Ancient Sparta Timeline

(c. 900 BCE – 192 BCE)

Ancient Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, renowned for its powerful military, austere lifestyle, and unique social system. Located in the Peloponnese region of Laconia, Sparta developed a society centered on discipline, warfare, and obedience. Its citizens, known as Spartiates, underwent rigorous training from childhood through the agoge system, while helots (state-owned serfs) worked the land. Sparta famously led the Greek coalition against Persia at Thermopylae and later rivaled Athens in the Peloponnesian War, which it won in 404 BCE. More Less

Go to: Timeline | Event List | Key Facts | Directory

Rise of Sparta

Earliest temple foundations at Sparta

900 BC - 800 BC

Close beside a later temple were found the remains of a yet earlier temple dating from the 9th or even the 10th century BC, showing the antiquity of religious activity at the site.

Image source: Sparta

Votive offerings deposited from the 9th to 4th centuries BC

900 BC - 300 BC

Votive offerings in clay, amber, bronze, ivory and lead dating from the 9th to the 4th centuries BC were found in great profusion within the precinct range, supplying invaluable information about early Spartan art.

Construction of the Menelaion shrine

800 BC

Built around the early 8th century BC east of Sparta by the river Eurotas on the hill Profitis Ilias, the Menelaion was a shrine associated with Menelaus. The Spartans believed it had been the former residence of Menelaus.

Image source: Menelaion

Period of lawlessness and civil strife in Sparta

800 BC - 600 BC

Between the 8th and 7th centuries BC the Spartans experienced a period of lawlessness and civil strife, later attested by both Herodotus and Thucydides.

Lycurgan Reforms and land division into 9,000 portions

750 BC

Allegedly as part of the Lycurgan Reforms in the mid-8th century BC, a massive land reform divided property into 9,000 equal portions, forming the basis of the Spartan citizen body's supposed equality.

Image source: Lycurgus

Spartan expansion across Laconia and Messenia

750 BC - 650 BC

During the seventh and eighth centuries BC Sparta expanded its territory, an expansion whose seriousness was later reflected when enemies breached Spartan lands for the first time since this period.

Sparta becomes foremost land military power in Greece

700 BC - 371 BC

During the 7th century BC, Sparta rose to become the most prominent land military power in the Greek world, a status it retained until its defeat at Leuctra in 371 BC.

Image source: Spartan army

Older temple foundation beneath the 2nd-century temple

600 BC - 500 BC

A temple dated to the 2nd century BC rests on the foundation of an older temple of the 6th century BC, revealing successive phases of sacred construction at Sparta.

Foundation of the Peloponnesian League

550 BC

In the 6th century BC Sparta founded the Peloponnesian League, establishing its hegemony over most of the Peloponnese.

Image source: Peloponnesian League

Spartan Hegemony and Decline

Land concentration among a tiny elite

450 BC

By the mid-5th century, land had become concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite, and the notion that all Spartan citizens were equals had become an empty pretence.

Spartan hegemony at its peak

404 BC - 371 BC

At the peak of its power in the early 4th century BC, Sparta had subdued many of the main Greek states and even invaded the Persian provinces in Anatolia (modern day Turkey), a period known as the Spartan hegemony.

Construction of the city wall of Sparta

400 BC - 200 BC

The city wall, built in successive stages from the 4th to the 2nd century BC, was traced for a great part of its circuit, which measured 48 stades or nearly 10 km (6 miles).

Defeat of Sparta at Leuctra

371 BC

Sparta's defeat at Leuctra in 371 BC ended its status as the most prominent land military power in the Greek world, which it had held since the 7th century BC.

Image source: Battle of Leuctra

Plato describes Spartan women's education

360 BC

Plato, in the middle of the fourth century BC, described women's curriculum in Sparta as consisting of gymnastics and mousike (music and arts).

Image source: Women in ancient Sparta

Sparta annexed by the Achaean League

200 BC - 150 BC

Nonetheless, Sparta tried to reclaim its hegemony in the Peloponnese several times until it was annexed by the Achaean League in the early 2nd century BC.

Image source: Achaean League

Legacy and Modern Reception

Eusebius composes the Chronicon

300 AD - 325 AD

Eusebius of Caesarea's Chronicon (early 5th century AD in its later reception) was heavily relied upon by Orosius and Isidore of Seville for chronological knowledge of antiquity.

Image source: Chronicon (Eusebius)

Hesychius defines Agiadae as a place in Lacedaemonia

400 AD - 500 AD

Hesychius of Alexandria's Lexicon (5th century AD) defines Agiadae as a 'place in Lacedaemonia' named after Agis, preserving memory of Spartan geography.

Image source: Hesychius of Alexandria

Orosius writes Historiarum Adversum Paganos

416 AD - 418 AD

Orosius's Historiarum Adversum Paganos (5th century AD) became a key source for later writers such as Isidore of Seville, transmitting accounts relevant to ancient history including Sparta.

Image source: Orosius

Isidore of Seville writes the Etymologiae

600 AD - 636 AD

Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae (7th century AD), an etymological dictionary relying heavily on Orosius and Eusebius, may capture the actual transition in how ancient places like Sparta were remembered.

Image source: Etymologiae

Paganism persists in parts of Laconia

900 AD - 1000 AD

According to Byzantine sources, some parts of the Laconian region remained pagan until well into the 10th century AD.

Image source: Mani Peninsula

Modern Sparta re-founded by decree of King Otto

1834

Modern Sparta was re-founded in 1834 by a decree of King Otto of Greece, reviving the name of the ancient city.

Image source: Sparta (modern city)

Lakedaimona serves as a provincial name until 2006

1834 - 2006

Lakedaimona was until 2006 the name of a province in the modern Greek prefecture of Laconia, preserving the ancient name of the Spartan state.

Image source: Laconia

Hitler recommends imitating the Spartans

1928

Adolf Hitler praised the Spartans, recommending in 1928 that Germany should imitate them by limiting 'the number allowed to live'.

National Socialists admire Spartan ideals

1933 - 1945

In the 20th century, admiration of Sparta developed into admiration of Spartan ideals by the National Socialists in Germany.

François Ollier publishes Le mirage spartiate

1933

The French classicist François Ollier in his 1933 book Le mirage spartiate (The Spartan Mirage) warned that a major scholarly problem is that all surviving accounts of Sparta were by non-Spartans who often excessively idealised their subject.

Image source: Laconophilia

Archaeology and Excavation

Stamatakis founds the local museum at Sparta

1872

The remaining archaeological wealth consisted of inscriptions, sculptures, and other objects collected in the local museum, founded by Stamatakis in 1872.

Image source: Archaeological Museum of Sparta

American School partially excavates the round building

1892 - 1893

Partial excavation of the round building at Sparta was undertaken in 1892 and 1893 by the American School at Athens.

Ancient buildings visible at Sparta before modern excavation

1900 - 1910

Until the early 20th century, the chief ancient buildings at Sparta were the theatre, the so-called Tomb of Leonidas, the foundation of an ancient bridge over the Eurotas, ruins of a circular structure, late Roman fortifications, and several brick buildings with mosaic pavements.

British School begins thorough exploration of Laconia

1904

In 1904, the British School at Athens began a thorough exploration of Laconia, launching a new era of systematic archaeological study of the region.

Image source: British School at Athens

Excavations at Thalamae, Geronthrae, and Angelona

1905

In the year following the start of the British School's exploration of Laconia, excavations were made at Thalamae, Geronthrae, and Angelona near Monemvasia.

Excavations begin in Sparta itself

1906

In 1906, excavations began in Sparta itself, uncovering major structures and transforming knowledge of the ancient city.

Museum enlarged

1907

The local museum founded by Stamatakis was enlarged in 1907 to house the growing collection of inscriptions, sculptures, and other finds from Sparta.

Sanctuary of Athena Chalkioikos located on the acropolis