The history of Sparta describes the history of the ancient Doric Greek city-state known as Sparta from its beginning in the legendary period to its incorporation into the Achaean League under the late Roman Republic, as Allied State, in 146 BC, a period of roughly 1000 years. Since the Dorians were not the first to settle the valley of the Eurotas River in the Peloponnesus of Greece, the preceding Mycenaean and Stone Age periods are described as well. Sparta went on to become a district of modern Greece. Brief mention is made of events in the post-classical periods.
Dorian Sparta rose to dominance in the 6th century BC. At the time of the Persian Wars, it was the recognized leader by assent of the Greek city-states. It subsequently lost that assent through suspicion that the Athenians were plotting to break up the Spartan state after an earthquake destroyed Sparta in 464 BC. When Sparta defeated Athens in the Peloponnesian War, it secured an unrivaled hegemony over southern Greece."Spartans, a new history", Nigel Kennell, 2010, p. 1 Sparta's supremacy was broken following the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. It was never able to regain its military superiorityDiodorus Siculus 15 and was finally absorbed by the Achaean League in the 2nd century BC.
Prehistoric period
Stone age in Sparta 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 southwest of Sparta.
Legendary account
According to myth, the first king of the region later to be called Laconia, but then called Lelegia was the eponymous King Lelex. He was followed, according to tradition, by a series of kings allegorizing several traits of later-to-be Sparta and Laconia, such as the Kings Myles, Eurotas, Lacedaemon and Amyclas of Sparta. The last king from their family was Tyndareus, father of Castor and Clytemnestra and foster-father to Pollux and Helen of Troy. Female figures in this legendary ancestry include the nymph Taygete (mother of Lacedaemon), Sparta (the daughter of Eurotas) and Eurydice of Argos (grandmother of Perseus).
Later the Achaeans, associated with Mycenaean Greece, immigrated from the north and replaced the Lelegians as ruling tribe. Helen, daughter of Zeus and Leda, would marry Menelaos and thus invite the Atreidae to the Laconian throne. In the end the Heracleidae, commonly identified with the Dorians, would seize the land and the throne of Laconia and found the city-state of Sparta proper. The last Atreidae Tisamenus and Penthilus, according to myth, would lead the Achaeans to Achaea and Asia minor, whereas the Heraclids Eurysthenes and Procles founded the Spartan kingly families of the Agiad and Eurypontid dynasties respectively.
Mycenaean period in Sparta
Dark age in Sparta Archeologically, Sparta itself begins to show signs of settlement only around 1000 BC, some 200 years after the collapse of Mycenaean civilization.W. G. Forrest, p. 25. Of the four villages that made up the Spartan polis, Forrest suggests that the two closest to the Acropolis were the originals, and the two more far-flung settlements were of later foundation. The dual kingship may originate in the fusion of the first two villages.W. G. Forrest, A History of Sparta, pp. 26–30. One of the effects of the Mycenaean collapse had been a sharp drop in population. Following that, there was a significant recovery, and this growth in population is likely to have been more marked in Sparta, as it was situated in the most fertile part of the plain.W. G. Forrest, A History of Sparta, p. 31.
Between the 8th and 7th centuries BC the Spartans experienced a period of lawlessness and civil strife, later testified by both Herodotus and Thucydides. 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. These reforms mark the beginning of the history of Classical Sparta.
Proto-historic period The reforms of Lycurgus
It is during the reign of King Charilaus,W G Forrest, A History of Sparta p55 that most ancient sources place the life of Lycurgus. Indeed, the Spartans ascribed their subsequent success to Lycurgus, who instituted his reforms at a time when Sparta was weakened by internal dissent and lacked the stability of a united and well-organized community. There are reasons to doubt whether he ever existed, as his name derives from the word for "wolf" which was associated with Apollo, hence Lycurgus could be simply a personification of the god.Paul Cartledge, The Spartans pp58-9
J. F. Lazenby suggests, that the dual monarchy may date from this period as a result of a fusion of the four villages of Sparta which had, up until then, formed two factions of the villages of Pitana-Mesoa against the villages of Limnai-Konoura. According to this view, the Kings, who tradition says ruled before this time, were either totally mythical or at best factional chieftains.The Spartan Army J. F. Lazenby pp. 63–67 Lazenby further hypothesizes that other reforms such as the introduction of the Ephors were later innovations that were attributed to Lycurgus.The Spartan Army J. F. Lazenby p. 68
The Original Five Villages (Obai) were the four core Dorian villages and one later addition:
Pitane: Located to the west; it was one of the most prominent districts and the likely home of one of the royal houses. Mesoa: Situated in the "middle" of the settlement area. Limnai: Meaning "The Marshes," this village was located to the east near the Eurotas River. Kynosoura: Located to the southeast. Amyclae: Originally an independent Achaean stronghold a few miles south, it was conquered and integrated as the fifth village, with its residents eventually gaining full political rights.
Expansion of Sparta in the Peloponnesus The Dorians seem to have set about expanding the frontiers of Spartan territory almost before they had established their own state. They fought against the Argive Dorians to the east and southeast, and also the Arcadian Achaeans to the northwest. The evidence suggests that Sparta, relatively inaccessible because of the topography of the plain of Sparta, was secure from early on: it was never fortified.
Sparta shared the plain with Amyklai which lay to the south and was one of the few places to survive from Mycaenean times and was likely to be its most formidable neighbor. Hence the tradition that Sparta, under its kings Archelaos and Charillos moved north to secure the upper Eurotas valley is plausible. Pharis and Geronthrae were then taken and, though the traditions are a little contradictory, also Amyklai which probably fell in about 750 BC. It is probable that the inhabitants of Geronthrae were driven out while those of Amyklai were simply subjugated to Sparta.W G Forrest, A History of Sparta p. 32 Pausanias portrays this as a "Dorian versus Achaean" conflict.https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.+3.2.6&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160 Pausanias 2.3.6 The archaeological record, however, throws doubt on such a cultural distinction."Spartans, a new history", Nigel Kennell, 2010, p32
7th century BC Tyrtaeus tells that the war to conquer the Messenians, their neighbors on the west, led by Theopompus, lasted 19 years and was fought in the time of the fathers of our fathers. If this phrase is to be taken literally, it would mean that the war occurred around the end of the 8th century BC or the beginning of the 7th."Spartans, a new history", Nigel Kennell, 2010, p40 The historicity of the Second Messenian War was long doubted, as neither Herodotus or Thucydides mentions a second war. However, in the opinion of Kennell, a fragment of Tyrtaeus (published in 1990) gives us some confidence that it really occurred (probably in the later 7th century)."Spartans, a new history", Nigel Kennell, 2010, p. 42 It was as a result of this second war, according to fairly late sources, that the Messenians were reduced to the semi slave status of helots.
Whether Sparta dominated the regions to its east at the time is less settled. According to Herodotus the Argives' territory once included the whole of Cynuria (the east coast of the Peloponnese) and the island of Cythera.Herodotus ( 1.82), Cynuria's low population – apparent in the archaeological record – does suggest that the zone was contested by the two powers."Spartans, a new history", Nigel Kennell, 2010, pp. 51–2
In the Second Messenian War, Sparta established itself as a local power in Peloponnesus and the rest of Greece. During the following centuries, Sparta's reputation as a land-fighting force was unequaled."A Historical Commentary on Thucydides"—David Cartwright, p. 176
6th century BC
Peloponnesian League
Early in the 6th century BC, the Spartan kings Leon and Agasicles made a vigorous attack on Tegea, the most powerful of the Arcadian cities. For some time Sparta had no success against Tegea and suffered a notable defeat at the Battle of the Fetters—the name reflected Spartan intentions to force the Tegea to recognise it as hegemon.Aspects of Greek History 750-323BC. Terry Buckley p61 For Forrest this marked a change in Spartan policy, from enslavement to a policy of building an alliance that led to the creation of the Peloponesian League. Forrest, hesitantly attributes this change to Ephor Chilon.W G Forrest, A History of Sparta pp. 76–77 In building its alliance, Sparta gained two ends, security of its conquests in Mesene and a free hand against Argos.W G Forrest, A History of Sparta p. 79 The Battle of the Champions won about 546 BC (that is at the time that the Lydian Empire fell before Cyrus of Persia) made the Spartans masters of the Cynuria, the borderland between Laconia and Argolis.
In 494 BC, King Cleomenes I, launched what was intended to be a final settling of accounts with the city of Argos – an invasion, with the capture of the city itself, as the objective."Spartans, a new history", Nigel Kennell, 2010, p. 57 Argos did not fall but her losses in the Battle of Sepeia would cripple Argos militarily, and lead to deep civil strife for some time to come."Spartans, a new history", Nigel Kennell, 2010, p. 58 Sparta had come to be acknowledged as the leading state of Ancient Greece and the champion of Hellenism. Croesus of Lydia formed an alliance with Sparta and Scythia sent envoys requesting Spartan aid to stem the invasion of Darius I of Persia; to Sparta, the Greeks of Asia Minor appealed to withstand the Persian advance and to aid the Ionian Revolt; Plataea asked for Sparta's protection against Thebes; Megara acknowledged its supremacy; and at the time of the Persian invasion under Xerxes no city state questioned that Sparta's place as leading the Greek forces on land or at sea.
Expeditions outside the Peloponnese At the end of the 6th century BC, Sparta made its first intervention north of the Isthmus when it aided in overthrowing the Athenian tyrant Hippias in 510 BC.W G Forrest, A History of Sparta p. 86 Dissension in Athens followed with conflict between Kleisthenes and Isagoras. King Cleomenes turned up in Attica with a small body of troops to back the more conservative Isagoras, whom Cleomenes successfully installed in power. The Athenians, however, soon tired of the foreign king, and Cleomenes found himself expelled by the Athenians.