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1. The Geographical Setting:

The Geographical Setting:
Sparta located in southern part of Greece, in the peninsular called the Peloponnese.
o Situated within the southern part of this peninsular called Laconia in the Eurotas
River valley.
Eurotas valley was a fertile plain.
Surrounding Sparta:
o Gytheon Sea to the south.
o Mt Taygetus to the west.
o Parnon Ranges to the east.
o Arcadian Mountains to the north.
These provided natural protection for Sparta.
The Eurotas River flowed through Sparta but did not provide communication with
Gytheon.
o It was linked to two other rivers that led to Olympia + Elis.
Mt Taygetus:
o Dominated the valley.
o Had a thick forest.
o Home to many wild animals > used for hunting by the Spartans.
o Base of the mountain had many springs, olive groves + fruit trees.
Port of Gytheon:
o Small + did not have enough land to support a town.
o Provided Sparta w/ links to Crete, North Africa + some eastern Mediterranean
towns.
o Had an abundant supply of murex shellfish > used to acquire the reddish-purple
dye.
Spartas nearest neighbour was Tegea (north-east).
o Had to pass through this to access rest of Greece.
A fault line ran through the Eurotas Valley > caused severe earthquakes.
Around 750 BC, Sparta invaded Messene to acquire more land.
o The Messenians were reduced to helots.
o Joint territory of Messenia + Laconia = Lacedaemon.
o Land of Messenia was very fertile > ideal for crops + grazing horses.

Resources:
Limestone + marble quarried from mountains surrounding Sparta.
Wood retrieved from forests, e.g. base of Mt Taygetus.
Iron mined by the Spartans.
Barely + other crops were grown b/c of the fertile land/plains.
o Barley = most common grain.
Olive trees planted.
o Olive oil produced > used for lighting, cooking, health, cleaning + toning the skin.
Orchards were cultivated.
Grapes were grown.
o Produced into wine.
Sheep + goats grazed on hillsides.
o Sparta renown for its cheeses made from goats milk.
o Laconian sheep produced valued wool.
Bees were kept in hives and Spartan honey was famous.
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Pigs kept and then eaten.
Hides of animals were tanned > turned into leather items.
Wild animals (e.g. boar) hunted in forests.
o Xenophon: hunting was the noblest occupation for the Spartans.
Horses were bred > important to Spartans.
Spartans had access to fish + seafood w/ the port at Gytheon.
o The murex mollusc was retrieved and harvested to produce a purple-red dye.

Significant Sites:
Thucydides who visited Sparta, wrote: If Sparta was deserted and only its temples and
its ground plan left, future generations would never believe that its power had matched
its reputation
o Sparta was very simple and lacked significant sites.
Pausanias disagrees; suggests there were many fine temples + monuments, e.g. Temple
of Artemis Orthia, the Menelaion, the Amyklaion, etc.
Unusual that Sparta contained 5 villages:
o Pitane, Limnae, Kynosoura, Mesoa, Amyclae.
o These 5 villages jointed together in the 9
th
century BC to make Sparta.
Does not appear there was a town centre where all political, social, economic + religious
activities took place.
There was a low acropolis, but main temples + shrines were not built on it.
o Was a market + council meeting place at the base.