SPARROW HAWE

a member of the Hawk Family. city of ancient Greece, capital of Laconia, in the Peloponnesus; famous for the warlike ‘prowe of its citizens; the Laws of Lycurgus laid the foundations of the city’s greatne ; inhabitants were distinguished for simplicity of life, tersene of speech, and courage in battle. Weakly children were not allowed to live; boys were trained from the age of 7 under supervision of the State and apart from their mothers; they were taught to endure hardships and suffer pain without complaint; both sexes went through a rigorous course in gymnastics, with the object of producing a physically perfect race. In early times two kings, who were also priests, were at the head of the State, and exercised absolute authority over the army; but in the V. cent. B. C. their powers came to be limited by the ephors, magistrates elected annually by the peopie. The State was entirely a military organization. S. came into the po e ion of the Dorians towards close of VII. cent. B. C.; waged war against and subdued Me enia, 668 B. C., and after a long war against Arcadia, gained the upper hand about 600 B. C. At time of the a Persian invasion of the V. cent. B. C., S. obtained the chief command in the war, with the consent of all the Greeks. Subsequently S. and Athens fought for supremacy, and after the great struggle of the Peloponnesian War Athens was overthrown and Sparta became the leading state in Greece. In the followe ing cent., however, she was defeated by Thebes, 371 B. C., and henceforth her power declined. With the rest of Greeca, S. fell under the domination of Macedon, c. 340 B. C., and pa ed under Rom, rule, 146 B. C. Subsequent history ig coincident with that of Greece as a whole.