Chapter V.
§ 1. Reduction of Argos by the Dorians. § 2. Of Sicyon. § 3. Of Phlius and Cleonæ. § 4. Of the Actè, Epidaurus, Ægina, and Trœzen. § 5. Independence of Mycenæ and Tiryns. § 6. Ancient homage of the towns of the Actè to Argolis. § 7. Territory of the Dryopians in Argolis. § 8. Reduction of Corinth by the Dorians. § 9. Ancient inhabitants of Corinth. § 10. Reduction of Megara by the Dorians. § 11. Reduction of Laconia by the Dorians under Aristodemus. § 12. Resistance of Amyclæ. Position of Sparta. § 13. Resistance of other Laconian towns to the Dorians. § 14. Traditions respecting Eurysthenes and Procles. § 15. Reduction of Messenia by the Dorians. § 16. Political state of Messenia.
1. Before the time of the Dorians, Mycenæ, situated in the higher part of the plain at the extremity of the mountain-chain, had doubtless been the most important and distinguished place in Argolis; and Argos, although the seat of the earliest civilization was dependent upon and inferior to it. At Mycenæ were the Cyclopian hall of Eurystheus,[286] and the sumptuous palace of Agamemnon; and though, as Thucydides correctly says, the fortified town was of inconsiderable extent, yet it abounded with stupendous and richly-carved monuments, whose semi-barbarous but artificial splendour formed a striking contrast with the unornamented and simple style introduced after the Doric period.[287] The Doric conquerors, on the other hand, did not commence their operations upon fortresses secured alike by nature and art, but advanced [pg 088] into the interior from the coast. For near the sea between Lerna and Nauplia, on the mouth of the Phrixus,[288] there was a fortified place named Temenium, from which Temenus the son of Aristomachus, together with the Dorians, carried on a war with Tisamenus and the Achæans, and probably harassed them by repeated incursions, until they were obliged to hazard an open battle. From thence the Dorians, after severe struggles, made themselves masters of the town of Argos.[289] It is related in an isolated tradition, that Ergiæus, a descendant of Diomed, stole and gave to Temenus the Palladium brought by his ancestor from Troy to Argos, which immediately occasioned the surrender of the city.[290] Argos was therefore supposed to have been taken by Temenus himself.
2. The further extension of the Doric power is, however, attributed not to Temenus, but to his sons; for such the Doric tradition calls Ceisus, Cerynes, Phalces, and Agræus or Agæus.[291] Of these, Ceisus is represented to have governed at Argos, and Phalces to have gone to Sicyon. The ancient Meconè or Sicyon had in early times been in the power of the Ionians, and afterwards subject to the Achæans of Argos. The very copious mythology of this ancient [pg 089] city contains symbolical and historical elements of the most various nature: we will only touch upon a part of the story immediately preceding the Doric invasion. Phæstus, a son of Hercules, is stated to have been king of Argos before that event; and having gone to Crete, where he founded the town of his name,[292] to have been succeeded by his descendants Rhopalus, Hippolytus, and Lacestades, the last of whom lived on terms of friendship with Phalces. Between them, however, Zeuxippus, a son of Apollo and of the nymph Hyllis,[293] is placed. We here perceive the traces of a connexion between Phæstus in Crete, and the introduction of the worship of Apollo and Hercules; this tradition, however, cannot authorise us to draw any chronological inferences.
3. Whether Phlius (situated in a corner of Arcadia, in a beautiful valley, whence arise the four sources of the Asopus[294]) was founded from Sicyon or Argos, was a matter of contention between these two towns: the latter simply called Phlias the son of Ceisus.[295] This Phlias, however, is nothing else than the country personified; the name being derived from φλέω or φλιδάω, and signifying “damp,” or “abounding in springs,” which appellation was fully merited by the nature of the spot. Hence Phlias was with more reason called the son of Dionysus (Φλεὺς, Φλεὼν), who loved to dwell in such valleys. There is, therefore, greater probability in the account of the Sicyonians, that Phalces and Rhegnidas were the founders of the Doric [pg 090] dominion;[296] it being moreover easier to force a way to Phliasia from Sicyon along the Asopus, than from Argos. It is known, that Pythagoras the Samian derived his origin from a certain Hippasus, who had quitted Phlius on that occasion; and the Ionic town of Clazomenæ is said to have been partly founded by some inhabitants of Cleonæ and Phliasia, who had been expelled by the Dorians;[297] from which two facts we are justified in inferring the existence of a connexion between the early inhabitants of these places and the Ionians. Cleonæ, situated in a narrow valley, where the mountains open towards Corinth, and bordering upon Phlius, appears from this account to have been colonised at the same time with that town, but probably from Argos. For we find that the ruling power was there in the hands of the same Heraclide family, of which a branch went from Argos to Epidaurus.[298]
4. The Acte (as the northern coast of Argolis, over against Attica, was called)[299] was reduced, according to the account of Ephorus, by Deiphontes and Agæus.[300] The former of these, who was called a descendant [pg 091] of Ctesippus, and son-in-law of Temenus, and whose fortunes afforded materials for the tragic poets, made himself master of the town of Epidaurus, and dislodged the Ionians from thence: these latter, under the command of their king Pityreus, crossed over to Attica, whence the king's son Procles went subsequently, at the general Ionic migration, to Samos.[301] Of the Dorians of Epidaurus, however, a part under the conduct of Triacon withdrew to Ægina,[302] in which place Hellenes of Thessaly had formerly ruled, and united the island and mother-state into one commonwealth, with equal rights, and the same magistrates. Now since besides Epidaurus, Trœzen alone belonged to the Actè, and since both Agæus and Deiphontes are mentioned as the Dorian colonisers of this coast, it was probably this Agæus who brought Trœzen under the rule of the Dorians.[303] In this city, too, he must have encountered some Ionians; since both the mythical genealogies and religious rites of the ancient Trœzen attest a close connexion between its earlier inhabitants and the Athenians.[304] For Trœzen even shared with the Ionic cities in the peculiar worship of the Apaturian Athene, as the goddess of phratriæ and gentes;[305] as also in that of Poseidon and his son Theseus.
5. The accounts already given show that Sicyon, [pg 092] Phlius, Cleonæ, Epidaurus, Trœzen, and Ægina received their share of Doric inhabitants either mediately or immediately from Argos. We can only regret the want of any accurate accounts respecting Mycenæ and Tiryns; the conquest of which cities must have been most difficult; but, when accomplished, decisive for the sovereignty of the Dorians. Pindar[306] considers the expulsion of the Achæan Danai from the gulf of Argos, and from Mycenæ, as identical with the expedition of the Heraclidæ; and Strabo states that the Argives united Mycenæ with themselves.[307] Nevertheless we find that in the Persian war Mycenæ and Tiryns were still independent states, and it admits of a doubt whether they had previously belonged for any length of time to Argos. That some ancient inhabitants at least still maintained themselves in the mountains above Argos, is shown by the instance of the Orneatæ. The inhabitants of Orneæ, a town on the mountainous frontier of Mantinea, having long been hostile to the Dorians, and at war with the Sicyonians,[308] were at length overpowered by Argos, and degraded to the state of periœci.[309] Now, since it is more probable that such a proceeding took place against the people of a different race, than against a colony of Argos, and also as there is nowhere any mention of a Doric settlement at Orneæ, it is evident that the inhabitants of Orneæ had up to that time been either Achæans or Arcadians.
6. Although from the foregoing accounts it appears that Argos almost entirely lost its power over the towns which it had been the means of bringing under the rule of the Dorians, yet in early times there existed certain [pg 093] obligations on the part of these cities towards Argos, which at a later period became mere forms. There was in Argos, upon the Larissa, a temple of Apollo Pythaëus, which had probably been erected soon after the invasion of the Dorians, as a sanctuary of the national deity who had led them into the country. It was a temple common to all the surrounding district, though belonging more particularly to the Argives.[310] The Epidaurians were bound at certain seasons to send sacrifices to it.[311] The Dryopians in early times, and afterwards also, in their character of Craugallidæ, or servants of the Delphian god, had at Asine and Hermione erected temples to Apollo Pythaëus, in acknowledgment of a similar dependence; and this was the only one spared by the Argives at the destruction of the former town.[312]
7. The fragments preserved respecting the ancient history of the Dryopians having been collected in a previous chapter,[313] we shall here only remark that this people possessed a considerable district in the most southern part of Argolis, the boundaries of which, so long as they remained inviolate, were defined by two points, viz. the temple of Demeter Thermesia on the frontier between Hermione and Trœzen, eighty stadia from Cape Scyllæum, and a hill between Asine, Epidaurus, and Trœzen,[314] and they may still be pointed out with tolerable certainty. Hercules, who, according to the Doric tradition, brought the Dryopians hither, had [pg 094] accurately marked out these boundaries. It is, however, also related that the Dryopians established themselves beyond these limits at Nemea[315] in Argolis: this, however, as well as Olympia, was not any particular town, but merely the name of a valley, and particularly of a temple of Zeus there situated.
8. The history of the establishment of Corinth, though marvellous and obscure, contains nevertheless some historical traces by no means unworthy of remark. In the first place, it is stated that this town did not receive its inhabitants from Argos. The purport of the tradition is as follows: “When Hippotes at the time of the passage of the Dorians from Naupactus slew the soothsayer, he was banished (according to Apollodorus for ten years),[316] during which time he led a roaming and predatory life;”[317] whence his son was called Ἀλήτης, or the Wanderer.[318] It is also recorded in the fragment of a tradition[319] that Hippotes, when crossing the Melian gulf, imprecated against those who wished to remain behind, “That their vessels might be leaky, and themselves the slaves of their wives.” In like manner his son Aletes passed through the territory at that time called Ephyra, where he received from scorn a clod of earth;[320] which in the ancient oracular language was a symbol of sovereignty.[321] [pg 095] We might almost guess from these traditions that the Dorian warriors had harassed, and at length subdued the ancient Ephyreans, by ravaging their lands, and by repeated invasions. This is confirmed by the very credible account of Thucydides relating to this point.[322] There was in the mountainous country, about sixty stadia from Corinth, and twelve from the Saronic gulf, a hill called Solygius, of which the Dorians had once taken possession for the purpose of making war against the Æolian inhabitants of Corinth. This hill was, however (at least in the time of Thucydides), entirely unfortified. Here we may recognise the very same method of waging war as in the account of Temenus given above, a method which in the Peloponnesian war was adopted by the Spartans at the fortifying of Decelea. Again, it is related in a tradition connected with the Hellotian festival, that at the taking of Corinth the Dorians set fire to the town, and even to the temple of Athene, in which the women had taken refuge.[323] In another it is stated that Aletes, being advised by an oracle to attack the city on a “crowned day,” took it during a great funeral solemnity by the treachery of the youngest daughter of Creon: these, however, are for the most part mere attempts at an historical interpretation of ancient festival ceremonies. As Aletes (according to his genealogy) lived one generation after the conquerors of Peloponnesus, the capture of Corinth was dated thirty years after the expedition of the Heraclidæ;[324] whence probably also arose the error of [pg 096] supposing that there had previously been Dorians at Corinth; as it was supposed that the Dorians had obtained their whole dominion over Peloponnesus at one time, by one expedition. The city appears to have received the name of Corinth at this time, instead of its former one of Ephyra;[325] and it seems that the Dorians called it with a certain preference “The Corinth of Zeus;” although ancient interpreters have in vain laboured to give a satisfactory explanation of this name.
9. The early inhabitants of Corinth were, according to the expression of Thucydides,[326] Æolians; and their traditions and religion show that they were very nearly connected with the Minyans of Iolcus and Orchomenus.[327] Their kings were the Sisyphidæ, whose genealogy closes with Hyantidas and Doridas. We find in the last name the same confusion which has been pointed out (amongst others) in the legend of Thessalus the son of Jason,[328] viz., that the arrival of a different nation was expressed by connecting the new comers genealogically with the heroes of the ruling race. Thus Doridas, i.e. the Dorians in a patronymic form, is the descendant of Sisyphus. Here begins the sovereignty of the Dorians; who, however, did not, as Pausanias[329] states, altogether expel the ancient inhabitants, but formed the aristocratic class of the new state. Pindar and Callimachus, indeed, call the whole Corinthian nation Aletiadæ[330] but merely by a poetical license; the only lineal descendants of Aletes being the [pg 097] ruling house, the Bacchiadæ, from which for a long time were taken the kings and Prytanes of Corinth and all its colonies. There were, however, at Corinth distinguished families of a different origin. The family of Cypselus, which afterwards obtained possession of the tyranny, was, according to Herodotus, of the blood of the Lapithæ, and descended from Cæneus.[331] They came, according to Pausanias, from Gonusa, near Sicyon, to assist the Dorians against Corinth:[332] Aletes, however, at the advice of an oracle, at first refused to receive them, but presently admitted them into the city, where they afterwards overthrew his own descendants. We shall allow this narrative, which contains a post eventum prophecy of the tyranny of the Cypselidæ, to rest on its own merits, remarking only that the Cænidæ had more reason to assist the ancient Æolians than the Dorians; and shall merely infer from it the existence of distinguished families in Corinth not of Doric descent.
10. As in this chapter we have hitherto rather followed a geographical than a chronological arrangement, we will now pass to the founding of Megara.[333] That event is represented by the ancient tradition as connected with the expedition of the Peloponnesians against Athens;[334] which is doubtless a correct statement, since Megara had before that epoch been closely united with Attica, and comprehended in Ionia. This [pg 098] expedition was, according to most authors, undertaken by the whole Peloponnesus; by some, however, the Corinthians are called the real authors of it, and Aletes the leader, Althæmenes of Argos, the son of Ceisus, being nevertheless joined with him. The defeat of the Doric invaders, by the voluntary sacrifice of Codrus, has been a favourite subject both with poets and rhetoricians.[335] It is sufficient for our purpose to oppose to this celebrated legend an obscure tradition that some Athenians, whom Lycophron calls Codri, had a share in the expedition of the Heraclidæ.[336] Whether or not the Ionians and Dorians met at the borders on this occasion, thus much is certain, that Megara in consequence of this invasion became a Doric town, and indeed soon afterwards a Corinthian colony.[337] It also remained for some time in complete dependence on Corinth, as Ægina upon Epidaurus; in proof of which it is mentioned that the Megarians were bound to mourn for every death that occurred in the family of the Bacchiadæ at Corinth.[338] When, however, the internal strength of Megara increased, it ventured to dissolve this connexion, and, in defiance of the Corinth of Zeus, to rout the Corinthians in the field.[339] The [pg 099] border-wars of the Megarians and Corinthians were carried on without intermission.[340] Megara appears not to have raised itself to the situation of a ruling city till after it had obtained its independence; since in earlier times it had been one of the five hamlets (κῶμαι) into which the country was divided, viz. the Heræans, Piræans, Megarians, Cynosyrians, and Tripodiscians.[341] These small communities also waged war with each other, but with a singular lenity, of which some almost marvellous accounts have been preserved; the conquerors carried their prisoners home, treated them as guests and companions, who were hence called δορύξενοι, in opposition to δορυάλωτοι.
11. We now turn to Laconia, which, according to the above-mentioned legend concerning the division of Peloponnesus, fell to the share of Aristodemus or his sons.[342] According to the common tradition (which was derived from the epic poets[343]) the twin brothers [pg 100] Eurysthenes and Procles[344] took possession of Sparta after the death of their father; whereas the national tradition of Sparta, as Herodotus informs us, represented Aristodemus himself as having been the first ruler,[345] and the double dominion of his children as not having been settled till after his death; the first-born, however, enjoying a certain degree of precedence.[346] This is, indeed, contradicted by the account of Thucydides,[347] who mentions as a Lacedæmonian tradition, that the kings who first took possession of Lacedæmon (i.e. Eurysthenes and Procles) were conducted thither with dances and sacrifices, an honour which at the command of the Delphian oracle was afterwards given to Pleistoanax at his restoration. This variation, however, is perhaps merely the effect of a pardonable negligence in the author.
12. It is, however, far more difficult to ascertain what was the condition of Laconia immediately after the invasion of the Dorians. For it is plain that the history, as it was arranged by Ephorus, and derived from him to other authors, is in contradiction with many isolated traditions, but which for that very reason are of the greater importance. So far, indeed, from the whole of the Laconian territory immediately [pg 101] falling into the hands of the Dorians,[348] it is certain that a powerful fortress of the ancient Achæans, at a short distance from Sparta itself, held out for nearly three centuries after the Doric invasion.
There was a saying, well known in antiquity, of the “silent Amyclæ;” thus called because its citizens had been so often alarmed by the report of the enemy coming, that they at last made a law that no one should give tidings of the enemy's approach; in consequence of which the town was at length taken.[349] This proverb, and the story on which it was founded, prove the existence of a long and determined contest between the two neighbouring cities. They also confirm the account of Pausanias, that the Dorians in the reign of Teleclus built a temple[350] to Zeus Tropæus, because they had at length, after a tedious and severe struggle, overcome the Achæans of Amyclæ and taken their city. This city of Amyclæ, one of the most ancient and considerable in Peloponnesus, of which there still remains a fort situated upon a rock on the side of mount Taygetus, was therefore so far from being reduced by the Spartans immediately, that it held out until the reign of Teleclus, 278 years after the invasion, a short time before the first Messenian war; and [pg 102] then was only taken after a tedious contest, which, from the proximity of Amyclæ and Sparta, must have been very dangerous to the latter city. Now it is not possible that before this victory Amyclæ and Sparta, distant only 20 stadia (2-1/2 miles) from each other, should have been engaged in constant war, as it must have soon ended in the destruction of one or the other city: their truces and armistices were, however, doubtless interrupted frequently by sudden incursions. The important territory near mount Taygetus belonged at that time to Amyclæ, and all this country was still in the possession of the Achæans, with whom some Minyans from Lemnos, and Cadmean Greeks, known by the name of Ægidæ, had united themselves. This is the territory from which the colonies of Thera, Melos, and Gortyna proceeded; so, according to Pindar, Amyclæ was the point from which the first colonies to Lesbos and Tenedos set out, and also (as may be inferred from other notices) those Achæans who took possession of Patræ.[351]
Sparta, on the other hand, must have been of very slight importance before the Doric migration; by which event alone it was enabled to become the ruler of all the surrounding states. For, in the first place, Sparta was not built in the same manner as Mycenæ, Tiryns, and other ruling cities founded before the Doric invasion; the Acropolis is a hill of inconsiderable height, and easy of ascent, without any trace of ancient fortifications or walls. Secondly, it is remarkably deficient in monuments and local memorials of the times of the Pelopidæ and other mythical princes; much as the Spartans in other instances clung to traditions [pg 103] and records of this kind: while Amyclæ and Therapne had these in great abundance. Amyclæ, in a beautiful and well-wooded country,[352] was the abode of Tyndareus and his family; here were the tombs of Cassandra and Agamemnon, who, according to a native tradition (preserved by Stesichorus and Simonides),[353] ruled in this city. At no great distance was situated the town of Therapne. Alcman calls it the “well-fortified Therapne;”[354] Pindar mentions its high situation;[355] by which they clearly imply a position and fortification similar to that of Tiryns. The latter also calls it the ancient metropolis of the Achæans, amongst whom the Dioscuri lived; here were the subterraneous cemeteries of Castor and Pollux,[356] vaulted, perhaps, in the ancient manner; here also the temples of the Brothers and of Helen in the Phœbæum, and many remains of the ancient symbolical religion.[357] It is also very remarkable, that on the banks of the Eurotas, in the district between Therapne and Amyclæ, there should have been discovered a building[358] which resembles the well-known treasury at Mycenæ, and [pg 104] which affords a certain proof that the dominion of the Pelopidæ extended to this district.
But although the local traditions make it probable that the ante-Doric rulers of the country dwelt in Amyclæ and Therapne, yet Homer describes Sparta as the residence of the Pelopidæ, transferring, apparently, the circumstances of his own time to an earlier period. Homer sometimes calls Lacedæmon the abode of Menelaus; by Lacedæmon meaning the entire country, and especially the valley round Sparta, which agrees far better with the epithet of “hollow Lacedæmon,” than the district of Amyclæ, which opens down to the sea.[359] Sometimes he expressly mentions Sparta as the city in which Menelaus has fixed his abode.[360]
13. Amyclæ, however, is not the only Achæan city which was not reduced by the Dorians till a late period. Ægys, on the frontiers of Arcadia, is said to have been taken from the Achæans by Archelaus and Charilaus a short time before Lycurgus; Pharis, together with Geronthræ, by Teleclus;[361] and Helos in the plains, near the mouth of the Eurotas, by Alcamenes, the son of Teleclus.[362] So long as these places belonged to the Achæans, the Spartans were shut out from the sea, and surrounded on all sides by the possessions of a different race. It appears, however, that other places besides Sparta were held by the Dorians themselves [pg 105] previously to their obtaining possession of the whole of Laconia; such were, for instance, Bœæ near Malea,[363] and perhaps also Abia on the confines of Messenia.[364] But of the numerous contests which doubtless took place at this period, little information has come down to us, as they just lie between the provinces of mythology and history.
Thus much, however, we may with safety say, that Ephorus is clearly in error when he mentions a division of Laconia made by the Dorians, immediately after their conquest, for the sake of an undisturbed dominion over the country.[365] The same historian further states that “Sparta was reserved by the Dorians as the seat of their own empire; that Amyclæ[366] was granted to Philonomus, who had delivered the country to them by treachery, and that governors were sent into the other four divisions.” Also, that “the principal towns of these four provinces were Las, Epidaurus Limera (or Gytheium), Ægys, and Pharis; of which the first served as the citadel of Laconia,[367] the second as an excellent harbour, the third as a convenient arsenal for the wars with Arcadia, and the fourth as an internal point of union. That the periœci dwelt in these towns, and were [pg 106] dependent upon the Spartans, though without losing their freedom.” This account doubtless suited the historical style of Ephorus; but it does not agree with the isolated but genuine traditions already mentioned.
The division into six provinces is nevertheless, in my opinion, to be considered as an historical fact; only the arrangement could not have been made till a much later period. Of these provinces, the first comprehended the district of the city; the second, the mountain-chain of Taygetus, with the western coast; the third, the Laconian gulf; the fourth, perhaps the modern Zaconia, on the eastern side of the Eurotas; the fifth, the northern frontier; and the sixth, the lower valley of the Eurotas. The reality of such a division is also confirmed by the existence of a similar one in Messenia; which is spoken of by other writers besides Ephorus.[368] For this country is also said to have been divided by Cresphontes, so that Stenyclarus was the habitation of the Dorians and their king, under whose authority were placed the Messenian districts of Pylos, Rhium, Mesola, and Hyamia; of these, Pylos apparently comprehended the whole western coast; Rhium is the promontory of Methone and the neighbouring southern coast; Hyamia may perhaps be the shore of the Messenian bay nearest to the frontiers of Laconia; [pg 107] Mesola signifies the midland district[369] near the Pamisus; and Stenyclarus is the northern plain of Messenia.
14. We have now another instance of the arbitrary manner in which Ephorus composed his history by probable arguments. He proceeds upon the fact that Eurysthenes and Procles, although the founders of Sparta, were not honoured as such (as ἀρχηγέται), that they did not enjoy any divine honour, did not give their name to any tribe, &c. (Now the very first of these statements is false; for Eurysthenes and Procles, according to the native tradition, were not the founders of Sparta, as was shown above.) Hence Ephorus infers that they must have offended the Dorians; and he finds the cause of this offence in the adoption of foreign citizens, through whose assistance they had extended their power. This instance is a sufficient justification for our rejecting the historical system of Ephorus, and neglecting the results which he obtained by it.
There must have been many stories concerning Eurysthenes and Procles current in ancient times which have not come down to us. There was a general tradition of their continual discord; and we know that the military fame of Procles was as great as that of Eurysthenes was insignificant.[370] There is, however, something peculiarly worthy of notice in an incidental remark of Cicero,[371] that Procles died a year before Eurysthenes. Could there have been chronicles of so early a period, or is it possible that tradition [pg 108] should preserve such precise dates? It is also a remarkable statement that the wives of both kings were likewise twin sisters, Lathria and Anaxandra by name, daughters of Thersander king of the Cleonæans, whose descent we mentioned above.[372] Some great heroic actions of Soüs[373] (the “violent”), the son of Procles, were also celebrated in Sparta.[374] It was even said that he had carried on war against the Cleitorians; and it was related, that in the narrow valley of Cleitor, when surrounded by enemies, and oppressed by intolerable thirst, he promised to give up all his conquests, on the condition of himself and his army being allowed to drink from the fountain: that upon this he offered the crown to any one who would abstain from drinking, but, no one being willing to gain it at this price, he moistened himself with water from the fountain, and departed without drinking.[375] But a Spartan king would hardly have ventured, even some centuries afterwards, to lead an army through the hostile territory of Arcadia, to a place at so considerable a distance as Cleitor, leaving behind so many hollow defiles, ravines, and mountains.
15. In the country which from this time forth obtained the name of Messenia,[376] Pylos was before the Doric migration the most important town, whither the family of the Nelidæ had retired from the Triphylian territory.[377] The Dorians under Cresphontes[378] [pg 109] at first seated themselves in the opposite part of the country, at Stenyclarus, in the midland region; they must however have soon pressed so closely upon Pylos, that part of the inhabitants was forced to emigrate. For that many of the noble families, both at Athens and in Asia Minor, came originally from Pylos, is placed out of doubt by the agreement of many national and family traditions; and it is equally certain that they did not leave Peloponnesus long before the Ionic migration. Mimnermus, the most ancient witness to this fact, says that the founders of his native city Colophon came from the Nelean Pylos;[379] i.e., he calls Andræmon, the founder of Colophon, a Pylian; where it almost seems that the poet meant a direct migration from that place. Pylos however (though it is generally considered to have been in the possession of the Dorians from this epoch) probably remained for some time an independent town, with a limited territory; even in the second Messenian war some Nestoridæ went as allies to the Messenians;[380] and, after the defeat of the Messenians, the Pylians and the Methonæans were able to harbour them for a considerable time.[381]
16. Of the internal condition of Messenia we cannot even know so much as of that of Laconia, since, at the cessation of its political existence, its monuments, and even its inhabitants, perished; and thus all means of perpetuating a knowledge of its former state were [pg 110] entirely lost. Yet, setting aside the accounts of Ephorus, there remain some very simple circumstances from which we may form an idea of the condition of the country. It is related, that when Cresphontes was treacherously assassinated, the Arcadians, in conjunction with the kings of Sparta and Ceisus king of Argos, re-established in his place his son Æpytus,[382] who had been brought up with Cypselus the Arcadian, the father of his mother Merope,[383] and who rendered himself so celebrated, that all his descendants were called Æpytidæ. The name of Æpytus is evidently connected with Æpytis, a district on the frontiers of Arcadia and Messenia, near the ancient Andania, the earliest seat of civilization and religious worship in the country. The names of his descendants, Glaucus, Isthmius, Dotades, Sybotas (swine-herd), Phintas (or Φιλητὴς), are in remarkable contrast with those of the Lacedæmonian kings, as Eurysthenes (widely-ruling), Procles (the renowned), Agis (the general), Soüs (the violent), Echestratus (the general), Eurypon (the widely-reigning), Labotas (shepherd of the people), and so forth; for, whilst the latter signify powerful warrior princes, there sounds in the former something peaceable and pastoral. What Pausanias relates of these Messenian princes refers [pg 111] almost exclusively to a peaceful office—viz., the establishment of festivals; the gods also to whom they were consecrated agree with the same general character. Glaucus and Isthmius, we are told, established or promoted the worship of Æsculapius at Gerenia and Pharæ: Sybotas joined to the ancient worship of the great gods at Andania the funeral sacrifices of the hero Eurytus, brought over from the Thessalian to the Messenian Œchalia; and others in the same manner. In fact this Cabirian worship of Demeter at Andania, allied to that prevalent in Attica at Eleusis and Phyla, was one of the most ancient in Peloponnesus, and at that time flourished in Messenia;[384] whereas, according to Herodotus, the Dorians everywhere exterminated the ancient rites of Demeter.[385] Hence also the mystical consecration of Andania was discontinued as long as Messenia was governed by the Spartans, and it fell into oblivion, until many centuries afterwards Epaminondas solemnly re-established it, either from the mere recollection of the inhabitants, or, if the account be true, upon the authority of an inscription on a tin plate found in a brazen urn, containing some obscure words referring to ancient mystic ceremonies.[386]
The re-establishment of Æpytus may, however, have been effected by the threefold alliance of both the princes and nations of Argos, Sparta, and Messenia, by which they guaranteed their respective rights, an alliance of which Plato has preserved a faint, though [pg 112] undoubted trace, marked out in the spirit of his political philosophy.[387]
From the settlements of the Dorians within Peloponnesus, we now turn to those without that peninsula.