019. The Expansion of Sparta

EPISODE 19 THE EXPANSION OF SPARTA

The time has come to let Sparta out of the box, so to speak. Trapped as I've kept it since this series began, my aim was to explain the myths and early traditions of this city before moving on to it's inexorable dominance of ancient Greek battlefields. This episode sees the beginnings of that supremacy as in the space of a mere century it's horizon's expand from a loose collection of 4 villages on the right bank of the Eurotas, to a real Peloponnesian powerhouse.

Join me, as I take a look at that expansion in detail. The period for the Greeks was one of migration due to increased populations. With advent of iron forged agricultural tools new lands became viable for the harvests and with the extra food supplies came a flourishing populace. Whilst other Greek cities resorted to state sponsored colonisation of the Mediterranean and Black sea coasts to ameliorate the burden of over-population, the Spartan's aggressively increased their holdings at the expense of their neighbours. Winning for themselves the largest tract of land controlled by any city-state in antiquity, and in the process indenturing an entire people to work it's fields.

We'll take a look at the individual factors contributing to Spartan policy, and follow it through it's natural evolution into regional hegemony within Laconia and Messenia. Finally, we'll step through the 20 year conflict known as the first Messenian war. A bitter entanglement that saw one culture emancipated from manual labour and set down the path of life on a permanent war footing, and another submitted to the oppressive yoke of slavery.

I hope you all enjoy the episode and take care.

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