Geologically, the Peloponnese is dominated by a large central massif, which several mountain ranges combine to produce. This central area - Arcadia - is rugged and isolated. When the Mycenaean kingdoms (see chap. 2) which dominated Greece in the thirteenth century fell circa 1200 (see chap. 3), some of the refugees from these kingdoms retreated into this intensely mountainous region. Agriculture was possible only in the valleys, and here settlements sprang up and eventually grew into cities of reasonable size. Nonetheless, Arcadia remained poor and backward: it was a region people tried to leave; no one ever much wanted to go to it. Like many impoverished mountainous regions throughout history it commonly provided surrounding regions with a steady stream of mercenaries - young men with little to do at home, young men whose only hope of escaping lay in taking pay in someone else’s army (see, for example, chap. 18 for mass hiring of mercenaries).
To the south of Arcadia two mountain ranges, Taygetos and Parnon, run roughly northwest to southeast. A narrow valley separates them towards the north, but farther southwards the valley gradually widens until it becomes a sizable plain. This is the region known as Laconia; and the plain here is exceptionally fertile and well-watered: the Eurotas is one of the few rivers in Greece which carries water all the year round (see Figure 1.5). Here lay the city of Sparta, the predominant military power in Greece during the classical period. In the very earliest period Mt. Taygetos and Mt. Parnon delimited the territory of Sparta; but already in the seventh and sixth centuries BC the Spartans - or,
Figure 1.5 Eurotas River. Source: Aeleftherios, Http://commons. wikimedia. org/wiki/ File:Eurotas. JPG (accessed 10 January 2013)
To give them their proper name: Lacedaemonians - broke through these geographically dictated boundaries and conquered the regions lying west of Mt. Taygetos and east of Mt. Parnon. The two mountains extend out into the Mediterranean far beyond the point at which the Laconian Plain, built up by the sediment brought down by the Eurotas, ceases and form narrow, rocky fingers that frame the Laconian Gulf.
The fertility of the Laconian Plain notwithstanding, the Lacedaemonians eventually crossed Mt. Taygetos to conquer Messenia in the seventh century (see chap. 6). The fertile Messenian Plain, lying about the upper Pamisus River, was one of the first targets of the Lacedaemonian lust for land. Overlooking the plain stands Mt. Ithome, a vast natural fortress in which rebels against the Lacedaemonians would, in the fifth century, withstand a ten years’ siege (see chap. 12). To the south of the Messenian Plain a squat peninsula, not nearly so long or so rugged as Taygetos, lies opposite, enclosing the Messenian Gulf. To the west and northwest of the Messenian Plain lies a smooth, gently curving coastline formed by rains which bring sediment down from the mountains at almost exactly the same rate at which erosion caused by the sea operates. The area towards the south about the Bay of Navarino has resisted this process of smoothing owing to tough rock formations.
In classical and later times the appellation “Messenia” applied to these three regions - upland plain, western coast, and southern peninsula. Over the centuries, however, the regions did not always form a political unity: they were united in the Kingdom of Pylos in the thirteenth century BC (see chap. 2); in the late eighth century BC the coastal regions in the West and the southern peninsula were politically independent of the Messenian Plain; from about 600 BC onwards all three regions were united politically with the Laconian Plain under Lacedaemonian control (see chap. 6); and after 370 BC they were united in an independent Messenian state (see chap. 16) until this state became part of the Achaian League in the course of the third century BC (see chap. 23).
Moving northward from Messenia, one crosses the River Neda to come to the border region of Triphylia - literally “three tribes’ land” - which had received its name from three tribes that had long since disappeared by classical times. Eventually, the Arcadians to the west and the Eleans to the north laid claim to this region.
Continuing north, one comes to Elis, literally just “valley,” the prominent and highly fertile valley of the Peneus River, and the original focal point of the Eleans’ settlement. Although the Eleans never played a prominent role in Greek history, they did eventually have on their territory one of the most important Panhellenic sanctuaries, Olympia. The festival held here in honor of the god Zeus of Olympus over the course of many decades acquired significance far beyond Elis: already in the eighth century people from Messenia to the south were attending the festival; shortly thereafter people from other regions in the Peloponnese began to come; and by the late sixth people from all over Greece.
Eastwards from Elis one comes to a narrow strip of coastline between the waters of the Gulf of Corinth to the north and the mountains of Arcadia to the south. For most of the classical period this region, Achaia, consisted of poor fishing villages. In the third century BC, however, it would form the nucleus of the most powerful state in Greece, the Achaian League (see chap. 23 and 24). That league or ethnos (see Box 4.1) was an old structure, dating to the time of settlement by the Achaians; and initially it consisted of twelve cities which annually sent representatives to a centrally located communal sanctuary.
The regions discussed so far have been either impoverished (Arcadia, Achaia) or for various reasons off the beaten track (Elis, except for the Olympic festival; Arcadia; Laconia; Messenia). This last has mostly to do with the prevailing route for sea travel (see Box 1.1) which kept ships from going around the Pelopon-nese. Although Sparta had a harbor at Gythium, it had little practical use. Good harbors lay on the peninsula to the south of the Messenian Plain, but, again, little traffic came that way. The way in which the coast along the west of the Peloponnese had been formed meant that it had few harbors (Pylos on the Bay of Navarino is the chief exception); and marshes dominate much of the coast of the northwestern Peloponnese in Elis with little land suitable for a port (Cyllene is the chief exception).
However, as one proceeds eastwards from Achaia one finally comes to the well-connected region of the northeastern Peloponnese. Here lay the powerful cities of Corinth (which dominated the Isthmus at its southern and narrower end) and Argos which lay on the Argolic Gulf which led directly to the Aegean. Corinth controlled the land-route between the Peloponnese and the rest of Greece as well as the sea-route from the Saronic to the Corinthian Gulf.
Argos, meanwhile, lay at the head of an alluvial plain, remarkable for its fertility. This plain originally hosted any number of independent cities such as Nauplia and Asine, but eventually fell under Argive control. Eastwards of Argos lay the so-called Argolic Peninsula, the “thumb” of the three-fingered Peloponnesian hand. Some cities lay along the coast: Hermione, Tiryns, and Epidaurus (the site of the best-preserved Greek theater - see Figure 1.6). The Argolic Peninsula enclosed the Argolic Gulf on the northeast and protected it against Aegean storms from the east. The Gulf provided easy access to the Aegean.
Southwards of Argos lay the regions of the Thyreatis and the Cynuria which tapered off to the south in a narrow strip of habitable land between Mt. Parnon to the west and the Aegean to the east. Mt. Parnon separated these two regions from the Laconian Plain, though there were several passes which connected them with it. Those passes across Mt. Parnon formed Sparta’s primary connection with the rest of Greece. In the mid-sixth century BC Sparta wrested control of the Thyreatis and Cynuria from Argos (see chap. 6) and for the first time gained access to the Aegean port of Prasiae, afterwards the main harbor for Sparta’s navy. Argos, thereafter, was restricted to the plain at the head of the Argolic Gulf.
Argos had, however, not always dominated that region. In the plain, towards the east, lies the citadel of Tiryns on a low hill. In the thirteenth century BC. Tiryns dominated much of the plain although it may have shared dominance with the even more impressive fortress of Mycene high up in the mountains
Figure 1.6 The theater of Epidaurus (fourth century BC). The theater was a typical architectural feature of a Greek city. Source: Olecorre, Http://commons. wikimedia. org/wiki/File :Theatre_of_Epidaurus_OLC. jpg (accessed 10 January 2013) CC BY-SA 3.0, 2.5, 2.0, 1.0
Overlooking the plain to the North. These two citadels may in fact have belonged to one single kingdom during the so-called Mycenaean period (roughly the fourteenth and thirteenth centuries BC). However, both Mycene and Tiryns were destroyed around 1200 BC and in course of time political dominance passed to Argos.
Leaving the Peloponnese by way of the Isthmus one comes first to Megara (the “halls”), perched precariously on the northern half of the Isthmus and sandwiched between two powerful neighbors, Corinth and Athens. North of Megara one enters central Greece, dominated on the mainland by Athens to the east and Boeotia to the west. The large island of Euboea which runs parallel with the Attic and Boeotian coastline to the north also belongs to central Greece. Athens, by Greek standards, was of enormous size. It gained control of the plain of Eleusis in the west in the course of the early sixth century BC (see chap. 5). In addition to this rich, grain-producing region, Athens possessed substantial tracts of land which, although they were marginal in terms of grain production, could support olive plantations. Athens’ chief export throughout the archaic and classical periods was always olive oil. Finally, in the southeastern quarter of the Attic peninsula lay rich silver mines at Laureium, mines which in the fifth century BC would provide the initial outlay for the construction of Athens’ navy (see chap. 10).
World History
