Pausanias Analysis

Passage 3.2.3

← 3.2.2 3.2.4 →

Passage 3.2.3: Labotas' reign and Spartan-Argive dispute over Cynuria

Historical Skeptical

Greek Text

ἔτεσι δὲ ὕστερον οὐ πολλοῖς Λαβώτας ὁ Ἐχεστράτου τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔσχεν ἐν Σπάρτῃ. τοῦτον τὸν Λαβώταν Ἡρόδοτος ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τῷ ἐς Κροῖσον ὑπὸ Λυκούργου τοῦ θεμένου τοὺς νόμους φησὶν ἐπιτροπευθῆναι παῖδα ὄντα· Λεωβώτην δέ οἱ τίθεται τὸ ὄνομα καὶ οὐ Λαβώταν. Λακεδαιμονίοις δὲ πρῶτον τότε ἔδοξεν ἄρασθαι πρὸς Ἀργείους πόλεμον· ἐποιοῦντο δὲ ἐς αὐτοὺς ἐγκλήματα τήν τε Κυνουριακὴν ἑλόντων αὑτῶν ἀποτέμνεσθαι τοὺς Ἀργείους καὶ τοὺς περιοίκους σφῶν ὑπηκόους ὄντας ἀφιστάναι. τότε μὲν δὴ παρὰ οὐδετέρων πολεμησάντων ὅμως μνήμης ἄξιον πραχθῆναί φασιν οὐδέν·

English Translation

A few years afterward, Labotas, son of Echestratus, obtained the kingdom at Sparta. Herodotus, in his account involving Croesus, states that this Labotas, while still a child, was placed under the guardianship of Lycurgus, who established the laws. However, he gives him the name Leobotes rather than Labotas. At this time, it first occurred to the Lacedaemonians to wage war against the Argives. Their charges against the Argives were that the Argives were seizing and cutting off a portion of Cynuria, their own territory, and inciting the Perioeci who were subject to Sparta to revolt. Then, however, war having broken out on neither side, nothing noteworthy is said to have occurred.

Proper Nouns

Croesus (Κροῖσος) person Q184462
Labotas (Λαβώτας) person Q1433820
Also in: 3.2.4 4.4.2
Lacedaemonians (Λακεδαιμόνιοι) person
Leobotes (Λεωβώτης) person Q1433820
Lycurgus (Λυκοῦργος) person Q373685
Argives (Ἀργεῖοι) person
Echestratus (Ἐχέστρατος) person Q1280328
Also in: 3.2.2 4.4.2
Herodotus (Ἡρόδοτος) person Q26825
Kynouria (Κυνουρία) place Q1431487
Also in: 3.2.2
Sparta (Σπάρτη) place Q5690 Pleiades
← 3.2.2 3.2.4 →