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Sparta

(Encyclopedia)Sparta spärˈtə [key], city of ancient Greece, capital of Laconia, on the Eurotas (Evrótas) River in the Peloponnesus. By the 6th cent. b.c., Sparta was the strongest Greek city. In the Persian ...

Tyrtaeus

(Encyclopedia)Tyrtaeus tərtēˈəs [key], fl. 7th cent. b.c. at Sparta, Greek elegiac poet. Fragments of his martial elegies in Dorian Greek, which were written to spur Spartan soldiers to victory, are extant. An ...

Corinthian War

(Encyclopedia)Corinthian War (395 b.c.–86 b.c.), armed conflict between Corinth, Argos, Thebes, and Athens on one side and Sparta on the other. Angered by Sparta's tyrannical overlordship in Greece after the Pelo...

helots

(Encyclopedia)helots: see Sparta, Greece.

Lysander

(Encyclopedia)Lysander līsănˈdər [key], d. 395 b.c., Spartan naval commander and statesman. Toward the end of the Peloponnesian War he was made admiral and built up the Spartan fleet so that it defeated (407 b....

Cleomenes I

(Encyclopedia)Cleomenes I klēŏmˈĭnēz [key], d. c.489 b.c., king of Sparta after 518 b.c. In accordance with Sparta's policy of helping oligarchies in other states at the expense of the tyrants or the people, C...

Agesilaus II

(Encyclopedia)Agesilaus II əjĕˌsĭlāˈəs [key], c.444–360 b.c., king of Sparta. After the death of Agis I (398? b.c.), he was brought to power by Lysander, whom he promptly ignored. After the Peloponnesian W...

Laconia, ancient region, Greece

(Encyclopedia)Laconia lăsˌədēˈmən [key], ancient region, S Peloponnesus, Greece, bounded on the W by Messenia and on the N by Arcadia and Argolis. On the Eurotas (now Evrotás), the principal river, stood Spa...

Mantinea

(Encyclopedia)Mantinea mănˌtĭnēˈə [key], city of ancient Greece, in E central Arcadia (now Arkadhía). In the Peloponnesian War a coalition led by Mantinea and Argos and urged on by Athens was defeated (418 b...

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