Sparta

Sparta, also Lacedaemon, city-state in ancient Greece, and the most important in the Peloponnese Peninsula. The city of Sparta occupied a site on the right bank of the River Evrotas, about 32.5 km (20 mi) from the sea, in the foothills of Mount Taygetus.

The ancient city, even at its most prosperous, was a group of five villages with simple houses and a few public buildings. The passes leading into the valley of the Evrotas were easily defended, and Sparta had no fortification walls until the end of the 4th century bc. The inhabitants of the Spartan city-state comprised helots (slaves), who performed all agricultural work; perioikoi, a subject class of free men without political rights, who were mainly tradesmen and merchants; and the Spartiatai, a governing class of rulers and soldiers, descended from the Dorians, who had invaded the area about 1100 bc.

The foundation of Spartan greatness was traditionally attributed to a single legislator, Lycurgus, but was more probably the result of a series of reforms introduced about 600 bc. In the 7th century bc, life in Sparta was similar to that in other Greek cities, and art and poetry, particularly the choral lyrics of such poets as Alcman, flourished. From the 6th century bc onwards, however, Spartan society was characterized by stark austerity, militarism, and discipline. (It is from these qualities that the modern term “Spartan” comes.) Deformed children were put to death and, boys from the age of 7 underwent rigorous physical and military training, entering the ranks at 20. Although permitted to marry, they were compelled to live in barracks until the age of 30; from the ages of 20 to 60 all Spartans were obliged to serve as hoplites (foot soldiers) and to eat at the phiditia (public mess).

The earliest struggles of Sparta were with its western neighbour, Messenia, and Argos, a city located in the north-east of the Peloponnese Peninsula. The Messenian War ended about 668 bc with the annexation of Messenia and the reduction of its population to the status of helots. In the wars with the descendants of the original Achaeans and Dorians of Argos, the Spartans were generally successful. Under the leadership of two “kings”, who were hereditary commanders of the army, the Spartans became a race of resolute, ascetic warriors, capable of self-sacrificing patriotism, as shown by the 300 Spartans, under the leadership of their hero Leonidas, who died bravely defending Thermopylae against the Persians.

Although much admired by some Greeks, most notably Plato, the authoritarian and stratified society of Sparta stifled individual initiative and the introduction of new ideas. These failings, together with the ever-present threat of helot revolts and the instability of an unrepresentative government, undermined attempts to establish wise political and economic programmes. With the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War in 431 bc, the rivalry between Sparta and Athens was finally brought to a head. The overthrow of Athens in 404 bc left Sparta the dominant Greek state. In 371 bc, however, the Thebans under Epaminondas deprived Sparta of its power and territorial acquisitions, reducing the state to its original boundaries. Sparta later became part of the Roman province of Achaea and seems to have prospered in the early centuries of the Roman Empire. The city itself was destroyed by the Goths under their king, Alaric I, in ad 396.

The modern city of Sparta (Spárti) was founded in 1834 by the government of the newly created kingdom of Greece. It occupies part of the site of ancient Sparta and is the capital of the department of Lakonia. Excavations of the ancient city have uncovered the ruins of temples and public buildings and a Roman theatre. Population (1981 preliminary) 14,390.