The New Student's Reference Work/Sparta

Spar′ta, the ancient Lacedæmon, the famous Greek city, was in the southern part of Greece on the Eurotas, about 20 miles from the Mediterranean. It was shut in by mountains, one, Mt. Taygetus, rising 8,000 feet; and the valley was so easily defended that it was not regularly fortified until 195 B. C. The city had few fine buildings; the Acropolis was a steep hill with a temple to Athena on its summit, and the white marble theater was one of the largest buildings. The city was formed from several scattered hamlets, and was governed by two kings, whose powers were equal, and who at first were priests, judges and generals as well as rulers. There were three classes of citizens; the Spartiatai or governing class, the Perioikoi, who were free but had no voice in matters of state, and the Helots or slaves, who were bound to the soil, cultivating it for its owners, and were also employed in war. The greatness of Sparta is due to the laws of Lycurgus, which made it a nation of soldiers. There is some doubt resting on the received traditions of Lycurgus, but there certainly was a very ancient legal code, dating back to 825 B. C. The citizens, according to this code, lived only for the state, and children were under the public care. If deformed or weak, they were not allowed to grow up; if healthy, they were taken from the mother when seven years old, and drilled in military exercises, in habits of endurance and skillfulness and in speaking short sentences, to the point, which last gave rise to the expression, “laconic,” from the name of the province, Laconia. Their training is illustrated in the story of the boy with the stolen fox, who was applauded because he bore the torture of the desperate animal tearing his flesh rather than by crying out and confessing that he had stolen him. Between the ages of 20 and 60 all Spartans served in the army, and, though allowed to marry and to engage in business, ate and slept in the public barracks. The early struggles of Sparta with Messenia, Argos and Athens, gave Sparta the victory and made it the chief power in Greece, but its tyranny induced rebellion, and the Thebans under Epaminondas reduced Sparta to its old boundaries. The Macedonians still further cut off its provinces, and finally, with the remainder of Greece, it became a part of the Roman empire. The modern town of Sparta, founded by the Greeks in 1836, the capital of Laconia, occupies a part of the site of ancient Sparta.