Therapnes in ancient times Therapne , is a Municipal Unit (Demotikē Enotēta) of the municipality

Communities and Municipalities of Greece

For the new municipalities of Greece see the Kallikratis ProgrammeThe municipalities and communities of Greece are one of several levels of government within the organizational structure of that country. Thirteen regions called peripheries form the largest unit of government beneath the State. ...

 (Demos) of Sparti

Sparti (municipality)

Sparti is a municipality of Laconia, Greece. It lies at the site of ancient Sparta. The population in 2001 was 38,079, of whom 15,828 lived in the town itself.-History:...

 within the Regional Unit (Perifereiskē Enotēta) of Lakonia

Laconia

Laconia , also known as Lacedaemonia, is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti...

 in the Region (Periferaia) of Peloponnēsos, one of 7 Regions into which the Hellenic Republic

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 has been divided by the Kallikratis plan, authorized by Law 3852, Issue 1 of 7 June 2010 and Issue 2 of 11 August 2010 and implemented 1 January 2011 after elections of officers in November 2010. Before 2011 Therapnes was a Demos of Lakonia according to Law 2539 of 1997, the Kapodistria Plan. Its seat was Gkoritsa, which now has no such status.

Both before the Kallikratis law and after it, Therapnes was composed of the same eight Local Communities (Topikē Koinotēta), the lowest level of the hierarchy: Agioi Anargyroi (formerly Zouraina), Agrianoi, Gkoritsa, Kallonē, Kefalas, Platana, Skoura and Chrysafoi. The population for the 2001 census can therefore be transferred from the old to the new system without loss of accuracy, but that of Sparti, which has different Municipal Units under the new system, cannot be. The population of Therapnes in the 2001 census, conducted by the Ministry of the Interior, was 3,062.

Geography

Therapnes covers the hill country on the left bank of the Eurotas River northeast to the slopes of Mt. Parnon. The Local Communities are each centered around a village. Each village has a history of its own, but the basis making Therapnes a distinct unit is the presence of the ruins of ancient Therapne, a Bronze Age city that stood on a ridge on the left bank of the Eurotas River, overlooking the Eurotas Valley and the site of Dorian Sparta, today's city of Sparti. The villages of Therapnes are in essence on or near the old road that led from Therapne or Dorian Sparta over Platanaki Pass just south of the main peak of Parnon

Parnon

Parnon or Parnonas or Malevo is a mountain range, or massif, on the east of the Laconian plain and the Evrotas valley. It is visible from Athens above the top of the Argive mountains. The western part is in the Laconia prefecture and the northeastern part is in the Arcadia prefecture. The Parnon...

 to what is now South Kynouria

South Kynouria

South Kynouria is a municipality in the Arcadia peripheral unit, Peloponnese Periphery, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Leonidio...

 in the eastern foreland of Parnonas and the Argolic and Myrtoan Gulfs. The pass connected Bronze Age Mycenae with its sister kingdom, Lacedaemon.

The ridge has an elevation of about 500 metres (1,640.4 ft). Its eminence over the river is about 230 metres (754.6 ft). From the top of the ridge the valley below appears as a sunken bowl between Mount Taygetus and Therapne, hence the Homeric epithet "Hollow Lacedaemon." There is no standard modern name of the ridge. Some refer to it as Mount Menelaus after the Menelaion, a temple that stood on the ridge, or the Menelaus Ridge, and others Mount Therapne.

Mycenaean town

Therapne was among the most ancient communities of Greece. During the Bronze Age

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...

 there was a large settlement at Therapne, with shrines to Menelaus

Menelaus

Menelaus may refer to;*Menelaus, one of the two most known Atrides, a king of Sparta and son of Atreus and Aerope*Menelaus on the Moon, named after Menelaus of Alexandria.*Menelaus , brother of Ptolemy I Soter...

 and Helen.

Therapne in legend

In mythological terms, it was said to derive its name from a nymph Therapne, daughter of Lelex

Lelex

In Greek mythology, Lelex was a King of Laconia. He was married to the Naiad nymph, Cleochareia. He had several sons, including Myles, Polycaon, Pterelaus, and Cteson. The parentage of Lelex is variously stated...

, and Castor and Pollux

Castor and Pollux

In Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri . Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who visited Leda in the guise of a swan...

 were thought to have been born there. While Pausanias writes that Therapne has "a temple of Menelaos" (3.19.9), Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

(6.61) calls the same building the temple of Helen.