Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume II.djvu/1047

 SPARTA, tetter aiLipted for a citadel than any other, as being separated from the rest, and at one angle of the site; but Curtius supposes it to have stood upon the hill of the theatre, as being the only one with a suf- ficiently large surface on the summit to contain the numerous buildings which stood upon the Acropolis. The latter opmion appears the more probable; and t!ie larger hill, cleared from its surrounding rubbish, surrounded with a wall, and crowned with buildings, would have presented a much more striking appear- ance tiian it does at present. The chief building on the Acropolis was the tem- ple of Athena Chalcioecus, the tutelary goddess of the city. It was said to have been begun by Tyn- dareus, but was long afterwards completed by Gitiadas, who was celebrated as an architect, sta- tuary, and poet. He caused the whole building to be covered with plates of bronze or brass, whence the temple was called the Brazen House, and tiie goddess received the surname of Chalcioecus. On the bronze plates there were represented in relief the labours of Hercules, the exploits of the Dioscuri, Hephaestus releasing his mother from her chains, the Nymphs arming Per.-eus for his expedition against iledusa, the birth of Athena, and Amphi- trite and Poseidon. Gitiadas also made a brazen statue of the godde.ss. (Paus. iii. 17. §§ 2, 3.) The Brazen House stood in a sacred enclosure of considerable extent, surrounded by a stoa or colon- nade, and containing several sanctuaries. There was a separate temple of Athena Ergane. Near ilu' southern stoa was a temple of Zeus Cosmetas, 'id before it the tomb of Tyndareus; the western -ilia contained two eagles, bearing two victories, de- dicated by Lysander in commemoration of his vic- im-ies over the Athenians. To the left of the Brazen House was a temple of the Muses ; behind it u temple of Ares Areia, with very ancient wooden statues ; and to its right a very ancient statue of Zeits Hypatus, by Learchus of Rhegium, parts of which were fastened together with nails. Here also was the (TKrtfajfia, a booth or tent, which Curtius con- jf^ctures to have been the dtityjixa oii fJ-eya, t ^v toD lepov (Thuc. i. 134), where Pausanias took refuge as a suppliant. Near the altar of the Brazen House stood two statues of Pausanias, and also statues of Aphrodite Ambologcra (delaying old age), and of the brothers Sleep and Death. The statues of Pausanias were set up by order of the Delphian Apollo to expiate his being starved to death within the sacred precincts. (Paus. iii. 17. § 2 — 18. § 1.) The Agora was a spacious place, surrounded, like other Greek market-places, with colonnades, from which the streets issued to the different quarters of the city. Here were the public buildings of the magistrates, — the council-house of the Gerusia and senate, and the offices of the Epliori, Nomophylaces, and Bidiaei. The most splendid building was the Per- sian stoa, which had been frequently repaired and eidarged, and was still perfect when Pausanias visited the city. The Agora contained statues of Julius Caesar and Augustus: in the latter was a lira/.en statue of the prophet Agi:is. There was a place called Chorus, marked off from the rest of the Agora, because the Spartan youths here danced in honour of Apollo at the festival of the Gymno- paedia. This jilace was adorned with statues of the Pythian deities, AjjoIIo, Artemis, and Leto; and near it were temples of Eartii, of Zeus Agoraeus, of Athena Agoraea, of Apollo, of Poseidon Asphalcius, and of Hera. In the Agora was a colossal statue SPARTA. 1027 representing the people of Sparta, and a temple of the Moerae or Fates, near which was the tomb of Orestes, whose bones had been brought from Tegea to Sparta in accordance with the well-known tale in Herodotus. Near the tomb of Orestes was the statue of king Polydorus, whose effigy was used as the seal of tlie state. Here, also, was a Hermes Agoraeus bearing Dionysus as a child, and the old Ephoreia, where the Ephors originally administered justice, in which were the tombs of Epimenides the Cretan and of Aphareus the Aeolian king. (Paus. iii. II. §§2-11.) The Agora was near the Acropolis. Lycurgus, it is said, when attacked by his opponents, fled for refuge from the Agora to the Acropolis; but was overtaken by a fiery youth, who struck out one of his eyes. At the spot where he was wounded, Ly- curgus founded a temple of Optiletis * or Ophthal- mitis, which must have stood immediately above the Agora. Plutarch says that it lay within the temenos of the Brazen House; and Pausanias men- tions it, in descending from the Acropolis, on the way to the so-called Alpium, beyond which was a temple of Ammon, and probably also a temple of Artemis Cnagia. (Pint. Z,?/c. II; Apo2>hth. Lac. p. 227, b.; Paus. iii. 18. § 2.) The Agora may be placed in the great hollow east of the Acropolis (Map, 2). Its position is most clearly marked by Pausanias, who, going westwards from the Agora, arrived im- mediately at the theatre, after passing only the tomb of Brasidas (iii. 14. § 1). The site of the theatre, which he describes as a magnificent build- ing of white marble, has been already described. The principal street, leading out of the Agora, was named Aphetais ('A(J>eTat's), the Corso of Sparta (Map. dd). It ran towards the southern wall, through the most level part of the city, and was bordered by a succession of remarkable monuments. First came the house of king Polydorus, named Booneta (Boui- vrra), because the state purchased it from his widow for some oxen. Next came the office of the Bidiaei, who originally had the inspection of the race-course; and opposite was the temple of Athena Celeutheia, with a statue of the goddess dedicated by Ulysses, who erected three statues of Celeutheia in diflerent jilaces. Lower down the Aphetais oc- curred the heroa of lops, Amphiara;:s, and Leicx, — the sanctuary of Poseidim Taenarius, — a statue of Athena, dedicated by the T.arentini, — the place called Hellenium, so called because the Greeks are said to have held counsel there either before the Persian or the Trojan wars, — the tomb of Talthy- bius, — an altar of Apollo Acreitas, — a place sacied to the earth named Gaseptun:, — a statue of Apollo Blalcates, — and close to the city walls the temple of Dictynna, and the royal sepulchres of the Eurypon- tidae. Pausanias then returns to the Hellenium, probably to the other side of the Aphetais, where he mentions a sanctuary of Arsinoe, the sister of the wives of Castor and Pollu.s ; then a temple of Artemis near the so-called Pliruria {ifiovpia), which were perhaps the temporary fortifications thrown up before the completion of tlio city walls; nest the tombs of the lamidae, the Eleian prophets, — sanc- tuaries of Blaro and Alpheius, who fell at Ther- mopylae, — the temple of /eus Tropacus, built by the Dorians after conquering the Achaean iidiabitants of Laconia, and especially the Amyclaei,— the temple nian form for v(t>8afj.oi, Plut. L;/c. 1 1 . 3 u 2
 * So called, because h-miXoi was the Lacedaemo-