What is "sparta"

capital of Laconia in ancient Greece, famed for severity of its social order, the frugality of its people, the valor of its arms, and the brevity of its speech. Also for dirty boys, men vain of their long hair, boxing girls, iron money, and insufferable black broth. The name is said to be from Greek sparte "cord made from spartos," a type of broom, from PIE *spr-to-, from root *sper- (2) "to turn, twist" (see spiral (adj.)). Perhaps the reference is to the cords laid as foundation markers for the city. Or the whole thing could be folk etymology.

Sparta was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece.

Sparta may also refer to:

Sparta is an American rock band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 2001. Founding members Jim Ward (vocalist/guitarist) and Tony Hajjar (drummer) are also members of post-hardcore group At the Drive-In. Keeley Davis (guitarist) is the former frontman of Engine Down.

Sparta (, Spártī), is a city in Laconia, Greece. It lies at the site of ancient Sparta. The municipality population in 2011 was 35,259, of whom 17,408 lived in the city itself.

Sparta is a genus of moth in the family Geometridae.

Sparta is a collaborative album by M.O.P. and production team Snowgoons released on November 22, 2011 on Babygrande Records. The album is entirely produced by the Snowgoons.

Sparta ( Doric Greek: ; Attic Greek: ) was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece. In antiquity the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (; ), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. Around 650 BC, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece.

Given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars. Between 431 and 404 BC, Sparta was the principal enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War, from which it emerged victorious, though at great cost of lives lost. Sparta's defeat by Thebes in the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC ended Sparta's prominent role in Greece. However, it maintained its political independence until the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC. It then underwent a long period of decline, especially in the Middle Ages, when many Spartans moved to live in Mystras. Modern Sparta is the capital of the Greek regional unit of Laconia and a center for the processing of goods such as citrus and olives.

Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which completely focused on military training and excellence. Its inhabitants were classified as Spartiates (Spartan citizens, who enjoyed full rights), mothakes (non-Spartan free men raised as Spartans), perioikoi (freedmen), and helots (state-owned serfs, enslaved non-Spartan local population). Spartiates underwent the rigorous agoge training and education regimen, and Spartan phalanges were widely considered to be among the best in battle. Spartan women enjoyed considerably more rights and equality to men than elsewhere in the classical world.

Sparta was the subject of fascination in its own day, as well as in the West following the revival of classical learning. This love or admiration of Sparta is known as Laconism or Laconophilia. At its peak around 500 BC the size of the city would have been some 20,000 – 35,000 free residents, plus numerous helots and perioikoi (“dwellers around”). At 40,000 – 50,000 it was one of the largest Greek cities; however, according to Thucydides, the population of Athens in 431 BC was 360,000 – 610,000, making it unlikely that Athens was smaller than Sparta in 5th century BC. The French classicist François Ollier in his 1933 book Le mirage spartiate ("The Spartan Mirage") warned that a major scholarly problem regarding Sparta is that all the surviving accounts of Sparta were written by non-Spartans who often presented an excessively idealized image of Sparta. Ollier's theory of the "Spartan mirage" has been widely accepted by scholars.

The Sparta was a three-stage rocket that launched Australia's first Earth satellite, WRESAT, on 29 November 1967. The first stage was recovered from the Simpson Desert in 1990 after being found in searches by explorer Dick Smith the previous year.

Sparta used a surplus American Redstone as its first stage, an Antares-2 as a second stage, and a BE-3 as a third stage. Several Spartas were launched from 1966–67 from Woomera Test Range in Woomera, South Australia as part of a joint United States– United Kingdom–Australian research program aimed at understanding re-entry phenomena, and the U.S. donated a spare for the scientific satellite launch into polar orbit.

In Greek mythology, Sparta was the daughter of Eurotas by Clete. She was wife of Lacedaemon (also her uncle) by whom she became the mother of Amyclas and Eurydice of Argos (no relation to Orpheus' Eurydice). The city of Sparta is said to have been named after her; however, the city was often called Lacedaemon as well. The two names were used interchangeably. Sparta was represented on a sacrificial tripod at Amyclae.

She was said to be a fair and beautiful maiden worth defending and protecting at all costs. Villages and armies would often shout her name before entering battle representing what they were fighting for.

Category:Laconian mythology Category:Spartan princesses Category:Queens in Greek mythology Category:Princesses in Greek mythology

ΣPARTA is a semiannual educational magazine dedicated to the ancient Spartan and Greek history, with a readership that mainly represents teachers, historians, re-enactors, and other individuals interested in the history of ancient Greece. The managing editor is Robert Montgomerie.

The magazine is published by Markoulakis Publications. It is mainly distributed in the United Kingdom, but was also marketed in Europe, Canada, and the USA. The magazine initially appeared as an open access magazine entitled Sparta's Journal in 2004. The first print issue of ΣPARTA had June 2006 as cover-date.

Sparta Atletik is a Danish track and field club, and one of the leading clubs in Denmark.

The club is known for winning the major part of the individual medals at the Danish championships, and having the most athletes represented on the different national teams.

The most famous athlete ever to have represented Sparta is the former 800 metres world record-holder and current 1000 and 800 metres distance indoors world record-holder Wilson Kipketer, who won gold medals representing Sparta in three successive editions of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, and took medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Kipketer's 800 meters world record on an outdoor track stood undefeated for almost 13 years.