Sparta only begins to show signs of…
765 BCE to 754 BCE
Sparta only begins to show signs of settlement in the archaeological record around 1000 BCE, some two hundred years after the collapse of Mycenaean civilization.
Of the four villages that make up the Spartan polis, the two closest to the Acropolis are the originals; the duel kingship peculiar to Sparta may originate in the fusion of the first two villages.
One of the effects of the of Mycenaean collapse had been a sharp drop in population.
Following that, however, there was a significant recovery and this growth in population is likely to have been more marked in Sparta, situated as it was in the most fertile part of the plain.
It is it at this point in the history of Sparta, to be precise the reign of King Charillos, that most ancient sources place the life of Lycurgus, by tradition the founder of the constitution of Sparta, and the lawgiver who designed that city-state's unique social and military structure.
He lived, according to Herodotus, about 900, but later writers, including the biographer Plutarch, date him to the mid-seventh century BCE.
At a time when Sparta is weakened by internal dissent and lacks the stability of a united and well-organized community, the legislation promulgated by Lycurgus establishes the Gerousia, the Spartan Senate; he is also credited with establishing the Spartan system of training, the agoge.
Sparta shares the plain with Amyklai, which lies to the south and is one of the few places to have survived from Mycenaean times; it is likely to be her most formidable neighbor.
Hence the tradition that Sparta, under her kings Archilaus and Charillos, instead moved north to secure the upper Eurotas valley is plausible.
Under Archilaus’s successor Teleclus, Pharis and Geronthrae are taken and, though the traditions are a little contradictory, also Amykla , which probably falls around 750 BCE.
It is probable that inhabitants of Geronthrae had been driven out while the inhabitants of Amyklai had simply been subjugated to Sparta.
This gives Sparta control of the central Laconian plain and the eastern plateau that lies between the Eurotas and Mount Parnon.