Or Sparti, or ∑πAPTI, was the main rival to Athens in antiquity. The two cities could
hardly be more different. Athens
lies on the Aegean Sea in Attica, Sparta sits high in the Peloponnesian
hills. Athens was the preeminent
naval power of the day, Athens boasted the most advanced army. Athenian soldiers received glory from
their victory over the Persians at Marathon. Spartan soldiers gained immortality for their defeat by the Persians
at Thermopile. The Acropolis of
Athens is one of the world’s most famous sites while Sparta’s acropolis lies in
ruins in a grove of olive trees.
When Peracles used money intended for the protection of Greek city states from their Persian enemies to build the Parthenon, Sparta took offense. The 30 year Peloponnesian War that ensued led to the defeat and downfall of Athens.
After wandering through the olive grove that is the acropolis of
Sparta, we scored a large room in the Sparta Inn Hotel and set off to the
museum. There wasn’t much we
hadn’t seen before or didn’t know about except for some fantastic mosaics. Several were still “unpublished” so we
couldn’t take photos, sad because they were easily the best ones yet.
Nearby Mystras took me completely by surprise. It is a “tripartite” Byzantine city,
built on three levels up a steep mountainside, around 400 AD. It’s easy to forget how near Greece is
to Constantinople, capital of the Byzantium. And even though 400 AD seems recent after some of the things
we have seen in Greece, it’s 1000 years older than what we marveled at in England.
We climbed hundreds of steps through streets of ancient
artisans, past churches, cemeteries, around the palace and finally to Hagia
Sofia, the most holy spot in Mystras.
We skipped the fortress with lies above the whole city,
