Sparta in the Roman Empire (it became a tourist trap)Sparta ceased to be an important power after th

Sparta in the Roman Empire (it became a tourist trap)Sparta ceased to be an important power after the Battle of Leuctra when they were crushed by Thebes in 371 BC. In 338 BC they tried to make a comeback but were soundly smacked down by Alexander the Great.  Yeah, you know that story where King Philip II (father of Alex the Great) sent a message to the Spartans saying, “You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city.”, and the Spartans responded with only one word; “if”.  Yeah that probably never happened, at that point the Macedonians could squash Sparta like a bug and eventually did when they started making trouble.  You can read about that here…https://peashooter85.tumblr.com/post/187846155867/what-was-sparta-up-to-during-alexander-the-greatsOn 192 BC Sparta was lost it’s independence when it was defeated and annexed by the Achaean League.  On 146 BC the Achaean League was defeated by the Roman Republic, and thus Sparta became Roman territory. The Romans were fascinated by Spartan culture and thus made Sparta a free city, an independent city state that was permitted to have it’s own laws and customs, although a Roman official served as overseer to remind the Spartans who was really in charge. In 31 BC a wealthy Greek named Gaius Julius Eurycles led a small force of Spartan ships in support of Octavian at the Battle of Actium.  When Octavian became Augustus, the first Roman emperor, he was rewarded by being installed as the client king of Sparta.  Basically he was a puppet king like King Herod.  He was officially the ruler of Sparta, but in reality the Romans were in charge and he did their bidding.  Eurycles would found a dynasty the ruled Sparta for the next few centuries.  Spartan culture and customs would become a part of Roman pop culture. The emperor Caracalla was so big into the Sparta fandom that in 214 AD he took a 500 man cohort of Spartan hoplites with him to serve as his bodyguards. The Euryclid Dynasty capitalized on this legacy by reorganizing their city into what was essentially an ancient Roman tourist trap.  The city had most of the things Romans enjoyed such as games, gladiatorial combat, theater, baths, brothels, and taverns. Like most other tourist hotspots there was probably a proliferation of tacky souveniers and the like.  However, what interested the Romans the most was Spartan culture, especially their strange militaristic warrior traditions.  Ancient Spartan traditions bascially become a show for wealthy Roman patricians who paid good money to see them. The hottest show in town was the Spartan coming of age ceremony held at the Temple of Artemis Orthia were a Spartan boy would be whipped to near death, at which point if he surived he would be considered a man and a warrior.  The Spartans rebuilt the temple into a theater so that large audiences could view the ceremony.  Because seeing children being beaten to near death is the height of entertainment amiright!?With Sparta’s reputation as a popular tourist destination the city thrived, prospered, and grew wealthy.  Then in the mid to late third century the Crises of the Third Century happened.  The Crises of the Third Century was a five decade long period where the empire was racked with civil war, power struggles, rebellions, and foreign invasions.  The crises would devastate the economy and would herald the eventual fall of the Western Roman Empire.  Then in the 4th century the empire converted to Christianity. The pagan rooted traditions of Sparta went from popular, to gauche, to detested, and were finally banned by Theodosius in 381 AD when public pagan ceremonies were outlawed. Sparta’s gravy train was over, and the city went into decline as a result.  When things couldn’t get any worse, the Goths led by King Alaric sacked the city in 396 and it’s inhabitants were taken prisoner and sold into slavery. The city would never recover. Sparta ceased to exist entirely sometime in the Middle Ages. -- source link

More pics about