Sparta was a prominent.

In antiquity the city-state was known

as Lacedaemon , Lakedamn), while the name Sparta referred to its main
settlement on the banks of the in, in south. Around 650 BC, it rose to become the
dominant military land-power in ancient Greece. Given its military pre-eminence,
Sparta was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during
the Greco-Persian Wars. Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the principal enemy
of Classical Athens during the Peloponnesian War, from which it emerged victorious,
though at a great cost of lives lost. Sparta's defeat by Thebes, Greece in the Battle of
Leuctra in 371 BC ended Sparta's prominent role in Greece. However, it
maintained its political independence until the Roman Greece in Battle of Corinth. It
then underwent a long period of decline, especially in the Middle Ages, when many Spartans moved to live
in Mystras. Sparti is the capital of the Greek regional unit of Laconia and a center for the processing of goods
such as citrus and olives.

Sparta was unique in Ancient Greece for its social system and Constitution, which completely focused on military
training and excellence. Its inhabitants were classified as Spartiate (Spartan citizens, who enjoyed full rights),
Mothax (non-Spartan free men raised as Spartans), Perioeci (free residents, literally "dwellers around"), and
Helots (state-owned serfs, enslaved non-Spartan local population). Spartiates underwent the
rigorous Agoge training and education regimen, and Spartan Phalanx formation were widely considered to be
among the best in battle. Spartan women enjoyed considerably more rights and equality to men than
elsewhere in the classical world.
Sparta was the subject of fascination in its own day, as well as in the West following the revival of classical
learning. This love or admiration of Sparta is known as Laconophilia. At its peak around 500 BC the size of the
city would have been some 20,000 35,000 citizens, plus numerous helots and perioikoi. The likely total of
40,000 50,000 made Sparta one of the largest Greek cities; however, according to Thucydides, the
population of Athens in 431 BC was 360,000 610,000, making it unlikely that Athens was smaller than Sparta
in 5th century BC. The French classicist Franois Ollier in his 1933 book Le mirage spartiate ("The Spartan
Mirage") warned that a major scholarly problem regarding Sparta is that all the surviving accounts were written
by non-Spartans who often presented an excessively idealized image of Sparta. Ollier's views have been
widely accepted by scholars.

Geography
Sparta is located in the region of Laconia, in the south-eastern Peloponnese.
Ancient Sparta was built on the banks of the Eurotas River, the main river of
Laconia, which provided it with a source of fresh water. The valley of the Eurotas is
a natural fortress, bounded to the west by Taygetus (2407 m) and to the east
by Parnon (1935 m). To the north, Laconia is separated from Arcadia by hilly
uplands reaching 1000 m in altitude. These natural defenses worked to Sparta's
advantage and contributed to Sparta never having been sacked. Though
landlocked, Sparta had a harbor, Gytheio, on the Laconian Gulf.

Archaeology of the classical period

The theater of ancient Sparta with Taygetus in the background.

Thucydides wrote:
Suppose the city of Sparta to be deserted, and nothing left but the temples
and the ground-plan, distant ages would be very unwilling to believe that
the power of the Lacedaemonians was at all equal to their fame. Their city
is not built continuously, and has no splendid temples or other edifices; it
rather resembles a group of villages, like the ancient towns of Hellas, and
would therefore make a poor show.
Until the early 20th century, the chief ancient buildings at Sparta were the theatre, of which, however, little
showed above ground except portions of the Retaining wall; the so-called Tomb of Leonidas, a quadrangular
building, perhaps a temple, constructed of immense blocks of stone and containing two chambers; the
foundation of an ancient bridge over the Eurotas; the ruins of a circular structure; some remains of late Roman
fortifications; several brick buildings and mosaic pavements.
The remaining archaeological wealth consisted of inscriptions, sculptures, and other
objects collected in the local museum, founded by Stamatakis in 1872 and enlarged in
1907. Partial excavation of the round building was undertaken in 1892 and 1893 by the
American School at Athens. The structure has been since found to be a semicircular
retaining wall of Hellenic origin that was partly restored during the Roman period.

Ruins from the ancient site

In 1904, the British School at Athens began a thorough exploration of Laconia, and in
the following year excavations were made at Thalamae, Geronthrae, and Angelona
near Monemvasia. In 1906, excavations began in Sparta.
A small circus described by William Martin Leake proved to be a theatre-like building
constructed soon after AD 200 around the altar and in front of the temple of Artemis
Orthia. Here musical and gymnastic contests took place as well as the famous flogging ordeal Sanctuary of
Artemis Orthia). The temple, which can be dated to the 2nd century BC, rests on the foundation of an older
temple of the 6th century, and close beside it were found the remains of a yet earlier temple, dating from the
9th or even the 10th century. The Votive offering in clay, amber, bronze, ivory and lead found in great profusion
within the precinct range, dating from the 9th to the 4th centuries BC, supply invaluable evidence for early
Spartan art.
Menelaion
The Menelaion is a shrine associated with Menelaus, located east of Sparta, by the river Eurotas, on the
hill Profitis Ilias. Built early 8th century BC it was believed by Spartans to be the home of Menelaus. In 1970
the British School in Athens started excavations in an attempt to locate Mycenaean remains in the area around
Menelaion. Among other findings, they uncovered the remains of two Mycenaean mansions and found the first
offerings dedicated to Helen and Menelaus. These mansions were destroyed, by an earthquake and by fire,
and archaeologists consider as the possible palace of Menelaus himself. Excavations made from the early
1990s to the present suggest that the area around Menelaion in the southern part of the Eurotas valley seems
to have been the center of Mycenaean Laconia.The Mycenaean settlement was roughly triangular in shape,
with its apex pointed towards the north. Its area was approximately equal to that of the "newer" Sparta, but
denudation has wreaked havoc with its buildings and nothing is left save ruined foundations and broken
potsherds.
History
Prehistory, "dark age" and archaic period
The prehistory of Sparta is difficult to reconstruct because the literary evidence is far
removed in time from the events it describes and is also distorted by oral
tradition. However, the earliest certain evidence of human settlement in the region of
Sparta consists of Pottery dating from the Middle Neolithic period, found in the
vicinity of Kouphovouno some two kilometers (1.2 miles) south-southwest of
Sparta. These are the earliest traces of the original Mycenaean Greece Spartan
civilization, as represented in Homer's Iliad.
This civilization seems to have fallen into decline by the late Bronze Age, when,
according to Herodotus, Macedonian tribes from the north (called Dorians by those
they conquered) marched into Peloponnese and, subjugating the local tribes, settled
there.The Dorians seem to have set about expanding the frontiers of Spartan territory
almost before they had established their own state.They fought against
the Argive Dorians to the east and southeast, and also the Arcadia Achaeans to the Lycurgus of Sparta
northwest. The evidence suggests that Sparta, relatively inaccessible because of the topography of the
Taygetan plain, was secure from early on: it was never fortified.

Nothing distinctive in the archaeology of the Eurotas River Valley identifies the Dorians or the Dorian Spartan
state. The prehistory of the Neolithic, the Bronze Age and the Dark Age (the Early Iron Age) at this moment
must be treated apart from the stream of Dorian Spartan history.
The legendary period of Spartan history is believed to fall into the Dark Age. It treats the mythic heroes such as
the Heraclids and the Perseides, offering a view of the occupation of the Peloponnesus that contains both
fantastic and possibly historical elements. The subsequent proto-historic period, combining both legend and
historical fragments, offers the first credible history.
Between the 8th and 7th centuries BC the Spartans experienced a period of lawlessness and civil strife, later
attested by both Herodotus and Thucydides. As a result, they carried out a series of political and social reforms
of their own society which they later attributed to a semi-mythical lawgiver, Lycurgus of Sparta. These reforms
mark the beginning of the history of Classical Sparta.
Classical Sparta
In the Second Messenian War, Sparta established itself as a local power in Peloponnesus and the rest of
Greece. During the following centuries, Sparta's reputation as a land-fighting force was unequalled. In 480 BC
a small force of Spartans, Thespians, and Thebans led by King Leonidas I (approximately 300 were full
Spartiates, 700 were Thespians, and 400 were Thebans although these numbers do not reflect casualties
incurred prior to the final battle), made a legendary Last stand at the Battle of Thermopylae against the massive
Persian army, inflicting very high casualties on the Persian forces before finally being encircled. The superior
weaponry, strategy, and Bronze armor of the Greek Hoplite and their Phalanx formation again proved their
worth one year later when Sparta assembled at full strength and led a Greek alliance against the Persians at
the Battle of Plataea. The decisive Greek victory at Plataea put an end to the Greco-Persian War along with
Persian ambition of expanding into Europe. Even though this war was won by a pan-Greek army, credit was
given to Sparta, who besides being the protagonist at Thermopylae and Plataea, had been the de facto leader
of the entire Greek expedition. In later Classical times, Sparta along with Athens, Thebes, Greece ,
and Persia had been the main powers fighting for supremacy against each other. As a result of the
Peloponnesian War, Sparta, a traditionally continental culture, became a naval power. At the peak of its power
Sparta subdued many of the key Greek states and even managed to overpower the elite Athenian navy. By the
end of the 5th century BC it stood out as a state which had defeated the Athenian Empire and had invaded the
Persian provinces in Anatolia, a period which marks the Spartan hegemony. During the Corinthian War Sparta
faced a coalition of the leading Greek states: Thebes, Greece, Athens, Ancient Corinth, and Argos. The alliance
was initially backed by Persia, whose lands in Anatolia had been invaded by Sparta and which feared further
Spartan expansion into Asia.Sparta achieved a series of land victories, but many of her ships were destroyed
at the Battle of Cnidus by a Greek-Phoenician mercenary fleet that Persia had provided to Athens. The event
severely damaged Sparta's naval power but did not end its aspirations of invading further into Persia,
until Conon the Athenian ravaged the Spartan coastline and provoked the old Spartan fear of a Helot revolt.
After a few more years of fighting, in 387 BC the Peace of Antalcidas was established, according to which all
Greek cities of Ionia would return to Persian control, and Persia's Asian border would be free of the Spartan
threat.The effects of the war were to reaffirm Persia's ability to interfere successfully in Greek politics and to
affirm Sparta's weakened hegemonic position in the Greek political system.Sparta entered its long-term decline
after a severe military defeat to Epaminondas of Thebes at the Battle of Leuctra. This was the first time that
a Spartan Army lost a land battle at full strength.
As Spartan citizenship was inherited by blood, Sparta now increasingly faced a helot population that vastly
outnumbered its citizens. The alarming decline of Spartan citizens was commented on by Aristotle.
Hellenistic and Roman Sparta
Sparta never fully recovered from the losses that the Spartans suffered at Leuctra in 371 BC and the
subsequent Helots. Nonetheless, it was able to continue as a regional power for over two centuries.
Neither Philip II of Macedon nor his son Alexander the Great attempted to conquer Sparta itself.
Even during its decline, Sparta never forgot its claim to be the "defender of Hellenism" and its Laconic phrase.
An anecdote has it that when Philip II sent a message to Sparta saying "If I enter Laconia, I will raze Sparta",
the Spartans responded with the single, terse reply: , "if".When Philip created the League of Corinth on the
pretext of unifying Greece against Persia, the Spartans chose not to join, since they had no interest in joining a
pan-Greek expedition unless it were under Spartan leadership. Thus, upon the conquest of Persia, Alexander
the Great sent to Athens 300 suits of Persian armor with the following inscription: Alexander, son of Philip, and
all the Greeks except the Spartans, give these offerings taken from the foreigners who live in Asia[emphasis
added].
During Alexander's campaigns in the east, the Spartan king, Agis III sent a force to Crete in 333 BC with the
aim of securing the island for Sparta. Agis next took command of allied Greek forces against Macedon, gaining
early successes, before laying siege to Megalopolis, Greece in 331 BC. A large Macedonian army under general
Antipater marched to its relief and defeated the Spartan-led force in a pitched battle. More than 5,300 of the
Spartans and their allies were killed in battle, and 3,500 of Antipater's troops. Agis, now wounded and unable
to stand, ordered his men to leave him behind to face the advancing Macedonian army so that he could buy
them time to retreat. On his knees, the Spartan king slew several enemy soldiers before being finally killed by a
javelin. Alexander was merciful, and he only forced the Spartans to join the League of Corinth, which they had
previously refused to join.
During the Punic Wars Sparta was an ally of the Roman Republic. Spartan political independence was put to an
end when it was eventually forced into the Achaean League after its defeat in the decisive War against Nabis by
a coalition of other Greek city-states and Rome and the resultant overthrow of its final king Nabis. In 146 BC
Greece was conquered by the Roman general Lucius Mummius Achaicus. Following the Roman conquest, the
Spartans continued their way of life, and the city became a tourist attraction for the Roman elite who came to
observe exotic Spartan customs.
Medieval and modern Sparta
According to Byzantine sources, Maniots of the Laconian region remained Paganism until well into the 10th
century AD. Doric Greek -speaking populations survive today in Tsakonia. In the Middle Ages, the political and
cultural center of Laconia shifted to the nearby settlement of Mystras, and Sparta fell further in even local
importance. Modern Sparti (municipality) was re-founded in 1834, by a decree of King Otto of Greece
.
Structure of Classical Spartan society
Citizenship
Not all inhabitants of the Spartan state were considered to be citizens. Only those who had undertaken the
Spartan education process known as the Agoge were eligible. However, usually the only people eligible to
receive the agoge were Spartiates, or people who could trace their ancestry to the original inhabitants of the
city.
There were two exceptions. Trophimoi or "foster sons" were foreign students invited to study. The Athenian
general Xenophon, for example, sent his two sons to Sparta as trophimoi. The other exception was that the son
of a helot could be enrolled as a syntrophos if a Spartiate formally adopted him and paid his way. If a
syntrophos did exceptionally well in training, he might be sponsored to become a Spartiate. Spartans who
could not afford to pay the expenses of the agoge could lose their citizenship.
These laws meant that Sparta could not readily replace citizens lost in battle or otherwise and eventually
proved near fatal to the continuance of the state as the number of citizens became greatly outnumbered by the
non-citizens and, even more dangerously, the helots.
Non citizens
Others in the state were the Perioeci, who were free inhabitants of Spartan territory but were non-citizens, and
the Helots, the state-owned Serfs. Descendants of non-Spartan citizens were not able to follow the agoge.

Life in Classical Sparta

Birth and death
Sparta was above all a militarist state, and emphasis on military fitness began virtually at birth. Shortly after
birth, a mother would bathe her child in wine to see whether the child was strong. If the child survived it was
brought before the Gerousia by the child's father. The Gerousia then decided whether it was to be reared or
not. It is commonly stated that if they considered it "puny and deformed", the baby was thrown into a chasm
on Taygetus known euphemistically as the Apothetae (Gr., , "Deposits"). This was, in effect, a primitive
form of Eugenics. Sparta is often portrayed as being unique in this matter; however, there is considerable
evidence that the Infanticide was practiced in other Greek regions, including Athens. There is controversy about
the matter in Sparta, since excavations in the chasm only uncovered adult remains, likely belonging to
criminals.
When Spartans died, marked headstones would only be granted to soldiers who died in combat during a
victorious campaign or women who died either in service of a divine office or in childbirth.
Education

Bronze appliqu of Spartan manufacture, possibly depicting Orestes, 550-525 BC

When male Spartans began military training at age seven, they would enter the Agoge system. The Agoge was
designed to encourage discipline and physical toughness and to emphasise the importance of the Spartan
state. Boys lived in communal messes and, according to Xenophon, whose sons attended the agoge, the boys
were fed "just the right amount for them never to become sluggish through being too full, while also giving
them a taste of what it is not to have enough. Besides physical and weapons training, boys studied reading,
writing, music and dancing. Special punishments were imposed if boys failed to answer questions sufficiently
'laconically'
There is some evidence that in late-Classical and Hellenistic Sparta boys were expected to take an older male
mentor, usually an unmarried young man. However, there is no evidence of this in archaic Sparta. According to
some sources, the older man was expected to function as a kind of substitute father and role model to his
junior partner; however, others believe it was reasonably certain that they had sexual relations (the exact
nature of Pederasty in ancient Greece is not entirely clear). It is notable, however, that the only contemporary
source with direct experience of the agoge, Xenophon, explicitly denies the sexual nature of the relationship.
Post 465 BC, some Spartan youth apparently became members of an irregular unit known as the Krypteia. The
immediate objective of this unit was to seek out and kill vulnerable helot Laconians as part of the larger
program of terrorising and intimidating the helot population.
Less information is available about the education of Spartan girls, but they seem to have gone through a fairly
extensive formal educational cycle, broadly similar to that of the boys but with less emphasis on military
training. In this respect, classical Sparta was unique in ancient Greece. In no other city-state did women
receive any kind of formal education.
Military life

Marble statue of a helmed Hoplite (5th century BC), Archaeological

Museum of Sparta, Greece
At age 20, the Spartan citizen began his membership in one of
the Syssitia (dining messes or clubs), composed of about fifteen
members each, of which every citizen was required to be a member.
Here each group learned how to bond and rely on one another. The
Spartans were not eligible for election for public office until the age of 30.
Only native Spartans were considered full citizens and were obliged to
undergo the training as prescribed by law, as well as participate in and
contribute financially to one of the syssitia.
Sparta is thought to be the first city to practice athletic nudity, and some
scholars claim that it was also the first to formalize pederasty. According
to these sources, the Spartans believed that the love of an older,
accomplished aristocrat for an adolescent was essential to his formation
as a free citizen. The Agoge, the education of the ruling class, was, they
claim, founded on pederastic relationships required of each citizen, with
the lover responsible for the boy's training.
However, other scholars question this interpretation. Xenophon explicitly
denies it, but not Plutarch.
Spartan men remained in the active reserve until age 60. Men were encouraged to marry at age 20 but could
not live with their families until they left their active military service at age 30. They called themselves "homoioi"
(equals), pointing to their common lifestyle and the discipline of the Phalanx formation, which demanded that no
soldier be superior to his comrades. Insofar as Hoplite warfare could be perfected, the Spartans did so.
Thucydides reports that when a Spartan man went to war, his wife (or another woman of some significance)
would customarily present him with his Hoplon (shield) and say: "With this, or upon this" ( , i
tn i p ts), meaning that true Spartans could only return to Sparta either victorious (with their shield in
hand) or dead (carried upon it). Unfortunately, poignant as this image may be, it is almost certainly
propaganda. Spartans buried their battle dead on or near the battle field; corpses were not brought back on
their hoplons. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that it was less of a disgrace for a soldier to lose his helmet,
breastplate or Greave than his hoplon, since the former were designed to protect one man, whereas the hoplon
also protected the man on his left. Thus the shield was symbolic of the individual soldier's subordination to his
unit, his integral part in its success, and his solemn responsibility to his comrades in arms messmates and
friends, often close blood relations.
According to Aristotle, the Spartan military culture was actually short-sighted and ineffective. He observed:
It is the standards of civilized men not of beasts that must be kept in mind, for it is good men not beasts who
are capable of real courage. Those like the Spartans who concentrate on the one and ignore the other in their
education turn men into machines and in devoting themselves to one single aspect of city's life, end up making
them inferior even in that.
Aristotle, of course, was a harsh critic of the Spartan constitution and way of life. There is considerable
evidence that the Spartans, certainly in the archaic period, were not educated as one-sidedly as Aristotle
asserts. In fact, the Spartans were also rigorously trained in logic and philosophy.
One of the most persistent myths about Sparta that has no basis in fact is the notion that Spartan mothers
were without feelings toward their off-spring and helped enforce a militaristic lifestyle on their sons and
husbands. The myth can be traced back to Plutarch, who includes no less than 17 "sayings" of "Spartan
women," all of which paraphrase or elaborate on the theme that Spartan mothers rejected their own offspring if
they showed any kind of cowardice. In some of these sayings, mothers revile their sons in insulting language
merely for surviving a battle. These sayings purporting to be from Spartan women were far more likely to be of
Athenian origin and designed to portray Spartan women as unnatural and so undeserving of pity.

Notable ancient Spartans

Agis I king
Agis II king
Agesilaus II king
Cleomenes I king
Leonidas I (c. 520-480 BC) king, famous for his actions at the Battle of Thermopylae
Cleomenes III king and reformer
Lysander (5th4th century BC) general
Lycurgus of Sparta (10th century BC) lawgiver
Chionis of Sparta (7th century BC) athlete
Cynisca (4th century BC) princess and athlete
Chilon of Sparta philosopher
Gorgo, Queen of Sparta queen and politician
Helen of Troy of the Trojan War, Queen of Sparta
Menelaus King of Sparta during the Trojan War
Xanthippus of Carthage Spartan mercenary, of the first Punic war.
Clearchus of Sparta Spartan mercenary in the army of the Ten Thousand (Greek mercenaries).
Nabis King

Lycurgus (/lakrs/; Greek: ,

Lykorgos, Ancient Greek: [lykros]; c. 900 800 BC) was the quasi-legendary lawgiver of Sparta who
established the military-oriented reformation of Spartan society in accordance with the Oracle of Apollo at
Delphi.

Sparta was a warrior society in ancient Greece that reached the

height of its power after defeating rival city-state Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404
B.C.).Spartan culture was centered on loyalty to the state and military service.
The Spartans are remembered for their fierce battle tactics, weapons, and blood thirsty warriors. Many don't
think about the amount of design and technology it took to develop these ideas. The main weapons and battle
formations of the ancient Spartans were as follows.

The spear
The short sword
Shield
Phalanx (Battle formation)

Spears gave the Spartans a great advantage in battle. The length of it was varied, but believed to have
been between 6-10 feet in length. Traditionally the spear was held with one hand either over the Spartan's
head, or underhand beneath the shield. At the tip of the spear, there was either an iron or bronze leafed
spearhead. The shaft was made of a sturdy wood so as not to break easily.

These deadly swords of weaponry were typically only about 10-12 inches in length. Although short,
these swords were favored by the Spartans for their ability to thrust through enemy's phalanxes and into the
enemies throat or head. However, their small length did make them only useful for breaking into an enemy's
phalanx.
One of the most iconic things for Sparta is the battle formation phalanx. The phalanx formation was a
close-rank, dense grouping of warriors armed with long spears and interlocking shields. The
Spartan soldier provided his own weapon (most commonly a spear) and shield as well as breast plate, helmet
and greaves. This provided an extreme amount of protection to the men inside, as each man was lined up
next to his brother's shield and very little space was in between shields.
The Spartan shield was mainly used for defensive purposes, however it was common for the
Spartans to bash thier shield into enemies, causing them to become disoriented and confused. This tactic
was mainly used to knock down an enemy warrior to make room for another weapon, such as the short sword.
These shields were very study, made out of woods and had an outer covering of bronze, this did cause the
shields to become very heavy though, commonly weighing 30 pounds.
The Spartans were a great military-focused city-states and many remember them for it. From dominance as
a military force to a technologically advanced people, Sparta is one of the most remembered civilizations to this
day. However, all of the fame and glory wouldn't be possible to achieve without the technological
military advantages the Spartans had over their opponents.
Mystras or Mistras (Greek: /),[3] also known as Myzithras () in the Chronicle of the
Morea, is a fortified town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Situated on
Mt. Taygetos, near ancient Sparta, it served as the capital of the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea in the 14th
and 15th centuries, experiencing a period of prosperity and cultural flowering. The site remained inhabited
throughout the Ottoman period, when it was mistaken by Western travellers for ancient Sparta. In the 1830s, it
was abandoned and the new town of Sparti was built, approximately eight kilometres to the east.
Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Sparti, of which it is a municipal unit.[4] The
municipal unit has an area of 131.948 km2.[5]
Ancient Spartans lived in houses made of mud bricks and red clay roofs. Spartans constructed simple houses
that reflected a simplistic lifestyle instead of showing off possessions.

The ancient Spartans often wore simple, understated clothing like tunics, boots and cloaks. Since the Spartans
were warriors, they usually wore clothes that were a dark crimson color as this color would hide blood from
wounds received in battle.

The natural resources in ancient Greece include coal, marble, bauxite, clay, chromate and ore. Silver and gold
were also available in some areas of the Greece.
Legendary kings[edit]
The ancient Greeks named males after their fathers, producing a patronymic by infixing -id-; for example, the
sons ofAtreus were the Atreids. In the case of royal houses the patronymic formed from the founder or an early
significant figure became the age of the dynasty. A ruling family might in this way have a number of dynastic
names; for example, Agis I named the Agiads, but he was a Heraclid, and so were his descendants.
In cases where the descent was not known or was scantily known the Greeks made a few standard
assumptions based on their cultural ideology. A people was treated as a tribe, presumed to have descended
from an ancestor bearing its name. He must have been a king, who founded a dynasty of his name. This
mythologizing extended even to place names. They were presumed to have been named after kings and
divinities. Kings often became divinities, in their religion.
Lelegids[edit]
The Lelegid were the descendants of Lelex (a back formation), ancestor of the Leleges, a Pelasgian tribe
inhabiting the Eurotas valley before the Greeks, who, according to the mythological descent, amalgamated
with the Greeks.
Year Lelegid Other notable information
c. 1600 BC Lelex son of Poseidon or Helios, or he was said to be autochthonous
c. 1575 BC Myles son of Lelex
c. 1550 BC Eurotas son of Myles, father of Sparta
Lacedaemonids[edit]
The Lacedaemonids contain Greeks from the age of legend, now treated as being the Bronze Age in Greece.
In the language of mythologic descent, the kingship passed from the Leleges to the Greeks.
Year Lacedaemonid Other notable information
c. Lacedaemon son of Zeus, husband of Sparta
c. Amyklas son of Lacedaemon. He founded Amyklai
c. Argalus son of Amyklas
c. Kynortas son of Amyklas
c. Perieres son of Kynortas
c. Oibalos son of Kynortas
c. Tyndareos (First reign); son of Oibalos and father of Helen
c. Hippocoon son of Oibalos and brother of Tyndareos
c. Tyndareos (Second reign)
Years with no dates (only "c.") are unknown
Atreids[edit]
The Atreidai (Latin Atreidae) belong to the Late Bronze Age, or Mycenaean Period. In mythology these
were the Perseides. As the name of Atreus is attested in Hittite documents, this dynasty may well be proto-
historic.
Year Atreid Other notable information
c. 1250 BC Menelaus son of Atreus and husband of Helen
c. 1150's BC Orestes son of Agamemnon and nephew of Menelaus
c. Tisamenos son of Orestes
c. 1100 BC Dion husband of Iphitea, the daughter of Prognaus
Years with no dates (only "c.") are unknown
Heraclids[edit]
The Spartan kings as Heracleidae claimed descent from Heracles, who through his mother was
descended from Perseus. Disallowed the Peloponnesus, he embarked on a life of wandering. They
became ascendant in the Eurotas valley with the Dorians who, at least in legend, entered it during an
invasion called the return of the Heracleidae; driving out the Atreids and at least some of the
Mycenaean population.

Genealogical Tree of the Kings of Sparta

Year Heraclid Other notable information
c. Aristodemos son of Aristomachus and husband of Argeia
son of Autesion and brother of Aristodemos' wife Argeia;[n 2] served as regent for
c. Theras(regent)
his nephews, Eurysthenes and Procles.
Years with no dates (only "c.") are unknown
Agiad dynasty[edit]
The dynasty was named after its second king, Agis.
Year Agiad Other notable information
c. 930 BC Eurysthenes Return of the Heracleidae
c. 930 900
Agis I Subjugated the Helots
BC[n 3]
c. 900 870 BC Echestratus Expelled the Cynurensians[n 4] that were in power.
c. 870 840 BC Labotas[n 5]
c. 840 820 BC Doryssus
c. 820 790 BC Agesilaus I
c. 790 760 BC Archelaus
c. 760 758 BC Teleclus Killed by the Messenians
c. 758 741 BC Alcamenes First Messenian War begins
Second Messenian War begins; Killed by Athenian
c. 741 665 BC Polydorus
Archon Polemarchus[5]
c. 665 640 BC Eurycrates
c. 640 615 BC Anaxander
c. 615 590 BC Eurycratides
c. 590 560 BC Leon
Anaxandridas
c. 560 520 BC Battle of the Fetters
II
c. 520 490 BC Cleomenes I Greco-Persian Wars begins
c. 490 480 BC Leonidas I Battle of Thermopylae
c. 480 459 BC Pleistarchus First Peloponnesian War begins
c. 459 409 BC Pleistoanax Second Peloponnesian War begins
c. 409 395 BC Pausanias Helped restore democracy in Athens; Spartan hegemony
c. 395 380 BC Agesipolis I Corinthian War begins
c. 380 371 BC Cleombrotus I
c. 371 369 BC Agesipolis II[n 6]
c. 369 309 BC Cleomenes II Third Sacred War begins
c. 309 265 BC Areus I Killed in battle against Aristodemus, the tyrant of Megalopolis
c. 265 262 BC Acrotatus II
c. 262 254 BC Areus II[6]
c. 254 242 BC Leonidas II Briefly deposed while in exile avoiding trial
c. 242 241 BC Cleombrotus II
c. 241 235 BC Leonidas II
c. 235 222 BC Cleomenes III
Eurypontid dynasty[edit]
The dynasty is named after its third king Eurypon. Not shown is Lycurgus, the lawgiver, a younger
son of the Eurypontids, who served a brief regency either for the infant Charilaus (780750 BC) or
for Labotas (870840 BC) the Agiad.
Year Eurypontid Other notable information
c. 930 BC Procles Return of the Heracleidae
[n 7][7]
c. 890 BC Soos Son of Procles and father of Eurypon.
c. 890
Eurypon
860 BC
c. 860
Prytanis
830 BC
c. 830
Polydectes
800 BC
c. 800
Eunomus
780 BC
c. 780 Ward, pupil, and nephew of the Spartan reformer Lycurgus; War with
Charilaus
750 BC the Argives and destroyed the border-town of Aegys; Battle of Tegea.
c. 750
Nicander First Messenian War begins.
725 BC
c. 725
Theopompus Second Messenian War begins.
675 BC
Currently known two lists of kings:
According to Herodotus, VIII: 131 According to Pausanias, III, 7: 5-6
Other notable Year Eurypontid Other notable in
Year Eurypontid
information c. 645 625 BC Zeuxidamus
c. 675 Anaxandridas c. 625 600 BC Anaxidamus
645 BC I
c. 600 575 BC Archidamus I
Archidamus I
c. 575 550 BC Agasicles[8] Contemporary with Leonidas I; E
Anaxilas
Leotychidas I
Hippocratidas
Hegesilaus
Yea Euryponti
Other notable information
r d
c.
Ariston Battle of the Fetters.
550

515
BC
c.
515
Demaratus Greco-Persian Wars begins.
491
BC
c.
491
Leotychida

s
469
BC
c.
469 First Peloponnesian
Archidamu
War; Second Peloponnesian
s II
427 War begins
BC
Spartan hegemony;
c.
Attacked Epidaurus, Leuctra,[
427 n 9]
Caryao, Orchomenos,

Agis II andMantinela; Invaded

401
the Argolis; Council of war[n
BC[n 10]
8] formed to check his
powers.
c.
401[
n 8]
Agesilaus II Corinthian War begins
360
BC
c.
360
Archidamu
Third Sacred War begins
s III
338
BC
c.
338
Agis III
331
BC
c.
331
Eudamidas

I
305
BC
c.
305
Archidamu

s IV
275
BC
c.
275
Eudamidas

II
245
BC
c.
245
Agis IV
241
BC
c.
241
Eudamidas

III
228
BC
 c.
228
Archidamu

sV
227
BC
c.
227 Actually an Agiad; installed
Eucleidas by Cleomenes III[n 11] in place
221 of Archidamus V.
BC
Republic monarchy[edit]
Following Cleomenes III's defeat against Antigonus III Doson of Macedon and the Achaean
League in the Battle of Sellasia, the Spartan system began to break down. Sparta was
a republic from 221 to 219 BC. The dual monarchy was restored in 219 BC.
Year Monarch Other notable information
c. 219 215 BC Agesipolis III last Agiad, deposed by Lycurgus
c. 219 210 BC Lycurgus
c. 210 206 BC Pelops son of Lycurgus and last king from either of the old dynasties
Tyrants[edit]
Year Tyrants Other notable information
c. 210207
Machanidas regent for Pelops
BC
c. 206192 first regent for Pelops, then usurper, claiming descent from the
Nabis
BC Eurypontid king Demaratus
c. 192 BC Laconicus last known king of Sparta from Heraclid dynasty
The Achaean League annexed Sparta in 192 BC.

THE SPARTAN MILITARY

Unlike such Greek city-states as Athens, a center for the arts, learning and philosophy, Sparta was centered
on a warrior culture. Male Spartan citizens were allowed only one occupation: solider. Indoctrination into this
lifestyle began early. Spartan boys started their military training at age 7, when they left home and entered the
Agoge. The boys lived communally under austere conditions. They were subjected to continual physical,
competitions (which could involve violence), given meager rations and expected to become skilled at stealing
food, among other survival skills.
The teenage boys who demonstrated the most leadership potential were selected for participation in the
Crypteia, which acted as a secret police force whose primary goal was to terrorize the general Helot population
and murder those who were troublemakers. At age 20, Spartan males became full-time soldiers, and remained
on active duty until age 60.
The Spartans constant military drilling and discipline made them skilled at the ancient Greek style of fighting in
a phalanx formation. In the phalanx, the army worked as a unit in a close, deep formation, and made
coordinated mass maneuvers. No one soldier was considered superior to another. Going into battle, a Spartan
soldier, or hoplite, wore a large bronze helmet, breastplate and ankle guards, and carried a round shield made
of bronze and wood, a long spear and sword. Spartan warriors were also known for their long hair and red
cloaks.
SPARTAN WOMEN AND MARRIAGE
Spartan women had a reputation for being independent-minded, and enjoyed more freedoms and power than
their counterparts throughout ancient Greece. While they played no role in the military, female Spartans often
received a formal education, although separate from boys and not at boarding schools. In part to attract mates,
females engaged in athletic competitions, including javelin-throwing and wrestling, and also sang and danced
competitively. As adults, Spartan women were allowed to own and manage property. Additionally, they were
typically unencumbered by domestic responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning and making clothing, tasks
which were handled by the helots.
Marriage was important to Spartans, as the state put pressure on people to have male children who would
grow up to become citizen-warriors, and replace those who died in battle. Men who delayed marriage were
publically shamed, while those who fathered multiple sons could be rewarded.
In preparation for marriage, Spartan women had their heads shaved; they kept their hair short after they wed.
Married couples typically lived apart, as men under 30 were required to continue residing in communal
barracks. In order to see their wives during this time, husbands had to sneak away at night.
DECLINE OF THE SPARTANS
In 371 B.C., Sparta suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Thebans at the Battle of Leuctra. In a
further blow, late the following year, Thebangeneral Epaminondas (c.418 B.C.-362B.C.)led an invasion into
Spartan territory and oversaw the liberation of the Messenian Helots, who had been enslaved by the Spartans
for several centuries. The Spartans would continue to exist, although as a second-rate power in a long period
of decline. In 1834,Otto (1815-67), the king of Greece, ordered thefounding of the modern-daytown of Spartion
the site of ancient Sparta.

Doric Greek