Phintas
Phintas ( ancient Greek Φίντας ) was according to Pausanias an Aipytide and son of the Messenian king Sybotas and descendant of Heracles . He was a contemporary of the Spartan king Teleklos . Possibly he was the first historical king of Messenia.
Tensions with Sparta
Tensions arose between Messinia and Sparta under the rule of Phintas. The trigger for the conflict was the settlement of Spartans in the Dentheliatis , in the border area of Messenia and Sparta. According to Strabo , the towns of Poiaessa, Echeiai and Tragion were settled there at the behest of the Spartan king Teleklos.
In the year 814 BC King Teleklos was killed by Messenians in the sanctuary of Artemis Limnatis . This was on the border in Taygetos and the cult was equally attended by Spartans and Messenians. While the Spartans say that the Messenians wanted to desecrate Spartan virgins in the sanctuary and Teleklos was killed in battle when he tried to help them, the Messenians claimed that Teleklos had equipped young beardless young men with knives in order to serve the Messenian sacrificial embassy in the sanctuary stab. When the Messenians resisted, Teleklos was killed in the turmoil.
additional
According to Pausanias , the Messenians under King Phintas are said to have sent a sacrificial embassy and a male choir to Apollon in Delos for the first time.
After Phintas' death, his sons Antiochus and Androkles took control of Messenia.
The historicity of the literarily embellished events is critically assessed in research and the dates given in Pausanias are considered incorrect and should be set around 40 years later.
swell
Individual evidence
- ^ Victor Parker: The Dates of the Messenian Wars ; 1991 Chiron 21: 25-47.
literature
- Nino Luraghi : The Ancient Messenians: Constructions of Ethnicity and Memory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge / New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-521-85587-7 . P. 95.