[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.

[1] NE5T after the Messenian is the Laconian Gulf, situated between Taenarum and Maleae, declining a little from the south to the east. Thyrides, a precipitous rock, beaten by the waves, is in the Messenian Gulf, and distant from Taenarum 100 stadia. Above is Taÿgetum, a lofty and perpendicular mountain, at a short distance from the sea, approaching on the northern side close to the Arcadian mountains, so as to leave between them a valley, where Messenia is continuous with Laconia.

At the foot of Taÿgetum, in the inland parts, lie Sparta and Amyclae, ¹ where is the temple of Apollo, and Pharis. The site of Sparta is in rather a hollow, although it comprises mountains within it; no part of it, however, is marshy, although, anciently, the suburbs were so, which were called Limnae. The temple of Bacchus, also in Limnnae, was in a wet, situation, but now stands on a dry ground.

In the bay on the coast is Taenarum, a promontory projecting into the sea. ² Upon it, in a grove, is the temple of Neptune, and near the temple a cave, through which, according to the fable, Cerberus was brought up by Hercules from Hades. Thence to the promontory Phycus in Cyrenaica, is a passage across towards the south of 3000 stadia; and to Pachynus, towards the west, the promontory of Sicily, 4600, or, according to some writers, 4000 stadia; to Maleae, towards the east, including the measurement of the bays, 670 stadia; to Onugnathus, ³ a low peninsula a little within Maleae, 520 stadia. (In front of Onugnathus, at the distance of 40 stadia, lies Cythera, ⁴ an island with a good harbour, and a city of the same name, which was the private property of Eurycles, the commander of the Lacedaemonians in our time. It is surrounded by several small islands, some near it, others lying somewhat farther off.) To Corycus, a promontory of Crete, the nearest passage by sea is 250 stadia. ⁵

[2] Next to Taenarum on the voyage to Onugnathus and to Maleae ⁶ is Amathus, (Psamathus,) a city; then follow Asine, and Gythium, ⁷ the naval arsenal of Sparta, situated at an interval of 240 stadia. Its station for vessels, they say, is excavated by art. Farther on, between Gythium and Acraea, is the mouth of the Eurotas. ⁸ To this place the voyage along the coast is about 240 stadia; then succeeds a marshy tract, and a village, Helos, which formerly was a city, according to Homer;

They who occupied Amyclae, and Helos, a small town on the sea-coast. ⁹

Il. ii. 584. They say that it was founded by Helius the son of Perseus. There is a plain also call Leuce; then Cyparissia, ¹⁰ a city upon a peninsula, with a harbour; then Onugnathus with a harbour; next Boea, a city; then Maleae. From these cities to Onugnathus are 150 stadia. There is also Asopus, ¹¹ a city in Laconia.

[3] Among the places enumerated by Homer in the Catalogue of the Ships, Messa, they say, is no longer to be found; and that Messoa is not a part of Laconia, but a part of Sparta itself, as was the Limnaeum near Thornax. Some understand Messē to be a contraction of Messene, for it is said that this was a part of Laconia. [They allege as examples from the poet, the words cri, and do, and maps, ¹² and this passage also;

The horses were yoked by Automedon and Alcimus, ¹³

Il. xix. 392. instead of Alcimedon. And the words of Hesiod, who uses βοͅῖ for βοͅιθν̀ and βριαοͅὸν; and Sophocles and Io, who have ῥᾳ for ῥᾴδιιν; and Epicharmus, λῖ for λίαν, and συρακὼ for συοͅα- κουσαι; Empedocles also has ὂψ for ὄψις?̔μία γίγνεται ἀμφτέρων ὄψ or ὄψις;) and Antimachus, δήμητρός τοι?̓ελυσινίης ἱερὴ ὄψ, and ἄλφι for ἄλφιτον; Euphorion has ἧλ for ἧλος; Philetes has δμωίδες εἰς ταλάρκὸν ἄγουσιν ἔρι for ἔοͅιον Aratus, εἰς ἄνεμον δὲ τὰ πηδά for τὰ πηδάλια; Simmias, Dodo for Dodona.] ¹⁴

Of the rest of the places mentioned by the poet, some are extinct; of others traces remain, and of others the names are changed, as Augeiae into Aegaeae: [the city] of that name in Locris exists no longer. With respect to Las, the Dioscuri are said to have taken it by siege formerly, whence they had the name of Lapersae, (Destroyers of Las,) and Sophocles says somewhere, by the two Lapersae, by Eurotas, by the gods in Argos and Sparta.

[4] Ephorus says that the Heracleidae, Eurysthenes and Procles, having obtained possession of Laconia, divided it into six parts, and founded cities throughout the country, and assigned Amyclae to him who betrayed to them Laconia, and who prevailed upon the person that occupied it to retire, on certain conditions, with the Achaei, into Ionia. Sparta they retained themselves as the royal seat of the kingdom. To the other cities they sent kings, permitting them to receive whatever strangers might be disposed to settle there, on account of the scarcity of inhabitants. Las was used as a naval station, because it had a convenient harbour; Aegys, as a stronghold, from whence to attack surrounding enemies; Pheraea, as a place to deposit treasure, because it afforded security from ¹⁵ attempts from without. * * * * that all the neighbouring people submitted to the Spartiatae, but were to enjoy an equality of rights, and to have a share in the government and in the offices of state. They were called Heilotae. But Agis, the son of Eurysthenes, deprived them of the equality of rights, and ordered them to pay tribute to Sparta. The rest submitted; but the Heleii, who occupied Helos, revolted, and were made prisoners in the course of the war; they were adjudged to be slaves, with the conditions, that the owner should not be allowed to give them their liberty, nor sell them beyond the boundaries of the country. This was called the war of the Heilotae. ¹⁶ The system of Heilote-slavery, which continued from that time to the establishment of the dominion of the Romans, was almost entirely the contrivance of Agis. They were a kind of public slaves, to whom the Lacedaemonians assigned habitations, and required from them peculiar services.

[5] With respect to the government of the Lacones, and the changes which have taken place among them, many things, as being well known, may be passed over, but some it may be worth while to relate. It is said that the Achaean Phthiotae, who, with Pelops, made an irruption into Peloponnesus, settled in Laconia, and were so much distinguished for their valour, that Peloponnesus, which for a long period up to this time had the name of Argos, was then called Achaean Argos; and not Peloponnesus alone had this name, but Laconia also was thus peculiarly designated. Some even understand the words of the poet,

Where was Menelaus, was he not at Achaean Argos? ¹⁷

Od. iii. 249, 251. as implying, was he not in Laconia? But about the time of the return of the Heracleidae, when Philonomus betrayed the country to the Dorians, they removed from Laconia to the country of the Ionians, which at present is called Achaia. We shall speak of them in our description of Achaia.

Those who were in possession of Laconia, at first conducted themselves with moderation, but after they had intrusted to Lycurgus the formation of a political constitution, they acquired such a superiority over the other Greeks, that they alone obtained the sovereignty both by sea and land, and continued to be the chiefs of the Greeks, till the Thebans, and soon afterwards the Macedonians, deprived them of this ascendency.

They did not however entirely submit even to these, but, preserving their independence, were continually disputing the sovereignty both with the other Greeks and with the Macedonian kings. After the overthrow of the latter by the Romans, the Lacones living under a bad government at that time, and under the power of tyrants, had given some slight offence to the generals whom the Romans sent into the province. They however recovered themselves, and were held in very great honour. They remained free, and performed no other services but those expected from allies. Lately however Eurycles ¹⁸ excited some disturbances amongst them, having abused excessively, in the exercise of his authority, the friendship of Caesar. The government soon came to an end by the death of Eurycles, and the son rejected all such friendships. The Eleuthero-Lacones ¹⁹ however did obtain some regular form of government, when the surrounding people, and especially the Heilotae, at the time that Sparta was governed by tyrants, were the first to attach themselves to the Romans.

Hellanicus says that Eurysthenes and Procles regulated the form of government, but Ephorus reproaches him with not mentioning Lycurgus at all, and with ascribing the acts of the latter to persons who had no concern in them; to Lycurgus only is a temple erected, and sacrifices are annually performed in his honour, but to Eurysthenes and Procles, although they were the founders of Sparta, yet not even these honours were paid to them, that their descendants should bear the respective appellations of Eurysthenidae and Procleidae. ²⁰ [The descendants of Agis, however, the son of Eurysthenes, were called Agides, and the descendants of Eurypon, the son of Procles, were called Eurypontiadae. The former were legitimate princes; the others, having admitted strangers as settlers, reigned by their means; whence they were not regarded as original authors of the settlement, an honour usually conferred upon all founders of cities.]

[6] As to the nature of the places in Laconia and Messenia, we may take the description of Euripides; ²¹ Messenia he describes in this manner: and a little farther on, speaking of the division of the country by the Heracleidae according to lot, the first was the second was Messene, and Tyrtaeus speaks of it in the same manner.

But we cannot admit that Laconia and Messenia are bounded, as Euripides says, this river flows through the middle of Messenia, and does not touch any part of the present Laconia. Nor is he right, when he says that Mess nia is inaccessible to sailors, whereas it borders upon the sea, in the same manner as Laconia.

Nor does he give the right boundaries of Elis; and he adduces a proof unnecessarily. For if he means the present Eleian territory, which is on the confines of Messenia, this the Pamisus does not touch, any more than it touches Laconia, for, as has been said before, it flows through the middle of Messenia: or, if he meant the ancient Eleia, called the Hollow, this is a still greater deviation from the truth. For after crossing the Pamisus, there is a large tract of the Messenian country, then the whole district of [the Lepreatae], and of the [Macistii], which is called Triphylia; then the Pisatis, and Olympia; then at the distance of 300 stadia is Elis.

[7] As some persons write the epithet applied by Homer to Lacedaemon, κητώεσσαν, and others καιετάεσσαν, how are we to understand κητώεσσα, whether it is derived from Cetos, ²³ or whether it denotes large, which is most probable. Some understand καιετάεσσα to signify, abounding with calaminthus; others suppose, as the fissures occasioned by earthquakes are called Caeeti, that this is the origin of the epithet. Hence Caeietas also, the name of the prison among the Lacedaemonians, which is a sort of cave. Some however say, that such kind of hollows are rather called Coi, whence the expression of Homer, ²⁴ applied to wild beasts, φηοͅσὶν ὀρεσκῴοισιν, which live in mountain caves. Laconia however is subject to earthquakes, and some writers relate, that certain peaks of Taÿgetum have been broken off by the shocks. ²⁵

Laconia contains also quarries of valuable marble. Those of the Taenarian marble in Taenarum ²⁶ are ancient, and certain persons, assisted by the wealth of the Romans, lately opened a large quarry in Taÿgetum.

[8] It appears from Homer, that both the country and the city had the name of Lacedaemon; I mean the country together with Messenia. When he speaks of the bow and quiver of Ulysses, he says,

A present from Iphitus Eurytides, a stranger, who met him in Lacedaemon, ²⁷

Od. xxi. 13. and adds, He means the country which was a part of Messenia. ²⁸ There was then no difference whether he said A stranger, whom he met at Lacedaemon, gave him, or, they met at Messene; for it is evident that Pherae was the home of Ortilochus:

they arrived at Pherae, and went to the house of Diocles the son of Ortilochus, ²⁹

Od. iii. 488. namely, Telemachus and Pisistratus. Now Pherae ³⁰ belongs to Messenia. But after saying, that Telemachus and his friend set out from Pherae, and were driving their two horses the whole day, he adds, The sun was setting; they came to the hollow Lacedaemon ( κητ́εσσαν), and drove their chariot to the palace of Menelaus. ³¹ Here we must understand the city; and if we do not, the poet says, that they journeyed from Lacedaemon to Lacedaemon. It is otherwise improbable that the palace of Menelaus should not be at Sparta; and if it was not there, that Telemachus should say,

for I am going to Sparta, and to Pylus, ³²

Od. ii. 359. for this seems to agree with the epithets applied to the country, ³³ unless indeed any one should allow this to be a poetical licence; for, if Messenia was a part of Laconia, it would be a contradiction that Messene should not be placed together with Laconia, or with Pylus, (which was under the command of Nestor,) nor by itself in the Catalogue of Ships, as though it had no part in the expedition.