Early History
Located in a fertile, mountain-walled valley, the city-state of Sparta was created by invading Dorian Greeks, who later conquered the countryside of Laconia and Messenia (c.735–715 b.c.). Prior to the Dorian conquest, tradition says that Sparta was an important site of Mycenaean civilization in Greece (c.2000–1100 b.c.), but the Mycenaean ruins that have been found there are not comparable to other significant Mycenaean sites. For a long time the Spartans had no city walls, trusting to the strength of their army for defense against invaders and against their own Laconian and Messenian subjects. In the 7th cent. b.c. Sparta enjoyed a period of wealth and culture, the time of the poets Tyrtaeus and Alcman. After 600 b.c., however, Sparta cultivated only the military arts, and the city became an armed camp, established (according to the official legend) by Lycurgus, in reaction to a Messenian revolt (see Messenia).
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