Indeed what became of the Spartans?where they eliminated, were they absorbed or did they survive in secluded communities through the flow of time?

Already by the 2nd cent AD the former perioikoi organised themselves into the League of the Eleutherolakones and by this time (actually already by the Hellenistic Age) Spartans and lacons were the same.Not possessing any political unifying institutions they must have taken to the mountains:an eternal shelter of the Greeks in times of hardship.

The early Middle Ages saw the descent of many barbarous tribes into Greece right into the Peloponnese. The Lakons left their ancestral home and fled to the secluded cluster of Arcadic mountains. These people even today are known as Eleutherolakones and mostly as Tsakones (from the frase 'ekso Lakones'=outer Lakons, which changed through 'ks' becoming 'ts' and silencing the 'L'>Tso-akones>Tsakones). Their language until date is a modern Greek dialect of doric origin, with many archaic idioms.

The other group of Lakons that are descendants of their ancestors are the people of Mani, in the rigid,baren land of southern Lakonia. These people retained a lot of the laconic ways, namely the severe upbringing of children, a flare for talking a little, rigid lifestyle with endurance to hardship and conservatism. They were the last people to be converted into Christianity, only in the 10th cent AD!!All through their history they maintained a favourable inclination towards monarchy (until today)and are family centered. There is an ancient town in Mani called OITYLON by the modern Greeks. This toponym was known with a digamma in ancient(myceanean) times as Foitylon (pronounced Voitylon), the digamma gave its place to daseia (').The older(uneducated) inhabitants, contrary to all signs and modern accents, resque the old form of the name and pronounce it Voitylon!

The Lakons remained in these inaccesible places untouched and lived a life of their own, reluctant and suspicious of any changes, sticking to the safety of their old ways. The people and land of Mani were never under Turkish occupation or administration and contributed much to the Cause in 1821!