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Introduction Admired in peace and dreaded in war, Spar
ta was the most powerful and the most successful of all the poleis in the Greek world for much of the Archaic and Classical periods. And for a very long time, even till today, the name Sparta calls up images of military strength and prowess, and of a way of life devoted single-mindedly to patriotic duty, characterized by patriotism, courage in battle, and tolerance for deprivation. Webster’s has defined Spartans as “warlike, brave, hardy, stoical, severe, frugal, and highly disciplined.”
Geography Location
Geographically, the position of Sparta was one of natural security and relative isolation.
To the east, it was protected from its nearest neighbors by mountains that encircled in the valley, and to the west by the peaks of Mount Taygetus, which separated Sparta territory from the much more extensive, fertile plains of Messenia. To the north, hill county and sheer distance provided a natural boundary with Tegea, although not an impassable or even difficult barrier. The most valuable land in Lakonia lay in the plain of the Eurotas River, but other habitable land existed in outlying areas, some occupying plains as small as one square kilometer, some with small harbors, most isolated by natural barriers that made travel to and from the center difficult.
2. Early history of Sparta
a. The names
Sparta was generally referred to by the ancient Greeks as Lacedaemon (Λακεδαίμων) or Lacedaemonia (Λακεδαιμονία), names commonly used in the works of Homer and the Athenian historians Herodotus and Thucydides.
b. Sparta and the Trojan War The Spartan king Menelaos, the younger
brother of Agamemnon and husband of Helen, which was abducted by Paris to Troy and thus starting the long and painful famous war.Around 1200 BC, by the marriage of the daughter of Menelaos Ermione with the son of Agamemnon Orestes, the kingdoms of Argos and Sparta were united. The findings from excavations testify that at this time, unlike the later Sparta, a rich culture had developed here.
c. Dorian Invasions Sometime in the tenth century BC, Dorian
newcomers from the north entered Laconia, a city in southern Greece. At first they settled in four villages near the Eurotas River in the center of the Laconian plain. These early settlements later cooperated to form the core of what would in the Archaic age become the polis of the Spartans. Later, the town of Amyclae, three miles from the original four villages, was added to the city. Thus the Spartan polis was the city center plus the territory of the plain.
d. Sparta in the 8th and 7th century BC
Sparta in the 8th and 7th century BC was open to foreigners. She had good relations with Samos, which helped her in the war with Messenia, and also with Cyprus, Rhodes, Cyrene, etc. She was a highly cultured city, with her own architects, who build the famous temple, the brazen house of Athena. The arts were highly developed with celebrated sculptors in wood, potters, metal workers, weavers, leather workers, many of them foreigners. Spartan musicians, dancers and singers were renowned. Sparta was also famous for the purple dyed clothes. From 720 BC to 576 BC, she had 46 Olympic winners out of 81 total victors. But during the 6th century the arts progressively started to decline. Lycurgus laws eventually strained Sparta.
Messenian Wars----First Messenian War1. The causes The real reason was the rich and fertile plains
of Messenia that Spartans wanted to conquer.The war started and lasted from 743 - 724 BC.During the twentieth year of the war, Messenians abandoned Ithome, which was raised to the ground by the Spartans. The defeated Messenians were punished severely and took an oath, that they would never revolt and they would deliver to Sparta every year half of their agricultural products. Many families fled to Arcadia and the priestly to Eleusis. Those who stayed in the country became helots. This was the end of the first Messenian war.
Second Messenian War685 - 668 BC
Some years later Messenians revolted and their leader Aristomenes in a daring move entered Sparta at night and offered a shield in the temple of Athena. The result of the war was the Messenians became Helots.
Lycurgus
Biography (800 BC?–730 BC?)
Lycurgus was the son of the king Eumenos. After the death of his father, his older brother Polydektes took the throne. Not much later, he also died and Lycurgus became king. The widow of his brother, an ambitious and unhesitating woman, offered him to marry her and kill her unborn child. Lycurgus, knowing her character and being afraid for the life of the child, pretended to accept her offer. He said to her to bear the child and he would disappear it, as soon as the child was born. But when the time came, he took the infant boy at the Agora, proclaimed him king of the Spartans and gave him the name Charilaos (Joy of the people). When the widow learned what happened, she started plotting against Lycurgus, who left Sparta in order to avoid bloodshed.
He first went to Crete and then to Asia and Egypt and later to Libya, Spain and India. In every country that he visited, he studied their civilization, history and constitutions. After many years Lycurgus returned to
Greece and visited Delphi to question the oracle, if the constitution he had prepared to apply in Sparta was good and received approval with the answer that "he was more God than man". He then returned home and found his nephew Charilaos, a grown man and king of Sparta.
In order to persuade the Spartans to accept his laws, which demanded a lot of sacrifices, he bred two small puppies, the one indoors with a variety of foods and the other he trained it for hunting. He then gathered the people and showed them that the untrained dog was completely useless.
But if Lycurgus succeeded to persuade the poor people, he did little for the rich, who tried everything to oppose him. One of them, a youth named Alkander, in the Agora tried to hit him with his stuff and when Lycurgus turned his head, he was hit in the eye and lost it. Lycurgus did not prosecute him, but took him as his servant, giving him the opportunity to discover his character. Indeed Alkander became later a devoted disciple.
When his laws were accepted, he made Spartans swear that they would not be changed until he returns and left again.He never came back, making sure that his laws would not change.
He died at Delphi and according to some in Crete and it is said that before his death, he asked his body to be burned and the remains to be scattered in the wind. Lycurgus thus did not permit even his dead body to return.
Lycurgus was said to be a man of enormous integrity and both Lycurgus and Solon who is also a great lawgiver we will talk about in the later chapter set the model of “Nothing is Excess” and “Never to Abuse Power”.
Reform of Lycurgus
Bas-relief of Lycurgus, one of 23 great lawgivers depicted in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives.
1. Absolute equality From the very start, reforms undertaken by
Lycurgus rested upon the ideal of achieving absolute equality among all Spartans. In the Archaic Age, the bane of almost all Greek city-states was civil war brought about by economic and social disparity. Lycurgus therefore sought to avoid this through his reforms by making every Spartan equal. He aimed to establish a balanced constitution and it was this very balanced constitution of Sparta attributed to Lycurgus was very much admired by the founders of many later countries.
2. Balanced institution a. In antiquity, a balanced institution is the one which
balanced in itself all the elements essential to government. There are mainly tree elements: monarchy, democracy, and aristocracy. Monarchy, rule by one individual, answers the need for strong unified executive authority. In a time of crisis of warfare, every government has the need for strong executive authority for a single individual to be able to hold the reigns for the central power. Democracy answers the need for a broad base of popular support. Such a broad base of public support serves the unity of the central power. But within that there must be the room for the guidance of the state by a collection, a small collection of best individuals. This is aristocracy, rule by the best which answers the need for the making of policy by a small group of outstanding citizens, the best morally, and the best intellectual.
b. The Spartan constitution or rhetra in Greek language, in its developed form had three parts: the dual kingship; the council of elders, or Gerousia; and the Assembly. This balanced institution was considered by many, including Plato and Aristotle, to be a model for other poleis.1) two kings2) Assembly of all Spartans3) Gerousia
1) two kings From the above-mentioned monarchical perspective, Lycurgus created a Spartan state that had two kings from separate royal families. They had equal power and held office for life. The kings’ power in domestic matters was strictly limited. But in time of war, the kings were commander-in-chief invested with enormous power. They had the right of making war upon whatever country they chose, and in the field they exercised unlimited right of life and death and had a bodyguard of 100 men. Later, however, their power was further restricted by a reform that allowed only one of them, chosen by the people, to lead the army in a given campaign, and held him responsible to the community for his conduct of the campaign. The kings held certain important priesthoods, but they did not have judicial power over criminal cases. Their main source of income was from royal land that they held in the territory of the perioikoi. They were ceremonially honored with the first seat at banquets, were served first, and received a double portion. One king acted as a check on his colleague.
2) Assembly of all Spartans In terms of democracy, the Assembly of all Spartans
was the ultimate sovereign; it decides all matters of war and peace. It was made up of Spartan male citizens over the age of thirty. Citizenship depended upon successful completion of the course of training and education which was provided by the state, and upon election to, and continuing membership in, a mess.(we will discuss this constitution in detail below) The Assembly elected the Gerousia, the Ephorate, and the other magistrates, decided disputed successions to the kingship, and determined matters of war and peace and foreign policy. Debate was not allowed, only assent or dissent by acclamation to measures presented by the Gerousia. Thus, theoretically Sparta was a democracy, but the power of the people in the Assembly was strictly limited, and the Assembly’s decisions were subject to overturn by the Geriousia.
3) Gerousia In terms of aristocracy, the Gerousia guided p
olicy, particularly foreign policy. The Gerousia elected by the Spartan Assembly consisted of thirty members, including two kings. This was the Senate of Sparta, literally the Council of Old Men for members had to be over sixty years of age and were chosen for their outstanding abilities and service to Sparta. They served for life. The Gerousia acted as a supreme court. It could declare a law passed by the Assembly as unconstitutional. And if the decision of the Assembly was “unjust,” the Gerousia had the power to overturn it.
c. the Ephors Another ruling entity was formed after Lycurgus – th
e Ephors. Five Spartans were elected annually for a one-year term. They were the guardians of the rights of the people and a check on the power of the kings. So, the creation of ephors further limited the power of the two kings. They also enforced the Spartan way of life and its educational system. Although a variety of duties came to be assigned to the ephors in classical times, the most basic of their duties reveals the primary function of the office. This was the monthly exchange of oaths between the ephors and the kings: the ephors swore to uphold the rule of the kings as long as the kings kept their oath, while the kings swore to govern in accordance with the laws. Thus they provided a check on the power of the two kings.
d. Significance of the institution
The ability to compromise and to bring into harmony the interests of competing groups had enabled the Sparta to avoid the phase of tyranny through which many other Greek poleis passed in order to achieve similar reforms. Sparta’s balanced constitution was the admiration of other Greek cities and of the Founders of the United States.
3. The Spartan Way of Life: Agoge, Common Meals, Austerity1. Civic virtue Lycurgus understood that even the best
constitution will fail unless it is vitalized by civic virtue. He defined civic virtue as “the willingness of the individual to subordinate his interest to the good of the community”. To instill civic virtue was the goal of the educational system –the Spartan way of life – attributed to Lycurgus.
2. Baby screening In the Spartan system, the polis and its
welfare was all in all. Individual and family interests and ambitions were to be put aside to create a society focused on the common good. A Spartan newborn had first to be formally “recognized” by the five Ephors. Unrecognized and very sick infants were “exposed”—abandoned to die. “Recognized” infants were given a plot of land, to be worked by slaves (helots). A Spartan child was raised by his mother until the age of seven.
3. Agoge a. At seven, the child began to be educated in a system called
the agoge (the Greek word comes from the verb ago, “to lead,” and denoted a system of training and a way of life). The agoge was carefully planned to weaken ties to family and to strengthen collective identity. When they entered the agoge, boys were divided into age groups and lived under the immediate supervision of older boys. Although they were taught the rudiments of reading and writing, the focus of the agoge was on rigorous physical training to develop hardiness and endurance. They were also acculturated to Spartan values by listening to patriotic choral poetry and tales of bravery and heroism at the common meals.
b. At age twelve, the agoge became increasingly more military in form and more demanding. The boys were allowed only a single cloak for winter and summer, required to sleep in beds that they made themselves from rushes picked from the Eurotas River, and fed meager rations that they were expected to supplement by stealing (if caught, they were whipped for their failure to escape detection). On occasion they attended the men’s messes, perhaps in a form of “rushing,” in preparation for their later election to one of these groups. To further their acculturation, they were expected to develop homosexual “mentor” relationships with one of the hebontes, men between the ages of twenty and thirty who played a quasi-parental role in socializing their young charges.
c. At eighteen, Spartan boys were sent out on a mission to prove their manhood by killing the largest helot they could find. For those who successfully completed the agoge, the next step was to gain acceptance in the fundamental institution of adult Spartan male life, the mess, or sysitia. A mess consisted of a group about fifteen men of mixed ages who ate and fought together throughout their lives, and who lived together until the age of thirty, when they were allowed to set up their own households. Entry into a mess required unanimous vote by its members. It was a crucial vote, for full citizenship depended upon membership. Those who failed to be elected were relegated to an inferior status, possibly to be indentified with the hpomeiones, literally “inferior.”
d. At the age of thirty, the Spartan became a full citizen and was expected to move out of the barracks and set up his own households. He also became eligible to hold office. But he continued to take his main meal in his mess, and his military obligations continued until the age of sixty. At that time he became eligible for the Gerousia and no longer had military obligations. He still ate in his mess, however, and was expected to participate actively in the training and disciplining of the younger men and boys.
Marble statue of a helmed hoplite (5th century BC), Archæological Museum of Sparta, Greece
Spartan Women
1、 Education Spartan girls were educated in the same ideals
as Spartan boys, which is quite different from other poleis. For example, in Athens, girls were not educated, and historical evidence shows that Athenian women lived so completely separated from the men that they even had their own dialect. Spartan women enjoyed a status, power, and respect that were unknown in the rest of the classical world.
2、Marriage Marriage was by “capture”: the girl was carried off, h
er hair was cut, and she was dressed as a boy by her “bridesmaids”; she was then left in a dark room where her husband-to-be would visit her. If pregnancy resulted, the marriage was valid, but the husband continued in his mess until he reached the age of thirty, visiting his wife only at night and by stealth. The ancient sources report that this regime was adopted to heighten sexual attraction and increase the vigor of any resulting infants. Another view is that it would ensure that the couple would see each other primarily as sexual partners and that the husband would not invest himself emotionally in the welfare of his wife and family to the detriment of his military duties.
The husband continued to visit his wife in secret for some time after the marriage.
3. No Concept of adultery In Spartan law and practice, the concept of adultery di
d not exist. It was acceptable for a husband to loan his wife to his friends if he wanted no more children himself, or to borrow the wife of another men for reproductive purposes. Old men with young wives were expected to provide a young man as a sexual partner for their wives. Such practices of course fostered reproduction: the potential of female fertility was fully exploited even when the luck of the marriage draw did not favor it. Other Greeks looked askance at these practices and at the “freedom” allowed to Spartan women and viewed Spartan women as licentious. But it was not the women who were in control; in each case, it was the husband who arranged for and sanctioned such extramarital relationships. These relationships can be looked upon as logical extension of the general Greek conception of women as property, in the context of the Spartan practice of sharing resources.
4. Family life With their husbands so rarely at home, Spartan wome
n directed the households, which included servants, daughters, and sons until they left for their communal training. They controlled their own properties, as well as the properties of male relatives who were away with the army. Unlike women in Athens, if a Spartan woman became the heiress of her father because she had no living brothers to inherit (an epikleros), the woman was not required to divorce her current spouse in order to marry her nearest paternal relative. Unlike Athenian women who wore heavy, concealing clothes and were rarely seen outside the house, Spartan women wore short dresses and went where they pleased rather than being secluded in the home. Nor did the Spartans follow the customary practice of most poleis of marrying girls at puberty; in Sparta marriage and childbearing were put off until girls reached physical maturity (at eighteen to twenty years old), again in order to ensure the best reproductive outcome.
The Cost of Utopia Martial State
1. First, the Spartan paid a high price for their security. Their way of life was marked by extreme austerity. They were notorious for the simplicity of their meals consisting of barley, cheese, figs, and wine, and supplemented by occasional bits of meant. In order to ensure absolute equality, commerce is forbidden. No gold or silver was permitted and Luxuries were banned.
2. Second, Spartan society was, as might be expected, quite conservative: innovation and foreign influence were firmly resisted. In contrast to the Athenian fascination with the poetry of tragedy and comedy and the love of rhetorical display, the Spartans took pride in laconic (terse) habits of speech and confined their literary and music appreciation to patriotic songs, such as those of Tyrtaeus. By the Classical period the earlier achievements in the crafts had disappeared; even monumental public building had ceased.
3. Third, the Spartan way of life is incompatible with their own aims. The agoge, with its emphasis on strict control and obedience, did not foster the development of individual judgment, and we shall see in later Greek history many instances of Spartan at a loss to handle unusual situations. Nor were the Spartans immune to the temptations of luxury.
4. Another thing which has much to do the Spartan lifestyle is its demographic difficulties—a shrinking population. Sparta was the only Greek state in which male infanticide was institutionalized. Moreover, many deaths can be explained by the Spartan soldier’s obligation to stand his ground and give his life for his country, rather than surrender. This ideal was reinforced by peer pressure, epitomized by statements attributed to Spartan women such as that of the mother who told her son as she handed him his shield to come home “either with this or on this.”
5. In addition to high rate of infant and juvenile mortality found throughout the ancient world, the Spartan problem was aggravated by their unusual marriage practices. Women married only several years after they became fertile; opportunities for conjugal intercourse were limited; husbands were continuously absent at war or sleeping with their army groups when wives were in their peak childbearing years; and both sexes engaged in a certain amount of homosexual, nonprocreative sex. Sparta’s population problem was also accelerated at times by natural disaster, economic problems, and the emigration of men.
Participations in the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War
The Battle of Thermyplae
The Battle of Plataea
Discussion
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