In Ancient Greece, the Partheniae or Parthenians (in Greek οἱ Παρθενίαι / hoi Partheníai, literally “sons of virgins”, i.e. unmarried young girls) were a lower ranking Spartiate population which, according to tradition, left Laconia to go to Magna Graecia and founded Taras, modern Taranto, in the current region of Apulia, in southern Italy.