[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Hammer 220 The original Spartan are, of course, the Spartans of Sparta, Greece who fought the Persian Armies at the Battle of Thermopylae. The original Spartan in the UNSC, the Spartan -I's, are from something called Project ORION - The UNSC's first attempt at making super soldiers. This is elaborated on both in First Strike, and the ARG Halo 2 viral marketing campaign called ilovebees. [b]EDIT:[/b] Although it is NOT canon, the ilovebees campaign claimed that the Spartan -I's underwent augmentations.[/quote] 2491: In response to civil turmoil the Colonial Military Administration secretly launched Project ORION. The purpose of the program was to develop supersoldiers code-named "Spartans" who would receive special training and physical augmentation. (for reference, page 16 of The Flood)