Culture & Politics of an Atypical
Polis: Lycurgan Sparta
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Introductory Notes
Rise of Sparta
Messenian Wars
A Brief Note on Lycurgus
The Spartan Code
The Spartan Caste System
Structures and Functions of Spartan Constitution
Overview of Spartan Foreign Policy
Conclusions
Sparta and the Peloponnesus
Sparta
Ruins of Ancient Spartan Theater
Ancient Walls of Sparta
Introductory Notes on Sparta/Lycaedaemon
• Spartans were admired by all Greeks
• Sparta is exceptional in numerous ways, both good and bad.
• Sparta was a slaveholding state like no other. Spartans
stopped working. They only fought and prepared to fight.
• Sparta lived in constant fear of helot revolts (and of
neighbors who might try to rile the helots).
• Sparta was a model for Plato, Aristotle, and thus, Western
Civilization.
• Sparta, like all states, was a process as much as it was a
thing.
Introductory Notes on Sparta
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Sparta = “the scattered”. 5 villages. 70,000 at its peak
Roots in Dorian Invasions. Emerged as a political entity around
the 10th century BCE, when the invading Dorians subjugated the
local, non-Dorian population.
Incorporation of Sparta town and surrounding villages by c. 700
From c. 650 it rose to become the dominant military land-power
in ancient Greece.
Focused on military training and excellence
Colonization on Peloponnese
Trading Networks
“Tyranny”
Sparta as “Abnormal State”: “Internal Colonization” with Brutal
Institutional Controls against Political/Social Revolution
Rise of Sparta: Messenian Wars
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First MW 743-724
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Causes
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Honor: Messenians accused of raping Spartan
virgins praying at a temple (Messians argue that
these virgins were spies and/or coup plotters) and
of killing King Telekos of the Agiad line
Population Rise in Laconia > Expansion.
Sparta won. Enslaved Messenians.
Rise of Sparta: Messenian Wars
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Second MW 685 to 668
Cause: Messenian helots revolt induced by Argos and Arcadia. Spartans
supported by Corinth and Lepreos. An “international” war.
Results of Second MW
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Rise of Spartan nationalism. Tyraetus the commander and elegiac poet.
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Sparta evolves into militaristic, communistic state (disappearance of
luxury, imports, poetry, arts)
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Several thousand full Spartan citizens become full-time hoplites
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Complete subjugation of the Messenians
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Hero Aristomenes (Messenian revolutionary). Tomb at Rhodes.
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Pelop. League and Spartan Hegemony est.
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Fear of Helot revolts
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Inspires new Const.
Tyrtaeus: Nationalist Spartan Poet
(Seventh Century BCE)
[The enslaved Messenians were] like donkeys suffering under heavy loads,
By painful force compelled to bring their masters half
Of all the produce that the soil brought forth.
…making a wailing funeral chorus, they and their wives,
When one of their masters met his destiny.
Mount Taygetus
Lycurgus
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Father of the Lycurgean/Spartan Code
Did he exist? Herodotus, Xenophon, Plato,
Polybius, Plutarch and Epictetus say so. If he did it
was between 900 and 600. Draco certainly codified
laws at this time. Higher Naiveté.
Laws in accordance with 3 Spartan virtues:
equality (among citizens), military fitness, and
austerity
When he completed his laws, he went to Delphi,
asked that his laws not be overturned and then
starved himself to death in “service to the state”.
His first reform was the est. of the Senate. The
Ephors came 130 years after his death (?)
He is 1 of 23 lawgivers enshrined in marble in the
US House. He is also on the frieze of the US
Supreme Court.
The Spartan Code: Overview of Values
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Discipline
Unity
Uniformity
Loyalty
Obedience
Endurance
Courage
Competition
Honor
Reverence for Elders
The Spartan Code: Ruthless Eugenics
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Fathers’ right to exposure
Council of inspectors
Husbands expected to lend their wives to “exceptional” men
Lycurgus argues that it is “absurd that people should be so
solicitous for their dogs and horses as to exert interest and
pay money to procure for fine breeding, and yet keep their
wives shut up to be made mothers only by themselves, who
might be foolish, infirmed, or diseased.” (Plutarch)
The Spartan Code: Education
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At 7, boy taken from family by state. There until 30.
Paidonomous: Boy managers
Games played in the nude
Older men provoke quarrels among boys
Sleep under stars
Minimal reading and writing
Flogging for dissent and stealing
Plutarch’s tale of the boy with the ferret
At 30, becomes citizen and can dine with elders
The Spartan Code: Women
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Different than other Greek women
Raised at home
Vigorous games: running, wrestling, shot put, javelin
Naked at dances (not normal Greek tradition)
A man with a barren wife might be lent a woman by a friend
Excluded from political life
Better off than many Greek women
 Could inherit property. Had 50% of property by 5th C.
 Spoke openly
The Spartan Code: Sexuality & Marriage
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“Nearly every lad had a lover among the older men” (Durant)
Friendship, education, affection, obedience (and/or part of hazing ritual?)
On Prostitution…
Foolish to marry for love. Subordination of love to war
Marriage ceremony: woman had her head shaved, then left in a dark room
to be “seized” by the man.
State encourages women to marry at 20, men at 30
Celibacy was a crime. Bachelors barred from citizenship
Parents arrogance marriage, no financial exchange
“No adultery”. Plenty of freedom before marriage
Divorce was rare. Lysander left his wife for a hotter one and was
admonished.
Highest honor for a woman was to have son die in battle. “Come back
with your shield or on it.”
The Spartan Code: Manners
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Spartans ate at public mess (sissyton) each night. Common
fund for dinner.
Spartan meals
Obesity was admonished. Obese often banished.
Simple dress
Xenophon was “astonished by the power and the prestige of
the community”
Plato glorified Spartan law, order, and community
The Spartan Code: Xenophobia
→Foreigners unwelcome & citizens barred from travel
“This was the reason Lycurgus did not grant them freedom to leave home, if
they wanted to, and wander around picking up alien habits and imitating the
lives of uneducated peoples who lived under different political systems. On
the contrary he actually drove away the multitudes who had streamed into
the polis for no useful purpose. This he did not, as Thucydides [2.39.1]
asserts, out of apprehension that they might wish to copy his constitution and
learn something advantageous about the pursuit of excellence (arete), but in
order to prevent their becoming teachers of any sort of evil. For the
inevitable fact is that alien people bring in with them alien principles; and
from novelty in principles follows novelty in decisions, something which is
bound to give rise to many experiences and policies destructive to the
harmony, as it were, of the established constitution. So he thought it more
necessary to protect the polis from being filled with bad habits than to keep
out infectious diseases.” (Plutarch, Lycurgus 27)
Spartan Code: Tyraetus on Arête
"Mankind's finest possession, here is the noblest prize that a young
man can endeavor to win. It is a good thing his city and all the people
share with him, when a man plants his feet and stands firm among the
foremost spears relentlessly. All thought of foul flight completely
forgotten and as well trained his heart to be steadfast and endure, and
with words encourages the man who is stationed besides him. Here is a
man who proves himself valiant in war. With a sudden rush he turns to
fight the rugged battalions of the enemy and sustains the beating wave
of assault."
Spartan Code: Tyraetus on Arête
“He who so falls among the champions and loses his sweet life so blessing
with honor, his polis, his father, and all his people with wounds in his chest
where the spear that he was facing has transfixed the massive guard of his
shield and gone through his breastplate as well. Why such a man is
lamented alike by the young and the elders, and all his city goes into
mourning and grieves for his loss. His tomb is pointed to with pride and so
are his children, and his children's children, and afterward all the race
that is his. His shining glory is never forgotten. His name is remembered,
and he becomes an immortal though he lies under the ground, when one
who was a brave man has been killed by the furious war god, standing his
ground, and fighting hard for his children and his land."
Spartan Code: Tyraetus on Arête
…if he survives battle
"But if he escapes the doom of that death, the destroyer
of bodies and wins his battle, and bright renown for the work of his
spear, all men give place to him alike. The youth and the elders, and
much joy comes his way before he goes down to the dead. Aging, he has
reputation among his citizens. No one tries to interfere with his honors
or all he deserves. All men withdraw before his presence and yield their
seats to him, the youth and the men his age, and even those older than
he. Thus, a man should endeavor to reach this place of courage with all
his heart, and so trying never be backward in war."
Spartan Code: Xenophon on Arête
In other states when a man proves a coward, the only
consequence is that he is called a coward. He goes to the
same market as the brave man and sits beside him. He
attends the same gymnasium if he chooses. But in Sparta
everyone would be ashamed to have a coward with him
at the mess or to be matched with him in a wrestling
bout. Often when sides are picked for a game of ball he is
the odd man left out. In a chorus he is banished to the
ignominious place. In the streets he is bound to make
way when he occupies a seat; he must give it up even to a
younger man. He must support his spinster relatives at
home and he must explain to them why they are old
maids.
Athletics in Ancient Sparta
Spartan Caste System
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Four Classes of Spartans
1. Spartiates (Spartan citizens, who enjoyed full rights)
2. Mothakes (non-Spartan free men raised as Spartans)
3. Perioikoi (freedmen)
4. Helots (state-owned serfs/slaves, non-Spartan)
Spartiates were a minority of the Lakonian population
 7:1, Helots:Spartans.
 Only Spartiates receive agoge. Thus, Sparta could not
readily replace citizens lost in battle. The number of
citizens became greatly outnumbered by the non-citizens
and, even more dangerously, the helots.
Spartiates
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"peers" or "men of equal status "
could trace ancestry to the original inhabitants of the city.
Thus aristocracy
underwent agoge- loyalty, military training, pain tolerance,
hunting, dancing, singing, and social preparation
exempt from manual labor
control of government
constant military preparation. Fearless warriors
about 8000 Spartiates during Spartan zenith
Mothax
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"stepbrothers"
either offspring of Spartan fathers and helot
mothers, or children of impoverished Spartans
Did not contribute to sissyton
Could fight in war
Though free, they were not Spartan citizens
but were brought up alongside Spartan boys
as their foster brothers.
Least understood of the 4 classes
Perioeci
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Unclear concerning the precise nature of their subject status
Free but non-citizen inhabitants of Sparta
Traders and manufacturers (unlike Spartiates)
Allowed to travel to other cities, Spartans weren’t
Masters of helots
Their regions acted as a buffer around Sparta, shielding it from outside
influence
Had right to own land, and belonged to the civic army: they were hoplites
in the army and epibastes in the navy.
Could not marry Spartan men or women.
Taxed, not directly represented
Could not participate in any political decisions
Helots
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Each year when the Ephors took office they ritually declared
war on the helots, thereby allowing Spartans to kill them
without the risk of ritual pollution
Belonged to the state/land, not to an individual Spartan
Can’t be sold
Subject to martial law
Secret Police Krypteia
Spartiates outnumbered by Helots 7:1. Culture of Fear.
“Most institutions among the Spartans have always been
established with regard to security against the helots.”
(Thucydides, 4.80.3)
The Helots
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According to Myron of Priene of the middle 3rd century BC,
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"They assign to the Helots every shameful task leading to disgrace.
For they ordained that each one of them must wear a dogskin cap and
wrap himself in skins 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".
Plutarch also states that Spartans treated the Helots "harshly and cruelly".
They compelled them to get drunk, “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 public banquets
The Helots
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Around 424 BCE, 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."
The Spartan Constitution: Intro & Overview
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Most Spartan laws were passed down orally
Hybrid: Monarchy, Aristocracy, Democracy
“Checks and Balances”
Admired by Plato and later political theorists
Inspiration for the British Constitutional Monarchy and the American
“Founding Fathers”
• Overview of Structures and Functions
• Kings (2) (Agids and Eurypontids). War Generals; Religious
Functions
• Ephors (5) - annually-elected; executive, judicial, and disciplinary
powers; Daily Administration
• Gerousia, (30) body of elders (28 + 2 kings). Advisors & Supreme
Court
• Apella, (~8000) assembly of Spartiates: Army and Assembly
Executive I: 2 Kings
• 2 hereditary kings of Agiad and Eurypontid families, both descendants of
Heracles
• equal in authority
• similar to dual consuls of Rome
• Functions
• Religious - chief priests of the state, performed certain sacrifices,
consulted Oracle at Delphi
• Judicial
• Military. 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)
• Could originate legislation
• Lost power over time.
Kings and Lycurgan Sparta
“I should like also to give an account of the compact established by
Lycurgus between king and polis: for this is of course the only
government which continues exactly as it was initially set up; other
states, it will be found, have undergone and are still undergoing
changes. He laid down that the king, by virtue of his descent from
the god [Zeus, father of Herakles], should offer all the public
sacrifices on behalf of the polis, and that he should lead the army to
wherever the polis might send it. He also gave the kings the
privilege of receiving portions from the sacrificial beasts, and
allotted them choice lands in many of the surrounding poleis,
enough to ensure them a moderate supply of everything but not
riches in excess.”
~Xenophon, Constitution of the Spartans 15
Executive II: 5 Ephors
• “Those who oversee”. Administrators.
• Prevented tyranny of Kings
• Shared power with Kings. By mid-6th Century, they were at
least equal to power of Kings
• First line of foreign policy decision makers. First to receive
ambassadors.
• May have arisen from the need for governors while the kings
were leading armies in battle
• Elected annually. No Re-election. Power limit here.
• Elected by the popular assembly, and all citizens were
eligible for election. No reelection
• Compare to Roman Tribunes
Legislative I: Gerousia
• Senate or Council of Elders
• 30 members elected for life
• According to Aristotle, elections were shady.
• 28 60+ year old Spartan males + 2 Kings
• All members had undergone agoge
• Vote by shouting
• Functions
• Prepared motions (rhetrai) for the Apella to vote on
• Veto motions passed by the Apella
• Consulted by Ephors
• Received foreign ambassadors
• Supreme Court for Capital Crimes: power to condemn, fine, or banish
• Could try the Kings
• In effect, it was the supreme institution in the Spartan constitution, and
could override any decision by any other organ in the Spartan political
system
The Gerousia
Among the many innovations made by Lycurgus the first, and the
greatest, was the establishment of the gerousia. This, as Plato says,
when mixed with the ‘feverish’ rule of the kings and possessing
voting equality with them in matters of the greatest importance,
created a government secure and sensible. Previously the state had
been wayward, inclining at some times in the direction of the kings,
towards tyranny, and at others in the direction of the masses,
towards democracy. Now, however, it had the office of the gerontes
set at its center, creating equilibrium just as a ship’s ballast does,
and thus securing the safest and most orderly arrangement: when a
stand needed to be made against democracy the 28 gerontes
invariably sided with the kings, yet they also added strength to the
people in preventing the establishment of a tyranny.
~Plutarch, Lycurgus 5
Legislative II: Apella
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Lower house. Assembly and Army.
All 30 yo male citizens could attend. About 8,000.
Attended in uniform
Meetings held on full moon
Meetings presided over by Kings, later Ephors
Shouting vote
Functions
• Accept or reject legislation drafted by Gerousia. NO Debate.
• Voted on peace and war, treaties and foreign policy in general
• Decided which of the kings should conduct a campaign
• Settled questions of disputed succession to the throne
• Emancipated helots
• Elected Gerousia for life
• Elected the five Ephors annually
• Elected eldersother magistrates
• Gerousia could override any “crooked” decision
• Did Apellians speak? Or only 5 Ephors?
Apella vs. Ephors: Check and Balance?
“When the populace was assembled, Lycurgus permitted no one else
except the Elders and kings to make a proposal, although the authority
to decide upon what the latter put forward did belong to the people.
Later, however, when the people distorted the proposals and mauled
them by their deletions and additions, the kings Polydorus and
Theopompus supplemented the laws as follows:
‘If the people should make a crooked choice, the Elders and the
founder-leaders are to set it aside’
-Plutarch, Lycurgus 6
Overview of Spartan Foreign Policy
• Messenian Wars inspired tamed hawkishness
• Sparta was not a colonial power. Only held Taras (Taranto) and Milos
• Mid 6th century, Sparta came into conflict with its northern neighbor Tegea and suffered
a humiliating defeat, Sparta made the – at the time astonishing – decision to seek not a
temporary but a permanent peace.
• Permanent enemy of Argos
• Spartan hegemony induced many foreign powers to seek Spartan support for their own
objectives
• Sparta feared Persian “barbarians” and Athenians (esp. after Delian league defeated
Persia and Athens expanded)
• Out of fear of Helots, Spartans prefer:
• Peace to war
• Close, short wars
• Had no navy. Later, Corinth did.
• Spartans demonstrated an acute appreciation of the limits of their power and of their
vulnerability, which in turn gave rise to a cautious foreign policy that relied heavily on
effective diplomacy.
Overview of Spartan Foreign Policy
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Peloponnesian League est. 570. A “Permanent Coalition”
Spartan Hegemony
PL as NATO
Not every Pelop polis was in PL and not all in the PL were Pelop.
Membership in PL offered to losers in lieu of subjugation
PL poleis traded total independence for
• Ability to keep their land an men
• FP coordination
• Protection
• All PL required to send men in time of battle.
• TWE did Spartans need approval of PL allies to go to war?
• No all PL states were equal
• Smaller, closer, poorer poleis were more dependent on Sparta
• Ideally a coalition of the willing. Ideally.
• The record of the PL is vague.
Spartan Expansion (8th-5th centuries)
On Spartan Military Discipline
And so it is with the Spartans: in single combat they are as
good as any, but when they fight together they are the best
soldiers in the world. And the reason for this? Well, they are
free men, certainly, but their freedom is not absolute: they have
a master set over them, Law (nomos), whom they fear much
more than your subjects fear you. At any rate, whatever this
master orders, they do; and what he orders is always the same
thing—never flee from the battlefield, no matter how large the
opposing forces, but stay in the line, to conquer or to die.”
-Exiled Spartan King Demaratus to Persian Monarch Xerxes I
(Herodotus 7.104)
Spartan Hoplite and Phalanx
Conclusions…
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Questions?
Your assessment of Sparta?
Lessons from Sparta?
Legacy of Sparta?