SPAR'TA (Lat., from Gk. Zydprn, Sparte, Doric Ma-dpra, Sparta), also LACEDAMON. The capital of Laconia, and the most famous city of the Peloponnesus. It occupied partly a group of low hills on the right bank of the Eurotas, and partly the intervening plain. Its appearance in its palmicst days was by no means equal to its renown, for it was little better than a group of five villages, with plain and even mean private houses, though there were a few notable public buildings, such as the shrine of Athena or the Bronze house, whose walls seem to have been lined with bronze, probably decorated with re liefs. The passes which lead into the valley of the Eurotas are so easily defensible, and the distance from the sea is so great, that Sparta continued without walls down to the end of the fourth century n.c., and, indeed, was not regularly fortified till the time of the tyrant Nabis (n.c. 195). The five districts or villages, Cynosura, Limme, Mesoa, Pitane, and Dynie, were united in the worship of Artemis Orthia and Athena, and had a common agora, or market place, on which stood the public buildings—the senate-house, and the offices of the ephors and.other magistrates. Famous public places were the Choros, where the youths danced in honor of Apollo; the Dramas, or race-course, where the gymnastic ex ercises took place, and where were also temples of the Dioscuri and other gods; and the Phi/anis/as, a broad level space, shaded by plane-trees, and reached by two bridges where the Spartan youth, divided into two bands, met in strenuous personal conflict. Probably the so-called Acropo lis, which was crowded with temples, was situated on the hill to the northwest, on whose southern side the theatre can still be traced. Not far from here excavations conducted by the American School at Athens in 1S92 and 1893 brought to light the foundations of a circular building, which had contained a colossal statue, and may have been identical with one mentioned by Pau sanias as containing statues of Zeus and Aphro dite, said to be a foundation of Epimenides of Crete.
After the Dorian conquest of Laconia the su preme power always remained in the hands of the pure-blooded Dorian families of Sparta. The farmer population and the lesser Dorian towns seem to have been reduced to Perked (q.v.), or to Helots (q.v.). Their situation, amid a subject population largely in excess of their own num bers, practically forced upon the Spartans a strict military discipline, and this formed the basis of their whole system. Sparta was little else than a permanent camp. At the birth of a child, the elders decided whether it was strong enough to he reared. A weakling was exposed on Mount Tay getus. After the seventh year the boys entered on a course of severe training, designed to de velop physical strength and courage. as well as the uncomplaining endurance of hardship and cunning such as might serve the soldier. Music and the dance were added, and perhaps the ele ments of letters. Girls, too, passed through a training in gymnastics and the dance, that they might be fit consorts and bearers of strong chil dren. Sentiment played but little part in the Spartan system, and the function of marriage was only the perpetuation of the State. At the age of twenty the young Spartan was liable to active service, was admitted to the public meals, and was now allowed to marry, though he could only obtain stolen interviews with his bride, since he was still obliged to live with his companions. At thirty lie became a full citizen. Discipline. how ever, was not relaxed. lie must still eat regularly at. his Phiditiu. or mess, and contribute regularly to its support from the produce of his farm, which was cultivated by Helots. The government was a development from the old Homeric form of the king and council of elders. In Sparta there was a double kingship. The two lines claimed descent from the twin sons of Aristodemus, Eurysthenes and Procles, but were named from the second gen eration, Agis and Eurypon, Agithe and Eurypon tithe. These two kings were the religious repre sentatives of the State, on whose behalf they of fered stated sacrifices, and also exercised limited legal functions. Their chief duty was, however, the command of the army, over which in early times they exercised unlimited power. though in the fifth century B.C. they were subject to the ephors and the Assembly. In the field their power was
absolute. Associated with the kings was a coun cil (the Gerousia) of 28 elders, men Over 60 years of age, chosen for life from certain noble families by acclamation in the popular assembly. They discussed and prepared the orders to be sub mitted to the assembly, and also sat as a court of criminal jurisdiction in crimes against the State, especially where the kings were involved. Once a month the assembly of the citizens (Apella) met at the call of the kings, though in the fifth century B.C. the ephors presided. The body seems ordi narily to have simply voted on the business pre sented to it. Speeches were in general delivered only by the officials, and there was certainly no general discussion. Into this government were in troduced, at an early date, the ephors, who, during the period of Spartan greatness, were the real rulers. (See EPHORI.) They exercised a 'general oversight over the community and maintained the authority of the established order. Elected for one year, they had the power to call any magis trate to account and even to suspend him from office. They presided over the Gerousia, and could impeach any citizen before that court. Their short term of office and accountability to their successors were really almost the sole lim its to their power. Under the iron discipline of this constitution, which was attributed to the mythical Lyeurgus (q.v.), the Spartan State gradually extended its power until it had gained complete control over Laconia and Messenia, and the recognized leadership of a somewhat loosely joined confederacy, which included most of the Peloponnesus outside of Argos. At the time of the Persian wars Sparta was the leading State in Greece, hut the constitution was not adapted for military operations requiring prolonged ab sence from home, and with the transfer of the war to Asia the Spartans soon withdrew from the scene. (The leading events other than do mestic in the history of Sparta have been given under GREECE.) The creation of the fleet which de cided the Peloponnesian War put a severe strain upon the ancient customs, and long absences in foreign lands, often with free opportunity for luxury, rendered men unwilling to submit to stern discipline on their return. The hegemony of Greece, which had fallen to Sparta on the over throw of Athens, was used solely as a means of aggrandizement and profit, and in a short time led to renewed wars. In B.C. 371 the defeat at Leuctra at the hands of the Thebans broke forever the power of Sparta, and the disintegration, which had begun with naval empire and the accumulation of the gold and silver, forbidden by the ancient laws, went rapid ly forward. The attempt of Agis IV. (e.244-240 n.c.) to reform the State was defeated and Agis put to death, but Cleomenes III. (e.235-219 n.c.) carried through a serious of sweeping changes, which increased largely the number of citizens, and reestablished the Lyeurgean order. After his death Sparta was ruled by the tyrants Maehani das and Nabis, was then forced into the Achman League, and finally with the rest of Greece passed under the rule of Rome. Treated with favor by the Romans, the city prospered; the old laws of Lyeurgus were once more placed in force, and the old training practiced at least nominally, though the forms of government seem to have been much altered. In the thirteenth century the Acropolis was fortified by a wall, which may still be traced. The Frankish lords of the Peloponnesus built a strong fortress at Mistra (1248-49) on a spur of Taygetus, west of Sparta. and its superior security led to the aban donment of the ancient city. After the Greek Revolution a new town of Sparta was laid out as the capital of the Nomarehy of Laconia.
Consult, on the topography: Curtius, Pelopon nesus II. (Gotha, 1852) ; Leake, Travels in the Norco (London. 1830) ; N. E. Crosby, "Topography of Sparta," in Journal of A rclavology. vol. viii, (Princeton, 1893) ; Frazer, Pausanias, vol. iii. (London, 1898). On the an cient constitution, consult: Hermann, Lehrbueh der price/Ilse/len Antiquitaten, vol. i., 6th ed., by V. Thumser (Freiburg, 1S89) ; Busolt, "Grieeh ische Staats- and Reehtsaltertiimer." in Al Handbuch der Hassischen Altertummissensehaft (Munich. 1892), both of which contain full bibliographies.