by a discus throw from Perseus (apparently unintentionally) during an athletic competition (Pherecydes BNJ 3 FF 10–12; Gantz, EGM 299–303).
In his discussion of the Spartan kingship, Herodotus reports that the Greeks trace that lineage back to Perseus. He then emphasizes that the ancestors of Perseus, through Danaë and Acrisius, were Egyptians, according to both the Greeks and the Persians (6.53–54). Herodotus’ tone, however, might be taken to indicate that he swims against the tide here (see Scott 2005, 227–30).
SEE ALSO: Egypt; Myth; Source Citations; Sparta
REFERENCE
1 Scott, Lionel. 2005. Historical Commentary on Herodotus Book 6. Leiden: Brill.
FURTHER READING
1 Fowler, Robert L. 2013. Early Greek Mythography. Vol. 2, Commentary, 255–57. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2 Maffre, Jean‐Jacques. 1981. “Akrisios.” In LIMC I.1, 449–52.
ACROPOLIS (ἀκρόπολις, ἡ)
MATHIEU DE BAKKER
University of Amsterdam
An acropolis (“citadel,” literally “upper city”) is a hill within or near a city that contains its most important sanctuaries and can be used as a fortress. Normally, those in charge of the acropolis rule the city. In the Greek Bronze Age the acropolis was the place where the king built his palace, and it was sometimes fortified with immense, so‐called “Cyclopean,” WALLS. In the archaic and classical eras, the acropolis lost its residential function. It was used for religious and ceremonial purposes and often contained the sanctuary of the city’s patron god or goddess, such as ATHENA Polias, the “protector of the city,” in the case of ATHENS.
There are five CITIES in the Histories whose citadels function as settings in the narrative. The Lydian capital SARDIS has an almost impregnable citadel (nowadays called the Boz Dağ mountain). Only the Persians succeed in capturing it by climbing along its steepest side, which the Lydians have left unguarded (1.84). In XANTHUS, the citizens set FIRE to their citadel with their wives, CHILDREN, slaves, and possessions when besieged by the Persians (1.176.1). The acropolis of SUSA is the scene of the revolt against the MAGI, in which Cambyses’ former officer PREXASPES throws himself from the walls (3.74–75), while the seven conspirators gain access by way of a ruse (3.77). The acropolis of SAMOS (the modern‐day Kastro with the Logothetis fortress in Pythagorion) is used by MAEANDRIUS (II) in his failed attempt to secure his rule after POLYCRATES’ death (3.142–47). He escapes via a hidden tunnel (3.146.2) that appears to be unrelated to the more famous water tunnel of EUPALINUS (3.60.1–3).
The Athenian acropolis is most frequently mentioned in the Histories. Herodotus pays attention to topographical detail, referring to its “Pelasgian” (i.e., Bronze Age) walls (6.137.2), its older wooden fence (7.142.1), and its layout prior to Persian destruction in 480 BCE (8.53). He also mentions the shrine of PAN on the North Slope (6.105.3). In referring to the DEDICATIONS from the war against the BOEOTIANS and CHALCIS, he observes the damage caused by Persian fire (5.77.3) and quotes an extant epigram (5.77.4). The Acropolis is seized twice by PEISISTRATUS (1.59.6; 60.4) and later, during the conflict between CLEISTHENES SON OF MEGACLES and ISAGORAS, by the Spartan king CLEOMENES (5.72.2), who leaves after receiving a stern warning from Athena’s PRIESTESS (5.72.2–4). The story of the Persian capture of the acropolis resembles that of Sardis, in that the Persians successfully gain access by climbing its steepest part, along the sanctuary of AGLAURUS on the east side (8.53.1). Like the Aglaurids in mythical times, some of the defenders throw themselves from the walls when they notice that the Persians have entered (8.53.2; see Bowie 2007, 140). Although the Athenians call their Acropolis “polis” (cf. Thuc. 2.13.5–6 and testimony in epigraphical documents), Herodotus uses POLIS (πόλις), next to astu and polisma, only to refer to a city as a whole. The acropolis of Susa is also indicated as “fortress” (pyrgos, 3.74.3, 75.1 and 3), and the acropolis of TROY is poetically identified as the “Pergamon of PRIAM” (7.43.2).
SEE ALSO: Agora; Fortifications; Pelargikon; Siege Warfare; Temples and Sanctuaries
REFERENCE
1 Bowie, A. M., ed. 2007. Herodotus: Histories Book VIII. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
FURTHER READING
1 Hurwit, Jeffrey M. 1999. The Athenian Acropolis: History, Mythology, and Archaeology from the Neolithic Era to the Present. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2 Hurwit, Jeffrey M. 2004. The Acropolis in the Age of Pericles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3 Mee, Christopher, and Antony Spawforth. 2004. Greece: An Oxford Archaeological Guide. 2nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ACROTHOON (Ἀκρόθῳον, τό)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
City at the southern end of the ATHOS (or Acte) peninsula in northern Greece (BA 51 C4). Herodotus lists Acrothoon (later authors write Acrothooi) as one of the CITIES whose inhabitants XERXES “set out to make islanders instead of mainlanders” when he ordered the construction of the Athos CANAL c. 483 BCE (7.22.3). The other cities are CLEONAE, DIUM, OLOPHYXUS, and THYSSUS. This same group appears in THUCYDIDES—who also mentions “the King’s canal”—in his account of the Spartan general Brasidas’ campaign in the region in 424/3 (4.109.2–4). Thucydides says their inhabitants were “bilingual BARBARIANS,” and STRABO (7 F15a Radt) attributes their settlement to PELASGIANS from LEMNOS. Acrothoon was presumably a member of the DELIAN LEAGUE, though its name does not appear in the Tribute Lists themselves.
SEE ALSO: Athenian Empire; Sane
FURTHER READING
1 Hornblower, Simon. 1996. A Commentary on Thucydides, Volume II: Books IV–V.24, 346–48. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
2 IACP no. 560 (824).
ADEIMANTUS (Ἀδείμαντος, ὁ)
PIETRO VANNICELLI
Università di Roma–La Sapienza
Adeimantus (“dauntless”) was the commander of the Corinthian naval contingent in 480 BCE, the largest one after that of ATHENS. Presented in the Histories as the bitter enemy of THEMISTOCLES (8.59, 61), Adeimantus has to be bribed to remain at ARTEMISIUM (8.5). Moreover, according to the Athenians, at the beginning of the Battle of SALAMIS Adeimantus fled in panic followed by his ships and only returned, after being stopped by a (divine?) vessel, when the fighting was over (8.94). Herodotus rejects this version, adding that “the rest of Greece” gives EVIDENCE in favor of the Corinthians’ claim to have been among the foremost fighters at Salamis. Modern scholars have tried to find a kernel of TRUTH in the Athenian story (a common hypothesis is that the Corinthian contingent was sent west to confront the Egyptian squadron), which should
