When you think of the Spartans you probably think of the epic tale of 300, when the 300 Spartan warriors fought to the death during the Battle of Thermopylae. Whilst this is true there is a lot more to the Spartans then just this one ancient event.

 

You may also get confused, as Spartans are referred to as Laconians, Lakedaemonians and Spartans in historical records. Why you ask? No it’s not just to confuse the hell out of us, believe it or not their is a logical reason. These other names come from the origins of the city-state known as Sparta that is apart of the plain called Loconia (Southern Greece). And the term Lakedaemonians stems from the political unit called Lakedaemon- which will make more sense when we later study Sparta's political structure. But for now just be aware of the many things that a Spartan may be referred to.

 

The Spartans are renowned for their truely unique way of life, compared to the other Greek societies. Their whole purpose or existence revolved around the art of war and it is for this reason that the Spartans dominated the Greek world, up until their loss at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC. We will however, study the society during the height of its existence during 550 BC up until 371 BC.