74 Conquest
that, as a polity, Lacedaemon was the product of an amalgamation of two small
neighboring communities hitherto at odds—each led by a chieftain claiming
descent from Heracles. Such an hypothesis would make sense of the story that
we are told of a struggle early on between Pitana and Mesoa, on the one hand,
and Limnai and Konosoura, on the other, for control of a religious sanctuary
that these four villages subsequently shared.^27
One thing, however, is clear. Amyclae to the south was at the outset an
independent community. Such is the tale told by Pindar in the early to mid-
fifth century and by later authors; and this helps make sense of the fact that
Amyclae had a religious cult, that of Apollo Hyakinthos, particular to itself,
while the four villages near the Spartan acropolis celebrated at the sanctuary
once in dispute an important festival—that of Artemis Orthia—in which the
Amyclaeans had no part.^28
If, in this case, the traditional stories—collected, assessed, and retold by
Pausanias the travel writer a thousand years later in the era of the emperor
Hadrian—are worthy of trust, as, given his considerable acumen and, above
all, his attentiveness to local lore, they generally are, it was not until the middle
of the eighth century that the Spartans consolidated their hold on the valley
formed by the Eurotas River. First, we are told, after securing support from
Delphi, the Agiad Archelaos and his Eurypontid colleague Charillos turned to
the north and destroyed Aigys. In the process, they took control of the region
containing the headwaters of the Eurotas; and, at this time, they may also have
seized the Belminatis to the northwest. Soon thereafter they are said to have
invaded Cynouria—northeast of Mount Parnon and south of the Argolid.^29
Archelaos’ successor Teleklos reportedly then turned south, conquered
Pharis and Geronthrae, colonized them both, and absorbed Amyclae into the
Spartan confederacy. Teleklos is also said to have crossed Mount Taygetus, to
have established three Spartan colonies along the river Nedon east and up-
stream from the ancient city of Pherae on the Messenian Gulf, and to have
taken or colonized Pherae itself. Further south, we are told, at the sanctuary
of Artemis Limnatis on the western slopes of the great mountain at the top of
the Choireios gorge near the southeastern border of Messenia, this Agiad king
met a violent end at the hands of Messenians from the great valley below and
to the northwest.^30
It was during his reign that Sparta must have begun working out the terms
of her relations with the various subordinate communities on both sides of
Taygetus made up of those who came to be called períoıkoı. Some of these