ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE OF SPARTE

On a hill covered with olive trees, this site (Αρχαιολογικός Χώρος Σπάρτης/Archaiologikos Choros Spartis) is pleasant to visit and fairly well organized. It's the acropolis of ancient Sparta, but you won't see much. This is because the inhabitants of the ancient city built few lavish edifices, preferring a... Spartan lifestyle! In fact, Sparta's most photographed monument was erected in 1968: just before the entrance to the site, the modern stadium welcomes you with a large statue of King Leonidas, who died a hero in the company of 300 valiant hoplites at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC. The plinth is adorned with the famous line ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ ("come and take them") addressed to the Persian king, who asked them to surrender their arms. To the left of the site entrance, the section of defensive wall dates back to the Roman period (from 146 BC): before then, the city was so feared that it didn't see fit to equip itself with ramparts. Next, you'll discover the "circular building" (41 m in diameter), dating from the Archaic period, but whose function remains a mystery.

A theater for tourists! The path to the theater is closed, as the site's most imposing monument is currently under excavation. You have to take another path that runs alongside the ruins of a ^10th-century Byzantine basilica. Here, you can admire the theater from above: it was one of the largest in Greece, with a capacity of 17,000 spectators. However, it was the Romans who gave it its current dimensions (141 m in diameter), not least to accommodate... tourists! In Late Antiquity, organized tours enabled Mediterranean visitors to discover the warrior city, with a show recounting the exploits of its hoplites. The remains of the acropolis' oldest monument (^8th century BC) can also be seen on the heights of the theater: the temple of Athena Chalkioikos, i.e. "Athena of the House of Bronze". Sparta had chosen the same patron deity as its great rival Athens, and derived part of its wealth from the copper mines of Laconia. That's about all there is to see here.

Sanctuaries of Othia and Menelaus. Outside the site, the remains of two other important monuments await you. Firstly, those of the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, 800 m east of the stadium, between the road to Tripoli and the river Eurotas. Orthia, the archaic goddess of nature, was honoured here from the city's earliest days (^9th century BC) and was later associated with the cult of Artemis, with a temple built in the ^6th century BC. It was here that the Cryptid, the initiatory ordeal of young Spartans, began, as they were violently flogged and forced to live in the wild to prove their warrior mettle. The ruins of the Menelaion lie 4 km south-east of the town center. Accessible by road, then by a 1.2 km path, this temple in the Eurotas valley was built around the ^7th century BC in honour of Menelaus, the legendary king of Sparta and hero of the Trojan War. The scattered stones visible today date back to a reconstruction in the^5th century B.C. It was here that the city's heroes and the founders of the Spartan colonies of Taranto and Tyrrhenia in Italy, or Cyrene in Libya, were celebrated.