Editing Sparta (section)

==History==
{{main|History of Sparta}}

===Prehistory, "dark age" and archaic period===
The prehistory of Sparta is difficult to reconstruct because the literary evidence was written far later than the events it describes and is distorted by oral tradition.<ref name="Herodot, Book I, 56.3">Herodot, Book I, 56.3</ref> 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 kilometres ({{convert|2|km|abbr=off|disp=output only}}) south-southwest of Sparta.{{sfn|Cartledge|2002|p=28}}

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 the Peloponnese and, subjugating the local tribes, settled there.<ref name="Herodot, Book I, 56.3"/> The Dorians seem to have set about expanding the frontiers of Spartan territory almost before they had established their own state.{{sfn|Ehrenberg|2002|p=31}} They fought against the [[Argive]] Dorians to the east and southeast, and also the [[Arcadia (ancient region)|Arcadia]]n Achaeans to the 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.{{sfn|Ehrenberg|2002|p=31}}

[[File:Lycurgus.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Lycurgus of Sparta|Lycurgus]]]]

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.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}

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 [[Perseids (mythology)|Perseids]], 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.{{sfn|Ehrenberg|2002|p=36}} 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|Lycurgus]].{{sfn|Ehrenberg|2002|p=33}} Several writers throughout antiquity, including Herodotus, Xenophon, and Plutarch have attempted to explain Spartan exceptionalism as a result of the so-called Lycurgan Reforms.<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0210%3Atext%3DConst.%20Lac.%3Achapter%3D1 Xenophon, Constitution of the Lacedaimonians, chapter 1]</ref><ref>Xenophon, ''Constitution of the Lacedaemonians'', 1</ref><ref>Herodotus, 1.65–66</ref><ref>Plutarch, ''Life of Lycurgus'', 6.1–2</ref>

===Classical Sparta===
In the [[Second Messenian War]], Sparta established itself as a local power in the Peloponnesus and the rest of Greece. During the following centuries, Sparta's reputation as a land-fighting force was unequalled.<ref>"A Historical Commentary on Thucydides". David Cartwright, p. 176</ref> At its peak around 500 BC, Sparta had some 20,000–35,000 citizens, plus numerous helots and perioikoi. The likely total of 40,000–50,000 made Sparta one of the larger Greek city-states;<ref>{{citation|last=Morris|first=Ian|title=The growth of Greek cities in the first millennium BC. v.1|date=December 2005|url=http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/morris/120509.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/morris/120509.pdf |archive-date=9 October 2022 |url-status=live|series=Princeton/Stanford Working Papers in Classics}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oafCBYBbMRgC&pg=PA22|title=Once Again: Studies in the Ancient Greek Polis|last=Nielsen|first=Thomas Heine|date=29 December 2017|publisher=Franz Steiner Verlag|via=Google Books|isbn=9783515084383}}</ref> however, according to Thucydides, the population of Athens in 431 BC was 360,000–610,000, making it much larger.{{refn|group=n|According to Thucydides, the Athenian citizens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War (5th century BC) numbered 40,000, making a total of 140,000 people when including their families. The metics, i.e. those who did not have citizen rights and paid for the right to reside in Athens, numbered a further 70,000, while slaves were estimated at between 150,000 to 400,000.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia Of Ancient Greece|editor-first=Nigel Guy|editor-last=Wilson|publisher=Routledge (UK)|year=2006|isbn=0-415-97334-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofan0000unse_a6l6/page/214 214–15]|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofan0000unse_a6l6/page/214}}</ref>}}

In 480 BC, a small force led by King [[Leonidas I|Leonidas]] (about 300 full Spartiates, 700 Thespians, and 400 Thebans, although these numbers were lessened by earlier casualties<ref>Herodotus, 7.202, 7.228</ref>) made a legendary [[last stand]] at the [[Battle of Thermopylae]] against the massive Persian army, led by [[Xerxes I|Xerxes]].{{sfn|Green|1998|p=10}} The Spartans received advance warning of the Persian invasion from their deposed king [[Demaratus]], which prompted them to consult the Delphic oracle. According to Herodotus, the [[Pythia]] proclaimed that either one of the kings of Sparta had to die or Sparta would be destroyed.<ref>Herodotus, 7.220–7.225</ref> This prophecy was fulfilled after king Leonidas died in the battle. The superior weaponry, strategy, and [[bronze]] armour of the Greek [[hoplite]]s and their [[Phalanx formation|phalanx]] fighting formation again proved their worth one year later when Sparta assembled its full strength and led a Greek alliance against the Persians at the [[Battle of Plataea]] in 479 BC.

[[File:Ancient Sparta.jpg|thumb|Ancient Sparta.]]
The decisive Greek victory at Plataea put an end to the [[Greco-Persian War]] along with Persian ambitions to expand into Europe. Even though this war was won by a pan-Greek army, credit was given to Sparta, who besides providing the leading forces at Thermopylae and Plataea, had been the de facto leader of the entire Greek expedition.<ref>Britannica ed. 2006, "Sparta"</ref>

In 464 BC, a violent [[464 BC Sparta earthquake|earthquake]] occurred along the Sparta faultline destroying much of what was Sparta and many other city-states in ancient Greece. This earthquake is marked by scholars as one of the key events that led to the [[First Peloponnesian War]].

In later Classical times, Sparta along with [[Athens]], [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], and [[Persia]] were the main powers fighting for supremacy in the northeastern Mediterranean. In the course of the [[Peloponnesian War]], Sparta, a traditional land power, acquired a navy which managed to overpower the previously dominant flotilla of Athens, ending the [[Athenian Empire]]. At the peak of its power in the early 4th century BC, Sparta had subdued many of the main Greek states and even invaded the Persian provinces in Anatolia (modern day Turkey), a period known as the [[Spartan hegemony]].

During the [[Corinthian War]], Sparta faced a coalition of the leading Greek states: [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], [[Athens]], [[Ancient Corinth|Corinth]], and [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]]. The alliance was initially backed by Persia, which feared further Spartan expansion into Asia.<ref>"Dictionary of Ancient & Medieval Warfare". Matthew Bennett, p. 86</ref> 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.<ref name=boardman>"The Oxford Illustrated History of Greece and the Hellenistic World" p. 141, John Boardman, Jasper Griffin, Oswyn Murray</ref>

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.<ref name=boardman/> 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.<ref>Fine, ''The Ancient Greeks'', 556–59</ref> 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 full strength [[Spartan Army|Spartan army]] lost a land battle.

As Spartan citizenship was inherited by blood, Sparta 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===
[[File:Nuremberg chronicles - f 28v.png|thumb|Medieval depiction of Sparta from the ''[[Nuremberg Chronicle]]'' (1493)]]
Sparta never fully recovered from its losses at Leuctra in 371 BC and the subsequent [[Helots#Helot revolts|helot revolts]]. In 338, [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] invaded and devastated much of Laconia, turning the Spartans out, though he did not seize Sparta itself.<ref>{{Harvnb|Cartledge|2002|page=273}} "Philip laid Lakonia waste as far south as Gytheion and formally deprived Sparta of Dentheliatis (and apparently the territory on the Messenian Gulf as far as the Little Pamisos river), Belminatis, the territory of Karyai and the east Parnon foreland."</ref> Even during its decline, Sparta never forgot its claim to be the "defender of Hellenism" and its [[Laconic phrase|Laconic wit]]. An anecdote has it that when Philip II sent a message to Sparta saying "If I invade Laconia, I shall turn you out.",<ref>{{cite web |author1=Plutarch |author2=W.C.Helmbold |author1-link=Plutarch |title=De Garrulitate |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0287%3Asection%3D17 |website=Perseus Digital Library |publisher=Tufts University |access-date=5 May 2021 |quote=ἂν ἐμβάλω εἰς τὴν Λακωνικήν, ἀναστάτους ὑμᾶς ποιήσω}}</ref> the Spartans responded with the single, terse reply: {{lang|grc|αἴκα}}, "if".{{sfn|Davies |1997|p=133}}<ref>{{harvnb|Plutarch|1874|loc=De garrulitate, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0288%3Asection%3D17 17]}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Plutarch|1891|loc=De garrulitate, [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0286%3Asection%3D17 17]}}; in Greek.</ref> 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 defeating the Persians at the [[Battle of the Granicus]], Alexander the Great sent to Athens 300 suits of Persian armour 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".

Sparta continued to be one of the Peloponesian powers until its eventual loss of independence in 192 BC. During Alexander's campaigns in the east, the Spartan king [[Agis III]] sent a force to Crete in 333 BC to secure the island for the Persian interest.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.livius.org/ag-ai/agis/agis_iii.html|title=Agis III – Livius|website=www.livius.org|access-date=26 March 2020|archive-date=8 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130508045716/http://www.livius.org/ag-ai/agis/agis_iii.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Cartledge |first1=Paul |last2=Spawforth |first2=Antony |title=Hellenistic and Roman Sparta : a tale of two cities |date=2002 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=0415262771 |page=21 |edition=2nd}}</ref> Agis next took command of allied Greek forces against Macedon, gaining early successes, before laying siege to [[Megalopolis, Greece|Megalopolis]] in 331 BC. A large [[Ancient Macedonian army|Macedonian army]] under general [[Antipater]] marched to its relief and defeated the Spartan-led force in a pitched battle.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Agis III|first=E.|last=Badian|date=29 December 1967|journal=Hermes|volume=95|issue=2|pages=170–92|jstor = 4475455}}</ref> More than 5,300 of the Spartans and their allies were killed in battle, and 3,500 of Antipater's troops.<ref>Diodorus, ''World History''</ref> 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.<ref>Diodorus, ''World History'', 17.62.1–63.4; tr. C.B. Welles</ref> Alexander was merciful, and he only forced the Spartans to join the League of Corinth, which they had previously refused.<ref>''Alexander the Great and his time''. By Agnes Savill. p. 44 {{ISBN|0-88029-591-0}}</ref>

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|Laconian War]] by a coalition of other Greek city-states and Rome, and the resultant overthrow of its final king [[Nabis of Sparta|Nabis]], in 192 BC. Sparta played no active part in the [[Achaean War]] in 146 BC when the Achaean League was defeated by the Roman general [[Lucius Mummius Achaicus|Lucius Mummius]]. Subsequently, Sparta became a [[Free city (classical antiquity)|free city]] under Roman rule, some of the institutions of [[Lycurgus of Sparta|Lycurgus]] were restored,{{sfn|Cartledge|Spawforth|2001|p=82}} and the city became a tourist attraction for the Roman elite who came to observe exotic Spartan customs.{{refn|group=n|Especially the Diamastigosis at the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, Limnai outside Sparta. There an amphitheatre was built in the 3rd century AD to observe the ritual whipping of Spartan youths.<ref>{{cite book|author=Cicero|author-link=Cicero|title=Tusculanae Disputationes|chapter=II.34|chapter-url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0044%3Abook%3D2%3Asection%3D34|editor-first=M.|editor-last=Pohlenz|place=Leipzig|publisher=Teubner|year=1918|language=la |title-link=Tusculanae Disputationes}} At the Perseus Project.</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Sparta|first=Humfrey|last=Michell|page=175|year=1964|
publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> Visiting Romans came to see Sparta as having degraded to a disgusting cult of fetish brutality.<ref>Thomas J. Figueira, "Population Patterns in Late Archaic and Classical Sparta", ''Transactions of the American Philological Association (1974–2014)'', Volume 116 (1986), The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 165–213</ref><ref>Myke Cole, ''Legion versus Phalanx: The Epic Struggle for Infantry Supremacy in the Ancient World'', Osprey Publishing, 2018</ref>}}

In 214 AD, [[Roman emperor]] [[Caracalla]], in his preparation for [[Parthian war of Caracalla|his campaign]] against [[Parthian Empire|Parthia]], recruited a 500-man Spartan [[Cohort (military unit)|cohort]] (''[[Lochos|lokhos]]''). [[Herodian]] described this unit as a ''[[phalanx]]'', implying it fought like the old Spartans as hoplites, or even as a [[Macedonian phalanx]]. Despite this, a gravestone of a fallen legionary named Marcus Aurelius Alexys shows him lightly armed, with a [[Pileus (hat)|pilos-like]] cap and a wooden club. The unit was presumably discharged in 217 after Caracalla was assassinated.{{sfn|Cartledge|Spawforth|2001|p=108}}

An exchange of letters in the [[deutero-canonical]] [[First Book of Maccabees]] expresses a [[Jews|Jewish]] claim to kinship with the Spartans:

{{cquote|Areus king of the Lacedemonians to [[Onias I|Onias]] the high priest, greeting: It is found in writing, that the Lacedemonians and Jews are brethren, and that they are of the stock of [[Abraham]]: Now therefore, since this is come to our knowledge, ye shall do well to write unto us of your prosperity. We do write back again to you, that your cattle and goods are ours, and ours are yours.|author=Authorized King James Version [[1 Maccabees|1 Maccabees 12.20]]}}

The letters are reproduced in a variant form by [[Josephus]].<ref>Erich S. Gruen, ''Heritage and Hellenism: The Reinvention of Jewish Tradition'', 1998, p. 254, {{ISBN|0-520-23506-1}} (2002)</ref> Jewish historian Uriel Rappaport notes that the relationship between the Jews and the Spartans expressed in this correspondence has "intrigued many scholars, and various explanations have been suggested for the problems raised ... including the historicity of the Jewish leader and [[High Priest of Israel|high priest]] [[Jonathan Apphus|Jonathan]]'s letter to the Spartans, the authenticity of the letter of Arius to Onias, cited in Jonathan's letter, and the supposed 'brotherhood' of the Jews and the Spartans." Rappaport is clear that "the authenticity of [the reply] letter of Arius is based on even less firm foundations than the letter of Jonathan".<ref>Rappaport, U., ''47. 1 Maccabees'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), [https://b-ok.org/dl/946961/8f5f43 The Oxford Bible Commentary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171122193211/http://b-ok.org/dl/946961/8f5f43 |date=22 November 2017 }}, p. 729</ref>

Spartans long spurned the idea of building a [[defensive wall]] around their city, believing they made the city's men soft in terms of their warrior abilities. A wall was finally erected after 184 BCE, after the peak of the city-state's power had come and gone.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://theconversation.com/what-were-the-spartans-like-note-to-lego-masters-they-didnt-build-city-walls-159910|title=What were the Spartans like? Note to Lego Masters: they didn't build city walls|first=Duncan|last=Keenan-Jones|date=29 April 2021|website=The Conversation}}</ref>

===Post-classical and modern Sparta===
In 396 AD, Sparta was sacked by [[Visigoths]] under [[Alaric I]].<ref name="urlA History of the Laws of War: Volume 2: The Customs and Laws of War with ... - Alexander Gillespie - Google Książki">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qIt6BAAAQBAJ&q=alaric+sacked+sparta&pg=PT204 |title=A History of the Laws of War: Volume 2: The Customs and Laws of War with ... |author=Alexander Gillespie |via= Google Książki |isbn=9781847318626 |date=7 October 2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury }}</ref><ref name="urlThe Oxford Companion to Classical Literature - Google Książki">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IVGcAQAAQBAJ&q=alaric+sacked+sparta+slavery&pg=PA535 |title=The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature |via= Google Książki |isbn=9780199548552 |last1=Howatson |first1=M. C. |date=22 August 2013 |publisher=OUP Oxford }}</ref>
According to Byzantine sources, [[Maniots|some parts]] of the Laconian region remained [[Paganism|pagan]] until well into the 10th century. The [[Tsakonian language]] still spoken in [[Tsakonia]] is the only surviving descendant of the ancient [[Doric Greek|Doric language]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Liosis |first1=Nikos |title=Tsakonian Studies: The State-of-the-Art |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337949879 |website=researchgate |publisher=Institute of Modern Greek Studies |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> 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 [[Sparta, Laconia|Sparta]] was re-founded in 1834, by a decree of King [[Otto of Greece]]. Today it is a provincial town and the capital of the [[Laconia]] administrative region.