Sparta, city without walls, is situated in the south of the Peloponesse. It already existed in the Mycenaean period, and is seen by Greek literature as one of the most important cities of that period. So far no Mycenaean palace has been found however. There are only traces of destruction which date from somewhere around 1200. With the coming of the Dorians a new era started for Sparta, as well as for the rest of Hellas. The Polis Sparta, which would dominate Hellas together with Athens, evolved out of a synoikismos from four villages. Around the year 750 BC the village Amyclae was added to Sparta, but not after a long and bloody war.

The political situation.

The Spartan society existed of three classes at the time that it had conquered Laconia completely. The Spartans formed the upper class, they were the only citizens who had a right to speak, and they called themselves the equals. There were only about 9000 of these Spartans. A lower social class was the perioeci, which means neighbours. The name already suggests that they were no full member of the society, and this is true as they were economically seen independent, but not in a political way. They had no right to speak, no own Polis, and were forced to serve in the magnificent Spartan warmachine. The third and the lowest class existed of helots. The roots of this group are not certain, but it is commonly believed that they had lived in the Spartan area before the Dorians arrived. They were enslaved by the Dorians and came with the ground as public property: such a case of rightless situation was not seen in Hellas outside Sparta. Each year the helots were symbolically declared the war, as enemies they were enslaved, and as slaves they were still the enemies.

As any other city in Hellas Sparta had to face the consequences of a rapidly growing population. Most Poleis decided to found new cities through the Mediterranean, but Sparta hoped to solve the problems in a different way. During the first Messian war, which lasted from 735 till 716, they conquered a part of the fertile plains of Messenia. This resulted in an increasing number of helots, and thus in an increasing food production. Shortly after this first Messian war Sparta founded its only colony outside Hellas. It was called Tarente, and was founded in 706 very likely by half-Spartans from the village Amyclae. The motives were very likely of a political nature. These Spartans had less political power than the other equals, as the village of Amyclae became later then the other four villages a part of Sparta.

During the first half of the seventh century BC Sparta's position was seriously threatened by arch-enemy Argos. At the battle of Hysiae at 668 Sparta was even defeated by Argos. The situation became even worse as the helots of Messenia suddenly revolted. After thirty years, from 650 till 620, the Spartans managed to suppress this revolt which is called the second Messenian war. At a certain moment the situation had seemed so bad that they had asked Athens for help. However, when the Athenian army arrived the Spartans did not trust them, and sent it back immediately. This was the start of the peculiar relationship between both cities.

 
Isolation.

In the rest of the seventh and sixth century Sparta gained power constantly, and not only because Argos lost power simultaneously. After Messenia was completely conquered during the second Messian war Sparta changed its foreign politics. This decision formed the basis of the Spartan thinking for the rest of its history, and was directly influenced by the second Messian war. Because of a lack of Spartans, who formed the elite of the army, Sparta refrained as much as possible from any foreign military actions. Sparta placed itself voluntary in an isolement. The suspicion against foreigners, and the refusal to introduce coins shows that Sparta was afraid of changes as every change could distort the balans, and thus was a threat to the nation.

This meant a sudden and radical change in the Spartan society: it turned into a complete militaristic city. Children were taken away from their family at the age of seven, and placed under the supervision of an adult Spartan till they became eighteen. An intensive military training followed till the age of 30, when the man became a full member of Sparta. The eatgroups were much more important than the family, which was seen as a tool to preserve the number of Spartans. These groups were clubs of men who were together as well in Sparta as on the battlefield. Each member of such a group had to pay a yearly contribution in natural from the fields which were worked by the helots, whom where given to him together with the land after military deeds. If he could not pay this contribution then he lost his citizenship, and was no longer seen as an equal. This was the worst that could happen to a Spartan.

The reason for this sudden change in social and political life was most likely the desire to focus at keeping the helots and allies in line, who together majorly outnumbered the Spartan army. The second Messian war had shown dangerous this situation was. Sparta did manage to control both groups, but a result of this was that it stayed behind at the rest of Hellas when it came to culture during the classical age. Remarkable is that Sparta was seen as the almost ideal city by several philosophers, among whom Plato. Indeed did Sparta get the closest of all Greek Poleis to the Polis-ideal of self-sufficiency, military superiority and social and political equality. The autarchy was realised by minimising the needs, while the military superiority was possible as the Spartans were all professional soldiers because they did not have to work the land themselves. Equality was mostly a myth however, but you would not have heard any of the real Spartans complain about this.