Sparta to the Battle of Leuctra 371BC

Herodotus

'Father of History', pro Athenian who recorded what others told him regardless of contrasting versions.

Pausanius

An ancient Greek geographer & travel writer

Aristotle

Offered political observations about Sparta; was generally negative towards Sparta & questioned why others were so positive.

Plutarch

Writing in the 2nd century AD, his work is technically a Secondary Source, but he analyses the works of Plato , Aristotle and Horodotus

Xenophon

An Athenian writer and general who spent considerable time in Sparta, observed that the Spartans ordered their whole lives around honouring gods and preparing for war.

Thucydides

Critical of and, to be honest, more historically accurate than Herodotus (because he checked his sources)

Plato

Offered political observations about Sparta, and unlike his student was quite positive.

Peloponnesian War

27 years of hostility in late 5th Century between Sparta and Athens

Kleros

Ownership of a plot of public lands, enabling you to belong to the citizen class

Helots

'people', 'captured' serfs owned by the Spartan state (almost slave like)

Grand Rhetra

The spoken word of the Oracle at Delphi which Lycurgus took to Sparta to establish their system of government

Paidonomos

A public guardian or supervisor of education

Krypteia

Secret police who played a key role in keeping helots in their place

Eirens

In their nineteenth year, the Spartans entered the class of the agoge. They were now combatants, but not yet front line soldiers.

Parnon

Mountains located to the east of Sparta

Amyclae (Amyklai)

Joining 100 years after the establishment of Sparta, this fifth komai was located 5km to the south of the polis.

Dorians

Word often used to describe the Spartans on the basis of their cultural and ancestral characteristics

Perioeci (Periokoi)

These were not citizen Spartans or the slave like helots but rather all the other people in Sparta and the areas dominated by Sparta who were free but not originally from Sparta.

Hoplon

A Spartan soldier's shield

Ekklesia/Apella

Was the assembly attended by those over 30, who held full citizenship, meeting monthly

Peloponnese

Large peninsula of southern Greece, dominated by Sparta.

Syssition

Membership in a military mess and the sharing of common meals (needed this to belong to the citizen class)

Autonomous states

States that are able to make decisions and act on them as a free and independent moral agent

Alluvial plain

Sparta was located on this fertile land, a fertility resulting from sediment deposited by flowing water

Gerousia

Council elders - the 30 men oligarchic who controlled Sparta (included the 2 Kings)

Agoge

Rigorous education system and discipline code of Sparta

Ephors

A board of five chief magistrates and administrative officials who both advised the Kings but also checked their power

Phalanx

Greek military closed formation where one soldier's shield protects another as they advance with spears

Karneia (Carneian)

Most important Spartan festival held in honour of Apollo, commemorating the origins of the polis - usually held at harvest time.

Kylikes (kylix)

Laconian drinking cups - a number have been found with paintings inside them

Peloponnesian League

A confederacy (an alliance) of autonomous states formed in the 6th century BCE

The Eurotas

Provided much needed water to Sparta

Taygetus

Sparta was located in (just East of) this mountain range

Gytheum

The Spartan port in the Lakonian Gulf, provided shellfish as well as dye to colour Spartan clothing

Lykourgos

Believed to have been the lawgiver that saw Sparta emerge as a state geared towards a militaristic way of life

Gymnopaedia

This festival was held in the Spartan agora. It commemorated the battle of Thyrea fought against Argos c.550 B.C.

Lochos

A battalion of Spartan soldiers

Messenian Wars

Two wars, near 100 yrs apart, from which Sparta emerges as the most powerful state on the Peloponnesus

Hyakinthia

This festival was held at the ancient shrine of Amyklaion, in Amyclae. This site was the location of a huge statue of Apollo, the tomb of Hyakinthos and an open area for festival dances.

Battle of Leuctra

Defeat of Sparta by Thebes

Hoplite

A Greek soldier

Spartiates

Top of social class in Sparta: Homoioi: equals; peers