Sparta

What is there today

The modern town built over it, natural disasters and raids have left few traces of ancient Sparta; most of what has been found is on the acropolis, a low, broad hill that was the political, religious and economic centre of the city (el.wikipedia). The site takes in the hill and the height of Palaeokastro to the east, and the operator lists the Roman theatre, part of the Temple of Athena Chalkioikos, traces of an Archaic colonnade, the remains of a monumental colonnade of the 2nd century AD, the so-called Circular Building, a Byzantine church and the basilica of Saint Nikon, and the late Roman fortification wall. The Circular Building is a retaining wall of Greek origin round a natural rise, partly restored in the Roman period (en.wikipedia; el.wikipedia).

The theatre, on the south-west slope of the acropolis, was built of local white marble around 30–20 BC, at the turn from the Hellenistic to the Roman period, and has been linked with Eurycles, the ruler of Sparta who was a friend of the emperor Augustus. At the end of the 1st century AD it was given a permanent marble stage of the Corinthian order, a gift of the emperor Vespasian; before that its stage was a wooden one on wheels, kept in a shed in the western entrance passage. The seating, about 140 m across, is estimated to have held up to 16,000 people, and the horseshoe-shaped orchestra is about 25 m across. It was used until the 4th century AD (el.wikipedia, theatre). The orchestra was paved in alternating white and red marble, and honorary inscriptions survive in the eastern entrance passage (el.wikipedia, Sparta). The British School at Athens has excavated it in several campaigns since 1906, but it is not fully dug (el.wikipedia, theatre).

The late Roman wall: its remains have been uncovered at the foot of the acropolis, behind the town’s stadium. After the earthquake of 375 and under the threat of Gothic raids, the Spartans built a high wall enclosing only the acropolis (el.wikipedia, Sparta); en.wikipedia dates part of it probably to the years after the Gothic raid of 262, and the operator gives the 3rd–4th century.

In the town, five minutes’ walk from the central square, the House of Mosaics shows two floors from neighbouring Roman villas: the Abduction of Europa, of the second half of the 3rd century AD, and Orpheus playing the lyre, of the early 4th. Protected since the end of the 19th century by a shelter, they were reopened to the public in 2020. Entry is free; it opens 09.00–14.00, except on Tuesdays (the operator).