Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
ARGOS
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: APO-ARN
del.icio.us it!
|
ARGOS , the name of several See also:ancient See also:Greek cities or districts, but specially appropriated in historic times to the See also:chief See also:town in eastern Peloponnese, whence the See also:peninsula of Argolis derives its name. The Argeia, or territory of Argos proper, consisted of a shelving See also:plain at the See also:head of the Gulf of Argolis, enclosed between the eastern See also:wall of the Arcadian See also:plateau and the central See also:highlands of Argolis. The See also:waters of this valley (Inachus, Charadrus, Erasinus), when properly regulated, favoured the growth of excellent crops, and the See also:capital See also:standing only 3 M. from the See also:sea was well placed for Levantine See also:trade. Hence Argos was perhaps the earliest town of importance in See also:Greece; the legends indicate its high antiquity and its See also:early intercourse with See also:foreign countries (See also:Egypt, See also:Lycia, &c.). Though eclipsed in the Homeric See also:age, when it appears as the seat of See also:Diomedes, by the later See also:foundation of See also:Mycenae, it regained its predominance after the invasion of the See also:Dorians (q.v.), who seem to have occupied this site in considerable force. In accordance with the tradition which assigned the portion to the eldest-See also:born of the Heracleid conquerors, Argos was for some centuries the leading See also:power in See also:Peloponnesus. There is See also:good See also:evidence that its sway extended originally over the entire Argolis peninsula, the See also:land See also:east of See also:Parnon, See also:Cythera, See also:Aegina and See also:Sicyon. Under See also: (probably in 495), which so weakened the Argives that they had to open the See also:franchise to their Perioeci. By this See also:time they had also lost See also:control over the other cities of Argolis, which they never succeeded in recovering. Partly in consequence of its defeat, partly out of See also:jealousy against Sparta, Argos.took no See also:part in the See also:war against See also:Xerxes. Indeed on this, as on later occasions, its relations with See also:Persia seem to have been friendly. About 470 the conflict with Sparta was renewed in See also:concert with the Arcadians, but all that the,Argives could achieve was to destroy their revolted dependencies of Mycenae and Tiryns (468 or 464). In 461 they contracted an See also:alliance with See also:Athens, thus renewing a connexion established by See also:Peisistratus (q.v.). In spite of this See also:league Argos made no headway against Sparta, and in 451 consented to a truce. A more important result of Athenian intervention was the substitution of the democratic See also:government for the See also:oligarchy which had succeeded the early See also:monarchy; at any See also:rate See also:forty years later we find that Argos possessed See also:complete democratic institutions. During the early Peloponnesian War Argos remained neutral; after the break-up of the Spartan confederacy consequent upon the See also:peace of See also:Nicias the alliance of this See also:state, with its unimpaired resources and flourishing See also:commerce, was courted on all sides. By throwing in her See also:lot with the Peloponnesian democracies and Athens, Argos seriously endangered Sparta's supremacy, but the defeat of See also:Mantineia (418) and a successful rising of the Argive oligarchs spoilt this See also:chance. The speedily restored See also:democracy put little See also:heart into the conflict, and beyond sending See also:mercenary detachments, See also:lent Athens no further help in the war (see PELOPONNESIAN WAR). At the outset of the 4th century, Argos, with a population and resources equalling those of Athens, took a prominent part in the Corinthian League against Sparta. In 394 the Argives helped to See also:garrison See also:Corinth, and the latter state seems for a while to have been annexed by them. But the peace of See also:Antalcidas (q.v.) dissolved this connexion, and barred Argive pretensions to control all Argolis. After the See also:battle of See also:Leuctra Argos experienced a See also:political crisis; the oligarchs attempted a revolution, but were put down by their opponents with such vindictiveness that 1200 of them are said to have been executed (370). The democracy consistently supported the victorious Thebans against Sparta, figuring with a large contingent on the decisive See also: Though plundered by the Goths in A.D. 267 and 395 it retained some of its commerce and culture in See also:Byzantine days. The town was captured by the See also:Franks in 121o; after 1246 it was held in See also:fief by the rulers of Athens. In later centuries it became the See also:scene of frequent conflicts between the Venetians and the See also:Turks, and on two occasions (1397 and 1500) its population was massacred by the latter. Repeopled with Albanian settlers, Argos was chosen as seat of the Greek See also:national See also:assembly in the See also:wars of See also:independence. Its citadel was courageously defended by the patriots (1822); in 1825 the city was burnt to the ground by See also:Ibrahim See also:Pasha. The See also:present town of ro,000 inhabitants is a purely agricultural See also:settlement. The Argive plain, though not yet sufficiently reclaimed, yields good crops of See also:corn, See also:rice and See also:tobacco. In the early days of Greece the Argives enjoyed high repute for their musical See also:talent. Their school of See also:bronze See also:sculpture, whose first famous exponent was See also:Ageladas (Hagelaidas), the reputed master of See also:Pheidias, reached its See also:climax towards the end of the 5th century in the atelier of See also:Polyclitus (q.v.) and his pupils. To this See also:period also belongs the new Heraeum (see below), one of the most splendid temples of Greece. Remains of the early city are still visible on the See also:Larissa See also:acropolis, which towers 900 ft. high to the See also:north-See also:west of the town. A few courses of the ancient ramparts appear under the See also:double See also:enceinte of the surviving See also:medieval fortress. An See also:aqueduct of Greek times is represented by some fragments on the See also:south-western edge. In the slope above the town was hewn a See also:theatre equalling that of Athens in See also:size. The Aspis or smaller citadel to the north-east has revealed traces of an earlyMycenaean settlement; the Deiras or See also:ridge connecting the two heights contains a prehistoric See also:cemetery. The Ar give Heraeum.—Since 1892 investigation has added considerably to our knowledge concerning the Argive Heraeum or Heraion, the See also:temple of See also:Hera, which stood, according to See also:Pausanias, " on one of the See also:lower slopes of See also:Euboea." The See also:term Euboea did not designate the See also:eminence upon which the Heraeum is placed, or the See also:mountain-See also:top behind the Heraeum only, but, as Pausanias distinctly indicates, the See also:group of foothills of the hilly See also:district adjoining the mountain. When once we admit that this designated not only the mountain, which is 173o ft. high, but also the hilly district adjoining it, the See also:general See also:scale of distance for this site grows larger. The territory of the Heraeum was divided into three parts, namely Euboea, Acraea and Prosymna: Pausanias tells us that the Heraeum is 15 stadia from Mycenae. See also:Strabo, on the other See also:hand, says that the Heraeum was 40 stadia from Argos and to from Mycenae. Both authors underestimate the distance from Mycenae, which is about 25 stadia, or a little more than 3 m., while the distance from Argos is 45 stadia, or a little more than 5 M. The distance from the Heraeum to the ancient Midea is slightly greater than to Mycenae, while that from the Heraeum to Tiryns is about 6 m. The Argive Heraeum was the most important centre of Hera and See also:Juno See also:worship in the ancient See also:world; it always remained the chief See also:sanctuary of the Argive district, and was in all See also:probability the earliest site of civilized See also:life in the See also:country inhabited by the Argive See also:people. In fact, whereas the site of Hissarlik, the ancient See also:Troy, is not in Greece proper, but in See also:Asia See also:Minor, and can thus not furnish the most See also:direct evidence for the earliest Hellenic See also:civilization as such; and whereas Tiryns, Mycenae, and the city of Argos, each represent only one definite period in the successive stages of civilization, the Argive Heraeum, holding the central site of early civilization in Greece proper, not only retained its importance during the three periods marked by the supremacy of Tiryns, Mycenae and the city of Argos, but in all probability antedated them as a centre of civilized Argive life. These conditions alone See also:account for the extreme archaeological importance of this ancient sanctuary. According to tradition the Heraeum was founded by Phoroneus at least thirteen generations before See also:Agamemnon and the See also:Achaeans ruled. It is highly probable that before it became important merely as a temple, it was the fortified centre uniting the Argive people dwelling in the plain, the citadel which was superseded in this See also:function by Tiryns. There is ample evidence to show that it was the chief sanctuary during the Tirynthian period. When Mycenae was built under the Perseids it was still the chief sanctuary for that.centre, which superseded Tiryns in its dominance over the district, and which this temple clearly antedated in construction. According to the Dictys Crelensis, it was at this Heraeum that Agamemnon assembled the leaders before setting out for Troy. In the period of Dorian supremacy, in spite of the new cults which were introduced by these people, the Heraeum maintained its supreme importance: it was here that the tablets recording the See also:succession of priestesses were kept which served as a See also:chronological See also:standard for the Argive people, and even far beyond their See also:borders; and it was here that Pheidon deposited the O3eXtcnw6 when he introduced coinage into Greece. We learn from Strabo that the Heraeum was the See also:joint sanctuary for Mycenae and Argos. But in the 5th century the city of Argos vanquished the Mycenaeans, and from that time onwards the city of Argos becomes the political centre of the district, while the Heraeum remains the religious centre. And when in the See also:year 423 B.C., through the See also:negligence of the priestess Chryseis. the old temple was burnt down, the Argives erected a splendid new temple, built by Eupolemos, in which was placed the See also:great See also:gold and See also:ivory statue of Hera, by the sculptor Polyclitus,the Cyclopean wall and below it were found traces of small houses of the rudest, earliest See also:masonry which are pre-Mycenaean, if not pre-Cyclopean. We then descend to the second See also:terrace, in the centre of which the' substructure of the great second temple was revealed, together with so much of the walls, as well as the several architectural members forming the superstructure, that it has been possible for E. L. Tilton to See also:design a complete restoration of the temple. On the See also:northern side of this terrace, between the second temple and the Cyclopean supporting wall, a See also:long See also:stoa or See also:colonnade runs from east to west abutting at the west end in structures which evidently contained a well-See also:house and waterworks; while at the eastern end of this stoa a number of See also:chambers were erected against the See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] ARGONNE |
[next] ARGOSTOLI (anc. Cephallenia) |