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Hyakinthia
The death of Hyacinthus was celebrated at Amyclae by the second most important of Spartan festivals, the Hyacinthia (Ancient Greek / ''Hyakínthia'') in the Spartan month Hyacinthius in early summer. Proceedings of Hyacinthia The Hyacinthia lasted three days. Their details have been passed down to us through the descriptions in Athenaeus and Didymus. The first day was given over to mourning for the death of the hero: sacrifices were offered to the dead, banquets were stark and without pomp or decoration, the sacrificial breads were very plain. The second day was one of celebration for his rebirth. The young people played the cithara and the aulos, and sang of the glory of Apollo. Others participated in horse races. Numerous choirs competed in town, singing country songs and dancing. Amyclae was also the location of parades of carts decorated by the girls and women of Sparta. Numerous sacrifices were offered, exclusively goats, with the occasion of the κοπίς, kopis, banque ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hyacinth (mythology)
Hyacinth or Hyacinthus (Ancient Greek: , , ) is a gentle and clever divine hero and a lover of Apollo from Greek mythology. His cult at Amyclae southwest of Sparta dates from the Mycenaean era. A temenos or sanctuary grew up around what was alleged to be his burial mound, which was located in the Classical period at the feet of Apollo's statue. The literary myths serve to link him to local cults, and to identify him with Apollo. Family Hyacinth was given various parentage, providing local links, as the son of Clio and Pierus,Apollodorus1.3.3/ref> or King Oebalus of Sparta,Lucian, ''Dialogues of the Gods'Hermes and Apollo I/ref> or of king Amyclus of Sparta, progenitor of the people of Amyclae, dwellers about Sparta. As the youngest and most beautiful son of Amyclas and Diomede, daughter of Lapithes, Hyacinth was the brother of Cynortus, Argalus,Pausanias3.1.3/ref> Polyboea, Laodamia (or Leanira), Harpalus, Hegesandra, and in other versions, of Daphne. If he was the son o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Panathenaic Games
The Panathenaic Games ( grc, Παναθήναια) were held every four years in Athens in Ancient Greece from 566 BC to the 3rd century AD. These Games incorporated religious festival, ceremony (including prize-giving), athletic competitions, and cultural events hosted within a stadium. History The Panathenaic festival was formed in order to honor the goddess Athena who had become the patron of Athens after having a competition with the god Poseidon where they were to win the favor of the Athenian people by offering the people gifts. The festival would also bring unity among the people of Athens. The attempted assassination of the tyrants Hippias and Hipparchus during the Panathenaea in 514 BC by Harmodius and Aristogeiton was often regarded as the birth of Athenian democracy. Events The competitions for which the festival came to be known were part of the Great Panathenaia, a much larger religious occasion. These ritual observances consisted of numerous sacrifices to Ath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Gernet
Louis Gernet (28 November 1882 – 29 January 1962) was a French philologist and sociologist. Life A student at the École Normale Supérieure (class of 1902), he received a licentiate in law and agrégation in grammar. In 1917, supported by the Fondation Thiers, he received his doctorate in letters with a dissertation entitled "Researches on the development of legal and moral thought in Greece". For a long time he led a modest academic career, devoted to teaching Greek at the University of Algiers. In 1948, at the age of 66, he went to the seminary of legal sociology at the École Pratique des Hautes Études to teach ancient Greek anthropology. From 1949 to 1961 he was editor of the journal ''L'Année sociologique'', to which he also contributed under the heading "Legal and moral sociology". In 1964, two years after Gernet's death, his pupil Jean-Pierre Vernant founded the Centre Louis-Gernet, a centre for the comparative study of ancient societies which is attached to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gymnopaedia
The Gymnopaedia was an annual festival celebrated exclusively in ancient Sparta, helped to define Spartan identity. It featured generations of naked Spartan men participating in war dancing and choral singing, with a large emphasis placed on age and generational groups. It is believed that celebration of this festival began in 668 BCE to honour a Spartan victory in Thyrea. The festival likely evolved over time to celebrate other Spartan victories such as that over the Argives in the Battle of the Champions. The Gymnopaedia was primarily in honour of Apollo, but also celebrated Artemis and Leto, who served as representations of the childhood which would soon be left behind by the young participants. Though the festival was ritualistic, it should not necessarily be interpreted as religious. Pausanias describes the Gymnopaedia as "a festival which the Lacedaemonians take more seriously than any other" (Paus. 3.11.9). Etymology The word ''Gymnopaedia'' derives from the ancient Gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carneia
Carneia ( grc, Κάρνεια or ) or Carnea () was one of the tribal traditional festivals of Sparta, the Peloponnese and Doric cities in Magna Grecia, held in honor of Apollo Karneios. Whether Carneus (or Carnus) was originally an old Peloponnesian divinity subsequently identified with Apollo, or merely an "emanation" from him, is uncertain; but there seems no reason to doubt that Carneus means "the god of flocks and herds" ( Hesychius, s.v. ), in a wider sense, of the harvest and the vintage. The chief centre of his worship was Sparta, where the Carneia took place every year from the 7th to the 15th of the month Carneus (i.e. Metageitnion, August). During this period all military operations were suspended. Background The Carneia appears to have been at once agrarian, military and piacular in character. In the last aspect it is supposed to commemorate the death of Carnus, an Acarnanian seer and favourite of Apollo, who, being suspected of espionage, was slain by one of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicias
Nicias (; Νικίας ''Nikias''; c. 470–413 BC) was an Athenian politician and general during the period of the Peloponnesian War. Nicias was a member of the Athenian aristocracy and had inherited a large fortune from his father, which was invested in the silver mines around Attica's Mt. Laurium. Following the death of Pericles in 429 BC, he became the principal rival of Cleon and the democrats in the struggle for the political leadership of the Athenian state. He was a moderate in his political views and opposed the aggressive imperialism of the democrats. His principal aim was to conclude a peace with Sparta as soon as it could be obtained on terms favourable to Athens. He was regularly elected to serve as strategos (general) for Athens during the Peloponnesian War. He led several expeditions which achieved little. Nevertheless, he was largely responsible for the successful negotiations which led to the Peace of Nicias in 421 BC. Following the Peace, he objected to the ambiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thucydides
Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His ''History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientific history" by those who accept his claims to have applied strict standards of impartiality and evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect, without reference to intervention by the gods, as outlined in his introduction to his work. He also has been called the father of the school of political realism, which views the political behavior of individuals and the subsequent outcomes of relations between states as ultimately mediated by, and constructed upon, fear and self-interest. His text is still studied at universities and military colleges worldwide. The Melian dialogue is regarded as a seminal work of international relations theory, while his version of Pericles' Funeral Oration is widely studied by political theorists, historian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pausanias (geographer)
Pausanias ( /pɔːˈseɪniəs/; grc-gre, Παυσανίας; c. 110 – c. 180) was a Greek traveler and geographer of the second century AD. He is famous for his ''Description of Greece'' (, ), a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from his firsthand observations. ''Description of Greece'' provides crucial information for making links between classical literature and modern archaeology. Biography Not much is known about Pausanias apart from what historians can piece together from his own writing. However, it is mostly certain that he was born c. 110 AD into a Greek family and was probably a native of Lydia in Asia Minor. From c. 150 until his death in 180, Pausanias travelled through the mainland of Greece, writing about various monuments, sacred spaces, and significant geographical sites along the way. In writing ''Description of Greece'', Pausanias sought to put together a lasting written account of "all things Greek", or ''panta ta hellenika''. Living in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laconia
Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word ''laconic''—to speak in a blunt, concise way—is derived from the name of this region, a reference to the ancient Spartans who were renowned for their verbal austerity and blunt, often pithy remarks. Geography Laconia is bordered by Messenia to the west and Arcadia to the north and is surrounded by the Myrtoan Sea to the east and by the Laconian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It encompasses Cape Malea and Cape Tainaron and a large part of the Mani Peninsula. The Mani Peninsula is in the west region of Laconia. The islands of Kythira and Antikythera lie to the south, but they administratively belong to the Attica regional unit of islands. The island, Elafonisos, situated between the Laconian mainland and Kythira, is part of Laconia. The Eurotas is the lon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; grc, wikt:Ξενοφῶν, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenary armies of the Achaemenid Empire, the Ten Thousand, that marched on and came close to capturing Babylon in 401 BC. As the military historian Theodore Ayrault Dodge wrote, "the centuries since have devised nothing to surpass the genius of this warrior". Xenophon established precedents for many logistical operations, and was among the first to describe strategic flanking maneuvers and feints in combat. Xenophon's ''Anabasis (Xenophon), Anabasis'' recounts his adventures with the Ten Thousand while in the service of Cyrus the Younger, Cyrus's failed campaign to claim the Persian throne from Artaxerxes II of Persia, and the return of Greek mercenaries after Cyrus's death in the Battle of Cunaxa. ''Anabasis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates and is the capital of the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BC. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state. It was a centre for the arts, learning and philosophy, and the home of Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum. It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy, largely because of its cultural and political influence on the European continent—particularly Ancient Rome. In modern times, Athens is a large cosmopolitan metropolis and central to economic, financial, industrial, maritime, political and cultural life in Gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amyclae
Amyclae or Amyklai ( grc, Ἀμύκλαι) was a city of ancient Laconia, situated on the right or western bank of the Eurotas, 20 stadia south of Sparta, in a district remarkable for the abundance of its trees and its fertility. Amyclae was one of the most celebrated cities of Peloponnesus in the heroic age. It is said to have been founded by the Lacedaemonian king Amyclas, the father of Hyacinthus, and to have been the abode of Tyndarus, and of Castor and Pollux, who are hence called ''Amyclaei Fratres''. Amyclae is mentioned by Homer, and it continued to maintain its independence as an Achaean town long after the conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians. According to the common tradition, which represented the conquest of Peloponnesus as effected in one generation by the descendants of Heracles, Amyclae was given by the Dorians to Philonomus, as a reward for his having betrayed to them his native city Sparta. Philonomus is further said to have peopled the town with colonists ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
