Las (Lacedaemon)

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Plan of the Passava fortress

Las ( alpha ὁ Λᾶς; ἡ Λᾶ; in. Homer : Λάας) was a Lacedaemonian Periökenstadt , which later became the Eleutherolakonen belonged. Las was an important port of Sparta . The inhabitants are called Laer (agr. Λᾶοι). The medieval Passavá castle stood on the site of the ancient acropolis .

location

Las (German "Felsberg") is generally identified with the Passava castle hill and its surroundings in the Kato Mani , which is southwest of Gythion and 2 km west of the bay of Vathy. The next larger town is the village of Chosiari.

Description of the ancient city

According to Pausanias 3, 25, 6f., Who had visited the city, it was located between three hills, 10 stadia (2 km) from the coast and 40 stadia (7½ km) southwest of Gythion . In his time the Acropolis on the hill Asia (Ἀσία) was already in ruins. Here was a temple of Athena Asia and next to the gate a statue of Heracles . On the second hill Ilion (Ἴλιον) stood the temples for Asklepios and Dionysus and on the third hill Knakadion (Κνακάδιον) a temple of Apollo Carneios . The city itself was located on a small plain and this is where the source Galako (Γαλακannt), named after its color, rises. Next to the spring was the gymnasium with a statue of Hermes .

The Smenos (Σμῆνος) flowed past five stadiums (approx. 900 m) next to the city, with extremely excellent water. Towards the sea lay the area Arainon (Ἀράϊνον), where the grave of the city founder Las was.

archeology

The city was not systematically explored and the finds were poorly documented. A more detailed description can be found in Edward S. Forster in Volume 13 of the Annual of the British School at Athens .

City and Acropolis

The ancient acropolis on Mount Asia is located on the Passava hill, where the Franks built a castle in the Middle Ages. Scanty finds from the Bronze Age have been made here, but they cannot be precisely dated. The southeastern part of the ancient city wall was integrated into the Franconian fortress wall. A spring rises south of the castle hill, which is believed to be the Galako des Pausanias, and next to it the remains of a larger Hellenistic building have been discovered, probably the remains of the grammar school mentioned by Pausanias. In addition, some small finds were made, including an archaic herm with a ram's head, which refers to the cult of the Doric god Apollo Carneios . A bronze statue of Pan and four inscriptions were also found. Accordingly, the ancient city lay in a small plain surrounded by three mountains, Passava in the north, Mastroleo in the east and Trampolia in the southwest.

Port and Araïnon

The ancient port was on Vathy Bay, about two kilometers from the ancient city. Ancient finds were made mainly in the southeastern promontory of the bay. This forms a natural, well-protected harbor.

The promontory is now called Ayerano, and it is believed that the ancient name Araïnon lives on in this name. The temple of Artemis Diktynna , which Pausanias describes, may also have stood here. The sparse ancient remains at the promontory give no indication of the temple.

Smenos (Turkovrysi)

To the southeast of the ancient city, a small fertile plain extends to the coast, through which the Turkovrysi river flows. This rises in the mountains to the west of the ancient city and flows around the Passava hill in the northwest through a narrow gorge, through which there is also a road. Then it turns south and flows into the sea after three kilometers. Its distance to the ancient city corresponds quite well to the information Pausanias' says about the river Smenos.

history

The place was already settled in the Bronze Age, as the sparse finds on the Passava hill show. The finds from the ancient city can be dated from the Protogeometric Period to Roman times.

Las is first mentioned by Homer in the ship catalog of the Iliad (Il. 2, 585)

»Which Lasas inhabited and Oitylos' meadows tilled.« (Οἵ τε Λάαν εἶχον ἠδ᾽ Οἴτυλον ἀμφενέμοντο)

During the Archaic era , Las was an important port and perieal city of Sparta. After the port of Gythion was expanded, it became less important. After the heavy defeats of the Spartan king Nabis (murdered in 192 BC), Las and other coastal cities became a free city of the Eleutherolacons and were placed under the protection of the Achaean League by the Romans . Sparta, now deprived of its ports and thus endangered in its rule of the sea, invaded 189 BC. In a nightly action Las, but the surprised residents were able to successfully drive out the Spartans.

During the Roman Empire , Las belonged to the League of Eleutherolacons and was an independent polis that issued its own coins. It is not known when the city was abandoned.

Passava

After the establishment of the Principality of Achaia , the Mani was handed over to Baron Jean de Neuilly, who in 1254 had the Passava fortress built on the site of the ancient Acropolis. The castle was strategically located on the road from Laconia to Vitolo on the Messenian Gulf . The fortress came under the Ottomans in 1460 . It was invaded by the Spaniards in 1601 and reinforced by the Ottomans in 1670. In 1685 it was conquered by the Venetians.

The castle wall is still very well preserved and shows the size of the fortress well. There are traces of several buildings and the Turkish mosque.

Ancient sources

The following ancient texts name the place Las. The listing is done chronologically:

literature

  • Edward S. Forster: Gythium and the NW Coast of the Laconian Gulf . In: Annual of the British School at Athens 13, 1906-1907, p. 232ff. ( The Site of Las ).
  • Yves Lafond: Las. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 6, Metzler, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-01476-2 , Sp. 1158.
  • Graham Shipley: Lacedaemon . In: Mogens Herman Hansen (Ed.): An Inventory of Archaic and Classical Poleis . Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-814099-1 , p. 598.

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