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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta
Spartans continued their way of life even after the Roman conquest of Greece. The city became a tourist exhibit for the Roman elite who came to observe the "unusual" Spartan customs. Purportedly, following the disaster that befell the Roman Imperial Army at the Battle of Adrianople (378 AD), a Spartan phalanx met and defeated a force of raiding Visigoths in battle. There is, however, no genuine evidence of this occurring.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sparta
The old warlike spirit found an outlet chiefly in the vigorous but peaceful contests held in the gymnasium, the ball-place, and the arena before the temple of Artemis Orthia: sometimes too it found a vent in actual campaigning as when Spartans were enrolled for service against the Parthians by the emperors Lucius Verus, Septimius Severus and Caracalla.
The city was something of a "tourist trap" for Roman elite to observe the "unusual" Spartan people. Following the disaster that the Roman Imperial Army suffered at the Battle of Adrianople, Spartan phalanxes met and defeated a force of raiding Visigoths in battle. That was the last noteworthy Spartan victory.[citation needed]
Laconia was subsequently overrun by the Goths and the Huns.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phalanx_formation
Some legends (with little to no historical support) state that a Spartan phalanx drove off marauding Visigoths after the Battle of Adrianople in AD 378.
http://i3.tinypic.com/zva97d.jpg
____Osprey Warrior series 072: Imperial Roman Legionary AD 161-284
A Tsakonian (Greek: Τσάκωνας Tsákonas) is a speaker of Tsakonian, or more broadly, one who lives in a traditionally Tsakonian-speaking area and follows certain Tsakonian cultural traditions, such as the Tsakonian dance, even if that person is no longer able to speak Tsakonian fluently.
The term Tsakonas or Tzakonas first emerges in the writings of Byzantine chroniclers who derive the ethnonymn from a corruption of Lakonas, a Laconian (Spartan) - a reference to the Doric roots of the Tsakonian language and the people's relatively late conversion to Christianity and practice of pagan Hellenic customs. Tsakonians were noted as fierce warriors and were heavily recruited to serve in the Byzantine army based on their supposedly "Spartan" qualities.
According to the Byzantine historian George Pachymeres, some Tsakonians were resettled by the Byzantine emperor Michael VII Ducas in Propontis. They lived in the villages of Vatka and Havoutsi, where the river Gösen (Aesepus) empties into the sea. However, based on the preservation of features common to both Propontis and the Peloponnesian dialects. Prof. Athanasios Costakis thinks that the date of settlement must have been several centuries later.
Tsakonians in later time were known for their masonry skills. Many were also sheperds. A common practice was for a small crew of men under a mastora to leave their village after the feast of Saint Demetrius and to return at Easter. They would travel as far as Attica doing repairs and white-washing houses. The Tsakonian village of Kastanitsa was known for its chestnuts and derives its name from the Greek word for the nut.