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TEGEA

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 504 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TEGEA , an See also:

ancient See also:Greek See also:city of See also:Arcadia, situated on a See also:plateau which is enclosed by Mts. Parthenium and Maenalus on E. and W., and by two transverse ranges which See also:separate it from the plateau of See also:Orchomenus and the Eurotas valley respectively. The Tegean territory occupied the See also:southern See also:part of this space; the See also:northern See also:half, sundered by projecting spurs from the parallel ranges, belonged to See also:Mantineia. The entire See also:plain was well adapted for pasturage and See also:corn-growing, but was liable to floods owing to the lack of See also:free outlets for its See also:water-courses. Hence the regulation of the zerethra or subterranean conduits which drained away the overflow southward was a See also:matter of vital importance both to Tegea and to Mantineia, and a cause of frequent quarrels. By its vicinity to the water-sheds of the Eurotas and See also:Alpheus, and its command over the See also:main roads from See also:Laconia to See also:Argos and the See also:Isthmus, Tegea like-See also:wise was brought into conflict with See also:Sparta. Tegea was one of the most ancient cities of See also:Peloponnesus; tradition ascribed its concentration (synoecism) out of eight or nine See also:primitive cantons to a mythical See also:king Aleus. From the fact that several Cretan townships passed for colonies of Tegea, it may be inferred that this city had oversea connexions in pre-historic days. The prominence which See also:legend assigns to its king Echemus in opposing the Heraclid invasion shows that it was one of the See also:chief Peloponnesian communities in the pre-Dorian See also:epoch. For several centuries Tegea served as a See also:bulwark of Arcadia against the expanding See also:power of Sparta; though ultimately subdued about 550 B.C. it was allowed to retain its See also:independence and its Arcadian See also:nationality. During the See also:Persian invasion the Tegeans displayed a readiness unusual among Peloponnesian cities; in the See also:battle of See also:Plataea they were the first to enter the enemy's See also:camp. A few years later they headed an Arcadian and Argive See also:league against Sparta, but by the loss of two pitched battles (Tegea and Dipaea) were induced to resume their former See also:loyalty (about 468-467).

In 423 they See also:

broke out into open See also:war with the Mantineians, and when the latter rebelled against Sparta and allied themselves with Argos and See also:Athens, the Tegeans stood firmly by Sparta's See also:side: in the decisive battle of Mantineia (418) their troops had a large See also:share in the overthrow of the See also:coalition. During the See also:early 4th See also:century before See also:Christ Tegea continued to support Sparta against the Mantineians and other malcontents. After the battle of See also:Leuctra the See also:philo-Laconian party was expelled with Mantineian help. Tegea henceforth took an active part in the revival of the Arcadian League and the See also:prosecution of the war in See also:alliance with See also:Thebes against Sparta (371-362), and the ultimate defection of Mantineia confirmed it in its federalist tendencies. The See also:foundation of the new federal See also:capital See also:Megalopolis threw Tegea somewhat into the shade. It showed itself hostile to the Macedonians, and in 266 joined the Chremonidean League against Antigonus Gonatas. To the See also:incorporation of Mantineia into the Achaean League (233) Tegea replied by allying itself with the Aetolians, who in turn made it over to Cleomenes III. of Sparta (228). From the latter it was transferred by Antigonus Doson to the Achaean League (222); in 218 it was again occupied by the Spartans but reconquered in 207 by the Achaean See also:general See also:Philopoemen. In See also:Augustus' See also:time Tegea was the only important See also:town of Arcadia, but its See also:history throughout the See also:Roman and See also:Byzantine periods is obscure; it ceased to exist as a Greek city after the See also:Gothic invasion of 395• During the Frankish occupation its See also:place was taken by the fortress of Nikli. At the time of the See also:Turkish See also:conquest (1458) Nikli had been superseded by a See also:fair-sized town called Mouchli, which inturn disappeared when the new city of See also:Tripolitsa was founded about 3 M. N.W. The site is now occupied by the small See also:village of Piali.

AurxORITIES.—See also:

Strabo pp. 337, 388; See also:Pausanias viii. 44-49, 53—54; See also:Herodotus i. 65 if., ix. 35, 70; See also:Thucydides v. 32—73; See also:Xenophon, Hellenica, vi., vii.; See also:Polybius ii. 46, 54 if., v. 17, xi. 18 ; W. M. See also:Leake, Travels in the Morea (See also:London, 1830), i. pp. 88-See also:loo, ii.

328—334; E. See also:

Curtius, Peloponnesos (See also:Gotha, 1851), i. pp. 247—264; W. Loring in See also:Journal of Hellenic Studies, xix. (1899) pp. 25—89 ; Schwedler, De See also:Rebus Tegeaticis (See also:Leipzig, 1886) ; `Ieropia See also:Tic Tey aS. 'EK& bra TOU Te'yEarLKoi 1vvS o ou (Athens, 1896); for coins: B. V. See also:Head, Historia Numorum (See also:Oxford, 1887), pp. 350—351; and See also:art. See also:NUMISMATICS, See also:section Greek, § " Arcadia." (M. O.

B. C.) See also:

Archaeology.—The See also:temple of See also:Athena Alea at Tegea is described by Pausanias as excelling all others in the Pelopennese both in See also:size and in beauty of construction. The See also:original temple was said to have been built by Aleus, the founder of the city; it was superseded by a larger one which was destroyed by See also:fire in 395 B.C. The rebuilding was entrusted to See also:Scopas, the See also:great sculptor; and it is probable that he not only acted as architect, but also provided the sculptural See also:groups which ornamented the pediments. Like the temple at See also:Phigalia, it combined the forms of all three orders—Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. Pausanias asserts that the See also:outer See also:order was Ionic; but excavations have proved that it was Doric. The pedimental groups of the temple represented at the front, the See also:hunt of the Calydonian See also:boar, and, at the back, the battle of See also:Achilles and Telephus. Both subjects were intimately associated with the temple, for See also:Atalanta had dedicated in it the See also:face and tusks of the boar, which had been awarded to her as the first to See also:wound it; and Telephus was the son of Heracles and the priestess Auge. Two heads of heroes and that of the boar were found before 188o; later excavation, in 1883, showed the See also:plan of the temple, which had six columns at front and back, and thirteen at the sides. In 1900 the See also:French school at Athens recovered more fragments of See also:sculpture, including a head of Heracles and the torso and possibly the head of Atalanta, these last two of Parian See also:marble. The other heads are badly damaged owing to the fact that the See also:white marble from Doliana, of which they are made, does not resist See also:damp. But they still show in the intensity of their expression the power of expressing See also:passion for which Scopas was famous beyond all other ancient sculptors.

See GREEK ART, fig. 63. See G. Treu, Mittheil. d. See also:

deutsch. Inst. Athen., vi. 1881; W. Dorpfeld, ibid., viii. 1883; G. Mendel, Bulletin de correspondance hellenique, See also:xxv. 1901; Pausanias viii. 45—47.

(E.

End of Article: TEGEA

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