Sparta depth study key terms from Bradley chapter + class notes

OCR a level ancient history depth study sparta 478-404 BCE

Pausanias

(Not the general) \~1st century CE traveller and writer who portrays a utopian view of Sparta

Tyrtaeus

Near-contemporary 7th cent BCE, Ionian, patriotic poet, lived through the second Messenian war, work only survived in fragments

Alcman

Helpful poet for this period from Lydia in Persia

Terpander

Helpful poet for this period from Lesbos

Herodotus

5th cent BCE historian, largely unhelpful but sometimes comments on Sparta in terms of how they were involved in Greece’s success in the Persian Wars

Thucydides

5th cent BCE disgraced Athenian general and historian, recorded some valuable information about Sparta’s involvement in the Peloponnesian Wars

Xenophon

4th cent BCE historian, influenced by living on an estate given to him by a King in the Peloponnese for two decades when exiled from Athens; best informed non-Sparta, but also an open laconophile and defensive of Sparta

Plato

4th cent BCE political writer, idealises the Spartan constitution and is even considered by modern scholarship to be responsible for the rise of the myth of Sparta

Aristotle

4th cent BCE political writer, who criticised the Spartan system and constitution with reference to his own political philosophies, lived through Sparta’s decline, fragmentary, misogynistic

Plutarch 46-120 CE

2nd cent CE biographer, wrote ‘Life of Lycurgus’ BUT this was: (a) influenced by two later 3rd cent CE Spartan kings and (b) he himself isn’t certain about any details of his life due to conflicting accounts over time

Beginning of Plutarch’s ‘Life of Lycurgus’

“scarcely anything asserted by \[historians’ accounts on Lycurgus\] which is not called into question or contradicted by the rest“

Lycurgus

The lawgiver supposedly responsible for: the Spartan social code, military and land system, and political constitution, of whose existence we are unsure (Plutarch cannot be relied upon, other ancient sources give us nothing)

Spartan development before the 9th cent BCE

11th cent BCE Dorian presence was evident in Laconia, four adjacent villages are founded on the West Bank of the Eurotas River

Spartan development during the 9th cent BCE

These villages amalgamate ‘synoecism’ into the single city of Sparta and develops the dual kingship system

Spartan development during the 8th century BCE

A fifth village joins the city of Sparta, Sparta’s endeavours to control its surrounding region of Laconia in the Peloponnese was slow

Spartan development during the 750s BCE

Sparta becomes the hegemon of Laconia: (a) Messenians are reduced to helot status after being conquered (b) survivors from pre-Dorian times are also reduced to helot status (c) other Dorian settlements are made ‘perioeci’ politically subordinate to Sparta (d) the ‘gerousia’ was borne out of a constitutional crisis between kings and aristocracy

perioeci

Second-tier citizens politically subordinate to the polis of Sparta

gerousia

Spartan council (of old men?) formed in the 750s BCE

Taras in Southern Italy is founded by Sparta

\~707 BCE

Spartan development in the 7th century BCE

Period of prosperity! Arts and culture flourished (ceramics, sculpture, architecture, music, poetry) + trade with the east

Spartan development in the 650s BCE

The second Messenian war & a second constitutional crisis

The second Messenian war date range

650s BCE

The second Messenian war outcomes

Sparta not only defeat the Messenians, they enslave the population and divide the land into ‘kleroi’ their allotment system for Spartan citizens

“Rise ye sons of heroic Sparta, ye sons of warrior fathers \[…\] Spare not in the least your lifeblood, For this is not like to Spartans”

Tyrtaeus inspirational martial poem from the 17-year second Messenian war

650s BCE second constitutional crisis

this time between noble and common peoples to bring about democratic changes

Spartan development in the 6th cent BCE

A pivot in Spartan values and way of life, foreign imports practically ceased, decay in Laconian art

Cease of foreign imports in 6th cent BCE

Indicative of the Spartan isolationism we see in the 5th cent BCE depth study

“\[Lycurgus\] declared an outlawry of all needless and superfluous arts“

Plutarch on Spartan societal shift in the 6th cent BCE

New Spartan values and way of life introduced in the 6th cent BCE

practising absolute seriousness, devotion to duty, and iron discipline

Spartan development in the 550s BCE

Sparta won military successes against Tegea and Argos, becomes head of the ‘loose confederacy’ of the Peloponnese except Achaea and Argos, Spartan political domination approach shifts from gaining territory to forming alliances, ephors become a democratic institution

Ephors

Keep the kings in check and fight against tyranny, become a supreme democratic institution in the 550s BCE

Helots

State-owned slaves

Inferiors

Adopted playmates, freed helots, illegitimate Spartans, those who lost citizenship

Spartans

Equals, Spartiates, Spartan women

Structure of Spartan society

Spartans → inferiors → helots

Farming in Spartan society

Forbidden to the Spartan class!! Farming is for helots and perioeci

Political power in Spartan society

Held entirely by the Spartan class (Spartiates, equals, Spartan women)

Spartiates were all equal under law

All subjected to the same training and discipline

Spartiate economic status

There were both rich and poor Spartiates, but the existence of a Spartiate nobility is contested

State support for Spartiates

Given helots and an allotment of land 'kerosene/kleroi’

Spartiate high code of honour

Courage, loyalty, endurance, obedience

Spartiates

Full time soldiers owing total obedience to the state

Spartiate origins

Original Dorian conquerors of Laconia, never numbering more than \~10,000

Emancipation of Spartan women

Shared sports with men and mingled freely with them

Spartan women in politics

They weren’t! They were forbidden from holding public office and voting

Spartan women and spinning/weaving

They didn't! This was considered to be a task for slaves

Training of Spartan women

Trained to be fit companions, mothers of warriors and heroes

Spartan women and wealth

Very wealthy! Particularly during the 5th cent BCE when the male population declines and 2/5 of land came into the hands of Spartan women

Spartan women values

Modest and careful of health, whilst growing up in physical freedom

Spartan women restrictions

Forbidden to wear jewellery, cosmetics, and perfume

Perioeci strategically

Their villages served as buffers and walls preventing escaping helots

Perioeci governance in their own communities

Autonomous

Perioeci governance involving Spartiates

Brought to trial before ephors rather than the autonomous government in their own communities

Perioeci citizenship

Owed allegiance to Sparta but had local citizenship

Perioeci marriage inequality (??)

Were forbidden to intermarry with Spartiates

Perioeci origin

Dorian, living in \~100 scattered communities in areas under Spartan control

Perioeci politics

Had no share in the formulation of Spartan policy

Perioeci contribution to Spartan society

Largely economic - heavily engaged in trade and industry, Spartan kings’ revenue coming from their estates in perioeci land

Perioeci adult men

Expected to serve as hoplites alongside Spartiates, despite not being involved in training

Perioeci citizens along the coast

Fishermen, shipbuilders, and the best sailors in the navy

Aspects of Spartan citizenship

Birth, training, and military messes

Spartan citizenship: Birth

Provable descent from original Dorian conquerors

Spartan citizenship: training

Submission to the Spartan military school ‘agoge’ and discipline imposed upon them

Spartan citizenship: military messes

Membership of ‘syssitia’ 'phiditia’ or other Spartan military messes, and continues payment of contributions

Inferiors appearance

Wore specific types of clothes, were unshaven

Inferiors community

Exercised alone, avoided by everybody

Inferiors politics

Couldn’t vote or attend the assembly etc

Loss of Spartan citizenship

A special decree is issued and the Spartan is stripped of citizenship, becomes part of the Inferiors

Inferiors

Neither slaves nor citizens

Inferiors: parthenai

Illegitimate offspring of helot mothers and Spartiate fathers

Inferiors: neodamodes

Helots who were freed by the state for acts of courage or service but still had no civic rights

Inferiors: tresantes

Cowards who were Spartan peers but lost citizenship, not necessarily permanently

Inferiors: mothoces

Sons of helots who were adopted as playmates for Spartan boys and shared their training

Helots

Lowest Spartan social class of state-owned slaves

Helots origin

Pre-Dorian inhabitants who were conquered by Spartans, some part-Dorian

Helot homes

Lived on Spartiates’ land with their families and could not move without permission from the government

Helots main duty

Provide a fixed amount of produce to Spartan masters annually (once the upkeep of Spartans was covered they were free to make a profit off the rest of their produce)

Helots during war

Served Spartan soldiers during war, sometimes acted as light-armed skirmishers in battle

Helots harsh treatment

Always under suspicion of revolt, killed by a secret police force ‘krypteia’ to keep them under control

Helots politically

Had no legal or political rights whatsoever, only the state could free or dispose of them

Helots threat to Spartan security

Were discontented and rebellious, potential to do real damage as outnumbered Spartiates \~20x

Influence of helots on Spartan foreign policy

Supported oligarchies in fear of the power of democracy for helots, hesitated to undertake military operations far from home in case of a helot revolt the army was unable to retaliate to

First 6 years of a Spartan boy’s life

Discipline was imposed by the mother with the help of a nurse

7-12 Spartan boys

Left home to live in barracks with others of the same age and complete their education under the control of a public guardian ‘paidonomos’

paidonomos

Public guardian or supervisor of education for Spartan boys aged 7-12

12-18 Spartan boys

Intensive cadet soldier training: barefoot at all times to run and climb faster, wore one garment in all weather conditions, plucked reeds to make beds by hand, etc

Education of Spartan girls

Vigorous physical training for child-bearing

Aristophanes’ caricature of Spartan women

Lampito in Lysistrata

4th cent BCE disadvantages of Spartan education and values

Spartans were unable to adapt satisfactorily to changing conditions

Festival of the Gymnopaediae

all Spartan males competed, whole battalions of soldiers both old and young sang of their prowess and courage, and of deeds yet to be performed

Flogging of the youths at the altar of Artemis Orthia

Typical endurance contest of Spartan men, tied with initiation and bonding with god through bloodshed, a statue of honour of the boy who endured the longest

Public messes ‘syssitia’ ‘phiditia’

Common meals created to strike a blow at luxury, since rich and poor shared the same email

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Hoplites in battle, from a 6th cent BCE Corinthian krater currently in the Louvre

Body of a Spartan warrior being carried from the battlefield by his fellow soldiers, 550-540 BCE kylix by a Laconian artist

Plato on Sparta’s government system

Couldn’t decide whether democracy or tyranny, felt that Sparta had blended the best and avoided the worst features of each respectively

Aristotle on Sparta’s government system

A happy mixture of democracy and oligarchy

Cicero on Sparta’s government system

“a mixed constitution“

95% of Sparta’s population

Not full citizens

Agiads

Royal clan of Sparta, dual kingship with Eurypontid kings

Eurypontids

Royal clan of southern Laconia then Sparta, dual kingship with Agiad kings