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τὸ ἕτερον κέρας. The right wing as the post of honour belonged to the Spartans as leaders (ch. 28. 2; cf. vi. 111. 1 n.); the left wing is here in question. Woodhouse (J. H. S. xviii. 41) argues strongly that the story of this quarrel for precedence is an Athenian invention. The dispute, if historical, must have taken place earlier, i. e. directly the Greeks fell into position on Mount Cithaeron. Now the Athenians were probably then already on the left (ch. 21), as they succour the Megarians. Further, the Tegeans are found occupying the position next the Spartans not only here (ch. 28) but at Mantinea in 418 B. C. (Thuc. v. 71) and at Corinth in 394 B. C. (Xen. Hell. iv. 2. 19). The tactical reasons for posting the Athenians on the left as the largest single corps of hoplites (8,000) with the best archers are obvious, if we remember that the left wing was most exposed to cavalry (ch. 49).


Εὐρυσθέος: cf. ch. 27. 2 n.


Ἰώνων: cf. i. 146 n.

τὸν Ἰσθμόν. The fight took place on the boundary between the territories of Megara and Corinth (Paus. i. 44. 10).

ἐπὶ διακειμένοισι, ‘on settled terms’; cf. Hesiod, Sc. 20, and συγκείμενα (iii. 158. 1).


ἑκατὸν ἐτέων, ‘within a century’ (for the genitive of time cf. ii. 115. 6) = the fourth generation. Temenus, Aristodemus and Cresphontes, the Heracleid leaders of the successful Dorian invasion were the fourth generation from Hyllus, as is seen in the genealogies (vii. 204; viii. 131).


For Echemus cf. Pind. Ol. xi. 66 (of the foundation of the Olympic games by Heracles, δὲ πάλᾳ κυδαίνων Ἔχεμος Τεγέαν). This combat (cf. Paus. viii. 5. 1) was represented on a memorial stele at Tegea (Paus. viii. 53. 10).

Φηγέος: probably a slip or accidental miswriting for Κηφέως, the name given by Pausanias (viii. 5. 1) and Apollodorus (i. 9. 16; ii. 7. 3; iii. 9. 1), whereas Phegeus belongs to Psophis, once called Phegia, in north-west Arcadia (Paus. viii. 24. 2 and 8 f.).

κοινῆς ἐξόδου: as though the Peloponnesian league had existed before the Dorian conquest.


ἀγῶνες: for these conflicts cf. i. 66 f.

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hide References (7 total)
  • Commentary references from this page (7):
    • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 1.44.10
    • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.24.2
    • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.53.10
    • Pausanias, Description of Greece, 8.5.1
    • Pindar, Olympian, 11
    • Thucydides, Histories, 5.71
    • Xenophon, Hellenica, 4.2.19
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