What Greek military hero do you admire most?

[Ghostmojo]

I should add that despite Sparta's declining fortunes in the 4th and 3rd centuries BC; and her doomed attempts at revivalism (Agis III / Areos I / Agis IV & Kleomenes III / Makhanidas & Nabis); she didn't fare too badly under Roman rule. OK, Athens remained a cultural centre - but look at poor Korinth; Thebes; diminished Makedon etc. Sparta was allowed a fair degree of autonomy and actually a free city within the empire.

Did they still have the lifestyle that Lykugas created or were they more Athenian by then?

They never became Athenian as such. They were of course Dorians and not Ionians. The lifestyle that Lykourgos was reputed to have created (but probably didn't - if indeed he existed) was always something of a mirage anyway. This Spartan 'mirage' is a subject in itself and I won't expand on it here too greatly other than to say - the Spartans liked others to believe certain things of them. It suited their purposes to construct this mirage around them. Not everything that forms part of the common conception about Sparta is necessarily as cut and dried as first appears.

Sparta existed partly as a regional town in the Roman mediterranean with no great claims to fame other than her past; and partly as a living museum (also relating to her past) where various rituals where enacted for the delight of visiting tourists - the floggings at Artemis-Orthia being a notable surviving practice. However, the scourging of the epheboi at Sparta (in any period) is a very complicated and problematic subject.

It is also something of a myth that the Spartans didn't have decent temples. OK, they never had anything to rival the Periklean Acropolis - but few Greek cities did (before the growth of well-financed megalopolii throughout the former Alexandrian empire). The Spartans did not (after a certain period) indulge in artisan work themselves, but they did allow others to do so (the perioikoi amongst others). They had temples on their own acropolis (also dedicated to Athena), including the notable Brazen House; and a theatre there; and various other religious sites dotted about Lakedaimon related to specific cults (e.g. Amyklai and the Menelaion). After the Persian Wars various commemorative structures were set up and they also paid for offerings at Delphi (Apollo being a very important god at Sparta).