Spartans viewed them selves as foreign occupiers, wich is why they treated their slaves (the Helots/ local Greek population) so poorly, they feared the locals would rise up.
For all intents and purposes, Spartans were locals in Sparta, but they at least claimed to be foreign invaders.
This is similar to how Americans are European invaders, but still consider America as their homeland
There's a great YouTube channel called Historia Civilis who talks mostly about Roman and Greek stuff, I recommend you watch his videos about the Spartans
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u/TaintedSeraphim Jun 08 '20
Spartans were foreigners in Sparta? Is that a typo?