Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 2.djvu/78

 rah a^inst the greatar. Aooordiiiglj, when Le- prram in Triphylia revolted htm the Eleians and cmved the assietance o£ the Spartans, the latter not only reoqgniaed its independenoei bat sent an armed fiiNe to protect it. The Eleians in coneequence re- nomoed the alliance of Sparta, and formed a new )eagne with Argos, Corinth, and Mantineia. (Thnc. V. 31.) The fioUowing year (b.c.420} was the period for the oakbration of the Olympic ieetival; and the Eleians, und«r the pretext that the Spartans had sent some additioDal troops to Leprenm after the proclamation of the Sacred Trace, fined the Spartans 2000 minae, and, npon their rsfoaoR to pay the fine, excluded them from the fiastiTaL (Thnc v. 49, 60,) The Eleians foaghtwith the other aUiee against the Spartans at the battle of Mantineia (b. o. 41S); and thoogh the victory of the Spartans broke up this leagne, the iU-fiseling between Elis and Sparta still coDtinned. AccGidingly, when the fall of Athens gave the Spartans the undisputed supremacy of Greece, they resolved to take vengeance upon the Eleians. They required them to renounce their authority over their dependent towns, and to pay up the arrears doe from them as Spartan alHes for canying on the war against Athens. Upon their refusal to comply with theee demands, king Agis in- vaded their territory (b. c. 402). The war huted nearly three years; and the Eleaans were at length compelled to* purchase peace by relinquishing their authority not only over the Triphylian towns, but also over Lasion, which was claimed by the Arcadians, and over the other towns of the hilly district of Acroreia (b. a 400). They also had to suirender their har- bour of Cyllene with their ships of war. {Xen,SelL iii. 2. §§ 21^80; Died. xiv. 34; Pans. iiL 8. § 3, acq.) By this treaty the Eleians were in reality •tripped of all their political power; and the Pisatsns avidled themselves <^ thrir weakness to beg the La- oedaemonians to grant to them the management of the Olympic festival ; but as they were now ody villagers, and would probably have been unable to conduct the festival with becoming splendour, the Spartans refosed their request, and left the presidency in the hands of tiM Eleians. (Xen. BelL iiL 2. §30.) Soon after the battle of Leuctra (b. c. 371), hy which tfae^ Spartan power had been destroyed, the Eleians attempted to regain their supremacy over the Triphylian towns; but the latter, pleading their Arcadian origin, sought to be admitted into the Arcadian ooofedieracy, which had been recently or- gamsed by Epaminondas. The Arcadians complied with their request (B.a 868), much to the dis- pleasurs of the Eleiaon, who became in consequence bitter enemies of the Arcadians. (Xen. HelL vL 5. § 2, vii. l.§ 26.) bi order to recover their lost do- minions the Eldana entered into allisnce with the Spartans, who were equally anxious to gain posses- aion of Messenia. In b. a 366 hostilitiee commenced betiveen the EleSans and Arcadians. The Eleians seised by feroe Lasion and the other towns in the Acroreia, which also fermed part of the Arcadian oonfederaqy, aad of which they themselves had been deprived by the Spartans in b. a 400, as already re- lated« But the Areadians not only recovered these towns almost immediately afterwards, but established B gafrison on the hill of Cronion at Olympia, and advancing against the town of Elis, which was unfor- tified, neariy made themselves masters of the place. The democratical party in the city rose against the ruling oligarchy, and eeiaed the acropolis: but they were overoone, and fled firom the city. Thereupon, ELI& SHI asristed by the Arcadians, th^ srised PyHis, a plaoa on the Peneius, at the distance of about 9 miles from Elis, and there established themselves with a view of carrying on hostilities against the ruling party in the city. (Xen. S0IL vii. 4. 13—18; Diod. xv. 77.) In the following year (b. c. 365) the Arcadians again invaded EUs, and being attacked by the Eleians between their city and Cyllene, gained a vic- tory over them. The Eleians, in dibtress, applied to the Spartans, who created a diversion in their favour by invading the south-westeni part of Arcadia. The Arcadians in Elis now returiMd home in order to defend their own oountiy; whereupon the Eleians re- covered Pylns, and put to death all of the demo- cratical psily whom they found there. (Xen. BelL ri. 4. §§ 19—26.) In the next year (b. o. 364) the 104th celebration of the Olympic festival occurred. The Arcadians, who had now expelled the Spartans from thrir country, and who had meantime retained their garrison at Olympia, resolved to restore the preBidnicy of the festival to the Pisatans, and to celebrate it in conjunction with the latter. The Eleians, however, did not tamely submit to this ex- clusion, and, while the games were going on, marched with an anned force into the consecrated ground. Here a battle was fought; and though the Eleians showed great bravery, they were finally driven back by the Arcadians. The Eleians subsequently took revenge by striking out of the register Uiis Olympiad, as well as the 8th and 34th, as not entitled to be regarded as Olympiads. (Xen. Bell, vii 4. §§ 28— 32 ; Diod. xv. 78.) The Arcadians now seized the treasures in the templei at Olympia; but this act of sacrilege was received with so much reprobation by several of the Arcadian towns, and especially by Mantineia, that the Arcadian assembly not only de- nounced the crime, but evm concluded a peace with the Eleians, and restored to them 01ym]na and the presidency of the festival (b. o. 362). (Xen. BelL vu. 4. §§ 33, 34.) Pansanias relates that when Philip, the fether of Alexander the Great, obtained the supremacy in Greece, the Eleians, who had sufiered much from civil dissensions, joined the Macedonian alliance, but at the same time would not fight against the Athe- nians and Thebans at the battle of Cbaeroneia. After the death of Alexander the Great, they re- nounced the Macedonian alliance, and fought along with the other Greeks against Antipater, in the La- mian War. (Paus. v. 4. § 9.) In b. c. 312 Tele- sphorns, one of the generals of Antigonus, seized Elis and fortified the citadel, with the view of esta- blishing an independent principality in the Pelopon- nesus; bnt the town was shortly afterwards recovered by Ptolemaeus, the principal general of Antigcoua in Greece, who razed the new fortificatioiis. (Died, xix. 87.) The Eleians subsequently formed a close allianco with their kinsmen the Aetolians, and became mem- bers of the AetoUc League, of which they were the firmest supporters in the Pdoponnesns. They always steadily refused to renounce this alliance and join the Achaeans, and their country was in consequence frequently ravaged by the latter. (Polyb. iv. 5, 9,59« seq.) The TriphyUans, who exhibit throughout their entire histocy a rooted repugnance to the Eleian su- premacy, joined the Achaeans as a matter of course, (Comp. Liv. xxxiiL 34.) The Eleians are not men* tioned in the final war between the Bomans and the Achaean League; but after the capture of Corinth, their coontiy, together with the rest of Peloponnesus. 3o 2