Sciritis or Skiritis () was a rugged and barren mountainous district in the north of
ancient Laconia
Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...
, between the upper
Eurotas
In Greek mythology, Eurotas (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρώτας) was a king of Laconia. Family
Eurotas was the son of King Myles of Laconia and grandson of Lelex, eponymous ancestor of the Leleges. The ''Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus), Bibliothe ...
on the west and the
Oenus on the east, and extending north of the highest ridge of the mountains, which were the natural boundary between Laconia and
Arcadia. The name probably expressed the wild and rugged nature of the country, for the word signified hard and rugged (σκίρον, σκεῖρον, σκληρόν, Hesych). It was bounded by
Maenalia on the north, and by
Parrhasia on the west, and was originally part of Arcadia, but was conquered at an early period, and its inhabitants reduced to the condition of
Lacedaemonian Perioeci
The Perioeci or Perioikoi (, ) were the second-tier citizens of the ''polis'' of Sparta until 200 BC. They lived in several dozen cities within Spartan territories (mostly Laconia and Messenia), which were dependent on Sparta. The ''perioeci'' ...
. According to
Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...
they were subjected to
Sparta
Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...
even before the time of
Lycurgus
Lycurgus (; ) was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta, credited with the formation of its (), involving political, economic, and social reforms to produce a military-oriented Spartan society in accordance with the Delphic oracle. The Spartans i ...
.
They were distinguished above all the other Perioeci for their bravery; and their contingent, called the Σκιρίτης λόχος, 600 in number, usually occupied the extreme left of the Lacedaemonian wing. They were frequently placed in the post of danger, and sometimes remained with the king as a body of reserve. On the first invasion of Laconia by the
Thebans the
Sciritae, together with the Perioeci of
Caryae and
Sellasia, revolted from Sparta, in consequence of which their country was subsequently ravaged by the Lacedaemonians. The only towns in the Sciritis appear to have been
Scirus
Scirus was a comprehensive science-specific search engine, first launched in 2001. Like CiteSeerX and Google Scholar, it was focused on scientific information. Unlike CiteSeerX, Scirus was not only for computer sciences and IT and not all of the ...
and
Oeum called Ium by Xenophon. The latter is the only place in the district mentioned in historical times. Scirus may perhaps have been the same as
Scirtonium (Σκιρτώνιον), in the district of
Aegytis.
The road from Sparta to
Tegea led through the Sciritis.
References
Geography of ancient Arcadia
Geography of ancient Laconia
Historical regions in Greece
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