Greece from 625-600BC

Attic Black-Figure Pottery

This post will look at Greece and the wider Greek world from the years 625BC to 600BC. Firstly a word as to our sources. By and large, the closer we move to the present, the better the sources become. Archaeology will shed some light on the period, but not much. Archaeology can give information on settlement patterns and occasional destruction levels, but it cannot tell the stories of the people who lived at this time. For this we are reliant on later writings from the classical world. Unlike the Mesopotamian and Egyptian sources, at least some of which are near contemporary with the events they describe, we have almost no manuscripts from this era, so most of what we hear will be mediated through the words of later writers. This is not necessarily an issue, but it should be remembered.

I must reiterate that I am not a professional historian, or any other type of historian for that matter. There are certainly mistakes and errors in the sources and I may make mistakes in my interpretations of these sources. Mistakes are particularly likely to occur when dealing with years, as the years in the ancient world do not necessarily correspond exactly to our own. Even professional historians have differing opinions on the exact ordering of events at this time, so exact precision is not likely here. Also, a lot of events have only approximate dating anyway, so some historians will place an event in 620, while another might say 610, and the truth is that no one knows for sure, although some opinions are more founded than others. Also, a lot of writers and poets of the time are writing for periods of time. This it can be correct to speak of Mimnermus writing poetry around 620BC but also it is equally correct to say around 610BC.

I will quickly summarise the state of the Greek world in the year 625BC. The Cimmerian threat was receding, as the Lydian kings fought back against the horse nomads. But the rising power of the kings of Lydia would be a threat to the Greek city states in its own right and soon wars would reoccur between them. In cultural terms, poetry continued to grow in importance with Callinus and Mimnermus both writing poetry around this time. Black-Figure pottery was developing and would continue to develop. In Lydia Ardys II was king. In Sparta, Anaxander was the Agiad king and Anaxidamus or Archidamus I was the Eurypontid king. Periander was the tyrant of Corinth while Athens had resisted the attempted tyranny of Cylon and also expelled the cursed Alcmaeonidae.

Corinthian Pottery

However fair he may once have been, when the season is overpast he is neither honoured nor loved, nay, not by his own children.
Mimnermus quoted in the Stobaeus Anthology (written 400’s AD)

Around the year 625BC a poet called Mimnermus. He was from either Colophon or more likely from Smyrna. Few fragments of his work survive, but we know that he wrote elegies and some small fragments survive through quotations from later classical authors.

He wrote mythological compositions, preserving some mythic traditions that were not mentioned elsewhere (such as Ismene being killed by Tydeus). This is a good reminder that Greek mythology was somewhat fluid. Students of Greek or poetry will find Mimnermus very interesting, but for this blog I just wanted to mention him, that his memory might not be entirely forgotten.

Between you and me let there be truth, the most righteous of all things.
Mimnermus quoted in the Stobaeus Anthology (written 400’s AD)

In the year 624 Ardys II of Lydia died and his son, Sadyattes, became king of Lydia. The Lydian kingdom is important for the Greek world at this time, as it was the largest and most organised kingdom that was on their immediate borders. The Ionian city states, on the western coast of what is today Turkey, had extensive friendly and unfriendly contacts with the Lydian kingdoms. While all of the greater Greek world was culturally significant, most of the early cultural advances were from these Ionian cities.

The Olympics were held this year and Rhipsolaus of Laconia won the stadion race, with Hipposthenes of Laconia winning the wrestling. Hipposthenes had previously won the boys wrestling match in a previous Olympics and would go on to absolutely dominate wrestling in the Greek world for the next twenty years, which is an extraordinary achievement.

Euphobos Plate showing heroes in the
Trojan War fighting over the body of Euphorbos

In 621 the assembly of Athens asked a man named Draco to write laws for them. Athens was growing in size and prosperity and a lot of people were unhappy with the existing state of affairs. The wealthy people were seizing the land of the smaller farmers. The smaller farmers were going into debt and in some cases falling into slavery to try and pay off their debts. This anger led to an attempt to write a formal set of laws and Draco was appointed to carry out this task. We do not know much of Draco or of the laws that he made.

The Athenians were not very happy with the laws that were written as they were felt to be too harsh. The death penalty seems to have been used for a lot of smaller crimes and it did not stop people from being sold into slavery for their debts. Nevertheless it was a great step forward in that now Athens had laws that were erected on posts in public places.

Any citizen could read the laws and know his rights under them, provided he was literate. Developments like this helped foster a relatively literate culture among the Athenians. Draco was certainly not the first legislator, either in the world or even in Greece, but he was an important step in the history of European laws and politics. He was supposedly exiled by the annoyed Athenians to the neighbouring city state of Aegina, where he died. The memory of Draco, whose name is the Greek for Dragon, survives in English and other languages today. The word “draconian” means high-handed, harsh or even cruel, and thus his laws are remembered.

Jar showing Heracles fighting the Hydra

There are laws of Draco, but he legislated for an existing constitution, and there is nothing peculiar in his laws that is worthy of mention, except their severity in imposing heavy punishment.
Aristotle, Politics 2.1274b, written around 325BC

Around the year 620 Sadyattes, king of Lydia, began a ten-year war against the Greeks of Ionia that was continued even after his death. The Ionians were far from destroyed, but the war seems to have gone quite favourably for Lydia. The Cimmerian threat was receding and the Lydian kingdom was growing in strength.

Also in this year, the Olympics were held. Olyntheus of Laconia won the stadion race, making it his second victory in the most prestigious race, following his victory in 628. Hipposthenes of Laconia once again won the laurels for wrestling, making this his second victory in the men’s wrestling and his Olympic victory overall.

In the year 619 Sadyattes, king of Lydia, died and his son Alyattes II succeeded him. Alyattes II continued the war against the Ionian Greek cities. It was also around the time of Alyattes II that the Lydian kingdom began to mint coins. It is not clear that coinage was actually a Lydian invention and some believe that the Greeks may actually have begun this practice. The Chinese states of the contemporary Spring and Autumn Period were also experimenting with coinage around this time, although their coins are rather different in shape and size from the coins in the west. The exact truth of this will probably not be determined, but it is sufficient for our purposes to say that coinage began to be used around this time and that the Lydians, as the largest and richest kingdom in the region, minted a great deal of coins.

Entrance to the Cloaca Maxima from the Roman Forum

According to the traditional dating, Ancus Marcius, king of Rome, died in 617. His predecessor had been struck down by a thunderbolt and while Ancus Marcius presumably died a rather more prosaic death, he had nevertheless been quite useful for Rome. He had fortified the Janiculum Hill across the Tiber and built the first bridge across the Tiber at Rome, called the Pons Sublicius. This was presumably not a very impressive bridge, but it was the first of many bridges to come. This bridge was made of wood and was sacred to the Romans. Its wooden construction allowed it to be dismantled in times of war.

A prison was built near the Capitoline Hill, near to the Forum, which later came to be known as the Tullianum or the Mamertine Prison. The river regions down towards the sea were brought within the hinterland of Rome and Ostia was supposedly built at this time to function as the port of Rome. But archaeology suggests that Ostia was built rather later than this. As with all the royal dates for Rome, the actual dates are more likely to be about fifty or sixty years after the traditional dates.

After Ancus Marcius had died, there seems to have been a time period where the Roman people would decide who they would have as king. The executor of the will of Ancus Marcius was Etruscan called Lucius Tarquinius Priscus. He was descended from Demaratus of Corinth and had moved to Rome to make his fortune, supposedly changing his name from the Etruscan “Lucomo” to the more Latin name he now bore.

In 616 Lucius Tarquinius Priscus had persuaded the people to elect him as their new king and to pass over the sons of Ancus Marcius. It should be noted that the kings of Rome were not hereditary, so this was not unusual per se, although as the guardian of the previous king's sons, it might be said that it was unusual for Lucius Tarquinius Priscus to do what he had done. He went on to be a useful king for Rome. He defended them against the Sabines and the nearby Etruscan cities. He also is supposed to have dedicated the Circus Maximus, which was a large flat area between the Palatine and the Aventine Hills. This would be later built into a fully-fledged hippodrome, but probably all that was done in this period was to dedicate the ground and have wooden stands erected so people could watch the games. Most useful of all he apparently constructed the beginnings of the Cloaca Maxima, which is in some respects the oldest continually used building in Rome. This began from humble beginnings, as a series of uncovered drainage trenches but which would eventually be covered over to make full sewers, some of which are still used today. While this did not all take place immediately in 616 the dates of the Roman kings are so unclear that I mention all the deeds of Lucius Tarquinius Priscus at once.

View of the Circus Maximus from the Palatine Hill
with the Aventine Hill in the background

Then for the first time a space was marked for what is now the ‘Circus Maximus.’ Spots were allotted to the patricians and knights where they could each build for themselves stands-called ‘fori’ —from which to view the Games. These stands were raised on wooden props, branching out at the top, twelve feet high. The contests were horse-racing and boxing, the horses and boxers mostly brought from Etruria. They were at first celebrated on occasions of especial solemnity; subsequently they became an annual fixture, and were called indifferently the ‘Roman’ or the ‘Great Games.’ This king also divided the ground round the Forum into building sites; arcades and shops were put up.
Livy Ab Urbe Condita (1.31), written about 20BC

Also, in the year 616 the Olympic Games were held, with Cleondas of Thebes winning the stadion, as possibly the only Theban stadion winner in the history of the games. Hipposthenes of Laconia continued his winning streak, winning his third victory in the men’s wrestling.

In 612 Nineveh, the greatest city of the known world, fell to the Babylonians and Medes. This was noted throughout the region and was a shocking fall, but the Greeks were not directly influenced by the Assyrians, compared to their trading contacts with the Lydians, Phoenicians and Egyptians. So it is hard to know how this affected the Greeks, save that they would have been aware that a great empire had fallen in Asia.

In the city of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, Melanchrus was elected as tyrant of the city. This came after some chaos and confusion following the overthrow of the ruling Penthelid dynasty. Melanchrus may have faced opposition from the clubs of aristocrats who formed an important part of the social life of the city. 

The Olympics were also held this year. Lycotas of Laconia won the Stadion Race, while Hipposthenes of Laconia won his fourth victory in the men’s wrestling. This extraordinary run would continue.

 Around the year 610 the war between the Lydians and the Ionians seems to have finished, but further conflicts between them would flare up periodically, and the politics of the time were convoluted. In this year Psammetichus I of Egypt died and was succeeded by his son Necho II as Pharaoh. These Pharaohs of the Saite Dynasty would prove very friendly to the Greeks, who provided useful services as traders and soldiers, so there would be extensive Greek contacts with Egypt at this time and later.

Greek Pottery

In the year 609 Melanchrus was assassinated after a conspiracy of the aristocrats. Pittacus, who would later become famous for his wisdom seems to have been a major part of the conspiracy.

This is as good a time as any to mention the poet Alcman, who flourished around this time period. Alcman was a choral lyric poet who wrote in the Doric dialect of Sparta. The classical picture of Sparta at this time is of a grim place, ravaged by the Messenian Wars, and ever-watchful lest such wars should occur again.

This is to some extent correct, but Alcman’s poetry shows a more cheerful side to Spartan life, including dancing processions with singing choruses. The many references to Lydia and Sardis led some to believe that either Alcman spent time there, or that possibly he was a Lydian slave who had been brought to Sparta. All of this is conjectured but we can say for certain that even the highly militarised state of Sparta took some time for luxury and poetry in this period.

In 608 the Olympic Games were held. Cleon of Epidaurus won the Stadion race. Hipposthenes of Laconia won the men’s wrestling for the fifth time. Including his victory as a boy in the boy’s wrestling event of 632, he had won six Olympic laurel trophies and had dominated the sport for over twenty years. Hipposthenes disappears from history after this, but his sporting prowess should be acknowledged.

In this year another Olympic victor disappears from history. Athens was at war with the city of Mytilene, on a tiny island connected to the island of Lesbos, near the coast of Asia Minor. The war was over who would control the nearby peninsula of Sigeion. When the Athenians attacked, the Mytilenaen general Pittacus challenged the Athenian commander to a duel. As both armies and cities were quite small and relatively evenly matched, the Athenian general agreed. Pittacus was famed for his wisdom and Phrynon was renowned throughout the Greek world as a winner of the Stadion race at the Olympics in 636. The two men fought in single combat to determine the war, but the legend states that Pittacus had placed a net under his shield which he brought out during the combat to entangle Phrynon and slay him, thus singlehandedly saving his city with his tricks. However this did not win the war for Mytilene. Both sides submitted to Periander of Corinth for mediation and Periander awarded the disputed land to Athens.

Later statue of Pittacus

When the inhabitants of Mitylene offered to Pittacus the half of the land for which he had fought in single combat, he would not accept it, but arranged to assign to every man by lot an equal part, uttering the maxim, "The equal share is more than the greater." For in measuring "the greater" in terms of fair dealing, not of profit, he judged wisely; since he reasoned that equality would be followed by fame and security, but greediness by opprobrium and fear, which would speedily have taken away from him the people's gift.
Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica 9.12, written around 40BC

Mytilene was so grateful to the wisdom of this general that they appointed him as a lawmaker for their city, although the distinction between lawmaker and tyrant is not exactly clear in this case. His laws are not well known to us, but they included the provision that drunkenness was not an excuse for crimes and that crimes committed when drunk should carry twice the penalty. This was a way of curbing the aristocratic class, who were far more likely to get drunk and commit outrages against the general populace. At the same time, if the aristocrats behaved well, it wouldn’t harm them, so it was an excellent way of reforming the city. Legends say that he was a merciful man, who even pardoned the murderer of his son. Pittacus’ reputation for wisdom spread throughout the Greek world and he was known as one of the Seven Sages of Greece. These were a number of individuals who lived around this time, or shortly thereafter, who were famed for their wisdom. Few are remembered today by any but classicists, but to the Classical Greeks their words and maxims would have been well known.

Proto-Corinthian Pottery

Not much can be said for the year 607 or 606. This is as good a time as any to mention that Proto-Corinthian pottery was famed at this time and was considered some of the highest quality ceramic ware in Greece.

Around the year 605 it is possible that Myrsilus became tyrant of the city of Mytilene. However the dates here are unclear and this is an approximation. 

In the year 604 the Olympic Games were held. Gelon the Laconian won the stadion race. The other victors for this year are not recorded by history.

Not much happens to my knowledge for the years 603, 602 or 601 so now is as good a time as any to speak of Cleobulus and Arion, both of whom flourished around this time. Cleobulus was a citizen of the city of Lindus in Rhodes and may well have been the tyrant of that city. But this is not certain by any means. He was a poet and a traveller, who may have travelled to Egypt and spent time among the wise men of the Egyptians (this is probably a later myth). He educated his daughter Cleobulina well and she would go on to become a renowned writer herself. Not much is known of Cleobulus save that he wrote epitaphs and riddles. But despite the fact that later sources do not speak much of him, we do know that he was accounted by some among The Seven Sages of Greece. He flourished around the latter end of the 7th century BC so it is sufficient to make mention of him here.

The father is one, the sons twelve, and each of these has twice thirty daughters of features twain; some are white and others are black, and though they be immortal they all perish.
A riddle of Cleobulus preserved in Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Philosophers, written perhaps around 200AD? The answer is "a year"

Depiction of Arion and the Dolphin
by Albrecht Durer 1514AD

Arion also is supposed to have flourished around this time and was provided for by Periander the tyrant of Corinth. He may have been from the island of Lesbos and he was said to have been a great lyre-player and to have been instrumental in making dithyrambs, which were hymns to Dionysus the god of wine. None of his works survive to my knowledge but there is a striking legend that sees the poet being taken prisoner while at sea, playing his lyre before being thrown into the deep and then being saved from drowning by dolphins. The dolphins had gathered to hear his song and carried him to safety. At first glance, this seems like an entirely frivolous legend, but dolphins are notoriously friendly and have been known to save people in contemporary times. So, it is unlikely, but it is at the very far edge of possibility that the story is true. However, a second glance makes it even more unlikely, as there are legends of Dionysus being captured by pirates and turning the pirates into dolphins. So if a poet who glorified a god was saved by the creatures of that god? Well, it certainly sounds like an almost certain myth, but with the very faintest outer possibility that there might be a grain of truth to the story.

Later coin from Tarentum (around 500-473BC)
Possibly showing the legend of
Arion and the dolphins

Periander was despot of Corinth. During his lifetime, according to the Corinthians – and indeed the Lesbians – a very marvellous thing took place, namely the rescue of Arion of Methymna from the sea at Taenarum by a dolphin. This Arion was the finest singer to the lyre then known, and is the first recorded composer of dithyrambs, which he named and trained Corinthian choirs to perform. It seems that he spent most of his life at the court of Periander; but one day conceiving a desire to visit Italy and Sicily, he did so, and some time afterwards, having made large sums of money there, determined to return to Corinth. Accordingly he set sail from Tarentum, chartering a vessel manned by Corinthians, a people whom he thought, of all men, he could trust. But when they reached the open sea the crew conspired to secure his money by throwing him overboard . . . Putting on all his harper’s dress and grasping his lyre, he took his stand in the stern-sheets, and went through the Orthian or High-pitched Nome from beginning to end. Then he threw himself just as he was, dress and all, into the sea. The crew continued their voyage to Corinth; but meanwhile a dolphin, it seems, took Arion upon his back and carried him ashore at Taenarum . . . There is a small bronze votive-offering of Arion on the promontory of Taenarum, consisting of a man upon a dolphin’s back.
Herodotus Histories 1. 23, written around 440’s BC

In 600, Smyrna fell to the Lydians. The King of Lydia, Alyattes II, had attacked it and Smyrna was left in ruins for many years after this. The poet Mimnermus may have died in this battle.

Also, although the exact year is uncertain, it seems that around this time an assassination attempt was launched against Myrsilus of Mytilene. Previous tyrants had been assassinated by the noble groups and Pittacus was again involved. But this time Pittacus may have betrayed the conspiracy and a number of the aristocrats, including Alcaeus and possibly Sappho, were banished. This may have occurred around 593 however. The dates here are quite inexact.

The Olympic Games were held this year and Anticrates of Epidaurus won the Stadion race. The other winners are not recorded by history.

Elsewhere the process of colonisation went on apace. The city of Massalia was founded by Greeks from the Ionian city of Phocaea. This was the first Greek settlement in what is now France and would go on to become one of the most significant western colonies. Supposedly the founding was opposed by the Carthaginians, but their fleet was defeated and the Greeks founded their city in alliance with the local Ligurian tribe. Massalia would later become the main trading emporium for the Greeks in their trade with the Celts.

Later Greek temples at Paestum

The city of Poseidonia was also founded around this time on the west coast of southern Italy. This name was later changed to Paestum and later to Pesto. Sadly this is not the etymology of the food “pesto”. It was not an important city in antiquity, but is known today for some of the best preserved Greek temples of the ancient world. These however would be built much later.

Not in hewn stones, nor in well-fashioned beams,
Not in the noblest of the builder's dreams,
But in courageous men of purpose great,
There is the fortress, there the living State.
The Bulwark of the State, Poem by Alcaeus

Alcaeus of Mytilene also flourished around this time. He was a contemporary of Pittacus and was quite antagonistic to him, because of Pittacus' betrayal of the conspiracy to murder Myrsilus. He was a lyric poet and famed in later antiquity. He was a soldier of fortune and his brother was a mercenary for the Babylonians (possibly taking part in the siege of Askelon. Strangely, if his brother Antimenides was fighting against the Philistines, Alcaeus boasts in a poem of his slaying a giant slightly over 15 feet tall (or over 4.5 metres). Allowing for no problems in the translation and allowing for a considerable amount of poetic exaggeration it might suggest that the Philistines had a tradition of fielding large warriors in battle. Alcaeus actively participated in the political intrigue of Mytilene at the time and fell afoul of Pittacus, who apparently pardoned him. He would later be a poetic contemporary of Sappho, who was also from Mytilene.

Depiction of Alcaeus and Sappho
circa 470BC

From the end of the world thou hast just returned,
And an ivory-hilted sword hast thou earned,
A sword which is all overlaid with gold,
A magnificent prize for thy labours bold,
Which by Babylon's men was given to thee;
For thou from their troubles thine allies didst free.
Thou slew a royal warrior, a man,
To be five ells tall lacking only a span.
To Antimenides, Poem by Alcaeus

Also around this approximate date the Eleusinian Mysteries began to be formally brought into Athenian life. These were an ancient set of rituals involving processions to nearby Eleusis. There those who were to be initiated into the secrets would fast and be shown secrets that would supposedly change their lives. In exchange they would be sworn to secrecy about what exactly the rituals involved. To this day we are not sure exactly what was done, said or shown at these mysteries.

But we have a fair idea, mostly because later Christian writers had no such scruples about revealing the secrets. The rites were connected to Demeter and Persephone, goddesses who were associated with both the harvest and the underworld. There were dances and libations to the dead and possibly hallucinogenic drugs involved. These rites predated this period, but only seem to have been formalised in this era. They would continue until 392AD when the Arian Christian Goths destroyed the sanctuary. But the secrecy that was enjoined on the initiates means that the full details of the Mysteries will always remain a mystery.

It is possibly around this time that the Terrace of Lions on the sacred island of Delos was made. These were marble lions that may have been set up in imitation of Egyptian terraces. The island of Delos was said to be the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis.

Attic vase showing the slaying of Nessos
the Centaur, created by the Nessos Painter

Thus the period ends, with more colonisation and founding of Greek cities across the wider Mediterranean world. Lucius Tarquinius Priscus was the supposed king of Rome. Alyattes II was the very real king of Lydia and threatening the Ionian city states, while also being instrumental in the development of coined money. The Seven Sages of Greece were beginning to be active and poets such as Alcman, Arion, Cleobulus and Alcaeus made a name for themselves throughout the Greek world. Heroic feats of sport continued to be enacted every four years at the Olympic Games and the Delphic Oracle made her pronouncements and decided the fate of colonies and thrones. Here is where we will leave the Greeks for now.

Related Blog Posts:
Greece from 650-625BC
625-600BC in the Near East
600-575BC in Greece

Greece from 650-625BC

Papyrus fragment of
poem by Archilochus

Thou should entrust all things to the Gods; often they raise upright those that be laid low on the black earth through misfortunes, and often they overthrow men and lay them on their backs though they stand firm enough; then comes much trouble, and a man wanders in need of food and distraught in mind.
Archilochus quoted in the Stobaeus Anthology (written 400’s AD)

This post will look at Greece and the wider Greek world from the years 650BC to 625BC. Firstly a word as to our sources. By and large, the closer we move to the present, the better the sources become. Archaeology will shed some light on the period, but not much. Archaeology can give information on settlement patterns and occasional destruction levels, but it cannot tell the stories of the people who lived at this time. For this we are reliant on later writings from the classical world.

Unlike the Mesopotamian and Egyptian sources, at least some of which are near contemporary with the events they describe, we have almost no manuscripts from this era, so most of what we hear will be mediated through the words of later writers. This is not necessarily an issue but it should be remembered.

I must reiterate that I am not a professional historian, or any other type of historian for that matter. There are certainly mistakes and errors in the sources and I may make mistakes in my interpretations of these sources. Mistakes are particularly likely to occur when dealing with years, as the years in the ancient world do not necessarily correspond exactly to our own. Even professional historians have differing opinions on the exact ordering of events at this time, so exact precision is not likely here. Also, a lot of events have only approximate dating anyway, so some historians will place an event in 640, while another might say 630 and the truth is no one truly knows. Also, a lot of writers and poets of the time are writing for periods of time. This it can be correct to speak of Archilochus writing poetry around 660BC, but also it is equally correct to say around 648BC.

Later sculpture of Archilochos

I shall begin with a brief summary of what is happening elsewhere in the world during these years.  In China, the Zhou Dynasty was fading into obscurity as the rising feudal lords began to struggle for power. King Xiang of Zhou was the nominal ruler, but was so powerless that he had to be replaced on the throne by one of his dukes after he had been expelled from it. India was in the Later Vedic Period and the states such as Kuru, Panchala, Kosala and Videha were flourishing along the Ganges Plain. These states would later form what are known as the Mahajanapadas. In the Near East, Ashurbanipal was king of Assyria. Ashurbanipal's kingdom was locked in a vicious struggle with the Babylonian uprising led by Ashurbanipal's brother, Shamash-shuma-ukin. Lydia was ruled by Gyges, who had previously sworn allegiance to the Assyrians, but who was now in revolt and facing the Cimmerian steppe tribes. Egypt was led by Pharaoh Psammetichus I (or Psamtik I) who had manoeuvred the Assyrians out of his country. There were many other developments elsewhere, but they will hopefully be covered in later blogs. This should give an overview of some happenings elsewhere at least.

I find that this period of Greek history is rather poorly treated by historians. So many histories make a brief mention of the Greek Dark Ages, before giving a cursory mention to Homer and Hesiod, maybe a brief nod to some of the developments in Athens and Sparta, and then dive straight into the Persian Wars. It is as if the Greeks of Marathon sprung into being fully-fledged, like the fully-grown and fully-armoured Athena springing to life from the cloven head of Zeus. This is not the case and the classical Greeks owed much of their culture to developments in the Dark Ages or Archaic periods. I think the real reason why this period is so seldom studied is that it has no overarching storyline to it. Each state or city has its business and a chronology of the period can devolve into disconnected stories without a narrative. Bearing this in mind, I will try and describe the period as accurately, but also as engagingly, as I can.

Clay toy from Attica 7th century BC

In Greece at the time Eurycrates was the Agiad king of Sparta and either Anaxandridas I or Zeuxidamus was the Eurypontid king of Sparta. Pheidon II was the tyrant of Argos. Myron was tyrant of the Sicilian city of Syracuse. Cypselus was tyrant of Corinth. Thebes and Athens were controlled by aristocracies, probably. The Second Messenian War had possibly finished by this time but, possibly not. The Lelantine War was finishing. Colonisation of Sicily, southern Italy and northern Turkey continued around this time. In Asia Minor, the Ionian cities had conflicts with the newly established Mermnad Dynasty of Gyges and there were also threats from the Cimmerian nomads. The Ionian League had been organised in previous decades to allow the city states of the western coast of present-day Turkey to combine against these threats, but the city states still fought each other occasionally. Such was the state of the Greek world at the beginning of this twenty-five year period.

Around 650 BC the Lelantine War drew to a close, as described in the previous blog on Greece. It had been fought for over five decades by Chalcis and Eretria on the island of Eubeoa and was won by Chalcis? Or maybe it was won by Eretria? No one is really sure. But the two sides had fought themselves to insignificance. Cleomachus of Thessaly had won glory for himself by fighting on the Chalcidian side, but not much else changed as a result of the war.

Later ruins from Himera in Sicily

649 is the traditional date of the foundation of Himera. Himera was a Greek city midway along the northern coast of Sicily and was quite close to the Phoenician settlements being created by the Carthaginians of North Africa. The Greeks and Carthaginians would later clash over this site. But it showed that Greek colonisation was now beginning to clash with Phoenician colonisation. Presumably the original inhabitants of the colonised lands were not thrilled with either set of colonisers.

In the year 648 some people believe the Second Messenian War started. This has been dealt with in a previous post. The dates of this war are very open to speculation, but we have spoken of it previously so I will not write about it twice. In the Olympic Games that year the pankration was added to the games. This was a kind of wrestling, but allowed boxing as well and, like Greek boxing, was quite a vicious sport that only disallowed biting and eye-gouging.

In this Olympic Games Gyges, or possibly Gylis, of Laconia won the stadion race. Myron, the tyrant of the Sicilian city of Syracuse won the chariot race, meaning that he owned the team, not that he raced himself. Crauxidas the Crannonian won the equestrian race. Lygdamis of Syracuse won the newly instituted Pancratium contest and was supposedly a giant of man. It is unusual that the Gyges and Lygdamis were both Olympic winners this year, as they were the Greek names of the Lydian and Cimmerian rulers at that time. Perhaps there was substantial Asian influence on Greece at the time or perhaps there is major confusion in the sources.

At these games, a pancratium contest was added, and the winner was Lygdamis of Syracuse. Lygdamis was massive; he measured out the stadion with his feet, in only six hundred paces.
Eusebius’ Chronicle, written around 330AD

Image from NASA showing eclipse path in 648BC

During this year there was an eclipse and it is probable that this is the eclipse mentioned by Archilochus and possibly referred to by the slightly later Mimnermus. If so, this makes the solar eclipse of on the 6th of April 648 BC the first astronomical observation of European civilisation. Some writers think that this may be referring to another eclipse in 660 however. The Greek record of the eclipse was hardly a scientific observation, as Archilochus merely writes a poem suggesting that all the world is in flux and that before people know it, dolphins will start coming onto the land, so it is not strictly scientific. But it is an observation of sorts nonetheless.

There is nothing in the world unexpected, nothing to be sworn impossible nor yet marvellous, now that Zeus the Father of the Olympians hath made night of noon by hiding the light of the shining Sun so that sore fear came upon mankind. Henceforth is anything whatsoever to be believed or expected. 
Let not one of you marvel, nay, though he see the beasts of the field exchange pasture with the dolphins of the deep, and the roaring waves of the sea become dearer than the land to such as loved the hill.
Archilochus quoted in Aristotle Rhetoric 95-97 written around 330BC

Solar Eclipse

In 645 Archilochus possibly died, fighting for his home island of Paros against the neighbouring island of Naxos. His killer, Calondas was reviled for slaying poet, even though it was a fair death in battle, and Calondas was later rebuked by the oracle at Delphi.

Around this time, Gyges of Lydia died and his country was attacked once again by the Cimmerian barbarians. These also attacked the Greek cities of the coast and the Ephesian poet Callinus, seeing the unexpected taking of the Lydian capital Sardis, exhorted his countrymen to make their stand against the barbarian invaders and fight. A few fragments of his poetry are all that remain to us.

Purpose ye to sit in peace though the land is full of war? … And let every man cast his javelin once more as he dies. For 'tis an honourable thing and a glorious to a man to fight the foe for land and children and wedded wife; and death shall befall only when the Fates ordain it.
Callinus quoted in the Stobaeus Anthology (written 400’s AD)

In 644 the Olympic Games were held, but by the small city of Pisa, rather than the traditional game organisers from the small city of Elis. The Stadion race was won by Stomas of Athens.

Greek Pottery from c.640BC

In 642 Tullus Hostilius is supposed to have died, struck down by the lightning of Jupiter after having made an error in rites that were supposed to placate the angry gods. After an interrex was appointed to govern the time between the kings, the Romans made Ancus Marcius their king. Ancus Marcius was in some ways a compromise between the previous kings, pious Numa and warlike Tullus. He tried to carry out the sacred rites, while at the same time waging war against the neighbouring Latin tribes. Around this time Demaratus of Corinth is supposed to have migrated to Rome and married into the Roman aristocracy, bringing some measures of Greek culture with him. All of the traditions that I have mentioned are preserved from much later sources and, as mentioned in the previous blog, many historians believe that the period of the kings was slightly later, so that all the items I am describing may more likely be placed around fifty or sixty years later. But these are the traditional dates given by Livy so I will follow them here.

Greek Pottery from c.640BC

Tradition records that the king, whilst examining the commentaries of Numa, found there a description of certain secret sacrificial rites paid to Jupiter Elicius: he withdrew into privacy whilst occupied with these rites, but their performance was marred by omissions or mistakes. Not only was no sign from heaven vouchsafed to him, but the anger of Jupiter was roused by the false worship rendered to him, and he burnt up the king and his house by a stroke of lightning.
Livy Ab Urbe Condita (1.31)

In 640 The Olympic Games were held once more, with Sphaerus the Laconian winning the Stadion race and Cylon of Athens winning the longer Diaulos race. We shall hear more of Cylon soon. I am not sure if the Pisans still held control of the Olympic Games or if the Eleans had taken back control at this point.

In cultural affairs, around this time Peisander of Camirus, a city in Rhodes, wrote an epic poem about the labours of Heracles, fixing their number at twelve and enshrining the story and image of the ultimate Greek hero firmly in the consciousness of the Greeks. Sadly, the epic does not survive.

Around this time we have the record of the earliest Greek explorer, albeit a kind of accidental explorer. Colaeus of Samos was supposedly blown off course around this time and was the first Greek that we know of to pass the Straits of Gibraltar (known to the Greeks as the Pillars of Heracles) and travel the Atlantic Ocean. He did not go very far, merely as far as the city of Tartessos and he brought a large cargo of metal back to the city of Phocaea, where they dedicated a tenth of their huge profits to the gods in thanks for their safe travels. It is important to mention that these lands were very much occupied at the time and the Greeks were also following in the footsteps of the Phoenicians in trading with these lands. So no new lands were found, but it is the first exploration of the Greeks that I am aware of.

Figurine of Astarte from Tartessos in south-western
Spain. Possibly Phoenician in origin

They then put out to sea from the island and would have sailed to Egypt, but an easterly wind drove them from their course, and did not abate until they had passed through the Pillars of Heracles and came providentially to Tartessus.
Herodotus Histories: 4:152, written around 440BC

In 636 the Olympic Games were held and the stadion was won by Phrynon of Athens, who would later go on to be an Athenian general. Alternatively, someone with the same name would later go on to become an Athenian general.

Vase from Tartessus region in south-western
Spain. Possibly Phoenician in origin

In 632 The Olympic Games were again held and the stadion was won by Eurycleidas of Laconia. Polyneices of Elis would win the boys stadion race. The competition for the boys was extended with wrestling added to the list of games for them. Hipposthenes of Laconia would win this and later go on to win more Olympic glory in the men’s competitions of later years. A previous winner of the Olympic Games would become notorious during this particular Olympics.

Cylon of Athens, the winner of the diaulos race in 640, had married a daughter of Theagenes, the tyrant of the nearby city of Megara, and had supposedly received a prophecy from the Oracle at Delphi that he would be able to seize control of the city of Athens during a festival of Zeus. Bolstered by the prophecy, Cylon and his followers seized the Acropolis in Athens, hoping that the city would acknowledge Cylon as a ruler of the city. The attempt to install a tyrant failed however. The Athenian people fought back and besieged the followers of Cylon on the Acropolis. Eventually the besieged ran short of food and water, knowing their cause was lost, hid in the temples, with Cylon and his brother making their escape.

Greek votive figure
from 7th century BC

Having clearly lost in their coup attempt, the followers of Cylon petitioned that they would surrender to the judgement of the city, on the provision that their lives were spared. This was granted to them and they exited the temple sanctuaries, where it was ritually forbidden to shed blood. They left the temples expecting to be exiled from the city. To retain the ritual protection of the temples until they were judged they seem to have tied a rope to the temple and gone to the angry citizenry still holding the rope. The Athenians reneged on their promise and murdered Cylon’s surrendering supporters. Some later traditions hold that the rope that carried their ritual protection broke and that this was a sign from the gods that they should be slain. This is not in all of the sources and later events would tend to suggest that this didn’t happen. The attempted coup, siege of the Acropolis and subsequent betrayal and executions are known as the Cylonian Affair.

The people seem to have executed Cylon’s followers on the advice of Megacles, who held the position of Eponymous Archon (the year was named after him). Megacles was a member of the powerful aristocratic family of the Alcmaeonidae and while the Athenians followed his advice in slaying the suppliants, they afterwards regretted this. The Alcmaeonidae were held to have committed a great sacrilege and to have been cursed by the gods. The entire family was banished from Athens in recognition of their sin and even the tombs of their ancestors were exhumed and placed outside the city limits. The curse of the Alcmaeonidae would return to haunt Athens for generations after, as each generation sought to return and reclaim their ancestral rights.

The Athenians who were charged with the duty of keeping guard, when they saw them at the point of death in the temple, raised them up on the understanding that no harm should be done to them, led them out and slew them. Some who as they passed by took refuge at the altars of the awful goddesses were despatched on the spot. From this deed the men who killed them were called accursed and guilty against the goddess, they and their descendants.
Thucydides 1.126, written around 400BC

Skeletal remains of (possibly) Cylon's supporters
Photo taken from here.

Archaeology provides a tantalising insight into the Cylonian Affair, with a mass grave of around eighty skeletons being discovered at Phaleron (just outside Athens). The skeletons have been dated to this time period and have their hands bound with shackles. The mass grave of these shackled prisoners suggests a mass execution and it has been plausibly suggested that these are the graves of Cylon’s followers. But there are other reasons why the state might execute prisoners and not much else of the period is known. In fact the Cylonian Affair is almost the first certain date in Athenian history. So, it is not proved, but it is an interesting possibility.

Later ruins from Selinus in Sicily

In 631, the city of Sinope was founded on the Black Sea, on the northern coast of Asia Minor, although there was probably a city in the region in times previous. The Greek settlement was founded by settlers from Miletus.

Around 630 the city of Cyrene in Libya was founded by Battus, who led a colony from the island of Thera in the Aegean. There are a number of myths and legends surrounding this first colony of the Greeks on the African continent, but all that we can firmly say is that there was a Greek colony founded there around this time. Around this time the Greek city of Selinus was established on the south-western coast of Sicily, facing across the sea towards Carthage. While new cities were being founded, Trapezus, a city later known as Trebizond or Trebzon, was destroyed by the Cimmerian invaders around this time, but was later rebuilt by the Greek colonists. Around this time, once again, an exact date is not possible, the Bellerophon Painter and Lion Painter were active in producing pottery in Attica. They were beginning to use the technique known as Black-Figure pottery, which would go on to be the predominant style of vase-painting for a number of decades.

Later ruins from Cyrene in Libya

Now in the time of Battus the founder of the colony, who ruled for forty years, and of his son Arcesilaus who ruled for sixteen, the inhabitants of Cyrene were no more in number than when they had first gone out to the colony.
Herodotus Histories 4.159, written around 440BC

In 628 the Olympic Games were held, with Olyntheus of Laconia winning the stadion race and Eutelidas the Lacedemonian winning the boys wrestling and boys pentathlon. There was a boys pancratium held this year but this was probably too violent even for the ancient Greeks so this was discontinued. Deutelidas of Laconia won this first and only competition. Perhaps, as it was never held again and thus his record was never broken, Deutelidas is the most successful athlete ever? Possibly not. There is not much more that can be said about this year.

In 627 Cypselus of Corinth, who had forced his way to becoming tyrant of Corinth, died. His son Periander succeeded him. While the tyrants were by their nature above the rule of law and had no clear traditions about succession, many tyrants did in fact hand over their rule to their sons.

Greek Pottery from c.640BC

In 625 the period that we are looking at draws to a close. The Cimmerian threat was receding, as the Lydian kings fought back against the horse nomads. But the rising power of the kings of Lydia would be a threat to the Greek city states in its own right and soon wars would reoccur between them. In cultural terms, poetry and pottery continued to grow in importance, with the poems of Archilochus and his contemporaries being remembered until the decline of classical civilisation. Black-Figure pottery was developing and would continue to develop. In Lydia Ardys II was king. In Sparta, Anaxander was the Agiad king and Anaxidamus or Archidamus I was the Eurypontid king. Periander was the tyrant of Corinth while Athens had resisted the attempted tyranny of Cylon and also expelled the cursed Alcmaeonidae.

The period may not have seen much happening compared to other twenty-five year periods, but it still saw what is arguably the first named European astronomical observations and exploration, as well as a coup attempt, murder and ritual curses in Athens; a city which now re-emerges into history. Such was the state of affairs in the Greek world in 625BC.

Related Blog Posts:
Greece from 675-650BC
650-625BC in the Near East
Greece from 625-600BC

Greece from 700-675BC

Orientalising Greek Pottery

Also I believe that the earth is very vast, and that we who dwell in the region extending from the river Phasis to the Pillars of Heracles inhabit a small portion only about the sea, like ants or frogs about a marsh…
Plato, Phaedo, written around 360BC

In 700BC Greece was quite similar in many ways to the Greece that we are familiar with in the Classical period. There was poetry and writing. Pottery was crude, but recognisably Greek. The Iliad, the Odyssey and Hesiod’s works were either composed or would soon be composed. The pantheon of gods and mythology were recognisably Greek, although we only have fragments of both from this era. The Greeks were already famous sailors and colonisers of distant lands. The Delphic Oracle had been established. The small Greek city states dotted the lands around the Aegean and Sparta had already achieved a measure of power on the land. The Olympic Games had been in place for nearly a century. This period has been termed part of the Archaic Period. Archaic is a word that sometimes implies crudity, but I feel that it should instead be interpreted using one of its other connotations: Beginnings. Truly this time was an age of beginnings.

With all these similarities there were still substantial differences. Athens was still not particularly important and Eretria and Chalcis were two of the larger city-states in Greece at the time. Greek pottery and art was heavily influenced by art from Lydia and Asia and their sculpture was far behind the Egyptians and the Assyrians. There was little that could be said for certain about science or philosophy among the Greeks at this time. There was also no historical writing in any real sense. The Olympic Games had been in place for nearly a century but the Pythian, Isthmian and Nemean games had not yet begun. Hoplite warfare was only in its infancy. Greek architecture was still quite crude and there were none of the distinctive temples of the later ages. All the basic ingredients for later Greek greatness were there, but, during this time period, if we did not have the traditions of later times we would have very little to report about this region at this time.

The sources for this period are nearly all inferences from the writings of later writers. Sometimes there are sources such as Hesiod or other poets to augment this, but these are terse and may be misinterpreted. There are some hints from archaeology also, but we are mostly reliant on the traditions of the classical era to shed light on this period of Archaic Greece. As always, the reader must bear in mind that these are my interpretations of the information available to me and that there are almost certainly mistakes, if not through my misreading of the sources, then at least through the sparseness of the source material.

Orientalising Greek Pottery

Around this time in Attica, temples to Athena and Poseidon were dedicated at the Cape of Sunium near the city of Athens. Another sanctuary to Poseidon was set up around this time at the Isthmia near Corinth. The temple of Apollo was built on the island of Delos. Paros began to export the famous white marble that would be used in many of the temples and sculptures of antiquity. Like the marble from Carrara, it was fine grained and flawlessly white, allowing an artist great scope in working it. However, we must remember that most statues and temples of the ancient world were in fact painted quite colourfully ornamented rather than being left in their unadorned form.

Sparta, Argos and Paros held the first documented musical competitions, although music theory would still not be developed for another century. Samothrace, an island in the northern Aegean, was colonised by settlers from Paros. Triremes, ships with three banks of oars, began to be adopted around this time, although these was probably invented by the Phoenicians and adapted by the Samians and Corinthians.

In art, the Analatos and Mesogaia painters of vases were active. These were painters who are nameless, but who are known for their artwork. During this period most of the works were copying oriental patterns.

In politics, one of the dual kings of Sparta, Polydorus, changed the constitution of Sparta to allow the kings and Gerousia (28 older Spartan citizens that functioned rather like a Senate) to veto decisions made by the assembly of the Spartans, making Sparta more centralised.

Orientalising Greek Pottery

In medicine the first Greek school of medicine opened in Cnidus (a Greek colony on the coast of what is present day Turkey). It later became quite famous, but was overshadowed by the nearby school on the island of Cos. The approach of the two schools differed, with the physicians of Cnidus focusing on the symptoms of the disease itself and the physicians of Cos trying to categorise the disease in its overall and general form. Both approaches are useful and have their place in medicine, but the school of Cos is better remembered because it is associated with the great physician Hippocrates who lived some centuries later. At this stage the Cnidian physicians were probably little more than priests with some experience in healing and the scientific basis for medicine in the western world would have to be established later.

The Lelantine War was still ongoing and would still be ongoing at the end of this time period. It does seem unlikely to me that two small cities located about twenty miles apart could fight for over fifty years with all of Greece involved unless the war had turned into something more like a ritualised vendetta, with long periods of peace and occasional almost scripted combats. The later sources saying there were agreements to exclude archery seem to support this ritual theory of combat. The war will be ongoing throughout this time period ,but there isn’t much we can say about it so we should just remember that during this time, Eretria and Chalcis, on the island of Euboea, were fighting for the twenty miles of grassland between their towns.

Orientalising Greek Pottery

Now in general these cities were in accord with one another, and when differences arose concerning the Lelantine Plain they did not so completely break off relations as to wage their wars in all respects according to the will of each, but they came to an agreement as to the conditions under which they were to conduct the fight. This fact, among others, is disclosed by a certain pillar in the Amarynthium, which forbids the use of long distance missiles.
Strabo: Geography 10:1

In the year 700 Atheradas of Sparta won the stadion foot race in the Olympic Games. It is a little unusual that we can speak of who (probably) won certain athletic trophies, but have little exact knowledge of anything else from this time period. But it is a nice way to remember human achievement from the bygone years.

In 696 Pantacles of Athens won the stadion foot race in the Olympic Games.

In 694 Sennacherib launched his seaborne expedition against the Chaldean exiles in Elam and used Greek and Phoenician sailors to build and crew his fleet. It is hard to imagine the brutality of Sennacherib’s campaigns occurring at the same time as the Greeks running footraces and fighting for decades over the same small patch of grassland. But the Assyrians were contemporary with the Greeks and the Assyrians doubtless influenced the Greeks, albeit in subtle ways.

In 692 Pantacles of Athens would repeat his feat and not only win the stadion race, but also the diaulos race. The stadion race was a 180m sprint and was the oldest and most prestigious race of the games. Nearly all the winners of the stadion races in antiquity are known. The diaulos race (meaning “doublepipe”) was a longer race, around 400m.

Orientalising Greek Pottery

In 688 the city of Gela in Sicily was founded by Greek settlers from Rhodes and Crete. They were led by Antiphemus of Rhodes and Entimus of Crete. Antiphemus’ brother Lacius supposedly founded the city of Phaselis to the east. A legend told over a thousand years later says that the two brothers went to the oracle of Delphi, who told the brothers to go in different directions, east and west. Antiphemus supposedly laughed out loud at the oracle’s advice so his city in Sicily was named Gela when he eventually did found his city and the prediction had come true, from the Greek verb “to laugh”. While this is a nice story, it is probably not true.

Also in 688 boxing was added to the Olympic Games. Onomastus of Smyrna was the victor of the first boxing match there. Everything about Onomastus is a bit suspicious. He apparently not only won the first match, but he also wrote the rules of the sport. While this could well be innocent, it is hard not to suspect that this might have favoured Onomastus. Even his name is a little fishy, as it literally means, “having a name”. But we shouldn’t poke too much fun at this shadowy boxer.

Boxing was almost certainly more ancient than this, with Minoan and Mycenaean frescoes showing ancient boxers and legends about Theseus having invented a form of it. Boxing is even mentioned in the Iliad as part of the funeral games of Patroclus. The boxing of the Greeks was brutal, with heavy strips of ox-hide wrapping the hands. This would not soften the blow to the opponent, but allowed the boxer to hit harder and with more weight. The rules didn’t rule out much. There were no bells, time-limits, rounds or rings. Wrestling and eye-gouging were not allowed, but there don’t seem to have been rules against kicking. The harshest rule of all was that there were no weight classes, meaning that boxing must have really just have been heavy weight boxing, unless a lighter man was particularly brave. If Onomastus of Smyrna really did write the rules I think we can safely surmise he was a heavy man.

Orientalising Greek Pottery

At the twenty-third Festival they restored the prizes for boxing, and the victor was Onomastus of Smyrna, which already was a part of Ionia.
Pausanias: Guide to Greece 5:8

In 685 Greek history became rather more serious and the Second Messenian War began. Or at least we think it did. It may have been decades later, but these are the dates that tradition has handed down to us. The war has been dated from 685 to 668, but it is quite possible that in fact the war started in 668. In that case all the dates should be shifted downwards. I honestly believe that the war was later, as the sources fit better then, but there are arguments for both sides.

The Messenians had been enslaved by the Spartans after the First Messenian War ended in 724. But Messene had been an independent city state with its own proud traditions and they chafed at being treated as a permanent slave underclass.

The revolt was soon led by Aristomenes. Aristomenes was a true figure of legend and it’s hard to know what to believe about the man, who seems to have been larger than life. He refused the title of king and was merely the commander in chief of the rebel Messenian helots.

Of the young men who had grown up in Messenia the best and most numerous were round Andania, and among them was Aristomenes, who to this day is worshipped as a hero among the Messenians. ...
When all their preparations were made for the war, the readiness of their allies exceeding expectation for now the hatred which the Argives and Arcadians felt for the Lacedaemonians had blazed up openly.
Pausanias: Guide to Greece 4.14-15

In 684 the Spartans and Messenians clashed at the Battle of Deres where the Messenians won a notable victory, or at the very least fought the Spartans to a stalemate. It was not enough to end the war however. To scare the Spartans Aristomenes launched a night raid and broke into a Spartan temple to Athena, called the Temple of Athena of the Brazen House, and placed a shield there. This was intended to terrify the Spartans into realising that nowhere was safe from the raids of the Messenians. The Spartans sent a message to the Delphic Oracle who supposedly counselled them to seek aid and leadership from Athens, presumably as their city was sacred to Athena, whose temple had been used to scare them. This is probably a later back reference to the fact that Tyrtaeus, a martial poet whose writings were glorifying the Spartan military, was said to be from Athens and said to have been involved in the war. None of this can be proven.

Orientalising Greek Pottery

It was the view of Aristomenes that any man would be ready to die in battle if he had first done deeds worthy of record, but that it was his own especial task at the very beginning of the war to prove that he had struck terror into the Lacedaemonians and that he would be more terrible to them for the future. With this purpose he came by night to Lacedaemon and fixed on the temple of Athena of the Brazen House a shield inscribed “The Gift of Aristomenes to the Goddess, taken from Spartans.”
Pausanias: Guide to Greece 4.14-17

But at least Sparta won one victory that year. Cleoptolemus of Laconia won the stadion race at Olympia that year.

In 683 the Messenians under Aristomenes defeated the Spartans and their Corinthian allies at the Battle of Boar’s Barrow.

As they fled, Aristomenes ordered another Messenian troop to undertake the pursuit. He himself attacked the enemies' line where it was firmest, and after breaking it at this point sought a new point of assault. Soon successful here, he was the more ready to assail those who stood their ground, until he threw into confusion the whole line of the Lacedaemonians themselves and of their allies. They were now running without shame and without waiting for one another, while he assailed them with a terror that seemed more than one man's fury could inspire.
Pausanias: Guide to Greece 4.14-17

In the year 682 Athens changed its dating system. Previously the Athenians had measured time by having “Archons” who gave their names to the years, like a reigning king. So, 754 would have been the second year of Alcmaeon. However, this was a fairly imprecise system, particularly for anyone outside of Athens. So the system was changed in 753 to have the archons only stay 10 years in their office. There were seven Decennial Archons before the system was changed again to only have one archon per year. So the year (their year did not quite match our own) 682-681 would have seen Creon become the first annual Eponymous Archon. It is hard to know if there was any Assyrian influence in this, as it does seem very similar to the far older limmu system in Assyria. But there is no proof that the Athenians copied the Assyrians and it may have simply been a case of convergent evolution of cultures.

In 682 another battle took place in the Messenian War. It is known as the Battle of the Great Foss or the Battle of the Great Ditch/Trench. The Messenians had recruited the Arcadians as allies, but the Spartans had bribed these to simply withdraw as the battle was starting, leaving the betrayed Messenians to suffer a crushing defeat.

It was not difficult for the Lacedaemonians to surround the Messenians thus isolated, and they won without trouble the easiest of victories. Aristomenes and his men held together and tried to check the fiercest of the Lacedaemonian assaults but, being few in number, were unable to render much assistance.
Pausanias: Guide to Greece 4.14-17

Aristomenes and those who managed to escape the rout retreated to Mount Eira where they fought on as guerrillas from their mountain stronghold for the next decade. According to legend Aristomenes was captured by the Spartans and thrown into the Caeadas, a chasm on Mount Taygetus where they threw criminals to their death and supposedly abandoned deformed babies (the Apothetes where the newborn children were abandoned was likely to have been a different location). Aristomenes is supposed to have survived the fall by holding onto his shield to break his fall, a rather unlikely parachute, and then following a foxhole out of the gorge to safety. Tectonic movement has partially covered up the original chasm, so we cannot search for Aristomenes’ foxhole sadly. Another tale has Aristomenes being taken prisoner by the Spartans and being set free by Archidameia, a priestess of Demeter who had fallen in love with him.

After three splendid victories over the Lacedaemonians, Aristomenes, the general of the Messenians, was disabled by wounds and captured along with many others. They were all sentenced by the Laconians to be thrown down a precipice; the rest were to be stripped, but Aristomenes was allowed to keep his armour, out of respect for his bravery. The others were killed instantly; but the broad shield of Aristomenes, which was to some extent lifted up by the air, let him gently down upon the ground. Aristomenes looked up, and saw nothing above, except inaccessible precipices; but he was too was bold in spirit, to give up all hope of safety. Examining the mountain carefully, he at last spotted a cleft, into which some foxes were entering. He broke off a bone from a dead body, and caught one of the foxes by the tail. Although he was severely bitten by the fox, he would not let go, but followed it into the cleft. After clearing away the rubbish with the bone that he held in his other hand, he escaped through the mountain, and arrived in the Messenian camp, just as his men were going out to fight again. He immediately armed himself, and led them into battle. The Laconians saw that enemy's troops were being led by Aristomenes, who was again engaging in battle, although they had just thrown him down the precipice, a punishment which no-one had ever before survived. They retreated from him, as from one who was more than human, and promptly fled from the battlefield.
Polyaenus 2:31

In rather more prosaic tales, around this time, in either 685 or 682, some Megarians settled on the eastern shore of the Bosphorus, in present day Turkey, founding the town of Chalcedon. This was viewed as a stupid site to settle, as the land across the water was deemed a far superior location. But the land across the water was settled as the city of Byzantium in 657. Because they had missed this opportunity the Chalcedonians were sometimes referred to as the City of the Blind. Byzantium would go on to have the more interesting history, so the Greeks were probably right, but Chalcedon has contributed to the world as well.

Orientalising Greek Pottery

In 680 chariot racing was added to the Olympic Games. The race was the tethrippon and was a four horse chariot race. This meant that there were now a number of events and the games became a two day festival. The Olympic racetrack was re-discovered in 2008 by archaeologists, a hippodrome about 780m by 320m that could be subdivided into different tracks depending on the event. Because horses and chariots were extremely rare in rocky Greece only the wealthy could afford such luxuries. Thus, with the chariot racing, the winner was held to be the owner of the chariot rather than the driver of the chariot. Later rich “athletes” would enter up to seven chariots in the event in the hopes of winning. Because one could technically “win” the Olympic chariot race without even being in Olympia it meant that it was the one Olympic prize that women (who were banned from the games) could win, and some later did. However the first winner of the tethrippon was Pagon of Thebes. Thalpis of Laconia won the stadion race, continuing the trend of Spartan victors of the footrace.

In 676 Callisthenes of Laconia won the stadion race at Olympia. Philombrotus the Lacedaemonian won the pentathlon.

In 675 Cyzicus was founded as a colony near the Sea of Marmara. There may have been an older city here previously however.

So in 675 we leave the account of the Greeks, with the Lelantine and Second Messenian Wars still ongoing, with art, music, sport and culture all continuing and growing apace. It is not a pivotal moment in history that we have looked at. The Lelantine War may not have been a real war and the Second Messenian War may not have occurred during this time frame. Also, we must remember that the main source for the Second Messenian War is from quotations from a lost epic poem about Aristomenes, so much that it is said here is probably just legendary.

It is fun to laugh at the ancient Marquis of Queensbury (Onomastus) and enjoy the heroic and probably false tales about the heroic Messenian Aristomenes and to enjoy the records of the winners of the ancient Olympics. It is not a pivotal moment like the Persian or Peloponnesian Wars, but it is still history and it does no harm to remember the stories of this time instead of simply calling it the Archaic Period and skipping straight past it to the Persian Wars. Hopefully it had some interest anyway. I will leave you with some more tales of Aristomenes.

Orientalising Greek Pottery

On the day of the festival, when the Lacedaemonians make a public sacrifice to the Dioscuri, Aristomenes the Messenian and a friend mounted on two white horses, and put golden stars on their heads. As soon as night came on, they appeared at a little distance from the Lacedaemonians, who with their wives and children were celebrating the festival on the plain outside the city. The Lacedaemonians superstitiously believed that they were the Dioscuri, and indulged in drinking and revelling even more freely. Meanwhile, the two supposed deities, alighting from their horses, advanced against them with sword in hand. After leaving many of them dead on the spot, they remounted their horses, and made their escape.
Polyaenus 2:31

There the young men, intoxicated, I suppose, and without any self-control, attempted to violate the girls. When Aristomenes attempted to deter them from an action contrary to Greek usage, they paid no attention, so that he was compelled to kill the most disorderly. He released the captives for a large ransom, maidens, as when he captured them.
Pausanias: Guide to Greece 4.14-17

On another occasion, when Aristomenes the Messenian had been made prisoner by the Lacedaemonians, and was bound with cords, he went so close to a fire which was in the prison, that it burnt through the cords. Then he fell upon the guards and slew them. He proceeded secretly into Sparta, where he fixed up the guards' shields in the temple of Chalcioecus with this inscription: "Aristomenes has escaped from the Lacedaemonians unhurt." Then he returned to Messenia.
Polyaenus 2:31

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