ABSTRACT
The cult devoted to Aidos in Laconia is chiefly attested by an aition, an explanatory tale, transmitted by Pausanias, which puts the origins of the cult in the time of Odysseus and Penelope. The case of Phobos is more particular, and more specific to Sparta, and it would not seem to fit the same explanatory framework. Phobos' complexity is probably partly the result of a development in the life of the city of Sparta, and of a process of reflection on the place which ought to be attributed to him—and likewise to Aidos, Modesty. The middle of the sixth century is moreover a time of conflict between the Spartans and their Arcadian neighbours the Tegeans. The rejection of the figure of Pan is perhaps, then, for the Spartans a way of distinguishing themselves clearly from neighbours who are impossible to put down, and who have even been victorious over them.
