G06: Ancient Greece - Living in the Past: Sparta

In ancient Greece, the great rival of Athens was Sparta. The city-state and its surrounding territory were located on the Peloponnesus, a peninsula southwest of Athens. Sparta (also called Lacedaemon) was the capital of the district of Laconia.

Sparta was one of the most important city-states in ancient Greece and was famous for its military prowess.

Spartan women had more rights and enjoyed greater autonomy than women in any other Greek city-state of the Classical Period (5th-4th centuries BCE). Women could inherit property, own land, make business transactions, and were better educated than women in ancient Greece in general.

Sparta was one of the most dominant of all the Greek city-states, and is most often remembered for their athletic and militaristic values.

Sparta is most commonly known today as the militaristic rival of "enlightened" Athens in ancient Greece. It is remembered for its military accomplishments – particularly the heroic defense under King Leonidas of the pass at Thermopylae in 480 BC. Images of a society characterized by brutal, mindless discipline and a merciless emphasis on physical fitness, but lacking artistic and intellectual accomplishments – or even basic literacy – predominate in popular literature.

The agoge was the ancient Spartan education program, which trained male youths in the art of war. The word means "raising" in the sense of raising livestock from youth toward a specific purpose. The program was first instituted by the lawgiver Lycurgus (l. 9th century BCE) and was integral to Sparta’s military strength and political power.

Sparta was a powerful city-state in ancient Greece. The Spartans spoke Greek. They thought of themselves as Greeks. Like all Greeks, they would identify themselves as being from their city-state, in this case Sparta. But Sparta was very different from the other Greek city-states.

Sparta was a warrior society in ancient Greece that reached the height of its power after defeating rival city-state Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.).

Sparta’s entire culture centered on war. A lifelong dedication to military discipline, service, and precision gave this kingdom a strong advantage over other Greek civilizations, allowing Sparta to dominate Greece in the fifth century B.C.

The Persian Wars refers to the conflict between Greece and Persia in the 5th century BCE which involved two invasions by the latter in 490 and 480 BCE.

Thermopylae is a mountain pass near the sea in northern Greece which was the site of several battles in antiquity, the most famous being that between Persians and Greeks in August 480 BCE.