Previous Page
| Next Page
|
Nor did it follow necessarily that, because there were some cities in Crete colonized by Spartans, they should continue to observe Spartan usages, since many of the cities of colonists do not preserve the customs of the mother country; and there are many cities in Crete, the inhabitants of which are not colonists, and yet have the same usages as those that have received colonies. 18
Lycurgus, the Spartan legislator, he says, was five
generations later than Althaemenes, who conducted the colony
into Crete. He is said by historians to have been the son of
Cissus, who founded Argos note about the same time that Procles
was engaged in establishing a colony at Sparta. It is also
generally admitted that Lycurgus was the sixth in descent
from Procles. note Copies do not precede the models, nor modern precede ancient things. The usual kind of dancing
practised among the Lacedaemonians, the measures, and the
paeans sung according to a certain mood, and many other
usages, are called among them Cretan, as if they came from
Crete. But among the ancient customs, those relative to the
administration of the state have the same designations as in
Crete, note as the council of Gerontes note and that of the Knights, note
except that in Crete the knights had horses; whence it is
conjectured, that the council of Knights in Crete is more
ancient, since the origin of the appellation is preserved. But
the Spartan knight did not keep a horse. They who perform the same functions as the Cosmi in Crete, have the different title of Ephori [in Sparta]. The Syssitia, or common
meal, is even at present called Andreia among the Cretans;
but among the Spartans they did not continue to call it by its
former name, as it is found in the poet Alcman;
In festivals and in joyous assemblies of the Andreia, it is fit to begin
the pean in honour of the guests.
19
The occasion of the journey of Lycurgus to Crete is said by the inhabitants to be as follows. The elder brother of Lycurgus was Polydectes, who, at his death, left his wife pregnant. Lycurgus reigned in place of his brother till the
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
Strabo, Geography (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Str.].