Imaginary Borders in the Eastern Peloponnese: The Battles for Thyrea and (the Memory of) the Heracleidae

This paper argues that the several battles fought between Spartans and Argives over Thyreatis (eastern Peloponnese) were part of a broader context involving various forms of encounter (and not just confrontation) between enemies. In these encounters, territory and its borders were negotiated (i.e., space was negotiated). This was done by manipulating memories about past kingdoms, invasions and mythical returns, in a process of memory construction in which space orients memory. Simultaneously, memory becomes a means to claim space. In particular, the analysis shows how the Homeric image of Agamemnon’s reign and the assignment of the Argive lot to the Heraclid Temenus end up being two collaborating memories aimed at legitimizing the Argives’ ambitions in the southeastern Peloponnese.