Tainaron 2

vol. IV A p.2046-2049

2) Tainaron, a city in Laconia

Literature. IG V 1, 1237ff. Le Bas-Foucart Voyage archéol. Explications II. Leake Morea I 290ff.; Expédition de Morée. Architecture III 51. Boblaye Recherches 90f. Curtius Pelop. II 280f. 326. Bursian Abh. Akad. Münch. I. CI. VII 1855, 785ff.; Geogr. II 151f. Weil Athen. Mitt. I 160f. Philippson Pelop. 227. Frazer Paus. III 399. Hitzig-Blümner Paus. I 870. Woodward BSA XIII 245f. Kolbe IG V 1 p. 232. <50>

I. Name and history

Ταίναρον Paus. III 25, 8. Procop. bell. III 13, 8. 22, 16. Ταίναρος Epigr. IG 1249, 16. 23. Kaibel add. 497 e. [ἐκ] Ταινάρου IG 1271 is more than uncertain. Paus. loc. cit. names the city Καινήπολις and adds ὄνομα δὲ ἦν πάλαι καὶ ταύτῃ Ταίναρον. The name was always officially Tainaron. <60> This is shown by the resolutions in which the community always appears as ἁ πόλις τῶν Ταιναρίων IG 1244f. or ἡ πόλις ἡ Ταιναρίων IG 1246-1248. Out of these, according to Foucart 257, 1244 falls in the time of Antonine. The situation can be seen even more clearly in Procop. bell. III 13, 8 Ταινάρῳ προσμίξαντες, ἣ νῦν Καινούπολις ἐπικαλεῖται. 22, 16 only gives it the name Ταίναρον. Kainepolis was therefore a term which became common in practical use (as Frazer), <page break 2046/2047> since it was useful to be able to differentiate the ‘new city’ from the ancient settlement at the sanctuary of Poseidon. Since he lists ἐπὶ Ταινάρῳ Καινήπολις in his list of the Eleutherolaconian cities in Paus. III 21, 7, he must have used the name he was accustomed to in place of the official one. Ptolem. III 14, 32 names Καίνη on the eastern coast of the peninsula, so on the wrong place, see below II. <10>

The Κοινὸν τῶν Ἐλευθερολακώνων was constituted by Augustus, Foucart 111. Ehrenberg vol. III A p.1447, 62ff. Pausanias’ list traces back to this act, and this is probably when the ‘new city’ was created. Since Psamathus, which was still a πόλις in around 100 BCE, doesn’t appear in this list, it probably became a κώμη of Tainaron-Kainepolis in the reorganisation, see Tainaron nr. 1 § 7 b. <20> Reestablishing the city can only have been prompted by the desire to place the sanctuary of Poseidon of Tainaron under the authority of a stronger community. The ancient settlement at Port Asómatio, however, didn’t get bigger in line with the local circumstances, see Tainaron nr. 1 § 5 d. Tainaron-Kainepolis was never the capital city of the state of Eleutherolaconia, as Leake 291 and Curtius 281 think. The oldest inscription, from the time of Augustus, nr. 1243, <30> is, at any rate, a decision of the state to honour C. Iulius Laco, Groag vol. X p.658, 58ff. However, since state resolutions of this kind have also been set up in other cities, it can only be concluded that their meeting places changed. Foucart 111.

Otherwise, the inscriptions contain the usual decrees of the community for deserving fellow citizens, IG 1244-1248 (1st and 2nd century CE) and for the emperors Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Verus, Caracalla, and Gordianus, IG 1237-1242. <40> The community had the constitution which was usual for Laconian cities, Busolt Staatsk. 734: πόλις 1237-1242. 1244-1248. βουλὴ 1244, 9. 1245, 11. 1246, 7. 1247, 8. ἔφοροι 1240, 12. 1241, 6. ταμίας 1240, 6. ἀγορανόμος 1246, 5. In contrast, στρατηγῶν 1243, 6 and στρατηγήσας 1250 refer to the highest office of the state. Two inscriptions, IG 1257. 1259, concern statues dedicated by private people from Sparta, cf. IG S. 131, to an unnamed deity; <50> nr. 1258 belongs to the same category of people, though it was set up in the sanctuary at Port Asómato, see Tainaron nr. 1 § 15 end. Interestingly, there is never a name of a deity in any inscription here; it’s as if all stones like this were intentionally destroyed. There are lots of grave inscriptions, IG 1249-1256. 1260-1270. 1275, on which there are a surprising number of foreigners mentioned: from Abea 1253, from Ephesos 1255, from Nikomedeia 1255. 1264, from Tiberias (Genezareth) 1256; <60> even a solder of an ala equesetris 1268. Aside from the latter case, the relevant families could have emigrated when the settlement was reformed, and preserved their original citizenship. A Σπαρτιάτης [ἐκ] Ταινάρου on an inscription in Thalamai IG 1314, 38 also offers an example of dual citizenship. Paus. III 25, 8 probably took his succinct comments about Tainaron from a periplus, Herberdey Reisen des Paus. 62. <page break 2047/2048> The citizens were successfully able to defend against an attack by the vandals in 467, Procop. bell. III 22, 16. Hertzberg Gesch. Griechenlands unter der Herrschaft der Römer III 457. Seeck vol. VII p.942, 56ff. [corrected from Seeck vol. VII p.443, 56ff.] In 533, Belisar stopped at this place with his fleet, Procop. bell. III 13, 8. Herzberg 549. <10>

II. Topography

The location of Tainaron is confirmed by inscriptions. The ruins, the most extensive ones of the whole peninsula, as Weil remarks, lie by the now abandoned village Kypárisso, around 5km north of Porto Marinári and the beginning of the peninsula Matapan. This distance matches up well with the 40 stadia sea-journey in Paus. III 25, 9. Leake 301. His second data point, 30 stadia to Kap Thyrides, isn’t quite in the same proportion to the actual distance to Geroliména at the beginning of Kap Grosso, 4.5km as the crow flies. <20> The city was on a hill about 1.5km around, which had a steep cliff face onto the sea in the west, Leake. Woodward. The narrow opening to a valley extending from the north lies at its north-west foot. Another valley goes along its south-east edge, at the end of which is a small fertile area at beach-level with a boat port. Leake. Philippson. <30> To the north and east, the hill gradually sinks to a plane fertile for the Mani with vineyards, fields of grain, and olive trees, which find their soil in the inclined slate here. In order to clear it up, countless stones are stacked up in high walls which make exploring the site more difficult by far. They probably also conceal the remains of the fortification which we have to assume existed from Procopius’ account of the attack of the vandals (see above). <40> Carefully worked steps, or seats, of a theatre which Weil saw on the eastern slope could not be found again by Woodward. <40> Ancient foundations of buildings are not confirmed anywhere. Ancient material has been built into a number of churches and chapels which are also now abandoned. The most important are the following:

1. In the north-west across the valley, so outside of the city, the church of Ἁγ. Παρασκευή, whose apsis walls are entirely made up of ancient stone; <50> inside there is an Ionic capital, columns without fluting, a basis with IG 1241. Bursian. Weil. Woodward.

2. At the top of the city’s hill, the church τοῦ Σωτῆρος. Leake. Bursian. Weil. The location is called θέσις Σωτήρ in IG. Woodward incorrectly calls it κοίμησις τῆς Παναγίας. The bases with IG 1243. 1247 formed the doorposts at Leake’s time; he saw IG 1245 before the church. A cornice-block 3.20m long is built in. Woodward. <60>

3. At the southern edge of the small beach-level plane, on a hill, the Κοίμησις τῆς Παναγίας, next to which there used to be a monastery. Bursian. Here there are a lot of parts of Ionic buildings and other remains of a large building, Bursian 786f. Weil. Leake 293, including two large columns made of the grey-red stone of Syene, Leake; two others of the same size lie somewhat further north in the vineyards. Bursian. <page break 2048/2049>

Pausanias mentions two temples in Tainarion, a megaron to Demeter in the city (ἐν αὐτῇ) and a temple to Aphrodite by the sea. If we assume that the Christian churches were built where the Greek temples used to be, then the sanctuary of Demeter was most likely at the site of the church τοῦ Σωτῆρος, as Leake, Curtius, Weil, Woodward, and the sanctuary of Aphrodite likely came before the church of Panagia, as Leake and Weil. <10> The church of Ἁγ. Παρασκευή could not have been the site of either temple. This is because the temple to Demeter, which Bursian places here, was in the city; and Aphrodite would have had her sanctuary near the landing site and not at the difficult to reach coast by this church, as Curtius, Bursian, and Woodward think.

Although all descriptions completely agree that the ruins and the village Kypárisso next to them in the east lay to the east of the valley which came down from the north, <20> the only map which matches up with this is Admiralty Chart 3372. This is because Philippson had completely neglected the village, which was unimportant in his time. The Carte de la Grèce, on the other hand, placed the ruins of Caenepolis and Monastère Cyparissi to the east of the valley. <30> This same arrangement is on Curtius II Taf. IX. Lattermann in IG V 1 Tab. VII. Forster BSA XIII Text Plate to p. 219. Kiepert FOA XIII. Frazer-van Buren Graecia antiqua Map IV.

[F. Bölte.]