Laconophilia

Laconophilia (also known as Laconism) is love or admiration of Sparta and of the Spartan culture or constitution. The term derives from Laconia, the part of the Peloponnesus where the Spartans lived.

Admirers of the Spartans typically praise their valour and success in war, their "laconic" austerity and self-restraint, their and virtuous ways, the stable order of their political life, and their constitution, with its tripartite mixed government. Ancient Laconophilia started to appear as early as the 5th century BC, and even contributed a new verb to Ancient Greek: λακωνίζειν (literally: to act like a Laconian). Praise of the Spartan city-state persisted within classical literature ever afterward, and surfaced again during the Renaissance.

In ancient Athens, Laconism began as a current of thought and feeling after the Persian Wars. Some, like Cimon, son of Miltiades, believed that Athens should ally with Sparta against the Persian Empire. Cimon persuaded the Athenians to send soldiers to aid Sparta, when the helots (serfs of the Spartans) revolted and fortified Mount Ithome. The Spartans sent the Athenians home again with thanks, lest democratic Athenian ideas influence the helots or the perioeci.

Some Athenians, especially those who disliked commerce, preferred a closed society and the rule of the few. They believed that the Spartan constitution was superior to their own. Some even went so far as to imitate Spartan manners by going around Athens long-haired and unwashed, like the Spartiates. Plato's Republic, which is set in the 5th century BC, gives credence to this claim by having Socrates opine that the Spartan or Cretan type of political regime is the favorite of "the many".

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