The Sacralized Structure of Daily Life
Space protected by sanctuaries
The Lacedaemonians stood out amongst the Greeks not least in their strong tendency
to privilege supernatural factors over obvious phenomena. No doubt comparable
studies could be made of other regions, not least Attica, but it should be noted how
the Spartans seemingly wished to secure the protection offered by supernatural
powers in living surrounded by sanctuaries, representations of the divine, votive
objects, and tombs, at least to judge from the descriptions of Plutarch (Lycurgus
27.1 and 5) and above all Pausanias (3.11.1–18.5). These texts derive from the
second century AD and describe centuries of cumulative construction, doubtless
subsequent, for the most part, to the 464 BC earthquake. (For plans of Sparta see
Figures 15.2 and 15.3 and the Guide to Further Reading below.)
Paul Cartledge has made the important suggestion that some sanctuaries of the
Spartans served to mark the limits of their territory: ‘‘The limitary sanctuaries. .. are
of two main sorts: first, those which formed a kind ofpomerium(to borrow the
Roman term) or sacred boundary around Sparta itself and, second, those which
served to define Spartan citizen territory, thepolitike ̄ge ̄, against the territory of the
perioikoi’’ (1998:44; for a map of the civic territory of Sparta defined at PlutarchAgis
8.1, see Ducat 1995b:93). To the former category belonged the sanctuaries of Orthia
on the east of the city and Artemis Issoria to the northwest; to the latter belonged, at
a distance of several kilometers from Sparta, a sanctuary of Zeus Messapeus in the
northeast, the Menelaion to the southeast, the Amyclaion to the south, and the
Eleusinion to the southwest.
Eros was worshiped at a greater distance still from Sparta. The military effectiveness
of this divine power was considered certain. He guaranteed the cohesion of the
phalanx and was honored with a sacrifice prior to combat (SosicratesFGrH461 fr.
7 at Athenaeus 561e–f). The Laconian sanctuary dedicated to Eros was located at
Leuctra, to the west of Taygetus, on the coastal route leading to Messenia (Pausanias
3.26.5).
A distinctive phenomenon is that of cultic doublets. Whilst at Sparta itself one
could find the sanctuary of Orthia (Dawkins 1929), on the borders of the territory
was a cult devoted to a deity who, if she was not precisely identical, must have been
very similar to Orthia. Sanctuaries of Artemis are known, along the borders of
Laconia, at Karyai (Pausanias 3.10.7), Limnai (3.2.6 and 3.7.4), Boiai (IGv.1
no. 952), and in the territory of Epidaurus Limera (Pausanias 3.23.10). (On Artemis
Limnatis, Artemis Karyatis, and Artemis Orthia, see Calame 1977:1.253–97,
2001:142–69.) It is noteworthy that Artemis Issoria was worshiped in Sparta itself
(Pausanias 3.14.2) and at Teuthrone on the west coast of the Laconian gulf, between
Gythium and Cape Taenarum (3.25.4).
Similarly Poseidon was worshiped on the promontory of Taenarum (Thucydides
1.128.1 and 133; Strabo C363; Pausanias 3.25.4–8; see Wide 1893:33–5 for further
references). And Poseidon of Taenarum was also honored in Sparta itself, where a
temenoswas dedicated to him, according to Pausanias (3.12.5). This deity too may be
supposed to have had a military competence. Poseidon was evidently thanked for the
The Religious System at Sparta 243