Spartan Humour

Life in fifth century Sparta was tough. For example, the only tool allowed in constructing furniture was an axe.

A Spartan visitor to Athens, seeing a beautifully carved wooden chair, is said to have asked, "Where do you find trees which grow like that?" 

King Leonodas, at the Battle of Thermopylae, ordered by the ambassador of the Persian king Xerxes to lay down his arms, replied, " "Come and get them."