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THIS
IS
SPARTA
Sparta was the ancient capital of Laconia, which was also called Lacedaemon. Its citizens were renowned for the military organization of their state and for their rigorous discipline, simplicity, and courage. It was founded circa 1000 B.C. by the Dorians.
The first inhabitants of Sparta established a polis, or city-state, which was ruled by the Council of Elders. The Council consisted of two hereditary kings who led 28 other men. They had the real power in Sparta. They were elected by the Assembly, which was all male and had little power. They could only vote yes or no on the laws the Council tried to pass and elect the Council members. All citizens, called Equals, trained and fought together in the same fashion and owned land worked by Helots, or serfs. That land supported the Equals, all of whom were soldiers until the age of 30 or longer. A merchant and artisan class held rights somewhere between the two.
Spartans glorified war and so there was a lot of it. In the 490’s B.C., the Persian King Darius 1 decided to add Sparta, among other Greek city-states, to his empire. During the ensuing Persian War, a Spartan-led force made a heroic stand at the Battle of Thermopylae in 480. After repelling repeated Persian attacks with an army of around 6,000 to 7,000 soldiers, the Greeks under Spartan king Leonidas were outflanked by a Persian unit taking a mountain path. About to be surrounded, Leonidas sent most of his troops away, forming a rear guard with his 300 Spartans, some Thespians, and 400 Thebans. Persian archers slaughtered the unit to the last man. It was the Spartans that brought the world the concept of "death before dishonor." That same year, Spartan seamen participated in the Greek naval victory over the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis, then capped their performance with a leadership role in the victory over the Persians at the Battle of Plataea in 479. Those successes established Sparta as the preeminent military power in Greece. Then, Sparta and Athens, which were the great powers of the time, clashed in a decades-long conflict, the Peloponnesian War, lasting from 431 to 404. The war was fought in three phases. In the first, the Spartan Army dominated the land warfare and bottled up the city of Athens. The Athenians dominated the seas and harassed the Spartan coastline, raising Helot revolts. This ended in a draw between the two forces. Phase two was fought mainly in Sicily. There, a Spartan general commanded troops for the city of Syracuse, which the Athenians besieged. Conflicting goals and orders brought about an Athenian defeat that cost them huge numbers of men and ships, weakening their naval power and prestige. That led to the third phase of the war, in which the Spartans enlarged their navy with assistance from Persia. Although the Athenian admirals managed to win victories, each successive battle further weakened their fleet. It could not be rebuilt as quickly as the Spartans received new ships from the Persians, and finally, in 405, the Athenian fleet was lost to the Spartans in the Dardanelles. Without the ability to supply their city by sea, the Athenians slowly starved under the Spartan siege. By 404, the Athenians surrendered. That victory proved to be the peak of Spartan power, for Sparta proved unprepared and unable to rule all of Greece. The society Sparta had developed over the centuries was suited to a limited population and could not be forced on a large one. Sparta had spent too many citizens in too many wars to be able to impose its will on all of Greece. They began fighting their erstwhile allies, the Persians, who sent agents into Greece to sow dissension among the city-states. Spread too thin, the Spartans could not maintain their position. This started their decline, which began in 371, when Sparta was defeated at the Battle of Leuctra by forces from the city of Thebes. It ultimately fell, as did all of Greece, to the rising power of Macedonia in the mid-fourth century B.C.
Sparta treated its women and slaves very differently from other Greek city-states at the time. They were held in a higher regard and possessed many more rights. The Helots, who were the serfs or slaves at the time, were the main workforce of the Spartan agriculture and economy. They were the people who had been conquered by the Spartans. The Helots greatly outnumbered the Spartans. This made the Spartans afraid that they would revolt so they treated the Helots very harshly. The government sometimes declared war on the Helots so that they could legally kill them to keep them demoralized and to keep their numbers down. Despite this, the Helots actually had some rights. They could whomever and whenever they wanted and could pass their names onto their children. They could sell any extra products they had after giving their master his share and could even, with enough money, buy themselves out of slavery. The women, like men, lived simple lives. They wore plain clothing with little decoration and did not wear jewelry or cosmetics. They were expected to be strong and ready to fight. A wife was expected to look after her husband’s property at all times and guard against invaders and revolts from slaves. Their extensive rights, as compared to other Greek women, included the right to speak to their husband’s friends. They could also control and own property and divorce their husband if he had been away to long. Spartans treated their slaves and women pretty nicely and generously compared to other Greeks and this helped them in many of their interests.
Government and Social Structure
A statue of an armed hoplite with customary helm.
Sparta and war.
Women and slaves in Sparta.
Map of the Greco-Persian Wars.
germanbeast added this comment 2009-05-08 20:33:11-05:00
Dude this glog is sweet.
germanbeast added this comment 2009-05-08 20:33:11-05:00
Dude this glog is sweet.