 The
Dorians who invaded the Eurotas valley settled in four large villages:
Pitane, Mesoa, Cynosura and Limnae. Settlement, as verified by archaeological finds, had been
completed by around 950 BC. After the death of Aristodemus, his twin sons Eurysthenes and Procles,
following the advice of Pytheia, shared the throne. According to this tradition,
which was accepted by the Lacedaemonians and through which the institution
of the dual kingship in Sparta is justified, the two sons of Aristodemus
led the four villages as a single state, although it seems that the fusion
of the them under a unified leadership occurred later. The successors of Eurysthenes
and Procles formed two different families called the Agidai and Eurypontids
and had separate cemeteries, the former in Pitane and the latter
in Limnae. From this fact and additional information which has come down to us concerning
Eurysthenes and Procles, it is concluded that the four villages initially formed two
independent communities, with their seats in Pitane and Limnae, which were later
amalgamated. Since Spartans, like other Dorians, were divided into three tribes
even after their break up, it has been held that the four villages, before their
amalgamation, included elements of all three tribes. |
