Sparta and Athens: A monumental confrontation

New Classicists

Matt Thompson¹ 

[1] University of Nottingham;

关键词: ancient history;    ancient greece;    sparta;    spartan;    athens;    archeaology;   

DOI  :  

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

This paper addresses the monuments and spatial confrontation between Athens and Sparta during the 5th century BC, a period marked by rising tensions between these two preeminent city states culminating in the Peloponnesian War and defeat of Athens. Often it is the rhetoric of orators or speeches in Thucydides that have been closely studied, while the monuments, though more accessible to the world beyond Athens and Sparta, have played a supporting role. In this paper I attempt to demonstrate that the Spartans, often maligned for their disinterest in monumental display, were able to adapt their monuments according to the space which they occupied in order to compete with Athens.The paper is concerned with two particular spaces: the Pan-Hellenic sanctuary of Delphi and the city of Athens, specifically the space either side of the entrance to the city through the Dipylon Gate. Both of these locations received major Athenian monuments in the mid-late fifth century, the Marathon victory monument and the Stoa Poikile respectively, which sought to not only project the idea of Athenian superiority but also undermine the prominence of Sparta in the eyes of the rest of the Greeks. Following the defeat of Athens at the end of the fifth century, both these monuments were countered with Spartan ones, the Aigospotami monument in Delphi and the Tomb of the Lakedaimonians in the Athenian Kerameikos. Both of these monuments seek to undermine the message of the earlier Athenian dedications, yet do so in very different ways according to the spaces in which the monuments are constructed. Through this confrontation and manipulation both of space and artistic form, the Spartans demonstrate a deeper appreciation for the power of visual monuments than they are often credited and show an ability to adapt their monumental style to suit different spaces and contexts.

【 授权许可】

Unknown