In spite of the modern image of a deeply militaristic Sparta, there is no evidence that Ares received any special attention from the Spartans, and surprisingly little evidence for his worship at all in urban centre of Sparta. Although the evidence for Spartan religion can be quite hard to pin down, we do have a fairly detailed description of the temples, cults, and statues present in Roman Sparta thanks to the second century CE travel writer Pausanias. We can combine this with surviving archaeological and epigraphic evidence to get a reasonably good understanding of which gods the Spartans venerated.

Worshipping Ares in Sparta

According to Pausanias (3.19.7-8) there was no temple for Ares in the town of Sparta itself. However, there was an old sanctuary on the road from Amyklai, Sparta’s fifth “village” located around 2km south of the main urban centre, to Therapne, the location of the Menelaion, a major sanctuary for the worship of Helen and Menelaus:

Another road from the city [Amyklai] leads to Therapne … Of all the objects along this road the oldest is a sanctuary of Ares. This is on the left of the road, and the image is said to have been brought from Colchis by the Dioscuri.

Pausanias also tells us that the specific epithet (surname) of Ares at this sanctuary was “Theritas”. Unsure of its meaning, Pausanias gives two possible explanations: according to the Spartans, it referred to an otherwise unknown nurse of Ares named Thero; while Pausanias himself believed that it was related to the Greek word ther, meaning “wild beast”. The only other temple of Ares within Laconia, the heartland of Spartan territory, was found at Geronthrai (modern Geraki), ca. 35km south-east of Sparta (Pausanias 3.22.6-7).

Although Ares was largely absent from the city of Sparta, Pausanias does mention a statue of Enyalios (“war-like”) often considered roughly equivalent to Ares. There are even occasions, such as in Homer’s Iliad (17. 210-11), where these appear to be interchangeable names for the same god, but in most cases the two appear to be separate deities. Both gods are named separately in Bronze Age Linear B documents, for instance, and in mainland Greece it appears that cults of Ares initially dominated in the North and East, while Enyalios was worshipped almost exclusively in the South and West.

Like Ares, Enyalios does not seem to have had a temple or sanctuary in the town of Sparta: the only permanent monument was a wooden statue of Enyalios in chains, the idea being that if the god was restrained, he could never abandon Sparta (Pausanias 3. 15.7):

Opposite this temple is an old image of Enyalios in fetters. The idea the Lacedemonians express by this image is the same as the Athenians express by their Wingless Victory; the former think that Enyalios will never run away from them, being bound in the fetters,

Enyalios did receive sacrifices from Spartan youths before they took part in a no-holds-barred “mock” battle (Pausanias 3.14.9-10), but these sacrifices took place close to Therapne, though not in the sanctuary of Ares in that neighbourhood, and not in the city of Sparta itself. The final scrap of evidence relating to Enyalios is an early-fifth century BCE inscription from Longa in Messenia, which records a dedication to Enyalios and Apollo Korithnos, “Helmeted Apollo” (SEG 55: 502).

Sparta’s favourite Gods

The lack of worship for Ares (or Enyalios) begs the question: which god(s) did the Spartans revere the most? Zeus, king of the gods, would be a natural candidate and we do hear that Sparta’s two kings were both also priests of Zeus (Herodotus, 6.56). There were also several other sanctuaries of Zeus scattered throughout Sparta and Laconia, although none of these cults appears to have been especially central in Spartan religion. Thanks to excavations conducted throughout Sparta, three major sanctuaries have been identified: Artemis Orthia, Apollo Amyklaios, and Athena Chalkioikos.

In the northeast of the city was the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia, excavated by the British School in the early 20th century. In the Roman period, this sanctuary was the site of one of the more famous Spartan rituals, where Spartan youths attempted to steal cheeses from an altar while older boys attempted to drive them off with whips. Despite this violent endurance ritual, most elements of the cult were devoted to initiation rites involving youths, both boys and girls, athletics, and musical and choral performances.

Although the festivals and rituals at Artemis Orthia were of great importance to the Spartans, they appear to have even more enthusiastic and devoted in their celebration of Apollo. In addition to the major sanctuary of Apollo at Amyklai, there were a number of shrines and temples to Apollo throughout Sparta and Laconia. The three most important Spartan festivals all celebrated Apollo: the Hyakinthia (late spring, lasting three days), the Gymnopaidiai (summer, lasting three to five days), and the Karneia (late-summer, lasting nine days). All three festivals focused on highly choreographed singing and dancing in choruses and, while writers like Plato (Laws 633c) suggested that these became tests of endurance in the summer heat, including the so-called krypteia, the primary activities had relatively little to do with warfare.

Not only were these festivals lacking a military aspect, but their existence actively stopped the Spartans engaging in warfare on multiple occasions. For example, the Spartans were too late to help the Athenians fight the Persians at Marathon (490 BCE) because they were celebrating a festival, probably the Karneia (Herodotus 6.106). In 417 BCE, the democratic party in Argos planned an uprising to coincide with the Gymnopaidiai in Sparta in the belief that the Spartans would prioritise celebrating the festival over opposing their attempted overthrow of the pro-Spartan government (Thucydides. 5.82). In 390 BCE, even while engaged in a drawn-out conflict at Corinth, the Spartan hoplites from the village of Amyklai were given leave to return to Sparta in order to sing the hymn to Apollo in the festival of the Hyakinthia (Xenophon. Hellenica. 4.5.11).

One of the only militaristic aspects of any of these festivals occurred in the Gymnopaidiai (probably “naked dances”, rather than “naked youths” as it is sometimes translated), where the dead of the Battle of Thyreia (fought against Argos in 546 BCE) were celebrated and commemorated. However, even this detail was probably a later addition to a pre-existing festival. The dead of Thyreia were not the only ones actively commemorated in Sparta, for we have a large amount of evidence of the worship of heroes (as opposed to gods). Some of these were mythical heroes like Herakles, Menelaus, and Helen, but others were historical people who were venerated after their deaths. Spartan kings all appear to have received such heroic honours.

Very few of these “new heroes” acquired their heroic status for military accomplishments. Instead, we find several heroic cults for Spartan winners at Pan-Hellenic athletic games (most commonly those at Olympia), ranging from the seventh century wrestler Hipposthenes to the fourth century Spartan princess Kyniska, who won the chariot race at Olympia in 396 and 392. In addition, the semi-mythical Spartan lawgiver Lycurgus was worshipped as a god, while the sixth century ephor and reformer Chilon had a heroic cult. Some Spartan generals received honours outside of Sparta. Most notably Brasidas, a prominent commander in the early years of the Peloponnesian War, was worshipped as a hero in Amphipolis, while Lysander, the admiral and general whose victories effectively ended the Peloponnesian War, was worshipped on Samos. However, neither general appears to have received any sort of cult in Sparta itself.

Athena as a War Goddess?

If the Spartans do not appear to have venerated Ares (or Enyalios) to a great degree, it might be assumed that they instead worshipped Athena as a goddess of war. There are indeed multiple sanctuaries of Athena attested in Laconia, including the most central temple on the acropolis of Sparta, where she was worshipped as Athena Chalkioikos (“of the Bronze House”). This name was in reference to the temple itself, which was adorned with a series of decorated bronze panels that had been added to the temple in the sixth century BCE. We know from inscriptions that Athena was also worshipped here by the epithet Poliouchos (“city-holding”) in reference to her role as the protector of cities. Although she was invoked for protection, this should not be seen as a particularly warlike aspect of the goddess.

Elsewhere in Sparta there were other cults to Athena, but none of these seems to be devoted to her more warlike aspects. There is no direct mention of Athena Areia (“warlike”) or of Athena Promachos (“who fights at the front”) in any literary or epigraphic source, though both epithets are relatively common elsewhere in Greek religion. We do have a vague allusion to a festival called the Promacheia, which could plausibly be linked to Athena Promachos, but the evidence comes from a quoted fragment of a lost 3rd century BCE work by Sosibus, on Spartan history and customs. All that survives is the name of the festival and the fact that some of the participants wore garlands while others did not. There are no other details.

Instead, we have evidence for a plethora of non-military related epithets for Athena such as “Lady of the Road” (in reference to the footrace of the suitors of Penelope, won by Odysseus), “the worker”, “the Counsellor”, “Of the market-place”, and “Hospitable”.

Armed Gods

Although neither Ares, Enyalios, or Athena’s more warlike aspects appear to have received much in the way of cults, sacrifices, or even attention from the Spartans, Pausanias’ description does highlight one potential peculiarity of Spartan religion: their cult statues of gods all seem to be armed.

For some gods and goddesses, this is not particularly unique to Sparta. In particular, statues of Athena from all over the Greek world generally portrayed the goddess fully armoured and bearing shield and spear. So, when we read that cult statues of Athena, Artemis, and Apollo were all armed in Sparta, this is not unexpected. While Athena appears fully armed in the typical fashion, Artemis’ statue bore a spear and a bow, as did that of Apollo at Amyklai, which also had a helmet.

Far more unusually, the Spartans had a statue of Aphrodite equipped with a helmet, spear and shield (Pausanias 3.15.10). Elsewhere in the city, they also had a temple of Aphrodite Areia, “Warlike Aphrodite”. Pausanias (3.17.5) says the cult statue in this temple was also very old, but does not mention whether it too was armed. It was extremely rare for Aphrodite to be depicted in this manner, and she was not the only god with such an unusual presentation: Dionysus, the god of wine, was apparently represented in Sparta holding a bow (Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.19.1-2); while the hero Herakles was armed, not with his usual club and bow, but instead as a hoplite (Pausanias 3.15.3)

Plutarch, a prolific Greek author of the first century CE, also referred to the strangeness of an armed Aphrodite in Sparta. Plutarch writes (Fortune of the Romans 4):

The Spartans say that Aphrodite, as she crossed the Eurotas, put aside her mirrors and ornaments and magic girdle, and took a spear and shield, adorning herself for Lycurgus.

Plutarch would comment on this topic again in his work, “The Customs of the Spartans” (Moralia 239). Antipater of Sidon, a poet of the second century BCE poet, also touched on these unique depictions of Aphrodite: (Appendix Planudea of the Palatine Anthology poem 176). The interest of these ancient authors tells us how unusual it was to see a statue of Aphrodite equipped for war.

Conclusion

It is clear, from the limited evidence that we have, that neither Ares nor any other war deity was the patron god of the Spartans. While there is some evidence for rituals in honour of war-gods, such as Enyalios and the Promacheia festival, these appear to have been relatively minor.

It is true that statues of most gods in Sparta are described as being armed by Roman-period writers, but this may well reflect the outward displays of militarism that developed in the Hellenistic period, or that the statues belonged to an earlier time when most cult statues were depicted bearing weapons. The major festivals of the Spartans were dedicated to Apollo and Artemis, lacked any major militaristic elements, and included athletic and musical competitions. Most of all, Spartan festivals were devoted to highly choreographed singing and dancing.

As the early-fifth-century poet Pratinas put it: “a Spartan is a cicada, ready for a chorus” (Athenaeus 14.33).