A Spartan is a person from the Greek city Sparta or the ancient Greek city-state of the same name. In the latter context, the term "Spartan" in its most technical sense refers to a member of the Spartiate caste and under some usages also encompasses the class of mothakes, residents of Sparta who were free but did not enjoy full political rights.
The proper noun "Spartan" can also refer to a member of one of the numerous athletic teams (see below) named after the soldiers of ancient Sparta, especially its renowned hoplite infantry. The adjective "spartan" (see Wiktionary) refers to the frugal and austere nature of the Spartans.
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Famous quotes containing the word spartan:
“My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind,
So flewed, so sanded; and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew;
Crook-kneed, and dewlapped like Thessalian bulls;
Slow in pursuit, but matched in mouth like bells,
Each under each.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“But there’s another knowledge that my heart destroys
As the fox in the old fable destroyed the Spartan boy’s
Because it proves that things both can and cannot be;
That the swordsmen and the ladies can still keep company;
Can pay the poet for a verse and hear the fiddle sound,
That I am still their servant though all are underground.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)