While much of this poetry survives in fragmentary form and some of it, such as from Tyrtaeus, reflects the development of the martial values that Sparta would become famous for, there is also work that appears to reflect a society concerned with art, rather than just war. “In reality we have more testimony to poetic activity at Sparta in the seventh century than for any other Greek state, including Athens,” writes historian Chester Starr in a chapter of the book "Sparta" (Edinburgh University Press, 2002). Poetry was another key early Spartan achievement. Surviving ivories from the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta depict birds, male and female figures and even a “tree of life” or “sacred tree.” Researcher Konstantinos Kopanias notes in a 2009 journal article that, up until the sixth century B.C., Sparta appears to have had an ivory workshop. Sparta was known for its poetry and it pottery, its wares being found in places as far flung as Cyrene (in Libya) and the island of Samos, not far from the coast of modern-day Turkey. Even the name Sparta is from a verb meaning “I sow” or “to sow.”Īlthough Sparta made efforts to consolidate its territory in Laconia, we also know that, at this early stage, the people of the city appear to have taken pride in their artistic skills. Historian Nigel Kennell writes in his book "Spartans: A New History" (John Wiley & Sons, 2010) that the city’s location in the fertile Eurotas valley gave its inhabitants access to an abundance of food, something its local rivals did not enjoy. Four villages - Limnae, Pitana, Mesoa and Cynosoura, which are located near what would be the Spartan acropolis - came together to form the early city. As such, they need to be taken with the appropriate grain of salt.Īlthough there is evidence of Bronze Age habitation not far from Sparta, it seems that the city itself was not founded until the early Iron Age, in the time after 1000 B.C. The task of sorting out what is real about the Spartans from what is myth has been made more difficult because many of the ancient accounts were written by non-Spartans. Yet the real-life story of the city is more complicated than popular mythology makes it out to be.
#ANCIENT WARS SPARTA SOUNDTRACK SERIES#
The prowess and fearlessness of Sparta's warriors has inspired the Western world for millennia and, even in the 21st century, has been incorporated into Hollywood films like "300" and the futuristic video game series "Halo" (where a group of super- soldiers are called “Spartans”). However, within a few decades, after a defeat against the Thebans at the Battle of Leuctra, the city found itself reduced to a “second-rate power,” a status from which it never recovered. When it was in its prime, Sparta had no city walls its inhabitants, it seems, preferred to defend it with men rather than mortar. after its victory against Athens in the second Peloponnesian war. Sparta reached the height of its power in 404 B.C.
Ancient writers sometimes referred to it as Lacedaemon and its people as Lacedaemonians. In antiquity, it was a powerful city-state with a famous martial tradition.
Sparta is a city in Laconia, on the Peloponnese in Greece.
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