Mantineia

Mantinea (Greek Mαντινεία Mantinea, and Mantinea, Mantineia Mandinia and from 223 BC to the 2nd century BC Antigoneia ) was a polis in Arcadia in ancient Greece. She was traditionally rival Tegeas.

History

First there was the place where the future town of a loose coalition of five villages of the tribe of Mantineier, these have already been mentioned as the home of soldiers in the Catalogue of Ships of the second book of the Iliad of Homer. In archaic times, they settled in the small town Ptolis, which was the later Mantinea just about 500m. To 460 BC the communities merged to Polis Mantinea. She was from the beginning a rival to the southeast, Tegea for control of the fertile Arcadian plateau and there Tegea was associated with Sparta, they also stood in contrast to that city. 422 BC they allied with Athens and Argos against Sparta, but were defeated by the Spartan army under King Agis II in the first battle of Mantinea. The Spartans took a Mantinea 385 BC and forced the inhabitants of the polis again in favor of the five villages dissolve. After the Spartan power was broken in the battle of Leuctra, Mantinea 370 BC was re-established as a member of the Arcadian Federation and supported by Thebes. Shortly thereafter came the collapse of the Arcadian Federal also because of the old rivalry with Tegea; under the leadership Mantineias closed most Arcadian cities with the Eleians and the Achaeans an alliance, which also Sparta and Athens joined 362 BC, against the Boeotians, under the leadership of Thebes, which were supported by old rivals Tegea and Megalopolis. 362 BC Thebes sought in the Second Battle of Mantinea the decision. But there was no clear winner. By the following Ermattungsfrieden (see General Peace ), the splitting of Arcadia in two blocks, one under Mantinea and the other consisting of Tegea and Megalopolis, perpetuates.

From 226 BC the city revolted against Macedonian hegemony in the Achaean League, to which she belonged. The Macedonian king Antigonus III. Doson left as a punitive measure for 223 BC to conquer the city and sell all surviving inhabitants into slavery. This was seen by ancient and modern historians as particularly cruel punishment to return methods. Only the ancient historian Polybius ( 2nd century BC), the punishment seemed to be still too low, but he has probably been trivialized yourself too much. The city was later repopulated by colonists as Antigoneia. The name of Mantinea but more remained beside in use in Roman times under Hadrian in the 2nd century AD this was BC then again the official name of the city.

The city was also in Roman imperial period in bloom, but it was abandoned during the Slav invasions of the Peloponnese to 700 of its residents. - Is associated with the reputation of the city the name of the legendary priestess Diotima, who educates in Plato's Symposium Socrates about the true nature of Eros.

Today is on the field Mantineias the modern community Mandinia.

Excavations

Clearly visible is the theater of the 4th century BC, also some remains of the Agora: 2 Stoai, of which the southern ( with two protruding wings ) was probably the seat of the Bouleuterion, further comprising an exedra of the Augustan period been donated a rich benefactress named imitator was ( inscription IG 5.2.344 ), now in the Museum of Tripoli. The 4 km long city wall once had 120 towers, of which 108 still find traces.

The nearby hills of Panayia Goutsouli you have a good overview of the fertile plain of the old city.