Editing Sparta (section)

===Menelaion===
{{main|Menelaion}}
[[File:The Menelaion (Sanctuary of Menelaus and Helen) in Sparta.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Menelaion]]]]
The [[Menelaion]] is a shrine associated with [[Menelaus]], located east of Sparta, by the river [[Evrotas (river)|Eurotas]], on the hill [[Taygetus|Profitis Ilias]] ([[Geographic coordinate system|Coordinates]]: {{coord|37.0659|N|22.4536|E|type:landmark_region:GR_scale:500|display=inline}}). Built around the early 8th century BC, the Spartans believed it had been the former residence of Menelaus. In 1970, the British School in Athens started excavations around the Menelaion in an attempt to locate Mycenaean remains in the area. Among other findings, they uncovered the remains of two Mycenaean mansions and found the first offerings dedicated to [[Helen of Troy|Helen]] and Menelaus. These mansions were destroyed by [[earthquake]] and fire, and archaeologists consider them the possible palace of Menelaus himself.<ref>The British School at Athens, [http://www.bsa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=14&Itemid=101 Home].</ref>{{better source needed|date=November 2017}}

[[Archaeological excavation|Excavations]] made from the early 1990s to the present suggest that the area around the Menelaion in the southern part of the Eurotas valley seems to have been the center of [[Mycenaean Greece|Mycenaean Laconia]].<ref>''The Mycenaean presence in the southeastern Eurotas valley: Vouno Panagias and Ayios Georgios'', by Emilia Banou.</ref> 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 of its original structures save for ruined foundations and broken [[Glossary of archaeology|potsherds]].<ref name=EB1911/>