Ancient Elis: Difference between revisions

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| blank1_info            = Elis, [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]]
| blank1_info            = Elis, [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]]
| blank2_name            = Dialects  
| blank2_name            = Dialects  
| blank2_info            = [[Doric Greek|Doric]]
| blank2_info            = [[Doric Greek#Northwest Doric|Northwest Greek]]
}}
}}
[[File:Ancient Regions Peloponnese.png|thumb|220px|Ancient regions of Peloponnese (southern mainland Greece)]]
[[File:Ancient Regions Peloponnese.png|thumb|220px|Ancient regions of Peloponnese (southern mainland Greece)]]
[[File:Ancient peloponnese.svg|thumb|Ancient Peloponnese states]]
'''Elis''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː|l|ɪ|s}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/longman-pronunciation-dictionary/page/253/mode/2up |first=John C. |last= Wells |publisher=Longman |location=Harlow, England |year=2000 |orig-date=1990 |edition=new |isbn=978-0-582-36467-7 |page=254}}</ref>) or '''Eleia''' ({{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|l|aɪ|.|ə}};  {{langx|grc-x-attic|Ἦλις|Ēlis}} {{IPA|grc|ɛ̂ːlis|}}; [[Doric Greek#Northwest Doric|Elean]]: {{lang|grc|Ϝᾶλις}} {{IPA|grc|wâːlis|}};<ref name="Miller2013">{{cite book|last=Miller|first=D. Gary|title=Ancient Greek Dialects and Early Authors: Introduction to the Dialect Mixture in Homer, with Notes on Lyric and Herodotus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5vPnBQAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=De Gruyter|isbn=978-1-61451-295-0|page=185}}<!--reconstructed from that the source gives: "Ϝᾱλείοις"--></ref> {{langx|el|Ήλιδα|Ilida}}) was an ancient district in the northwestern [[Peloponnese]] in [[Greece]], roughly corresponding to modern [[Elis (regional unit)|regional unit of Elis]]. It was bounded to the northeast by [[Achaea]], east by [[Arcadia (regional unit)|Arcadia]], south by [[Messenia]], and west by the [[Ionian Sea]]. The region is a fertile lowland with extensive plains, watered by the [[Pineios (Peloponnese)|Peneus]], [[Alfeios|Alpheus]] and other rivers that flow down from the Arcadian highlands.<ref name="BNP">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Lafond |first1=Yves|last2=Lambropoulou|first2=Anna|date=2006|title=Elis|url=https://doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e329400|encyclopedia=Brill's New Pauly |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |access-date=}}</ref><ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Elis (district)|display=Elis|volume=9|page=278}}</ref> The region's name is probably cognate with the English 'valley'.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=Elis | encyclopedia=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography | year=1854 | first=William | last=Smith | publisher=Perseus Digital Library | url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=elis-geo}}</ref>
'''Elis''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|iː|l|ɪ|s}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Longman Pronunciation Dictionary |url=https://archive.org/details/longman-pronunciation-dictionary/page/253/mode/2up |first=John C. |last= Wells |publisher=Longman |location=Harlow, England |year=2000 |orig-date=1990 |edition=new |isbn=978-0-582-36467-7 |page=254}}</ref>) or '''Eleia''' ({{IPAc-en|ɪ|ˈ|l|aɪ|.|ə}};  {{langx|grc-x-attic|Ἦλις|Ēlis}} {{IPA|grc|ɛ̂ːlis|}}; [[Doric Greek#Northwest Doric|Elean]]: {{lang|grc|Ϝᾶλις}} {{IPA|grc|wâːlis|}};<ref name="Miller2013">{{cite book|last=Miller|first=D. Gary|title=Ancient Greek Dialects and Early Authors: Introduction to the Dialect Mixture in Homer, with Notes on Lyric and Herodotus|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5vPnBQAAQBAJ|year=2014|publisher=De Gruyter|isbn=978-1-61451-295-0|page=185}}<!--reconstructed from that the source gives: "Ϝᾱλείοις"--></ref> {{langx|el|Ήλιδα|Ilida}}) is an ancient district in [[Greece]] that corresponds to the modern [[Elis (regional unit)|regional unit of Elis]].


Elis is in southern [[Greece]] on the [[Peloponnese]], bounded on the north by [[Achaea]], east by [[Arcadia (regional unit)|Arcadia]], south by [[Messenia]], and west by the [[Ionian Sea]]. Over the course of the archaic and classical periods, the ''[[polis]]'' "city-state" of [[Elis (city)|Elis]] controlled much of the region of Elis, most probably through unequal treaties with other cities; many inhabitants of Elis were [[Perioeci]]—autonomous free non-citizens. Perioeci, unlike other Spartans, could travel freely between cities.<ref>Roy, J. "The Perioikoi of Elis." ''The Polis as an Urban Centre and as a Political Community''. Ed. M.H. Hansen. Acts of the Copenhagen Polis Centre 4. Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser 75, 1997. 282–232</ref> Thus the polis of Elis was formed.
The Eleans traced their roots back to the mythical [[Dorian invasion]]. They united into a single  ''[[polis]]'' ("city-state") centred on the city of [[Elis (city)|Elis]] in 471 BC. Over the course of the archaic and classical periods, the city gradually gained control of much of the region of Elis, most probably through unequal treaties with other cities; many inhabitants of Elis were [[Perioeci]]—autonomous free non-citizens.<ref>Roy, J. "The Perioikoi of Elis." ''The Polis as an Urban Centre and as a Political Community''. Ed. M.H. Hansen. Acts of the Copenhagen Polis Centre 4. Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser 75, 1997. 282–232</ref> Elis' main claim to fame was its control over the sanctuary at [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] and the [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic games]].


The local form of the name was Valis, or Valeia, and its meaning, in all probability was, "the lowland" (compare with the word "valley").<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | title=Elis | encyclopedia=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography | year=1854 | first=William | last=Smith | publisher=Perseus Digital Library | url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:entry=elis-geo}}</ref> In its physical constitution Elis is similar to Achaea and Arcadia; its mountains are mere offshoots of the Arcadian highlands, and its principal rivers are fed by Arcadian springs.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Elis (district)|display=Elis|volume=9|page=278}}</ref>
==History==
===Early history===
The region was probably not the site of a kingdom during the [[Mycenean civilization|Mycenean]] period.<ref name="BNP"/> According to myth, the original inhabitants of Elis were called [[Caucones]] and Paroreatae. The people of the region are mentioned by [[Homer]]<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D2%3Acard%3D615 Iliad 2.615]</ref> for the first time in Greek history under the title of Epeians (Epeii), as setting out for the [[Trojan War]], and they are described by him as living in a state of constant hostility with their neighbours the [[Pylos|Pylians]]. In the mythical [[Dorian invasion]] of the [[Peloponnese]], Elis was assigned to [[Oxylus]] and the [[Aetolia]]ns.<ref name="EB1911"/> The dialect spoken in Elis in historical times was [[Dorian Greek|Dorian]], which might indicate that there had been an influx of people from northwestern Greece.<ref name="BNP"/> These people, amalgamating with the Epeians, formed a powerful kingdom in the north of Elis. Three independent groups developed in the region: the Epeians, [[Minyans|Minyae]] and Eleans.
 
Before the end of the 8th century BC, the Eleans had vanquished the Minyans and Epeians. Over the archaic period, they expanded their control of the region through conquest and treaties, reducing many of the surrounding communities to [[perioeci]] (non-citizen dependent communities). The Eleans enjoyed the support of [[Sparta]] in this process.<ref name="BNP"/> The sanctuary of [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] and the [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic games]], which were re-established in 776 BC, were initially controlled by the city of [[Pisa, Greece|Pisa]], but Elis contested this. They gained control of the sanctuary and games around 576 BC and destroyed the city of Pisa in 572 BC.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name="BNP"/>


According to [[Strabo]],<ref>Strabo ''[[Geographica]]'' Book 8.3.30</ref> the first settlement was created by [[Oxylus]] the [[Aetolia]]n who invaded there and subjugated the residents. The city of Elis underwent [[synoecism]]—as Strabo notes—in 471 BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Roy |first=J. |chapter=The Synoikism of Elis |title=Even More Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis |editor-first=T. H. |editor-last=Nielsen |year=2002 |pages=249–264 |location=Stuttgart |publisher=Steiner |isbn=3-515-08102-X }}</ref> Elis held authority over the site of Olympia and the [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic games]].
===Classical period===
As an ally of Sparta, Elis joined the [[Peloponnesian League]] in the 6th century BC. Elis ostensibly supported the Greek side in the [[Persian Wars]], but played no notable role in the conflict.<ref name="BNP"/> In 472 BC, the literary sources report a revolution at Elis which established a [[ancient Greek democracy|democracy]] modelled on the Athenian one. This also entailed a [[synoecism]], in which the various communities within the Elean orbit merged into a single political unit, with a capital city at [[Elis (city)|Elis]], located on the river Peneus, where it enters the lowland plain.<ref name="BNP"/> Elis annexed most of [[Triphylia]] in the mid-fifth century BC, except for [[Lepreum]] in the south. Sometime afterwards, Lepreum was conquered as well.<ref name="BNP"/>


The spirit of the games had influenced the formation of the market: apart from the [[bouleuterion]], the place the [[boule (ancient Greece)|boule]] "citizen's council" met, which was in one of the [[gymnasium (ancient Greece)|gymnasia]], most of the other buildings were related to the games, including two gymnasia, a [[palaestra]], and the House of the [[Hellanodikai]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}}
When the Peloponesian War broke out between [[Classical Athens|Athens]] and [[Sparta]] in 431 BC, Elis sided at first with Sparta. But the city state joined [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] and [[Classical Athens|Athens]] in an alliance against Sparta in 421 BC due to Spartan support for the independence of [[Lepreum]]. The Eleans banned the Spartans from participating in the Olympic Games of 420 BC and defeated them in battle when they tried to participate anyway. The Eleans did not participate in the [[Battle of Mantinea (418 BC)|Battle of Mantinea]] in 418 BC, at which the Spartans definitively defeated the alliance. After the Peloponnesian War, Elis and Lepreum fought against Sparta in the Spartan-Elean War (402-400 BC), but they were defeated.<ref name="Tausend">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Tausend |first=Sabine|date=2006|title=Triphylia|url=https://doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e1220850|encyclopedia=Brill's New Pauly |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |access-date=}}</ref> As a result, in 399 BC, the Spartans forced the Eleans to rejoin the Peloponnesian League and made them give up [[Triphylia]] and the peroecic communities in [[Acroreia]].<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name="BNP"/>


==History==
The Eleans attempted to re-establish their authority over these places after [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] ended the [[Spartan hegemony]] at the [[Battle of Leuctra]] in 371 BC. They successfully retook the old peroecic communities in the north,<ref name="BNP"/> but the newly established [[Arcadian League]] came to the assistance of the Triphylians in the south. After an oligarchic revolution in 365 BC, the Eleans launched a war with the Arcadians for the territory, which lasted until 363 BC. In the course of the war, the city of Elis was very nearly sacked by the Arcadians and the Eleans were forced to give up control of Olympia, but the Spartans came to their rescue and forced the Arcadians to withdraw.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name="BNP"/> The territory of Triphylia was ceded to Arcadia.<ref>{{cite book |title=Oxford Classical Dictionary |edition=3rd |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=5 |year=1996}}</ref>
===Early history===
 
The original inhabitants of Elis were called [[Caucones]] and Paroreatae. They are mentioned by [[Homer]]<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D2%3Acard%3D615 Iliad 2.615]</ref> for the first time in Greek history under the title of Epeians (Epeii), as setting out for the Trojan War, and they are described by him as living in a state of constant hostility with their neighbours the Pylians. At the close of the 11th century BC the [[Dorians]] invaded the [[Peloponnese]], and Elis fell to the share of [[Oxylus]] and the [[Aetolia]]ns.<ref name="EB1911"/>
====Democracy in Elis====
[[Eric W. Robinson]] has argued that Elis was a democracy by around 500 BC, on the basis of early inscriptions which suggest that the people (the ''[[glossary of rhetorical terms#Demos|dāmos]]'') could make and change laws.<ref>{{cite book|last=Robinson|first=Eric W.|title=The First Democracies: Early Popular Government Outside Athens|place=Stuttgart|publisher=Steiner|date=1997|pages=108–111|isbn=3-515-06951-8}}</ref> The literary sources refer to a democratic revolution in 472 BC.<ref name="BNP"/> The literary sources imply that Elis continued to be democratic until 365, when an oligarchic faction took control.<ref>Xen. ''Hell.'' 7.4.16, 26</ref><ref name="Robinson 2011">{{cite book|last=Robinson|first=Eric W.|title=Democracy Beyond Athens: Popular Government in the Greek Classical Age|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2011|isbn=978-0-521-84331-7}}</ref>{{rp|29–31}} At some point in the mid-fourth century, democracy may have been restored; at least, we hear that a particularly narrow oligarchy was replaced by a new constitution designed by Phormio of Elis, a student of [[Plato]].<ref>Arist. ''Pol.'' 1306a12-16; Plut. ''Mor.'' 805d, 1126c</ref> The classical democracy at Elis seems to have functioned mainly through a popular Assembly and a Council, the two main institutions of most ''poleis''. The Council initially had 500 members, but grew to 600 members by the end of the fifth century.<ref>Thuc. 5.47.9</ref> There was also a range of public officials such as the ''demiourgoi'' who regularly submitted to public audits.<ref name="Robinson 2011"/>{{rp|32}}


These people, amalgamating with the Epeians, formed a powerful kingdom in the north of Elis. After this many changes took place in the political distribution of the country, till at length it came to acknowledge only three tribes, each independent of the others. These tribes were the Epeians, [[Minyans|Minyae]] and Eleans. Before the end of the 8th century BC, however, the Eleans had vanquished both their rivals, and established their supremacy over the whole country. Among the other advantages which they thus gained was the right of celebrating the [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic games]], which had formerly been the prerogative of the [[Pisa, Greece|Pisatans]].<ref name="EB1911"/> [[Olympia, Greece|Olympia]] was in Elean land, and tradition dates the first recorded games to 776 BC.<!--not 1st games--> The [[Hellanodikai]], the judges of the Games, were of Elean origin.{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}} The attempts which the Pisatans made to recover their lost privilege, during a period of nearly two hundred years, ended at length in the total destruction of their city by the Eleans. From the time of this event in 572 BC until the [[Peloponnesian War]], the peace of Elis remained undisturbed.<ref name="EB1911"/>
===Hellenistic period===
During the [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonian]] supremacy in Greece they sided with the victors, but refused to fight against their countrymen. After the death of [[Alexander the Great]] in 323 BC they renounced the Macedonian alliance. At a time when most of their Peloponnesian neighbours were joining together as part of the [[Achaian League]], the Eleans chose to join the rival [[Aetolian League]].<ref name="BNP"/> In 245 BC, Elis and the Aetolians conquered Triphylia and [[Lasion]], but they lost the territory again in 219 BC when they entered the [[Social War (220–217 BC)|Social War]] on the Aetolian side and were invaded by [[Philip V of Macedon]].<ref name="BNP"/> In 191 BC, Elis was forced to join the Achaian League and it remained a member until the league was disbanded by the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] in 146 BC at the end of the [[Achaean War]].<ref name="BNP"/>


===Peloponnesian War and later===
According to [[Polybius]], Elis had an unusual agricultural economy for the Peloponnese in this period, which was characterised by large estates. These estates had large numbers of slave labourers and were particularly focussed on [[animal husbandry]].<ref name="Roy2008"/> The owners of these estates spent most of their time in residence and rarely visited the city of Elis, as a result of which the Eleans instituted a system of travelling judges to ensure these people had access to justice.<ref name="Roy2008"/>
In the war, Elis sided at first with [[Sparta]]. But Sparta, jealous of the increasing prosperity of its ally, availed itself of the first pretext to pick a quarrel. At the [[Battle of Mantinea (418 BC)]], the Eleans fought against the Spartans, who later took vengeance upon them by depriving them of [[Triphylia]] and the towns of the [[Acroreia]].
The Eleans made no attempt to re-establish their authority over these places until Thebes rose in importance after the [[Battle of Leuctra]] (371 BC). However, the [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadian confederacy]] came to the assistance of the Triphylians. In 366 BC, hostilities broke out between them, and though the Eleans were at first successful, they were soon overpowered; their capital very nearly fell into the hands of the enemy,<ref name="EB1911"/> and the territory of Triphylia was permanently ceded to Arcadia in 369 BC.<ref>{{cite book |title=Oxford Classical Dictionary |edition=3rd |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=5 |year=1996}}</ref> Unable to make headway against their opponents, they applied for assistance to the Spartans, who invaded Arcadia and forced the Arcadians to recall their troops from Elis. The general result of this war was the restoration of their territory to the Eleans, who were also again invested with the right of holding the Olympic games.<ref name="EB1911"/>


During the [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonian]] supremacy in Greece they sided with the victors, but refused to fight against their countrymen. After the death of [[Alexander the Great]] in 323 BC they renounced the Macedonian alliance. At a subsequent period they joined the [[Aetolian League]]. When the whole of Greece fell to Rome, the sanctity of Olympia secured for the Eleans a certain amount of indulgence. The games still continued to attract large numbers of visitors, until they were finally ended by [[Theodosius I|Theodosius]] in 394 AD, two years before the utter destruction of the country by the [[Visigoths|Gothic]] invasion under [[Alaric I]].<ref name="EB1911"/>
===Roman empire===
Elis was freed in 146 BC, following the Roman abolition of the Achaian League. The victorious Roman general [[Lucius Mummius]] made gifts to the Eleans at Olympia, but the territory was pillaged by [[Sulla]] in the 80s BC, and struggled during the [[Roman Republican civil wars]].<ref name="Roy2008">{{cite book |last1=Roy |first1=James |title=Le Péloponnèse d’Épaminondas à Hadrien |date=2008 |publisher=Ausonius Éditions |isbn=978-2-35613-277-2 |pages=263–270 |url=https://books.openedition.org/ausonius/1461?lang=en |language=en |chapter=Elis in the Later Hellenistic and Early Roman Imperial Periods}}</ref>
The Olympic games declined in popularity in the first century BC, due to the unstable political situation, but in the Imperial period, they were patronised by the Roman emperors and maintained their position as the most prestigious - if not the best attended - of the Panhellenic games.<ref name="Roy2008"/> The city was a member of the revived Achaian League, which used Olympia as a centre for displaying its own honorific monuments.<ref name="Roy2008"/>  


===Democracy in Elis===
Like other parts of the Peloponnese, the number of rural settlements declined in the Imperial period, as small farms were consolidated into larger estates. The city of Elis and other surviving urban centres probably increased in size.<ref name="Roy2008"/> The social elite remained stable until the third century AD. Many Elean elite families in this period had roots going back to the Hellenistic Period or earlier. From the late first cenutry BC onwards, prominent families began to receive [[Roman citizenship]]. They often had connections and citizenship in other cities within the province of [[Achaia]]. Many Eleans held important positions in the revived Achaian League. A very few elite Elean individuals entered the overall Imperial elite, becoming [[equites]]. But this was rare and no Eleans are known to have risen to the status of [[Roman senator|senator]].<ref name="Roy2008"/>
Elis was a traditional ally of [[Sparta]], but the city state joined [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]] and [[Classical Athens|Athens]] in an alliance against Sparta around 420 BC during the [[Peloponnesian War]]. This was due to Spartan support for the independence of [[Lepreum]]. As punishment following the surrender of Athens, Elis was forced to surrender Triphylia in 399 BC
[[Eric W. Robinson]] has argued that Elis was a democracy by around 500 BC, on the basis of early inscriptions which suggest that the people (the ''[[glossary of rhetorical terms#Demos|dāmos]]'') could make and change laws.<ref>{{cite book|last=Robinson|first=Eric W.|title=The First Democracies: Early Popular Government Outside Athens|place=Stuttgart|publisher=Steiner|date=1997|pages=108–111|isbn=3-515-06951-8}}</ref> Robinson further believes that literary sources imply that Elis continued to be democratic until 365, when an oligarchic faction seems to have taken control (Xen. ''Hell.'' 7.4.16, 26).<ref name="Robinson 2011">{{cite book|last=Robinson|first=Eric W.|title=Democracy Beyond Athens: Popular Government in the Greek Classical Age|place=Cambridge|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2011|isbn=978-0-521-84331-7}}</ref>{{rp|29–31}} At some point in the mid-fourth century, democracy may have been restored; at least, we hear that a particularly narrow oligarchy was replaced by a new constitution designed by Phormio of Elis, a student of [[Plato]] (Arist. ''Pol.'' 1306a12-16; Plut. ''Mor.'' 805d, 1126c).


The classical democracy at Elis seems to have functioned mainly through a popular Assembly and a Council, the two main institutions of most ''poleis''. The Council initially had 500 members, but grew to 600 members by the end of the fifth century (Thuc. 5.47.9). There was also a range of public officials such as the ''demiourgoi'' who regularly submitted to public audits.<ref name="Robinson 2011"/>{{rp|32}}
The Olympic Games continued in the first stages of the [[conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity]], but were finally ended by [[Theodosius I|Theodosius]] in 394 AD, two years before the utter destruction of the country by the [[Visigoths|Gothic]] invasion under [[Alaric I]].<ref name="EB1911"/> According to [[Hierocles (author of Synecdemus)|Hierocles]]'s ''Synecdemus'', Elis was a bishopric in the 6th century AD, subject to the bishop of [[Corinth]]. From the 9th century, the region prospered as part of the [[theme of the Peloponnese]], with bishoprics at [[Olenus]] and [[Moreas]].<ref name="BNP"/>


==Geography==
==Geography==
The region is one of the most agriculturally fertile regions of the Peloponnese. Elis was able to support herds of cattle and the raising of horses to a greater degree than many other regions.<ref name="Roy2008"/> The marshes on the coast were home to a unique form of [[flax]] which was used to produce the especially fine ''byssos'' [[linen]] and became a substantial [[cash crop]] in the Imperial period.<ref name="Roy2008"/> It is likely that there were [[Salt evaporation pond|salt pans]] on the coast as well, supplying the wider region's need for salt, although there is no direct evidence for this.<ref name="Roy2008"/>
===Districts===
===Districts===
As described by Strabo,<ref>{{cite book|title=Geography of Strabo|author=Strabo|author2=trans. by H. C. Hamilton & W. Falconer|chapter=Chapter III. GREECE. ELIS.|volume=II|year=1856|location=London|publisher=Henry G. Bohn|pages=7–34|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMZfAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA7}}</ref> Elis was divided into three districts:
As described by Strabo,<ref>{{cite book|title=Geography of Strabo|author=Strabo|author2=trans. by H. C. Hamilton & W. Falconer|chapter=Chapter III. GREECE. ELIS.|volume=II|year=1856|location=London|publisher=Henry G. Bohn|pages=7–34|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YMZfAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA7}}</ref> Elis was divided into three districts:
Line 61: Line 67:


===City===
===City===
The city of Elis ({{langx|grc|Ἦλις}}) was the capital of the city state of Elis. It was located at the exit of the river [[Pineios (Peloponnese)|Peneios]] from the mountains into the plain in the area of today's [[Ilida (municipality)|Ilida Municipality]] north of Kalyvia. It is said to have been founded in 471 BC by [[synoecism]], however it is unclear what the ancient sources mean by this, the city already existed in the same place before and there were separate communities in the region of Elis before and after.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hansen |first=Mogens Herman |date=1997 |editor-last=Hansen |editor-first=Mogens Herman |title=The Polis as an Urban Centre and as a Political Community |publisher=The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters |page=39 |chapter=The Polis as an Urban Centre: The Literary and Epigraphical Evidence |isbn=9788773042915 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Ig1_BV6JEQC}}</ref>
{{main|Elis (city)}}
The city of Elis ({{langx|grc|Ἦλις}}) was the capital of the city state of Elis. It was located at the exit of the river Peneus from the mountains into the plain in the area of today's [[Ilida (municipality)|Ilida Municipality]] north of Kalyvia. It is said to have been founded in 471 BC by [[synoecism]], however it is unclear what the ancient sources mean by this, the city already existed in the same place before and there were separate communities in the region of Elis before and after.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hansen |first=Mogens Herman |date=1997 |editor-last=Hansen |editor-first=Mogens Herman |title=The Polis as an Urban Centre and as a Political Community |publisher=The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters |page=39 |chapter=The Polis as an Urban Centre: The Literary and Epigraphical Evidence |isbn=9788773042915 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Ig1_BV6JEQC}}</ref>


The first excavations in Elis were carried out from 1910 to 1914 by the Austrian Archaeological Institute under the direction of [[Otto Walter (archaeologist)|Otto Walter]]. From 1960 to 1981 the [[Archaeological Society of Athens]] carried out further excavations under the direction of Nikolaos Yalouris with Austrian participation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Donati |first=Jamieson C. |date=2015 |editor1-last=Haggis |editor1-first=Donald |editor2-last=Antonaccio |editor2-first=Carla  |title=Classical Archaeology in Context: Theory and Practice in Excavation in the Greek World |publisher= |page=196 |chapter=8 The Greek Agora in its Peloponnesian Context(s) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278022149}}</ref> Some of the finds are exhibited in the local archaeological museum founded in 1981, for which a new building was built in 2003.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/1/eh151.jsp?obj_id=3314 |title=Archaeological Museum of Elis |last=Matzanas |first=Christos |date= |website=Odysseus |publisher=Ministry of Culture and Sports (Greece) |access-date=16 July 2021 |quote=}}</ref>
The first excavations in Elis were carried out from 1910 to 1914 by the Austrian Archaeological Institute under the direction of [[Otto Walter (archaeologist)|Otto Walter]]. From 1960 to 1981 the [[Archaeological Society of Athens]] carried out further excavations under the direction of Nikolaos Yalouris with Austrian participation.<ref>{{cite book |last=Donati |first=Jamieson C. |date=2015 |editor1-last=Haggis |editor1-first=Donald |editor2-last=Antonaccio |editor2-first=Carla  |title=Classical Archaeology in Context: Theory and Practice in Excavation in the Greek World |publisher= |page=196 |chapter=8 The Greek Agora in its Peloponnesian Context(s) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/278022149}}</ref> Some of the finds are exhibited in the local archaeological museum founded in 1981, for which a new building was built in 2003.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/1/eh151.jsp?obj_id=3314 |title=Archaeological Museum of Elis |last=Matzanas |first=Christos |date= |website=Odysseus |publisher=Ministry of Culture and Sports (Greece) |access-date=16 July 2021 |quote=}}</ref>

Latest revision as of 23:51, 26 October 2025

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File:Ancient Regions Peloponnese.png
Ancient regions of Peloponnese (southern mainland Greece)

Elis (Template:IPAc-en[1]) or Eleia (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx Script error: No such module "IPA".; Elean: Script error: No such module "Lang". Script error: No such module "IPA".;[2] Template:Langx) was an ancient district in the northwestern Peloponnese in Greece, roughly corresponding to modern regional unit of Elis. It was bounded to the northeast by Achaea, east by Arcadia, south by Messenia, and west by the Ionian Sea. The region is a fertile lowland with extensive plains, watered by the Peneus, Alpheus and other rivers that flow down from the Arcadian highlands.[3][4] The region's name is probably cognate with the English 'valley'.[5]

The Eleans traced their roots back to the mythical Dorian invasion. They united into a single polis ("city-state") centred on the city of Elis in 471 BC. Over the course of the archaic and classical periods, the city gradually gained control of much of the region of Elis, most probably through unequal treaties with other cities; many inhabitants of Elis were Perioeci—autonomous free non-citizens.[6] Elis' main claim to fame was its control over the sanctuary at Olympia and the Olympic games.

History

Early history

The region was probably not the site of a kingdom during the Mycenean period.[3] According to myth, the original inhabitants of Elis were called Caucones and Paroreatae. The people of the region are mentioned by Homer[7] for the first time in Greek history under the title of Epeians (Epeii), as setting out for the Trojan War, and they are described by him as living in a state of constant hostility with their neighbours the Pylians. In the mythical Dorian invasion of the Peloponnese, Elis was assigned to Oxylus and the Aetolians.[4] The dialect spoken in Elis in historical times was Dorian, which might indicate that there had been an influx of people from northwestern Greece.[3] These people, amalgamating with the Epeians, formed a powerful kingdom in the north of Elis. Three independent groups developed in the region: the Epeians, Minyae and Eleans.

Before the end of the 8th century BC, the Eleans had vanquished the Minyans and Epeians. Over the archaic period, they expanded their control of the region through conquest and treaties, reducing many of the surrounding communities to perioeci (non-citizen dependent communities). The Eleans enjoyed the support of Sparta in this process.[3] The sanctuary of Olympia and the Olympic games, which were re-established in 776 BC, were initially controlled by the city of Pisa, but Elis contested this. They gained control of the sanctuary and games around 576 BC and destroyed the city of Pisa in 572 BC.[4][3]

Classical period

As an ally of Sparta, Elis joined the Peloponnesian League in the 6th century BC. Elis ostensibly supported the Greek side in the Persian Wars, but played no notable role in the conflict.[3] In 472 BC, the literary sources report a revolution at Elis which established a democracy modelled on the Athenian one. This also entailed a synoecism, in which the various communities within the Elean orbit merged into a single political unit, with a capital city at Elis, located on the river Peneus, where it enters the lowland plain.[3] Elis annexed most of Triphylia in the mid-fifth century BC, except for Lepreum in the south. Sometime afterwards, Lepreum was conquered as well.[3]

When the Peloponesian War broke out between Athens and Sparta in 431 BC, Elis sided at first with Sparta. But the city state joined Argos and Athens in an alliance against Sparta in 421 BC due to Spartan support for the independence of Lepreum. The Eleans banned the Spartans from participating in the Olympic Games of 420 BC and defeated them in battle when they tried to participate anyway. The Eleans did not participate in the Battle of Mantinea in 418 BC, at which the Spartans definitively defeated the alliance. After the Peloponnesian War, Elis and Lepreum fought against Sparta in the Spartan-Elean War (402-400 BC), but they were defeated.[8] As a result, in 399 BC, the Spartans forced the Eleans to rejoin the Peloponnesian League and made them give up Triphylia and the peroecic communities in Acroreia.[4][3]

The Eleans attempted to re-establish their authority over these places after Thebes ended the Spartan hegemony at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. They successfully retook the old peroecic communities in the north,[3] but the newly established Arcadian League came to the assistance of the Triphylians in the south. After an oligarchic revolution in 365 BC, the Eleans launched a war with the Arcadians for the territory, which lasted until 363 BC. In the course of the war, the city of Elis was very nearly sacked by the Arcadians and the Eleans were forced to give up control of Olympia, but the Spartans came to their rescue and forced the Arcadians to withdraw.[4][3] The territory of Triphylia was ceded to Arcadia.[9]

Democracy in Elis

Eric W. Robinson has argued that Elis was a democracy by around 500 BC, on the basis of early inscriptions which suggest that the people (the dāmos) could make and change laws.[10] The literary sources refer to a democratic revolution in 472 BC.[3] The literary sources imply that Elis continued to be democratic until 365, when an oligarchic faction took control.[11][12]Template:Rp At some point in the mid-fourth century, democracy may have been restored; at least, we hear that a particularly narrow oligarchy was replaced by a new constitution designed by Phormio of Elis, a student of Plato.[13] The classical democracy at Elis seems to have functioned mainly through a popular Assembly and a Council, the two main institutions of most poleis. The Council initially had 500 members, but grew to 600 members by the end of the fifth century.[14] There was also a range of public officials such as the demiourgoi who regularly submitted to public audits.[12]Template:Rp

Hellenistic period

During the Macedonian supremacy in Greece they sided with the victors, but refused to fight against their countrymen. After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC they renounced the Macedonian alliance. At a time when most of their Peloponnesian neighbours were joining together as part of the Achaian League, the Eleans chose to join the rival Aetolian League.[3] In 245 BC, Elis and the Aetolians conquered Triphylia and Lasion, but they lost the territory again in 219 BC when they entered the Social War on the Aetolian side and were invaded by Philip V of Macedon.[3] In 191 BC, Elis was forced to join the Achaian League and it remained a member until the league was disbanded by the Romans in 146 BC at the end of the Achaean War.[3]

According to Polybius, Elis had an unusual agricultural economy for the Peloponnese in this period, which was characterised by large estates. These estates had large numbers of slave labourers and were particularly focussed on animal husbandry.[15] The owners of these estates spent most of their time in residence and rarely visited the city of Elis, as a result of which the Eleans instituted a system of travelling judges to ensure these people had access to justice.[15]

Roman empire

Elis was freed in 146 BC, following the Roman abolition of the Achaian League. The victorious Roman general Lucius Mummius made gifts to the Eleans at Olympia, but the territory was pillaged by Sulla in the 80s BC, and struggled during the Roman Republican civil wars.[15] The Olympic games declined in popularity in the first century BC, due to the unstable political situation, but in the Imperial period, they were patronised by the Roman emperors and maintained their position as the most prestigious - if not the best attended - of the Panhellenic games.[15] The city was a member of the revived Achaian League, which used Olympia as a centre for displaying its own honorific monuments.[15]

Like other parts of the Peloponnese, the number of rural settlements declined in the Imperial period, as small farms were consolidated into larger estates. The city of Elis and other surviving urban centres probably increased in size.[15] The social elite remained stable until the third century AD. Many Elean elite families in this period had roots going back to the Hellenistic Period or earlier. From the late first cenutry BC onwards, prominent families began to receive Roman citizenship. They often had connections and citizenship in other cities within the province of Achaia. Many Eleans held important positions in the revived Achaian League. A very few elite Elean individuals entered the overall Imperial elite, becoming equites. But this was rare and no Eleans are known to have risen to the status of senator.[15]

The Olympic Games continued in the first stages of the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity, but were finally ended by Theodosius in 394 AD, two years before the utter destruction of the country by the Gothic invasion under Alaric I.[4] According to Hierocles's Synecdemus, Elis was a bishopric in the 6th century AD, subject to the bishop of Corinth. From the 9th century, the region prospered as part of the theme of the Peloponnese, with bishoprics at Olenus and Moreas.[3]

Geography

The region is one of the most agriculturally fertile regions of the Peloponnese. Elis was able to support herds of cattle and the raising of horses to a greater degree than many other regions.[15] The marshes on the coast were home to a unique form of flax which was used to produce the especially fine byssos linen and became a substantial cash crop in the Imperial period.[15] It is likely that there were salt pans on the coast as well, supplying the wider region's need for salt, although there is no direct evidence for this.[15]

Districts

As described by Strabo,[16] Elis was divided into three districts:

  • Koilē (Script error: No such module "Lang". "Hollow", Latinised Coele), or Lowland Elis
  • Pisâtis (Πισᾶτις "[territory] of Pisa")
  • Triphylia (Τριφυλία Triphūlía "Country of the Three Tribes").

Koilē Elis, the largest and most northern of the three, was watered by the river Peneus and its tributary, the Ladon. The district was famous during antiquity for its cattle and horses. Pisatis extended south from Koilē Elis to the right bank of the river Alpheios, and was divided into eight departments named after as many towns. Triphylia stretched south from the Alpheios to the river Neda.[4]

City

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The city of Elis (Template:Langx) was the capital of the city state of Elis. It was located at the exit of the river Peneus from the mountains into the plain in the area of today's Ilida Municipality north of Kalyvia. It is said to have been founded in 471 BC by synoecism, however it is unclear what the ancient sources mean by this, the city already existed in the same place before and there were separate communities in the region of Elis before and after.[17]

The first excavations in Elis were carried out from 1910 to 1914 by the Austrian Archaeological Institute under the direction of Otto Walter. From 1960 to 1981 the Archaeological Society of Athens carried out further excavations under the direction of Nikolaos Yalouris with Austrian participation.[18] Some of the finds are exhibited in the local archaeological museum founded in 1981, for which a new building was built in 2003.[19]

Nowadays Elis is a small village of 150 citizens located Template:Convert NE of Amaliada, built over the ruins of the ancient town. It has one of the most well-preserved ancient theaters in Greece. Built in the fourth century BC, the theater had a capacity of 8,000 people; below it, Early Helladic, sub-Mycenaean and Protogeometric graves have been found.[20][21]

Notable Eleans

Athletes

In mythology

Intellectuals

Eleans as barbarians

Eleans were labelled as the greatest barbarians barbarotatoi by musician Stratonicus of Athens[23]

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And when he was once asked by some one who were the wickedest people, he said, "That in Pamphylia, the people of Phaselis were the worst; but that the Sidetae were the worst in the whole world." And when he was asked again, according to the account given by Hegesander, which were the greatest barbarians, the Boeotians or the Thessalians he said, "The Eleans."

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In Hesychius (s.v. Script error: No such module "Lang".) and other ancient lexica,[24] Eleans are also listed as barbarophones. Indeed, the North-West Doric dialect of Elis is, after the Aeolic dialects, one of the most difficult for the modern reader of epigraphic texts.[25]

Notes

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External links

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g File:Wikisource-logo.svg One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Script error: No such module "template wrapper".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Roy, J. "The Perioikoi of Elis." The Polis as an Urban Centre and as a Political Community. Ed. M.H. Hansen. Acts of the Copenhagen Polis Centre 4. Copenhagen: Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab, Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser 75, 1997. 282–232
  7. ↑ Iliad 2.615
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Xen. Hell. 7.4.16, 26
  12. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Arist. Pol. 1306a12-16; Plut. Mor. 805d, 1126c
  14. ↑ Thuc. 5.47.9
  15. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Template:Cite thesis
  21. ↑ Eder B. 2001, "Die submykenischen und protogeometrischen Graber von Elis", Athens
  22. ↑ Template:Usurped.
  23. ↑ Athenaeus. Deipnosophistae, VIII 350a.
  24. ↑ Towle, James A. Commentary on Plato: Protagoras, 341c.
  25. ↑ Sophie Minon. Les Inscriptions Éléennes Dialectales (VI-II siècle avant J.-C.). Volume I: Textes. Volume II: Grammaire et Vocabulaire Institutionnel. École Pratique des Hautes Études Sciences historiques et philogiques III. Hautes Études du Monde Gréco-Romain 38. Genève: Librairie Droz S.A., 2007. Template:ISBN.
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