Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

MEGALOPOLIS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V18, Page 75 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

MEGALOPOLIS . By permission from plans by R:W.See also:

Schultz & W. Loring in"Excavations at Megalopolis.° (Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies.) who likewise attended to the peopling of the new See also:city, which apparently See also:drew inhabitants from all parts of See also:Arcadia, but especially from the neighbouring- districts of Maenalia and Parrhasia. See also:Forty townships are mentioned by See also:Pausanias (viii. 27, 3—5) as having been incorporated in it. It was 5o stadia in circumference, and was surrounded with strong walls. Its territory was the largest in Arcadia, extending northward 24 rd. The city was built on a magnificent See also:scale, and adorned with many handsome buildings, both public and private. Its temples contained many See also:ancient statues brought from the towns incorporated in it. After the departure of See also:Epaminondas, Lycomedes of See also:Mantineia succeeded in See also:drawing the Arcadian federation away from its See also:alliance with See also:Thebes, and it was consequently obliged to make See also:common cause with See also:Athens. An See also:attempt on the See also:part of the federation to use the treasures of the See also:temple of See also:Zeus at See also:Olympia led to See also:internal dissensions, so that in the See also:battle of Mantineia (362) one See also:half of the Arcadians fought on the See also:side of the Spartans, the other on that of the Thebans. After this battle many of the inhabitants of Megalopolis sought to return to their former homes, and it was only by the assistance of three thousand Thebans under Pammenes that the authorities were able to prevent them from doing so.

In 353, when Thebes had her hands full with the so-called Sacred See also:

War, the Spartans made In 234 B.C. Lydiades, the last See also:tyrant of Megalopolis, voluntarily resigned his See also:power, and the city joined the Achaean See also:League. In consequence of this it was again exposed to the hatred of See also:Sparta. In 222 Cleomenes plundered it and killed or dispersed its inhabitants, but in the See also:year following it was restored and its inhabitants reinstated by See also:Philopoemen, a native of the city. After this, however, it gradually sank into insignificance. The only See also:great men whom it produced were Philopoemen and See also:Polybius the historian. Lycortas, the See also:father of the latter, may be accounted a third. In the See also:time of Pausanias the city was mostly in ruins. The site of Megalopolis was excavated by members of the See also:British School at Athens in the years 1890-1892. The description of Pausanias is so clear that it enabled See also:Curtius, in his Pelopons nesos, to give a conjectural See also:plan that was found to See also:tally in most respects with the reality. The See also:town was divided into two approximately equal parts by the See also:river Helisson, which flows through it from See also:east to See also:west. The See also:line of the walls may be traced, partly by remains, partly by the contours it must have followed, and confirms the estimate of Polybius that they had a See also:circuit of 50 stades, or about 51 m.

It is difficult to see how the river See also:

bed, now a broad and shingly See also:waste, was dealt with in ancient times; it must have been embanked in some way, but there are no remains to show whether the fortification See also:wall was carried across the river at either end or along the parallel embankments so as to make two See also:separate enclosures. There must have been, in all See also:probability, a See also:bridge to connect the two halves of the city, but the See also:foundations seen by See also:Leake and others, and commonly supposed to belong to such a bridge, proved to be only the substructures of the See also:precinct of Zeus See also:Soter. The buildings See also:north of the river were municipal and were grouped See also:round the square See also:agora. One, of which the See also:complete plan has been recovered, is the See also:portico of See also:Philip, a splendid See also:building, which bounded the agora on the north; it was 30o ft.. See also:long, with three rows of columns See also:running its whole length, three in the See also:outer line to each one in the two inner lines; it had a slightly projecting wing at either end. At the See also:south-west of the agora was found the precinct of Zeus Soter: it consists of a square See also:court surrounded by a See also:double See also:colonnade, and faced on the west side. by a small temple; on the east side was an entrance or propylaeum approached by a ramp. In the midst of the court was a substructure which has been variously interpreted as an See also:altar or as the See also:base of the great See also:group of Zeus and Megalopolis, which is recorded to have stood here. North of this was the See also:Stoa Myropolis, forming the east boundary of the agora, and, between this and the Stoa of Philip, the Archeia or municipal offices. These buildings were of various See also:dates, but seem all to See also:fit into an harmonious plan. The buildings on the south and west of the agora have been almost entirely destroyed by the Helisson and a tributary See also:brook. On the south See also:bank of the river were the See also:chief federal buildings, the See also:theatre (noted by Pausanias as the largest in See also:Greece), and the Thersilion or See also:parliament See also:hall of the ten thousand Arcadians. These two buildings See also:form part of a common See also:design, the great portico of the Thersilion facing the See also:orchestra of the theatre. As a consequence of this arrangement, the plan of the theatre is abnormal.

The auditorium has as its lowest See also:

row of seats a set of " thrones " or ornamental benches, which, as well as the See also:gutter in front, were dedicated by a certain See also:Antiochus; the orchestra is about roo ft. in See also:diameter; and in See also:place of the western See also:parados is a closed See also:room called the Scanotheca. The chief peculiarity, however, lies in the great portico already mentioned, which has its base about 4 ft. 6 in. above the level of the orchestra. It was much too lofty to serve as a See also:proscenium; yet, if a proscenium of the See also:ordinary See also:Greek type were erected in front, it would hide the See also:lower part of the columns. Such a proscenium was actually erected in later times; and beneath it were the foundations for an earlier wooden proscenium, which was probably erected only when required. In later times steps were added, leading from the base of the portico to the level of the orchestra. The theatre was probably used, like the theatre at Athens, for See also:political assemblies; but the adjoining Thersilion provided covered See also:accommodation for the Arcadian ten thousand in wet See also:weather. It is a buildii g unique in plan, sloping up from the centre towards all sides like a theatre. The roof was supported by columns that were placed in lines radiating from the centre, so as to obscure as little as possible the view of an orator in this position from all parts of the building; there were two entrances in each side. See Excavations at Megalopolis (E. A. See also:Gardner, W.

Loring, G. C. See also:

Richards, W. J. Woodhouse; See also:Architecture, by R. W. Schultz); Supplementary See also:Paper issued by the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, 1892; See also:Journal of Hellenic Studies, xiii. 328, A. G. Bather; p. 319, E. F.

See also:

Benson (" Thersilion ") ; 1898, p. 15, J. B. See also:Bury (" Double City ") ; W. Dorpfeld (" Das griechische Theater ") ; O. Puchstein, " Griechische Biihne " (Theatre). (E.

End of Article: MEGALOPOLIS

Additional information and Comments

There 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.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assembl... 		[next]
MEGANUCLEUS (also called MACRONUCLEUS)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries