A Notorious Aversion to War

Sparta is in Lakonia. Spartans didn't talk much, hence the English word "laconic". One scholar curiously described Spartans as "notoriously" reluctant to go to war. The reason for their reluctance was because they had come from northern Greece, enslaved the locals in the 8th. century B.C. and were fearful of a slave revolt. The Olympics, also founded in the 8th c. (776 B.C.), were religious occasions dedicated to Zeus. The women's to his wife, Hera. Spartans avoided the wrestling because hardly anyone can always win, and Spartans didn't surrender. Sparta is in the news of late because of Thucydides who wrote "The Peloponnesian War" in the 5th c. B.C. Sparta was the established power facing the rising power of Athens. Sparta's King Archidamus was cited on 18 March 2003 in the House of Commons urging restraint over the invasion of Iraq. Athens was defeated in 404 B.C. following a calamitous war. Thucydides believed future wars would be caused by similar circumstances. In 1914 Britain and her allies were faced by the rising power of Germany. Now the US, soon to have a new (no shrinking violet) President has to cope with the rising power of China.... P.S. Sparta went into decline in the 4th c. B.C. and was defeated by her erstwhile ally Thebes.