DekeleiaOLIVER HULDEN

Dekeleia is a city and deme situated 120 stades

north of ATHENS (Thuc. 7.19.2), in a pass of the

Parnes mountains. In mythical times it

belonged to the twelve cities, which gave up

autonomy to submit to Athens under the

leadership of Theseus (FGrH 328 F 94

(PHILOCHOROS OF ATHENS)). Furthermore, it is

reported that the Dekeleians, or their mythical

hero Dekelos himself, supported the

Tyndarides, Kastor and Polydeukes, in the

search for their sister Helen (Hdt. 9.73). For

this good deed, they were honored by the

Spartans until the days of the PELOPONNESIAN

WAR (431–404 BCE).

At the beginning of this war, ARCHIDAMOS,

after crossing the Thriasian plain, led the Spar-

tan troops over the pass between Mount

Aigaleos and Mount Parnes (Thuc. 2.19.2).

Thus he reached the plain north of Athens

and came into dangerous proximity to strate-

gically important Dekeleia. The town was

passed by a direct road from OROPOS to Athens,

used by the Athenians to fetch grain from

EUBOEA (Thuc. 7.28.1). But in these early years

of the war, the Spartans were content with

annual invasions and short raids on Attica.

But after his flight to Sparta, due to the disaster

of his expedition to Sicily in 415, ALKIBIADES

urged the Spartans to capture Dekeleia and to

build a camp there as an epiteichisma against

Athens (Thuc. 7.18–19). The Spartan king,

Agis II, took the advice of Alkibiades

and took Dekeleia in 413 – the last phase of

the Peloponnesian War, called the Dekeleian

phase, had begun. Henceforth the Spartans

were able to prevent supplies reaching Athens,

which was one of the factors that contributed

to the Spartan victory in 404.

Sparse ancient remains at Tatoı, the summer

residence of the former royal family of Greece,

have long been associated with Dekeleia.

A circuit wall of rubble, roughly 400�150 m,

on a low hill named Palaiokastro (with a mau-

soleum of the modern royal dynasty) was

rightly identified with the camp built by the

Spartans in 413, although the masonry of

the walls does not allow a secure date. The wall

appears to have been built in a relatively short

time and in haste. In close vicinity, in the

grounds of a modern farmhouse, there are sev-

eral incoherent foundations of ancient build-

ings and pieces of pottery and sculpture, and

some inscriptions have been found and col-

lected in an annex of the residence burnt down

in 1916. Today, the densely wooded area is

inaccessible.

SEE ALSO: Agis II and III of Sparta.

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Arvanitopoulou, T. A. (1959) Ostraka ekDekeleίaς. Athens.

Biraschi, A. M. (1991) “I demi dell’Attica fra geografia,

storia e tradizione mitica. Il caso di Dekeleia.” In

F. Prontera, ed.,Geografia storica della Grecia

antica. Tradizioni e problemi. IV Incontro perugino

di storia della storiografia antica e sul mondo antico,

Acquasparta 29 maggio–1º giugno 1989: 194–208.

Bari.

Ober, J. (1985) Fortress Attica: defense of the

Athenian land frontier 404–322 BC. Leiden.

Willemsen, F. (1974) “Vom Grabbezirk des

Nikodemos in Dekeleia.” Mitteilungen des

Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts 89: 173–91.

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,

and Sabine R. Huebner, print page 1974.

© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah14081

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