ³⁶

[4] According to Ephorus: Eurysthenes and Procles, the Heracleidae, took possession of Laconia, ³⁷ divided the country into six parts, and founded cities; ³⁸ now one of the divisions, Amyclae, they selected and gave to the man ³⁹ who had betrayed Laconia to them and who had persuaded the ruler who was in possession of it to accept their terms and emigrate with the Achaeans to Ionia; Sparta they designated as a royal residence for themselves; to the other divisions they sent kings, and because of the sparsity of the population gave them permission to receive as fellow inhabitants any strangers who wished the privilege; and they used Las as a naval station because of its good harbor, and Aegys ⁴⁰ as a base of operations against their enemies (for its territory ⁴¹ bordered on those of the surrounding peoples) and Pharis as a treasury, because it afforded security against outsiders; . . . but though the neighboring peoples, one and all, were subject to the Spartiatae, still they had equal rights, sharing both in the rights of citizenship and in the offices of state, and they were called Helots; ⁴² but Agis, the son of Eurysthenes, deprived them of the equality of rights and ordered them to pay tribute to Sparta; now all obeyed except the Heleians, the occupants of Helus, who, because they revolted, were forcibly reduced in a war, and were condemned to slavery, with the express reservation that no slaveholder should be permitted either to set them free or to sell them outside the borders of the country; and this war was called the War against the Helots. One may almost say that it was Agis and his associates who introduced the whole system of Helot-slavery that persisted until the supremacy of the Romans; for the Lacedaemonians held the Helots as state slaves in a way, having assigned to them certain settlements to live in and special services to perform.

[5] Concerning the government of the Laconians and the changes that took place among them, one might omit most things as well known, but there are certain things which it is perhaps worthwhile to mention. For instance, they say that the Achaeans of Phthiotis came down with Pelops into the Peloponnesus, took up their abode in Laconia, and so far excelled in bravery that the Peloponnesus, which now for many ages had been called Argos, came to be called Achaean Argos, and the name was applied not only in a general way to the Peloponnesus, but also in a specific way to Laconia; at any rate, the words of the poet, ^{43 44} are interpreted by some thus: “or was he not in Laconia?” And at the time of the return of the Heracleidae, when Philonomus betrayed the country to the Dorians, the Achaeans emigrated from Laconia to the country of the Ionians, the country that still today is called Achaea. But I shall speak of them in my description of Achaea. ⁴⁵ Now the new possessors of Laconia restrained themselves at first, but after they turned over the government to Lycurgus they so far surpassed the rest that they alone of the Greeks ruled over both land and sea, and they continued ruling the Greeks until they were deprived of their hegemony, first by the Thebans, and immediately after them by the Macedonians. However, they did not wholly yield even to the Macedonians, but, preserving their autonomy, always kept up a struggle for the primacy both with the rest of the Greeks and with the kings of the Macedonians. And when the Macedonians had been overthrown by the Romans, the Lacedaemonians committed some slight offences against the praetors who were sent by the Romans, because at that time they were under the rule of tyrants and had a wretched government; but when they had recovered themselves, they were held in particular honor, and remained free, contributing to Rome nothing else but friendly services. But recently Eurycles has stirred up trouble among them, having apparently abused the friendship of Caesar unduly in order to maintain his authority over his subjects; but the trouble ⁴⁶ quickly came to an end, Eurycles retiring to his fate, ⁴⁷ and his son ⁴⁸ being averse to any friendship of this kind. ⁴⁹ And it also came to pass that the Eleuthero-Lacones ⁵⁰ got a kind of republican constitution, since the Perioeci ⁵¹ and also the Helots, at the time when Sparta was under the rule of tyrants, were the first to attach themselves to the Romans. Now Hellanicus says that Eurysthenes and Procles drew up the constitution; ⁵² but Ephorus censures Hellanicus, saying that he has nowhere mentioned Lycurgus and that he ascribes the work of Lycurgus to persons who had nothing to do with it. At any rate, Ephorus continues, it is to Lycurgus alone that a temple has been erected and that annual sacrifices are offered, whereas Eurysthenes and Procles, although they were the founders, have not even been accorded the honor of having their respective descendants called Eurysthenidae and Procleidae; instead, the respective descendants are called Agidae, after Agis the son of Eurysthenes, and Eurypontidae, after Eurypon the son of Procles; for Agis and Eurypon reigned in an honorable way, whereas Eurysthenes and Procles welcomed foreigners and through these maintained their overlordship; and hence they were not even honored with the title of “archegetae,” ⁵³ an honor which is always paid to founders; and further, Pausanias, ⁵⁴ after he was banished because of the hatred of the Eurypontidae, the other royal house, and when he was in exile, prepared a discourse on the laws of Lycurgus, who belonged to the house that banished him, ⁵⁵ in which he also tells the oracles that were given out to Lycurgus concerning most of the laws.

[6] Concerning the nature of the regions, both Laconia and Messenia, one should accept what Euripides says in the following passages: He says that Laconia has ⁵⁷ and a little below, in speaking of the lots which the Heracleidae cast for the country, he says that the first lot conferred ⁵⁸ and the second over Messenia, ⁵⁹ and Tyrtaeus speaks of it in the same manner. But one should not admit that the boundary between Laconia and Messenia is formed, as Euripides says, ⁶⁰ for it flows through the middle of Messenia, nowhere touching the present Laconia. Neither is he right when he says that to mariners Messenia is far away, for Messenia like Laconia lies on the sea; and he does not give the right boundary of Elis either, ⁶¹ for if, on the one hand, he means the present Eleian country, which borders on Messenia, the Pamisus does not touch this country, any more than it does Laconia, for, as I have said, it flows through the middle of Messenia; or if, on the other hand, he means the old Coele Elis, ⁶² he deviates much further from the truth; for after one crosses the Pamisus there is still a large part of Messenia to traverse, and then the whole of the territories of the Lepreatae and the Macistii, which they used to call Triphylia; and then come Pisatis and Olympia, and then, three hundred stadia farther on, Elis.

[7] Since some critics write ⁶³ Lacedaemon “Ketoessan” and others “Kaietaessan,” the question is asked, how should we interpret “Ketoessa,” whether as derived from “Kete,” ⁶⁴ or as meaning “large,” ⁶⁵ which seems to be more plausible. And as for “Kaietaessan,” some interpret it as meaning “Kalaminthode,” ⁶⁶ whereas others say that the clefts caused by earthquakes are called “Kaietoi,” and that from “Kaietoi” is derived “Kaietas,” the word among the Lacedaemonians for their “prison,” which is a sort of cavern. But some prefer to call such cavernous places “Kooi,” and whence, they add, comes the expression ^{67 68} Laconia is subject to earthquakes, and in fact some writers record that certain peaks of Taÿgetus have been broken away. And there are quarries of very costly marble—the old quarries of Taenarian marble on Taenarum; and recently some men have opened a large quarry in Taÿgetus, being supported in their undertaking by the extravagance of the Romans.

[8] Homer makes it clear that both the country and the city are called by the same name, Lacedaemon (and when I say “country” I include Messenia with Laconia). For in speaking of the bows, when he says, ⁶⁹ and then adds, ⁷⁰ Homer means the country of which Messenia was a part. Accordingly it made no difference to him whether he said “a friend had given him when he met him in Lacedaemon” or “these twain met in Messene.” For, that Pherae is the home of Ortilochus, is clear from this passage:

“and they” (Telemachus and Peisistratus) “went to Pherae, the home of Diocles, son of Ortilochus;”

and Pherae is in Messenia. But when Homer says that, after Telemachus and his companions set out from Pherae, they shook the yoke all day long, ⁷¹ and then adds, ⁷² we must interpret him as meaning the city; otherwise it will be obvious that the poet speaks of their arrival at Lacedaemon from Lacedaemon! And, besides, it is not probable that the residence of Menelaüs was not at Sparta, nor yet, if it were not there, that Telemachus would say, ⁷³ But the fact that Homer uses the epithets of the country ⁷⁴ is in disagreement with this view ⁷⁵ unless, indeed, one is willing to attribute this to poetic license—as one should do, for it were better for Messene to be included with Laconia or with the Pylus that was subject to Nestor, and not to be set off by itself in the Calalogue as not even having a part in the expedition.