Laconia Prefecture Home of the Spartans

"all the Greeks know what is right but only the Spartans do it properly" - Plutarch

HIGHLIGHTS: Medieval Mystras(!), near Capital Sparta, modern Monemvasia (!) is next best! General scenery good all round!

"-to express ones self as do the Spartans, (i.e. laconically) is an indication of philosophy" - ancient Greek saying.

Laconia Prefecture is the source of the English word "laconic", i.e. meaning brevity, or one who speaks little. Laconia is also home to ancient and modern Sparta.

Where, as every school child knows, things were made tough by design; to harden one for the rigors of life and battle. The ancient Spartans had to be tough as they were out to conquer all their neighbors.

However they were a free minded and uncompromising culture. Here was the center of the ancient Dorian peoples who brought knowledge of iron with them from the north.

No doubt their superior iron weapons contributed largely to their conquests. But all True Spartan men did was train to fight. They didn't farm or do anything but train.

Laconia Prefecture is mountainous and dominated by two parallel ranges; The Taigestos (highest of the Peloponnese at 2,521M) and the Parnon range.

It has an area of 3,640 km and a population of 100,000. The climate is warm and dry with moderate rainfall. The river Eurotas runs through the prefecture. Its headwaters are near the village of Skortsinos and are called the Longara Springs. In many coastal areas, particularly the Mani, the mountains run direct to the sea forming a steep treacherous coast line of wild and stark beauty. This austere grandeur is the hallmark of the Doric order.

The Dorian invasion and the foundation of the city-state of Sparta was to effect the whole of the Peloponnese. Sparta was organized on the oligarchic principle and its laws laid down by Lykourgos giving its free citizens an unusual kind of equality. Its primary goal was to foster a particular type of mentality and morality.

They make a big to do about the Mani... I cant see why. The Mani is the left peninsula in the map below. The Turks even left it independent. When I went there I figured out why. There is nothing there worth stealing. Its desolate, stark, boring. There are a couple of beaches.