Heroic cults at Sparta between mythological past and supranational relations

This paper examines the development of heroic cults in Sparta and the establishment of a communal identity reached through a policy of expansion. The general spread of hero-cults followed steps, rituals and cults that are common to the whole Greek world; nonetheless, the Spartan “appropriation” of some specific Pan-Hellenic entities resulted in the formation of a peculiar system of heroic cults established on the creation of a mythical ancestry of founders, trying to relate Sparta’s recent history to a more ancient mythical past.