Lucky Dip
Which region did the Spartans conquer and enslave?
Messenia
Name the island peninsula in southern Greece where ancient Sparta was located
Peloponnese
Name the port in Sparta
Gytheum
Who is our main admirer of Sparta?
Xenophon
I am currently reading this book... Sparta: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower by Andrew Bayliss
Ms Hayward
Who did the Spartans believe was their 'father'?
Herakles
Name the region that Sparta is located in.
Laconia
How many villages are located in ancient Sparta?
Four villages (komai) with a fifth around 6km further south
Name our two Spartan sources
Tyrtaeus and Alcman
The male is by nature superior and the female is inferior ... one rules and the other is ruled
Aristotle
At what date was the Battle of Leuctra where the Spartans lost control of the Hellenic world?
371 BC
Name the river that runs through Sparta
Eurotas River
How large is the plain of Sparta?
5km west to east and 14km north to south
Which ancient Greek historian has the most objective account of Sparta?
Fear not the number of the enemy, nor be afraid, but let each man hold his shield straight towards the front
Tyrtaeus
What is the 'Spartan mirage'?
Refers to a long tradition of historical writing and other representations of Sparta that have perpetuated a range of stereotyped and distorted images or myths about the Spartan way of life
What is the name of the dye that is a key natural resource in Sparta?
Purple-red murex dye
What were the three most visible features of the Spartan polis?
Temple of Artemis Orthia, the Menelaion and the Amyklaion
What is the difference between the writings of Tyrtaeus and Alcman?
Tyrtaeus mainly wrote about the Spartan military whereas Alcman wrote about a culturally sophisticated Sparta (food, wine, love, intellectual interest)
A man who teaches a woman to write should know that he is providing poison to an asp
Menander
Why did Ms Hayward describe studying Sparta like a jigsaw puzzle?
Most of our evidence is incomplete, biased or written long after Sparta’s height. We have to piece together the story from whatever fragments survive.
Name the three mountains in Sparta AND what direction they border (e.g., west)
Taygetus (W), Parnon (E) and Arcadian (N)
What is the name of the modern historian that says 'to the ordinary Greek, the town looked more like a cluster of rural villages than a city'.
Fitzhardinge
What did Aristotle condemn in ancient Sparta?
He condemned the fact that women came to own 40% of Spartan land and comments on the prevailing greed and luxury that had become part of the Spartan way of life
If Sparta was ever deserted, people would find it hard to believe that it had ever been as powerful as it was represented as being
Thucydides