Editing Mount Lykaion (section)

===Historical events===

According to Pausanias and the Greek historian [[Polybius]], an inscribed pillar (''[[stele]]'') was erected near the altar of Zeus on Mt. Lykaion during the [[Second Messenian War]], a revolt against the [[Sparta]]ns.<ref>Pausanias 4.22.7, Polybius 4.33.2–6</ref> The inscription supposedly commemorated the execution of Aristocrates of Arcadia, who had betrayed the Messenian hero [[Aristomenes]] at the battle of the Great Trench.<ref>Paul Anthony Cartledge " Aristomenes (1)" The Oxford Classical Dictionary. Ed. Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth. Oxford University Press 2009. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. 17 February 2011 [http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t111.e760]</ref>

[[Thucydides]], a Greek historian of the [[Peloponnesian War]], writes that the Spartan king [[Pleistoanax]] lived on Mt. Lykaion while in exile from the mid-440s BC until 427, where he built a house straddling the sacred region (''[[temenos]]'') of Zeus to avoid further persecution.<ref>Thucydides 5.16.3</ref>

In his ''Stratagems'', the 2nd-century [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedonian]] rhetorician [[Polyaenus]] describes a battle between the Spartans and [[Demetrius I of Macedon|Demetrius of Macedon]] in 294 BC. Mt. Lykaion extended between the camps of the two sides, causing some consternation among the Macedonians due to their unfamiliarity with the terrain. Nevertheless, Demetrius’ forces won the battle with relative ease.<ref>Polyaenus 4.7.9</ref>

Polybius and [[Plutarch]], a Greek author writing under the Roman empire, cite a battle at Mt. Lykaion in 227 BC between the [[Achaean League]] under [[Aratus of Sicyon|Aratus]] and the Spartans under [[Cleomenes III]]. Although the details are vague, both authors make it clear that the Achaeans were defeated and that Aratus was believed (mistakenly) to have been killed.<ref>Polybius 2.51.3, 2.55.2; Plutarch, ''Life of Cleomenes'' 5.1, ''Life of Aratus'' 36.1</ref>