Day 83: Gythion, Greece (and Sparta)

- April 04, 2023

Today we are in Gythion Greece and heading to the ancient towns of Sparta and Mistras

Driving inland toward Sparta and Mistras

Mystras or Mistras (Greek: Μυστρᾶς/Μιστρᾶς),[2] also known in the Chronicle of the Morea as Myzithras (Μυζηθρᾶς), is a fortified town and a former municipality in Laconia, Peloponnese, Greece. Situated on Mt. Taygetus, near ancient Sparta, it served as the capital of the Byzantine Despotate of the Morea in the 14th and 15th centuries, experiencing a period of prosperity and cultural flowering during the Palaeologan Renaissance, including the teachings of Gemistos Plethon.[2] The city also attracted artists and architects of the highest quality.[2] The site remained inhabited throughout the Ottoman period, when Western travellers mistook it for ancient Sparta. In the 1830s, it was abandoned and the new town of Sparti was built, approximately eight kilometres to the east. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the Sparti municipality.[3] As an exceptionally well-preserved example of a Byzantine city and because of its testimony to the development of Late Byzantine and Post-byzantine art, Mystras was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1989.[4] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystras#:~:text=Mystras%20or%20Mistras%20%28%20Greek%3A%20%CE%9C%CF%85%CF%83%CF%84%CF%81%E1%BE%B6%CF%82%2F%CE%9C%CE%B9%CF%83%CF%84%CF%81%E1%BE%B6%CF%82%20%29%2C%20also,and%20a%20former%20municipality%20in%20Laconia%2C%20Peloponnese%2C%20Greece.)

Town of Sparti, near the ancient town of Sparta. In town there is a statue of the Spartan Leader Leonidas (Movie: 300)

Leonidas (c. 530-480 B.C.) was a king of the city-state of Sparta from about 490 B.C. until his death at the Battle of Thermopylae against the Persian army in 480 B.C. Although Leonidas lost the battle, his death at Thermopylae was seen as a heroic sacrifice because he sent most of his army away when he realized that the Persians had outmaneuvered him. Three hundred of his fellow Spartans stayed with him to fight and die. Almost everything that is known about Leonidas comes from the work of the Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484-c. 425 B.C.).