“ | My Lord, Kratos! Another city is ready to fall! Soon all will know the glory of Sparta! | ” |
Sparta was a city-state located in the Peloponnesus, a region southwest of Athens, in southern Greece, and was home to Kratos.
During the events of God of War II, Zeus destroyed Sparta in petty revenge against Kratos for his perceived sacrilege during his dying moments. This lead the Last Spartan to the Island of Creation to seek the Sisters of Fate and change Sparta's fate. However, a misunderstanding caused him and Kratos to figh, resulting in his death in Kratos' arms as he relayed the news of Sparta's destruction. This further enraged Kratos, giving him even more motivation to kill the King of the Gods.
After going back in time and successfully forcing Zeus to retreat back to Mount Olympus following Athena's sacrifice, Kratos succeeded in preventing his father from destroying his home city but it's assumed that after Kratos killed Poseidon in God of War III, the city was destroyed anyways by the flood wrought from his demise.
The city of Sparta makes its only in-game appearance during God of War: Ghost of Sparta, where Kratos returns to his old home in search of the The Skull of Keres in Temple of Ares, but before that Kratos fights the Piraeus Lion who was freed by the Dissenter, who was loyal to the fallen God of War, Ares and despised Kratos for replacing him.
Real World History[]
Known for their brutal training regime, the Agoge, a militaristic society, male children were separated into the weak and strong. At the age of seven, the strong were sent off to begin their military training. The weak were sent to the mountains, to die. Sparta was also known for their great, long lasting rivalry with the city-state of Athens. Sparta fought many wars, battling many foes, such as the Persians, Athenians, and other Greek city states. Neither Philip II of Macedonia nor Alexander the Great tried to conquer Sparta, and so the Spartans were the only Greeks who didn't take part in Alexander's war against Persia.
During the Punic Wars, Sparta allied with the Romans against the Carthaginians. Yet Spartan independence ended when it was forced into the Achaean League. Then, in 146 BC, the Roman general, Lucius Mummius, conquered Greece. During the Roman rule, the Spartans were able to continue their way of life, and the city became a tourist attraction for the wealthy Roman elite who wished to view the Spartans' exotic customs.
Today, Sparta is known as Sparti.
In the God of War series[]
Kratos grew up in Sparta, and became one of its greatest warriors. Like all other Spartan boys, Kratos was sent off to receive military training at age seven. Soon after, he grew to become its greatest general, leading them through large amounts of battles.
Raised as a Spartan, he is sometimes referred to as Spartan or Ghost of Sparta, the latter being due to having the ashes of his wife, Lysandra, and child, Calliope, forever coated to his skin. In God of War II, Kratos is worshipped throughout Sparta as the new God of War, and under his command, they siege city after city.
Sparta appeared in God of War: Ghost of Sparta, as Kratos travelled to Sparta through the mountains of Aroania, and hitched a ride from (a rather unwilling) Erinys, daughter of Thanatos, ruler of Death's Domain. There, he went to the Temple of Ares, and found a ghost, in the image of his younger self. After defeating the ghost of his younger self and obtaining the Skull of Keres, Kratos resolved to go to Atlantis once again to find his brother, Deimos. Sparta also houses a brothel where the men and soldiers can choose to have intercourse with any of the women.
Another notable character from Sparta is the Last Spartan. During a fight with Kratos, in which his true identity was hidden from the former god, he gets mortally wounded. In his dying breath, the Spartan informs Kratos of Sparta's destruction at the hands of Zeus. The people cried out for their god to save them, but he did not come. With that, Kratos' hatred for the King of Olympus grew even stronger. By going back in time to fight Zeus, Kratos ultimately saved Sparta along with the Last Spartan.
However, after killing Poseidon, which caused a massive flood over all of Greece, Kratos most likely, although unintentionally, wiped out all of Sparta but some of its inhabitants may have survived the flooding. It is possible those survivors were killed by the later plagues of Kratos killing the gods.
After Sparta's destruction, Kratos left Greece to reside in Midgard.
Trivia[]
- Sparta was the name of the wife of Lacedaemon, who named the city after her as a tribute. He was also a son of Zeus and therefore a half-brother of Kratos.
- It seems that Sparta is held in high regard, even by the divine beings such as the gods and the Titans. This can be seen by Kratos is occasionally being called "Spartan". This also extends to gods and other beings from foreign lands like the Nine Realms as Týr also calls Kratos "Spartan" when they meet in Valhalla.
- In God of War: Ghost of Sparta, when Kratos arrives in Sparta all attack options are off and he merely walks through the city. This is most likely due to Sparta being his home.
- This makes Sparta the only city in which Kratos can't kill civilians for green orbs.