The End of Sparta (56 page)

The Peoples and Places of Fourth-Century B.C. Greece
*

Attika
: the territory surrounding the city of Athens, and, with the polis proper, comprising the city-state of the Athenians on the southern border of the Boiotians.

Boiotia
: a geographical region in central Greece whose capital city was Thebes. Its rich farmlands, cities, and hamlets were federated into a political union in the late sixth century B.C. and were made democratic in the fourth.

Doric
: the dialect of Greek that the Spartans and most in the southern and eastern Peloponnesos spoke—supposedly derived from the mythical Dorians who swept from the north into the Peloponnesos.

Epaminondas
: the Theban hero and victor at the battle of Leuktra (371 B.C.) who subsequently led Boiotian armies on four invasions of the Peloponnesos before dying at the second battle of Mantineia (362 B.C.).

Ephoros
: a fourth-century-B.C. student of Isokrates who wrote a universal history of the Greeks, from mythical times to the advent of Philip of Makedon. Now lost, many books of Ephoros’s history survive in part through the extant work of the Roman-era compiler Diodorus Siculus.

Helikon
: the prominent mountain of Boiotia, almost 6,000 feet in elevation, birthplace of the poet Hesiod and said to be the home of the Muses.

Hellas
: what the Greeks (or Hellenes) called their own country.

helots
: (
heilôtai
, “those taken”) indentured Greek serfs who were obligated to raise food for the Spartan state. Although there were thousands of helots in Lakonia surrounding Sparta, the great worry was instead the far more numerous thousands of Messenian helots who lived on the other side of Mt. Taygetos, and who for centuries revolted both frequently and unsuccessfully.

hoplites
: the class of Greek small farmers who, as middling citizens of the polis, fought as heavily armed infantry soldiers in the phalanx, with spear, body armor, and round shield.

Lakonia
: a geographical region in the southern Peloponnesos surrounding Sparta, and thus along with the city comprising the Spartan state, which in turn was also known as Lakedaimon.

Lokrians
: inhabitants of two regions in central Greece, to the west on the Korinthian Gulf north of Boiotia and to the east south of Thermopylai. They usually joined the Boiotian horse in battle.

Messenia
: large territory in the southwestern Peloponnesos, home to thousands of helots and controlled by Sparta—not to be confused with Messenê, the capital city of a free Messenia.

Pelopidas
: Theban general and political leader, partner with Epaminondas in spreading democratic fervor beyond the borders of Boiotia. He died in 364 B.C., two years before Epaminondas, while fighting in Thessaly.

Peloponnesos
: the southern and largely mountainous peninsula of Greece connected to the northern mainland by the Isthmos at Korinthos.

Philip II
: famous fourth-century B.C. king of Makedon who united its warring tribes and then moved south to end the freedom of the Greek city-states. His dream of leading a panhellenic army into Asia was to be completed by his son Alexander the Great.

Phokians
: inhabitants of Phokis in central Greece, near and to the north of Boiotia. They were often distrusted as robbers of the temples at Delphi and fickle neighbors.

Phrynê
: “Toad,” the nickname given to the famous courtesan Mnesaretê and model of the sculptor Praxiteles.

Plataia
: a Boiotian city at the southern frontier, nestled on the slopes of Mt. Kithairon, usually an ally of Athens and so often at war with the Thebans.

Polis
: the Greek city-state, of which at the time of Epaminondas there were some 1,000 to 1,500 on the Greek mainland and the islands in the Aegean and west to Sikily. The concept of a polis included both the urban center (
astu
) and the surrounding countryside (
chôra
).

Pythagoras
: the famous philosopher, mathematician, and mystic of the sixth century B.C. whose followers believed in one divinity, the reincarnation of souls, and a reality explicable by mathematics and music. Cult members were chastised for embracing vegetarianism, the nobility of the left hand, the equality of the sexes, voluntary poverty, and communalism.

Sparta
: both the city on the Eurotas River and the state that encompassed most of Lakonia, and, through alliance and conquest, controlled much of the southern Peloponnesos. Lakedaimon is probably the closest synonym.

Taygetos
: the large mountain wall between Lakonia and Messenia, ranging some 60 to 70 miles in extent and rising nearly 8,000 feet at its peak.

Thebes
: the largest city and capital of the federated region of Boiotia in central Greece. Not to be confused with Egyptian Thebes. On occasion Thebes and Boiotia were used, if inexactly, interchangeably.

Thespiai
: a city-state in Boiotia, in the foothills of Mt. Helikon, and nearly always at odds with the larger capital Thebes a few miles away. Thespians were residents of Thespiai but bore no relation to Thespis, the legendary sixth-century-B.C. founder of tragic drama, from whom derives the modern notion of “thespians” as actors.

Xenophon
: famous Greek historian of fourth-century-B.C. Greece and veteran of the retreat of the Ten Thousand from Asia, as well as author of treatises on topics as diverse as horsemanship and the economics of household management. He was exiled from Athens, lived in Triphylia as a friend of the Spartans, and was banished after the invasion of Epaminondas.

*
Ease of recognition and pronunciation, rather than absolute consistency, has guided the spellings of Greek names. Some less well known Greek names and places are transliterated rather than Latinized—for example, Korinthos for Corinth, Leuktra for Leuctra, and Thespiai for Thespiae—while more common names like Epaminondas and Thebes seemed preferable to Epameinôndas and Thêbai. I use Hellas for Greece, which derives from Roman nomenclature for Hellas.

Principal Characters

Ainias
: (“praiseworthy”) the Arkadian mercenary and tactician who came north to join Epaminondas

Alkidamas
: (“strength of the people”) the aged rhetorician and champion of the Messenians

Chiôn
: (“snowy” or the “Chian”) the huge slave from the island of Chios bought in infancy by Malgis from the Spartans, and raised on the farm on Mt. Helikon

Damô
: wife of Lophis and custodian of the farm

Dirkê
: aged neighbor of Mêlon on Mt. Helikon

Epaminondas
: Boiotarch and general of the Boiotian army and leader of the allied army

Ephoros
: historian and resident of Athens, at work on a general history of the Greeks

Gastêr
: (“belly”) captain of the
Theôris
and veteran sailor of the Korinthian Gulf

Gorgos
: (“dragon”) captured helot slave of Mêlon, veteran of the Spartan wars against Athens

Lichas
: ephor and warrior of Sparta

Lophis
: only son of Mêlon

Malgidai
: the descendants of Malgis who continued to work his farm on Mt. Helikon

Malgis
: the one-eyed Thespian veteran, father of Mêlon, who first carved out the farm on Mt. Helikon

Melissos
: (“bee”) the young boy hostage from Makedon, who spent a year with the Thebans as a guarantor of the northern peace

Mêlon
: (“apple”) the son of Malgis, the lame farmer on Mt. Helikon and the “apple” of various prophecies promising the end of Sparta

Myron
: (“perfume”) farm slave on Mt. Helikon, recruited by Nêto on the eve of Leuktra

Nêto
: the Messenian slave of Mêlon, bought as a small girl from the Spartans

Nikôn
: (“victor”) leader of the helot insurgents

Pelopidas
: head of the Sacred Band, and co-general of the allied army

Phrynê
: (“toad”) courtesan and owner of a rest-stop at Thespiai

Porpax
: (“shield-strap”) the older of the two great hounds of the Malgidai

Proxenos
: (“consul”) the wall builder from Plataia and chief architect to Epaminondas

Sturax
: (“butt-spike”) the younger and friskier of the two dogs of the Malgidai

Timeline

(
ALL
DATES
B
.
C
.)

454    Birth of Malgis, founder of the farm on Mt. Helikon

431    War between Athens and Sparta breaks out. Thebes joins the Spartans.

424    Battle of Delion. Malgis becomes famous for his bravery in the battle.

423    Thebes levels the walls of Thespiai.

423    Malgis scouts out Mt. Helikon and begins to carve out a farm with his father Antander.

422    Battle of Amphipolis. Sixteen-year-old Gorgos fights for the Spartans under Brasidas.

420    First visits of Alkidamas to the farm on Mt. Helikon

419    Birth of Mêlon, son of Malgis

415–13    Malgis campaigns in Sikily with the Spartans, leaves his father Antander in charge of the new farm.

413    First visit of young Lichas to the farm in search of Mêlon

412    Death of Antander; Malgis plants the high vineyards in Sikilian fashion.

404    Malgis and young Mêlon raid the Attic borderlands; the Peloponnesian War ends.

401–400    Malgis fights with the Ten Thousand in Asia Minor.

399    Malgis on his way home at Chios buys Chiôn from a Spartan trader.

395    Boiotians defeat the Spartans at Haliartos. Malgis strips the armor of the dead Lysander.

394    Thebans battle the Spartans at the Nemea River and Koroneia. Gorgos is captured at Nemea. Death of Malgis at Koroneia.

389    Mêlon buys the child Nêto from a Spartan trader.

380    Kleombrotos becomes the Agiad king at Sparta.

379    Pelopidas and other Thebans expel the Spartans and establish a democracy for the Boiotians.

378    The Spartan king Agesilaos invades Boiotia.

377    Boiotia is invaded again by Agesilaos.

375    Thebes beats Sparta in a small battle at Boiotian Tegyra.

371 The Great Year

SUMMER

Spartans invade Boiotia. Battle of Leuktra and defeat of the Spartans

AUTUMN

Monument at Leuktra is begun. Proxenos and Ainias work on walls of Thespiai and continue visits to the rising walls at Mantineia.

WINTER

Phrynê moves back to Thespiai. Foundations are established of Megalopolis.

370

SPRING

Uprising at Messenia is begun by Nikôn and Doreios.

SUMMER

Nêto and Erinna leave for the Peloponnesos; Chiôn marries Damô.

AUTUMN

Nêto and Erinna arrive in Messenia.

WINTER

Muster of the Boiotians, arrival in the Peloponnesos. Fight at the Eurotas. Voyage of the
Theôris
to Messenia

369

WINTER/SPRING

Epaminondas, with the Argive and Theban armies, heads over Mt. Taygetos to Messenia; Chiôn disappears on Mt. Taygetos. The walls of Messenê rise on Mt. Ithômê. The Thebans head home.

369–68

Second invasion of the Peloponnesos by Epaminondas.

366

Epaminondas invades the Peloponnesos a third time.

364

Pelopidas dies in battle at Cynoscephalai in Thessaly.

362

Final Boiotian invasion of the Peloponnesos; Mêlon and Epaminondas die on Skopê after the Theban victory at Mantineia.

Footnote

1
All quoted Greek by convention is rendered into the Attic dialect.

A Note on the Author

Victor Davis Hanson
is the Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Residence in Classics and Military History at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the codirector of the Group in Military History and Contemporary Conflict; a professor of classics emeritus at California State University, Fresno; and a nationally syndicated columnist for Tribune Media Services. He is also the Wayne & Marcia Buske Distinguished Fellow in History, Hillsdale College, where each fall semester he teaches courses in military history and classical culture. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in classics, was a member of the American School of Classical Studies, Athens, and received his B.A. with highest honors in classics from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He lives on his farm in Selma, California, where he was born in 1953.

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