The Spartan public educational system, the agoge, was admired almost universally by contemporaries, from historians such as Herodotus and Xenophon to philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle.

Although Spartans were proud to say that they built their monuments "in flesh"—meaning that the virtue and courage of Sparta's citizens were the greatest monuments a city-state could possess—they were not lacking in architectural and artistic achievements, as was well catalogued by the Ancient Greek tour-guide, Pausanias.

Spartan music and dance were famous throughout the ancient world, and the oldest recorded heterosexual love poem was the work of a Spartan poet praising Spartan maidens.

Spartan wit and mastery of rhetoric were so widely admired that ancient Greek scholars collected "Spartan sayings" and the "Laconic" style of speech was studied and imitated in intellectual circles.

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