SPARTA, or, as it wee :sometimes called, Laccilmnon, the capital of Laconia, and the chief city of Peloponnesus, was situated on the right bank of the Eurotas, about 20 miles from the sea, in 37° 4' N. lat., 22' 26' E. long. It was built in a plain of some extent, and was bounded E. by the Eurotas, and S. by a smaller stream running into it, now called Trypiotike, and supposed to be the ancient Knakion. On the north-west the torrent Labyca separated the height on which the acropolis stood from the spurs of Mount Taygetus. On the left or.eastern bank of the Eurotas, is a range of hills at a little distance, on which stood the suburb Menelalum. These hills of the Menelelum form a part ouly of a steep bank which rises on the eastern side of the Eurotas to the height of 500 or 600 feet and is surmounted by a tabIe-land, beyond which again lies an uneven country, intersected with ravines and rivers, gradually rising to Mount Parnon and the other summits of the range of mountains which bounds the view from the plain of Sparta on the east. A cor responding boundary on the west is formed by the more elevated range of Mount Taygetns; hence Homer applies the term 'hollow Lacedaemon' to the plain of Sparta, and to the city itself, which Strabo (vol. viii. p. 367) also speaks of as being in a hollow. There are two villages—Maeda and Psykhikti—on the site of Sparta, nearly a mile apart. The former is a little south of the ancient theatre; the latter in the south-east part of the site, near the left bank of the Trypi6tiko. The principal modern town in the neighbourhood is 3listra, which lies about two miles to the west, on the slopes of Mount Taygetua.
The only considerable remnant of Hellenic workmanship is the theatre, from which Matra and the surrounding neighbourhood have been supplied with stone for building. Colonel Leake thought that the exterior masonry and brickwork which stilt subsist are not older than the time of the Roman empire. Nevertheless, the theatre itself may have existed from an early period, though not originally used for dramatio purposes, but for gymnastio and choral exercises and publio meetings. (Herod., vi. 67.) The centre of the building
was excavated in a hill, but the ground does not afford much advantage compared with the situations of other Greek theatres. The largest diameter, says Sir W. Gall, was 418 feet in length ; tho orchestra is 140 feet wido, and adjoining are two parallel walls about the length of a furlong. In front of it there is a sepulchral chamber carefully built of large quadrangular stones. "Not far from the theatre," observes Colonel Leake, "I found two opposite doors, each formed of three stones, and buried almost to the softit. On one side of these doors is some appearance of seats, as if the building had been a place of public assembly." In another place he found two other similar doors buried in the ground to same height. Another mile is an ancient bridge over the Trypi6tiko, which is still in use, constructed of large single blocks of stone reaching from side to side. There is also part of an old causeway of similar construction at each end of the bridge.
Every part of the site of ancient Sparta is covered with fragment& of wrought atones; and here and there are scattered pieces of Doric columns of white marble, and other relics of ancient buildings. Tho materials of the Roman walls, now nearly ruined, which once sur rounded the principal heights of the city, are formed of similar fragments.
Of Sparta, Thncydides (L 10) observes, that If "it were evaouated, and only the temples and foundations of its buildings left, posterity would bo very incredulous about the extent of its former power, of which no adequate idea would be afforded by the city itself, as it was not embellished with temples and splendid edifices, nor built iu con tiguity, tint in separate quarters." Such was the state of Sparta about D.C. 400; but with the increase of riches in after time., public monuments also multiplied with more rapidity than in earlier ages. These monuments, it appears from Pausanlas, were still remaining about A.D. 200, in a more perfect and uninjured state than those or any other Grecian city except Athens.