Tegea
Tegea was a settlement in ancient Greece, and it is also a former municipality in Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. Coordinates:37° 27' 18" N, 22° 25' 12" E
It is referenced in the following articles
Herodotus tells us that Tegea was a site of a battle between Tegeans and the Spartans in 560BCE, which the Spartans unusually lost. After the defeat they asked of Delphi, "Which god they must propitiate to prevail in the war against the Tegeans". The Pythoness said that before they could prevail, they must remove to Sparta the bones or Orestes, the son of Agamemnon. Another utterance of the Delphic oracle promised that Sparta would become 'protector' of Tegea.
A Spartan called Lichas who had traveled to Tegea, befriended a blacksmith working in his shop. The smith told him a story about wanting to dig a well but coming across a grave 7 cubits in length, after checking to see if the body was still in it (which the bones were) he reburied it again.
Sparta subsequently beat the Tegeans in another battle and they believed that the possession of these bones was piviotal. It is likely that if bones had been found as believed they might be bones of a dinosaur, maybe a masterdon.
