 Greek
city-state that developed differently
 Mountains
and hills to E, W, and N with a
river running through city-state
 Port
 No
in the south
coins, monuments or art
 Produced
the best warriors through a unique
social system
 Hoplite
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


– heavy infantryman with weapons
3 foot round bronze and wood shield
Bronze helmet and breast plate
Grieves – protected the shins
Spear and sword
Equipment was expensive due to bronze
 Old
style warfare was every man for himself
 Could not move fast or defend from behind
 Phalanx – row of fighters
 Gap in phalanx exposed weakness from sides
or back
 All hoplites were equal and dependent on
each other
 Drill and practice were critical to success
 35,000
 Each
 Goal
people at peak
soldier supplied their own equipment
was a decisive battle with massive
slaughter
 Spartans
kept to themselves
 Instead of colonizing, they invaded Messina
in 735 B.C. and took their land
 Made Messinians slaves – Hellots
 Hellots had to give half to their Spartan
masters
 Hellots revolted in 650 BC so Spartans had to
maintain a high level of readiness
 Spartans became paranoid about military
preparedness
 Focused life on developing soldiers
 Dual
Kingship – 2 kings of equal power from
separate royal families
 Kings were generals of armies
 One king went to war and one stayed home
 Gerousia – “the old guys” council of 28 men
over 60 (really old for that time)
 Social system wanted to produce great
hoplites
 Male
child inspected by gerousia and if not
tough enough it was left in the woods to die
 Lived at home until 7 and then put in a state
run school
 Put in “herd” by age group
 No reading and writing
 Sports, gymnastics, athletics, and soldiering
 Exercise program was rigorous and
competitive
 One
cloak and no shoes no matter the terrain
or weather
 No beds, slept on weeds gathered once a
year
 Constantly competed and the weak usually
committed suicide
 Deliberately not fed enough food to survive
(counterproductive?)
 Had
to learn to steal food or hunt at night
 Taught
skills for warfare – how to be sneaky
at night and resourceful (Survivorman)
 Fox,
teacher, bled to death, hero
 Stayed
in school until age 21

Last 5 years of school encouraged to form a
homosexual relationship with a young male

Considered a normal big brother relationship

Cryptae – last year they had to spy on Hellots
and assassinate bad hellots

Each year they declared war on Messina

Final exam? – kill a Hellot with no weapons to be
a full Spartan citizen
 Syssitia
 Center
 Ate
– men’s club of about 15 members
of life for rest of life
and prepared for war together
 Supported
by Hellots so Spartans could spend
time preparing to fight
 Maintained
a full standing army
 Ate
black gruel – pork, blood and vinegar
 Encouraged
homosexuality within the club
with older and younger members to
strengthen the bonds for combat
 Married
 Bride
at 30, bride was 18-20
head shaved on wedding night, put in
men’s clothing in dark room, had to rape
bride then leave
 Could
 Had
not live together until 35
to sneak out to see wives
 Women
were inspected at birth and also put
in the woods
 Age
7 went to communal schools which also
emphasized fitness to have fit sons
 Both
sexes exercised nude – rest of Greeks
thought it was weird
 Assigned
a husband
 Spartan
women had more power and
freedom than other Greek women
 Women
in Sparta ran farms and had decision
making responsibilities
 Gender
imbalance due to purging of babies
 Women
had more than 1 husband in some
cases
 Tried
to have women share brothers
 Sparta
did not trade and they could not
possess gold or silver
 No
currency
 No
literature or art
 Tyrtaeus
war
only known poet who wrote about