The following summary of the topography is taken from Pausanias: —The Agora, or public) square, which was in the north-wcat of the city, between the theatre and the acropolis, contained the council home of the senate and the offices of the principal magistrates. The most remarkable building in this part of the city was the Persian portico, originally built of the spoils taken in the Persian war. It was ornamented with statues, in white marble, of some of the Persian generals, including that of Mardonius ; and also with one of Artemiala, the queen of Hallearnamms, an ally of Xerxea. The Agora also cou tained shrines of Julius Caesar and the emperor Augustus. A part of it was known by the name of the chorus, or dancing-place, io which young men danced at the games in honour of the Dorian god Apollo. In its immediate neighbourhood were various statues and temples. Southward from the Agora an a street called Aphette, along the lino of which was a number of public monuments, including a temple of Minerva Keleuthsitt, with a statue said to have been dedicated by Ulysses. At the end of the street, close to the city walls, was is temple of Dictynua, or Diana, and the royal tombs of the Eury pont ides.
The street in which the Skims was situated also led out of the Agora, a little eastward of the preceding street, and ran nearly parallel to the river, but at the distance of nearly half a mile. It extended to the walls, and crossed the Knakion by a bridge, of which there are still some remains. The Skims was an ancient place of assembly, of is circular form, and with a roof shaped like an umbrella. (Paueau., 12, 8.) Along this street also were various temples, statues, and altars, created In honour of the tutelary divinities of Sparta and its heroes. In connection with these, Pausanias also mentions a quad rangular structure, surrounded with porticoes in which second hand goods were sold. To the west of the Agora was a cenotaph of Brasidas, and near it • splendid theatre of white marble; opposite to which were the monuments of Pausanias and of Leonidas; near the latter was a pillar inscribed with the names of those who fell at Thermo pvlse, with the names of their fathers.
'There was a place called Theomelida at Sparta, in which were the tomb. of the royal house of the Agidai. In the same quarter was the temple of Diana Isabra, or Pitanatis, and those of other divinities. Not far off, and on the banks of the Enrotas, was the Dromus, or racecourse, which contained two gymnasia. The Dromus was also embellished with various statues and temples. A little ontaide of the Denims, Pausanias was shown the site of the house of Menelaus, ooe of the Grecian leaders at Troy. At the south-east of the Dromus
was the Platanistea, which was nearly surrounded by running water, and so called from the plane-trees growing there. Two bridges formed the approaches to it, on one of which was a statue Lycurgue,.and of Hercules on the other. Like other parts of the it several architectural remains in the time of Pausaniast In another part of the city was the decorated public-hall, with various chapels dedicated to heroes, about it. Not far from the theatre, he adds, was a temple of Neptune Genethlius; and, after advancing a little, there was a small height, on which was an ancient temple, with a wooden statue of Venus in armour, and having an upper story 'sacred to Venus Morpho.
Lastly, there were temples of Diana Orthia and Isatona in the place tnrrsd Limmeum, not far from which the Acropolis was probably situated. The Lecedtemonians had not a citadel of conspicuous elevation, like the Csdmeia at Thebes and the Larissa at Argos; but as there were several hills within the city, the highest of these was called the Acropolis. It contained, amongst a great number of other buildings, the temple of Minerva Chalcioccus (that is, of the bronze house), begun by Tyndareus, and afterwards made of bronze, on which the actions of Hercules and of Castor and Pollux were worked in relief, together with other representations, of which the largest and most admirable were the Birth of Minerva and the figures of Neptune and Amphitrite. Of the other monuments in the same locality we shall only mention a bronze statue of Jupiter, which Paueanine says was the oldest extant of that material; it was formed of several separate pieces hammered together with nails.
Sparta was divided into five local tribes—the Pitanatre, in the centre; the Limnates or Marshmen, north-west; the Messoatee, south east ; the sEgidre, west; and Cynosurensea, south. The general form of the city was semicircular, nod its circumference was about six Roman miles. It was not regularly fortified till the time of the Roman interference in Greece: it was completely surrounded with walls by order of Appius, the Roman legate. (Pausan., vii. 9, 3.) Two hundred and fifty years afterwards, when Pausanias visited Sparta, both walls and gates were in existence: no traces of them are visible now.
Constitution and Government.—This was of a very mixed nature, consisting of three or even four distinct elements, namely, royalty, a council of elders or senate, a general assembly, and, in later times, the Ephoralty.