This is Sparta

That's Sparta to you, baby.

I’ve been here before.

About eight years ago, I was on my way from Delphi to Ancient Olympia and had to change buses in Sparta.  I’d read that New Sparta wasn’t much to look at and this is quite true — it’s a dirty, concrete block, grid city with insufferable traffic and too many stores selling cheap Chinese goods.

Modern Spartans bear no relation or lineage to the iron-willed invincibles who came before them and who earned the right to be called a Spartan by shedding blood.  Ancient Spartans were barred by law from  trade or manufacture and led lives of discipline, self-denial, simplicity, and let’s not forget– brutality.  Their way of life discouraged the accumulation of riches and the discipline of the phalanx demanded that no soldier be superior to his comrades.

Modern Sparta is sluggish, indulgent, spendthrift, and focused on commerce… Leonidas is turning over in his grave.

Leonidas

His tomb.

After centuries of dirt and earth accumulating over the paths once trod by warriors in red cloaks, King Otto of Greece decided to rebuild the abandoned city in 1834.  Ancient Sparta lies buried beneath a lackluster town that whispers nothing of its former glory.  Yet, maybe this is as it should be.  Unlike Athens, Sparta wasn’t a top tourist destination in the ancient world anymore than it is today.

Ancient Sparta saw no need for towers or grand structures to impress visitors.  Its distance from the sea, along with the natural barriers formed by mountains in the east and west made a sudden attack unlikely.  For centuries, it was madness for any rival to willingly meet a Spartan warrior in battle.  The citizens of Sparta were the city’s wall and its glory; their city could not have been more impregnable if it were encased in stone.

As long as you keep all this in mind when you visit Sparta, and take a walk 200 meters from the center, you won’t be disappointed.

The ruins of Ancient Sparta lie just outside the modern city center.  If you have a keen imagination and can pick up the essence of what once was, you won’t be disappointed.

Even if you just love olive trees, you won’t be disappointed.  When I visited the site I was the only person walking among the ruins; just me, the crickets, groves of olive trees, a few crumbling ruins, and a vivid imagining of what came before me.

Acropolis and theatre of Ancient Sparta, with olive grove, New Sparta and Taygetos Mtns. in background.

If you don’t fit any of the above, you’ll be disappointed.

Brutal Diana and her Whipping Boys:

I’ve always thought of the goddess Artemis (or Diana to the Romans) as the “Goddess On The Go”.  She’s the huntress and throughout history has been depicted as if she were about to take flight — flimsy tunic fluttering behind her.  She’s also the goddess of fruitfulness and childbirth, and I think it’s so appropriate that my sister was named after her, seeing as how she had a bunch of children and all. (4)

Sanctuary to Artemis Orthia

The ancients sought to honor another aspect of Artemis–Artemis Orthia–through some horrifyingly brutal practices.  The Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia was where Sparta’s infamous whipping contests were held to honor the goddess.  In these barbaric “games”, adolescent boys, uncomplainingly and urged on by their families, leaned against the altar and underwent diamastigosis or public flogging.  There are accounts of boys perishing on the altar but this is a point of debate among modern scholars, as many believe Sparta had too few soldiers to spare. The boys were expected to keep a Spartan silence throughout the entire ritual, and most of them would have chosen death rather than fail this test in front of their parents.  Those who remained standing until the end were rewarded as altar victors.

It boggles the mind and goes against every natural and protective instinct a parent would normally possess, but this was Sparta.

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