In Ancient Greece, Sparta was a city-state with a very strong army and a government that was well led. Sparta was known as one of the strongest city-states in Greece. Only the strongest survived in Sparta, male or female. The Spartans killed weak children. If they believed that a baby was too weak, they left it out to die of exposure beside a slope on Mount Taygetus. This place was called the "Apothetae", which meant 'the place of rejection'.