696 De novis libris iudicia / R.J. Evans / Mnemosyne 61 (2008) 696-698

Ogden, D. 2004. of Messene: Legends of ’s Nemesis. Swansea, Th e Classical Press of Wales. xxiv, 244 p. Pr. £45.00 (hb).

Messene’s () fame even in antiquity rested mostly on its famous rena- scence in the aftermath of the battle of Leuctra in 371/370 BC. Mt. , on which Messene was sited, had a longer history—centre of Messenian resistance in the revolt against Sparta in the 460’s, when the people of this region had already endured helotage for several generations. Associated too with this site was the great hero of early Messenian history Aristomenes, probably one of the most accomplished guerrilla fighters of all time, and long time scourge of the Spartans.1) Whether they were glamorous founder heroes, legendary warriors, or stolid law- givers, most city-states seem to have possessed their heroic figures: Athens, Th e- seus; Sparta, Lycurgus; Rome, Romulus; and Messenia, a state absorbed by the Spartans re-emerging as a force after generations of subjugation needed such a man in Aristomenes. Here Ogden has provided the first major modern study of this Messenian figure. Th e Aristomenes legend is to be found largely in ’ account of Messenia drawn from earlier material to which he evidently had access; and it “is highly entertaining throughout and by turns thrilling, mysterious and humorous . . . Its episodes cry out to be studied and indeed celebrated in their own right” (xiii). Chapter 1 (“Pausanias’ Account of the Aristomenes Legend”, pp. 1-18) consists of an examination of Pausanias as the main source. Chapter 2 (“Th e Aristomenes Leg- end as Popular Tradition”, pp. 19-32) focuses on the belief that the tales about the subject had their origins during the Spartan occupation of Messenia, and that some aspects of the stories were stock-in-trade material commonly found in folk- lore. Chapter 3 (“From Achilles to Aesop: Th e Nature and Character of Aris- tomenes”, pp. 33-57) pursues this line of argument with attention to the various personal quirks and qualities of the subject and from where they may derive: Achilles or Alexander-like hero, Odyssean cunning, Aesopic monkey or shrewd vulpine. In Chapter 4 (“Aristomenes Loses his Shield”, pp. 59-74) the focus shifts to an analysis with plausible explanations for various elements in the legend, in particular the loss of a shield in battle and an interpretation of the episode. Th e shield itself made a spectacular re-appearance at Leuctra (pp. 75-6) to disconcert the Spartans with some effect representing the renascence of Aristomenes himself (Chapter 5: “Aristomenes in and out of the Underworld”, pp. 75-88). Chapter 6 (“Aristomenes and the Mysteries”, pp. 89-103) deals with the burial on Mt. Ithome

1) He was perhaps more like his modern counterpart Che Guevara, but not Ho Chi Minh or Mao Tse-tung. However, Aristomenes, in some legends, like the fictional Robin Hood, is also credited with a non-violent death.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2008 DOI: 10.1163/156852508X321248 De novis libris iudicia / R.J. Evans / Mnemosyne 61 (2008) 696-698 697 by Aristomenes, at the end of the Second Messenian war, of a talisman which if kept secret would be a hope of future freedom for the Messenians: “it is the burial of the metal talisman that activates its protective powers on behalf of the land” (p. 92). And, like the shield, this sacred object was restored to a place of honour in the re-established polis (p. 100). Chapter 7 (“Aristomenes, Aristodemus and the Hairy Heart”, pp. 105-27) explores the puzzling references to a version of the legend, perhaps the older one, of Aristomenes’ capture by the Spartans and subse- quent execution followed by an autopsy which revealed his ‘hairy heart’ and its relationship to a tale related to Aristodemus, king of Messenia in the first war against Sparta, where his daughter’s body is disembowelled to allow inspection of her womb: “Th is parallelism of motifs constitutes a further reason for thinking that Aristodemus is none other than Aristomenes himself in thin disguise” (p. 114). Chapter 8 (“Aristomenes and History”, pp. 129-51) delves into the problem of whether or not there was a historical Aristomenes and where he might be located in the highly obscure chronology of Messenia before its re-emergence with Th e- ban aid. However, “Disappointment awaits those attempting to make sense of the various dates ascribed to Aristomenes and the Second Messenian War either by ancient sources or by more recent scholarship” (p. 130); and in the end the quite rich story which has been preserved for us is the result of significant ancient inter- est in the events affecting Messenia whether from the locality or from those places which accepted Messenian exiles at various times in its early troubled history. Fol- lowing a brief concluding section there are three lengthy and detailed appendices (pp. 155-215): 1) “Aristomenes in the Messeniaca of Rhianus of Bene”, 2) “Th e Reconstruction of the Aristomenes Tradition from Tyrtaeus to Stephanus of Byzantium”, and 3) “Unfinished Tales—Th e Nachleben of Aristomenes in English Literature and the Arabian Nights”. A bibliography, an index of ancient sources and a general index complete this study. It should be noted that in places the discussion is perhaps a little repetitive but arguably a necessity when a topic is treated thematically and there is a good and frequent cross-referencing. Th is was possibly the only avenue to tackle this sub- ject. More serious a fault here is the editorial lapse in the placing of the footnotes, which do not always correspond with the pages. Endnotes would have been far better. Th e original Greek for many of the texts discussed is also sited in the foot- notes, perhaps less Greek would have sufficed seeing that the specialist should have easy access to texts such as Pausanias, or, failing that, should have been placed on the page with the English and hence probably contributing to greater clarity in the footnotes. Notwithstanding these points, this work is not only highly interesting, but also provides an informative and indeed authoritative discussion of one of Greek his- tory’s lesser known heroes, whose existence alone sheds much light on the overall