Sparta of Ancient Greece

Ancient Sparta was situated on the west bank of the Eurotas River and extended northward from the modern town of Sparta.

Sparta was composed of homes and states scattered about an area centering on a low hill that has come to be called the Acropolis. Sparta was of comparatively late origin, having been established only after the Dorian Invasion, the last wave of Greek people to enter Greece, which brought an end to the Bronze Age between 1150 and 1100 B.C.

Territory of ancient Sparta via Wikipedia

Sparta was not in existence at the time of the traditional Trojan War (c. 1200 B.C.) the legend of the abduction of Helen by Paris from King Menelaus of Sparta must have been transferred to Sparta from some other site after Sparta had risen to prominence. An increase in population attended by related social and economic problems, led Sparta to adopt a policy of expansion. Indicative of the expansion of Sparta is the tradition that the Eleans were enabled, by the help of Sparta, to regain from their rival, Pisa, the control of the Olympic Games. For over a century the Spartan athletes were conspicuous for their victories at Olympia, winning in this period forty-six of the recorded eighty-one victories. The first recorded Spartan victory at Olympia was that of Acanthus in the long-distance race, about 720 B.C.

Ruins of ancient Sparta, Greece via Wikipedia

During the Roman period, beginning in 146 B.C., Sparta became a large and prosperous provincial city, and fortifications and other buildings were erected. Historically, Sparta was greatest from approximately 700 to 400 B.C.

British excavations have confirmed the theory, advanced by historians on literary grounds that the civilization of Sparta before 600 B.C. was essentially on a plane with that of contemporary Athens and other Greek States. The remains of sculpture, the fine Laconian pottery, and the bronze, lead. Ivory, and clay figurines found at the site bear witness to the quality or Spartan civilization, as do the poetry of Tyrtaeus and Alcman, of the seventh century. But soon after 600 B.C. Art and poetry disappeared, an abrupt change took place. Sparta was suddenly transformed into an armed camp, and the resulting military state henceforth produced only soldiers. This strict system was instituted, possibly between 590 and 580, not through fear of foreign aggression, but because of internal conditions.

In the Persian wars (c. 480 B.C.) Sparta sent about 5,000 soldiers into the field, but a century later, in 371, only 2,000 Spartans fought in the Battle of Leuctra. It was, evidently, to maintain their position at the head of the state that the ruling Spartans felt it necessary to constitute them into a great standing army. In modern times, Spartan discipline has often been taken as a model by some democracies in time of war.