Sparta was famously the hermit kingdom of the Ancient Greek world, but how many people know that Taras—today’s Taranto in Italy—was the only colony it ever founded? While other Greek city-states raced to plant their flags along coastlines stretching from the Black Sea to Spain, the Spartans remained firmly rooted at home, viewing the Mediterranean less as a highway for expansion and more as an obstacle rather than an opportunity for founding new colonies.
Instead, Sparta focused on consolidating its grip over the Peloponnese and maintaining firm control over its neighbors rather than projecting power beyond the region. Seafaring ventures held little appeal, and the idea of establishing a colony ran counter to its inward-looking priorities.
Except for one notable exception.
Taras, the only Greek colony ever established by Sparta
The founding of Taras (modern-day Taranto in southern Italy) marks the sole instance in which Sparta looked beyond its own shores and set sail to establish a permanent colony rather than wage a single campaign. However, the Spartans did not act out of imperial ambition, as Athens often did. Instead, they were driven by a severe internal crisis that threatened to erupt into violence, making relocation to a distant land seem like the only viable solution.
The story of Sparta’s first and only colony begins with the First Messenian War. This protracted and brutal conflict dragged on for decades, exacting a heavy toll in both wealth and human life. Spartan men remained on the front lines for years, separated from their wives for nearly a generation, with far-reaching social consequences. Back home, the birth rate declined sharply, prompting growing anxiety among the ruling class, who feared a shortage of citizens capable of sustaining Sparta’s military dominance.
In response, the state adopted a measure that was as pragmatic as it was uncompromising, effectively sanctioning extramarital unions. Women were encouraged to bear children with men who had remained behind, often non-citizens or individuals from lower social strata. The result was the emergence of a generation known as the Partheniai, or “sons of virgins.”
These children were born out of necessity, intended to secure the city’s survival rather than continue the natural cycle of family lineage. The crisis, however, deepened when the war finally came to an end. The returning husbands and fathers rejected these young men, refusing to recognize them as legitimate members of Spartan society. As a result, the Partheniai were denied land, citizenship, and social standing, regarded instead as products of circumstance rather than rightful heirs.
What led to the fallout?
The tension is easy to imagine. An entire generation of young, able-bodied men had been raised to believe they were the future of Sparta, only to be cast aside upon the return of the established citizen class. The conditions for internal conflict were firmly in place, and the prospect of civil war loomed—until the Spartan elders devised a solution to defuse the crisis: remove the source of unrest altogether.
The state organized an expedition, sending these displaced men away under the leadership of Phalanthus and directing them toward Southern Italy. According to tradition, the Oracle at Delphi provided a characteristically cryptic prophecy, declaring that they would find their new home where “rain falls from a clear sky.”
Phalanthus is said to have wandered across Southern Italy for an extended period, finding no clear sign of the promised destination. Eventually, exhausted and disheartened, he rested his head in his wife’s lap. As she wept over their misfortune, her tears fell upon him. Her name was Aethra, meaning “clear sky,” and in that moment, Phalanthus understood the meaning of the prophecy—the “rain” was her tears. It was there that they established Taras.
The irony is that exile proved to be the best possible outcome for them. While they retained elements of Spartan discipline and its austere legal framework, the fertile lands surrounding the Gulf of Taranto gradually reshaped their society. They did not remain rigid warriors sustained on black broth. Instead, they evolved into prosperous merchant elites, bearing far greater resemblance to the Athenians than to their Spartan forebears.
This transformation resulted in a striking dynamic in which the “daughter” city surpassed the “mother” in both wealth and influence. Taras became the jewel of Magna Graecia, yet in moments of serious unrest, particularly in conflicts with local tribes, it still turned to Sparta for assistance. In turn, Spartan kings continued to answer the call, coming to the aid of those who had once been cast out.
Today, a sense of that Spartan identity still lingers in modern Taranto. It is a curious and enduring connection. The remains of the Temple of Poseidon still stand, a reminder that some of the greatest cities of the ancient western Greek world were built not by conquerors but by those forced to forge a new life after being excluded from a former one.
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