Sparta Research Articles

A Strange Law at Sparta

A Strange Law at Sparta

Excavations at Sparta, 1924—28: Part II. Four Hellenistic Decrees

The number of decrees recovered from Ancient Sparta is regrettably small, and of them by no means all contain resolutions of the Spartan state. One complete text, and apparently six incomplete texts in the Laconian Corpus (I.G. v. 1, 12, 13, 14, 23, 28, 29 and 30), and three, and perhaps four, of the fragments published in the Annual from the recent excavations (B.S.A. xxvi. pp. 231 ff., Nos. 22, 23, 24 and 28) represent copies of resolutions passed by other states and erected at Sparta, in recognition of her citizens who had won honour and privileges at their hands. It is to this class of inscription that the four texts here published all belong, and they have the further importance that substantial portions of each can be read, or, in the case of No. 87, restored.The first (No. 84) is a decree of Arcadian Orchomenos, conferring proxeny on a Spartan; the second is a decree of Eretria in favour of Spartan dikasts; the third is probably a decree of Tralles, but is too incomplete to furnish either the full record of the services rendered by the recipient or the honours bestowed on him; and the last is in honour of Spartan dikasts, passed by the city of Demetrias in Thessaly.

Excavations at Sparta, 1924—25: § 1.—Introductory

When the British School decided to bring to an end its excavations at Sparta in the year 1910, after five campaigns, it was fully aware that the possibilities of the site were by no means exhausted. Its varied activities before the war, at Phylakopi and in Crete, and after the war at Mycenae, have formed the subjects of full reports in various volumes of the Annual from XVII (1910–11) onwards, but when Mr. Wace's tenure of the Directorship came to an end, the decision of the Committee to resume work on a site of the Classical period led to the renewal of work at Sparta forming their first choice. The fact that the new Director had taken an active part in three of the five original campaigns was an additional reason for returning there, and it was accordingly resolved to resume operations in 1924, with the Theatre as the first objective; and in hopes, moreover, of carrying out a fuller exploration of the Acropolis, and also of gaining fresh information as to the topography of ancient Sparta by extensively testing portions of the ancient city previously unexamined. The principal results of the work of the two seasons, 1924 and 1925, form the subject of the present report.

HISTORICAL REVISIONS.

HistoryVolume 8, Issue 31 p. 204-209 HISTORICAL REVISIONS. XXVII.—Ancient Sparta.1 First published: October 1923 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-229X.1923.tb01728.x 1 Bibliography.—(a) Archœological, etc.: M. N. Tod and A. J. B. Wace, A Catalogue of the Sparta Museum (Oxford, 1906); R. C. Bosanquet, R. M. Dawkins, and others, “Excavations at Sparta,” in Annual of the British School at Athens, vols. xii-xvi, inclusive; G. Dickins, “The Art of Sparta,”Burlington Magazine, vol. xiv (1908), pp. 68 ff. (with numerous excellent illustrations); J. P. Droop, “The Dates of the Vases called ‘Cyrenaic,’”Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. xxx (1910), pp. 1–34. (b) Historical: G. Dickins, “The Growth of the Spartan Policy,”Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. xxxii (1912), pp. 1–42; G. B. Grundy, “The Policy of Sparta” (replying to the above), ibid., pp. 261–269; A. J. Toynbee, “The Growth of Sparta,”op. cit. xxxiii (1913), pp. 246–275; W. S. Ferguson, Greek Imperialism (chapter on Sparta). L. Pareti's Storia di Sparta Arcaica (Florence, 1917) is still unfinished, and vol. i (alone published) does not extend down to classical times. His chronological conclusions are dangerously speculative. Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Volume8, Issue31October 1923Pages 204-209 RelatedInformation

The Head of a Youthful Heracles from Sparta

The Head of a Youthful Heracles from Sparta

I.—Excavations at Sparta, 1910: § 6.—Inscriptions

The only inscriptions found in 1910, apart from three minute fragments (Nos. 3–5), were two columnar statue-bases extracted from the foundations of the Roman Amphitheatre at the Sanctuary of Orthia, and a much mutilated fragment of the rules for a Demeter festival from the site of the Eleusinion at Kalývia Sochás. To these are added three miscellaneous inscriptions found recently in Sparta and the neighbourhood though not in the course of our excavations. They are of little or no importance, but seemed worthy of inclusion here in order to complete the publication of all the inscribed stones on which at least one complete word is preserved, found on, or near, the site of ancient Sparta during the last five years.

I.—Excavations At Sparta, 1907: § 2.—The City Wall

One object of the excavations of 1907 was to attempt to determine the course of the city wall, so as to fix the limits within which the buildings mentioned by Pausanias were probably situated. In addition to the part traced by excavation in 1906 along the river bank (General Plan, O 15, 14, P 13, (Pl. I.)) I had observed in other places remains of Greek masonry and other indications which possibly belonged to the city wall. These were accordingly examined by excavation, and with the results thus obtained and the assistance of the stamped tiles which were found in great numbers at one or two points, it has been possible to determine approximately the line of the city wall, and consequently the extent of ancient Sparta.