Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/221

 ABGOS. exception of then temporary occapadons, it oon- tinoed U^ bdoog to the Achaean leagae till the final oonqoBst of Greece by the Romans, b. c. 146. (Strah. viiL pp. 376, 377.) Argos waa one of the laifr^st and moat popolous ritiea in Greece. We hare idready aeen that in the war with Cleomenes it lost 6000 of its citizens; but at the time of the Peloponneaian war it had greatly increaaed in nnmbers. Lysias, in b. a 402, sajs that Argos equalled Athens in the number of her citizens (Dionys. Z^ p. 531); and there tt'ere pro- bably not leas than 16,000 Athenian citizens at that time. Bat 16,000 citizens will give a total free popolatkm of 66,000. If to these we add the slayes and the Perioeci, the aggr^ato calculation cannot hate been less than 110,000 persons for Argos and its territory. (CHnton, F. H. vol. il. p. 424, seq.) Few towns in Greece paid more attention to the worship of the gods than Argoe. Hera was the deity whom they reverenced above all others. This goddess was an Achaean rather than a Dorian di- vinity, and appears in the Iliad as the guardian deity of the Ax^gives ; but her worship was adopted sf the Dorian conquerors, and was cdebrated with the greatest honours down to the latest times. Even m B« c 195 we find Aristaenus, the general of the Achaean league, invoking, " Juno regina, cnjus in totda Argi sunt.'' (Lir. xxxiv. 24.) The chief tonple of this goddess, called the Heraeum, was situated between Argos and Mycenae, but much ■nrer to the latter than to the former dty; and in the heraic age, when Mycenae was the chief citj in the Argeia, the inhabitants of this city probably had the managenient of the temple. (Grote, vol. i. pp. 236, 227.) In the historical age the temple be- ki^ed to the Argives, who had the exclusive ma- nagement of its adSairs. The high priestess of the temple held her office for life; and the Argives roonted their years by the date of her office. (Thuc. ii. 2.) Once in four years, probably in the second year of every Olympiad, there was a magnificent proreasiaQ from Argos to this tem]Je, in which afanoet the whole pc^>ulation of the dty took part. The priestess xx)de in a chariot, drawn by two white oxen. (Herod, i. 31; Cic Tvtc. L47; for details, ve Diet, of AnL art Berne€L) Respecting the ate of this tem|de, which was one of the most mag- ittficoit in Greece, some lemartcs are made bdow. In the dty itself there were also two temples of Hera, one of Hera Acraea on the ascent to the Acro- polis (Pans. ii. 24. § 1), and the other of Hera Antheia in the lower part of the dtj (Pans. ii. 22. § 1 ). Bat the temple of Apollo Lyceius is de- scribed by Pausanias (ii. 19. § 3, seq.) as by far the moat ccldxrated of all the temples in the dty. Tra- ditian ascribed its foundation to Danaus. It stood an one side of the Agora (Thuc. v. 47), which So- phocles therefore calls " the Lyceian Agora of the watf-slaving god** (rod KuKOKr6vov dtov iyop^ Awftot^ S^. EUctr. 6 ; comp. Pint. Pyrrh, 31 ; Leake, MortOj voL ii. p. 401, seq.). There was also a temple of Apollo Pjthaens on the Acropolis, which, as we have already seen, was a common sanctuary hr the Dorian states belonging to the ancient Argive confederacy (Pans. u. 24. § 1 ; Thuc v. 53.) There were tem]deB to several other gods in Argos ; hot we may pass them over, with the exception of the temples of 2^ens Larissaeos and of Athena, both flf v^iieh crowoed the summit of the acropolis (Pans. n. 84. f 3 ; Strab. riil p. 370). The great nimiber of temples, and of statues with ABGOS. 205 which they were adorned, necessarily led to the cul- tivation of the fine arts. Argos became the seat of one of the most celebrated schools of statuary in Greece. It rose to the greatest renown in the 5th century, b.c, imder Ageladas,who was the teacher of Pheidias, Myron, and Polycleitns, three of the greatest sculptcns in antiquity. (See these names in the Did. of Biogr.) Music was also cultivated with success at Argos at an early period ; and in the reign of Darius the Argives were reckoned by Hero- dotus (iiL 131) the best musicians in Greece. Sa- cadas, who floiuished about this period (b. c. 590^ 580), and who was one of the most eminent of the Greek musicians, was a native of Argos. Saca- das obtained distinction as a poet as well as a mu- sician; and the Argive Telesilla, who was con- temporary with Cleomenes, was so celebrated as a poetess as to be classed among those who were called the ^ne Lyric Muses (^DicL ofBiogr. art. Sacadcu and Telesilla). But after this time we find no trace of the pursuit of literature at Argos. Notwithstand- ing its democratical constitution, and the consequent attention that was paid to public affidrs, it produced no orator whose fiune descended to posterity (Cic. BrtU. 13). The Argives had the character of being addicted to wine (Aelian, V.H.m. 15; Athen. x. p. 442, d). PLAN OF ABOOS. 1. Larissa or Acropolis. 2. Deiras. 3. Aspis or second Acro- polis. 4. Goele. 5. Theatre. 6. Agora. 7. Temple of Apollo Ly- ceius. 8. Thalamos of Danae. 9. Aqueduct. 10. Gate of Deiras. 11. Gate of Eileithyia. 12. Gate leading to the Heraeum. 13. Gate Diamperes. 14. Gate leading to Te- menium. 15. Gate leading to Te- gea. 16. Gymnasium of Cy- larabis. The remains of Argos are few, but still sufficient to enable us to fix the position of some parts of the andent city, of which Pausanias has left us a minute account. The modem town of Argos is situated wholly in the plain, but it is evident from the exist- ing remains of the andent walls, that the mountain CflJled Larissa was induded within the ancient dty. On the summit of this mountain there are the ruins of a Gothic castle, the walls of which are built upon those of the ancient acropolis. " The masonry of the ancient parts of the building is solely or chiefly in the more regular or polygonal style. There are,