Loading
Loading


In Search of the Greeks (Second Edition) > Galleries > Sites ordered by name > Sparta

  1. Introduction - Galleries
  2. Maps
    3. Sites by Area
  3.     > Attica
  4.     > The Peloponnese
  5.     > Central Greece
  6.     > Islands
  7. Sites Ordered by Name
  8.     > Athens: Acropolis and
  9.        the theatre of Dionysus
  10.     > Athens: Agora
  11.     > Athens: Kerameikos
  12.     > Brauron
  13.     > Cape Sounion
  14.     > Crete
  15.     > Delos
  16.     > Delphi
  17.     > Eleusis
  18.     > Epidauros
  19.     > Messenia
  20.     > Mycenae
  21.     > Olympia
  22.     > Sparta
  23.     > Tiryns

Sparta

The Spartans are famous for not having built very much, and there are indeed few remains or archaeological finds to see today. However, what does remain is not uninteresting, while it is always important to have a sense of the Eurotas valley, bounded on either side by mountains, since it was this environment which enabled the Spartans to become relatively removed from the rest of the Greek world.

Click on the links below for images of the site.

Resources
  1. The view south into the Eurotas Valley from the Taygetus range. Homer described the region as 'hollow Lacedaemon'
  2. Another view into the Eurotas Valley from the Taygetus range, looking across to the Parnon range
  3. A view of the Eurotas Valley from the Parnon range, with the Taygetus range in the background
  4. The river Eurotas today. Spartan boys apparently had to build beds for themselves with reeds from this river
  5. Another view of the river Eurotas, with the Taygetus range in the background
  6. This statue of Lycurgus stands in modern Sparta, but in truth we have no idea what he looked like, or if he even existed
  7. On the acropolis of Sparta was the Temple of Athena of the Brazen House. This is all that remains of it today
  8. Another view of the Temple of Athena of the Brazen House. According to Pausanias (3.17.1-3), it took its name from the fact that it was largely built of bronze
  9. A number of artefacts from the Temple have been discovered and are now in Sparta's Archaeological Museum
  10. On one side of the Acropolis is a Roman-era theatre. Sparta was a popular destination for Roman visitors
  11. This is all that remains of the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, the setting of an initiation ritual for adolescent boys
  12. A number of grotesque masks have been found at the site, and are now in the Sparta Archaeological Museum. They date to the 7th and 6th centuries BCE and may be ceremonial replicas of the sort of masks used in religious rituals
  13. A grotesque mask
  14. A grotesque mask
  15. A view of the Menelaion, the shrine to Menelaus and Helen on a small hill near to Sparta
  16. Another view of the Menelaion
  17. Next to the Menelaion are the ruins of a Mycenaean-era mansion.
  18. A few miles south of Sparta was the village of Amyclae (modern Amykles). Here there was a shrine to Apollo and Hyacinthus, of which you can see the ruins in this photo. It was the setting for one of Sparta's most important festivals, the Hyacinthia
  19. The shrine to Apollo and Hyacinth sits on top of small hill, with good views into the Eurotas Valley below
  20. Some miles to the east of Sparta in the hills lies the entrance to a cave which some believe was what ancient writers refer to as the Kaiadas chasm. This was a cave into which executed prisoners were thrown
  21. Next to the cave is a large rock, and one theory is that this is the 'apothetae' - the place where weak, sickly or deformed Spartan children were exposed to die