An Historical Account Of Sparta

下面51due教员组为大家整理一篇优秀的代写范文- An Historical Account Of Sparta，供大家参考学习。这篇文章讲述的是古希腊文明是西方文明的主要来源之一。但古希腊不是一个国家，而是一个由许多城邦或殖民地组成的地区。其中，斯巴达是最重要的城邦之一，也是西方文明的直接源头。斯巴达是一个崇尚军事力量的城邦。本文以不同时期的城市相对位置和形态图为基础，对城市的区位、主要特征和城市历史进行探讨。

An Historical Account Of Sparta

Ancient Greek civilization is one of the main sources of Western civilization. But ancient Greece is not a country, but a region, which is composed by a lot of city-states or colonies. Among them, Sparta is one of the most important city-states and is also a direct source of Western civilization. Sparta is a city state advocating military force. In this article, it is to have a discussion of the city’s location, major characters, and city history, based on maps of the city’s relative location and morphology at different period.

1.1 the city’s absolute location

Sparta is located at the southern end of Laconian plain, southern of the Greek peninsula. Although Sparta was the city-state in the state of Laconia, the city can be used as the name of the whole area as it is the most powerful one(Rutherford,2006).Laconian plain is surrounded by mountains, and only in the middle of it there is a small area of plain. "Sparta" originally meant "plains that can be cultivated." It is also located in the West Bank of the Eurotas River. Thus, Sparta is a strategic fortress surrounded by mountains and guarded by the Taygetus.

As for the latitude, longitude, and altitude of Sparta, its latitude ranges from North 35 degrees to 40 degrees, or more specifically, the latitude of central areas as north latitude 37:05 and longitude ranges from East 35 degrees to 40 degrees, or more specifically, the altitude of central areas as 22:25 degree. In terms of altitude of Sparta, the figure 1 has a very light green color in the middle area of Sparta around the river, which is about 200 to 500 m. And the mountainous areas besides the river is about 1000 to 1500m.   

Geographic location of it is marked by the most favorable agricultural and ecological environment, with fertile and flat land, adequate irrigation in the central region of Sparta. There are also iron ore that almost only existed in Sparta. Such conditions in the resource-poor Greece is a special case.

Figure 1：Geographic Map of Sparta

1.2 identification of the city’s relative location

Greece consists of more than 1,500 islands in the vicinity of the Balkan Peninsula. The coastline is long and the rivers are fast and the swift. The area is lack of open plains, which is a limitation. But the vast majority of wine and olive oil was used to export. A lot of cities also have their own advantages in resources.

Sparta’s relative location is in southern Greece, with a lot of plains. Its south is Asia minor and its north west is Rome, now Italy. As for relative location with sea, it is between Ionian sea, sea of Crete and Aegean sea. But its center---the city area is an inland area, far from sea. As Athens located in the southeast coast of Greece, with the coastline full of twists and turns, and a lot of maritime transport facilities,  Sparta’s relative location is also in the south west of Athens. And around it, there are also a lot of other cities states located in the northern direction of it, such as Kalamata, Mycenae, Corinth, and Argos . In the southern direction, there is Phthia and Cytheren.

Figure 2: maps/diagrams of the city’s situation

(Classical Literature http://jpellegrino.com/teaching/backgrounds/classical-5.html)

1.3  the city’s key morphological characteristics, and urban development based on maps of the city’s morphology at different periods

The ancient Greek city-state of Sparta is formed step by step. Thus it is necessary to identify and have a discussion of city’s key morphological characteristics, and its history (major phases of urban development) with a reference to its maps.

The city of Sparta is located in Laconia, south of Peloponnesian peninsula. About the beginning of the second millennium BC, a group of Greek tribes composed of the  Achaioi came to the Peloponnese. In the mid-2000s, the Achaioi established cities in Laconia, which were under the rule of Mycenaean state. Around 1100 BC, another group of Greek tribes composed of Dorians invaded Peloponnese from the northern part of the Greek peninsula. One of them entered Laconia, destroying the civilization of the Mycenaean era.  They destroyed the original city-states and lived here. This is the Spartan city of Dorians - but It has neither walls nor decent streets. The Spartans refer to the Dorians who come here. The Dorians who entered Laconia were divided into three tribes, which was still at the end of primitive society. From figure 3, it can be seen that those tribes were built in the plain along the river. Beside the three tribes, there were some mountainous areas. In the 10th century BC to the 9th century BC, the five villages together formed into a new political center, which was the Spartan city of Dorians. Dorians living in this area, were known as the Spartans.

Figure 3: maps/diagrams of the city’s internal layout in the 10th century BC to the 9th century BC

(History Of Sparta Map

http://www.lahistoriaconmapas.com/atlas/history-maps/History-of-Sparta-map.htm)

The map on the left is morphology of Sparta in ancient Greece at the beginning when The Dorians entered Laconia and established their rule. Just as Euripides pointed out, Sparta tends to interfere in affairs of neighboring city states, which was recognized then (Powell, & Hodkinson,2013, chapter 1). Form 800 BC to 730 BC, the Spartans gradually conquered western part of the Laconia region. These conquered people living in area around the Spartans and areas near the coast , known as perioikoi (meaning residents of the surrounding area). The Spartans were forcing the conquered residents to give their tribute. The conquerors, who later lived in the southern coastal city, launched an uprising against the Spartans. After the Spartans suppressed the insurgents, they became slaves, were called the Helots. In the middle of the 8th century BC, due to the  increase of social differentiation and population of Spartans themselves , in order to solve the land shortage, Spartans on the one hand sought outside colonial country, and on the other hand invaded the Messenia, known as the first Messenian War (about 740 BC to 720 BC). There were a lot of scholarly study of Messenian Wars recently(Langerwerf, 2010). In the war, the Spartans occupied the whole of Messenia, and its inhabitants became Helots as well. The occupied land was shared between the Spartans and the perioikoi , and the Spartans shared the land of the plains, and the perioikoi got the mountain lands. But Sparta failed to conquer them as a result of barrier of Taygetus and the aroused desire of revolt(Whitby, 2001,chapter 12). About 640 BC to 620 BC, the Messenian people  held uprising as a result of unbearable slavery and oppression (known as the second Messenian war), which hit  the Spartans with a heavy blow, and finally failed. By 500 B.C., Sparta had forced nearby city-states such as Kalamata, Mycenae, Corinth, and Argos  to enter the Peloponnesian League. The yellow area on the map in the figure 4 on the right shows Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. It can be seen that most of the city-states of the Peloponnesian Peninsula formed a military alliance with Sparta. By this, the area of Sparta has been greatly expanded to the mountainous area along the river and plain.

Figure 4：the internal layout of Sparta By 500 B.C after the forming of Peloponnesian League.  

(Classical Literature http://jpellegrino.com/teaching/backgrounds/classical-5.html)

Athens and Sparta are two biggest and powerful city states in Greece. In the late fifth century, there was also a trend of cultural revival in Sparta, according to Plutarch’s writing (Plutarch, Talbert, Scott-Kilvert, & Pelling,2005, introduction). And they formed two conflicting alliances in the fourth century BCE: The Delian Leaague and The Peloponnesian League. The fight between Athens and Sparta took place in the Peloponnesian War, in which Sparta finally defeated Athens and its alliance. The former was composed of Athens and other city-states on the Aegean coast and on islands in the Aegean Sea, which is shown in the green color on the map in figure 4. The Peloponnesian League, with the leader as Sparta, included a lot of city states on the Peloponnesus peninsula, northern areas of Athens and Macedonia, which is shown in red color on the map in figure 4. Sparta's main allies was Thebes, and the Delian League of Athens had support from Argos(Miller, Vandome, Mcbrewster, 2010).  The war lasted from BC 431 years to BC 404 years, in which the two sides had a cease-fire for several times, and the two sides both fought to exhaustion. Although for most Greeks, if Sparta and its allies attack Attika by land, Athens can only fight with  Sparta and its allies for about three years at the most(Cartledge, & Paul. 1977). After defeating the Athens out of Greece in 404 B.C., Sparta began am expansion to “all four points of the compass”(Mavrommatis, 2004, p2). As a result of alliance, the area of Sparta was greatly expanded into Macedonia areas and the southern tip of the Balkans in the central Greece, which was far away from the Laconian plain .

Figure 5：the internal layout of Sparta  in the fourth century BCE

(Classical Literature http://jpellegrino.com/teaching/backgrounds/classical-5.html)

The Peloponnesian War between two rival alliances : The Delian Leaague and The Peloponnesian League lasted about 30 years. When the Peloponnesian War between two rival alliances : The Delian Leaague and The Peloponnesian League ended, the conflicts among Greek city-states did not stop after the Peloponnesian War. The three biggest city-states at that time were Athens, Sparta, and Thebes after Thebes rise as an important power. Being exhausted in the war, the results was that Spartan’s dominance of Greece after the victory in The Peloponnesian War soon was replaced and defeated by the new Thebes , and then was conquered by Alexander the Great of Macedonia. Thus, Sparta has embarked the road of declining. It can be seen in the figure 6 that green standing for Athens has shrink a lot with only a small part of the Aegean coast and some Aegean islands belonging to it. Sparta and its alliance occupied the northern and southern areas of the Peloponnesus peninsula as shown in red color on the map of figure 6. Its part of land of the Peloponnesus peninsula and some coastal areas of Asia Minor was occupied by Thebes. Macedonia and the island of Crete contained smaller city-states.And Sparta was soon defeated by the emerging Thebes in the domination of Greece, after the rise of Macedonia in the north, Sparta lost its influence in Greece.

Figure 6：the internal layout of Sparta after the Peloponnesian War

(Classical Literature http://jpellegrino.com/teaching/backgrounds/classical-5.html)

To sum up, the geography of Sparta is the southern end of Laconian plain, southern of the Greek peninsula, and is also located in the West Bank of the Eurotas River, which good for the development and strengthening of city. At the beginning of the establishment of the city state of Sparta, most of them lived in a large number of tribes, and the city state is gradually formed through the joint production of the village. The establishment of the city-state is also quicken out of external pressure, the increase of migrants and successful resistance to other tribes. Thus, it leads to the need to establish a system that can have a stronger defensive and offensive forces to protect themselves against from other city-states. Based on the forming process of Sparta from the 10th century BC or the 9th century BC to the ending of the Peloponnesian War, it shows a classical pattern of development and decline of city state of Sparta. The city area is increasingly expanding.

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51due为留学生提供最好的作业代写服务，亲们可以进入主页了解和获取更多代写范文提供作业代写服务，详情可以咨询我们的客服QQ：800020041。