Sparti
Σπαρτοί
(Σπαρτοί), from the verb σπείρω, and accordingly signifies "the sown men ;" it is the name given to the armed men who sprang from the dragon's teeth sown by Cadmus, and were believed to be the ancestors of the five oldest families at Thebes. (Apollod. 3.4. § l; Paus. 9.5.1, 10. § l; Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. 3.1179, ad Pind. Isthm. 1.41, ad Eur. Phoen. 670, ad Soph. Antig. 128; Ov. Met. 3.101, &c.; comp. CADMUS).
From William Smith (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Text provided under a CC BY-SA license by Perseus Digital Library, http://www.perseus.tufts.edu, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and Tufts University. Data accessed from https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-pdlrefwk/ on 17 October 2026.