Difference between revisions of "Sparta" - New World Encyclopedia

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{{Infobox Former Country
 
{{Infobox Former Country
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|native_name           = Σπάρτη
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|native_name = Σπάρτα
 
|conventional_long_name = Sparta
 
|conventional_long_name = Sparta
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|common_name           = Sparta
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|common_name = Sparta
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|continent             = Europe
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|continent = Europe
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|region                 = Mediterranean
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|region = Mediterranean
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|country               = Greece
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|country = Greece
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|era                   = Classical Antiquity
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|era = Classical Antiquity
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|government_type       = Monarchy
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|government_type = Oligarchy
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|year_start             = 11th century B.C.E.
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|year_start = eleventh century B.C.E.
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|year_end               = 371 B.C.E.
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|year_end = 195 B.C.E.
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|event_start            = [[Dorian invasion]]
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|event1 = [[Peloponnesian League]]
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|date_start            =
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|date_event1 = 546-371 B.C.E.
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|event_end              = [[Peace of Callias]]
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|p1 = Greek Dark Ages
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|date_end              =
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|s1 = Thebes
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|event1                 = [[Peloponnesian League]]
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|s2 = Achaean League
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|date_event1           = 546-371 B.C.E.
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|s3 = Antigonid dynasty
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|p1                     = Greek Dark Ages
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|image_coat =
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|s1                     = Thebes
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|image_map = Sparta territory.jpg
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|s2                     = Achaean League
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|image_map_caption = Territory of ancient Sparta
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|s3                     = Antigonid dynasty
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|capital = Sparta
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|image_coat             =  
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|common_languages = [[Doric Greek]]
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|image_map             = Sparta territory.jpg
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|religion = [[Ancient greek religion|Polytheism]]
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|image_map_caption     = Territory of ancient Sparta
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|category=[[Category:195 B.C.E. disestablishments]]
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|capital               = Sparta
 
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|common_languages       = [[Doric Greek]]
 
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|religion               = [[Ancient greek religion|Polytheism]]
 
 
}}
 
}}
  
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'''Sparta''' ([[Doric Greek|Doric]]: {{polytonic|Σπάρτα}} ''Spártā'', [[Attic Greek|Attic]]: {{polytonic|Σπάρτη}} ''Spártē'') was a [[Dorian Greeks|Dorian]] Greek [[militarist|military]] [[polis|city-state]], originally centered in [[Laconia]]. Sparta emphasized military training, and after achieving notable victories over the [[Athenian Empire|Athenian]] and [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian]] Empires, regarded itself as the natural protector of Greece.<ref name="bost">James R Ashley. ''The Macedonian Empire: the era of warfare under Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359-323 B.C.E.''. (Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, 1998, ISBN 0786404078)</ref> Laconia or [[Lacedaemon]] ({{polytonic|Λακεδαίμων}}) was the name of the wider [[city-state]] centered at the city of Sparta, though the name "Sparta" is now used for both. The [[Kings of Sparta]] were believed to be the direct descendants of [[Heracles]].<ref>Elizabeth Rawson. ''The Spartan tradition in European thought''. ( Oxford: Clarendon P., 1969, ISBN 0198143508)</ref>  
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'''Sparta''' ([[Doric Greek|Doric]] Σπάρτα; [[Attic Greek|Attic]] Σπάρτη ''Spartē'') was a [[city-state]] in [[ancient Greece]], situated on the River Eurotas in the southern part of the [[Peloponnese]]. From c. 650 B.C.E., it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the [[Greco-Persian Wars]]. Sparta owed its military efficiency to its social structure, unique in ancient Greece. The Spartans formed a minority in their own territory of [[Laconia|Lakonia]]; all male citizens of Sparta were full-time [[Hoplite|soldiers]]; unskilled labor was performed by a much larger, heavily subjugated slave population known as [[Helots]] (Gr., "captives"), while skilled labor was provided by another group, the [[Perioikoi]] (Gr. "those who live round about"). Helots were the majority inhabitants of Sparta (over 80 percent of the population according to [[Herodotus]] (8, 28-29)). They were ritually humiliated. During the [[Crypteia]] (annual declaration of war against the helots), they could be legally killed by Spartan citizens. Between 431 and 404 B.C.E., Sparta was the principal enemy of [[Classical Athens|Athens]] during the [[Peloponnesian War]]; however, by 362 B.C.E., Sparta's role as the dominant military power in Greece was over.
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{{toc}}
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[[Laconophilia]] is the admiration of Sparta, which continues to fascinate [[Western culture]].<ref>Paul Cartledge, ''Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History 1300 to 362 B.C.E.,'' 2nd ed. (Oxford: Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0415262763), 255.</ref><ref>Victor Ehrenberg, ''From Solon to Socrates: Greek History and Civilisation between the 6th and 5th centuries B.C.E.,'' 2nd ed. (London: Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0415040248), 28.</ref>
  
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The city of Sparta lay at the southern end of the central Laconian plain, on the right bank of the [[Eurotas River]]. It was a strategic site, guarded on three sides by mountains and controlling the routes by which invading armies could penetrate Laconia and the southern Peloponnesus via the Langhda Pass over Mt [[Taygetus]]. At the same time, its distance from the sea&mdash;Sparta was 27 miles from its seaport, [[Gythium]]&mdash;made it difficult to blockade.  
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==Names==
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Sparta was generally referred to by the ancient Greeks as '''Lakedaimon''' ('''Λακεδαίμων''') or
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'''Lakedaimonia''' ('''Λακεδαιμωνία'''); these are the names commonly used in the works of [[Homer]] and the Athenian historians Herodotus and [[Thucydides]]. Herodotus uses only the former and in some passages seems to denote by it the [[Achaeans|ancient Greek]] citadel at [[Therapne]], in contrast to the lower town of Sparta. The immediate area around the town of Sparta, the plateau east of the Taygetos mountains, was generally referred as '''Lakonia'''. This term was sometimes used to refer to all the regions under direct Spartan control, including [[Messenia]].  
  
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In [[Greek mythology]], Lakedaimon was a son of [[Zeus]] by the nymph [[Taygete]]. He married [[Sparta (mythology)|Sparta]] the daughter of [[Eurotas (mythology)|Eurotas]], by whom he became the father of [[Amyclas]], [[Eurydice (disambiguation)|Eurydice]], and [[Asine]]. He was king of the country which he named after himself, naming the capital after his wife. He was believed to have built the sanctuary of the [[Charites]], which stood between Sparta and [[Amyclae]], and to have given to those divinities the names of [[Cleta]] and Phaenna. A [[heroon|shrine]] was erected to him in the neighborhood of Therapne.
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Lacedaemon is now the name of a [[Provinces of Greece|province]] in the modern Greek [[Prefectures of Greece|prefecture]] of [[Laconia]].
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
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===Prehistory===
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The prehistory of Sparta is difficult to reconstruct, because the literary evidence is far removed in time from the events it describes and is also distorted by oral tradition.<ref>Cartledge, 2002, 65.</ref> However, the earliest certain evidence of human settlement in the region of Sparta consists of [[pottery]] dating from the Middle [[Neolithic]] period, found in the vicinity of Kouphovouno some two kilometers south-southwest of Sparta.<ref>Cartledge, 2002, 28.</ref> These are the earliest traces of the original [[Mycenaean]] Spartan civilization, as represented in [[Homer]]'s ''[[Iliad]].''
  
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This civilization seems to have fallen into decline by the late [[Bronze Age]], when [[Dorians|Doric Greek]] warrior tribes from [[Epirus (region)|Epirus]] and [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonia]] in northeast Greece came south to the Peloponnese and settled there.<ref>William G. G. Forrest, ''A History of Sparta, 950–192 B.C.E.'' (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1968, ISBN 0393004813), 24-27.</ref> The Dorians seem to have set about expanding the frontiers of Spartan territory almost before they had established their own state.<ref>Ehrenberg, 31.</ref> They fought against the [[Argive]] Dorians to the east and southeast, and also the [[Arcadia]]n Achaeans to the northwest. The evidence suggests that Sparta, relatively inaccessible because of the topography of the Taygetan plain, was secure from early on: it was never fortified.<ref>Ehrenberg, 31.</ref> 
  
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===Antiquity===
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Between the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E., the Spartans experienced a period of lawlessness and civil strife, later testified by both Herodotus and Thucydides.<ref>Ehrenberg, 36.</ref> As a result, they carried out a series of political and social reforms of their own society that they later attributed to a semi-mythical lawgiver, [[Lycurgus of Sparta|Lykourgos]].<ref>Ehrenberg, 33.</ref> These reforms mark the beginning of the history of Classical Sparta.
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{{main|History of Sparta}}
 
  
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The recorded history of Sparta began with the [[Dorian invasion]]s, when the [[Peloponnesus]] was settled by Greek tribes coming from [[Epirus (region)|Epirus]] and [[Macedonia (Greece)|Macedonia]] through the northeast region of Greece, submitting or displacing the older [[Achaeans|Achaean Greek]] inhabitants.<ref name=Forrest24>Forrest, P. 24-27</ref> The [[Mycenaean]] Sparta of [[Menelaus]] described in Homer's [[Iliad]] was an older Greek civilization, whose link to Hellenic or Classical Sparta was only by name and location.<ref name=Forrest24/> What is widely known today as ''ancient Sparta'' refers to state and culture that were formed in Sparta by the [[Dorian Greeks]], some eighty years after the [[Trojan War]].{{Fact|date=August 2007}}
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===Classical Sparta===
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In the Second Messenian War, Sparta established itself as a local power in Peloponnesus and the rest of Greece. During the following centuries, Sparta's reputation as a land-fighting force was unequaled.<ref>David Cartwright, ''A Historical Commentary on Thucydides: A Companion to Rex Warner's Penguin Translation'' (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997, ISBN 0472084194), 176.</ref> In 480 B.C.E., a small force of Spartans, Thespians, and Thebans led by King [[Leonidas I|Leonidas]] (approximately 300 were full Spartiates, 700 were Thespians, and 400 were Thebans; these numbers do not reflect casualties incurred prior to the final battle), made a legendary [[last stand]] at the [[Battle of Thermopylae]] against the massive Persian army, inflicting a very high casualty rate on the Persian forces before finally being encircled.<ref>Peter Green, ''The Greco-Persian Wars,'' 2nd ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998, ISBN 0520203135), 10.</ref> The superior [[weaponry]], strategy, and [[bronze]] [[armor]] of the Greek hoplites and their phalanx again proved their worth one year later when Sparta assembled at full strength and led a Greek alliance against the [[Persia|Persians]] at the [[battle of Plataea]].
  
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It did not take long for Sparta to subdue all cities in the region of [[Laconia]] and turn it into its kingdom. In the 7th century it also incorporated [[Messenia]]. In the 5th century B.C.E., Sparta and Athens were reluctant allies against the [[Persian Empire|Persians]], but after the [[Greco-Persian Wars|foreign threat]] was over, they soon became rivals. The greatest series of conflicts between the two states, which resulted in the dismantling of the Athenian Empire, is called the [[Peloponnesian War]]. Athenian attempts to control Greece and take over the Spartan role of 'guardian of Hellenism' ended in failure. Following the defeat of [[Athens]], Sparta briefly became a great naval power. The first ever defeat of a Spartan [[hoplite]] army at full strength occurred at the [[Battle of Leuctra]] in 371 B.C.E., after which Sparta's position as the dominant Greek city-state swiftly disappeared with the loss of large numbers of Spartiates and the resources of Messenia. By the time of the rise of [[Alexander the Great]] in 336 B.C.E., Sparta was a shadow of its former self, clinging to an isolated independence. During the [[Punic Wars]] Sparta was an ally of the [[Roman Republic]]. Spartan political independence was put to an end when it was eventually forced into the [[Achaean League]].
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The decisive Greek victory at Plataea put an end to the [[Greco-Persian War]] along with Persian ambition of expanding into [[Europe]]. Even though this war was won by a pan-Greek army, credit was given to Sparta, who besides being the protagonist at Thermopylae and Plataea, had been the de facto leader of the entire Greek expedition.
  
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After the Roman conquest of Greece, Spartans continued their way of life and the city became a tourist attraction for the Roman elite who came to observe the "unusual" Spartan customs. Supposedly, following the disaster that befell the Roman Imperial Army at the [[Battle of Adrianople]] (AD 378), a Spartan [[Phalanx formation|phalanx]] met and defeated a force of raiding [[Visigoths]] in battle.{{Fact|date=October 2007}} There is, however, no genuine evidence of this occurring.
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In later Classical times, Sparta along with [[Athens]], [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] and [[Persia]] had been the main powers fighting for supremacy against each other. As a result of the [[Peloponnesian War]], Sparta, a traditionally continental culture, became a naval power. At the peak of its power, Sparta subdued many of the key Greek states and even managed to overpower the elite Athenian navy. By the end of the fifth century B.C.E., it stood out as a state which had defeated at war the [[Athenian Empire]] and had invaded [[Achaemenids|Persia]], a period which marks the [[Spartan hegemony|Spartan Hegemony]].
  
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Modern [[Sparti (municipality)|Sparti]] owes its existence to an 1834 decree of King [[Otto of Greece]].
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During the [[Corinthian War]] Sparta faced a coalition of the leading Greek states: [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]], [[Athens]], [[Corinth]], and [[Argos]]. The alliance was initially backed by Persia, whose lands in [[Anatolia]] had been invaded by Sparta and which feared further Spartan expansion into [[Asia]].<ref>Matthew Bennett, ''Dictionary of Ancient & Medieval Warfare'' (Stackpole Books, 2001, ISBN 081172610X), 86.</ref> Sparta achieved a series of land victories, but many of her [[ship]]s were destroyed at the [[battle of Cnidus]] by a Greek-Phoenician [[mercenary]] fleet that [[Persia]] had provided to Athens. The event severely damaged Sparta's naval power but did not end its aspirations of invading further into Persia, until [[Conon]] the Athenian ravaged the Spartan coastline and provoked the old Spartan fear of a [[helot]] revolt.<ref name=boardman>John Boardman, Jasper Griffin, and Oswyn Murray (eds.), ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Greece and the Hellenistic World'' (Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0192854380), 141. </ref>
  
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===Rise and decline===
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After a few more years of fighting, the "King's peace" was established, according to which all Greek cities of [[Ionia]] would remain independent, and Persia would be free of the Spartan threat.<ref name=boardman /> The effects of the war were to establish Persia's ability to interfere successfully in Greek politics and to affirm Sparta's hegemonic position in the Greek political system.<ref>John V. A. Fine, ''The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History'' (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1985, ISBN 0674033140), 556-559. </ref> Sparta entered its long-term decline after a severe military defeat to [[Epaminondas]] of [[Thebes]] at the [[Battle of Leuctra]]. This was the first time that a [[Spartan Army|Spartan army]] lost a land battle at full strength.
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Following the victory in the Second Messenian War of the seventh century, Sparta established itself as a local power in Peloponnesus and the rest of Greece. During the following centuries, Sparta's reputation as a land-fighting force was unequaled.<ref>David Cartwright, and Rex Warner. ''A Historical Commentary on Thucydides''. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997, ISBN 0472106953), P. 176</ref> In 480 B.C.E. a small Spartan, Thespian, and Laconian unit under King [[Leonidas I|Leonidas]] numbering at about 1,000-1,900 (appx. 300 of them being Spartans) ,<ref>Peter Green. ''The Greco-Persian Wars''. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996, ISBN 0520205731), P. 140</ref> made a legendary [[last stand]] against a massive, invading Persian army causing a very high casualty rate in comparison to the Persian forces at the [[Battle of Thermopylae]] before eventually being encircled. The superior weaponry, strategy, and [[bronze]] armor of the Greek hoplites and their [[phalanx]] again proved their worth one year later when Sparta assembled at full strength, and led a Greek alliance against the Persians at [[Battle of Plataea|Plataea]]. The decisive Greek victory at Plataea put an end to the [[Greco-Persian War]] along with Persian ambition of expanding into Europe. Even though this war was won by a pan-Greek army, credit was given to Sparta, who besides being the protagonist at Thermopylae and Plataea, had been the de facto leader of the entire Greek expedition.<ref>Britannica ed. 2006, "Sparta"</ref>
 
  
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In later Classical times, Sparta along with [[Athens]], [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] and [[Persia]] had been the main powers fighting for supremacy against each other. As a result of the [[Peloponnesian War]], Sparta, a traditionally continental culture, became a naval power. At the peak of its power Sparta subdued many of the key Greek states and even managed to overpower the powerful Athenian navy. By the end of the 5th century B.C.E. it stood out as a state which had defeated at war the [[Athenian Empire]] and had invaded [[Achaemenids|Persia]], a period which marks the [[Spartan hegemony|Spartan Hegemony]]. During the [[Corinthian War]] Sparta faced a coalition of the leading Greek states: Thebes, Athens, [[Corinth]], and [[Argos]]. The alliance was initially backed by Persia, whose lands in [[Anatolia]] had been invaded by Sparta and which feared further Spartan expansion into [[Asia]].<ref>Matthew Bennett. ''Dictionary of Ancient & Medieval Warfare''. (Chicago : Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1998, ISBN 1579581161), P. 86</ref> Sparta achieved a series of land victories but many of her ships were destroyed at [[Battle of Cnidus|Cnidus]] by a Greek-Phoenician mercenary fleet that Persia had provided to Athens. The event severely damaged Sparta's naval power but did not end its aspirations of invading further into Persia, until [[Conon]] the Athenian ravaged the Spartan coastline and provoked the old Spartan fear of a [[helot]] revolt.<ref name=boardman>John Boardman, Jasper Griffin, and Oswyn Murray. ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Greece and the Hellenistic World''. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0192854380), P. 141</ref> After a few more years of fighting, the "King's peace" was established, according to which all Greek cities of [[Ionia]] would remain independent, and Persia's Asian border would be free of the Spartan threat.<ref name=boardman/> The effects of the war were to establish Persia's ability to interfere successfully in Greek politics and to affirm Sparta's hegemonic position in the Greek political system.<ref>M I Finley. ''The Ancient Greeks''. (Harmondsworth, Penguin in Association with Chatto & Windus, 1966, OCLC 7288575), P. 556-9</ref> Sparta entered its long-term decline after a severe military defeat to [[Epaminondas]] of Thebes at the [[Battle of Leuctra]]. This was the first attested time that a [[Spartan Army|Spartan army]] would lose a land battle at full strength. As Spartan citizenship was inherited by blood, Sparta started facing the problem of having a helot population vastly outnumbering its citizens. The alarming decline of Spartan citizens was commented on by [[Aristotle]]. Yet even during her decline, Sparta never forgot its claims on being the "defender of Hellenism" and its [[Laconic phrase|Laconic wit]]. An anecdote has it that when [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] sent a message to Sparta saying "If I enter Laconia I will level Sparta to the ground," the Spartans responded with the single, terse reply: "If".<ref>Norman Davies. ''Europe: a History''. (New York : Oxford University Press, 1996, ISBN 0195209125)</ref>
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As Spartan [[citizenship]] was inherited by blood, Sparta started facing the problem of having a helot population vastly outnumbering its citizens.
  
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Even when Philip of [[Macedon]] created the [[League of Corinth|league of the Greeks]] on the pretext of unifying Greece against Persia, Spartans were excluded on their own will. Philip, who was well aware of Spartan stubbornness, chose not to put his hegemony at risk by attempting to take Laconia by force. The Spartans on their part had no interest in joining a pan-Greek expedition if it didn't mean Spartan leadership. According to [[Herodotus]] the Macedonians were a people of [[Dorian Greeks|Dorian]] stock, akin to the Spartans, but that didn't make any difference. Thus, upon the conquest of Persia, [[Alexander the Great]] sent to Athens 300 suits of Persian armour with the following inscription "''Alexander son of Philip, and the Greeks - except the Spartans -  from the barbarians living in Asia''".<ref>Nicholas G L Hammond. ''The Genius of Alexander the Great''. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997, ISBN 0807823503), P. 69</ref>
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===Hellenistic and Roman Sparta===
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Sparta never fully recovered from the losses that the adult male Spartans suffered at Leuctra in 371 B.C.E. and the subsequent [[Helots#Helot_revolts|helot revolts]]. Nonetheless, it was able to limp along as a regional power for over two centuries. Neither [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] nor his son [[Alexander the Great]] even attempted to conquer Sparta: it was too weak to be a major threat that needed to be eliminated, but Spartan martial skill was still such that any invasion would have risked potentially high losses. Even during her decline, Sparta never forgot its claims on being the "defender of [[Hellenism]]" and its [[Laconic phrase|Laconic wit]]. An anecdote has it that when [[Philip II of Greece|Philip II]] sent a message to Sparta saying "If I enter Laconia, I will level Sparta to the ground," the Spartans responded with the single, terse reply: "If."<ref>Norman Davies, ''Europe: A History'' (Harper Perennial, 1998, ISBN 0060974680).</ref>
  
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Even when Philip created the [[League of Corinth|league of the Greeks]] on the pretext of unifying Greece against [[Persia]], Spartans were excluded of their own will. The Spartans, for their part, had no interest in joining a pan-Greek expedition if it was not under Spartan leadership. According to [[Herodotus]], the Macedonians were a people of [[Dorian Greeks|Dorian]] stock, akin to the Spartans, but that did not make any difference. Thus, upon the conquest of Persia, [[Alexander the Great]] sent to [[Athens]] 300 suits of Persian armour with the following inscription "''Alexander son of Philip, and the Greeks—except the Spartans—from the barbarians living in Asia.''"<ref>Nicholas G. L. Hammond, ''The Genius of Alexander the Great'' (The University of North Carolina Press, 1998, ISBN 0807847445), 69.</ref> 
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During the [[Punic Wars]], Sparta was an ally of the [[Roman Republic]]. Spartan political independence was put to an end when it was eventually forced into the [[Achaean League]]. In 146 B.C.E., Greece was conquered by the Roman general [[Lucius Mummius Achaicus|Lucius Mummius]]. During the Roman conquest, Spartans continued their way of life, and the city became a tourist attraction for the Roman elite who came to observe exotic Spartan customs. Supposedly, following the disaster that befell the Roman Imperial Army at the [[Battle of Adrianople]] (378 C.E.), a Spartan [[Phalanx formation|phalanx]] met and defeated a force of raiding [[Visigoths]] in battle.
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==Structure of Classical Spartan society==
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[[File:SpartaGreatRhetra.png|thumb|400px|Structure of the Spartan Constitution]]
 
===Constitution===
 
===Constitution===
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Little is known of the internal development on Sparta. Many Greeks believed there had been none, and that "the stability of the Spartan constitution" had lasted unchanged from the days of [[Lycurgus (Sparta)|Lycurgus]]. Because most Spartan laws were passed down orally and committed to memory, little is known about Spartan society. Spartan society was considered primitive by ancient Greek standards. Settlements were scattered and mirrored the dwellings used during Greece's 'Dark Age' (1150–700 B.C.E.) which means that they were mostly thatched houses. Stone construction was reserved for public works such as temples, government halls, and gymnasiums. What we do know of Spartan society comes from historians of that time.
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{{main|Spartan Constitution}}
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Sparta's constitutional system was mixed: it was composed of elements of monarchical, oligarchical, and democratic systems.  
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The Doric state of Sparta, copying the Doric [[Crete|Cretans]], developed a [[mixed government|mixed governmental state]]. The state was ruled by two [[dynasty|hereditary kings]] of the Agiad and Eurypontids [[family|families]],<ref>Cartledge, 2002. </ref> both supposedly descendants of [[Heracles]] and equal in authority, so that one could not act against the [[veto]] of his colleague. The origins of the powers exercised by the assembly of the citizens are virtually unknown because of the lack of historical documentation and Spartan state secrecy.
  
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The Spartans had no [[history|historical]] records, [[literature]], or written [[law]]s, which were, according to [[tradition]], expressly prohibited by an ordinance of Lycurgus (excluding, of course, the 'Great Rhetra,' supposedly given by Lycurgus himself). The Doric state of Sparta, copying the Doric [[Crete|Cretans]], developed a [[mixed government|mixed governmental state]]. The state was ruled by two [[dynasty|hereditary kings]] of the Agiad and Eurypontids [[family|families]], both descendants of [[Heracles]] and equal in authority, so that one could not act against the [[veto]] of his colleague, though the Agiad king received greater honour in virtue of the seniority of his family for being the oldest in existence (Herod. vi. 5). The origins of the powers exercised by the assembly of the citizens, or ''[[apella]]'', are virtually unknown, due to the paucity of historical documentation and Spartan state secrecy.
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The duties of the kings were primarily religious, judicial, and militaristic. They were the chief priests of the state and also maintained communication with the Delphian sanctuary, which always exercised great authority in Spartan politics. In the time of [[Herodotus]] (about 450 B.C.E.), their judicial functions had been restricted to cases dealing with heiresses, adoptions and the public roads. Civil and criminal cases were decided by a group of officials known as the ''ephors,'' as well as a council of [[Elder (administrative title)|elders]] known as the [[Gerousia]]. The Gerousia consisted of 28 elders over the age of 60, elected for life and usually part of the royal households, and the two kings.<ref>Philip de Souza, Waldemar Heckel, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, and Victor Davis Hanson, ''The Greeks at War: From Athens to Alexander'' (Essential Histories Specials) (London: Osprey Publishing, 2004, ISBN 1841768561). </ref> High state policy decisions were discussed by this council who could then propose action alternatives to the ''Damos,'' the collective body of Spartan citizenry, who would [[Great Rhetra|select one of the alternatives by voting]].<ref>Aristotle, Thomas Alan Sinclair, (ed.) and Trevor J. Saunders, (trans.), ''The Politics,'' rev. ed. (Penguin Classics, 1981, ISBN 0140444211). </ref><ref>Leonard Whibley, ''A Companion to Greek Studies (1905)'' reprint ed. (Kessinger Publications, 2009, ISBN 1437490859). </ref>
  
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There are several [[legend]]ary explanations for this unusual dual kingship, which differ only slightly; for example, that King [[Aristodemus]] had [[twins|twin sons]], who agreed to share the kingship, and this became perpetual. Modern [[scholar]]s have advanced various [[theory|theories]] to account for the anomaly. Some theorize that this system was created in order to prevent [[absolutism]], and is paralleled by the analogous instance of the dual consuls at [[Rome]]. Others believe that it points to a compromise arrived at to end the struggle between two families or [[community|communities]]. Other theories suggest that this was an arrangement that was met when a community of villages combined to form the city of Sparta. Subsequently the two chiefs from the largest villages became kings. Another theory suggests that the two royal houses represent respectively the Spartan conquerors and their Achaean predecessors: those who hold this last view appeal to the words attributed by [[Herodotus]] (v. 72) to [[Cleomenes I]]: "I am no Dorian, but an Achaean;" although this is usually explained by the (equally legendary) descent of Aristodemus from [[Heracles]]. Either way, kingship in Sparta was hereditary and thus every king Sparta had was a descendant of the Agiad or Eurypontids family. Accession was given to the male child who was first born after a king's accession.  
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[[Aristotle]] describes the kingship at Sparta as "a kind of unlimited and perpetual generalship" (Pol. iii. I285a),  while [[Isocrates]] refers to the Spartans as "subject to an [[oligarchy]] at home, to a kingship on campaign" (iii. 24). Here also, however, the royal prerogatives were curtailed over time. Dating from the period of the Persian wars, the king lost the right to [[declaration of war|declare war]] and was accompanied in the field by two ephors. He was supplanted also by the ephors in the control of foreign policy.  
  
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The duties of the kings were primarily [[religion|religious]], judicial, and [[militaristic]]. They were the chief [[priest]]s of the state, and performed certain [[sacrifice]]s and also maintained [[communication]] with the Delphian sanctuary, which always exercised great authority in Spartan [[politics]]. In the time of Herodotus (about 450 B.C.E.), their judicial functions had been restricted to cases dealing with [[heiress]]es, [[adoption]]s and the public roads. Civil cases were decided by the [[ephors]], and [[Criminal law|criminal]] jurisdiction had been passed to the [[ephor]]s, as well as to a council of [[Elder (administrative title)|elder]]s. By 500 B.C.E. the Spartans had become increasingly involved in the political affairs of the surrounding city-states, often putting their weight behind pro-Spartan candidates. Shortly before 500 B.C.E., as described by Herodotus, such an action fueled a confrontation between Sparta and Athens, when the two kings, Demeratus and Cleomenes, took their troops to Athens. However, just before the heat of battle, King Demeratus changed his mind about attacking the Athenians and abandoned his co-king. For this reason, Demeratus was banished, and eventually found himself at the side of Persian King [[Xerxes I of Persia|Xerxes]] for his invasion of Greece twenty years later (480 B.C.E.), after which the Spartans enacted a law demanding that one king remain behind in Sparta while the other commanded the troops in battle.
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Over time, the kings became mere figure-heads except in their capacity as generals. Real power was transferred to the ''ephors'' ("officials") and to the ''Gerousia'' ("Council of elders").
  
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[[Aristotle]] describes the kingship at Sparta as "a kind of unlimited and perpetual generalship" (Pol. iii. I285a), while [[Isocrates]] refers to the Spartans as "subject to an [[oligarchy]] at home, to a kingship on campaign" (iii. 24). Here also, however, the royal prerogatives were curtailed over time. Dating from the period of the Persian wars, the king lost the right to [[declaration of war|declare war]], and was accompanied in the field by two ephors. He was supplanted also by the ephors in the control of foreign policy. Over time, the kings became mere figure-heads except in their capacity as [[general]]s. Real power was transferred to the ephors and to the [[gerousia]]. Causes for this change lay partly in the fact that the ephors, chosen by popular [[election]] from the whole body of citizens, represented a [[democratic]] element in the [[constitution]] without violating those oligarchical methods which seemed necessary for the state's administration. They also lay partly in the weakness of the kingship, the dual character of which inevitably gave rise to jealousy and discord between the two holders of the office, often resulting in a practical deadlock. Another cause lay in the loss of prestige suffered by the kingship, especially during the 5th century, owing to these aforementioned quarrels, to the frequency with which kings ascended the [[throne]] as minors making the creation of regencies necessary. The dual kingship's prestige also suffered due to the fact that the kings were, rightly or wrongly, suspected of having taken [[bribe]]s from the enemies of the state at one time or another.
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===Citizenship===
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Not all inhabitants of the Spartan state were considered to be citizens. Only those who had undertaken the Spartan education process known as the [[agoge]] were eligible. However, usually the only people eligible to receive the agoge were [[Spartiates]], or people who could trace their ancestry to the original inhabitants of the city.  
  
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===State organization===
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There were two exceptions: (1) ''Trophimoi'' or "foster sons" were foreign students invited to study. For example, the Athenian general [[Xenophon]], for example, sent his two sons to Sparta as ''trophimoi''; (2) The other exception was that sons of helots could be enrolled as [[syntrophoi]] if a Spartiate formally adopted him and paid his way. If a syntrophos did exceptionally well in training, he might be sponsored to become a Spartiate.<ref>Anton Powell, ''The Greek World'' (Routledge History of the Ancient World) (Routledge, 1997, ISBN 0415170427). </ref>
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After the ephors were introduced, they, together with the two kings, were the executive branch of the state. Ephors themselves had more power than anyone in Sparta, although the fact that they only stayed in power for a single year reduced their ability to conflict with already established powers in the state. Since reelection was not possible, an ephor who abused his power, or confronted an established power center, would have to suffer retaliation.
 
  
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The difference with today's states is that Sparta had a special policy maker, the [[gerousia]], a council consisting of 28 elders over the age of 60, elected for life and usually part of the royal households, and the two kings. High state policy decisions were discussed by this council who could then propose action alternatives to the ''Damos'', the collective body of Spartan citizenry, who would [[Great Rhetra|select one of the alternatives by voting]].
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Others in the state were the [[perioeci|perioikoi]], who can be described as civilians, and [[helots]],<ref name=PomeroyAncient>Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts, ''Ancient Greece: A Political, Social and Cultural History'' second ed. (Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 019530800X). </ref> the state-owned [[serf]]s that made up a large majority of the population. Because descendants of non-Spartan citizens were not able to follow the ''agoge,'' and because Spartans who could not afford to pay the expenses of the agoge could lose their [[citizenship]], the Spartan society suffered over time from constantly declining manpower.
  
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Not all inhabitants of the Spartan state were considered to be citizens (part of ''Demos''). Only the ones that had followed the military training, called the [[agoge]], were eligible. However, usually the only people eligible to receive the agoge were [[Spartiates]], or people who could trace their ancestry to the original inhabitants of the city although there were two exceptions. [[Trophimoi]] or "foster sons" were foreign students invited to study. [[Xenophon]] sent his two sons to Sparta for their education as trophimoi. The other exception was that sons of helots could be enrolled as syntrophoi if a Spartiate formally adopted him and paid his way. If a syntrophoi did exceptionally well in training he might be sponsored to become a Spartiate himself.
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===Helots and Perioikoi===
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====Helots====
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{{main|Helots}}
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The Spartans were a minority of the Lakonian population. By far the largest class of inhabitants were the helots (in [[Classical Greek]] {{polytonic|Εἵλωτες}} / ''Heílôtes'').<ref>Herodotus (IX, 28–29)</ref><ref>Xenophon, ''Hellenica,'' III, 3, 5</ref> 
  
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Others in the state were the [[perioeci]], who can be described as civilians, and helots who were the state owned serfs that made up 90 percent of the population. Due to the fact that descendants of non-Spartan citizens were not able to follow the agoge, and Spartans could lose their citizenship if they couldn't afford to pay the expenses of the agoge, the actual number of the Spartan citizens was constantly reduced, known as oliganthropia.
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The helots were originally free Greeks from the areas of [[Messenia]] and [[Lakonia]] whom the Spartans had defeated in battle and subsequently [[slavery|enslaved]]. In other Greek city-states, free citizens were part-time soldiers who, when not at war, carried on other trades. Since Spartan men were full-time soldiers, they were not available to carry out manual labor.<ref>Cartledge, 2002, 140.</ref> The helots were used as unskilled [[serf]]s, tilling Spartan land. Helot women were often used as [[wet nurse]]s. Helots also travelled with the Spartan army as non-combatant serfs. At the last stand of the [[Battle of Thermopylae]], the Greek dead included not just the legendary three hundred Spartan soldiers but also several hundred [[Thespian]] and [[Theban]] troops and a large number of helots.<ref>Ehrenberg, 159. </ref>
  
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===Foreign policy===
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According to Myron of Priene<ref>Plutarch, in Richard J.A. Talbert, (ed. & translator), ''On Sparta'', 2nd ed., (London: Penguin Classics, 2005, ISBN 0140449434), 20.</ref> of the middle third century B.C.E..,
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[[Image:Aspis.gif|thumb|Spartan shield indicating the letter [[lambda]] for [[Lacedaemon]].]]
 
  
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Sparta, by the 4th century B.C.E., was the most powerful nation in all of Greece. Unlike many of the Greek city-states it had only one colony, and most of its power came from alliances with other regions. Sparta was not an empire: no tribute was paid except in times of war. What Sparta essentially formed was a league, and they chose their allies strategically. For example, Sparta favoured [[Corinth]] because of its naval fleet. The allies would vow to have the same friends and enemies, follow Sparta wherever they led, and not go to war unless all the allies were in consensus. The league's governmental structure was an oligarchy run by aristocrats; it met in Corinth and was led by Sparta. The Congress, as it was called, consisted of representatives from each of the allied city states who each held one vote.
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<blockquote>"They assign to the Helots every shameful task leading to disgrace. For they ordained that each one of them must wear a dogskin cap ({{polytonic|κυνῆ}} / ''kunễ'') and wrap himself in skins ({{polytonic|διφθέρα}} / ''diphthéra'') and receive a stipulated number of beatings every year regardless of any wrongdoing, so that they would never forget they were slaves. Moreover, if any exceeded the vigour proper to a slave's condition, they made death the penalty; and they allotted a punishment to those controlling them if they failed to rebuke those who were growing fat".<ref>Apud Athenaeus, 14, 647d = ''FGH'' 106 F 2. Trans. by Cartledge, 305.</ref></blockquote>
  
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==The Spartan world==
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Plutarch also states that Spartans treated the Helots "harshly and cruelly": they compelled them to drink pure wine (which was considered dangerous - [[Diet of Ancient Greece#Wine|wine]] usually being cut with water) "''…and to lead them in that condition into their public halls, that the children might see what a sight a drunken man is; they made them to dance low dances, and sing ridiculous songs…''" during [[syssitia]] (obligatory banquets).<ref>Plutarch, [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Lycurgus*.html Life of Lycurgus] in ''Parallel Lives'' Vol I. 28, 8-10. Retrieved July 12, 2021.</ref><ref> Donald Jackson (trans.), ''The Constitution of the Lacedaemonians by Xenophon of Athens: A New Critical Edition with a Facing Page English Translation'' (Edwin Mellen Press Ltd., 2007, ISBN 0773455167), 30.</ref>
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Around the middle of the [[6th century B.C.E.]], the southern Peloponnese was Spartan territory. The territory was divided into two parts, Laconia and Messenia, which were separated by the [[Taygetos]] mountain range. Unlike other Greek cities, Sparta controlled much [[arable land]]. Earliest archeological evidence testifying settlement in Sparta dates from around 950 B.C.E.
 
  
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[[Image:MenelaionAndView.jpg|thumb|Menelaion and view of Mount [[Taygetus]]]]
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Helots did not have voting rights, although compared to non-Greek [[slavery|slaves]] in other parts of Greece they were relatively privileged. The Spartan poet [[Tyrtaeus|Tyrtaios]] refers to Helots being allowed to marry.<ref>M.L. West, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 019954039X), 24. </ref> They also seem to have been allowed to practice religious rites and, according to [[Thucydides]], own a limited amount of personal property.<ref>Cartledge, 2002, 141. </ref> 
  
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Classical sources tell us that Sparta was founded in the [[10th century B.C.E.]]. It consisted of the four villages of [[Pitane (Sparta)|Pitane]], [[Mesoa]], [[Limnai]] and [[Konooura]], which were later united under one government.
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Relations between the helots and their Spartan masters were hostile. Thucydides remarked that "Spartan policy is always mainly governed by the necessity of taking precautions against the helots."<ref>Thucydides (4, 80); the Greek is ambiguous </ref><ref>Cartledge, 2002, 211. </ref> 
  
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Around 750 B.C.E., Sparta began expanding slowly but steadily. The subjugated population of Laconia either became [[helots]] or [[perioeci]]. The helots kept their farmland but were required to deliver half of their output to the Spartan state, while the perioeci were inhabitants of cities that remained autonomous, save in matters of foreign affairs and military actions. The perioeci formed a vital part of Spartan society. As Spartans were forbidden non-military pursuits and occupations, the perioeci worked as traders, craftsmen, and artists. From 650 to 620 B.C.E., Sparta brought [[Messenia]] under its control. In the first third of the [[6th century B.C.E.|6th century]] Sparta was defeated by the city of [[Argos]], and later by [[Tegea]]. It was against the backdrop of the Messenian war and the following defeats that the unique Spartan way of life developed, which made Sparta famous in [[Ancient Greece]].  
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Each year when the Ephors took office they routinely declared war on the helots, thereby allowing Spartans to kill them without the risk of ritual pollution.<ref>Plutarch, ''Life of Lycurgus'' 28, 7.</ref> This seems to have been done by ''kryptes'' (sing. κρύπτης), graduates of the ''Agoge'' who took part in the mysterious institution known as the ''[[Crypteia|Krypteia]]'' (annual declaration of war against the helots).<ref>Anton Powell, ''Athens and Sparta: Constructing Greek Political and Social History from 478 B.C.E.'' (London: Routledge, 2001, ISBN 0415262801), 254.</ref>
  
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From 550 B.C.E. onwards, the goals of the Spartan cosmos &ndash; toughness of body and mind as well as military efficiency &ndash; seem to have been achieved. Sparta did not suffer under the rule of any tyrant or dictator, and its phalanxes were considered undefeatable. The term "Spartan" still remains synonymous for anyone rigorously self-disciplined or courageous in the face of pain, danger, or adversity. According to Byzantine sources, some parts of the Laconian region remained [[Paganism|pagan]] until well into the 10th century AD, and [[Doric Greek|Doric]]-speaking populations survive until today.
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Around 424 B.C.E., the Spartans murdered two thousand helots in a carefully staged event. Thucydides states:
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<blockquote>
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"The helots were invited by a proclamation to pick out those of their number who claimed to have most distinguished themselves against the enemy, in order that they might receive their freedom; the object being to test them, as it was thought that the first to claim their freedom would be the most high spirited and the most apt to rebel. As many as two thousand were selected accordingly, who crowned themselves and went round the temples, rejoicing in their new freedom. The Spartans, however, soon afterwards did away with them, and no one ever knew how each of them perished."<ref>Thucydides, Book IV 80.4. </ref><ref>Classical historian Anton Powell has recorded a similar story from 1980s El Salvador, Powell, 2001, 256.</ref></blockquote>
  
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==Society==
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====Periokoi====
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Sparta was, above all, a militarist state, and emphasis on military fitness began virtually at birth. Shortly after birth, the mother of the child bathed it in wine to see whether the child was strong. If the child survived it was brought before the elders of the tribe by the child's father. The elders then decided whether it was to be reared or not. If found defective or weak, the baby was left on the wild slopes of [[Taygetus|Mount Taygetos]] - also known as Apothetae, or as the Place of Rejection - to die; but it was also common for these rejected children to be adopted by the helots. In this way the Spartans attempted the maintenance of high physical standards in their population. From the earliest days of the Spartan citizen, the claim on his life by the state was absolute and strictly enforced.  
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The ''Perioikoi'' came from similar origins as the helots but occupied a somewhat different position in Spartan society. Although they did not enjoy full citizen-rights, they were free and not subjected to the same harsh treatment as the helots. The exact nature of their subjection to the Spartans is not clear, but they seem to have served partly as a kind of military reserve, partly as skilled craftsmen and partly as agents of foreign trade.<ref>Cartledge, 2002, 153-155.</ref> Although Peroikoic hoplites occasionally served with the Spartan army, notably at the [[Battle of Plataea]], the most important function of the Peroikoi was almost certainly the manufacture and repair of armour and [[weapons]].<ref>Cartledge, 2002, 158, 178.</ref>
  
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It was customary in Sparta that before the males would go off to war, their wives or another female of some significance would present them with their shield and say: "With this, or upon this" ({{lang-grc|Ή τάν ή Επί τᾶς}})&mdash;meaning Spartans could only return to Sparta in one of two ways: victorious or dead. If a Spartan [[hoplite]] were to return to Sparta alive and without his shield, it was assumed that he threw his shield at the enemy in an effort to flee; an act punishable by death or banishment. It is interesting to note that a soldier losing his helm, breastplate or greaves (leg armour) was not similarly punished, as these items were personal pieces of armour designed to protect one soldier. However, the shield not only protected the individual soldier but in the tightly packed Spartan phalanx was also instrumental in protecting the soldier to his left from harm. Thus the shield was symbolic of the individual soldier's subordination to his unit, his integral part in its success, and his solemn responsibility to his comrades in arms&mdash;messmates and friends, often close blood relations. It could not be lost.
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===Economy===
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Spartan citizens were debarred by law from [[trade]] or [[manufacturing|manufacture]], which consequently rested in the hands of the Perioikoi, and were forbidden (in theory) to possess either [[gold]] or [[silver]]. Spartan [[currency]] consisted of [[iron]] bars,<ref>Peter Roberts, ''Excel HSC Ancient History'' (Pascal Press, 2006, ISBN 1741251788).</ref> thus making thievery and foreign [[commerce]] very difficult and discouraging the accumulation of riches. Wealth was, in theory at least, derived entirely from landed property and consisted in the annual return made by the helots, who [[agriculture|cultivated]] the plots of ground allotted to the Spartan citizens. But this attempt to equalize property proved a failure: from the earliest times, there were marked differences of wealth within the state, and these became even more serious after the law of [[Epitadeus]], passed at some time after the [[Peloponnesian War]], removed the legal prohibition of the gift or bequest of land.<ref>Alexander Fuks, ''Social Conflict in Ancient Greece'' (Brill Academic Publishers, 1984, ISBN 9652234664). </ref>
  
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Burials in Sparta were also considered an act of honour, and marked headstones would only be granted to Spartan soldiers who died in combat during a victorious campaign (or females who died in service of a divine office or in childbirth).  
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Full citizens, released from any economic activity, were given a piece of land that was cultivated and run by the helots. As time went on, greater portions of land were concentrated in the hands of large landholders, but the number of full citizens declined. Citizens had numbered 10,000 at the beginning of the fifth century B.C.E. but had decreased by [[Aristotle]]'s day (384–322 B.C.E.) to less than 1000, and had further decreased to 700 at the accession of [[Agis IV]] in 244 B.C.E. Attempts were made to remedy this situation by creating new [[law]]s. Certain penalties were imposed upon those who remained unmarried or who married too late in life. These laws, however, came too late and were ineffective in reversing the trend.
  
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A strong emphasis was placed on honour and carrying out acts because it was the 'right thing to do.' [[Xenophon]] wrote about the Spartans as he observed them during an Olympic game:{{quote|An elderly man was trying to find a place to sit and observe the Olympic Games, as he went to each section. All the other Greeks laughed as he tried to make his way through. Some ignored him. Upon entering the Spartan section all the Spartans stood and offered the elderly man their seats. Suddenly the entire stadium applauded. All the Greeks knew what was the right thing to do, but the Spartans were the only ones who did it.}}
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==Life in Classical Sparta==
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===Birth and death===
  
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===Military life===
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Sparta was above all a [[militarism|militarist]] state, and emphasis on military fitness began virtually at birth. Shortly after birth, the mother of the child bathed it in wine to see whether the child was strong. If the child survived it was brought before the Gerousia by the child's father. The Gerousia then decided whether it was to be reared or not. If they considered it "puny and deformed," the baby was thrown into a chasm on [[Taygetus|Mount Taygetos]] known euphemistically as the ''Apothetae'' (Gr., ''ἀποθέτας'', "Deposits").<ref>Cartledge, 2001, 84.</ref><ref>Plutarch, in Talbert, 20. </ref> This was, in effect, a primitive form of [[eugenics]].<ref>Paul Cartledge, ''Spartan Reflections'' (London: Duckworth, 2001, ISBN 0715629662, 84.</ref> 
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[[Image:Leonidas statue1b.jpg‎|thumb|Statue of King [[Leonidas I]] in Sparta]]
 
  
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Spartan citizen boys left home for military boarding school at the age of six and were required to serve in the army until age of 40.<ref name=Stark>Rodney Stark. ''The Rise of Christianity: A Sociologist Reconsiders History''. (Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1996, ISBN 0691027498), P. 103</ref> Then they passed into the active reserve, where they remained until the age of sixty. Spartan education from the ages of seven to thirty emphasized physical toughness, steadfastness in military ranks, and absolute obedience to orders. The ordinary Spartan was a citizen-warrior, or [[hoplite]], trained to obey and endure; he became a politician only if chosen as ephor for a single year. He could be elected a life member of the council after his sixtieth year, in which he would be free from military service. Men were encouraged to marry at the age of twenty but could not live with their families until they left their active military service at age thirty.<ref name=Stark/> The Spartans perfected the craft of hoplite warfare. They called themselves "''homoioi''" (equals), pointing to their common lifestyle and the discipline of the [[Phalanx formation|phalanx]], which demanded that no soldier be superior to his comrades.<ref name=cowley>Robert Cowley, Geoffrey Parker, and Society for Military History (U.S.). ''The Reader's companion to military history''. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1996, ISBN 0395669693), P. 438</ref>
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There is some evidence that the exposure of unwanted children was practiced in other Greek regions, including [[Athens]].<ref>Richard Buxton (ed.), ''From Myth to Reason?: Studies in the Development of Greek Thought'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0199247528), 201. </ref>
  
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When the Spartans began military training - aged seven - they would enter the [[agoge]] system for the education and training—everything from physical training such as hunting and dancing, to emotional, and spiritual training. At that age they would have to go through what was known as the gauntlet. They would have to run around a group of older children, who would flog them continually with whips, sometimes to death. As they were lightly clothed, and had no bedding  to speak of, children would often put thistles in their pallet because the prickling sensation made them feel warmer. On leaving the agoge they would be sorted into groups, whereupon some were sent into the countryside with nothing and forced to survive on their skills and cunning; this was called the ''[[krypteia]]'', believed to be an initiation rite to seek out and kill [[helots]] who were considered to be troublesome to the state, or were found to be wandering the countryside with no good reason.
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When Spartans died, marked headstones would only be granted to soldiers who died in combat during a victorious campaign or women who died either in service of a divine office or in childbirth.
  
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At the age of twenty, the Spartan citizen began his membership in one of the ''[[syssitia]]'' (dining messes or clubs), composed of about fifteen members each, of which every citizen was required to be a member. Here each group learned how to bond and rely on one another. The Spartan exercised the full rights and duties of a citizen at the age of thirty. Only native Spartans were considered full citizens, and needed to undergo the training as prescribed by law, and participation in and contribution to one of the dining-clubs. Those who fulfilled these conditions were considered "peers" ''(homoioi)'', citizens in the fullest sense of the word, while those who failed were called "lesser citizens," and retained only the civil rights of citizenship.
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===Education===
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{{main|Agoge}}
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When male Spartans began military training at age seven, they would enter the ''Agoge'' system. The ''Agoge'' was designed to encourage discipline and physical toughness and to emphasise the importance of the Spartan state. Boys lived in communal messes and were deliberately underfed, to encourage them to master the skill of stealing food. Besides physical and weapons training, boys studied reading, writing, music and dancing. Special punishments were imposed if boys failed to answer questions sufficiently 'laconically' (i.e. briefly and wittily).<ref>Cartledge, 2001, 85.</ref> At the age of 12, the ''Agoge'' obliged Spartan boys to take an older male mentor, usually an unmarried young man. The older man was expected to function as a kind of substitute father and role model to his junior partner; however, it is also reasonably certain that they had [[sexual relations]] (the exact nature of [[Spartan pederasty]] is not entirely clear).<ref>Cartledge, 2001, 91-105. </ref>
  
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[[Image:Helmed Hoplite Sparta.JPG|thumb|[[Marble]] statue of a helmed [[hoplite]] ([[5th century B.C.E.]]), possibly Leonidas, Sparta, Archæological Museum of Sparta, Greece]]
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At the age of 18, Spartan boys became reserve members of the Spartan army. On leaving the ''Agoge'' they would be sorted into groups, whereupon some were sent into the countryside with only a knife and forced to survive on their skills and cunning. This was called the ''[[Krypteia]],'' and the immediate object of it was to seek out and kill any helots as part of the larger program of terrorizing and intimidating the helot population.<ref>Cartledge, 2001, 88. </ref>
  
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Spartan citizens were debarred by law from trade or manufacture, which consequently rested in the hands of the ''[[perioeci]]'', and were forbidden (in theory) to possess either gold or silver. Spartan currency consisted of bars of [[iron]], thus making thievery and foreign commerce very difficult and discouraging the accumulation of riches. Wealth was, in theory at least, derived entirely from landed property, and consisted in the annual return made by the [[helots]], who cultivated the plots of ground allotted to the Spartan citizens. But this attempt to equalize property proved a failure: from the earliest times, there were marked differences of wealth within the state, and these became even more serious after the law of [[Epitadeus]], passed at some time after the [[Peloponnesian War]], removed the legal prohibition of the gift or bequest of land. Helots were ruthlessly controlled, partly through the custom of [[Crypteia|krypteia]].
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Less information is available about the education of Spartan girls, but they seem to have gone through a fairly extensive formal educational cycle, broadly similar to that of the boys but with less emphasis on military training. In this respect, classical Sparta was unique in ancient Greece. In no other city-state did women receive any kind of formal education.<ref>Cartledge, 2001, 83-84. </ref>
  
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Full citizens, released from any economic activity, were given a piece of land ''([[kleros]])'', which was cultivated and run by the helots. As time went on, greater portions of land were concentrated in the hands of large landholders, but the number of full citizens declined. Citizens had numbered 10,000 at the beginning of the 5th century B.C.E..E., but had decreased by [[Aristotle]]'s day (384–322 B.C.E.) to less than 1,000, and had further decreased to 700 at the accession of [[Agis IV]] in 244 B.C.E. Attempts were made to remedy this situation by creating new laws. Certain penalties were imposed upon those who remained unmarried or who married too late in life. These laws, however, came too late and were ineffective in reversing the trend.
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===Military life===
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{{main|Spartan Army}}
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[[Image:Helmed Hoplite Sparta.JPG|thumb|300px|[[Marble]] statue of a helmed [[hoplite]] (fifth century B.C.E.), Archæological Museum of Sparta, Greece]]
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At age 20, the Spartan citizen began his membership in one of the ''[[syssitia]]'' (dining messes or clubs), comprised of about 15 members each, of which every citizen was required to be a member. Here each group learned how to bond and rely on one another. The Spartan exercised the full rights and duties of a citizen at the age of 30. Only native Spartans were considered full citizens and were obliged to undergo the training as prescribed by law, as well as participate in and contribute financially to one of the ''syssitia.''<ref>E. David, ''Aristophanes and Athenian Society of the Early Fourth Century B.C.E.'' (Brill Archive, 1984, ISBN 9004070621). </ref>
  
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Perhaps the most widely known event on the efficiency of the Spartan war-machine is related to the [[Persian Wars]]. The Spartan stand at the [[Battle of Thermopylae]] has been repeatedly cited in a military [[grand strategy]] context as a role model concerning the advantages of training, strategy and bravery against extremely overwhelming odds and is often referred to as the greatest last stand of a military force in documented history.
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Spartan men remained in the active reserve until age 60. Men were encouraged to marry at age 20 but could not live with their families until they left their active military service at age 30. They called themselves "''homoioi''" (equals), pointing to their common lifestyle and the discipline of the [[Phalanx formation|phalanx]], which demanded that no soldier be superior to his comrades.<ref name=cowley>Robert Cowley and Geoffrey Parker (eds.), ''The Readers Companion to Military History'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1996, ISBN 0395669693), 438. </ref> Insofar as hoplite warfare could be perfected, the Spartans did so.<ref>Frank E. Adcock, ''The Greek and Macedonian Art of War'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962, ISBN 0520000056), 8-9. </ref>
  
−
===Role of Women===
+
[[Thucydides]] reports that when a Spartan man went to war, their wife (or another woman of some significance) would customarily present them with their shield and say: "''With this, or upon this''" (Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς, ''Èi tàn èi èpì tàs''), meaning that true Spartans could only return to Sparta either victorious (with their [[shield]] in hand) or dead (carried upon it).<ref>Plutarch, in Frank Cole Babbitt, ''Moralia Vol. III.'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931, ISBN 0674992709), 465. </ref> If a Spartan hoplite were to return to Sparta alive and without his shield, it was assumed that he threw his shield at the enemy in an effort to flee; an act punishable by death or banishment. A soldier losing his helmet, breastplate or greaves (leg armour) was not similarly punished, as these items were personal pieces of armour designed to protect one man, whereas the shield not only protected the individual soldier but in the tightly packed Spartan phalanx was also instrumental in protecting the soldier to his left from harm. Thus the shield was symbolic of the individual soldier's subordination to his unit, his integral part in its success, and his solemn responsibility to his comrades in arms &mdash; messmates and friends, often close blood relations.
−
Spartan women enjoyed a status, power and respect that was unknown in the rest of the classical world. They controlled their own properties, as well as the properties of male relatives who were away with the army. It is estimated that women were the sole owners of at least 40% of all land and property in Sparta.<ref>Sarah B Pomeroy. ''Goddesses, whores, wives, and slaves''. (New York: Schocken Books, 1975, ISBN 0805235620)</ref> The laws regarding a divorce were the same for both men and women. Unlike women in Athens, if a Spartan woman became the heiress of her father because she had no living brothers to inherit (an [[epikleros]]), the woman was not required to divorce her current spouse in order to marry her nearest paternal relative.<ref name=Pomeroy1995>Pomeroy, P. 60-62</ref> Spartan women received as much education as men, as well as a substantial amount of physical education and gymnastic training. They rarely got married before the age of 20, and unlike Athenian women who wore heavy, concealing clothes and were rarely seen outside the house, Spartan women wore short dresses and went where they pleased. It was possible for them to appear entirely nude even publicly, which they did customarily only at festivals, as did the men.<ref name=Stark/><ref>Guttentag and Secord, 1983; Finley, 1982; Pomeroy, 1975</ref>
 
  
−
Women, being more independent than in other Greek societies, were able to negotiate with their husbands to bring their lovers into their homes. According to [[Plutarch]] in his ''Life of Lycurgus,'' men both allowed and encouraged their wives to bear the children of other men, due to the general communal ethos which made it more important to bear many progeny for the good of the city, than to be jealously concerned with one's own family unit. However, some historians argue that this 'wife sharing' was only reserved for elder males who had not yet produced an heir {{Fact|date=April 2007}}. For this reason, Plutarch claims that the concept of "adultery" was alien to the Spartans, and relates that one ancient Spartan had said that it was as possible "to find a bull with a neck long enough to stand on a mountain top and drink from a river below," as to find an adulterer in Sparta.
+
According to [[Aristotle]], the Spartan military culture was actually short-sighted and ineffective. He observed:
 +
<blockquote>It is the standards of civilized men not of beasts that must be kept in mind, for it is good men not beasts who are capable of real courage. Those like the Spartans who concentrate on the one and ignore the other in their education turn men into machines and in devoting themselves to one single aspect of city's life, end up making them inferior even in that.<ref>Forrest, 1968, 53. </ref></blockquote>
  
−
===Culture===
+
Even mothers enforced the militaristic lifestyle that Spartan men endured. There is a legend of a Spartan warrior who ran away from battle back to his mother. Although he expected protection from his mother, she acted quite the opposite. Instead of shielding her son from the shame of the state, she and some of her friends chased him around the streets, and beat him with sticks. Afterwards, he was forced to run up and down the hills of Sparta yelling his cowardliness and inferiority.<ref>Sarah B. Pomeroy, ''Spartan Women'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0195130677). </ref><ref>H.D.F. Kitto, ''The Greeks'' (Piscataway, NJ: Aldine Transaction, 2007, ISBN 020230910X).</ref>
−
[[Image:Museum sparta.jpg|thumb|Museum of Sparta]]
 
  
−
Until the age of seven, boys were educated at home and were taught to fight their fears as well as general superstition by their nurses, who were prized in Greece. Their official training was then undertaken by the state in the agoge system and supervised by the ''paidonomos'', an official appointed for that purpose. This training consisted for the most part in physical exercises, such as dancing, gymnastics, and ball-games. The Dorians were the first to practice nudity in athletics, as well as oiling the body during exercise to enhance its beauty, a costly practice which broke with the customary frugality of the Spartans.<ref>Thomas F. Scanlon, "The Dispersion of Pederasty and the Athletic Revolution in Sixth-Century B.C.E. Greece" in ''Same-Sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity and in the Classical Tradition of the West,'' ed. B. C. Verstraete and V. Provencal, Harrington Park Press, 2005, P. 76–77</ref> According to [[Plato]] this practice was introduced from Crete to Sparta, and then to the rest of Greece. The Dorian Cretans had most likely inherited it from [[Minoans]].
+
===Marriage===
 +
Spartan men were required to marry at age 30,<ref name=PomeroyAncient/> after completing the ''Krypteia''.<ref>Derek Benjamin Heater, ''A Brief History of Citizenship'' (New York University Press, 2004, ISBN 0814736726). </ref> [[Plutarch]] reports the peculiar customs associated with the Spartan [[wedding]] night:<blockquote>The custom was to capture women for marriage (…) The so-called 'bridesmaid' took charge of the captured girl. She first shaved her head to the scalp, then dressed her in a man's cloak and sandals, and laid her down alone on a mattress in the dark. The bridegroom—who was not drunk and thus not impotent, but was sober as always—first had dinner in the messes, then would slip in, undo her belt, lift her and carry her to the bed.<ref>Plutarch, 2005, 18-19.</ref></blockquote>
  
−
Between leaving the agoge and joining the syssitia a select few young men were arranged into groups, and were sent off into the countryside with nothing, and were expected to survive on wits and cunning. It was assumed that they would steal their food, yet anyone caught stealing was severely punished. Many speculate that this was to teach the young Spartans stealth and quickness. If you were caught, it was concluded that you were not quick enough or silent enough. This was called the ''[[crypteia]]'', secret (ritual). This was very probably, in origin, an old [[initiation rite]], a preparation for their later career as elite soldiers. Other sources claim that the ''crypteia'' (or krypteia) was an "adolescent death squad" made up of the most promising young Spartans. Their job was to roam the countryside killing [[helots]] at night in order to instill fear in the slave population and prevent rebellion.
+
The husband continued to visit his wife in secret for some time after the [[marriage]]. These customs, unique to the Spartans, have been interpreted in various ways. The "abduction" may have served to ward off the [[evil eye]], and the cutting of the wife's hair was perhaps part of a rite of passage that signalled her entrance into a new life.<ref>Pomeroy, 2002, 42.</ref>
  
−
Spartan men were required to marry at age 20 after completing the crypteia. A Spartan wedding was not highly ritualized and consisted of the intended bride being abducted with simulated violence. After the wedding night the husband remained living in his barracks and would have no further contact with his wife except for the purpose of [[procreation]]. This was ritualized with the wife having to shave her head and dress in male clothing while the husband would wait until his friends had gone to sleep before leaving the barracks to do his duty and then returning before they were aware of his absence.<ref>[http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/aegean/culture/spartaculture.html Minnesota State University. Emuseum] - Retrieved November 20, 2007.</ref>
+
==Role of women==
 +
====Political, social, and economic equality====
 +
Spartan women enjoyed a status, power and respect that was unknown in the rest of the classical world. They controlled their own properties, as well as the properties of male relatives who were away with the army. It is estimated that women were the sole owners of at least 35 percent of all land and property in Sparta. The laws regarding a divorce were the same for both men and women. Unlike women in Athens, if a Spartan woman became the heiress of her father because she had no living brothers to inherit (an [[epikleros]]), the woman was not required to divorce her current spouse in order to marry her nearest paternal relative.<ref name=Pomeroy1995>Sarah B. Pomeroy, ''Goddess, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity'' reprint ed. (New York: Schocken Books, 1995, ISBN 080521030X), 60-62. </ref> Spartan women rarely married before the age of 20, and unlike Athenian women who wore heavy, concealing clothes and were rarely seen outside the house, Spartan women wore short dresses and went where they pleased. Girls as well as boys exercised nude, and young women as well as young men may have participated in the ''[[Gymnopaedia]]'' ("Festival of Nude Youths").<ref>Marcia Guttentag and Paul F. Secord, ''Too Many Women? The Sex Ration Question'' (Sage Publications, 1983, ISBN 0803919190)</ref><ref>Pomeroy, 2002, 34. </ref>
  
−
Training in music and literature occupied a subordinate position. The tireless emphasis on physical training gave Spartans the reputation for being “[[laconic phrase|laconic]],” economical with words, a word derived from the name of their homeland of [[Laconia]]. Education was also extended to girls, in the belief that strong and intelligent mothers would produce strong and intelligent children. Thus modern day historians, with the corroboration of ancient writers, tend to conclude that Spartan women were among the most educated in the ancient Greek world. Both sexes exercised [[nude]] and because of this a strong emphasis was placed on the physical fitness of men as well as women. Despite their physical fitness, women could not compete in the Olympic Games, according to the [[Ancient Olympics|Olympic]] rules (they competed in the [[Heraea Games]] instead). There were also contests to see who could take the most severe [[flogging]], an ordeal known as ''diamastigosis''.  
+
Women were able to negotiate with their husbands to bring their lovers into their homes. According to [[Plutarch]] in his ''Life of Lycurgus,'' men both allowed and encouraged their wives to bear the children of other men, because of the general communal ethos that made it more important to bear many progeny for the good of the city, than to be jealously concerned with one's own family unit. However, some historians argue that this 'wife sharing' was only reserved for elder males who had not yet produced an heir: "Despite these exceptions, and despite the report about wife sharing for reproductive purposes, the Spartans, like other Greeks, were monogamous."<ref name=PomeroyAncient/> 
  
−
Poor knowledge on Spartan traditions is the result of Sparta's secrecy. Most modern theories are based on assumptions derived from ancient sources and parallels drawn between Sparta and contemporary Dorian Greek societies such as Crete. Some scholars assume that the custom of [[Spartan pederasty|pederasty]] paralleled the mentoring relations between Spartan males and adolescent boys, common in Dorian societies. Some of the ancient scholars seem to have supported an opposing view: [[Xenophon]] writes that Lycurgus efficiently managed to cultivate chaste pederasty in the Spartan society.<ref name=powell>Anton Powell. ''Athens and Sparta''. (Portland, Or. : Areopagitica Press, 1988, ISBN 0918400090), P. 228</ref> This however tends to be viewed as an attempt of praise towards Sparta, and not necessarily as a sincere remark. [[Aristotle]] also wrote that Sparta belonged to the type of military society that was based on heterosexual relationship, unlike other Greek states of his time. [[Cicero]] furthermore asserts that, "The Lacedaemonians, while they permit all things except outrage (''stuprum'', i.e. "illicit sexual intercourse," OLD) in the love of youths, certainly distinguish the forbidden by a thin wall of partition from the sanctioned, for they allow embraces and a common couch to lovers.'<ref>Cicero, ''De Rep.,'' iv. 4</ref> In antiquity it was thought that a youth was expected to find himself an older lover, and that [[Pederasty in ancient Greece|pederasty]], a social practice common throughout most of Greece, was especially so in Sparta, they were the best army in the world where the ephors fined any eligible man who did not have chaste relationships with youths.<ref>Aelian, ''Var. Hist.,'' III.10</ref> However, according to one author, an examination of the historical details reveals that "references to particular homosexual attachments of Spartans are conspicuous even by Greek standards".<ref name=powell/>
+
====Historic women====
 +
Many women played a significant role in the [[history of Sparta]]. [[Gorgo, Queen of Sparta|Queen Gorgo]], heiress to the throne and the wife of [[Leonidas I]], was an influential and well-documented figure.<ref>Brittani Barger, [https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/the-royal-women/gorgo-of-sparta/ Gorgo of Sparta] ''History of Royal Women'', November 29, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2021.</ref> [[Herodotus]] records that as a small girl she advised her father [[Cleomenes]] to resist a bribe. She was later said to be responsible for decoding a warning that the Persian forces were about to invade Greece; after Spartan generals could not decode a wooden tablet covered in [[wax]], she ordered them to clear the wax, revealing the warning.<ref>Helena P. Schrader, [https://elysiumgates.com/~helena/Women.html "Scandalous" Spartan Women: Educated and Economically Empowered] ''Sparta Reconsidered—Spartan Women''. Retrieved July 12, 2021.</ref> [[Plutarch]]'s ''[[Moralia]]'' contains a collection of "Sayings of Spartan Women," including a laconic quip attributed to Gorgo: when asked by a woman from [[Attica]] why Spartan women were the only women in the world who could rule men, she replied: "Because we are the only women who are mothers of men." <ref>Plutarch, 2004, 457</ref>
  
 
==Archaeology==
 
==Archaeology==
−
[[Image:Sparta ruins.PNG|thumb|[[Ruins]] from the ancient site.]]
+
[[Image:Sparta ruins.PNG|thumb|300px|[[Ruins]] from the ancient site.]]
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[[Image:Spartamuseum2.jpg|thumb|Sparta]]
 
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[[Image:View ancien.jpg|thumb|View from the Acropolis of Sparta]]
 
−
 
 
−
There is a well-known passage in [[Thucydides]] which runs thus:
 
−
:"Suppose the city of Sparta to be deserted, and nothing left but the temples and the ground-plan, distant ages would be very unwilling to believe that the power of the Lacedaemonians was at all equal to their fame.
 
  
−
:"Their city is not built continuously, and has no splendid temples or other edifices; it rather resembles a group of villages, like the ancient towns of Hellas, and would therefore make a poor show" (i. 10, trans. Jowett).
+
Thucydides wrote:<blockquote>Suppose the city of Sparta to be deserted, and nothing left but the temples and the ground-plan, distant ages would be very unwilling to believe that the power of the Lacedaemonians was at all equal to their fame. Their city is not built continuously, and has no splendid temples or other edifices; it rather resembles a group of villages, like the ancient towns of Hellas, and would therefore make a poor show.<ref>Thucydides, i. 10.</ref></blockquote>
  
−
The first feeling of most travellers who visit modern Sparta is one of disappointment with the ancient remains. {{Fact|date=February 2007}} A better "show" is put on by Byzantine [[Mistra]], with its grass-grown streets, its decaying houses, its ruined fortress and its beautiful churches. Until the early twentieth century, the chief ancient buildings at Sparta were the theatre, of which, however, little showed above ground except portions of the [[retaining wall]]s; the so-called ''Tomb of [[Leonidas]]'', a quadrangular building, perhaps a temple, constructed of immense blocks of stone and containing two chambers; the foundation of an ancient bridge over the [[Eurotas]]; the ruins of a circular structure; some remains of late Roman fortifications; several brick buildings and mosaic pavements.
+
Until the early twentieth century, the chief ancient buildings at Sparta were the [[theatre]], of which, however, little showed above ground except portions of the [[retaining wall]]s; the so-called ''Tomb of [[Leonidas]],'' a quadrangular building, perhaps a temple, constructed of immense blocks of stone and containing two chambers; the foundation of an ancient [[bridge]] over the [[Eurotas]]; the ruins of a circular structure; some remains of late Roman fortifications; several brick buildings and [[mosaic]] pavements.
  
−
The remaining archaeological wealth consisted of inscriptions, sculptures, and other objects collected in the local museum, founded by Stamatakis in 1872 (and enlarged in 1907). Excavations were carried on near Sparta, on the site of the [[Amyclaeum]] in 1890 by (?) Tsounas, and in 1904 by Furtwängler, and at the shrine of Menelaus in Therapne by Ross in 1833 and 1841, and by Kastriotis in 1889 and 1900. Organized digs were attempted in the area of Sparta proper; partial excavation of the round building was undertaken in 1892 and 1893 by the American School at Athens. The structure has been since found to be a semicircular retaining wall of Hellenic origin that was partly restored during the Roman period.
+
The remaining archaeological wealth consisted of [[inscriptions]], [[sculpture]]s, and other objects collected in the local [[museum]], founded by Stamatakis in 1872 (and enlarged in 1907). Partial excavation of the round building was undertaken in 1892 and 1893 by the American School at Athens. The structure has been since found to be a semicircular retaining wall of Hellenic origin that was partly restored during the Roman period.
  
−
In 1904, the British School at Athens began a thorough exploration of [[Laconia]], and in the following year excavations were made at Thalamae, Geronthrae, and Angelona near [[Monemvasia]] as several medieval fortresses were being surveyed. In 1906, excavations began in Sparta itself, yielding many finds, which have been published in the ''British School Annual'', vol. xii. sqq.
+
In 1904, the British School at Athens began a thorough exploration of [[Laconia]], and in the following year excavations were made at Thalamae, Geronthrae, and Angelona near [[Monemvasia]]. In 1906, excavations began in Sparta.
  
−
A small circus described by [[William Martin Leake|Leake]] proved to be a theatre-like building constructed soon after AD 200 around the altar and in front of the temple of [[Artemis Orthia]]. Here musical and gymnastic contests took place as well as the famous flogging ordeal ''(diamastigosis)''. The temple, which can be dated to the [[2nd century B.C.E.]], rests on the foundation of an older temple of the 6th century, and close beside it were found the remains of a yet earlier temple, dating from the 9th or even the 10th century. The [[votive offering]]s in clay, amber, bronze, ivory and lead found in great profusion within the precinct range, dating from the 9th to the 4th centuries B.C.E., supply invaluable evidence for early Spartan art; they prove that Sparta reached her artistic zenith in the 7th century and that her decline had already begun in the 6th.
+
A small "circus" described by [[William Martin Leake|Leake]] proved to be a theatre-like building constructed soon after 200 C.E. around the altar and in front of the temple of [[Artemis Orthia]]. Here musical and gymnastic contests took place as well as the famous flogging ordeal ''(diamastigosis).'' The temple, which can be dated to the 2nd century B.C.E., rests on the foundation of an older temple of the sixth century, and close beside it were found the remains of a yet earlier temple, dating from the ninth or even the tenth century. The [[votive offering]]s in [[clay]], [[amber]], [[bronze]], [[ivory]] and [[lead]] found in great profusion within the precinct range, dating from the 9th to the fourth centuries B.C.E., supply invaluable evidence for early Spartan art.
  
−
In 1907, the sanctuary of Athena "of the Brazen House" ''(Chalkioikos)'' was located on the acropolis immediately above the theatre, and though the actual temple is almost completely destroyed, the site has produced the longest extant archaic inscription of Laconia, numerous bronze nails and plates, and a considerable number of votive offerings. The Greek [[city-wall]], built in successive stages from the 4th to the 2nd century, was traced for a great part of its circuit, which measured 48 stades or nearly 10 km (Polyb. 1X. 21). The late Roman wall enclosing the acropolis, part of which probably dates from the years following the Gothic raid of AD 262, was also investigated. Besides the actual buildings discovered, a number of points were situated and mapped in a general study of Spartan topography, based upon the description of [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]. Excavations showed that the town of the Mycenean Period was situated on the left bank of the Eurotas, a little to the south-east of Sparta. The settlement was roughly triangular in shape, with its apex pointed towards the north. Its area was approximately equal to that of the "newer" Sparta, but denudation has wreaked havoc with its buildings and nothing is left save ruined foundations and broken potsherds.
+
In 1907, the sanctuary of Athena "of the Brazen House" ''(Chalkioikos)'' was located on the acropolis immediately above the theatre, and though the actual temple is almost completely destroyed, the site has produced the longest extant archaic inscription of Laconia, numerous bronze nails and plates, and a considerable number of votive offerings. The Greek [[city-wall]], built in successive stages from the fourth to the second century, was traced for a great part of its circuit, which measured 48 stades or nearly 10 km (Polyb. 1X. 21). The late [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] wall enclosing the acropolis, part of which probably dates from the years following the Gothic raid of 262 C.E., was also investigated. Besides the actual buildings discovered, a number of points were situated and mapped in a general study of Spartan topography, based upon the description of [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]]. Excavations showed that the town of the [[Mycenaea]]n Period was situated on the left bank of the Eurotas, a little to the south-east of Sparta. The settlement was roughly triangular in shape, with its apex pointed towards the north. Its area was approximately equal to that of the "newer" Sparta, but denudation has wreaked havoc with its buildings and nothing is left save ruined foundations and broken potsherds.
  
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==Famous People==
+
==Laconophilia==
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*[[Agis I]] 
+
''Laconophilia'' is love or admiration of Sparta and of the Spartan culture or constitution. In ancient times "Many of the noblest and best of the Athenians always considered the Spartan state nearly as an ideal theory realized in practice."<ref>Mueller, ''Dorians'' II, 192</ref>
−
*[[Agis II]]   
 
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*[[Agis III]]   
 
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*[[Agis IV]] 
 
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*[[Lysander]] ([[5th century B.C.E.|5th]]-[[4th century B.C.E.]]) commander of the Spartan fleet
 
−
*[[Lycurgus of Sparta|Lycurgus]] ([[10th century B.C.E.]]) lawgiver
 
−
*[[Leonidas I]] (c. 520-480 B.C.E.) king of Sparta
 
−
*[[Chionis of Sparta|Chionis]] ([[7th century B.C.E.]]) athlete
 
−
*[[Cynisca]] ([[4th century B.C.E.]]) princess and athlete
 
  
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==See also==
+
In the modern world, the adjective "Spartan" is used to imply simplicity, frugality, or avoidance of luxury and comfort. The Elizabethan English constitutionalist [[John Aylmer (English constitutionalist)|John Aylmer]] compared the mixed government of Tudor England with the Spartan republic, stating that "Lacedemonia [meaning Sparta], [was] the noblest and best city governed that ever was." He commended it as a model for England. The Swiss-French philosopher [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] contrasted Sparta favorably with ancient [[Athens]] in his [[Discourse on the Arts and Sciences]], arguing that its austere constitution was preferable to the more cultured nature of Athenian life. Sparta was also used as a model of social purity by Revolutionary and Napoleonic France.<ref>Slavoj Žižek, [https://www.lacan.com/zizhollywood.htm The True Hollywood Left] ''Lacan.com'', 2006. Retrieved July 12, 2021.</ref>
−
*[[Sparta in popular culture]]
 
−
*[[Cetinje]], "Serbian Sparta"
 
−
*[[Gymnopaedia]]
 
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*[[Tsakonians]]
 
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*[[Spartiates]]
 
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*[[Spartan Army]]
 
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*[[Spartathlon]]
 
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*[[Eugenics#Sparta|Eugenics]]
 
  
 
==Notes==
 
==Notes==
−
{{Reflist|2}}
+
<references/>
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
−
*Forrest, William George Grieve. 1969. ''A History of Sparta 950-192 B.C''. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 0393004813
+
 
−
*Bradford, Ernle Dusgate Selby. 1980. ''The battle for the West Thermopylae''. New York: McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0070070628
+
*Adcock, Frank E. ''The Greek and Macedonian Art of War.'' Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962. ISBN 0520000056
−
*Cartledge, Paul. 2001. ''Spartan reflections''. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0520231236
+
*Aristotle, and Thomas Alan Sinclair (ed.), Trevor J. Saunders (trans.). ''The Politics.'' rev. ed. Penguin Classics, 1981. ISBN 0140444211
−
*Cartledge, Paul. "What have the Spartans Done for us?: Sparta’s Contribution to Western Civilization," ''Greece & Rome'', Vol.&nbsp;51, Issue&nbsp;2 (2004), pp.&nbsp;164–179.
+
*Bennett, Matthew. ''Dictionary of Ancient & Medieval Warfare.'' Stackpole Books, 2001. ISBN 081172610X
 +
*Boardman, John, Jasper Griffin, and Oswyn Murray (eds.). ''The Oxford Illustrated History of Greece and the Hellenistic World.'' Oxford University Press, 1962. ISBN 0192854380 
 +
*Bradford, Ernle. ''Thermopylae: The Battle for the West.'' New York: Da Capo Press, 2004. ISBN 0306813602 
 +
*Buxton, Richard (ed.). ''From Myth to Reason?: Studies in the Development of Greek Thought.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0199247528 
 +
*Cartledge, Paul. ''Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History 1300 to 362 B.C.E.'' 2nd ed. Oxford: Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0415262763 
 +
*Cartledge, Paul. ''Spartan Reflections.'' London: Duckworth, 2001. ISBN 0715629662 
 +
*Cartledge, Paul, and Antony Spawforth, contributor. ''Hellenistic and Roman Sparta,'' 2nd ed. Oxford: Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0415262771
 +
*Cartwright, David. ''A Historical Commentary on Thucydides: A Companion to Rex Warner's Penguin Translation.'' Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997. ISBN 0472084194
 +
*Cowley, Robert, and Geoffrey Parker (eds.). ''The Readers Companion Military History.'' Houghton Mifflin, 1996. ISBN 0395669693
 +
*David, E. ''Aristophanes and Athenian Society of the Early Fourth Century B.C.E.'' Brill Archive, 1984. ISBN 9004070621
 +
*Davies, Norman. ''Europe: a History.'' Harper Perennial, 1998. ISBN 0060974680
 +
*Ehrenberg, Victor. ''From Solon to Socrates: Greek History and Civilisation between the 6th and 5th centuries B.C.E.,'' 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2004. ISBN 0415040248
 +
*Fine, John V. A. ''The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History.'' Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1985. ISBN 0674033140 
 +
*Forrest, William G. G. ''A History of Sparta, 950–192 B.C.E.'' New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1968. ISBN 0393004813
 +
*Fuks, Alexander. ''Social Conflict in Ancient Greece.'' Brill Academic Pub., 1984. ISBN 9652234664 
 +
*Green, Peter. ''The Greco-Persian Wars,'' 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. ISBN 0520203135
 +
*Guttentag, Marcia, and Paul F. Secord. ''Too Many Women? The Sex Ration Question.'' Sage Publications, 1983. ISBN 0803919190
 +
*Hammond, Nicholas G. L. ''The Genius of Alexander the Great.'' The University of North Carolina Press, 1998. ISBN 0807847445
 +
*Heater, Derek Benjamin. ''A Brief History of Citizenship.'' New York Univ. Press, 2004. ISBN 0814736726
 +
*Jackson, Donald, Translator. ''The Constitution of the Lacedaemonians by Xenophon of Athens: A New Critical Edition with a Facing Page English Translation.'' Edwin Mellen Press Ltd., 2007. ISBN 0773455167
 +
* Kitto, H.D.F. ''The Greeks.'' Piscataway, NJ: Aldine Transaction, 2007. ISBN 020230910X
 +
*Morris, Ian. ''Death-Ritual and Social Structure in Classical Antiquity.'' (Key Themes in Ancient History) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN 0521376114 
 +
*Plutarch. In Richard J.A. Talbert, ed. & translator. ''On Sparta,'' 2nd ed., edited by Christopher Pelling. London: Penguin Classics, 2005. ISBN 0140449434 
 +
*Plutarch. In Frank Cole Babbitt. ''Moralia.'' Vol. III. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0674992709
 +
*Pomeroy, Sarah B. ''Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity.'' reprint ed. New York: Schocken Books, 1995. ISBN 080521030X
 +
*Pomeroy, Sarah B. ''Spartan Women.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0195130677
 +
*Pomeroy, Sarah B., Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts. ''Ancient Greece: A Political, Social and Cultural History,'' second ed. Oxford University Press, USA, 2007. ISBN 019530800X
 +
*Powell, Anton. ''Athens and Sparta: Constructing Greek Political and Social History from 478 B.C.E.,'' 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0415262801
 +
*Powell, Anton. ''The Greek World.'' (Routledge History of the Ancient World) Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0415170427
 +
*Roberts, Peter. ''Excel HSC Ancient History.'' Pascal Press. ISBN 1741251788
 +
*Souza, Philip de, Waldemar Heckel, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, and Victor Davis Hanson. ''The Greeks at War.'' London: Osprey Publishing, 2004. ISBN ‎1841768561 
 +
*Thompson, F. Hugh. ''The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Slavery.'' London: Duckworth, 2002. ISBN 0715631950 
 +
*Thucydides. In M.I. Finley, Rex Warner. ''History of the Peloponnesian War.'' London: Penguin Books, 1974. ISBN 0140440399 
 +
*West, M.L. ''Greek Lyric Poetry.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 019954039X
 +
*Whibley, Leonard. ''A companion to Greek studies.'' reprint ed. Kessinger Publications, 2009. ISBN 1437490859
 +
 
 
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{{1911}}
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
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All links retrieved November 20, 2007.
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All links retrieved February 7, 2023.
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{{commonscat|Sparta}}
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*[https://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=9773 Sparti Town Laconia] ''Greek Travel Pages''
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*[http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=9773 GTP - Sparta]
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*[https://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=61562 Sparti Ancient city Laconia] ''Greek Travel Pages''
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*[http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=61562 GTP - Ancient Sparta]
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*[https://elysiumgates.com/~helena/index.html Sparta Reconsidered - History, beliefs and culture of Ancient Sparta]
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*[http://elysiumgates.com/~helena Sparta Reconsidered - History, beliefs and culture of Ancient Sparta]
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*[https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/ancient/eb11-sparta.asp Ancient History Sourcebook: 11th Brittanica: Sparta]
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*[http://www.journaloflaconicstudies.markoulakispublications.org.uk Journal of Laconian Studies - A peer-review open source Journal for the study of Laconian history]
 
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*[http://www.sparta.markoulakispublications.org.uk Sparta - An educational periodical for Sparta & Greek history]
 
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*[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/eb11-sparta.html Ancient History Sourcebook: 11th Brittanica: Sparta]
 
  
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Latest revision as of 19:09, 7 February 2023

Σπάρτα
Sparta
← Blank.png
 eleventh century B.C.E. – 195 B.C.E. Blank.png →
 
Blank.png →
 
Blank.png →
Location of Sparta
Territory of ancient Sparta
Capital Sparta
Language(s) Doric Greek
Religion Polytheism
Government
Historical era Classical Antiquity
 - Established eleventh century B.C.E.
 - Peloponnesian League 546-371 B.C.E.
 - Disestablished 195 B.C.E.

Sparta (Doric Σπάρτα; Attic Σπάρτη Spartē) was a city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the River Eurotas in the southern part of the Peloponnese. From c. 650 B.C.E., it rose to become the dominant military power in the region and as such was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars. Sparta owed its military efficiency to its social structure, unique in ancient Greece. The Spartans formed a minority in their own territory of Lakonia; all male citizens of Sparta were full-time soldiers; unskilled labor was performed by a much larger, heavily subjugated slave population known as Helots (Gr., "captives"), while skilled labor was provided by another group, the Perioikoi (Gr. "those who live round about"). Helots were the majority inhabitants of Sparta (over 80 percent of the population according to Herodotus (8, 28-29)). They were ritually humiliated. During the Crypteia (annual declaration of war against the helots), they could be legally killed by Spartan citizens. Between 431 and 404 B.C.E., Sparta was the principal enemy of Athens during the Peloponnesian War; however, by 362 B.C.E., Sparta's role as the dominant military power in Greece was over.

Laconophilia is the admiration of Sparta, which continues to fascinate Western culture.[1][2]

Names

Sparta was generally referred to by the ancient Greeks as Lakedaimon (Λακεδαίμων) or Lakedaimonia (Λακεδαιμωνία); these are the names commonly used in the works of Homer and the Athenian historians Herodotus and Thucydides. Herodotus uses only the former and in some passages seems to denote by it the ancient Greek citadel at Therapne, in contrast to the lower town of Sparta. The immediate area around the town of Sparta, the plateau east of the Taygetos mountains, was generally referred as Lakonia. This term was sometimes used to refer to all the regions under direct Spartan control, including Messenia.

In Greek mythology, Lakedaimon was a son of Zeus by the nymph Taygete. He married Sparta the daughter of Eurotas, by whom he became the father of Amyclas, Eurydice, and Asine. He was king of the country which he named after himself, naming the capital after his wife. He was believed to have built the sanctuary of the Charites, which stood between Sparta and Amyclae, and to have given to those divinities the names of Cleta and Phaenna. A shrine was erected to him in the neighborhood of Therapne.

Lacedaemon is now the name of a province in the modern Greek prefecture of Laconia.

History

Prehistory

The prehistory of Sparta is difficult to reconstruct, because the literary evidence is far removed in time from the events it describes and is also distorted by oral tradition.[3] However, the earliest certain evidence of human settlement in the region of Sparta consists of pottery dating from the Middle Neolithic period, found in the vicinity of Kouphovouno some two kilometers south-southwest of Sparta.[4] These are the earliest traces of the original Mycenaean Spartan civilization, as represented in Homer's Iliad.

This civilization seems to have fallen into decline by the late Bronze Age, when Doric Greek warrior tribes from Epirus and Macedonia in northeast Greece came south to the Peloponnese and settled there.[5] The Dorians seem to have set about expanding the frontiers of Spartan territory almost before they had established their own state.[6] They fought against the Argive Dorians to the east and southeast, and also the Arcadian Achaeans to the northwest. The evidence suggests that Sparta, relatively inaccessible because of the topography of the Taygetan plain, was secure from early on: it was never fortified.[7]

Between the eighth and seventh centuries B.C.E., the Spartans experienced a period of lawlessness and civil strife, later testified by both Herodotus and Thucydides.[8] As a result, they carried out a series of political and social reforms of their own society that they later attributed to a semi-mythical lawgiver, Lykourgos.[9] These reforms mark the beginning of the history of Classical Sparta.

Classical Sparta

In the Second Messenian War, Sparta established itself as a local power in Peloponnesus and the rest of Greece. During the following centuries, Sparta's reputation as a land-fighting force was unequaled.[10] In 480 B.C.E., a small force of Spartans, Thespians, and Thebans led by King Leonidas (approximately 300 were full Spartiates, 700 were Thespians, and 400 were Thebans; these numbers do not reflect casualties incurred prior to the final battle), made a legendary last stand at the Battle of Thermopylae against the massive Persian army, inflicting a very high casualty rate on the Persian forces before finally being encircled.[11] The superior weaponry, strategy, and bronze armor of the Greek hoplites and their phalanx again proved their worth one year later when Sparta assembled at full strength and led a Greek alliance against the Persians at the battle of Plataea.

The decisive Greek victory at Plataea put an end to the Greco-Persian War along with Persian ambition of expanding into Europe. Even though this war was won by a pan-Greek army, credit was given to Sparta, who besides being the protagonist at Thermopylae and Plataea, had been the de facto leader of the entire Greek expedition.

In later Classical times, Sparta along with Athens, Thebes and Persia had been the main powers fighting for supremacy against each other. As a result of the Peloponnesian War, Sparta, a traditionally continental culture, became a naval power. At the peak of its power, Sparta subdued many of the key Greek states and even managed to overpower the elite Athenian navy. By the end of the fifth century B.C.E., it stood out as a state which had defeated at war the Athenian Empire and had invaded Persia, a period which marks the Spartan Hegemony.

During the Corinthian War Sparta faced a coalition of the leading Greek states: Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos. The alliance was initially backed by Persia, whose lands in Anatolia had been invaded by Sparta and which feared further Spartan expansion into Asia.[12] Sparta achieved a series of land victories, but many of her ships were destroyed at the battle of Cnidus by a Greek-Phoenician mercenary fleet that Persia had provided to Athens. The event severely damaged Sparta's naval power but did not end its aspirations of invading further into Persia, until Conon the Athenian ravaged the Spartan coastline and provoked the old Spartan fear of a helot revolt.[13]

After a few more years of fighting, the "King's peace" was established, according to which all Greek cities of Ionia would remain independent, and Persia would be free of the Spartan threat.[13] The effects of the war were to establish Persia's ability to interfere successfully in Greek politics and to affirm Sparta's hegemonic position in the Greek political system.[14] Sparta entered its long-term decline after a severe military defeat to Epaminondas of Thebes at the Battle of Leuctra. This was the first time that a Spartan army lost a land battle at full strength.

As Spartan citizenship was inherited by blood, Sparta started facing the problem of having a helot population vastly outnumbering its citizens.

Hellenistic and Roman Sparta

Sparta never fully recovered from the losses that the adult male Spartans suffered at Leuctra in 371 B.C.E. and the subsequent helot revolts. Nonetheless, it was able to limp along as a regional power for over two centuries. Neither Philip II nor his son Alexander the Great even attempted to conquer Sparta: it was too weak to be a major threat that needed to be eliminated, but Spartan martial skill was still such that any invasion would have risked potentially high losses. Even during her decline, Sparta never forgot its claims on being the "defender of Hellenism" and its Laconic wit. An anecdote has it that when Philip II sent a message to Sparta saying "If I enter Laconia, I will level Sparta to the ground," the Spartans responded with the single, terse reply: "If."[15]

Even when Philip created the league of the Greeks on the pretext of unifying Greece against Persia, Spartans were excluded of their own will. The Spartans, for their part, had no interest in joining a pan-Greek expedition if it was not under Spartan leadership. According to Herodotus, the Macedonians were a people of Dorian stock, akin to the Spartans, but that did not make any difference. Thus, upon the conquest of Persia, Alexander the Great sent to Athens 300 suits of Persian armour with the following inscription "Alexander son of Philip, and the Greeks—except the Spartans—from the barbarians living in Asia."[16]

During the Punic Wars, Sparta was an ally of the Roman Republic. Spartan political independence was put to an end when it was eventually forced into the Achaean League. In 146 B.C.E., Greece was conquered by the Roman general Lucius Mummius. During the Roman conquest, Spartans continued their way of life, and the city became a tourist attraction for the Roman elite who came to observe exotic Spartan customs. Supposedly, following the disaster that befell the Roman Imperial Army at the Battle of Adrianople (378 C.E.), a Spartan phalanx met and defeated a force of raiding Visigoths in battle.

Structure of Classical Spartan society

Structure of the Spartan Constitution

Constitution

The Doric state of Sparta, copying the Doric Cretans, developed a mixed governmental state. The state was ruled by two hereditary kings of the Agiad and Eurypontids families,[17] both supposedly descendants of Heracles and equal in authority, so that one could not act against the veto of his colleague. The origins of the powers exercised by the assembly of the citizens are virtually unknown because of the lack of historical documentation and Spartan state secrecy.

The duties of the kings were primarily religious, judicial, and militaristic. They were the chief priests of the state and also maintained communication with the Delphian sanctuary, which always exercised great authority in Spartan politics. In the time of Herodotus (about 450 B.C.E.), their judicial functions had been restricted to cases dealing with heiresses, adoptions and the public roads. Civil and criminal cases were decided by a group of officials known as the ephors, as well as a council of elders known as the Gerousia. The Gerousia consisted of 28 elders over the age of 60, elected for life and usually part of the royal households, and the two kings.[18] High state policy decisions were discussed by this council who could then propose action alternatives to the Damos, the collective body of Spartan citizenry, who would select one of the alternatives by voting.[19][20]

Aristotle describes the kingship at Sparta as "a kind of unlimited and perpetual generalship" (Pol. iii. I285a), while Isocrates refers to the Spartans as "subject to an oligarchy at home, to a kingship on campaign" (iii. 24). Here also, however, the royal prerogatives were curtailed over time. Dating from the period of the Persian wars, the king lost the right to declare war and was accompanied in the field by two ephors. He was supplanted also by the ephors in the control of foreign policy.

Over time, the kings became mere figure-heads except in their capacity as generals. Real power was transferred to the ephors ("officials") and to the Gerousia ("Council of elders").

Citizenship

Not all inhabitants of the Spartan state were considered to be citizens. Only those who had undertaken the Spartan education process known as the agoge were eligible. However, usually the only people eligible to receive the agoge were Spartiates, or people who could trace their ancestry to the original inhabitants of the city.

There were two exceptions: (1) Trophimoi or "foster sons" were foreign students invited to study. For example, the Athenian general Xenophon, for example, sent his two sons to Sparta as trophimoi; (2) The other exception was that sons of helots could be enrolled as syntrophoi if a Spartiate formally adopted him and paid his way. If a syntrophos did exceptionally well in training, he might be sponsored to become a Spartiate.[21]

Others in the state were the perioikoi, who can be described as civilians, and helots,[22] the state-owned serfs that made up a large majority of the population. Because descendants of non-Spartan citizens were not able to follow the agoge, and because Spartans who could not afford to pay the expenses of the agoge could lose their citizenship, the Spartan society suffered over time from constantly declining manpower.

Helots and Perioikoi

Helots

The Spartans were a minority of the Lakonian population. By far the largest class of inhabitants were the helots (in Classical Greek Εἵλωτες / Heílôtes).[23][24]

The helots were originally free Greeks from the areas of Messenia and Lakonia whom the Spartans had defeated in battle and subsequently enslaved. In other Greek city-states, free citizens were part-time soldiers who, when not at war, carried on other trades. Since Spartan men were full-time soldiers, they were not available to carry out manual labor.[25] The helots were used as unskilled serfs, tilling Spartan land. Helot women were often used as wet nurses. Helots also travelled with the Spartan army as non-combatant serfs. At the last stand of the Battle of Thermopylae, the Greek dead included not just the legendary three hundred Spartan soldiers but also several hundred Thespian and Theban troops and a large number of helots.[26]

According to Myron of Priene[27] of the middle third century B.C.E.,

"They assign to the Helots every shameful task leading to disgrace. For they ordained that each one of them must wear a dogskin cap (κυνῆ / kunễ) and wrap himself in skins (διφθέρα / diphthéra) and receive a stipulated number of beatings every year regardless of any wrongdoing, so that they would never forget they were slaves. Moreover, if any exceeded the vigour proper to a slave's condition, they made death the penalty; and they allotted a punishment to those controlling them if they failed to rebuke those who were growing fat".[28]

Plutarch also states that Spartans treated the Helots "harshly and cruelly": they compelled them to drink pure wine (which was considered dangerous - wine usually being cut with water) "…and to lead them in that condition into their public halls, that the children might see what a sight a drunken man is; they made them to dance low dances, and sing ridiculous songs…" during syssitia (obligatory banquets).[29][30]

Helots did not have voting rights, although compared to non-Greek slaves in other parts of Greece they were relatively privileged. The Spartan poet Tyrtaios refers to Helots being allowed to marry.[31] They also seem to have been allowed to practice religious rites and, according to Thucydides, own a limited amount of personal property.[32]

Relations between the helots and their Spartan masters were hostile. Thucydides remarked that "Spartan policy is always mainly governed by the necessity of taking precautions against the helots."[33][34]

Each year when the Ephors took office they routinely declared war on the helots, thereby allowing Spartans to kill them without the risk of ritual pollution.[35] This seems to have been done by kryptes (sing. κρύπτης), graduates of the Agoge who took part in the mysterious institution known as the Krypteia (annual declaration of war against the helots).[36]

Around 424 B.C.E., the Spartans murdered two thousand helots in a carefully staged event. Thucydides states:

"The helots were invited by a proclamation to pick out those of their number who claimed to have most distinguished themselves against the enemy, in order that they might receive their freedom; the object being to test them, as it was thought that the first to claim their freedom would be the most high spirited and the most apt to rebel. As many as two thousand were selected accordingly, who crowned themselves and went round the temples, rejoicing in their new freedom. The Spartans, however, soon afterwards did away with them, and no one ever knew how each of them perished."[37][38]

Periokoi

The Perioikoi came from similar origins as the helots but occupied a somewhat different position in Spartan society. Although they did not enjoy full citizen-rights, they were free and not subjected to the same harsh treatment as the helots. The exact nature of their subjection to the Spartans is not clear, but they seem to have served partly as a kind of military reserve, partly as skilled craftsmen and partly as agents of foreign trade.[39] Although Peroikoic hoplites occasionally served with the Spartan army, notably at the Battle of Plataea, the most important function of the Peroikoi was almost certainly the manufacture and repair of armour and weapons.[40]

Economy

Spartan citizens were debarred by law from trade or manufacture, which consequently rested in the hands of the Perioikoi, and were forbidden (in theory) to possess either gold or silver. Spartan currency consisted of iron bars,[41] thus making thievery and foreign commerce very difficult and discouraging the accumulation of riches. Wealth was, in theory at least, derived entirely from landed property and consisted in the annual return made by the helots, who cultivated the plots of ground allotted to the Spartan citizens. But this attempt to equalize property proved a failure: from the earliest times, there were marked differences of wealth within the state, and these became even more serious after the law of Epitadeus, passed at some time after the Peloponnesian War, removed the legal prohibition of the gift or bequest of land.[42]

Full citizens, released from any economic activity, were given a piece of land that was cultivated and run by the helots. As time went on, greater portions of land were concentrated in the hands of large landholders, but the number of full citizens declined. Citizens had numbered 10,000 at the beginning of the fifth century B.C.E. but had decreased by Aristotle's day (384–322 B.C.E.) to less than 1000, and had further decreased to 700 at the accession of Agis IV in 244 B.C.E. Attempts were made to remedy this situation by creating new laws. Certain penalties were imposed upon those who remained unmarried or who married too late in life. These laws, however, came too late and were ineffective in reversing the trend.

Life in Classical Sparta

Birth and death

Sparta was above all a militarist state, and emphasis on military fitness began virtually at birth. Shortly after birth, the mother of the child bathed it in wine to see whether the child was strong. If the child survived it was brought before the Gerousia by the child's father. The Gerousia then decided whether it was to be reared or not. If they considered it "puny and deformed," the baby was thrown into a chasm on Mount Taygetos known euphemistically as the Apothetae (Gr., ἀποθέτας, "Deposits").[43][44] This was, in effect, a primitive form of eugenics.[45]

There is some evidence that the exposure of unwanted children was practiced in other Greek regions, including Athens.[46]

When Spartans died, marked headstones would only be granted to soldiers who died in combat during a victorious campaign or women who died either in service of a divine office or in childbirth.

Education

When male Spartans began military training at age seven, they would enter the Agoge system. The Agoge was designed to encourage discipline and physical toughness and to emphasise the importance of the Spartan state. Boys lived in communal messes and were deliberately underfed, to encourage them to master the skill of stealing food. Besides physical and weapons training, boys studied reading, writing, music and dancing. Special punishments were imposed if boys failed to answer questions sufficiently 'laconically' (i.e. briefly and wittily).[47] At the age of 12, the Agoge obliged Spartan boys to take an older male mentor, usually an unmarried young man. The older man was expected to function as a kind of substitute father and role model to his junior partner; however, it is also reasonably certain that they had sexual relations (the exact nature of Spartan pederasty is not entirely clear).[48]

At the age of 18, Spartan boys became reserve members of the Spartan army. On leaving the Agoge they would be sorted into groups, whereupon some were sent into the countryside with only a knife and forced to survive on their skills and cunning. This was called the Krypteia, and the immediate object of it was to seek out and kill any helots as part of the larger program of terrorizing and intimidating the helot population.[49]

Less information is available about the education of Spartan girls, but they seem to have gone through a fairly extensive formal educational cycle, broadly similar to that of the boys but with less emphasis on military training. In this respect, classical Sparta was unique in ancient Greece. In no other city-state did women receive any kind of formal education.[50]

Military life

Marble statue of a helmed hoplite (fifth century B.C.E.), Archæological Museum of Sparta, Greece

At age 20, the Spartan citizen began his membership in one of the syssitia (dining messes or clubs), comprised of about 15 members each, of which every citizen was required to be a member. Here each group learned how to bond and rely on one another. The Spartan exercised the full rights and duties of a citizen at the age of 30. Only native Spartans were considered full citizens and were obliged to undergo the training as prescribed by law, as well as participate in and contribute financially to one of the syssitia.[51]

Spartan men remained in the active reserve until age 60. Men were encouraged to marry at age 20 but could not live with their families until they left their active military service at age 30. They called themselves "homoioi" (equals), pointing to their common lifestyle and the discipline of the phalanx, which demanded that no soldier be superior to his comrades.[52] Insofar as hoplite warfare could be perfected, the Spartans did so.[53]

Thucydides reports that when a Spartan man went to war, their wife (or another woman of some significance) would customarily present them with their shield and say: "With this, or upon this" (Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς, Èi tàn èi èpì tàs), meaning that true Spartans could only return to Sparta either victorious (with their shield in hand) or dead (carried upon it).[54] If a Spartan hoplite were to return to Sparta alive and without his shield, it was assumed that he threw his shield at the enemy in an effort to flee; an act punishable by death or banishment. A soldier losing his helmet, breastplate or greaves (leg armour) was not similarly punished, as these items were personal pieces of armour designed to protect one man, whereas the shield not only protected the individual soldier but in the tightly packed Spartan phalanx was also instrumental in protecting the soldier to his left from harm. Thus the shield was symbolic of the individual soldier's subordination to his unit, his integral part in its success, and his solemn responsibility to his comrades in arms — messmates and friends, often close blood relations.

According to Aristotle, the Spartan military culture was actually short-sighted and ineffective. He observed:

It is the standards of civilized men not of beasts that must be kept in mind, for it is good men not beasts who are capable of real courage. Those like the Spartans who concentrate on the one and ignore the other in their education turn men into machines and in devoting themselves to one single aspect of city's life, end up making them inferior even in that.[55]

Even mothers enforced the militaristic lifestyle that Spartan men endured. There is a legend of a Spartan warrior who ran away from battle back to his mother. Although he expected protection from his mother, she acted quite the opposite. Instead of shielding her son from the shame of the state, she and some of her friends chased him around the streets, and beat him with sticks. Afterwards, he was forced to run up and down the hills of Sparta yelling his cowardliness and inferiority.[56][57]

Marriage

Spartan men were required to marry at age 30,[22] after completing the Krypteia.[58] Plutarch reports the peculiar customs associated with the Spartan wedding night:

The custom was to capture women for marriage (…) The so-called 'bridesmaid' took charge of the captured girl. She first shaved her head to the scalp, then dressed her in a man's cloak and sandals, and laid her down alone on a mattress in the dark. The bridegroom—who was not drunk and thus not impotent, but was sober as always—first had dinner in the messes, then would slip in, undo her belt, lift her and carry her to the bed.[59]

The husband continued to visit his wife in secret for some time after the marriage. These customs, unique to the Spartans, have been interpreted in various ways. The "abduction" may have served to ward off the evil eye, and the cutting of the wife's hair was perhaps part of a rite of passage that signalled her entrance into a new life.[60]

Role of women

Political, social, and economic equality

Spartan women enjoyed a status, power and respect that was unknown in the rest of the classical world. They controlled their own properties, as well as the properties of male relatives who were away with the army. It is estimated that women were the sole owners of at least 35 percent of all land and property in Sparta. The laws regarding a divorce were the same for both men and women. Unlike women in Athens, if a Spartan woman became the heiress of her father because she had no living brothers to inherit (an epikleros), the woman was not required to divorce her current spouse in order to marry her nearest paternal relative.[61] Spartan women rarely married before the age of 20, and unlike Athenian women who wore heavy, concealing clothes and were rarely seen outside the house, Spartan women wore short dresses and went where they pleased. Girls as well as boys exercised nude, and young women as well as young men may have participated in the Gymnopaedia ("Festival of Nude Youths").[62][63]

Women were able to negotiate with their husbands to bring their lovers into their homes. According to Plutarch in his Life of Lycurgus, men both allowed and encouraged their wives to bear the children of other men, because of the general communal ethos that made it more important to bear many progeny for the good of the city, than to be jealously concerned with one's own family unit. However, some historians argue that this 'wife sharing' was only reserved for elder males who had not yet produced an heir: "Despite these exceptions, and despite the report about wife sharing for reproductive purposes, the Spartans, like other Greeks, were monogamous."[22]

Historic women

Many women played a significant role in the history of Sparta. Queen Gorgo, heiress to the throne and the wife of Leonidas I, was an influential and well-documented figure.[64] Herodotus records that as a small girl she advised her father Cleomenes to resist a bribe. She was later said to be responsible for decoding a warning that the Persian forces were about to invade Greece; after Spartan generals could not decode a wooden tablet covered in wax, she ordered them to clear the wax, revealing the warning.[65] Plutarch's Moralia contains a collection of "Sayings of Spartan Women," including a laconic quip attributed to Gorgo: when asked by a woman from Attica why Spartan women were the only women in the world who could rule men, she replied: "Because we are the only women who are mothers of men." [66]

Archaeology

Ruins from the ancient site.

Thucydides wrote:

Suppose the city of Sparta to be deserted, and nothing left but the temples and the ground-plan, distant ages would be very unwilling to believe that the power of the Lacedaemonians was at all equal to their fame. Their city is not built continuously, and has no splendid temples or other edifices; it rather resembles a group of villages, like the ancient towns of Hellas, and would therefore make a poor show.[67]

Until the early twentieth century, the chief ancient buildings at Sparta were the theatre, of which, however, little showed above ground except portions of the retaining walls; the so-called Tomb of Leonidas, a quadrangular building, perhaps a temple, constructed of immense blocks of stone and containing two chambers; the foundation of an ancient bridge over the Eurotas; the ruins of a circular structure; some remains of late Roman fortifications; several brick buildings and mosaic pavements.

The remaining archaeological wealth consisted of inscriptions, sculptures, and other objects collected in the local museum, founded by Stamatakis in 1872 (and enlarged in 1907). Partial excavation of the round building was undertaken in 1892 and 1893 by the American School at Athens. The structure has been since found to be a semicircular retaining wall of Hellenic origin that was partly restored during the Roman period.

In 1904, the British School at Athens began a thorough exploration of Laconia, and in the following year excavations were made at Thalamae, Geronthrae, and Angelona near Monemvasia. In 1906, excavations began in Sparta.

A small "circus" described by Leake proved to be a theatre-like building constructed soon after 200 C.E. around the altar and in front of the temple of Artemis Orthia. Here musical and gymnastic contests took place as well as the famous flogging ordeal (diamastigosis). The temple, which can be dated to the 2nd century B.C.E., rests on the foundation of an older temple of the sixth century, and close beside it were found the remains of a yet earlier temple, dating from the ninth or even the tenth century. The votive offerings in clay, amber, bronze, ivory and lead found in great profusion within the precinct range, dating from the 9th to the fourth centuries B.C.E., supply invaluable evidence for early Spartan art.

In 1907, the sanctuary of Athena "of the Brazen House" (Chalkioikos) was located on the acropolis immediately above the theatre, and though the actual temple is almost completely destroyed, the site has produced the longest extant archaic inscription of Laconia, numerous bronze nails and plates, and a considerable number of votive offerings. The Greek city-wall, built in successive stages from the fourth to the second century, was traced for a great part of its circuit, which measured 48 stades or nearly 10 km (Polyb. 1X. 21). The late Roman wall enclosing the acropolis, part of which probably dates from the years following the Gothic raid of 262 C.E., was also investigated. Besides the actual buildings discovered, a number of points were situated and mapped in a general study of Spartan topography, based upon the description of Pausanias. Excavations showed that the town of the Mycenaean Period was situated on the left bank of the Eurotas, a little to the south-east of Sparta. The settlement was roughly triangular in shape, with its apex pointed towards the north. Its area was approximately equal to that of the "newer" Sparta, but denudation has wreaked havoc with its buildings and nothing is left save ruined foundations and broken potsherds.

Laconophilia

Laconophilia is love or admiration of Sparta and of the Spartan culture or constitution. In ancient times "Many of the noblest and best of the Athenians always considered the Spartan state nearly as an ideal theory realized in practice."[68]

In the modern world, the adjective "Spartan" is used to imply simplicity, frugality, or avoidance of luxury and comfort. The Elizabethan English constitutionalist John Aylmer compared the mixed government of Tudor England with the Spartan republic, stating that "Lacedemonia [meaning Sparta], [was] the noblest and best city governed that ever was." He commended it as a model for England. The Swiss-French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau contrasted Sparta favorably with ancient Athens in his Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, arguing that its austere constitution was preferable to the more cultured nature of Athenian life. Sparta was also used as a model of social purity by Revolutionary and Napoleonic France.[69]

Notes

  1. ↑ Paul Cartledge, Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History 1300 to 362 B.C.E., 2nd ed. (Oxford: Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0415262763), 255.
  2. ↑ Victor Ehrenberg, From Solon to Socrates: Greek History and Civilisation between the 6th and 5th centuries B.C.E., 2nd ed. (London: Routledge, 2004, ISBN 0415040248), 28.
  3. ↑ Cartledge, 2002, 65.
  4. ↑ Cartledge, 2002, 28.
  5. ↑ William G. G. Forrest, A History of Sparta, 950–192 B.C.E. (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1968, ISBN 0393004813), 24-27.
  6. ↑ Ehrenberg, 31.
  7. ↑ Ehrenberg, 31.
  8. ↑ Ehrenberg, 36.
  9. ↑ Ehrenberg, 33.
  10. ↑ David Cartwright, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides: A Companion to Rex Warner's Penguin Translation (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997, ISBN 0472084194), 176.
  11. ↑ Peter Green, The Greco-Persian Wars, 2nd ed. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998, ISBN 0520203135), 10.
  12. ↑ Matthew Bennett, Dictionary of Ancient & Medieval Warfare (Stackpole Books, 2001, ISBN 081172610X), 86.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 John Boardman, Jasper Griffin, and Oswyn Murray (eds.), The Oxford Illustrated History of Greece and the Hellenistic World (Oxford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0192854380), 141.
  14. ↑ John V. A. Fine, The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1985, ISBN 0674033140), 556-559.
  15. ↑ Norman Davies, Europe: A History (Harper Perennial, 1998, ISBN 0060974680).
  16. ↑ Nicholas G. L. Hammond, The Genius of Alexander the Great (The University of North Carolina Press, 1998, ISBN 0807847445), 69.
  17. ↑ Cartledge, 2002.
  18. ↑ Philip de Souza, Waldemar Heckel, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, and Victor Davis Hanson, The Greeks at War: From Athens to Alexander (Essential Histories Specials) (London: Osprey Publishing, 2004, ISBN 1841768561).
  19. ↑ Aristotle, Thomas Alan Sinclair, (ed.) and Trevor J. Saunders, (trans.), The Politics, rev. ed. (Penguin Classics, 1981, ISBN 0140444211).
  20. ↑ Leonard Whibley, A Companion to Greek Studies (1905) reprint ed. (Kessinger Publications, 2009, ISBN 1437490859).
  21. ↑ Anton Powell, The Greek World (Routledge History of the Ancient World) (Routledge, 1997, ISBN 0415170427).
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts, Ancient Greece: A Political, Social and Cultural History second ed. (Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 019530800X).
  23. ↑ Herodotus (IX, 28–29)
  24. ↑ Xenophon, Hellenica, III, 3, 5
  25. ↑ Cartledge, 2002, 140.
  26. ↑ Ehrenberg, 159.
  27. ↑ Plutarch, in Richard J.A. Talbert, (ed. & translator), On Sparta, 2nd ed., (London: Penguin Classics, 2005, ISBN 0140449434), 20.
  28. ↑ Apud Athenaeus, 14, 647d = FGH 106 F 2. Trans. by Cartledge, 305.
  29. ↑ Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus in Parallel Lives Vol I. 28, 8-10. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  30. ↑ Donald Jackson (trans.), The Constitution of the Lacedaemonians by Xenophon of Athens: A New Critical Edition with a Facing Page English Translation (Edwin Mellen Press Ltd., 2007, ISBN 0773455167), 30.
  31. ↑ M.L. West, Greek Lyric Poetry (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 019954039X), 24.
  32. ↑ Cartledge, 2002, 141.
  33. ↑ Thucydides (4, 80); the Greek is ambiguous
  34. ↑ Cartledge, 2002, 211.
  35. ↑ Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 28, 7.
  36. ↑ Anton Powell, Athens and Sparta: Constructing Greek Political and Social History from 478 B.C.E. (London: Routledge, 2001, ISBN 0415262801), 254.
  37. ↑ Thucydides, Book IV 80.4.
  38. ↑ Classical historian Anton Powell has recorded a similar story from 1980s El Salvador, Powell, 2001, 256.
  39. ↑ Cartledge, 2002, 153-155.
  40. ↑ Cartledge, 2002, 158, 178.
  41. ↑ Peter Roberts, Excel HSC Ancient History (Pascal Press, 2006, ISBN 1741251788).
  42. ↑ Alexander Fuks, Social Conflict in Ancient Greece (Brill Academic Publishers, 1984, ISBN 9652234664).
  43. ↑ Cartledge, 2001, 84.
  44. ↑ Plutarch, in Talbert, 20.
  45. ↑ Paul Cartledge, Spartan Reflections (London: Duckworth, 2001, ISBN 0715629662, 84.
  46. ↑ Richard Buxton (ed.), From Myth to Reason?: Studies in the Development of Greek Thought (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0199247528), 201.
  47. ↑ Cartledge, 2001, 85.
  48. ↑ Cartledge, 2001, 91-105.
  49. ↑ Cartledge, 2001, 88.
  50. ↑ Cartledge, 2001, 83-84.
  51. ↑ E. David, Aristophanes and Athenian Society of the Early Fourth Century B.C.E. (Brill Archive, 1984, ISBN 9004070621).
  52. ↑ Robert Cowley and Geoffrey Parker (eds.), The Readers Companion to Military History (Houghton Mifflin, 1996, ISBN 0395669693), 438.
  53. ↑ Frank E. Adcock, The Greek and Macedonian Art of War (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962, ISBN 0520000056), 8-9.
  54. ↑ Plutarch, in Frank Cole Babbitt, Moralia Vol. III. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931, ISBN 0674992709), 465.
  55. ↑ Forrest, 1968, 53.
  56. ↑ Sarah B. Pomeroy, Spartan Women (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002, ISBN 0195130677).
  57. ↑ H.D.F. Kitto, The Greeks (Piscataway, NJ: Aldine Transaction, 2007, ISBN 020230910X).
  58. ↑ Derek Benjamin Heater, A Brief History of Citizenship (New York University Press, 2004, ISBN 0814736726).
  59. ↑ Plutarch, 2005, 18-19.
  60. ↑ Pomeroy, 2002, 42.
  61. ↑ Sarah B. Pomeroy, Goddess, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity reprint ed. (New York: Schocken Books, 1995, ISBN 080521030X), 60-62.
  62. ↑ Marcia Guttentag and Paul F. Secord, Too Many Women? The Sex Ration Question (Sage Publications, 1983, ISBN 0803919190)
  63. ↑ Pomeroy, 2002, 34.
  64. ↑ Brittani Barger, Gorgo of Sparta History of Royal Women, November 29, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  65. ↑ Helena P. Schrader, "Scandalous" Spartan Women: Educated and Economically Empowered Sparta Reconsidered—Spartan Women. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  66. ↑ Plutarch, 2004, 457
  67. ↑ Thucydides, i. 10.
  68. ↑ Mueller, Dorians II, 192
  69. ↑ Slavoj Žižek, The True Hollywood Left Lacan.com, 2006. Retrieved July 12, 2021.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Adcock, Frank E. The Greek and Macedonian Art of War. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962. ISBN 0520000056
  • Aristotle, and Thomas Alan Sinclair (ed.), Trevor J. Saunders (trans.). The Politics. rev. ed. Penguin Classics, 1981. ISBN 0140444211
  • Bennett, Matthew. Dictionary of Ancient & Medieval Warfare. Stackpole Books, 2001. ISBN 081172610X
  • Boardman, John, Jasper Griffin, and Oswyn Murray (eds.). The Oxford Illustrated History of Greece and the Hellenistic World. Oxford University Press, 1962. ISBN 0192854380
  • Bradford, Ernle. Thermopylae: The Battle for the West. New York: Da Capo Press, 2004. ISBN 0306813602
  • Buxton, Richard (ed.). From Myth to Reason?: Studies in the Development of Greek Thought. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0199247528
  • Cartledge, Paul. Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History 1300 to 362 B.C.E. 2nd ed. Oxford: Routledge, 2002. ISBN 0415262763
  • Cartledge, Paul. Spartan Reflections. London: Duckworth, 2001. ISBN 0715629662
  • Cartledge, Paul, and Antony Spawforth, contributor. Hellenistic and Roman Sparta, 2nd ed. Oxford: Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0415262771
  • Cartwright, David. A Historical Commentary on Thucydides: A Companion to Rex Warner's Penguin Translation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1997. ISBN 0472084194
  • Cowley, Robert, and Geoffrey Parker (eds.). The Readers Companion Military History. Houghton Mifflin, 1996. ISBN 0395669693
  • David, E. Aristophanes and Athenian Society of the Early Fourth Century B.C.E. Brill Archive, 1984. ISBN 9004070621
  • Davies, Norman. Europe: a History. Harper Perennial, 1998. ISBN 0060974680
  • Ehrenberg, Victor. From Solon to Socrates: Greek History and Civilisation between the 6th and 5th centuries B.C.E., 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2004. ISBN 0415040248
  • Fine, John V. A. The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 1985. ISBN 0674033140
  • Forrest, William G. G. A History of Sparta, 950–192 B.C.E. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1968. ISBN 0393004813
  • Fuks, Alexander. Social Conflict in Ancient Greece. Brill Academic Pub., 1984. ISBN 9652234664
  • Green, Peter. The Greco-Persian Wars, 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. ISBN 0520203135
  • Guttentag, Marcia, and Paul F. Secord. Too Many Women? The Sex Ration Question. Sage Publications, 1983. ISBN 0803919190
  • Hammond, Nicholas G. L. The Genius of Alexander the Great. The University of North Carolina Press, 1998. ISBN 0807847445
  • Heater, Derek Benjamin. A Brief History of Citizenship. New York Univ. Press, 2004. ISBN 0814736726
  • Jackson, Donald, Translator. The Constitution of the Lacedaemonians by Xenophon of Athens: A New Critical Edition with a Facing Page English Translation. Edwin Mellen Press Ltd., 2007. ISBN 0773455167
  • Kitto, H.D.F. The Greeks. Piscataway, NJ: Aldine Transaction, 2007. ISBN 020230910X
  • Morris, Ian. Death-Ritual and Social Structure in Classical Antiquity. (Key Themes in Ancient History) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. ISBN 0521376114
  • Plutarch. In Richard J.A. Talbert, ed. & translator. On Sparta, 2nd ed., edited by Christopher Pelling. London: Penguin Classics, 2005. ISBN 0140449434
  • Plutarch. In Frank Cole Babbitt. Moralia. Vol. III. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 0674992709
  • Pomeroy, Sarah B. Goddesses, Whores, Wives and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity. reprint ed. New York: Schocken Books, 1995. ISBN 080521030X
  • Pomeroy, Sarah B. Spartan Women. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0195130677
  • Pomeroy, Sarah B., Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan, and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts. Ancient Greece: A Political, Social and Cultural History, second ed. Oxford University Press, USA, 2007. ISBN 019530800X
  • Powell, Anton. Athens and Sparta: Constructing Greek Political and Social History from 478 B.C.E., 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2001. ISBN 0415262801
  • Powell, Anton. The Greek World. (Routledge History of the Ancient World) Routledge, 1997. ISBN 0415170427
  • Roberts, Peter. Excel HSC Ancient History. Pascal Press. ISBN 1741251788
  • Souza, Philip de, Waldemar Heckel, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, and Victor Davis Hanson. The Greeks at War. London: Osprey Publishing, 2004. ISBN ‎1841768561
  • Thompson, F. Hugh. The Archaeology of Greek and Roman Slavery. London: Duckworth, 2002. ISBN 0715631950
  • Thucydides. In M.I. Finley, Rex Warner. History of the Peloponnesian War. London: Penguin Books, 1974. ISBN 0140440399
  • West, M.L. Greek Lyric Poetry. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 019954039X
  • Whibley, Leonard. A companion to Greek studies. reprint ed. Kessinger Publications, 2009. ISBN 1437490859

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