Roman domination
Roman domination relegates Sparta to second place. Without military or political ambition, she then concentrated on what made her special, Spartan education. This one is harder, attracting "tourists", eager for violent and strange rituals. Thus, ritual fights were traditionally disputed at the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia. Under Roman rule, these fights became the διαμαστίγωσις / diamastígôsis:young children were sometimes flogged to death. Cicero reports these facts in the Tusculanes (II, 34):the crowd that comes to the show is so numerous that an amphitheater must be built in front of the temple to accommodate it. This ceremony attracted tourists until the 4th century of the Christian era, as evidenced by Libanios (Discourse, I, 23).
Sparta in the Middle Ages
The city was sacked by the Heruli during an incursion in 267 AD. J.-C. then in 395. Alaric I, king of the Visigoths, destroys the city. Laconia was then ravaged by Slavonic tribes, whose domination preceded that of the Byzantines. These build the city of Lacedaemon on the site of ancient Sparta. In 1249, the Crusaders built the city of Mistra a few kilometers away, on a spur of Taygetos.