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Holy shrines like Olympia and Delphoi were house to spoils from many wars between different adversaries and spoils of antagonists were standing side by side as votive relics.
Pausanias tells of a bronze wolf wich in one side had a victory inscription of the Athenians and on the other a victory inscription of the Spartans!
Kind regards
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I don't know which conflict this spoil comes from, but it actually reads "Methanians from a Lacedaemonian". This could mean that the city dedicated a spoil they took from one soldier who fought under the rule of Spartans...te hee!
Khaire
Giannis
Giannis K. Hoplite
a.k.a.:Giannis Kadoglou
a.k.a.:Thorax
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Yes, this is what Sekunda states in his Osprey "Greek Hoplite" where he has a photo of this sauroter.
Khaire
Giannis
Giannis K. Hoplite
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Well it's certainly clearer if it is from Messenians taken from a Lacedaemonian (thanks Giannis about plural singular tip).
But Stenykleros is very early, or the dating of bronze piece is way off...Maybe the butt spike was from the post earthquake conflict/helot(likely Messenian) uprising of 464 BC?
Nikolas Gulan
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It isn't. I just thanked for assistance. The plural may indicate defeat of an army, while single intem can be just that - single item..but that is a bit far fetched.
How can the piece be dated? Well that is the question for those at Olympia who dated them...at least the ''Athenian one''.
I thought you meant Stenykleros as in Second Messenian war...My mistake.
Nikolas Gulan
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Spoils uasually use the plural form of the defeated. The persian helmet in Olympia says "Athenians from the Medes". I cannot say if this is the rule but i do think this is true for the majority of inscribed spoils.
The sauroter could be roughly dated by its typology, which would fit in the fifth century bc but not not so much in the early/mid seventh century bc.
Khairete
Giannis
Giannis K. Hoplite
a.k.a.:Giannis Kadoglou
a.k.a.:Thorax