with illustration; Wace 1929). Orthia’s Spartan sanctuary seems to have been the
theater for an initiatory ordeal in which young men stole cheeses from the deity’s altar
while being whipped (Xenophon,Constitution of the Lacedaemonians2.9). Later, in
the Roman period, the ordeal was probably made harsher in order to provide a
bloody spectacle. At this point an actual theater was built to enable a large crowd
to witness the ordeal in full detail (Ducat 1995a; Kennell 1995, esp. 127–9). It was
only at a late date that Orthia became ‘‘Artemis Orthia’’ (as, e.g., at Pausanias
3.16.7). Laconian inscriptions make no mention of this new name until, it seems,
around AD 50 (Hodkinson 2000:300 n. 30; Woodward 1929:308–74).
But male powers also protected the activities of young men. Initiatory homosexual
relationships (for the reality of which see the measured comments of Xenophon,
Constitution of the Lacedaemonians2.12–14) could be placed under the protection of
Apollo, the mythicaleraste ̄sof Hyacinthus. The association between the two figures
(for which see Sergent 1984:102–17, 1986:84–96) was recalled in the iconography
of the Amyclaion, the sanctuary of Apollo at Amyclae, which was built some 6
kilometers to the south of Sparta by the architect Bathycles of Magnesia in the
mid-sixth century BC (Faustoferri 1996, especially 278, 292, 294). Finally, to
judge from Pausanias, young men would make sacrifice, chiefly to Achilles, before
fighting each other in groups on an island at Platanistas (3.14.8–10 and 20.8).
Platanistas was a place ‘‘planted with plane trees,’’ the location of which is uncertain.
It was perhaps to the west of Sparta, on a tributary on the right back of the Eurotas.
Plato, the Athenian philosopher of the fourth century BC, may imply that something
similar was already taking place in his own day (Laws633b).
Thus, young Spartiates made their gradual approach towards adulthood under the
protection of deities who performed the functions ofkourotrophia(‘‘child-rearing’’)
for them, to a greater or lesser extent. One derivation proposed for the name Orthia
sees the deity as so named because she ensured that young men grew up straight
(orthos; see Calame 1977:1.289–94, 2001:165–7).
Once adult, the Spartans continued to conduct their lives with deep concern for
the gods, whether in peace or war.
Gods and cults of peacetime activities
The oldest ancient text to mention the Spartan gods is the Great Rhetra, a text
datable to around 700 BC that laid down the principles of political debate, which is
preserved by Plutarch (Lycurgus6.2 and 8):
After the foundation of a sanctuary of Zeus Skyllanios and Athena Skyllania,
after dividing into tribes and ̄obai,
after establishing a 30-stronggerousia, together witharche ̄getai,
holdapellaiat regular intervals between Babyka and Knakion,
and in this way introduce proposals and set them aside,
but the decision and sanction belongs to the people.
But if the people speaks crookedly, the elders and thearche ̄getaiare not constrained.This text, which has been the subject of detailed commentaries (for the sundry
interpretations and bibliography, see Richer 1998a:93–109; Maffi 2002), was
238 Nicolas Richer