The Spartans “at Sea”

Abstract

Sparta has long enjoyed the reputation of a polis that was hostile toward and incompetent in τὰ ναυτικά. Impediments, including its location and agrarian economic base, made it difficult for Sparta to challenge Athenian sea power before the last decade of the fifth century. Herodotus and Thucydides, moreover, repeatedly offer support for the Athenian-based stereotype of the Lacedaemonian “landlubber”. Both authors, however, provide accounts of Spartan naval activity that question the assumption that the Spartans were “at sea” when it came to naval matters.