Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/456

 440 HISTORY OF GREECE. of Sparta. 1 The separate denominations both of Pisa and Tri- phylia became more and more merged in the sovereign name of Elis: the town of Lepreum alone, in Triphylia, seems to have maintained a separate name and a sort of half-autonomy down to the time of the Peloponnesian war, not without perpetual struggles against the Eleians. 2 But towards the period of the Peloponnesian war, the political interests of Lacedremon had be- come considerably changed, and it was to her advantage to main- -ain the independence of the subordinate states against the superior : accordingly, we find her at that time upholding the autonomy of Lepreum. * From what cause the devastation of the Triphylian towns by Elis, which Herodotus mentions as hav- ing happened in his time, arose, we do not know ; the fact seems to indicate a continual yearning for their original independence, which was still commemorated, down to a much later period, by the ancient Amphiktyony, at Samikum, in Triphylia, in honor of Poseidon, a common religious festival frequented by all the Triphylian towns and celebrated by the inhabitants of Makistus, who sent round proclamation of a formal truce for the holy period. 3 The Lacedaemonians, after the close of the Peloponnesian war, had left them undisputed heads of Greece, formally upheld the independence of the Triphylian towns against Elis, and seem to have countenanced their endeavors to attach themselves to the Arcadian aggregate, which, however, was never fully accom- plished. Their dependence on Elis became loose and uncertain, but was never wholly shaken off. 4 1 Pausan. vi. 22, 2; v. 6, 3 ; v. 10, 2; Strabo, viii. pp. 355-357. The temple in honor of Zeus at Olympia, was first erected by the Eleians, out of the spoils of this expedition (Pausan. v. 10, 2). 2 Thucyd. v. 31. Even Lepreum is characterized as Eleian. however ( Ari?- toph. Aves, 149) : compare also- Steph. Byz. v. TpifvMa, 1} 'H/Uc. Even in the 6th Olympiad, an inhabitant of Dyspontium is proclaimed as victor at the stadium, under the denomination of "on Eleian from Dyspon- tium;" proclaimed by the Eleians of course, the like in the 27th Olym- piad : see Stcphan. Byz. v. AVOTTOVTIOV, which shows that the inhabitants of the Pisatid cannot have rendered themselves independent of Eli? in the 2Ctb Olympiad, as Strabo alleges (viii. p. 355). 3 Herodot iv. 149 ; Strabo, viii. p. 343. 4 Diodor. xiv. 17 ; xv. 77 ; Xenoph. Hellen. iii. 2, 23, 26. It was about this period, probably, that the idea of the local Triphylos, son of Arkas. was first introduced (Polyb. iv. 77).