Sparta (Sparti)

Sparta is a city built on the site of the famous ancient city of Sparta.
The capital city of Lakonia Prefecture. This city had an intensely militaristic tradition in ancient times, hence the word "spartan".
The characteristic feature of Sparta , which differentiates it from other ancient Greek cities , is that until the late Hellenistic period was not a city with an urban center , or Asty . Until then remained tied to an old settlement pattern of urbanization in closed villages , or kosmos ( κατά κώμες ), which had ceased to exist in other Greek cities since the eighth century. It consisted of four settlements : Pitane , Limnes , Mesoa and Cynosura which together extended over a wider area than that occupied by the modern Sparta . The villages were settlements integrated with each other , and covering a sanctuary. The most important sanctuary of Athena was Pitane Chalkioikos , to Limnes was Artemis Orthia . The villages had equal participation in military and religious events in the political life of the city. The settlements , which sites were easily detected and are Pitane Limnes , sites and Cynosura Mesoa are uncertain. Pitane extended in the north- west of the city and included the hill on which stood the sanctuary of Athena Chalkioikos .
It was the home village of the royal family of Agiadai , where Pausanias saw their graves. Limnes was located in the eastern part of the city, with the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in its most southern sector . It was the cosmos in which resided the royal lineage of Eurypontidi . Cynosura Mesoa and extending respectively in the south and south- west of the city .
The unification of the four urban cosmos in a single city was a slow process that began with the perimeter of the cosmos and the surrounding area with the defensive wall during the second half of the third century BC Sparta acquired the form of asty , ie completing the integration of its master plan, only in the first century BC as indicated by archaeological findings.
The construction of the walls around the four kosmos and their vital rural area was gradual , and although it probably began in the fourth century with the construction of certain works of fortification, seems to have been completed during the reign of Cleomenes III ( 228-222 BC) , as part of a wider program of defense.
Since the early twentieth century , the remains of the defensive wall were excavated in the western edge of the city, along the right bank of the Eurotas , and in the north- west , in the area of Pitane . The wall had a stone base covered with mud bricks . These tiles were protected from the rain by carrying a stamp designating their use ( δαμόσιος τειχέων ) and often also the name of the creator. Most of the circuit of Hellenistic walls , even in places where their remains are no longer visible on the surface, had already been tracked down on the basis of the tiles stamped scattered in the fields.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sparta