Aristomenes (Messenia)

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Aristomenes is freed by a young woman. Painting by Franc Kavčič .

Aristomenes ( ancient Greek Ἀριστομένης ) was a Messenian freedom fighter from the Aipytid clan in one of the Messenian Wars . After the founding of the New Messenian state in 369 BC He was revered as a hero and received hero sacrifices . Its historicity cannot be proven.

Lore

The main source for Aristomenos is the fourth book (Messeniaka) of Pausanias ' travels in Greece . He relied primarily on Rhianos Bene , a six-volume in the third century BC Messeniaka wrote. The Lost Work is an epic lining of the Messenian Wars, modeled on Homer. Smaller fragments or hints can be found in various authors such as Polybius , Plutarch or Diodorus .

Chronological order

The exact chronological classification is, like the historicity of Aristomenes, uncertain. After Myron von Priene , he acted during the First Messenian War. After Pausanias and Rhianos von Bene, he was the hero of the Second Messenian War. Rhianos names the Spartan king Leotychidas I as his opponent.

family

Pausanias describes the family relationships of Aristomenos in relative detail. Accordingly, his parents were called Nicomedes and Nicoteleia. His sister Hagnagora was married first to a Euergetidas and second to Tharyx of Phigaleia . Aristomenes had a son named Gorgos and three daughters unknown by name. One was married to Damothoidas of Lepreos and another to Theropompus of Heraia . The third married Damagetus, son of King Dorieus of Ialysus . She was the mother of Diagoras , who in 464 BC. BC won the Olympic victory in a fist fight.

The marital connections with families from areas north of Messinia fit well into the expected historical picture and it was assumed that the descendants of Hagnagora and Tharyx carried the Aristomenos myth up to the time when the Messinian state was founded in 369 BC. Upright and mediated. The marriage with the Diagorids of Rhodes seems to be a later literary addition. Thus they cannot say anything about the historicity and time of the Aristomenes.

Fight against Sparta

Aristomenos came from Andania . He was the leader of eighty Messenians who waged a kind of guerrilla war against the Spartans . They invaded the Eurotas valley many times and captured herds of cattle from Pherai , among other things . In Karyai they robbed the dancers of the goddess Artemis and released them for a large ransom. When she later Demeter sanctuary of Aigila wanted to plunder, they were attacked by the priestesses with sacrificial knives and torches and flee had.

Over time, more and more Messenians joined the Aristomenos, who holed up on Mount Hira in the far north of Messenia . Although besieged by the Spartans, they managed to invade the valley of the Eurotas again and again, and they even plundered the main Spartan sanctuary, Amyklai . When Aristomenes was captured, he was rescued by a young woman, to whom he gave his eighteen-year-old son Gorgos for marriage as thanks.

After the Spartans managed to take the mountain fortress Hira in the eleventh year, Aristomenos and his Messenians allied themselves with the Arcadians with the aim of conquering Sparta. The plan was caught prematurely and Aristomenos fled to the island of Rhodes , where he was accepted by King Dorieus of Ialysos . His son Damagetos married a daughter of Aristomenes, who died in exile on Rhodes and was buried in Ialysos.

Hero cult

After the establishment of the Messenian state in 369 BC At the behest of the Delphic Oracle , the bones of Aristomenes were brought to Messenia. His tomb was erected east of the stadium in the newly built city of Messene . On the tomb there was a pillar to which the bull destined for the hero sacrifice was tied. If the column moved through the raging of the wild bull, this was considered a good omen.

The cultic veneration of Aristomenes is not only attested in Pausanias, but also confirmed by inscriptions. An inscription from the 1st century AD from Messene mentions that a Kraton, son of Archedamos, donated a bull sacrifice for Aristomenes (SEG 23 207). A statue base, which was built into the early Christian basilica of Messene, bears the inscription Aristomenes. It is conceivable whether it was part of the statue that Pausanias saw in Messene.

Aftermath

The ancient reports about Aristomenes were processed in three works of modern times:

  • Anne Kingsmill Finch: Aristomenes. The Royal Shepherd , 1713
  • Lord Byron : Aristomenes , 1823
  • William Morris : The Story of Aristomenes , 1876

swell

A complete list of the ancient sources can be found in Daniel Ogden, pp. 235f. (see literature list below)

  • Pausanias , description of Greece 4,14,6-4,24,2.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gerd Sachs: The history of the settlement of the Messenians. Kovač, Hamburg 2006, ISBN 3-8300-2396-0 , p. 42.
  2. ↑ HT Wade.Gery: The Rhianos-Hypothesis ; in E. Badian: Ancient Society and Institutions ; Oxford (1966); Pp. 289-302.
  3. ^ Daniel Ogden: Aristomenes of Messene . Pp. 150f, 173
  4. ^ Daniel Ogden: Aristomenes of Messene ; P. 36

literature

personal data
SURNAME Aristomenes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ἀριστομένης (ancient Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Messenian freedom fighter in one of the Messenian Wars
DATE OF BIRTH between 8th century BC BC and 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH between 8th century BC BC and 4th century BC Chr.