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Amphictyonic league

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In Archaic Greece , an amphictyony ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : ἀμφικτυονία , a "league of neighbors"), or Amphictyonic League , was an ancient religious association of tribes formed before the rise of the Greek polis .

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91-547: The six Dorian cities of coastal southwest Anatolia and the twelve Ionian cities to their north that formed the Ionian League after a Meliac war in the mid-7th century BC were already of considerable antiquity when the first written records emerged. The oldest religious Amphictyonic League was known as Anthelian because it was centered on the cult of the chthonic goddess Demeter at Anthela. The twelve delegates were entitled Pylagorai (gate-assemblers), perhaps

182-615: A Dorian colony on the southwest coast of Asia Minor ; following the literary tradition of the times he wrote in Ionic Greek , being one of the last authors to do so. He described the Persian Wars , giving a thumbnail account of the histories of the antagonists, Greeks and Persians. Herodotus gives a general account of the events termed "the Dorian Invasion", presenting them as transfers of population. Their original home

273-615: A feast in the ancient temenos celebrating the "revival" of the amphictyony, may have been based on a Hellenistic invention; the feast certainly existed: a third-century BCE plaque celebrating the "revival" of the Kalaureian League has been recovered. After the Greco-Persian Wars , the friendly connection between Athens and Troezen appears to have continued; and during the hegemony of the Athenian empire before

364-632: A final report of the results, written in Swedish, is available with open access at rj.se . During the Late Archaic period a number of buildings were erected, including the temple, Stoa D and the Propylon (Building E). Little is known about the temple constructed during this period as it was almost completely robbed out by the time of the early Swedish excavations and when modern work started only foundation trenches and roof tiles remained. The temple

455-484: A form of religious organization enjoined to support specific temples or sacred places. Traditional amphictyonies coordinated Olympic and Pythian Games . Twelve members would meet at specific times in the same sanctuary to keep religious festivals and conduct other matters as well. An early amphictyony centered on Kalaureia , an island close to the coast of Troezen in the Peloponnese and sacred to Poseidon ,

546-572: A fragment of the poet, Tyrtaeus , that "Sparta is a divine gift granted by Zeus and Hera" to the Heracleidae. In another version, Tyndareus gives his kingdom to Heracles in gratitude for restoring him to the throne, but Heracles "asks the Spartan king to safeguard the gift until his descendants might claim it." Hall, therefore, proposes that the Dorians are the people of the gift. They assumed

637-683: A recent attempt to suggest that a comic confusion between the letter and the hand image may yet have been intended. Dorian social structure was characterized by a communal social structure and separation of the sexes. The lives of free men centered around military campaigns. When not abroad, men stayed in all-male residences focusing on military training until the age of 30, regardless of marital status. Dorian women had greater freedom and economic power than women of other Greek ethnicities. Unlike other Hellenic women, Dorian women were able to own property, manage their husbands' estate, and delegate many domestic tasks to slaves. Women in ancient Sparta possessed

728-423: A reference to the local Gates of Hades, since Demeter was a chthonic goddess in her older local cults. The immediate dwellers-round were some small states, including Achaea-Phthiotis, that paved the way for the entry of the body of the rest Boeotian tribes which were living around Thessaly ( perioikoi ). Boeotia and Phocis , the most remote locations, joined only during or after the " First Sacred War ", which led to

819-706: A return of families ruling in Aetolia and northern Greece to a land in which they had once had a share. The return is described in detail: there were "disturbances" throughout the Peloponnesus except in Arcadia , and new Dorian settlers. Pausanias goes on to describe the conquest and resettlement of Laconia , Messenia , Argos and elsewhere, and the emigration from there to Crete and the coast of Asia Minor . Kalaureia Kalaureia ( Ancient Greek : Καλαυρεία ) or Calauria or Kalavria ( Greek : Καλαυρία )

910-470: A rise to supremacy at the end of the Dark Age rather than during and after the fall of Mycenae. The Messenian population was reduced to serfdom . Only a few fragments of Tyrtaeus' five books of martial verse survive. His is the earliest mention of the three Dorian tribes: Pamphyli , Hylleis, Dymanes . He also says: For Cronus' Son Himself, Zeus the husband of fair-crowned Hera, hath given this city to

1001-581: A son of Heracles , but were defeated by the Achaeans. Under other leadership they managed to be victorious over the Achaeans and remain in the Peloponnesus, a mythic theme called "the return of the Heracleidae ." They had built ships at Naupactus in which to cross the Gulf of Corinth . This invasion is viewed by the tradition of Pausanias as a return of the Dorians to the Peloponnesus, apparently meaning

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1092-524: Is also evidence for private architecture. Immediately to the south of Building D lies the Building I; a large structure which remained in use from the Late Classical period to Roman times. The proximity to the sanctuary suggests that the temenos of Poseidon was surrounded by the city at this time and not isolated from the urban landscape. The most recent work on the site have focused on Area L to

1183-556: Is an island close to the coast of Troezen in the Peloponnesus of mainland Greece , part of the modern island-pair Poros . Strabo describes the coastwise journey along the Hermionic Gulf : On Calauria a Doric temple of Poseidon was built in the ancient sanctuary, possibly around 520 BCE. The dimensions of the temple are 27.4 by 14.4 m. There are six columns on each short side and twelve on each long side. There

1274-452: Is attested by Callimachus , Pausanias referencing Musaeus , and Strabo referencing the history of Ephorus . Pausanias and Strabo both quote the following oracle: "For thee it is the same thing to possess Delos or Kalaureia / most holy Pytho [Delphi] or windy Taenarum." Kalaureia was mentioned by Philostephanus in a lost work On Islands . It was to Kalaureia that Demosthenes the famous orator, condemned to death with his friends by

1365-520: Is from the o-grade (either ō or o ) of Proto-Indo-European *deru- , "tree", which also gives the Homeric Δούρειος Ἵππος ( Doureios Hippos , "Wooden Horse"). This derivation has the advantage of naming the people after their wooded, mountainous country. A second popular derivation was given by the French linguist, Émile Boisacq, from the same root, but from Greek δόρυ ( doru ) 'spear-shaft' (which

1456-586: Is from the o-grade of Indo-European * deru , "solid," in the sense of wood. It is similar to an extended form, * dō-ro- , of *dō- , (give), as can be seen in the modern Greek imperative δώσε ( dose , "give [sing.]!") appearing in Greek as δῶρον ( dōron , "gift"). This is the path taken by Jonathan Hall , relying on elements taken from the myth of the Return of the Herakleidai. Hall cites the tradition, based on

1547-565: Is not compatible with a Dorian invasion that brought Dorians to Crete only after the fall of the Mycenaean states. In the Odyssey , Odysseus and his relatives visit those states. Two solutions are possible, either the Odyssey is anachronistic or Dorians were on Crete in Mycenaean times. The uncertain nature of the Dorian invasion defers a definitive answer until more is known about it. Also,

1638-481: Is related to the members of the league and was broadened to refer to all Greeks when the myth of their patriarch, Hellen , was invented. In Greek mythology, Amphictyon was brother of Hellen, and Graecus was son of his sister Pandora . According to the Parian Chronicle , the previously-named Graeces were renamed Hellenes. An amphictyony consisting of polities under the aegis of Apollo's shrine at Delos

1729-433: Is strong evidence that the epithet of Poseidon at Kalaureia was Geraistos (Γεραιστός), a word from an unknown pre-Hellenic language . A 6th century A.D. dictionary by Stephanus of Byzantium gives the names of Zeus's sons as Geraistos, Tainaros , and Kalauros, who sailed from an unspecified location and landed in different places on the Peloponnesus. Geraistos, Tainaros, and Kalaureia are all sanctuaries of Poseidon; in

1820-657: Is suggested that the Shield of Heracles may reflect anti-Thessalian feeling after the First Sacred War. In this epic, a Thessalian hero interfering with the Phoecian sanctuary is killed by a Boeotian hero, Heracles , whose mortal father, Amphitryon, had for allies Locrians and Phoecians. This was made to be sung at a Boeotian festival at midsummer at the hottest time of the Dog Star, Sirius. The name Hellenes ,

1911-454: Is the valedictory phrase uttered by Spartan mothers to their sons before sending them off to war: ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς ( ḕ tàn ḕ epì tâs , literally "either with it or on it": return alive with your shield or dead upon it) would have been ἢ τὴν ἢ ἐπὶ τῆς ( ḕ t ḕ n ḕ epì t ê s ) in the Attic - Ionic dialect of an Athenian mother. Tsakonian , a descendant of Doric Greek, is still spoken in some parts of

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2002-814: Is unlikely, however, that Phoecis remained in control of Delphi after members of the Boeotian League defeated Athens at the Battle of Coronea (447 BCE) . In 356 the Phoecians under Philomelos captured and looted Delphi, and another sacred war was declared against them. After a ten-year war the Phoecians were expelled from the League in 346 and their two votes were given to Macedonians who had helped to defeat them. Philip II of Macedonia used this power to further his expansionist policy in Greece. This ended up in

2093-582: The Iliad , combined with the administrative records of the former Mycenaean states, prove to universal satisfaction that East Greek (Ionian) speakers were once dominant in the Peloponnesus but suffered a setback there and were replaced at least in official circles by West Greek (Doric) speakers. An historical event is associated with the overthrow, called anciently the Return of the Heracleidai and by moderns

2184-647: The polis that belonged: "And there was also a kind of amphictyonic league connected with this temple, a league of seven cities which shared in the sacrifice; they were Hermione , Epidaurus , Aegina , Athens , Prasïeis , Nauplïeis , and Orchomenus Minyeius ; however, the Argives paid dues for the Nauplians, and the Lacedaemonians for the Prasians." The least obscure and longest lasting amphictyony

2275-604: The -eus suffix as very productive. One of its uses was to convert a toponym to an anthroponym; for example, Megareus, "Megarian", from Megara . A Dōrieus would be from Dōris, the only classical Greek state to serve as the basis for the name of the Dorians. The state was a small one in the mountains of west central Greece. However, classical Doris may not have been the same as Mycenaean Doris. A number of credible etymologies by noted scholars have been proposed. Julius Pokorny derives Δωριεύς, Dōrieus from δωρίς, dōris , "woodland" (which can also mean upland). The dōri- segment

2366-619: The Dorian Invasion . This theory of a return or invasion presupposes that West Greek speakers resided in northwest Greece but overran the Peloponnesus replacing the East Greek there with their own dialect. No records other than Mycenaean ones are known to have existed in the Bronze Age so a West Greek of that time and place can be neither proved nor disproved. West Greek speakers were in western Greece in classical times. Unlike

2457-722: The Fourth Sacred War which culminated in the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BCE), marking the final domination of the Macedonians over Greece. In 279 the Delphic Amphictyony admitted as new members the Aetolian League , who had successfully defended the sanctuary as well as the rest of mainland Greece against the Gauls . At this instance the Phoecians were also readmitted for having also participated at

2548-833: The Peloponnese , Crete , southwest Asia Minor , the southernmost islands of the Aegean Sea , and the various Dorian colonies of Magna Graecia in Southern Italy and Sicily . After the classical period, it was mainly replaced by the Attic dialect upon which the Koine or "common" Greek language of the Hellenistic period was based. The main characteristic of Doric was the preservation of Proto-Indo-European [aː] , long ⟨α⟩ , which in Attic-Ionic became [ɛː] , ⟨η⟩ . A famous example

2639-688: The Spartan state and its illustrious individuals are detailed at great length in such authors as Plutarch and Diodorus Siculus . The Odyssey has one reference to the Dorians: There is a land called Crete , in the midst of the wine-dark sea, a fair, rich land, begirt with water, and therein are many men, past counting, and ninety cities. They have not all the same speech, but their tongues are mixed. There dwell Achaeans , there great-hearted native Cretans , there Cydonians , and Dorians of waving plumes, and goodly Pelasgians . The reference

2730-856: The Swedish Institute in Athens in collaboration with the Greek National Heritage Board. The results of these new excavations are published in the Institute's journal Opuscula Atheniensia (-2007) and (with open access ) in Opuscula (2008-). The excavations are also presented at the Institute's webpage . In 2007-2012 the extensive research program "The City, the God, and the Sea" was financed by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond , and

2821-685: The Thessalians into Boeotia and 20 years later "the Dorians and the Heraclids became masters of the Peloponnese." So the lines were drawn between the Dorians and the Aeolians (here Boeotians) with the Ionians (former Peloponnesians). Other than these few brief observations Thucydides names but few Dorians. He does make it clear that some Dorian states aligned or were forced to align with

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2912-596: The Thirty Years' Peace (455 BCE) Troezen was an ally of Athens, and was apparently garrisoned by Athenian troops; but by this peace the Athenians were compelled to relinquish Troezen. (19.29) The Sanctuary was excavated by Swedish archaeologists in 1894. These early excavations are treated in Ingrid Berg's PhD thesis (Stockholm University), published in 2016. Excavations were resumed in 1997, conducted by

3003-572: The Trojan War except to say that it was full of barbarians and that there was no distinction between barbarians and Greeks. The Hellenes came from Phthiotis . The whole country indulged in and suffered from piracy and was not settled. After the Trojan War, "Hellas was still engaged in removing and settling." Some 60 years after the Trojan War the Boeotians were driven out of Arne by

3094-520: The 4th century BC as an instrument of Athenian hegemony . Thucydides made recollection of the Lelantine War when writing, "The war between Chalcis and Eretria was the one in which most cities belonging to the rest of Greece were divided up into alliances with one side or the other." The Lelantine War was fought in Euboea at some point between the late 8th century BC and the first half of

3185-433: The 7th century BC. Historians have puzzled over the broader meanings of "alliance" in such early times. However, as George Forrest notes, "large-scale associations lead more readily to contacts, to friendships and enmities at a distance than do little city-like units." This explains why Phrygia and Assyria were at war with each other about 720–710, raising tensions among interested Greeks. An amphictyony would survive as

3276-774: The Aenianes, Malians, Magnetians and Pythians with the Thessalians. Since the Dolopes had meanwhile vanished, he gave their vote to the city of Nicopolis . The Amphictyonic League gradually declined and in the 2nd century CE it was replaced by the Panhellenion, established by the Roman emperor Hadrian . However, the see of the Amphictyonic League was in Athens, the emperor's favorite city. Thus, it seems that

3367-623: The Amphictyony lost influence and came to an end, although we have no specific date for its actual cessation. Dorians The Dorians ( / ˈ d ɔːr i ə n z / ; Greek : Δωριεῖς , Dōrieîs , singular Δωριεύς , Dōrieús ) were one of the four major ethnic groups into which the Hellenes (or Greeks) of Classical Greece divided themselves (along with the Aeolians , Achaeans , and Ionians ). They are almost always referred to as just "the Dorians", as they are called in

3458-501: The Athenians while some Ionians went with the Lacedaemonians and that the motives for alignment were not always ethnic but were diverse. Among the Dorians was Lacedaemon , Corcyra , Corinth and Epidamnus , Leucadia , Ambracia , Potidaea , Rhodes , Cythera , Argos , Syracuse , Gela , Acragas (later Agrigentum), Acrae , Casmenae. He does explain with considerable dismay what happened to incite ethnic war after

3549-465: The Battle-Charge which are also called Enoplia or Songs-under-Arms". These were chants used to establish the timing of standard drills under arms. He stressed patriotism: For 'tis a fair thing for a good man to fall and die fighting in the van for his native land, ... let us fight with a will for this land, and die for our children and never spare our lives. Herodotus was from Halicarnassus ,

3640-700: The Dorian invasion was the main cause of the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization. The source of the West Greek speakers in the Peloponnese remains unattested by any solid evidence. Though most of the Dorians settled in the Peloponnese, they also settled on Rhodes and Sicily and in what is now Southern Italy. In Asia Minor existed the Dorian Hexapolis (the six great Dorian cities): Halikarnassos (Halicarnassus) and Knidos (Cnidus) in Asia Minor , Kos , and Lindos , Kameiros , and Ialyssos on

3731-535: The Dorian islands, dotted the southern coasts of Sicily from Syracuse to Selinus. Also Taras was a Spartan colony. A man's name, Dōrieus , occurs in the Linear B tablets at Pylos , one of the regions later invaded and subjugated by the Dorians. Pylos tablet Fn867 records it in the dative case as do-ri-je-we , *Dōriēwei , a third- or consonant-declension noun with stem ending in w. An unattested nominative plural, *Dōriēwes , would have become Dōrieis by loss of

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3822-402: The Dorians did not name themselves after Dorus until they had reached Peloponnesus. Herodotus does not explain the contradictions of the myth; for example, how Doris, located outside the Peloponnesus, acquired its name. However, his goal, as he relates in the beginning of the first book, is only to report what he had heard from his sources without judgement. In the myth, the Achaeans displaced from

3913-424: The Dorians is a multifaceted concept. In modern scholarship, the term has often meant the location of the population disseminating the Doric Greek dialect within a hypothetical Proto-Greek speaking population. The dialect is known from records of classical northwestern Greece, the Peloponnesus and Crete and some of the islands. The geographic and ethnic information found in the west's earliest known literary work,

4004-462: The Dorians to import his worship to Rhodes . In Greek historiography , the Dorians are mentioned by many authors. The chief classical authors to relate their origins are Herodotus , Thucydides and Pausanias . The most copious authors, however, lived in Hellenistic and Roman times, long after the main events. This apparent paradox does not necessarily discredit the later writers, who were relying on earlier works that did not survive. The customs of

4095-410: The Dorians. Overseas were the islands of Rhodes , Cos , Nisyrus and the Anatolian cities of Cnidus , Halicarnassus , Phaselis and Calydna. Dorians also colonised Crete including founding of such towns as Lato , Dreros and Olous . The Cynurians were originally Ionians but had become Dorian under the influence of their Argive masters. Thucydides professes little of Greece before

4186-483: The East Greeks, they are not associated with any evidence of displacement events. That provides circumstantial evidence that the Doric dialect disseminated among the Hellenes of northwest Greece, a highly-mountainous and somewhat-isolated region. The Dorian invasion is a modern historical concept attempting to account for: On the whole, none of the objectives has been met, but the investigations served to rule out various speculative hypotheses. Most scholars doubt that

4277-412: The Great Amphictyonic League was founded somewhat after the Trojan War , for the protection and administration of the temple of Apollo in Delphi and temple of Demeter in Anthela (Ἀνθήλη), near Thermopylae . The founding myth claimed that it had been founded in the most distant past by an eponymous founder Amphictyon , brother of Hellen , the common ancestor of all Hellenes. Representatives of

4368-418: The Heracleidae enlisted the help of their Dorian neighbors. Hall does not address the problem of the Dorians not calling Lacedaemon Doris, but assigning that name to some less holy and remoter land. Similarly, he does not mention the Dorian servant at Pylos, whose sacred gift, if such it was, was still being ruled by the Achaean Atreid family at Lacedaemon. A minor, and perhaps regrettably forgotten, episode in

4459-428: The Messenian town of Dorium is mentioned in the Catalogue of Ships . If its name comes from Dorians, it would imply there were settlements of the latter in Messenia during that time as well. Tyrtaeus , a Spartan poet, became advisor of the Lacedaemonians in their mid-7th-century war to suppress a rebellion of the Messenians . The latter were a remnant of the Achaeans conquered "two generations before", which suggests

4550-404: The Pelasgians used to speak I am not able with certainty to say. But if one must pronounce judging by those that still remain of the Pelasgians who dwelt in the city of Creston above the Tyrsenians, and who were once neighbours of the race now called Dorian, dwelling then in the land which is now called Thessaliotis, and also by those that remain of the Pelasgians who settled at Plakia and Skylake in

4641-422: The Peloponnesus gathered at Athens under a leader Ion and became identified as "Ionians". Herodotus' list of Dorian states is as follows. From northeastern Greece were Phthia , Histiaea and Macedon . In central Greece were Doris (the former Dryopia) and in the south Peloponnesus , specifically the states of Lacedaemon , Corinth , Sicyon , Epidaurus and Troezen . Hermione was not Dorian but had joined

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4732-497: The assistance of other Dorian states. Dorians were distinguished by the Doric Greek dialect and by characteristic social and historical traditions. In the 5th century BC, Dorians and Ionians were the two most politically important Greek ethnē , whose ultimate clash resulted in the Peloponnesian War . The degree to which fifth-century Hellenes self-identified as "Ionian" or "Dorian" has itself been disputed. At one extreme Édouard Will  [ fr ] concludes that there

4823-403: The children of Heracles, with whom we came into the wide isle of Pelops from windy Erineus. Erineus was a village of Doris. He helped to establish the Spartan constitution, giving the kings and elders, among other powers, the power to dismiss the assembly. He established a rigorous military training program for the young including songs and poems he wrote himself, such as the "Embateria or Songs of

4914-423: The culture of their day as well; their biases contribute to the traditional modern interpretation of "Dorians". Accounts vary as to the Dorians' place of origin. One theory, widely believed in ancient times, is that they originated in the mountainous regions of Greece , such as Macedonia and Epirus , and obscure circumstances brought them south into the Peloponnese , to certain Aegean islands . The origin of

5005-418: The defeat of the old priesthood and to a new control of the prosperity of the oracle at Delphi . As a result of the war the Anthelan body was known thenceforth as the Delphic Amphictyony and became the official overseer and military defender of the Delphic cult. A strange and revealing anti-Thessalian feeling appeared and a wall was built across the narrow defile at Thermopylae to keep the Thessalians out. It

5096-413: The defense of the region. In the 3rd century the Soteria (festival) was held in honour of the Greek victory against the Gauls. By 191 the League had 17 members but only the most dominant one had the two votes, when others had only one. The league continued to exist under the Roman Empire but its authority was limited to the care of the temple of Apollo at Delphi. The Roman emperor Augustus incorporated

5187-445: The direction of the Amphictyons. In 449-448 the Phoecians, wanting to become masters of the sanctuary, marched against Delphi, but the Spartans sent an army and restored things, thus causing the second Sacred War . After the Spartans' departure, the Athenians, led by Pericles , gave back to the Phoecians the rule of Delphi and the management of the Pythian Games. In 421, after the Peace of Nicias , Delphi became autonomous again. It

5278-484: The dominance over the temples. Originally a religious organization, the Delphic Amphictyonic League became politically important in the 6th century BCE, when larger city-states began to use it to apply pressure to the lesser ones. The Oracle managed to become independent from the city of Krissa, to which the temple originally belonged. The people of Krissa then imposed a tax on those who were passing through their area to go to Delphi, causing strong complaints and reducing

5369-491: The earliest literary mention of them in the Odyssey , where they already can be found inhabiting the island of Crete . They were diverse in way of life and social organization, varying from the populous trade center of the city of Corinth , known for its ornate style in art and architecture, to the isolationist, military state of Sparta ; and yet, all Hellenes knew which localities were Dorian and which were not. Dorian states at war could more likely, but not always, count on

5460-452: The entrance way, the rooms may have functioned as a bouleuterion or the seat of the amphictyony. Building activity continued also during the Classical period. Stoa A and Stoa B were constructed along the north side of the sanctuary. Only the foundation of the back wall of Stoa B is preserved. More is known of Stoa A which originally was a Doric building with polygonal walls covered in red plaster and with an inner Ionic colonnade. The building

5551-417: The greatest agency and economic power, likely due to the prolonged absences of men during military campaigns. Dorian women wore the peplos , which was once common to all Hellenes. This tunic was pinned at the shoulders by brooches and had slit skirts which bared the thighs and permitted more freedom of movement than the voluminous Ionian chiton (costume) . The Doric dialect was spoken in northwest Greece,

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5642-410: The growth of the power of Athens and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon...." In the Platonic work Laws is mentioned that the Achaeans who fought in the Trojan War , on their return from Troy were driven out from their homes and cities by the young residents, so they migrated under a leader named Dorieus and hence they were renamed "Dorians". Now during this period of ten years, while

5733-425: The history of scholarship was the attempt to emphasize the etymology of Doron with the meaning of 'hand'. This in turn was connected to an interpretation of the famous lambda on Spartan shields, which was to rather stand for a hand with outstanding thumb than the initial letter of Lacedaimon. Given the origin of the Spartan shield lambda legend, however, in a fragment by Eupolis , an Athenian comic poet, there has been

5824-434: The island of Rhodes. The six cities would later become rivals with the Ionian cities of Asia Minor. The Dorians also settled Crete . The origin traditions remained strong into classical times: Thucydides saw the Peloponnesian War in part as "Ionians fighting against Dorians" and reported the tradition that the Syracusans in Sicily were of Dorian descent. Other such "Dorian" colonies, originally from Corinth, Megara, and

5915-405: The name on taking possession of Lacedaemon. Doris was subsequently named after them. Hall makes comparisons of Spartans to Hebrews as a chosen people maintaining a covenant with God and being assigned a Holy Land. To arrive at this conclusion, Hall relies on Herodotus' version of the myth (see below) that the Hellenes under Dorus did not take his name until reaching the Peloponnesus. In other versions

6006-551: The one never migrated from its place in any direction, while the other was very exceedingly given to wanderings; for in the reign of Deucalion this race dwelt in Pthiotis, and in the time of Doros the son of Hellen in the land lying below Ossa and Olympos, which is called Histiaiotis; and when it was driven from Histiaiotis by the sons of Cadmos, it dwelt in Pindos and was called Makednian; and thence it moved afterwards to Dryopis, and from Dryopis it came finally to Peloponnesus, and began to be called Dorian. 1.57.1-3 What language however

6097-450: The people of Creston do not speak the same language with any of those who dwell about them, nor yet do the people of Phakia, but they speak the same language one as the other: and by this it is proved that they still keep unchanged the form of language which they brought with them when they migrated to these places. 1.58 As for the Hellenic race, it has used ever the same language, as I clearly perceive, since it first took its rise; but since

6188-439: The pro-Philip Macedonian party at Athens, fled and took sanctuary in Poseidon's sanctuary; as Antipater's officers closed in, he took poison and died, 16 October 322 BCE. It is claimed by the Hellenistic historian Strabo that in the Archaic period , an early amphictyony , one of several Hellenic leagues of pre-classical times of which little is known, was centered on Kalaureia–the Calaurian Amphictyony . Archaeology of

6279-459: The region of the Hellespont, who before that had been settlers with the Athenians, and of the natives of the various other towns which are really Pelasgian, though they have lost the name,—if one must pronounce judging by these, the Pelasgians used to speak a Barbarian language. If therefore all the Pelasgian race was such as these, then the Attic race, being Pelasgian, at the same time when it changed and became Hellenic, unlearnt also its language. For

6370-419: The resources of the Oracle. The Amphictyony, having exhausted all other means to peacefully resolve the crisis, declared the First Sacred War (or Cirrhean War ) against Krissa that lasted a decade, from 596 to 585 BCE. The result was the destruction of Krissa and the dedication of this country to Apollo , Leto , Artemis , and Athena Pronaia. After this, the Pythian Games were held every four years, under

6461-422: The sanctuaries at Geraistos and Tainaros (Ταίναρος). The island was known at one time as Eirene (Εἰρήνη) ("Peace"), clearly in reference to the amphictyony. A reference in Strabo gives a list of the poleis that belonged: Troezen and Poros , which he considered the harbour of Troezen, Strabo omitted. However, there is no archaeological evidence to corroborate this list, and modern scholars believe that

6552-414: The sanctuary itself. Building E was interpreted as a bouleuterion due to the many statue bases found in front of it. The large Stoa F was located just to the west of Building E. On the other side of the modern road a rectangular structure (Building G) was located. This was formed by a courtyard which was entered from the east and surrounded by several rooms. Among the finds was a statuette of Asklepios. There

6643-410: The siege lasted, the affairs of each of the besiegers at home suffered much owing to the seditious conduct of the young men. For when the soldiers returned to their own cities and homes, these young people did not receive them fittingly and justly, but in such a way that there ensued a vast number of cases of death, slaughter, and exile. So they, being again driven out, migrated by sea; and because Dorieus

6734-461: The site suggested to Thomas Kelly that the sacred league was founded in the second quarter of the seventh century BCE, ca 680-650; before that date there were virtually no remains at the site, which could not have been used more than sporadically. A peribolos (περίβολος) wall enclosing the sanctuary site was built with the temple, but there are no earlier traces of structures. The temenos or sanctuary dedicated to Poseidon, may have been linked to

6825-501: The south. Building D was composed of three rectangular rooms that opened into the Stoa. Stoa C (the fourth and final stoa) was erected at the same time to the north-east of Building D. Facing the inner open area of the sanctuary it had an outer Doric and inner Ionic colonnade. An inscription suggests that the building functioned as an archive or was used for other administrative purposes. Several buildings have also been revealed outside of

6916-600: The southern Argolid coast of the Peloponnese , in the modern prefecture of Arcadia . Culturally, in addition to their Doric dialect of Greek, Doric colonies retained their characteristic Doric calendar that revolved round a cycle of festivals, the Hyacinthia and the Carneia being especially important. The Dorian mode in music also was attributed to Doric societies and was associated by classical writers with martial qualities. The Doric order of architecture in

7007-461: The time when it parted off feeble at first from the Pelasgian race, setting forth from a small beginning it has increased to that great number of races which we see, and chiefly because many Barbarian races have been added to it besides. Moreover it is true, as I think, of the Pelasgian race also, that so far as it remained Barbarian it never made any great increase. Thus, according to Herodotus,

7098-481: The towns of the latter two, one of the months of the year was named Geraistios (the only other poleis (πόλεις) with this month name are Sparta, Kalymna , and Kos ). It is also theorized that the epithet Geraistios (Γεραίστιος) also applies to Kalaureia because all three sanctuaries function as asylums. Another, older aetiology of the temple says that it was bartered for by Poseidon himself, who received it from Apollo in exchange for his share of Delphi . This story

7189-581: The tradition inherited by Vitruvius included the Doric column, noted for its simplicity and strength. The Dorians seem to have offered the central mainland cultus for Helios . The scattering of cults of the sun god in Sicyon , Argos , Ermioni , Epidaurus and Laconia , and his holy livestock flocks at Taenarum , seem to suggest that the deity was considerably important in Dorian religion, compared to other parts of ancient Greece. Additionally, it may have been

7280-527: The twelve members (called hieromnemones ) met in Thermopylae in spring and in Delphi in autumn. Many different sources have noted eleven to thirteen founding populations. The list below is as enumerated by Aeschines : The League doctrine required that no member would be entirely wiped out in war and no water supply of any member would be cut even in wartime. It did not prevent members from fighting about

7371-494: The unity between the Greek states during the Battle of Thermopylae . The Congress of Corinth, formed prior to it, "split into two sections." Athens headed one and Lacedaemon the other: For a short time the league held together, till the Lacedaemonians and Athenians quarreled, and made war upon each other with their allies, a duel into which all the Hellenes sooner or later were drawn. He adds: "the real cause I consider to be ...

7462-409: The w and contraction. The tablet records the grain rations issued to the servants of "religious dignitaries" celebrating a religious festival of Potnia , the mother goddess. The nominative singular, Dōrieus , remained the same in the classical period. Many Linear B names of servants were formed from their home territory or the places where they came into Mycenaean ownership. Carl Darling Buck sees

7553-438: Was a peripteral building with 6×12 columns, constructed mainly out of poros stone and was surrounded by a low wall with the main entrance on the east side and a smaller entrance in the south. Stoa D, a simple colonnaded hall, was constructed during the same period and is currently poorly preserved. Building E, usually interpreted as the sanctuary’s propylon, is somewhat better preserved. It has two identifiable rooms in addition to

7644-421: Was destroyed already in antiquity, probably around 100 BC. Later, in Roman times, it housed several small sheds with commercial activity, suggesting that the area had an economic function at this time. The next major phase of building activity also took place during the late 4th century BC. Structures were erected both inside and outside of the sanctuary. Stoa D was expanded by the large trapezoidal building D to

7735-576: Was in Thessaly , central Greece. He goes on to expand in mythological terms, giving some of the geographic details of the myth: 1.56.2-3 And inquiring he found that the Lacedemonians and the Athenians had the pre-eminence, the first of the Dorian and the others of the Ionian race. For these were the most eminent races in ancient time, the second being a Pelasgian and the first a Hellenic race: and

7826-518: Was made of wood); i.e., "the people of the spear" or "spearmen." In this case the country would be named after the people, as in Saxony from the Saxons. However, R. S. P. Beekes doubted the validity of this derivation and asserted that no good etymology exists. It sometimes happens that different derivations of an Indo-European word exploit similar-sounding Indo-European roots. Greek doru , "lance,"

7917-642: Was no true ethnic component in fifth-century Greek culture, in spite of anti-Dorian elements in Athenian propaganda. At the other extreme John Alty reinterprets the sources to conclude that ethnicity did motivate fifth-century actions. Moderns viewing these ethnic identifications through the 5th and 4th century BC literary tradition have been profoundly influenced by their own social politics. Also, according to E. N. Tigerstedt , nineteenth-century European admirers of virtues they considered "Dorian" identified themselves as " Laconophile " and found responsive parallels in

8008-404: Was noted by Strabo . Archaeology of the site suggested to Thomas Kelly that the sacred league was founded in the second quarter of the 7th century BCE, c.  680 –650. Before that date, there were virtually no remains at the site, which were not used more than sporadically. The island was known at one time as Eirene (Εἰρήνη) ("Peace"), which is in reference to the amphictyony. Strabo lists

8099-599: Was the Delphic Amphictyony that was organized to support the greater temples of Apollo and Demeter . Its council had religious authority and the power to pronounce punishments against offenders which ranged from fines to expulsion. They also had the ability to conduct sacred wars. The Amphictyonic League also set the rules of battle so as to protect sanctuaries and impose sentences on those who molested sanctuaries. All members were obliged to pledge themselves by an oath as reported by Aeschines . Based on legend,

8190-417: Was the man who then banded together the exiles, they got the new name of "Dorians", instead of "Achaeans". But as to all the events that follow this, you Lacedaemonians relate them all fully in your traditions. The Description of Greece by Pausanias relates that the Achaeans were driven from their lands by Dorians coming from Oeta , a mountainous region bordering on Thessaly . They were led by Hyllus ,

8281-483: Was well-established in the seventh century. The Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo of that approximate date lists them. Those cities and islands that trembled and refused to offer themselves for the birthplace of Apollo when pregnant Leto went to each in turn. The Homeric hymn presents an origin myth for the cult of Apollo on Delos. The joint Ionian festival celebrated there was the Delia . The Delian Amphictyony arose in

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