‘II.—Topography: South-Eastern Laconia

A. J. B. Wace; F. W. Hasluck

doi:10.1017/S0068245400003191

‘II.—Topography: South-Eastern Laconia

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 October 2013

A. J. B. Wace and

F. W. Hasluck

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The following paper deals with the historical geography and antiquities of the south-eastern promontory of Laconia from Acriae on the Laconic Gulf to Epidaurus Limera. Most of the country included being within easy reach of the sea, the ‘periplus’ arrangement has been followed, and a concordance of ancient geographers is prefixed to each of the sections.

Type: Laconia
Information: Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 14 , November 1908 , pp. 161 - 182

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068245400003191 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 1908

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References

^{page 162 note 1} Boblaye, Recherches, p. 95; Curtius, , Peloponnes, ii. p. 289Google Scholar; Bursian, , Geogr. Griechenlands, ii. p. 143Google Scholar; Bas, Le, Rev. Arch. 1845, p. 220Google Scholar; Niese, , Nachrichten Kgl. Ges. d. Wiss. zu Göttingen, 1906, p. 114.Google Scholar

^{page 162 note 2} B. S. A. xiii. p. 230.

^{page 162 note 3} The votive relief to Artemis published by Treu, (Arch. Zeit. 1880, Pl. VI.Google Scholar I) may have come from any of the sites on this coast, since its exact provenance is not known.

^{page 162 note 4} iii. 16, 9; v. Niese, op. cit. p. 114.

^{page 162 note 5} C.I.G. 1336.

^{page 162 note 6} Polybius, iv. 36, 5=v. 19; Livy, xxxv. 27, 3; Niese, op. cit. p. 114.

^{page 163 note 1} B.S.A. xii. p. 270.

^{page 163note 2} Leake, , Morea, i. p. 200Google Scholar; Bory de St. Vincent, Expéd. Scientifique, p. 456.

^{page 163 note 3} Leake, , Marea, i. p. 225Google Scholar; Id., Peloponnesiaca, p. 169; Boblaye, op. cit. p. 97; Bas, Le, Rev. Arch. 1845, p. 218Google Scholar; Ross, , Wanderungen, ii. p. 247Google Scholar; Curtius, , op. cit. ii. p. 290Google Scholar; Bursian, , op. cit. ii. p. 142Google Scholar; Philippson, Peloponnes, p. 179; ᾿Εφ.᾿Αρχ 1884, p. 86, 1. 18; 1900, p. 158, 11. 2, 7, 15; Négris, , Ath. Mitt., 1904, p. 344.Google Scholar

^{page 164 note 1} Leake, Morea, p. 224, No. 233=Collitz-Bechtel 4560; B.C.H. 1897, p. 209 (the last line should read Αργέννου ταμία); Perdrizet says the inscription came from Cyparissia (i.e. Plitra); it is now in the church of H. Dimitrios at Kalyvia.

^{page 164 note 2} Leake, (Morea, i. p. 224)Google Scholar says that the peasant who found the first inscription, which he kept in his house, feared some evil might befall him, as he was afraid that it belonged to a church. When the second inscription was found some eleven years ago, the finder had it in his house. Later he fell ill, and thought that this was caused by the inscription having belonged to a church. So he gave it to the village church, where it now is; and of course recovered immediately.

^{page 164 note 3} Head, Hist. Num., s.n. It is doubtful if the coin inscribed Κυπαρισσία can be attributed to Cyparissia (B.M. Cat. Pelop. p. 128, No. 68).

^{page 164 note 4} Hierocles, Synecd. p. 647.

^{page 165 note 1} ᾿Εφ.᾿Αρχ 1884, pp. 85 ff., 203 ff.; 1890, pp. 65 ff.; 1900, pp. 154 ff.; 1904, pp. 55 ff; B.C.H. ix. pp. 241 ff., 517 ff.; cf. Collitz-Bechtel, 4537–4549.

^{page 165 note 2} Πρακτικά 1885, pp. 31 ff.

^{page 165 note 3} Winter, , Terrakotten, i. 217, 2Google Scholar; ii. 166, 4; 180, 2.

^{page 166 note 1} Boblaye, op. cit p. 98; Leake, Peloponnesiaca, p. 168; Curtius, , op. cit. ii. p. 294Google Scholar; Bursian, , op. cit. ii. p. 112Google Scholar; Bas, Le, Rev. Arch. 1845, p. 219.Google Scholar

^{page 166 note 2} iv. 56; v. Niese, op. cit. p. 114.

^{page 166 note 3} B.C.H. ix. p. 241, 1. 10; ᾿Εφ.᾿Αρχ 1900, p. 154, 11. 5, 8; p. 158, 11. 3, 14, 31; p. 159, 11. 6, 8.

^{page 167 note 1} As a check on the distances given by Pausanias we may here add the corresponding figures from the Mediterranean Pilot (1900, iv. 32 ff.): C. Malea ( m. C. Kamili), m. NNW. Monemvasia, m. N. Porto Paleo, 2·7 m. NE. N. C. Kremidi, 3 m. NNE. C. Ieraka, m. NW. Port Ieraka. The fifteenth-century directions in Uzzano (Pagnini, , Della Decima di Firenze, voi. iv. 221)Google Scholar from Monemvasia to Zarax identify Port S. Paulo with Porto Paleo and P. della Bottas with Zarax: ‘Da Malvazia al porto S. Paulo à 3 miglia entro maestro e tramontana, lo porto S. Paulo à entrata di verso mezzo giorno, e entrata di verso tramontana: dal porto S. Paulo al porto della Bottas à 10 miglia per tramontana verso maestro: lo porto della Bottas à entrata di verso levante e dovete entrare per ponente.’

^{page 167 note 2} A chance remark in Covel's Diary, p. 136, shows that the strait was then (1677) easily fordable: in 1839 there was upwards of a fathom of water everywhere. We shall have occasion to allude to the general sinking of the coast in connection with Epidelium and Monemvasia.

^{page 168 note 1} Morea, i. 508.

^{page 168 note 2} As to the position of Etis there is no evidence: Aphrodisias is mentioned with a place named Cotyrta (cf. above, p. 166) by Thucydides (iv. 56) as the scene of a skirmish between Athenians and Spartans in 424, and would seem to have lain in the plain of Boeae. Side is shown by the Periplus of Scylax to have been on the coast beyond Malea.

^{page 168 note 3} Paus. i. 27.

^{page 168 note 4} Polyb. v. 19.

^{page 168 note 5} Morea, i. 510.

^{page 168 note 6} Wanderungen, ii. 246; Arch. Aufs. ii. 670; cf. Papamichalopoulos, Πολιορκία 94: Α νεγειρομένης τῆς πόλεως Βοιῶν ἀνεσκάφησαν πολλὰ μεχρὶ τοῦδε ἄξια λόγου ἀρχαῖα . . . κίονας ἐνεπιγράφους πλάκας ἀγάλματα

^{page 168 note 7} After 1837 (Fiedler) and before 1844 (Ross).

^{page 169 note 1} This is to be contrasted with the northern part of the territory under discussion, where the villages of Katavóthra, Angelóna, and Sykeá (and further north Kremasti, Zarax, and Rhikeá) commonly use the language. These are said to be late settlements dating from after Orloff's invasion, when the country, as Leake remarks (Morea, i. 204), was depleted by the flight of the inhabitants to Hydra and elsewhere. ᾿Αρβανίτης I am told, is used as a term of reproach synonymous with Βλάξ and opposed to χωριάτης i.e. a nomnd vagrant as opposed to a settled cultivator. It is consequently unsafe to infer that the Vatikiótika are non-Albanian; indeed in some villages it was admitted that a few old men spoke it.

^{page 169 note 2} Sathas, , Mon. Hell. vi. 85, 224(1466–79)Google Scholar; cf. Sansovino, 231: ‘Castello del Turco lontano 30 miglia di Manavasia’; a Greek document of 1442 (?) mentions the περιοχὴ Βατικῶν τῆς Τζακονίας (Παρνασσός vii. 274); cf. Miklosich, and Müller, , Res. Gr. et Ital. 301, 304, 316Google Scholar; ‘chasteau de Vactique,’ (1537) Charrière, , Nég. de la France, i. 371.Google Scholar

^{page 169 note 3} ‘Villagio dirimpetto di Cerigo’ (1691), Michiele in Lambros, Ιστ. Μεκετ 210; cf. Leake, , Morea, i. 510.Google Scholar A settlement in Tenos called Βατικιώτικα dating from 1770 (D. Drosos, ῾Ιστ Τήνου p. 60), and another in Samos called Βατικιῶται (Stamatiades, Σαμιακά iii. 29), are supposed to be colonies of the Peloponnesian Vatika, as is the village of Vatika (alias Musatcha) on the Aesepus. The latter seems; however, to be Albanian.

^{page 169 note 4} This seems proved by the attributes: the type seems to be a new variant of the ‘Sardanapalus’ group.

^{page 172 note 1} Boblaye, Ruines, p. 99.

^{page 172 note 2} Str. 378; cf. Stat. Theb. ii. 33.

^{page 172 note 3} E. Kapetanakis, Λακωνικὰ Περίεργα II. Cf. also the popular etymology of the name (quoted by Fiedler, Reisen, 339) from μαλλιά ‘weil die Winde hier so wütheten, dass den Seefahrern vor Angst Haare auf der Zunge wachsen mochten.’

^{page 173 note 1} These may or may not be relics of the temples of Apollo Maleatas or Lithesios and Pan, which stood on the point (Curtius, Peloponnesus, 74).

^{page 173 note 2} July 7. His tomb is supposed to exist on the cape, but the site is unknown.

^{page 173 note 3} O. d'Anglure's Voyage, p. 96.

^{page 173 note 4} Cotovicus, p. 62: ‘Sacellum in honorem Michaelis archangeli Christiani aedificaverant quod etiamnum extat’ (1598): von Zimber and the Graff zu Solms (1483) also mention the chapel by name.

^{page 174 note 1} Ed. Wright, p. 58, where this is disputed in favour of Aegospotami.

^{page 174 note 2} Graff zu Solms (in Feyerabend, p. 208): ‘Die Leut umb diesen Berg wenen (? meinen) dass so S. Michael sein Flugel in diesen Ecke erschwinge, so werden die Winde beweget und damit die Schiffe vertrieben.’

^{page 174 note 3} Τὰ τρία Φουσσάτα in Politis' Παραδόσεις 559.

^{page 174 note 4} E.g. Von Zimber (Feyerabend, p. 339) took thirteen days, the Graff zu Solms eleven; the latter says that the period was sometimes as much as three or four months; cf. Chroniques de Jean d'Anton, p. 197. Melos was chosen on account of its good harbour and the bad reputation of the Monemvasiotes.

^{page 174 note 5} Graff zu Solms, 209.

^{page 174 note 6} Sathas, , Mon. Hist. Hell. vi. 254.Google Scholar The post dates from 1527 (ibid. iv. 231), but had been. used earlier by the Byzantines; telegraphing was done by beacon-fires.

^{page 174 note 7} From the ‘eponymous founder’ Houssein.

^{page 174 note 8} Πολιορκία p. 91.

^{page 175 note 1} The extremely rare phenomenon of Turks turning Christian was paralleled at the surrender of Athens in 1687, when 300 Turks were voluntarily baptised (Rycaut, iii. 272; cf. ibid. 270 (Castel Tornese)).

^{page 175 note 2} From Neapolis to Voutama is reckoned hours; the last three-quarters (after leaving the plain) are over very rough hills. From Voutama to Monemvasia ( hours) the road follows the shore, but only the last hour is as yet practicable for wheeled traffic.

^{page 175 note 3} I have this on the authority of M. Apostolides, who has sent a detailed account to M. Ph. Négris, a specialist in such phenomena.

^{page 175 note 4} P. 176; for the west side of the Laconian Gulf cf. B.S. A. xiii. 225.

^{page 176 note 1} P. 584: ‘In n'y en a point aujourd'huy de plus célèbre dans la Morée pour les miracles qui s'y font par l'entremise du Saint’; but the church alluded to is called the cathedral.

^{page 176 note 2} The story of the ‘flitting’ of the picture from Chrysapha near Sparta, and of the healing of the abbess, are given by Papamichalopoulos (p. 95) from a MS. of 1600. The church is still considered θαυματουργός

^{page 176 note 3} The more familiar western corruptions of the name (Malvasia, Malvagia, Marvaxia, whence Malvoisie, Malmsey) seem to depend on a sailor's corruption of the word to make it approximate to Ital. malvagia, ‘darumb dass dieselbgen Leut wissentlich vbel thun,’ as the Graff von Solms writes as comment on his own version Malfasia (? male +facio). The Turkish name Menekcheh Ka'alesi (‘violet castle,’ Papamichalopoulos, p. 60) is apparently a still wilder attempt at the difficult name.

^{page 177 note 1} Its shape and insulated position have won for it the quaint local nickname Πετροκαράβι

^{page 177 note 2} Anon. c. 1475, Ath. Mitt. xxiv. 78, § 21; La Guilletiere [1669], Lacèdèmone ancienne et nouvelle 579 ff.; Coronelli, , Mémoires du Roy. de Morée, Amst. 1686, pp. 100–5Google Scholar (with a view reprinted in Dapper's Morea); M. Michiele [1691] in Lambros, ῾Ιστ. Μελετ 210; Bellin, Descr. de la Morée, 1771 (Pilots' Handbook); Castellan [1797], Morée, pp. 39–84. (Map, etc.); Leake, [1805], Morea, i. 203 ff.Google Scholar; Expéd. Sciait, de la Morée, 1835, Relation 459 ff., Atlas PI. XXXIII. (view from S.W.), Architecture iii. 55; Aldenhoven, Itinéraire, 361–363; Buchon [1840–1], Grèce Continent. 409–15; Wyse, Excursion in Peloponnesus, i. ch. i. (view from S.W.); Boetticher, , Malvasia in Neues Reich, 1878, 33Google Scholar; Tozer, , J.H.S. iv. 233–6Google Scholar; Philippson, Peloponnesus, 173; Admiralty Chart 1591.

^{page 177 note 3} B.S.A. xii. 270–4 (illus.)

^{page 177 note 4} J.H.S. 1907, 229–241, 300–1 (illus.).

^{page 177 note 5} Bosio, , 1st. delia S.R. di S. Giov. Gieros. xxiii, pp. 479–81.Google Scholar The highest point reached was a ‘chapel in a cave,’ presumably the cave called τῶν Καλογρῃῶν (‘of the nuns’) above the modern cemetery. This cave is close under the top of the cliff: its mouth has been at some time blocked by a wall cf which traces remain.

^{page 178 note 1} Valiero, Guerra di Candia, 305; Nani, , Hist. Rep. Ven. ii. 401Google Scholar; Randolph, Present Stale of Morea, 10.

^{page 178 note 2} They built forts at Port S. Nicolo (Epidaurus Limera) and Perivolia, and had uninterrupted command of the sea. The medal struck on this occasion deserves mention here for its quaint view of the town.

^{page 178 note 3} Wyse, p. 29; cf. Castellan 43: ‘On aperçoit partout les traces de la dernière guerre: les murs sont criblés de boulets et noircis par l'incendie: les rues sont jonchées de débris de bombes’; and Leake, , Morea, i. 204–5.Google Scholar

^{page 178 note 4} Papamichalopoulos, Πολιορκία τῆς Μονεμβασίας

^{page 178 note 5} ᾿Αθηνᾶ 1904, pp. 239–242; cf. K. Zesíu, ibid. 1891, reprinted in Συμμικτά pp. 3–9.

^{page 179 note 1} A description of the ruins of Zarax is to be included in the next section northwards.

^{page 179 note 2} On the Water of Ino see Frazer's note on Paus. iii. 23. 8. Leake, (Morea, i. 217)Google Scholar and Boblaye (Ruines, 100) each found a pool; the latter's appears to have the strongest claim.

^{page 179 note 3} Thuc. iv. 56.

^{page 179 note 4} Ibid. vi. 105.

^{page 179 note 5} Epigr. rep. per Illyr. xxxvii.

^{page 179 note 6} Cf. Guilletière, 587, and the Venetian historians.

^{page 179 note 7} Morée, 39–84, with plan of the bay and view of the ruins; see also Leake, Morea, i.; Expéd. Scientif., Allas, vignette at end (view of ruins); Boblaye, Ruines, 100.

^{page 181 note 1} Rycaut iii. 362, Locatelli.

^{page 181 note 2} See below.

^{page 181 note 3} An unusually large block measures 1·00x·70m.

^{page 182 note 1} Sathas, , Mon. Hist. Hell. iv. 232.Google Scholar The ruins are here referred to as ‘terra antiqua ruinata in questo scoio fuora de le porte de la terra habitada, ala qual per el passato se comodavemo a tuor de le pietre tuffi a fabricar.’

^{page 182 note 2} Cf. also Guilletière, p. 583: ‘Cette vieille Malvezia est deserte; mais les Galères, et les Vaisseaux y vont ordinairement jetter l'ancre; parce que le Port est bon, et le fond de bonne tenue.’

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‘II.—Topography: South-Eastern Laconia

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