Sparta, the capital of Laconia In the history of ancient Greece the name of Sparta looms large and bellicose: a society that practiced infanticide, a society either cursed by self-deprivation or dignified by self sacrifice. The modern city on ' this site, a peaceful provincial town of 16,000 inhabitants, laid out in a grid system with tree-lined streets in a lovely setting, makes it difficult to make the mental link with the past.

Conceived and built in the nineteenth century, this town also differentiates itself by name ---it is Sparti(in Greek), not Sparta. Considering that Sparta was the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece for half a millennium, it comes as a surprise that only scanty archaeological remains of this erstwhile powerhouse exist.

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