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ARISTODEMUS ‘THE GOOD’ AND THE TEMPLE OF ARTEMIS AGROTERA AT MEGALOPOLIS*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 April 2016

Annalisa Paradiso
Annalisa Paradiso*
Affiliation:
Università della Basilicata
*
annalisa.paradiso@unibas.it
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Aristodemus, a Phigalian by birth, was tyrant of Megalopolis for around fifteen years in the first half of the third century b.c., possibly from the time of the Chremonidean War (267–262) until around 251, when he was murdered by two Megalopolitan exiled citizens, Megalophanes and Ecdelus, pupils of the Academic Arcesilaus. While giving an account of his violent death, Pausanias, none the less, draws a very positive portrait of him, also mentioning the nickname ‘the Good’ which he probably read on Aristodemus' grave. Pausanias also reports the foundation of two temples by the tyrant, both dedicated to Artemis. At 8.35.5 he locates one of the two temples at thirteen stades from Megalopolis on the road to Methydrion, so to the north. There, he says, is a place named Scias, where there are ruins of a sanctuary of Artemis Sciaditis. At 8.32.4, Pausanias briefly refers to the temple of Artemis Agrotera at Megalopolis. He says only that the sanctuary was on a hill in the south-east district of the polis, and adds that it was dedicated as an ἀνάθημα by the tyrant as well.

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Research Article
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The Classical Quarterly , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , May 2016 , pp. 128 - 133
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Copyright © The Classical Association 2016 

Aristodemus, a Phigalian by birth, was tyrant of Megalopolis for around fifteen years in the first half of the third century b.c., possibly from the time of the Chremonidean War (267–262) until around 251, when he was murdered by two Megalopolitan exiled citizens, Megalophanes and Ecdelus, pupils of the Academic Arcesilaus.Footnote 1 While giving an account of his violent death, Pausanias, none the less, draws a very positive portrait of him, also mentioning the nickname ‘the Good’ which he probably read on Aristodemus' grave.Footnote 2 Pausanias also reports the foundation of two temples by the tyrant, both dedicated to Artemis. At 8.35.5 he locates one of the two temples at thirteen stades from Megalopolis on the road to Methydrion, so to the north. There, he says, is a place named Scias, where there are ruins of a sanctuary of Artemis Sciaditis.Footnote 3 At 8.32.4, Pausanias briefly refers to the temple of Artemis Agrotera at Megalopolis. He says only that the sanctuary was on a hill in the south-east district of the polis, and adds that it was dedicated as an ἀνάθημα by the tyrant as well.

The dedication to Agrotera of a temple within the city deserves further consideration. Artemis Agrotera was worshipped all over the Greek world: only two sanctuaries devoted to her are however attested in the Peloponnese, at Megalopolis and at Aegeira in Achaea.Footnote 4 Peloponnesian cults of Agrotera are also attested at Olympia (where she had an altar in the Altis, in front of the gate of the Prytaneion) and Sparta.Footnote 5 Agrotera was also worshipped at Athens, Agrai, Eleusis and Phyle; at Megara; at Artamition in Euboea; at Arseni near Beroia, Kozani (area of Ptolemais Spelia), Promachoi Almopias and Scydra, all in Macedonia; at Cyrene; Phanagoreia on the Pontus; Thisbe in Boeotia; Thebe in Thessaly (Phthiotis); Astacus in Acarnania; at Delos; in the temple of Apollo at Halasarna (Cos); at New Paphos, in a temple dedicated to her by King Nicocles; at Eleutherna in Crete; and then at Metapontum, Torricella (Tarentum), Syracuse and at Apollonia in Illyria.Footnote 6 Still, the epiklēsis clearly hints at the wild nature of the huntress, who was also the goddess of wild territories, borderlands and transitions, so that the location of the Megalopolitan temple within the city and not outside it may seem odd.Footnote 7 As far as one can check, the other temples dedicated to Agrotera that can be located were outside the polis. The temple of Aegeira was located along the twelve-stade-long road, leading from the upper town to the harbour on the Corinthian Gulf, on the right side, possibly at the boundaries between its territory and that of Pellene; the sanctuary of Agrai was built outside Athens, beyond the Ilissus river and on its left bank.Footnote 8 The dedication to Artemis Hagratera found in the area of Torricella shows the existence of a sanctuary in the chora of Tarentum, at around thirty km south-east of the city.Footnote 9 Two dedications discovered on Mount Goulas, about twenty km south-west of Thespiae in Boeotia, within the walls of a fortification, perhaps provide evidence for the identification of Artemis Agrotera as the goddess worshipped in an unknown temple also found there.Footnote 10 A sanctuary dedicated to Artemis Agrotera and Apollo Agraios was built outside Megara, in a place called Rhious, next to the northern walls.Footnote 11

Artemis Agrotera not only protected physical and social transitions, but also had a military side. It was displayed on some occasions, such as before the battle of Marathon, when the Athenians vowed to her the sacrifice of one goat for each Persian slain on the battlefield. After the battle, they resolved to sacrifice 500 goats each year. And they did it: this sacrifice was performed at least until the time of Xenophon.Footnote 12 Agrotera was also worshipped by the Lacedaemonians in a military context. While on campaign, the king would perform the sacrifice of a young goat to Agrotera, whilst all the flute-players who were also present played, and no Spartan was without a garland. Weapons should be polished and young men were allowed to go into battle anointed with olive oil. The king performed it after crossing the borders of Laconia, when the enemy could see the Spartans, and both armies were only one stade apart. This piece of information is reported by Xenophon in a passage of the Constitution of the Lacedaemonians (13.8), where he seems to describe the geography of Spartan sacrifices for war according to the well-known scheme of Arnold Van Gennep's ‘rites of passage’.Footnote 13 At Marathon, the sacrificed goats clearly symbolized the slain enemies, and the vow of the sacrificed animal was intended to shock and even to inform the enemies of their imminent destiny. For the Lacedaemonians as well, the sacrifice of a goat hinted at the imminent sacrifice of the enemies. Like any religious rite, this was also a spectacle, and even a mise en scène, a theatrical performance conveying a perfect subliminal message, and the celebration of a feast. Xenophon's text has ὁρώντων ἤδη τῶν πολεμίων, meaning that the last sacrifice was celebrated not when the Spartans finally had sight of the enemies but when the enemies had sight of the Spartan army. The visual perspective is here upset: it was the Spartan warriors who offered a spectacle to the enemies.Footnote 14 They did so as they even performed their absence of fear at the sight of the enemies and wanted instead to make them afraid by the sight of themselves. The Spartans displayed for the enemies a vision of their future defeat by performing the spectacle of a feast. So their performance involved the construction of both self-identity (of active winners) and power (over the identity of the passive enemies, who will soon be defeated). Another spectacle was certainly offered to the enemies by Pausanias when sacrificing possibly a goat, possibly to Artemis Agrotera immediately before the battle of Plataea, not far from the battle line, while the Spartans, not allowed to repel those who were attacking them, endured wounds and death at their posts.Footnote 15 Both Jean-Pierre Vernant and Pierre Ellinger have illuminated the meaning of the Spartan rite, pointing out the main attributes of Artemis, who was credited with offering, in dangerous military situations, an extreme lucidity (and so the victory) to those she protected and confusion and blinding, physical and moral, to the enemies. With such a rite, which was celebrated in the enemy's territory and whilst the enemy was in sight, and in so extremely dangerous a situation, the Spartans asked Artemis Agrotera to save them, bringing on their enemies extermination and terror.Footnote 16

The foundation at Megalopolis of a temple dedicated to Artemis Agrotera can be linked to the constant danger of a Spartan invasion.Footnote 17 In Book 8, Pausanias also reports what seems to be the main event in Aristodemus' life or tyranny, namely his victory against the Lacedaemonians. Led by the Agiad heir-apparent, Acrotatus, son of Areus (and not of Cleomenes, as Pausanias mistakenly says), the Spartans invaded the territory of Megalopolis. They engaged in a bloody battle with the Megalopolitans and the latter won. It was a brilliant success for them; for the Lacedaemonians it was a πταῖσμα (an interesting euphemism for ‘defeat’), which was even increased by Acrotatus' death on the battlefield. With the enemy spoils, the Megalopolitans built a portico in the agora, the so-called portico of perfumes (Myropolis).Footnote 18 Apparently, this was the only celebration of the victory. The Lacedaemonians invaded the territory of Megalopolis not only at the time of Aristodemus but also two generations later, when Lydiadas was the tyrant. They were led by Agis IV and then by Cleomenes III, who took and destroyed the city. So, in quite a limited period, we know of at least three Spartan invasions of Megalopolitan territory.Footnote 19 Fearing such an invasion, Aristodemus may have dedicated a temple not only to celebrate the military qualities of Agrotera but also to attract her protection away from the Spartans and to Megalopolis. Of course, he may have built the temple even after the victory, like the citizens of Aegeira who dedicated the sanctuary for thanksgiving, after the Sicyonians gave up an attack.Footnote 20 No doubt the Lacedaemonians celebrated the rite of Agrotera when they had already crossed the borders of the Megalopolitan territory, not very far from Megalopolis itself which is around 30 km from the Spartan frontier. They celebrated it according to the custom: when both armies were only one stade apart, they asked for massacre and confusion to be inflicted on the Megalopolitans.Footnote 21 In fact, they themselves underwent a defeat, as in the end Agrotera protected their enemies. The foundation of the temple at Megalopolis may have matched the reversal of the rite and may have been aimed at thanksgiving, in order to attract the future protection of the goddess, in view of further Spartan invasions. It is possible that the foundation itself perpetuated the memory of the military (and political) victory while perpetuating the request for protection by Artemis.Footnote 22

The location of the temple of Agrotera at Megalopolis seems not unintentional. Pausanias says it was built on a hill beyond the Helisson river, in the south-eastern part of the city, so—as we have seen—unusually inside the city. Madeleine Jost has suggested that it be localized on the hill of Gyrokomios, south-east of the theatre, although archaeological evidence is lacking.Footnote 23 Elsewhere, Pausanias decribes the road from Megalopolis to Sparta. He reports briefly, but precisely, that it was thirty stades to the Alpheius, and some forty stades more to Phalaesiae, which is twenty stades away from the Hermaeum at Belemina, a total of ninety stades.Footnote 24 In Book 3 he follows the opposite direction, relating with plenty of details the road that led from Sparta to Megalopolis.Footnote 25 Yanis Pikoulas has investigated the road connecting Sparta and Megalopolis: starting from Sparta, the road followed the valley of the Eurotas, then divided into two branches at Chelmos. One branch led to the north-east, to Oresthasion and then Asea; the other branch (the Taygetus road) led instead to the north-west, to Megalopolis, through Phalaesiae and Leuctron/Leondari. The latter, where the extant traces of the ancient Taygetus' cart-road are now quite lost, was the outermost fortress in Laconia.Footnote 26 This road, from Sparta to the southern Megalopolitike, was the military road followed by the Spartans whilst invading the territory of Megalopolis at the time of Aristodemus. Following the material traces of wheel-ruts carved in the limestone, Yanis Pikoulas was obliged to stop his investigation before Megalopolis, where cultivated fields prevent any search for ancient traces of the road.Footnote 27 Argyrios Petronotis has, however, guessed that the road from Sparta entered, of course, Megalopolis and passed just beside the hill—in the south-eastern part of the city—where the temple of Agrotera may be located.Footnote 28 So the temple itself, representing in a sense a religious ‘terminal’ for the road to Sparta, really mirrored the Spartan rite which was celebrated only a few kilometres away, while assuring to Megalopolis the protection of the goddess. In this very particular military and religious situation, entirely managed on the visual plane, could the Spartans—who wanted to be seen sacrificing the goat—see in their turn the sanctuary from afar? They probably could when they advanced into Megalopolitan territory, not from the frontier but when they approached the city. Being built on top of a hill, the temple was intended to be visible—a visuality which mirrors once more the visuality of the rite.

Footnotes

*

I express my deepest gratitude to Dr James Roy, who spent precious time discussing with me Arcadian matters. I also thank CQ's anonymous referee, whose suggestions have helped to improve these pages.

References

1 Paus. 8.27.11 (also saying that Aristodemus was the son of Artylas, later adopted by Tritaeus, an influential citizen of Megalopolis) and 8.49.2. For Polyb. 10.22.1-3, they were named instead Demophanes and Ecdemus. See also Plut. Phil. 1.2-3 and Arat. 5.1; Diog. Laert. 4.31, with U. Wilcken, RE 2 (1896), s.v. Aristodemos 24, col. 924 and Berve, H., Die Tyrannis bei den Griechen , 2 vols. (Munich, 1967), 1.400–1 and 2.712Google Scholar.

2 Paus. 8.27.11 and 8.36.5: cf. Tarn, W., ‘The Arcadian league and Aristodemus’, CR (1925), 104–7Google Scholar. for the motif of the ‘good tyrant’ in the Hellenistic age, see C. Mossé, La tyrannie dans la Grèce antique (Paris, 1969), 152.

3 The epiklēsis is clearly connected to the toponym. For the localization of the temple of Artemis Sciaditis in the so-called ‘Pigadia’, at a little more than 2 km from the agora of Megalopolis, cf. A. Petronotis, Ἡ Μεγάλη Πόλις τῆς Ἀρκαδίας (Athens, 1973), 152; see also M. Jost, Sanctuaires et cultes d'Arcadie (Paris, 1985), 190. On the cults of Artemis in Arcadia, see Jost (this note), 393–5.

4 Paus. 7.26.3 and 11.

5 Paus. 5.15.8, Xen. Hell. 4.2.20 and below: for her cult at the temple of Apollo Hyperteleatas near Phoiniki in Laconia, cf. IG V 1.977. On the Peloponnesian cults of Artemis, and especially of Artemis Agrotera, cf. E.L. Brulotte, ‘The placement of votive offerings and dedications in the Peloponnesian sanctuaries of Artemis’ (Diss., University of Minnesota, March 1994), 16–22, at 22 (Aegeira), 73–4 (Megalopolis), 154 (Olympia), 183–4 (Sparta): see also 94–5 (Scias, on Artemis Sciaditis). He also attributes to Agrotera two temples dedicated to Artemis (without epiklēsis) at Aegion in Achaia and at Epidaurus: the identification is, however, uncertain (Brulotte [this note], 23 with Paus. 7.24.11, and 123 with Paus. 2.29.1). See also E.L. Brulotte, ‘Artemis: her Peloponnesian abodes and cults’, in R. Hägg (ed.), Peloponnesian Sanctuaries and Cults. Proceedings of the Ninth International Symposium at the Swedish Institute at Athens, 11–13 June 1994 (Stockholm, 2002), 179–82, at 182, and now I. Solima, Heiligtümer der Artemis auf der Peloponnes (Heidelberg, 2011), 89–98, at 94–5 on Artemis Agrotera and at 95 on Artemis Sciaditis.

6 Cf. the Banque de Données des Épiclèses Grecques of the CRESCAM (Centre de Recherche et d’Étude des Sociétés et Cultures Antiques de la Méditerranée – Université de Rennes 2: http://www.sites.univ-rennes2.fr/lahm/crescam/infos.php). See also the Cyprus Inscriptions Database, within the SMID Online (Studies in Mycenaean Inscriptions and Dialect: http://paspserver.class.utexas.edu/Cyprus.aspx). On Artemis Agrotera, see also K. Wernicke, RE 2.1 (1895), s.v. Artemis, cols 1378–9, G. Wentzel in RE 1 1 (1894), s.v. Agrotera, cols 906–7, P. Stengel in RE 1 1 (1894), s.v. Ἀγροτέρας θυσία, cols 907–8, and Farnell, L.R., The Cults of the Greek States, vol. 2 (Oxford, 1896), 434 and 562–3Google Scholar and the more recent comprehensive study by T. Fischer-Hansen and B. Poulsen (edd.), From Artemis to Diana. The Goddess of Man and Beast (Copenhagen, 2009). See also N. Richer, La religion des Spartiates. Croyances et cultes dans l'Antiquité (Paris, 2012), 217–20. On the goddess’ epiklēsis, see Mauduit, C., ‘Remarques sur les emplois de l'adjectif ἀγρότερος dans l’épopée et la poésie lyrique’, REG 107 (1994), 47–67 Google Scholar.

7 Cf. Homer, Il. 21.470-1 πότνια θηρῶν, | Ἄρτεμις ἀγροτέρη; Callim. Hymn 3.18 σπαρνὸν γὰρ ὅτ᾽ Ἄρτεμις ἄστυ κάτεισιν. Philostr. Imag. 1.28.6 describes a painting (entitled ‘The Hunter’) of a temple of Agrotera, isolated and close to the forest, which hunters frequented before hunting. Cf. B. Poulsen, ‘The sanctuaries of the goddess of the hunt’, in Fischer-Hansen and Poulsen (n. 6), 401–25, at 404. On the preferred location of Artemis temples outside the polis, cf. J.-P. Vernant, La mort dans les yeux. Figures de l'Autre en Grèce ancienne (Paris, 1985), 17. On Artemis as a goddess of transitions and turning points, also associated with risk and borderlands, and specifically on Artemis Agrotera, see S. Guettel Cole, Landscapes, Gender, and Ritual Space. The Ancient Greek Experience (Berkeley, 2004), 81–2, 180–97, 201, 206, 223.

8 Paus. 7.26.1 and 11 (Aegeira) and 1.19.6 (Agrai). See M. Moggi and M. Osanna in Pausania, Guida della Grecia. Libro VII, L'Acaia (Milan, 2000), 341.

9 On the temple of Torricella, cf. Lo Porto, F., ‘Due iscrizioni votive arcaiche dai dintorni di Taranto’, PP 42 (1987), 39–50 Google Scholar; Guzzo, P.G. and Alessio, A., ‘Santuari e fattorie ad est di Taranto. Elementi archeologici per un modello di interpretazione’, Scienze dell'Antichità 3–4 (1989–90), 363–96Google Scholar; M. Osanna, Chorai coloniali da Taranto a Locri. Documentazione archeologica e ricostruzione storica (Rome, 1992), 31–2; Nafissi, M., ‘Mageirikè skeué e sacrificio nel territorio di Taranto. L'iscrizione arcaica di Torricella’, PP 47 (1992), 132–46Google Scholar; Aversa, F., ‘Contributo agli studi sulle epigrafi arcaiche di Torricella (Taranto)’, StAnt 8.1 (1995), 35–54 Google Scholar; E. Lippolis and M. Nafissi in E. Lippolis, S. Garraffo and M. Nafissi, Taranto (Taranto, 1995), 87–8, 174–5, 246–8.

10 On the temple at Mt. Goulas, see McCredie, J.R. and Steinberg, A., ‘Two Boeotian dedications’, Hesperia 29 (1960), 123–5CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

11 Paus. 1.41.2-3.

12 Cf. Ar. Eq. 660–1, Xen. An. 3.2.12, Arist. [Ath. Pol.] 58.1, Plut. On the malignity of Herodotus 862b, Ael. VH 2.25, scholium on Ar. Eq. 660a. For Hdt. 6.117, the number of Persian dead was thought to be 6,400; according to Plutarch, it was impossible to calculate it.

13 Cf. Xen. Lac. 13.8 and Hell. 4.2.20. See A. van Gennep, The Rites of Passage (London, 1960), esp. 15–25 on the passage of the borders, along with my forthcoming article, ‘The geography of the Spartan sacrifices for war’, to appear in the proceedings of the conference ‘Sacred Landscapes in the Peloponnese from Prehistory to Post-Byzantine Times’ (Sparti, 30 March – 1 April 2012).

14 R. Harman, ‘Viewing Spartans, viewing barbarians: visuality in Xenophon's Lakedaimonion Politeia’, in S. Hodkinson (ed.), Sparta: Comparative Approaches (Swansea, 2009), 361–82, at 371.

15 Plut. Arist. 17.6-10.

16 Vernant, J.-P., ‘Artémis et le sacrifice préliminaire au combat’, REG 101 (1988), 221–39CrossRefGoogle Scholar, esp. 230–3, and P. Ellinger, ‘Artémis, Pan et Marathon. Mythe, polythéisme et événement historique’, in S. des Bouvrie (ed.), Myth and Symbol I. Symbolic Phenomena in Ancient Greek Culture. Papers from the First International Symposium on Symbolism at the University of Tromsø, June 4–7, 1998 (Bergen, 2002), 313–32, at 321–2.

17 As Madeleine Jost implicitly does in Sanctuaires et cultes d'Arcadie (n. 3), 405, while connecting the foundation of the temple by Aristodemus to the military nuances of Agrotera, and also remembering the Spartan sacrifice of a goat on the battlefield.

18 Paus. 8.27.11 and 8.30.7, with Plut. Agis 3.7 (where Acrotatus is not the heir-apparent but the king). For Acrotatus' correct genealogy, see Paus. 3.6.2-6.

19 Paus. 8.27.13-15. Of course, there were other Spartan invasions of Arcadia, both earlier and later, the two countries having a frontier in common. On the reshaping of the borders between Arcadia and Laconia, cf. J. Roy, ‘Finding the limits of Laconia: defining and redefining communities on the Spartan-Arkadian frontier’, in W.C. Cavanagh, C. Gallou and M. Georgiadis (edd.), Sparta and Laconia from Prehistory to Pre-Modern (Athens, 2009), 205–11.

20 And they built it ‘where the most beautiful goat crouched’: Paus. 7.26.3 and 11. The people of Aegeira, former Hyperesians, collected all the goats they had in the country and tied torches to their horns, which they set alight during the night. Thanks to this trick, inspired by Agrotera, the Sicyonians went away.

21 Xen. Hell. 4.2.20 οὐκέτι δὲ στάδιον ἀπεχόντων, σφαγιασάμενοι οἱ Λακεδαιμόνιοι τῇ Ἀγροτέρᾳ, ὥσπερ νομίζεται, τὴν χίμαιραν, ἡγοῦντο ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐναντίους …

22 On the cults of Artemis as vehicle of memory, see the important reflections of I. Solima, ‘The perpetuation of memory in the myths and cults of Artemis in the Peloponnese’, in N. Cusumano, V. Gasparini, A. Mastrocinque and J. Rüpke (edd.), Memory and Religious Experience in the Graeco-Roman World (Stuttgart, 2013), 55–61.

23 Jost (n. 3), 232–3. For the excavations, see E.A. Gardner, W. Loring, G.C. Richards and W.J. Woodhouse, Excavations at Megalopolis, 1890–1891 (London, 1892), 120–1.

24 Paus. 8.35.3.

25 Paus. 3.20.8-3.21.3.

26 In fact, a further road started from Oresthasion, passing to the east of Megalopolis and going on towards Zone, where the traces stop. On this road, the Eurotas road from Sparta to north Laconia and Belemina through Pellana, and the Taygetus road from Sparta to Leuktron/Leondari (or Aigytis, Dentheliatis), cf. Y.A. Pikoulas, Τὸ ὁδικὸ δίκτυο τῆς Λακωνικῆς (Athens, 2012), 456–9 nn. 12, 18 and 19 with the map. Among the numerous publications of J. Christien on Spartan roads, the most relevant for the present discussion is ‘The Lacedaemonian state: fortifications, frontiers and historical problems’, in S. Hodkinson and A. Powell (edd.), Sparta & War (Swansea, 2006), 163–83.

27 Y.A. Pikoulas, ‘The road-network of Arkadia’, in T.H. Nielsen and J. Roy (edd.), Defining Ancient Arkadia (Copenhagen, 1999), 248–319, esp. 272 n. 21, with id., Ἡ νότια Μεγαλοπολιτικὴ χώρα ἀπὸ τὸν 8° π.Χ. ὣς τόν 4° μ.Χ. αἰώνα (Athens, 1988), 214–16 n. 5 and 39–41 (on borders).

28 Petronotis (n. 3), 243 n. 773 and fig. 7.