Misplaced Pages

#59940

26-567: The Arkesilas Painter was a Laconian vase painter active around 560 BC. He is considered one of the five great vase painters of Sparta . His conventional name is derived from his name vase , the so-called Arkesilas Cup , a kylix now on display at the Cabinet des médailles of the Bibliothèque nationale de France . The vessel, found at Vulci , depicts Arkesilaos II , King of Cyrene , watching his subjects packing and weighing trade goods. It

52-464: A devastating fire ruined the finest olive crops in the northern part of the prefecture, and affected the area of Sellasia along with Oinountas and its surrounding areas. Firefighters, helicopters and planes battled for days to put out the horrific fire. In early 2006, flooding ruined olive and citrus crops as well as properties and villages along the Eurotas river. In the summer 2006, a fire devastated

78-481: A part of the Mani Peninsula, ruining forests, crops, and numerous villages. The regional unit, Laconia, is subdivided into five municipalities. These are (number as in the map in the infobox): As a part of the 2011 Kallikratis government reform, regional unit Laconia was created out of the former prefecture Laconia ( Greek : Νομός Λακωνίας ). The prefecture had the same territory as the present regional unit. At

104-544: A single vase. Apart from figural painting, he also ascribed vases bearing merely ornamental decoration. His drawing style is precise and lively. He was identified, as one of the first known Laconian vase painters, in 1934, by Edward Arthur Lane . His early work was originally falsely attributed to the then so-called "Hephaistos Painter", now known as the Boreades Painter de . Laconia Laconia or Lakonia ( Greek : Λακωνία , Lakonía , [lakoˈni.a] )

130-462: Is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta . The word laconic —to speak in a blunt, concise way—is derived from the name of this region, a reference to the ancient Spartans who were renowned for their verbal austerity and blunt, often pithy remarks. Laconia is bordered by Messenia to

156-607: Is a singular motif in ancient Greek art, and one of very few vase painting depicting recognisable historical figures. Along with a further painting by the artist which depicts the nymph Kyrene wrestling a lion, it led to the original suggestion that the artist was active in North Africa , but later excavations in Laconia proved that notion to be false. Another of his vases depicts women, their skin indicated by white paint. This technique, typical of Corinthian and Attic vase painting ,

182-420: Is not otherwise known from Laconian workshops. A similar image shows Herakles , apparently fighting two amazons . Their faces are white, their legs not visible. The Arkesilas Painter primarily painted cups. He mainly painted symposion scenes and images from Greek mythology . The latter are dominated by depictions of Herakles , the amazons , Atlas and Prometheus . The latter two figures occur together on

208-636: The Alepotrypa cave site. Significant archaeological recovery exists at the Vaphio-tomb site in Laconia. Found there is advanced Bronze Age art as well as evidence of cultural associations with the contemporaneous Minoan culture on Crete . At the end of the Mycenean period, the population of Laconia sharply declined. In classical Greece , Laconia was Spartan territory but from the 4th century BC onward Sparta lost control of various ports, towns and areas. From

234-711: The Palaiologoi . The capital of the Despotate, Mystras , was a major site of the Palaiologan Renaissance , the last flowering of Byzantine culture . With the fall of the Despotate to the Ottomans in 1460, Laconia was conquered as well. With the exception of a 30-year interval of Venetian rule, Laconia remained under Ottoman control until the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence of 1821. Following independence, Sparta

260-757: The Taygetus 2,407 m (7,897 ft) in the west and the Parnon 1,961 m (6,434 ft) in the northeast. Taygetus, known as Pentadaktylos ( five-fingers ) throughout the Middle Ages, is west of Sparta and the Evrotas Valley . It is the highest mountain in Laconia and the Peloponnese and is mostly covered with pine trees. Two roads join the Messenia and Laconia prefectures: one is a tortuous mountain pass through Taygetus and

286-430: The chthonic altar dedicated to Hyakinthos, was surrounded by a virtual encyclopedia of Greek mythology , to judge from Pausanias' enumeration of the subjects of the reliefs. The podium contained the altar to Hyakinthos and was faced with bas-reliefs and there were more bas-reliefs on the stoa-like building that surrounded on three sides the colossal column-shaped statue of the god. The analemma and peribolos of

SECTION 10

#1732852060060

312-530: The Laconian mainland and Kythira, is part of Laconia. The Evrotas is the longest river in the prefecture. The Evrotas Valley is predominantly an agricultural region that contains many citrus groves, olive groves, and pasture lands. It is the location of the largest orange production in the Peloponnese and probably in all of Greece. Lakonia , a brand of orange juice, is based in Amykles . The main mountain ranges are

338-634: The Spartan conquest, Amyklai continued to hold the Gymnopaideia and the Hyakinthia , now celebrated in honor of Apollo Amyklaios , given an even later political interpretation, as celebrating "the political reconciliation of Doric Sparta (Apollo) with the Achaian population of Amyklai (Hyakinthos)" (Hellenic Ministry of Culture). Nothing is heard yet of Apollo's sister Artemis at Amyklai, Burkert has pointed out. In

364-505: The annual festival of the Hyakinthia . There have been finds of sub- Mycenaean votive figures and of votive figures from the Geometric period, but with a gap in continuity between them: "it is clear that a radical reinterpretation has taken place" Walter Burkert has observed, instancing many examples of this break in cult during the " Greek Dark Ages ", including Amyklai (1985, p 49). After

390-850: The highest summer average maximum temperatures in Greece. In July 2012 the city registered an average maximum temperature of 38.3 °C (100.9 °F), making it Greece's second highest monthly average maximum temperature to date after the 38.6 °C (101.5 °F) recorded in Stylida in July 2023. The highest temperature ever recorded in Sparta is 45.7 °C (114.3 °F) in August 2021. On average, Sparta records 5 days per year with temperatures of over 40.0 °C (104.0 °F). Evidence of Neolithic settlement in southern Laconia has been found during excavations of

416-464: The history of Sparta, in the eighth century BC; the inhabitants of Amyklai took their places among the perioikoi , members of autonomous groups of free but non-citizen inhabitants of Sparta. About the same time, there was erected at Amyklai the Sanctuary of Apollo, enclosing within its temenos the tumulus of Hyakinthos , a pre- Hellene divinity whose cult was conflated with that of Apollo, in

442-749: The late Middle Ages. Following the Fourth Crusade , Laconia was gradually conquered by the Frankish Principality of Achaea . In the 1260s, the Byzantines recovered Mystras and other fortresses in the region and managed to evict the Franks from Laconia, which became the nucleus of a new Byzantine province. By the mid-14th century, this evolved into the Despotate of the Morea , held by the last Greek ruling dynasty,

468-617: The mid-2nd century BC until 395 AD, Laconia was a part of the Roman Empire . In the medieval period, Laconia formed part of the Byzantine Empire . In the 7th century, Slavic tribes settled in the Peloponnese. Two of them, the Melingoi and the Ezeritai , who settled in parts of Laconia, survived the subsequent Byzantine reconquest and re-Hellenization of the Peloponnese, and are attested until

494-471: The other bypasses the mountain via the Mani district to the south. The stalactite cave, Dirou, a major tourist attraction, is located south of Areopolis in the southwest of Laconia. The city of Sparta enjoys a sunny and warm Mediterranean climate ( Köppen : Csa ). January highs are around 14 °C (57 °F) while July and August highs are around 36 °C (97 °F) in the city proper. Sparta records

520-451: The same time, the municipalities were reorganised, according to the table below. Note: Provinces no longer hold any legal status in Greece . The main cities and towns of Laconia are (ranked by 2021 census population): Amykles According to some sources, the ancient town Amyclae ( Ancient Greek : Ἀμύκλαι - Amyklai ) was founded by Amyclas of Sparta , the son of Lacedaemon . In

546-502: The sanctuary have been excavated. Architectural fragments show that the architecture combined Doric and Ionic architectural orders : some are exhibited in the Sparta Museum . Beside the cult of Apollo, the people of Amyklai also worshipped Dionysus , as Dionysos Psilax . Pausanias noted that psila was Doric for wings— "wine uplifts men and lightens their spirit no less than wings do birds" he added by way of gloss: apparently it

SECTION 20

#1732852060060

572-472: The second century AD, the traveller Pausanias was informed that the archaic site of Amyklai had its ancient origin as an Achaean stronghold that predated the " Dorian invasion ", and modern archaeology has supported that view. The Bronze Age settlement lay on the slopes above the modern village of Amykles. It was conquered by the Spartans as the fifth of the surrounding settlements whose subjection initiated

598-419: The seventh or early sixth century, a colossal archaic helmeted effigy was made of bronze, taking the semi-aniconic form of a stout column with arms, holding a spear as well as the more familiar bow: "ancient and made without artistry," Pausanias thought. "Except for the face and the tips of its feet and hands it looks like a bronze pillar. It has a helmet on its head, and a spear and a bow in its hands. The base of

624-472: The statue is shaped like an altar, and Hyakinthos is said to be buried in it." ( Description , III.6). In the mid-sixth century the face of Apollo had been veneered with gold from Lydia , the gift of Croesus . Later in the sixth century, Bathycles of Magnesia designed the Doric-Ionic temple complex later known as the "throne of Apollo". The archaic cult statue, set on the podium that was constructed to enclose

650-751: The west and Arcadia to the north and is surrounded by the Myrtoan Sea to the east and by the Laconian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It encompasses Cape Malea and Cape Tainaron and a large part of the Mani Peninsula . The Mani Peninsula is in the west region of Laconia. The islands of Kythira and Antikythera lie to the south, but they administratively belong to the Attica regional unit of islands . The island, Elafonisos , situated between

676-532: Was selected as the capital of the modern prefecture, and its economy and agriculture expanded. With the incorporation of the British-ruled Ionian Islands into Greece in 1864, Elafonissos became part of the prefecture. After World War II and the Greek Civil War , its population began to somewhat decline, as people moved from the villages toward the larger cities of Greece and abroad. In 1992,

#59940