The lives of Spartan men, women, and children that constructed the great city state of Sparta is astonishing and eventful. Spartans were viewed as barbarians in most cases and many believed their core was war itself. This may be true and could condemn a civilization not focused on the greater good of the society but, in its prime Sparta was different. War fueled the Spartans and would create a ripple in history in remembrance of their prowess and fearlessness.
With an abundance of food the early cities of Imnae, Pitana, Mesoa and Cynosoura would come together on the banks of the Eurotas River and form Sparta. In mythology it is stated that Sparta was founded by Lacedaemon, the son of Zeus and Taygete, who married Sparta, the daughter of Eurotas. Late in the eighth century BCE, Sparta subjugated most of neighboring Messenia and its population was made to serve Spartan interests. Obtaining this control of 8,500 km² from Messenia and Laconia gave Sparta the largest polis in Greece which carried an advantage in Greek politics. The subjugation of the Messenia and Laconia peoples created what is known as the perioikoi, which were treated as slaves and often forced to join the ranks of the Spartan army. Subsisting with the perioikoi were the helots, which consisted of common laborers who lived on Spartan estates, and the neodamodeis, the liberated group of the helots. The role of the slaves was key in the progress of Spartan knowledge in military training, hunting, war, and politics. With these slaves tending to common manners of agricultural or lesser work, Spartans were able to focus on what they knew would make Sparta a powerful force in Greece. Although rendered as a city state focused solely on war, early Sparta took pride in artist...
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...erson in debt to their mothering land. Their morals and values were second to none in patriotism, allegiance, and loyalty. Sparta changed the face of Greece for hundreds of years.
Works Cited
Papakyriakou, E. (2013). History of sparta. Retrieved from http://www.sikyon.com/sparta/history_eg.html
Selkirk, A. (2010, March 23). Barbarism and civilization. Retrieved from http://www.civilization.org.uk/greece-2/sparta
Cartwright, M. (2013, May 28). Sparta. Retrieved from http://www.ancient.eu.com/sparta/
Jarus, O. (2013, May 15). History of ancient sparta. Retrieved from http://www.livescience.com/32035-sparta.html ushistory.org. (2014, March 09). Rise of city-states: Athens and sparta. Retrieved from http://www.ushistory.org/civ/5a.asp
Hooker, R. (1999, June 06). Ancient greece: Sparta. Retrieved from http://matrix.msu.edu/hst/guide/history140r/unit6/mod/sparta.html
Helots were the original residents of the Laconian plain, the term Helots often means ‘prisoner of war’ and that is a good representation of what the Helots were, prisoners or slaves. Owned as property of the state they were assigned land that was owned by individual Spartans, they worked, lived on and made profit from the agricultural products derived from the land though a half of any harvest was directly given to the landowner. The helots produced all the food for the population of Sparta and worked incessantly to maintain the spartiate’s lifestyles, Tyrtaeus compared the helots to ‘Asses exhausted under great loads: Under painful necessity to bring their masters full half the fruit their ploughed land produced’. The tasks of the helots were generally agricultural though, when the Spartans w...
The social structure of Sparta consisted of the Helots, Perioikoi and Spartiates. Enslaved in the wars of Messenia were the Helots, considered as the property of the state, and released on rare occasion as Neodamodeis ’new citizens’. Tyrtaeus’ compares the enslaved Helots to ’donkeys worn down by heavy loads’, a downtrodden minority group with no great power. However, Thucydides accounts for their de-facto influence in Spartan administration, with ’most of their decisions with a view to precautions against the Helots. Finley supports this assessment, identifying certain advantages Helots held over other slave groups in this era. The basic rights of the Helots included the right to their own possessions; the ability to retain a percentage of their crop; and ’in general, all the normal human institutions except their freedom’. Rights afforded may have been in response to fears of a Helot uprising, as their obedience was paramount to a functional Spartan society, and vastly outnumbered the Spartan
Dating back to 449 B.C., Sparta and Athens always had an alliance, but as time grew that balance slowly began to fall as one felt threatened by another. Before any sight of unsteadiness the Spartans and Athenians had a bound partnership. Beginning after their domination of the Persian war, the two states slowly became aware of one another’s growing power. More time went by, and the Spartans began to grow conscious of the other states, feeling wary and paranoid around them (Fox, 170). No state was particularly to blame for the strain on their peace treaty, nor for the war, it came as the two states developed. Eventually the two states had clashed enough and declared war. Although the Spartans gave the Athenians a chance to back down and temporarily stall war, the two states would never be equal, their allies resented one another far too much. The growing urge for power was bound to take over sooner or later. Finally, after 7 years of uneasy tension, Sparta could wait no longer and declared war against Athens (Fox, 167). Although the Athenians and Spartans lived together in peace for so long, they existed in a fragile balance that was bound to eventually lead to war.
Religious and Funerary Practices were thought of as extremely important by the citizens of the city-state of Sparta, in fact, their beliefs reached such an extreme that the other city-states mocked the Spartans. The three principal sub-elements that affected religious and funerary practices in Sparta are, the Gods/Goddesses worshipped, the festivals celebrated and solemnized, and the myths and legends passed through the generations.
Like most Greek states of the Archaic and Classical Era, the Spartan city-state was a militaristic one. Sparta, however, took the idea to its extreme. In order to become the best soldiers, Spartan citizens had to dedicate their entire lives to the occupation. In fact to be a soldier – a hoplite – was the full infrastructure of Spartan society. While most Greek city-states looked down on labor, physical work, and even working for profit, they still had to work for a living, produce something. “The Spartans a...
Sparta was a key city state which was located on the Peloponnesian Peninsula in southern Greek, which today is referred to as Laconia. Sparta is historically known for their strong military training, warfare tactics, and numerous victories. This city state included full citizens known as the Spartans, the helots, and the Perioeci. The men of Sparta had a main obligation to become strong warriors, fight with their brothers, and protect against any invasions or attacks. The helots where owned by city state of Sparta. They came from Messenia and were forced into slavery after being invaded by the Spartans in c.735. The helot’s responsibilities included farming, being of help if needed during battles, used as nurses, and for any other task that need to be accomplished. Unlike many traditional slaves, the Messenia’s were given certain leeway. They had
When you think of the Spartans, what is the first thing that you think about? Well most people think about how they centered their life's around warfare and conquest of other territories. The Spartans even had a so called military training and solicitation program known as the Agoge. Which was used to emphasize duty, disciple and perseverance to the young Spartan boys. Even though the women of Sparta could not participate in the military, doesn’t mean they wasn’t important. They were educated and were more privileged than most Greek women of that time (“Sparta”) This shows the importance and role of all men, women and children, and the kind of lifestyles they possessed.
Sparta was a city-state based on strict military ruling, at the age of seven a young Spartan would start out training and be trained into killing machines. When a Spartan baby is born, high elite Spartan soldiers would observe the baby to see if it was healthy and strong, if not the baby was ill and weak so it would be taken up a mountain and left there to die. This is just one example that shows how Sparta only wants a strong army and doesn't care about anything else. Strict rules of the government made it so that every Sp...
Sparta was a strict military city-state. The people were Dorians who conquered Laconia. This region lies in the Peloponnesus, which lied in southern Greece. The invaders turned the conquered people into state owned slaves, called helots. Since the helots greatly outnumbered their rulers, Spartans established a strict and brutal system of control. The Spartan government had two kings and a council of elders who advised the monarchs. An assembly made up of all citizens approved all major decisions. From child-hood, a Spartan prepared to be part of the military. All newborn were examined and the healthy lived and the sickly were left to die. Spartans wanted future soldiers or mothers of soldiers to be healthy. At the age of seven, boys trained for a lifetime in the Spartan military. They moved to the barracks and endured brutal and extensive training.
Athens and Sparta were both city-states in Classical Greece. While Athens embraced democracy, Sparta was a dictatorial fierce warrior state. Sparta was a militaristic community, Athens was a freethinking, and commerce minded city-state. Modern societies have modeled their government organizational structure and military discipline practices from lessons learned of these ancient city-states. There is much is to be praised regarding Classical Greece for their courage, their progressive thinking and the birth of democracy. However, I think it is important to remember that in both cases, Athens and Sparta were able to sustain their lifestyle on the backs of countless slaves, non-citizens and women and that there is a darker and less romantic side to the past.
“No man ever proves himself a good man in war unless he can endure to face the blood and the slaughter, go against the enemy and fight with his hands.” The preceding was quoted from “The Spartan creed” by the poet Tyrtaeus. There are two authors in this primary resource reading which include Tyrtaeus as well as Xenophon, whom authored “The laws and customs of the Spartans”. These two works give great detail to the Spartan society. As history has presented it, Sparta was a smaller polis and yet was one of the most, if not most, influential societies in history. What we know of this culture comes to us from excavation of its heritage as well as literary works such as these. But are these “eyes” into history factual and creditable enough to base our own interpretations of such a masterful race? These writings are great resources for Spartan’s war enhanced values and societal customs, but lack in evidence of governmental affairs and religion. This lacking may have been due to both writer’s motives for their work.
In 7th century, Ancient Greece a fierce group of warriors called the Spartans were the best in warfare. But life for the Spartans was not easy.
Farris, Dale. "Shutt, Timothy B.: A History of Ancient Sparta." Library Journal 15 May 2009: 45.
From this evaluation and historical representations given by philosophers and historians during approximately the same era that is represented within 300. It is argued that the popular culture incarnations of Sparta as the ‘Noble, selfless fighters with a warrior mentality’ and the Persians as the ‘Evil, tyrannical, overindulgent, oppressors’ were not entirely historically accurate.
Because of the tranquil times, the civilization’s society had more time to focus on writing, math, astronomy, and artistic fields, as well as trade and metallurgy. Out of all the city-states of Greece, two excelled over all the rest, Sparta and Athens. Even though they were the most advanced and strong civilizations, they were bitter enemies. While Athens focused mainly on the people’s democracy and citizen rights, Sparta were ferocious and enslaved its original inhabitants, making them unable to leave and kept under a close eye to prevent insurgence (History of Greece:The Golden Age of Greece). Additionally, Sparta had strict and trained soldiers that underwent intense physical exercising and instruction.