To the battle of Leuctra 371BC
c900BC
740-720BC
• Sparta founded
•First Messenian War (extended control Northward)
c669BC
•Sparta defeated by Argos at Battle of Hysiae
c650BC
•Second Messenian War (new hoplite phalanx)
c560BC
•Tegea defeated Sparta; Sparta forms alliance with Tegea
c505BC
•Peloponnesian League established & dominated by Sparta
480-479BC
•Sparta elected head of allied Greek states to resist Persian invasion
464-462BC
•Earthquake; helots revolt; Spartans quash rebellion
431-404BC
• Peloponnesian War between Athens & Sparta
371BC
•Battle of Leuctra between Thebes & Sparta
Laconia/
Lakedaimonia
perioikoi
homoioi
helots
• Names given to the countryside around Sparta.
• Spartans were also known as Laconians or Lakedaimonians.
• ‘Dwellers round about’. Neighbouring Dorian communities allied
to Sparta but of lesser status than Spartan citizens.
• Self-governing except for foreign policy, provided troops for
Spartan army when requested.
• The ‘equals’, full male citizens of Sparta.
• Also referred to as Spartiates.
• The inhabitants of the fertile Messenian plain who were enslaved
by the Spartans.
 What
effect did the surrounding
mountains have on Sparta?
 “Sparta’s virtual isolation from nonPeloponnesian influences contributed to
its insularity.” What does this mean?
 Describe the climate and soil of Laconia.
 What kind of city was Sparta? Draw or
describe how it would have looked.
Kleros
• (pl. kleroi) Farmland allotted to each
Spartan citizen.
• This land was worked by the helots.
Syssition
• (pl. syssiteia) Spartan ‘mess group’
eunomia
• ‘Good order’, the Spartan name for
their way of life (constitution)
 The
Spartans enslaved the original
inhabitants of Laconia and Messenia. How
did this impact on their social structure?
 Compare the lives of the Spartiates,
Helots and Perioikoi (see table) on next
slide.
Helots
Occupations
Lifestyle
Freedoms
Other
Perioikoi
Spartiates
Plutarch on Helots
Plutarch Instituta Laconia 239e
• The helots tilled the soil for the Spartan lords, paying a return that was
regularly settled in advance. The Spartan lords were not allowed to let
their land for a higher price, in order that the helots might make a profit
and so be glad to work for their masters, and the masters might not look
for a greater return.
The Threat of Helot Revolt
Thucidydes IV.80
• The Lacedaemonians were the more willing to let the Chalcidians have
an army from Peloponnesus owing to the unfortunate state of their affairs.
For now that the Athenians were infesting the Peloponnesus, and
especially Laconia, they thought that a diversion would be best effected
if they could retaliate on them by sending troops to help their
dissatisfied allies, who moreover were offering to maintain them, and
had asked for assistance from Sparta with the intention of revolting. They
were also glad of a pretext for sending out of the way some of the Helots,
fearing that they would take the opportunity of rising afforded by the
occupation of Pylos. Most of the Lacedaemonian institutions were
specially intended to secure them against this source of danger.
2 Kings
Spartiates
Perioikoi
Helots
 There
is so much uncertainty in the accounts
which historians have left us of Lycurgus, the
lawgiver of Sparta, that scarcely anything is
asserted by one of them which is not called
into question or contradicted by the rest.
Their sentiments are quite different as to the
family he came of, the voyages he
undertook, the place and manner of his
death, but most of all when they speak of the
laws he made and the commonwealth he
founded.

…he applied himself, without loss of time, to a thorough
reformation, and resolved to change the whole face of the
commonwealth; for what could a few particular laws and a
partial alteration avail? …Amongst the many changes and
alterations which Lycurgus made, the first and of greatest
importance was the establishment of the gerousia (council),
which having a power equal to the king’s in matters of great
consequence…gave steadiness and safety to the
commonwealth… the people then being thus assembled in
the open air, it was not allowed to any one of their order to
give his advice, but only either to ratify or reject…the kings
Polydorus and Theopompus inserted into the Rhetra, or
grand covenant, the following clause: “That if the people
decide crookedly it should be lawful for the elders and
leaders to dissolve”, that is to say, refuse ratification, and
dismiss the people…
2 Kings
Ephorate
(5 Ephors elected
annually)
Gerousia
(28 members over 60 years
of age & the 2 kings)
Ekklesia
(All Spartiates over 30)
Gerousia
Ephorate
Ekklesia
• 28
members
over 60
years of
age
• Elected
for life
• Initiated
policies
and laws
• Reflected
the
interests
of their
elite rank
• 5 Ephors
over 30
years of
age
• Elected
by the
assembly
for one
year
• Exercised
control
over
every
aspect of
Spartan
life
• Assembly
– all
Spartiates
over 30
years of
age
• Elected
ephors &
members
of
gerousia
• Voted on
laws &
proposals
• Could not
initiate
policy