A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

A Treaty 121
shall take counsel together and shall repel the enemy;
and the several states shall bear such a share in the war
as shall seem equitable to the Peloponnesians.
IX. Treaty between the Eleians and the Hermans
This document is interesting as the earliest Greek treaty for which
we have inscriptional evidence. It belongs to the first half of the
sixth centur>' B.C.— probably about 572, when the Eleians gained
control of Olympia and its festival. Herasa was a neighboring district
of Arcadia. Probably the treaties between Lacedaemon and
her individual allies were cast in a similar form.
The covenant of the Eleians and the Herceans: There
shall be an alliance for one hundred years, and this year
If anything shall be needed, whether word
shall begin it.
or deed, they shall assist one another in all other respects
and in war. If they fail to assist one another, the party
that fails shall pay a talent of silver as an offering to
Olympian Zeus. If anyone, whether private citizen,
magistrate or community, violates these provisions,
he shall be subject to the sacred fine herein provided.
The terms.
Or possibly,
"injures this
inscription."
STUDIES
1. What evidence do we here find that Lycurgus was a myth?
What significance has the story that he got his laws from Crete?
2. What do we gather from this passage as to the spirit and object
of Spartan education? How were the girls trained?
3. What does Xenophon say of the deportment of youths? What
restriction was placed on their food?
4. What lands were owned by the Spartans and the perioeci respectively?
What did a Spartan receive from his lot?
5. Describe the crypteia. What was the condition of the helots?
Why were they treated harshly?
6. What defects does Aristotle find in the Lacedaemonian council
of Elders? What objection has he to canvassing for offices? What