SPARTA
IN THE ARCHAIC AGE
Something to think about…
•When studying Sparta we are constantly given a very negative
image. History does not seem to have anything positive about
Sparta.
•Spartans are usually described as ‘an armed camp’, ‘brutal’,
‘culturally stagnant’, ‘economically stagnant’, and ‘politically
stagnant’.
•When we read about Sparta we must of course look somewhere
behind the value judgments, as we must always remember that we
get our history of Greece from its rival Athens.
•Sparta and Athens represent diametrically opposed concepts of the
Greek polis and its relations to other city-states.
•They also represent diametrically opposed concepts of the
individual’s relationship to the state.
•They both believed they were the best which brought them into
constant conflict.
Spartan Government
The Spartan political system was a democratic timocratic monarchical
oligarchy made up of the following:
MONARCHY
-a dual monarchy which was hereditary
COUNCIL
-two kings and 28 nobles (retired military men)
-debated and set legislative and foreign policy
-Supreme Criminal Court
ASSEMBLY
-made up of all Spartan males
-selected the council and approved or vetoed council
proposals
EPHORATE
-(Above all the aspects of the government system)
-a small group of 5 men which led the council
-ran the military/education system/infant selection
-had veto power over everything
-could depose the king with divine proof
Spartan Society
•Ideology oriented around the state-individuals lived and died for the
state. The military and city state was at the centre of Spartan
existence.
•The state determined whether children, both male and female, were
strong enough to serve the state when they were born; weakling
infants were left in the hills to die of exposure.
•Spartan society was divided into three main classes. At the top
was the Spartiate (native Spartan) who enjoyed the full political and
legal rights of the state. Secondly, were the perioeci (foreigners)
who carried out most of the trade and commerce in Sparta. The
Perioeci also served as a buffer between the Spartiates and the
Helots. At the bottom were the helots (serfs) that did all manual
labour including farming the Spartan personal lands.
Spartan Men
•The life of the Spartan male was a life of discipline, self-denial, and
simplicity. He refused luxuries, expensive foods or leisure time.
•At the age of 7, every male was sent to military and athletic school.
•They were taught toughness, discipline, endurance of pain, and
survival skills.
•At the age of 20 (after 13 years of training) they become a soldier.
•Spartan men spent their lives with their fellow soldiers. They lived
in barracks and ate all their meals together.
•Spartan Man also married, but did not live with his wife.
•At age 30, Spartan became an equal and was allowed to live in
his own house with his own family. He continued to serve in the
military until the age of 60.
•Each soldier was granted a piece of land. The land was farmed
by the helots.
Spartan Women
•This soldier-centered state was the most liberal
state in regards to the status of women.
•While women did not go through military training,
they were required to be educated along similar
lines.
•The Spartans were the only Greek not only to take
the education of women seriously; they instituted it
as state policy.
•Women went through a physical and gymnastics
education which could be grueling. They were also
taught that their lives should be dedicated to the
state.
•In most Greek states, it was customary that women
be required to stay indoors at all times; Spartan
women, however, were free to move about, and had
an unusual amount of domestic freedom as their
husbands did not live at home.
The Beginnings of the Spartan Model
•Sparta began similar to other Greek City States, a Monarchy with a
limited Oligarchy.
•In 725 BCE, needing land to feed a dramatically growing population,
the Spartans marched over the Taygetus Mountains and annexed all
the very fertile territory of their neighbour, Messenia.
•In 640 BCE the Messenians revolted against the Spartans with the
help of the city state Argos. The Messenians almost won
•Faced with near defeat and the reality that the subject population
outnumbered them 10 to 1 and had the potential of overrunning
them, the Spartans invented a new political system and became a
military state.
•The Messenians were turned into agricultural slaves called helots,
and the Spartan city state was changed forever.
Spartans capable of Change???
•In the 6th Century BCE The Spartans started to become a little
paranoid, fearing that neighbouring states would initiate
riots/revolts among their helots.
•They began to set their sights on neighbouring states.
•But, when they conquered their neighbour, Tegea, they set up a
truce with them rather that annex their land and people.
•The demanded an alliance where Tegea would follow Sparta in all
its foreign relationships, including wars, and would supply Sparta
with a fixed amount of soldiers and equipment. In exchange
Tegea could remain independent.
•In a short time, Sparta formed alliances with a huge number of
states in the southern part of Greece (the Peloponnesus) and had
become the major power in Greece when the Persians invaded in
490 BCE. Their power eclipsed Athens at that time.