The Ruins of Sparta [6:46]

[transcript]
Introduction
Thucydides famously remarked that if Sparta were to be deserted and only the ruins of its buildings remained, few would believe the city had ever been great. For unlike Athens, it had no spectacular temples or public buildings but resembled a cluster of ancient villages.

Since Sparta's warriors were her walls, the city remained unfortified until the Hellenistic era. In the Roman period, when Sparta was a modestly prosperous provincial center, a few substantial edifices were constructed. Most of these, however, are buried beneath the modern town. All that's visible today are the ruins on the Acropolis just outside the modern center and the nearby sanctuary of Artemis Ortha, looking out over a sea of olives from the Acropolis of Sparta.

The Acropolis was the tallest of the six low hills over which Sparta was built. In late antiquity, when Greece became subject to barbarian attacks, a wall was built around the Acropolis, made like the Valyrian wall in Athens, largely with reused stone. These precautions, however, did not protect Sparta from all Alaric and his Visigoths, who sacked the city in 396, 14 years before. They did the same to Rome.
Agora
Although Roman Sparta was more monumental than its classical predecessor, it was a far less impressive place than Athens, let alone Corinth or Ephesus. Its ruins are correspondingly scanty. Perhaps the most impressive structure then, though not now, was this Roman portico. We're just seeing one end of it here. Built in the 2nd century AD, it was an enormous building longer than the Stoa of Attalos in the Athenian Agora. The portico featured a series of barrel-vaulted shops, now raw masonry, but once faced with marble. A colonnade long vanished stood in front of the shops.

This may be the final incarnation of the Persian Stoa described by Pausanias as a classical monument built with the spoils of the Persian wars. Archaizing features of the design suggest that this may have been the case. During the Byzantine period, a monastery was built into the eastern part of the portico and houses rose over the western side. The descriptively but unhelpfully named round building may have been a monumental tomb, but we have no way of knowing. It was rebuilt during the Roman period and again quite recently, as you can see from that fresh marble.

An alternative candidate for Pausanias's Persian Stoa is this structure a short distance away now known simply as the Agora from the adjacent market square. This was the Basilica of Byzantine Sparta, likely built during or soon after the reign of Justinian. Ahead, as usual, in buildings of this vintage, was the altar and the synth throne on where the clergy sat.
Acropolis
This was the sanctuary of Athena Kolka, Athena of the bronze house. Though only a few foundation blocks survive today, this was among the most important temples in classical Sparta. It derived its name from the bronze plates that sheathed its walls. A few were found by archaeologists.

It was here that Pausanias, the Spartan regent who led the victorious coalition at the battle of Plataea, took sanctuary after being accused of conspiring with the Persians and was eventually starved to death. It was here too that the famous Leonidas statue in the museum was discovered.

Sparta's first monumental theater was built in the Hellenistic era. The current structure, however, dates to the reign of Augustus and was remodeled several times in the Roman period. It was the largest theater in Greece after that of Megalopolis.

The scale is hard to appreciate now since so much stone was plundered to build late antique walls. Parts of the seating, however, still survive. The first Roman stage was a wooden structure on wheels. Parts of the track on which it moved are still visible, though not from here. A permanent stone stage building was built in the reign of Vespasian.

There are a few dozen inscriptions on the east retaining wall, not unfortunately visible from this vantage point. They record the careers of the modestly prosperous officials who presided over Roman Sparta. An especially interesting example was set up by a certain Udokamus who records that he never in three missions to buy grain for Sparta was forced to throw any cargo overboard by storms. Besides the usual dramatic performances, the theater was used for the ball games played by young Spartans.
Temple of Artemis Orthia
The Spartan youths put on a more grim performance at the sanctuary of Artemis Ortha just outside the city. Ortha was a local goddess only later assimilated to Artemis. The sanctuary dedicated to her, which began to develop during the archaic era, remained in use for a millennium. More than 100,000 votive figures made of lead have been recovered here along with clay masks that likely imitate those used during initiation ceremonies. The foundations of the temple of Artemis are visible here. This was a Hellenistic building. Two predecessors stood on the same site. Around are the remains of a near amphitheater built in the 3rd century AD.

This was constructed so that thousands could watch one of Roman Sparta's most gruesome spectacles. Every year during games held in honor of the goddess, Spartan boys underwent the whipping contest, a trial of endurance to see who could be flogged the longest without crying out. Those who endured the torture in silence were awarded a bronze sickle. Not infrequently, the whipping was severe enough to kill. Although it masqueraded as an ancient contest instituted by Lycurgus, the contest was nothing more or less than a bloody exercise in nostalgia performed for the tourists who came to see what remained of the glory of Sparta.
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Messene: The City that Defied Sparta | 9:21
Scenic Routes to the Past | 52.7K subscribers | views | December 26, 2025
Introduction
For three and a half centuries, Messenia, the most fertile part of the Peloponnese, was dominated by Sparta. The inhabitants of the region were reduced to the status of helots, serfs compelled to grow crops for their Spartan masters. Despite several attempts at revolt, the helots remained in bondage until the great Theban general Epaminondas broke Sparta's power and invited the former helots to settle in the new city of Messini.

Messini was founded in a hollow of Mount Itham, the ancient heart of Messenia, and it was once fortified to fend off Spartan attacks. It thrived for the next century before succumbing to Rome with the rest of Greece. Most of its extant buildings date to this period of independence, though almost all were repaired or remodeled under the Romans. Messini is only partially excavated, with only some of the principal public buildings and the magnificent walls still visible, but these are impressive enough. We'll start with the theater, still partially buried, though the scale is obvious.

Agora
Introduction
We're now walking into the vast expanse of the Agora. Here on the north side of the Agora was the fountain house of Arsenui, fed by a natural spring, and the absolutely enormous north stoa. Into that stoa was set in the later Roman period a small bath just ahead of us. Pedestals inside bore the statues of athletes, later replaced by likenesses of the emperors. You can see the hypocaust system of the baths there. And now looking down the length of the north stoa.
Theater District
The theater was renovated several times. It originally had a wooden stage building that moved on wheels. This was replaced by a series of progressively grander permanent stage buildings. Beside the theater was a sanctuary of the Egyptian gods Isis and Serapis. Remarkably, this seems to have included a series of subterranean spaces, apparently for initiation ceremonies. Beyond that sanctuary was a Roman-era bath.

At the beginning of the 7th century, at the very end of Messini's ancient history, this basilica was built using spolia from earlier buildings. It functioned through the Frankish period. These columns belonged to the west side of the Agora. Beside them was this space which appears to have functioned as a meat market.
Temple of Messene
At the center of the Agora was the temple of Messini, the mythical queen said to have ruled Messenia before the Spartans came. Later, her name was given to the city. It was a Doric peripheral structure with an elaborate gold and marble cult statue. Part of the architrave from the temple of Messini, all done in the best Doric style. Check out that sweet triglyph action.

Beside the temple of Messini was the Bouleuterion or city council chamber, built soon after the foundation of the city. It appears to have resembled a reduced version of the Telesterion at Eleusis. This curious structure, known perhaps facetiously as the treasury, appears to have functioned as a monumental jail cell. It was here that Philip of Macedon, the famous Macedonian general, was kept and finally poisoned. Sorry cat, got nothing for you. But hey, be immortalized on YouTube.
Asclepieion
The Asclepieion was Messini's most important sanctuary. So large that it was long mistaken for the city's Agora, it was a self-contained complex centered on the healing god's large Doric temple. Here we have a better view of the central temple and the stoas that surrounded it. A small shrine of Artemis was incorporated into the peristyle of the Asclepieion. The goddess's colossal cult image stood on the pedestal just ahead of us.

This is the base of a marble offering table. And here beside it is the ancient equivalent of a cash box into which worshippers could cast offerings. As usual, the main altar was in front of the temple.

A short distance from the Asclepieion is this remarkable fragment of a Roman-era mansion. The vestibule ahead of us had a mosaic floor. The reception room beyond was paved with opus sectile cut marble. Just downslope from the sanctuary of Asclepius was the Herthysian, where the 12 Olympian gods were worshiped alongside Ammon, the city's founder.
Gymnasium
We now enter the vast stadium gymnasium complex used throughout the life of the city. The stadium was redeveloped in the later Roman period for use in beast hunts and gladiatorial combats. That wall you see towards the back dates to that renovation. In the peristyle around the stadium were the rooms and running track of the gymnasium. This was the monumental entrance or propylon to the gymnasium peristyle.

On this side is a very strikingary monument. A closer look at that tomb. It was built in the 3rd century BC for eight members of an aristocratic Messenian family. It remains almost perfectly preserved despite tomb robbers. The scale of this complex really is impressive. You couldn't ask for a better statement of the pivotal importance of athletics in ancient Greek life.

On one side of the gymnasium complex was the polystra. This was the central courtyard of that space. Like the rest of the gymnasium, it was used principally by the youths, the Messenian youth who spent three years training here, not only in athletics but also in literature. The stadium from below beside the wall added by the Romans. This remarkable temple-like structure was actually a mausoleum used by an elite Messenian family from the 1st to the 3rd century.
Walls
A highlight of any visit to Messini is the vast wall circuit which ran for more than 5 miles along the slopes and up to the summit of Mount Itham. The space inside the walls, far larger than the settled area, enclosed fields that could continue to produce food in the event of a siege. The walls, with facings of square blocks and a core of rubble, averaged about 7 ft thick. Let's come around to the outside.

The two-story towers, originally they were at least 30, were designed to hold catapults. The best preserved of the four known gates is the Arcadian gate, which opened onto the road to Megalopolis. The huge monolith we'll see in a moment separated the two doors of the inner gate. There it is, where the car is coming in now. We'll conclude here, looking from the walls down toward the fertile plain of Messenia and the heart of ancient Messini.
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