Esparta

Of the early history of Sparta we rely on very few legends. It is said to have been founded by Lacedaemon, the son of Zeus and Taygete, who married Sparta, the daughter of Eurotas.

From Homer we also know that the "koili Lacedaemon" (hollow Lacedaemon), the territory between the mount Taygetos and Parnon, had as king Menelaos, the younger brother of Agamemnon and husband of Helen, which was abducted by Paris to Troy and thus starting the long and painful famous war. Around 1200 BC, by the marriage of the daughter of Menelaos Ermione with the son of Agamemnon Orestes, the kingdoms of Argos and Sparta were united. The findings from excavations testify that at this time, unlike the later Sparta, a rich culture had developed here. Around 1100 BC, the Dorians came and conquered the territory (Archaeology favors a date for Dorian settling around 950 BC). Tradition has it, that the Heraclidae brothers, descendants of the hero Hercules, Kresphontes, Temenos and Aristodemos tried to conquer Peloponnese. Aristodemos was hit by lighting and died at Naupactos, leaving behind his twin sons Eyresthenes and Prokles. His brothers crossed the gulf and landed at Achaia. There was a battle with the forces of the monarch of Peloponnese, Tisamenes, and they were victorious. When the Dorian phalanx came in the territory of Lakonia and Messene, it was guided by Kresphontes, who inhabited the rich plain of Pamesos. There was a constant quarrel between the Dorian chiefs, Kresphontes and Theras, to share the territory. Theras, the brother of Aristodemos wife, who was guardian to her twin children after the death of her husband, wanted to take the rich Messene, but Kresphontes and his brother Temenos, who was ruling Argos, played a trick on him. They arranged to throw in the water two small tiles, with the names of Kresphontes and Theras written on them and the one which would surface in the water, would win Messene, the other the less rich Laconia. Kresphontes tile was baked in the fire, while Theras was left in the sun and when both were thrown into the water, Theras tile went to the bottom and Kresphontes tile floated and thus he took Messene. During Sparta's history, the habitation center in the Eurotas valley had changed many times, but the Dorian city which was comprised from five villages, occupied the territory of today's city of Sparta. We know only the names of the four, Pitane, Limnai, Mesoa, Kinosoura. The fifth was probably the conglomeration of the villages, which Spartans conquered later, Pilane, Selacia, Aigitida, Phari, Amikles. Sparta in the 8th and 7th century BC was open to foreigners. She had good relations with Samos, which helped her in the war with Messenia, and also with Cyprus, Rhodes, Cyrene, etc. She was a highly cultured city, with her own architects, who build the famous temple, the brazen house of Athena. The arts were highly developed with celebrated sculptors in wood, potters, metal workers, weavers, leather workers, many of them foreigners. Spartan musicians, dancers and singers were renowned. Sparta was also famous for the purple dyed clothes. From 720 BC to 576 BC, she had 46 Olympic winners out of 81 total victors. But during the 6th century the arts progressively started to decline. Lykurgos laws eventually strained Sparta.

Lykurgos 776 BC

Lykurgos (as the legend says) was the son of the king Eumenos. After the death of his father, his older brother Polydektes took the throne. Not much later, he also died and Lykurgos became king. The widow of his brother, an ambitious and unhesitating woman, offered him to marry her and kill her unborn child. Lykurgos, knowing her character and being afraid for the life of the child, pretended to accept her offer. He said to her to bear the child and he would disappear it, as soon as the child was born. But when the time came, he took the infant boy at the Agora, proclaimed him king of the Spartans and gave him the name Charilaos (Joy of the people). When the widow learned what happened, she started plotting against Lykurgos, who left Sparta in order to avoid bloodshed. He first went to Crete and then to Asia and Egypt and later to Libya, Spain and India. In every country that he visited, he studied their civilization, history and constitutions. After many years Lykurgos returned to Greece and visited Delphi to question the oracle, if the constitution he had prepared to apply in Sparta was good and received approval with the answer that " [...]I know not whether to call you human or divine, but I incline to believe, Lykurgus, that you are a god". He then returned home and found his nephew Charilaos, a grown man and king of Sparta. In order to persuade the Spartans to accept his laws, which demanded a lot of sacrifices, he bred two small puppies, the one indoors with a variety of foods and the other he trained it for hunting. He then gathered the people and showed them that the untrained dog was completely useless. But if Lykurgos succeeded to persuade the poor people, he did little for the rich, who tried everything to oppose him. One of them, a youth named Alkander, in the Agora tried to hit him with his stuff and when Lykurgos turned his head, he was hit in the eye and lost it. Lykurgos did not prosecute him, but took him as his servant, giving him the opportunity to discover his character. Indeed Alkander became later a devoted disciple. When his laws were accepted, he made Spartans swear that they would not be changed until he returns and left again. He never came back, making sure that his laws would not change. He died at Delphi and according to some in Crete and it is said that before his death, he asked his body to be burned and the remains to be scattered in the wind. Lykurgos thus did not permit even his dead body to return.

The Constitution

The hard fought Messenian wars would not have been won, without the legislation of Lykurgos, which most of all targeted the discipline and inuring to hardships of the citizens. According to the rettra or combact, which Lykurgos brought from Delphi, the Spartan Senate (Gerousia) was consisted from twenty eight men, at least 60 years old, elected for life and the two kings. A hundred years later, when the Gerousia became tyrannical, was dismantled and they were replaced by five Ephors (overseers). He also arranged for periodical assemblies of the Spartan people (Apella), for people over 30 years old, in the area between the river Knakion and the bridge Babyka, though they did not vote, nor were permitted to discuss the issues, but only accept or reject them loudly. Lykurgos, in order to avoid strife in the city, he managed to persuade the people to give their land property and then he divided it in equal shares. He also assigned equal lots of land to the Perioikoi. In other laws, he forbade the use of money in gold and silver and in their place issued iron money, too heavy and of very little value. Also Spartans were not permitted to build their houses with other tools, except the axe and the saw. The unwritten laws of Lykurgos most of all targeted eunomia (good application of the laws), but at the same time they had the seeds of aggressiveness. In a period of few years after they came in use, Sparta conquered almost all of Laconia. The important city of Amyklai, after a long desperate siege was captured around 750 BC, but its people were treated well.

First Messenian War 743 - 724 BC

The causes of the Messenian wars were two incidents, as Pausanias tells us, although there is no doubt that the real reason was the rich and fertile plains of Messenia, that Spartans wanted to conquer. The first incident occurred in the borders of Laconia and Messene, where there was a temple of Artemis Limnatis, in which both Spartans and Messenians were celebrating. In the midst of the dance of Spartan virgins, Messenians rushed and took the women. King Teleklos of Sparta, who tried to hinder them, was killed. It was said later that all the Spartan women committed suicide. But according to the Messenian version, king Teleklos had dressed up young men as virgins, with concealed daggers. When their plot was discovered, Messenians after a fight killed Teleklos. Anyway the war did not start immediately after this event. The second incident happened with the Spartan Euphaenos and the Messenian Polychares, a distinguished citizen and an Olympic victor in Stadium, 764 BC. Euphaenos, who had been trusted with the care of Polychares cows, sold them and later killed his son who came to inquire. Polychares, who was unable to find justice in Sparta, started to kill every Lacedaemonian who passed the borders. After these incidents, Spartans demanded from Messenians to deliver Polychares, but in vain and so the war started. Alkamenes, the son of the king Teleklos of Sparta, in a dark night surprised the Messenians and entered the city of Ampheia, killing everybody. From Ampheia, the Spartans were making constants raids, but they did not succeed to conquer any other cities. The king of Messenia, Euphaes, fought them with vigor, but for four years no progress had been made, by either side. During the fifth year, a big battle took place, which ended indecisive, but after this the Messenians retired to the fortified mountain of Ithome. In the meantime an epidemic fell in Messene, killing many people and Messenians in their distress sent a citizen named Tese at Delphi, to ask about the outcome of the war. The oracle told them to sacrifice a maiden chosen by lot, from the house of Apetidae. The lot fell to the daughter of Lyciskos, who refused to obey and went to Sparta. A leading citizen then named Aristodemos, offered his own daughter, but the youth who was in love with her, declared that she was carrying his child. Aristodemos killed his daughter, opened her body and showed to everyone that this was a lie. After the sacrifice Messenians took courage and attacked the disheartened by the event Spartans, who for six years postponed any invasion. During the thirteen year of the war, the Spartan king Theopompos marched against Ithome and another battle took place, but again without a victor. When king Euphaes was killed in action, Aristodemos took his place. Five years later another battle took place, in which Corinth took the side of Spartans and Arcadians and Sikyonians the side of Messenians. King Aristodemos won a decisive victory over the Lacedaemonians, who were driven back in their territories. Later things turned against Messenians. Aristodemos after a dream, in which his daughter appeared showing to him her wounds, slew himself at her tomb. Shortly afterwards and during the twentieth year of the war, Messenians abandoned Ithome, which was raised to the ground by the Spartans. The defeated Messenians were punished severely and took an oath, that they would never revolt and they would deliver to Sparta every year half of their agricultural products. Many families fled to Arcadia and the priestly to Eleusis. Those who stayed in the country became helots. This was the end of the first Messenian war. Not long after the annexation of Messenia (708 BC), Sparta founded a colony at Tarentum in South Italy and it seems that the motive was political. A group called themselves Partheniai (children of unmarried mothers), who were not recognized as citizens, attempted revolution and Sparta deemed necessary that the best solution was to send them away.

Second Messenian War 685 - 668 BC

Some years later Messenians revolted and their leader Aristomenes in a daring move entered Sparta at night and offered a shield in the temple of Athena. Spartans after this event went to the oracle of Delphi, which gave them the answer "to take an Athenian adviser". Spartans asked from the Athenians a general and they sent them Tyrtaeos, who was poet and lame from the one leg. Tyrtaeos with his poems encouraged Spartans and helped them to win the war. During the war the leader of Messenians, Aristomenes, was made a great hero and many stories talk about him. According to the legend three times Aristomenes sacrificed to Zeus Ithomatis, the so-called Hecatophonia, reserved only to the warrior who had killed with his own hands one hundred enemies. Three times he was captured by the Spartans but he managed to escape. His last capture occurred in a battle between him and many Spartans, in which he was wounded all over his body, but he was still fighting, until a stone found him on the head and fell. He was captured along with fifty others and for punishment were thrown into the deep pit Kaeadas, of the mount Taygetos. All the others were killed, but Aristomenes fell upon the wings of an eagle and survived. When he realized, that there was no way to get out from this abyss, he laid down and covered himself with his cloak, waiting to die. Three days later, during the night he heard a soft sound and in the darkness show a fox eating the corpses. He managed to catch the fox from the tail and he was guided by her to a small hole, which he opened further and passed through. Immediately he went to the city of Eira, which was besieged by Spartans. Passing from their camp, he killed many of them in their sleep and plundered the tents of the generals. Some time later, in a stormy night and with the help of an informer, the Spartans entered Eira. There was a hard battle, Messenians fought desperately, the women too, throwing tiles to Spartan soldiers, but at the end they were defeated. Aristomenes with many others managed to brake the Spartan lines and took the women and children in Arcadia. Immediately he chose five hundred men from Messenian volunteers and with the help of three hundred Arcadians decided to take Sparta by surprise, now that most of its army was away. They were ready to move, when they discovered that the king of Arcadia, Aristocrates, had sent a messenger to the Ephors, informing them about their plan. The treacherous king was killed in the square of the city by the Arcadian people with stones and his corpse was thrown out of Arcadia. The Messenians moved then to Kyllene and from there to lower Italy, where they founded the new city of Messene. Aristomenes did not follow them and went to his brother in Rhodes, where he died from bitterness. The Messenians who did not leave, became Helots and thus ended the second Messenian war.

Argos The war of six hundred

Around 720 BC the Spartan army under the king Nikadros with the help of township Asine, ravaged Argolis. Argives did not forget this and not much later took revenge destroying totally Asine. In their turn the Spartans annexed Kynouria, which formed part of the dominion of Argos. In 547 BC, the Argives attempted to recover the territory, but instead of a full combat they agreed with the Lacedaemonians, to decide the outcome of the war and the annexation of Kynouria, with three hundred men each. The conflict of the six hundred chosen soldiers was so fierce, that only two Argives survived and one wounded Spartan. The two Argive hoplites, Alcenor and Chromios, left to give the news of their victory, but the Spartan Othryades managed to spoil the dead bodies of the enemy and then killed himself, being ashamed to return to Sparta. Both sides claimed the victory and a full battle took place not much later, in which the Argives were defeated.

Wars with Tegea

Spartans attempted various expeditions against Arcadia and after a long struggle managed to occupy the southern part of her. But they were totally unsuccessful in the wars, with the city of Tegea. They were loosing battle after battle and in the reign of the Spartan kings Leon and Agesikles (580 BC), they carried pompously chains in order to enslave the Tegeans. They met though with disaster, loosing totally the battle and their soldiers were putted in the very chains, they had brought. Spartans in their distress asked the help of the Delphi oracle, which advised them to obtain the bones of Orestes (son of Agamemnon). The oracle even directed them to find the remains of the hero at Tegea and Spartans with a skillful stratagem succeeded to carry the holy remains home. When that happened the tide of the war turned. The proud Tegeans lost every battle and finally acknowledged the supremacy of Sparta, but they were never reduced to subjection and continued to be masters of their city, becoming only dependant allies.

Kleomenes I

Kleomenes came to the throne of Sparta around 520 BC. In a rivalry between Kleisthenes of Athens and Isagoras, he was called by Isagoras to help. Indeed Kleomenes forced Kleisthenes and his family to leave the country, but when he expelled five hundred more families and tried to revive the constitution, the Athenians revolted and besieged Kleomenes in the Acropolis, who immediately surrendered and left from Attica. He then assembled an army from Sparta and with allies marched toward Athens, without telling them that he wanted to install Isagoras as tyrant in Athens. But when the army came to Attica, the Corinthians learned the purpose of the expedition and abandoned the enterprise. The second king of Sparta, king Demaratos, who had joined the expedition refused also to go further and returned home and thus the expedition collapsed. This gave the opportunity to Athens to attack the Thebans and Chalkidaeans, who were ravaging Attica and defeated them both. In Sparta, after the kings quarrel, a new law was passed that in the future only one king would command an expedition. They also summoned the League and proposed to restore Hippias in Athens, who had been a friend of Sparta and had come from Asia for the meeting. Again Corinthians and other allies rejected the plan. Around 505 BC, a war between Sparta and Argos took place, but the reasons are unknown.

Resumed and modified from: http://www.sikyon.com/Sparta/history_eg.html