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LacedaemonΛακεδαιμόνιοςLakedaimonios

← 900s–192 BC →

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Territory of ancient Sparta

Capital Sparta

Languages Doric Greek

Religion Greek Polytheism

Government Diarchical MonarchyKing See list

Legislature Gerousia

Historical era Classical antiquity - Foundation 900s BC - Messenian War 685–668 BC - Battle of

Thermopylae 480 BC - Peloponnesian War 431–404 BC - Battle of Mantinea 362 BC - Annexed by

Achaea 192 BC

SpartaFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, Spártā; Attic Greek:Σπάρτη, Spártē), or Lacedaemon, /ˌlæsəˈdiːmən/(Λακεδαίμων, Lakedaímōn) was a prominent city-statein ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the EurotasRiver in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese.[1] Itemerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC,when the invading Dorians subjugated the local,non-Dorian population. Around 650 BC, it rose tobecome the dominant military land-power in ancientGreece.

Given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognizedas the overall leader of the combined Greek forcesduring the Greco-Persian Wars.[2] Between 431 and 404BC, Sparta was the principal enemy of Athens during thePeloponnesian War,[3] from which it emerged victorious,though at great cost. Sparta's defeat by Thebes in theBattle of Leuctra in 371 BC ended Sparta's prominentrole in Greece. However, it maintained its politicalindependence until the Roman conquest of Greece in 146BC. It then underwent a long period of decline,especially in the Middle Ages, when many Spartansmoved to live in Mystras. Modern Sparta is the capital ofthe Greek regional unit of Laconia and a center for theprocessing of goods such as citrus and olives.

Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social systemand constitution, which completely focused on militarytraining and excellence. Its inhabitants were classified asSpartiates (Spartan citizens, who enjoyed full rights),Mothakes (non-Spartan free men raised as Spartans),Perioikoi (freedmen), and Helots (state-owned serfs,enslaved non-Spartan local population). Spartiatesunderwent the rigorous agoge training and educationregimen, and Spartan phalanges were widely consideredto be among the best in battle. Spartan women enjoyedconsiderably more rights and equality to men thanelsewhere in the classical world.

Sparta was the subject of fascination in its own day, aswell as in the West following the revival of classical

Coordinates: 37°4′55″N 22°25′25″E

Sparta - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta

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Hollow Lacedaemon. Site of the Menelaion, theancient shrine to Helen and Menelausconstructed in the Bronze Age city that stood onthe hill of Therapne on the left bank of theEurotas River overlooking the future site ofDorian Sparta. Across the valley the successiveridges of Mount Taygetus are in evidence.

learning.[n 1] This love or admiration of Sparta isknown as Laconism or Laconophilia. At its peakaround 500 BC the size of the city would have beensome 20,000 – 35,000 free residents, plus numeroushelots and perioikoi (“dwellers around”). At 40,000 –50,000 it was one of the largest Greek cities;[4][5]

however, according to Thucydides, the population ofAthens in 431 BC was 360,000 – 610,000, making itunlikely that Athens was smaller than Sparta in 5thcentury BC.[n 2]

Contents

1 Names2 Geography3 Mythology4 Archaeology of the classical period5 History

5.1 Archaic period5.2 Classical Sparta5.3 Hellenistic and Roman Sparta5.4 Medieval and modern Sparta

6 Structure of Classical Spartan society6.1 Constitution6.2 Citizenship6.3 Helots and Perioikoi

6.3.1 Helots6.3.2 Perioikoi

6.4 Economy7 Life in Classical Sparta

7.1 Birth and death7.2 Education7.3 Military life7.4 Marriage

8 Role of women


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Eurotas River

8.1 Political, social, and economicequality8.2 Historic women

9 Laconophilia10 Notable ancient Spartans11 See also12 Notes and references13 Sources14 External links

NamesThe earliest attested term referring to Lacedaemon is the Mycenaean Greek , ra-ke-da-mi-ni-jo, "Lacedaimonian", written in Linear B syllabic script,[7][n 3] being the equivalent of thewritten in the Greek alphabet, latter Greek, Λακεδαιμόνιος, Lakedaimonios (Latin: Lacedaemonius).[12][13]

The ancient Greeks used one of three words to refer tothe home location of the Spartans. The first refersprimarily to the main cluster of settlements in the valleyof the Eurotas River: Sparta.[14] The second word wasLacedaemon (Λακεδαίμων);[15] this was also usedsometimes as an adjective and is the name commonlyused in the works of Homer and the Athenian historiansHerodotus and Thucydides. Herodotus seems to denoteby it the Mycenaean Greek citadel at Therapne, incontrast to the lower town of Sparta. It could be usedsynonymously with Sparta, but typically it was not. Itdenoted the terrain on which Sparta was situated.[16] InHomer it is typically combined with epithets of thecountryside: wide, lovely, shining and most often

hollow and broken (full of ravines).[17] The hollow suggests the Eurotas Valley. Sparta on the other handis the country of lovely women, a people epithet.

The name of the population was often used for the state of Lacedaemon: the Lacedaemonians. Thisepithet utilized the plural of the adjective Lacedaemonius (Greek: Λακεδαιμὀνιοι; Latin:Lacedaemonii, but also Lacedaemones). If the ancients wished to refer to the country more directly,instead of Lacedaemon, they could use a back-formation from the adjective: Lacedaemonian country. Asmost words for "country" were feminine, the adjective was in the feminine: Lacedaemonia(Λακεδαιμονία, Lakedaimonia). Eventually, the adjective came to be used alone.


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Lacedaemonia was not in general use during the classical period and before. It does occur in Greek as anequivalent of Laconia and Messenia during the Roman and early Byzantine periods, mostly inethnographers and lexica glossing place names. For example, Hesychius of Alexandria's Lexicon (5thcentury AD) defines Agiadae as a "place in Lacedaemonia" named after Agis.[18] The actual transitionmay be captured by Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae (7th century AD), an etymological dictionary. Herelied heavily on Orosius' Historiarum Adversum Paganos (5th century AD) and Eusebius of Caesarea'sChronicon (early 5th century AD) as did Orosius. The latter defines Sparta to be Lacedaemonia Civitasbut Isidore defines Lacedaemonia as founded by Lacedaemon, son of Semele, relying on Eusebius.[19]

There is a rare use, perhaps the earliest of Lacedaemonia, in Diodorus Siculus,[20] but probably withΧὠρα ("country") suppressed.

The immediate area around the town of Sparta, the plateau east of the Taygetos mountains, wasgenerally referred as Laconice (Λακωνική).[21] This term was sometimes used to refer to all the regionsunder direct Spartan control, including Messenia.

Lacedaemon is now the name of a province in the modern Greek prefecture of Laconia.

GeographySparta is located in the region of Laconia, in the south-eastern Peloponnese. Ancient Sparta was built onthe banks of the Evrotas River, the main river of Laconia, which provided it with a source of fresh water.The valley of the Evrotas is a natural fortress, bounded to the west by Mt. Taygetus (2407 m) and to theeast by Mt. Parnon (1935 m). To the north, Laconia is separated from Arcadia by hilly uplands reaching1000 m in altitude. These natural defenses worked to Sparta's advantage and contributed to Sparta neverhaving been sacked. Though landlocked, Sparta had a harbor, Gytheio, on the Laconian Gulf.

Mythology

Lacedaemon (Greek: Λακεδαίμων) was a mythical king of Laconia.[22] The son of Zeus by the nymphTaygete, he married Sparta, the daughter of Eurotas, by whom he became the father of Amyclas,Eurydice, and Asine. He named the country after himself and the city after his wife.[22] He was believedto have built the sanctuary of the Charites, which stood between Sparta and Amyclae, and to have givento those divinities the names of Cleta and Phaenna. A shrine was erected to him in the neighborhood ofTherapne.

Archaeology of the classical periodThucydides wrote:

Suppose the city of Sparta to be deserted, and nothing left but the temples and theground-plan, distant ages would be very unwilling to believe that the power of theLacedaemonians was at all equal to their fame. Their city is not built continuously, and hasno splendid temples or other edifices; it rather resembles a group of villages, like the ancient


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The theater of ancient Sparta with Mt.Taygetus in the background.

Ruins from the ancient site

towns of Hellas, and would therefore make a poorshow.[23]

Until the early 20th century, the chief ancient buildings at Spartawere the theatre, of which, however, little showed above groundexcept portions of the retaining walls; the so-called Tomb ofLeonidas, a quadrangular building, perhaps a temple, constructedof immense blocks of stone and containing two chambers; thefoundation of an ancient bridge over the Eurotas; the ruins of acircular structure; some remains of late Roman fortifications;several brick buildings and mosaic pavements.

The remaining archaeological wealth consisted of inscriptions, sculptures, and other objects collected inthe local museum, founded by Stamatakis in 1872 and enlarged in 1907. Partial excavation of the roundbuilding was undertaken in 1892 and 1893 by the American School at Athens. The structure has beensince found to be a semicircular retaining wall of Hellenic origin that was partly restored during theRoman period.

In 1904, the British School at Athens began a thoroughexploration of Laconia, and in the following year excavationswere made at Thalamae, Geronthrae, and Angelona nearMonemvasia. In 1906, excavations began in Sparta.

A small circus described by Leake proved to be a theatre-likebuilding constructed soon after AD 200 around the altar and infront of the temple of Artemis Orthia. Here musical andgymnastic contests took place as well as the famous floggingordeal (diamastigosis). The temple, which can be dated to the2nd century BC, rests on the foundation of an older temple of the6th century, and close beside it were found the remains of a yetearlier temple, dating from the 9th or even the 10th century. Thevotive offerings in clay, amber, bronze, ivory and lead found ingreat profusion within the precinct range, dating from the 9th tothe 4th centuries BC, supply invaluable evidence for earlySpartan art.

In 1907, the sanctuary of Athena "of the Brazen House"(Chalkioikos) was located on the acropolis immediately above

the theatre, and though the actual temple is almost completely destroyed, the site has produced thelongest extant archaic inscription of Laconia, numerous bronze nails and plates, and a considerablenumber of votive offerings. The Greek city-wall, built in successive stages from the 4th to the 2ndcentury, was traced for a great part of its circuit, which measured 48 stades or nearly 10 km (6 miles)(Polyb. 1X. 21). The late Roman wall enclosing the acropolis, part of which probably dates from theyears following the Gothic raid of AD 262, was also investigated. Besides the actual buildingsdiscovered, a number of points were situated and mapped in a general study of Spartan topography,


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Lycurgus

based upon the description of Pausanias. Excavations showed that the town of the Mycenaean Periodwas situated on the left bank of the Eurotas, a little to the south-east of Sparta. The settlement wasroughly triangular in shape, with its apex pointed towards the north. Its area was approximately equal tothat of the "newer" Sparta, but denudation has wreaked havoc with its buildings and nothing is left saveruined foundations and broken potsherds.

HistoryArchaic period

The prehistory of Sparta is difficult to reconstruct because the literary evidence is far removed in timefrom the events it describes and is also distorted by oral tradition.[24] However, the earliest certainevidence of human settlement in the region of Sparta consists of pottery dating from the MiddleNeolithic period, found in the vicinity of Kouphovouno some two kilometres (1.2 miles) south-southwest of Sparta.[25] These are the earliest traces of the original Mycenaean Spartan civilisation, asrepresented in Homer's Iliad.

This civilization seems to have fallen into decline by the late Bronze Age, when, according toHerodotus, Macedonian tribes from the north marched into Peloponnese, where they were calledDorians and subjugating the local tribes, settled there.[24] The Dorians seem to have set about expandingthe frontiers of Spartan territory almost before they had established their own state.[26] They foughtagainst the Argive Dorians to the east and southeast, and also the Arcadian Achaeans to the northwest.The evidence suggests that Sparta, relatively inaccessible because of the topography of the Taygetanplain, was secure from early on: it was never fortified.[26]

Nothing distinctive in the archaeology of the Eurotas River Valley identifiesthe Dorians or the Dorian Spartan state. The prehistory of the Neolithic, theBronze Age and the Dark Age (the Early Iron Age) at this moment must betreated apart from the stream of Dorian Spartan history.

The legendary period of Spartan history is believed to fall into the DarkAge. It treats the mythic heroes such as the Heraclids and the Perseids,offering a view of the occupation of the Peloponnesus that contains bothfantastic and possibly historical elements. The subsequent proto-historicperiod, combining both legend and historical fragments, offers the firstcredible history.

Between the 8th and 7th centuries BC the Spartans experienced a period oflawlessness and civil strife, later attested by both Herodotus andThucydides.[27] As a result they carried out a series of political and social reforms of their own societywhich they later attributed to a semi-mythical lawgiver, Lycurgus.[28] These reforms mark the beginningof the history of Classical Sparta.

Classical Sparta


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Leonidas I of Sparta

In the Second Messenian War, Sparta established itself as a local power in Peloponnesus and the rest ofGreece. During the following centuries, Sparta's reputation as a land-fighting force was unequaled.[29] In480 BC a small force of Spartans, Thespians, and Thebans led by King Leonidas (approximately 300were full Spartiates, 700 were Thespians, and 400 were Thebans although these numbers do not reflectcasualties incurred prior to the final battle), made a legendary last stand at the Battle of Thermopylaeagainst the massive Persian army, inflicting very high casualties on the Persian forces before finallybeing encircled.[30] The superior weaponry, strategy, and bronze armour of the Greek hoplites and theirphalanx again proved their worth one year later when Sparta assembled at full strength and led a Greekalliance against the Persians at the battle of Plataea.

The decisive Greek victory at Plataea put an end to the Greco-PersianWar along with Persian ambition of expanding into Europe. Eventhough this war was won by a pan-Greek army, credit was given toSparta, who besides being the protagonist at Thermopylae and Plataea,had been the de facto leader of the entire Greek expedition.[31]

In later Classical times, Sparta along with Athens, Thebes, and Persiahad been the main powers fighting for supremacy against each other.As a result of the Peloponnesian War, Sparta, a traditionally continentalculture, became a naval power. At the peak of its power Sparta subduedmany of the key Greek states and even managed to overpower the eliteAthenian navy. By the end of the 5th century BC it stood out as a statewhich had defeated the Athenian Empire and had invaded the Persianprovinces in Anatolia, a period which marks the Spartan Hegemony.

During the Corinthian War Sparta faced a coalition of the leadingGreek states: Thebes, Athens, Corinth, and Argos. The alliance was initially backed by Persia, whoselands in Anatolia had been invaded by Sparta and which feared further Spartan expansion into Asia.[32]

Sparta achieved a series of land victories, but many of her ships were destroyed at the battle of Cnidusby a Greek-Phoenician mercenary fleet that Persia had provided to Athens. The event severely damagedSparta's naval power but did not end its aspirations of invading further into Persia, until Conon theAthenian ravaged the Spartan coastline and provoked the old Spartan fear of a helot revolt.[33]

After a few more years of fighting, in 387 BC the Peace of Antalcidas was established, according towhich all Greek cities of Ionia would return to Persian control, and Persia's Asian border would be freeof the Spartan threat.[33] The effects of the war were to reaffirm Persia's ability to interfere successfullyin Greek politics and to affirm Sparta's weakened hegemonic position in the Greek political system.[34]

Sparta entered its long-term decline after a severe military defeat to Epaminondas of Thebes at the Battleof Leuctra. This was the first time that a Spartan army lost a land battle at full strength.

As Spartan citizenship was inherited by blood, Sparta now increasingly faced a helot population thatvastly outnumbered its citizens. The alarming decline of Spartan citizens was commented on byAristotle.

Hellenistic and Roman Sparta


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Sparta never fully recovered from the losses that the Spartans suffered at Leuctra in 371 BC and thesubsequent helot revolts. Nonetheless, it was able to continue as a regional power for over two centuries.Neither Philip II nor his son Alexander the Great attempted to conquer Sparta itself.

During Alexander's campaigns in the east, the Spartan king, Agis III sent a force to Crete in 333 BCwith the aim of securing the island for Sparta.[35] Agis next took command of allied Greek forces againstMacedon, gaining early successes, before laying siege to Megalopolis in 331 BC. A large Macedonianarmy under general Antipater marched to its relief and defeated the Spartan-led force in a pitchedbattle.[36] More than 5,300 of the Spartans and their allies were killed in battle, and 3,500 of Antipater'stroops.[37] Agis, now wounded and unable to stand, ordered his men to leave him behind to face theadvancing Macedonian army so that he could buy them time to retreat. On his knees, the Spartan kingslew several enemy soldiers before being finally killed by a javelin.[38] Alexander was merciful, and heonly forced the Spartans to join the League of Corinth, which they had previously refused to join.[39]

Even during its decline, Sparta never forgot its claim to be the "defender of Hellenism" and its Laconicwit. An anecdote has it that when Philip II sent a message to Sparta saying "If I enter Laconia, I will razeSparta", the Spartans responded with the single, terse reply: αἴκα, "if".[40][41][42]

When Philip created the league of the Greeks on the pretext of unifying Greece against Persia, theSpartans chose not to join, since they had no interest in joining a pan-Greek expedition unless it wereunder Spartan leadership. Thus, upon the conquest of Persia, Alexander the Great sent to Athens 300suits of Persian armour with the following inscription: Alexander, son of Philip, and all the Greeksexcept the Spartans, give these offerings taken from the foreigners who live in Asia [emphasis added].

During the Punic Wars Sparta was an ally of the Roman Republic. Spartan political independence wasput to an end when it was eventually forced into the Achaean League. In 146 BC Greece was conqueredby the Roman general Lucius Mummius. Following the Roman conquest, the Spartans continued theirway of life, and the city became a tourist attraction for the Roman elite who came to observe exoticSpartan customs.[n 4]

Medieval and modern Sparta

According to Byzantine sources, some parts of the Laconian region remained pagan until well into the10th century AD. Doric-speaking populations survive today in Tsakonia. In the Middle Ages, thepolitical and cultural center of Laconia shifted to the nearby settlement of Mystras. Modern Sparti wasre-founded in 1834, by a decree of King Otto of Greece.

Structure of Classical Spartan societyConstitution

Sparta was an Oligarchy. The state was ruled by two hereditary kings of the Agiad and Eurypontidfamilies,[45] both supposedly descendants of Heracles and equal in authority, so that one could not actagainst the power and political enactments of his colleague.


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Structure of the SpartanConstitution

The duties of the kings were primarily religious, judicial, andmilitary. They were the chief priests of the state and also maintainedcommunication with the Delphian sanctuary, which alwaysexercised great authority in Spartan politics. In the time ofHerodotus, about 450 BC, their judicial functions had beenrestricted to cases dealing with heiresses, adoptions and the publicroads. Aristotle describes the kingship at Sparta as "a kind ofunlimited and perpetual generalship" (Pol. iii. I285a),[46] whileIsocrates refers to the Spartans as "subject to an oligarchy at home,to a kingship on campaign" (iii. 24).[47]

Civil and criminal cases were decided by a group of officials known as the ephors, as well as a councilof elders known as the Gerousia. The Gerousia consisted of 28 elders over the age of 60, elected for lifeand usually part of the royal households, and the two kings.[48] High state policy decisions werediscussed by this council who could then propose action alternatives to the Damos, the collective bodyof Spartan citizenry, who would select one of the alternatives by voting.[49][50]

The royal prerogatives were curtailed over time. Dating from the period of the Persian wars, the kinglost the right to declare war and was accompanied in the field by two ephors. He was supplanted also bythe ephors in the control of foreign policy. Over time, the kings became mere figureheads except in theircapacity as generals. Real power was transferred to the ephors and to the Gerousia.

The origins of the powers exercised by the assembly of the citizens are virtually unknown because of thelack of historical documentation and Spartan state secrecy.

Citizenship

Not all inhabitants of the Spartan state were considered to be citizens. Only those who had undertakenthe Spartan education process known as the agoge were eligible. However, usually the only peopleeligible to receive the agoge were Spartiates, or people who could trace their ancestry to the originalinhabitants of the city.

There were two exceptions. Trophimoi or "foster sons" were foreign students invited to study. TheAthenian general Xenophon, for example, sent his two sons to Sparta as trophimoi. The other exceptionwas that the sons of a helot could be enrolled as a syntrophos[51] if a Spartiate formally adopted him andpaid his way. If a syntrophos did exceptionally well in training, he might be sponsored to become aSpartiate.[52]

Others in the state were the perioikoi, who were free inhabitants of Spartan territory but werenon-citizens, and the helots,[53] the state-owned serfs. Descendants of non-Spartan citizens were not ableto follow the agoge and Spartans who could not afford to pay the expenses of the agoge could lose theircitizenship. These laws meant that Sparta could not readily replace citizens lost in battle or otherwiseand eventually proved near fatal to the continuance of the state as the number of citizens became greatlyoutnumbered by the non-citizens and, even more dangerously, the helots.


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Helots and Perioikoi

Helots

The Spartans were a minority of the Lakonian population. The largest class of inhabitants were thehelots (in Classical Greek Εἵλωτες / Heílôtes).[54][55]

The helots were originally free Greeks from the areas of Messenia and Lakonia whom the Spartans haddefeated in battle and subsequently enslaved. In contrast to populations conquered by other Greek cities(e.g. the Athenian treatment of Melos), the male population was not exterminated and the women andchildren turned into chattel slaves. Instead, the helots were given a subordinate position in society morecomparable to serfs in medieval Europe than chattel slaves in the rest of Greece.

Helots did not have voting rights, although compared to non-Greek chattel slaves in other parts ofGreece they were relatively privileged. The Spartan poet Tyrtaios refers to Helots being allowed tomarry and retaining 50% of the fruits of their labor.[56] They also seem to have been allowed to practicereligious rites and, according to Thucydides, own a limited amount of personal property.[57] Some 6,000helots accumulated enough wealth to buy their freedom, for example, in 227 BC.

In other Greek city-states, free citizens were part-time soldiers who, when not at war, carried on othertrades. Since Spartan men were full-time soldiers, they were not available to carry out manual labour.[58]

The helots were used as unskilled serfs, tilling Spartan land. Helot women were often used as wetnurses. Helots also travelled with the Spartan army as non-combatant serfs. At the last stand of the Battleof Thermopylae, the Greek dead included not just the legendary three hundred Spartan soldiers but alsoseveral hundred Thespian and Theban troops and a number of helots.[59]

Relations between the helots and their Spartan masters were sometimes strained. There was at least onehelot revolt (ca. 465–460 BC), and Thucydides remarked that "Spartan policy is always mainly governedby the necessity of taking precautions against the helots."[60][61] On the other hand, the Spartans trustedtheir helots enough in 479 BC to take a force of 35,000 with them to Plataea, something they could nothave risked if they feared the helots would attack them or run away. Slave revolts occurred elsewhere inthe Greek world, and in 413 BC 20,000 Athenian slaves ran away to join the Spartan forces occupyingAttica.[62] What made Sparta's relations with her slave population unique was that the helots, preciselybecause they enjoyed privileges such as family and property, retained their identity as a conqueredpeople (the Messenians) and also had effective kinship groups that could be used to organize rebellion.

As the Spartiate population declined and the helot population continued to grow, the imbalance of powercaused increasing tension. According to Myron of Priene[63] of the middle 3rd century BC:

"They assign to the Helots every shameful task leading to disgrace. For they ordained thateach one of them must wear a dogskin cap (κυνῆ / kunễ) and wrap himself in skins(διφθέρα / diphthéra) and receive a stipulated number of beatings every year regardless ofany wrongdoing, so that they would never forget they were slaves. Moreover, if anyexceeded the vigour proper to a slave's condition, they made death the penalty; and they


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allotted a punishment to those controlling them if they failed to rebuke those who weregrowing fat".[64]

Plutarch also states that Spartans treated the Helots "harshly and cruelly": they compelled them to drinkpure wine (which was considered dangerous – wine usually being cut with water) "...and to lead them inthat condition into their public halls, that the children might see what a sight a drunken man is; theymade them to dance low dances, and sing ridiculous songs..." during syssitia (obligatory banquets).[65]

Each year when the Ephors took office they ritually declared war on the helots, thereby allowingSpartans to kill them without the risk of ritual pollution.[66] This seems to have been done by kryptes(sing. κρύπτης), graduates of the Agoge who took part in the mysterious institution known as theKrypteia.[67] Thucydides states:

"The helots were invited by a proclamation to pick out those of their number who claimedto have most distinguished themselves against the enemy, in order that they might receivetheir freedom; the object being to test them, as it was thought that the first to claim theirfreedom would be the most high spirited and the most apt to rebel. As many as twothousand were selected accordingly, who crowned themselves and went round the temples,rejoicing in their new freedom. The Spartans, however, soon afterwards did away withthem, and no one ever knew how each of them perished."[68][69]

Perioikoi

The Perioikoi came from similar origins as the helots but occupied a significantly different position inSpartan society. Although they did not enjoy full citizen-rights, they were free and not subjected to thesame restrictions as the helots. The exact nature of their subjection to the Spartans is not clear, but theyseem to have served partly as a kind of military reserve, partly as skilled craftsmen and partly as agentsof foreign trade.[70] Perioikoic hoplites served increasingly with the Spartan army, explicitly at the Battleof Plataea, and although they may also have fulfilled functions such as the manufacture and repair ofarmour and weapons,[71] they were increasingly integrated into the combat units of the Spartan army asthe Spartiate population declined.[72]

Economy

Spartan citizens were debarred by law from trade or manufacture, which consequently rested in thehands of the Perioikoi. The Periokoi monopoly on trade and manufacturing in one of the richestterritories of Greece explains in large part the loyalty of the perioikoi to the Spartan state. Lacedaemonwas rich in natural resources, fertile and blessed with a number of good natural harbors. The periokoicould exploit these resources for their own enrichment, and did.[73]

Spartiates, on the other hand, were forbidden (in theory) from engaging in menial labor or trade,


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Name vase of the Spartan artistknown as the Rider Painter (black-figured kylix, ca. 550–530 BC)

although there is evidence of Spartan sculptors,[74] and Spartanswere certainly poets, magistrates, ambassadors, and governors aswell as soldiers. Allegedly, Spartans were prohibited frompossessing gold and silver coins, and according to legendSpartan currency consisted of iron bars to discourage hoarding.[75][76] In fact, archeology has not produced evidence of thiscurrency, and it is more likely that Sparta simply used currenciesminted elsewhere.

The conspicuous display of wealth appears to have beendiscouraged, although this did not preclude the production ofvery fine, highly decorated bronze, ivory and wooden works ofart and the production of jewellery. Archeology has producedmany examples of all these objects, some of which areexquisite.[77]

Allegedly in connection with the Lycurgan Reforms (e.g. in themid-8th Century BC), property had been divided into 9,000 equal portions as part of a massive landreform. Each citizen received one estate, a kleros, and thereafter was expected to derive his wealth fromit.[78] The land itself was worked by helots, who retained half the yield. From the other half, theSpartiate was expected to pay his mess (syssitia) fees, and the agoge fees for his children. However, weknow nothing about whether land could be bought and sold, whether it could be inherited, if so by whatsystem (primogeniture or equally divided among heirs), whether daughters received dowries and muchmore.[79] What is clear is that from early on there were marked differences of wealth within the state,and these became even more serious after the law of Epitadeus, passed at some time after thePeloponnesian War, removed the legal prohibition of the gift or bequest of land.[80] By the mid-5thcentury, land had become concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite, and the notion of all Spartan citizensbeing "equals" had become a farce. By Aristotle's day (384–322 BC) citizenship had been reduced from9,000 to less than 1,000, and then further decreased to 700 at the accession of Agis IV in 244 BC.Attempts were made to remedy this situation by creating new laws. Certain penalties were imposed uponthose who remained unmarried or who married too late in life. These laws, however, came too late andwere ineffective in reversing the trend.

Life in Classical SpartaBirth and death

Sparta was above all a militarist state, and emphasis on military fitness began virtually at birth. Shortlyafter birth, a mother would bathe her child in wine to see whether the child was strong. If the childsurvived it was brought before the Gerousia by the child's father. The Gerousia then decided whether itwas to be reared or not. It is commonly stated that if they considered it "puny and deformed", the babywas thrown into a chasm on Mount Taygetos known euphemistically as the Apothetae (Gr., ἀποθέται,"Deposits").[81][82] This was, in effect, a primitive form of eugenics.[81] Sparta is often portrayed asbeing unique in this matter, however there is considerable evidence that the killing of unwanted children


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Bronze appliqué of Spartanmanufacture, possiblydepicting Orestes, 550-525BC (Getty Villa)

was practiced in other Greek regions, including Athens.[83] There is controversy about the matter inSparta, since excavations in the chasm only uncovered adult remains, likely belonging to criminals.[84]

When Spartans died, marked headstones would only be granted to soldiers who died in combat during avictorious campaign or women who died either in service of a divine office or in childbirth.[85]

Education

When male Spartans began military training at age seven, they wouldenter the Agoge system. The Agoge was designed to encourage disciplineand physical toughness and to emphasise the importance of the Spartanstate. Boys lived in communal messes and, according to Xenophon,whose sons attended the agoge, the boys were fed "just the right amountfor them never to become sluggish through being too full, while alsogiving them a taste of what it is not to have enough."[86] Besidesphysical and weapons training, boys studied reading, writing, music anddancing. Special punishments were imposed if boys failed to answerquestions sufficiently 'laconically' (i.e. briefly and wittily).[87]

There is some evidence that in late-Classical and Hellenistic Sparta boyswere expected to take an older male mentor, usually an unmarried youngman. However, there is no evidence of this in archaic Sparta. Accordingto some sources, the older man was expected to function as a kind ofsubstitute father and role model to his junior partner; however, othersbelieve it was reasonably certain that they had sexual relations (the exactnature of Spartan pederasty is not entirely clear).[88] It is notable,however, that the only contemporary source with direct experience of the agoge, Xenophon, explicitlydenies the sexual nature of the relationship.[86]

Post 465 BC, some Spartan youth apparently became members of an irregular unit known as theKrypteia. The immediate objective of this unit was to seek out and kill vulnerable helot Laconians aspart of the larger program of terrorising and intimidating the helot population.[89]

Less information is available about the education of Spartan girls, but they seem to have gone through afairly extensive formal educational cycle, broadly similar to that of the boys but with less emphasis onmilitary training. In this respect, classical Sparta was unique in ancient Greece. In no other city-state didwomen receive any kind of formal education.[90]

Military life

At age 20, the Spartan citizen began his membership in one of the syssitia (dining messes or clubs),composed of about fifteen members each, of which every citizen was required to be a member. Hereeach group learned how to bond and rely on one another. The Spartans were not eligible for election forpublic office until the age of 30. Only native Spartans were considered full citizens and were obliged to


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Marble statue of a helmed hoplite(5th century BC), ArchaeologicalMuseum of Sparta, Greece

undergo the training as prescribed by law, as well as participatein and contribute financially to one of the syssitia.[91]

Sparta is thought to be the first city to practice athletic nudity,and some scholars claim that it was also the first to formalizepederasty.[92] According to these sources, the Spartans believedthat the love of an older, accomplished aristocrat for anadolescent was essential to his formation as a free citizen. Theagoge, the education of the ruling class, was, they claim,founded on pederastic relationships required of each citizen,[93]

with the lover responsible for the boy's training.

However, other scholars question this interpretation. Xenophonexplicitly denies it,[86] but not Plutarch.[94]

Athenaeus claims[95] the Spartans sacrificed to Eros before everybattle, but Eros had many roles and meanings in Ancient Greece,not least of which was as the God of procreation - not somethingappropriate for homosexual love. Thus the practice neitherproves nor disproves the role of pederasty in Spartan society.

Spartan men remained in the active reserve until age 60. Menwere encouraged to marry at age 20 but could not live with their families until they left their activemilitary service at age 30. They called themselves "homoioi" (equals), pointing to their common lifestyleand the discipline of the phalanx, which demanded that no soldier be superior to his comrades.[96]

Insofar as hoplite warfare could be perfected, the Spartans did so.[97]

Thucydides reports that when a Spartan man went to war, his wife (or another woman of somesignificance) would customarily present him with his hoplon (shield) and say: "With this, or upon this"(Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς, Èi tàn èi èpì tàs), meaning that true Spartans could only return to Sparta eithervictorious (with their shield in hand) or dead (carried upon it).[98] Unfortunately, poignant as this imagemay be, it is almost certainly propaganda. Spartans buried their battle dead on or near the battle field;corpses were not brought back on their hoplons.[99] Nevertheless, it is fair to say that it was less of adisgrace for a soldier to lose his helmet, breastplate or greaves than his hoplon, since the former weredesigned to protect one man, whereas the hoplon also protected the man on his left. Thus the shield wassymbolic of the individual soldier's subordination to his unit, his integral part in its success, and hissolemn responsibility to his comrades in arms – messmates and friends, often close blood relations.

According to Aristotle, the Spartan military culture was actually short-sighted and ineffective. Heobserved:

It is the standards of civilized men not of beasts that must be kept in mind, for it is goodmen not beasts who are capable of real courage. Those like the Spartans who concentrate onthe one and ignore the other in their education turn men into machines and in devoting


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themselves to one single aspect of city's life, end up making them inferior even in that.[100]

Aristotle, of course, was a harsh critic of the Spartan constitution and way of life. There is considerableevidence that the Spartans, certainly in the archaic period, were not educated as one-sidedly as Aristotleasserts. In fact, the Spartans were also rigorously trained in logic and philosophy.[101]

One of the most persistent myths about Sparta that has no basis in fact is the notion that Spartan motherswere without feelings toward their off-spring and helped enforce a militaristic lifestyle on their sons andhusbands.[102][103] The myth can be traced back to Plutarch, who includes no less than 17 "sayings" of"Spartan women," all of which paraphrase or elaborate on the theme that Spartan mothers rejected theirown offspring if they showed any kind of cowardice. In some of these sayings, mothers revile their sonsin insulting language merely for surviving a battle. These sayings purporting to be from Spartan womenwere far more likely to be of Athenian origin and designed to portray Spartan women as unnatural andso undeserving of pity.[99]

Marriage

Plutarch reports the peculiar customs associated with the Spartan wedding night:

The custom was to capture women for marriage(...) The so-called 'bridesmaid' took chargeof the captured girl. She first shaved her head to the scalp, then dressed her in a man's cloakand sandals, and laid her down alone on a mattress in the dark. The bridegroom – who wasnot drunk and thus not impotent, but was sober as always – first had dinner in the messes,then would slip in, undo her belt, lift her and carry her to the bed.[104]

The husband continued to visit his wife in secret for some time after the marriage. These customs,unique to the Spartans, have been interpreted in various ways. One of them decidedly supports the needto disguise the bride as a man in order to help the bridegroom consummate the marriage, sounaccustomed were men to women looks at the time of their first intercourse. The "abduction" may haveserved to ward off the evil eye, and the cutting of the wife's hair was perhaps part of a rite of passagethat signaled her entrance into a new life.[105]

Role of womenPolitical, social, and economic equality

Spartan women, of the citizenry class, enjoyed a status, power, and respect that was unknown in the restof the classical world. The higher status of females in Spartan society started at birth; unlike Athens,Spartan girls were fed the same food as their brothers.[106] Nor were they confined to their father's houseand prevented from exercising or getting fresh air as in Athens, but exercised and even competed insports.[106] Most important, rather than being married off at the age of 12 or 13, Spartan law forbade the


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marriage of a girl until she was in her late teens or early 20s. The reasons for delaying marriage were toensure the birth of healthy children, but the effect was to spare Spartan women the hazards and lastinghealth damage associated with pregnancy among adolescents. Spartan women, better fed from childhoodand fit from exercise, stood a far better chance of reaching old age than their sisters in other Greek cities,where the median age for death was 34.6 years or roughly 10 years below that of men.[107]

Unlike Athenian women who wore heavy, concealing clothes and were rarely seen outside the house,Spartan women wore dresses (peplos) slit up the side to allow freer movement and moved freely aboutthe city, either walking or driving chariots. Girls as well as boys exercised, possibly in the nude, andyoung women as well as young men may have participated in the Gymnopaedia ("Festival of NudeYouths").[108][109]

Another practice that was mentioned by many visitors to Sparta was the practice of “wife-sharing”. Inaccordance with the Spartan belief that breeding should be between the most physically fit parents, manyolder men allowed younger, more fit men, to impregnate their wives. Other unmarried or childless menmight even request another man’s wife to bear his children if she had previously been a strong childbearer.[110] For this reason many considered Spartan women polygamous or polyandrous.[111] Thispractice was encouraged in order that women bear as many strong-bodied children as they could. TheSpartan population was hard to maintain due to the constant absence and loss of the men in battle andthe intense physical inspection of newborns.[112]

Spartan women were also literate and numerate, a rarity in the ancient world. Furthermore, as a result oftheir education and the fact that they moved freely in society engaging with their fellow (male) citizens,they were notorious for speaking their minds even in public.[113]

Most important, Spartan women had economic power because they controlled their own properties, andthose of their husbands. It is estimated that in later Classical Sparta, when the male population was inserious decline, women were the sole owners of at least 35% of all land and property in Sparta.[114] Thelaws regarding a divorce were the same for both men and women. Unlike women in Athens, if a Spartanwoman became the heiress of her father because she had no living brothers to inherit (an epikleros), thewoman was not required to divorce her current spouse in order to marry her nearest paternalrelative.[115]

Historic women

Many women played a significant role in the history of Sparta.[116] Queen Gorgo, heiress to the throneand the wife of Leonidas I, was an influential and well-documented figure. Herodotus records that as asmall girl she advised her father Cleomenes to resist a bribe. She was later said to be responsible fordecoding a warning that the Persian forces were about to invade Greece; after Spartan generals could notdecode a wooden tablet covered in wax, she ordered them to clear the wax, revealing the warning.[117]

Plutarch's Moralia contains a collection of "Sayings of Spartan Women", including a laconic quipattributed to Gorgo: when asked by a woman from Attica why Spartan women were the only women inthe world who could rule men, she replied "Because we are the only women who are mothers ofmen".[118]


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Young Spartans Exercising by EdgarDegas (1834-1917)

LaconophiliaLaconophilia is love or admiration of Sparta and of the Spartan culture or constitution. Sparta wassubject of considerable admiration in its day, even in its rival, Athens. In ancient times "Many of thenoblest and best of the Athenians always considered the Spartan state nearly as an ideal theory realisedin practice."[119] Many Greek philosophers, especially Platonists, would often describe Sparta as an idealstate, strong, brave, and free from the corruptions of commerce and money.

With the revival of classical learning in Renaissance Europe,Laconophilia re-appears, for examples in the writings ofMachiavelli. The Elizabethan English constitutionalist JohnAylmer compared the mixed government of Tudor England tothe Spartan republic, stating that "Lacedemonia [meaningSparta], [was] the noblest and best city governed that ever was".He commended it as a model for England. The Swiss-Frenchphilosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau contrasted Sparta favourablywith Athens in his Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, arguingthat its austere constitution was preferable to the more culturednature of Athenian life. Sparta was also used as a model of socialpurity by Revolutionary and Napoleonic France.[120]

Certain early Zionists, and particularly the founders of Kibbutz movement in Israel, had been influencedby Spartan ideals, particularly as a model for education. Tabenkin, for example, a founding father of theKibbutz and the Palmach, was influenced by Spartan education. He prescribed that education for warfare"should begin from the nursery", that children should from kindergarten age be taken to "spend nights inthe mountains and valleys".[121][122]

A new element of Laconophilia by Karl Otfried Müller, who linked Spartan ideals to the supposed racialsuperiority of the Dorians, the ethnic sub-group of the Greeks to which the Spartans belonged. AdolfHitler praised the Spartans, recommending in 1928 that Germany should imitate them by limiting "thenumber allowed to live". He added that "The Spartans were once capable of such a wise measure... Thesubjugation of 350,000 Helots by 6,000 Spartans was only possible because of the racial superiority ofthe Spartans." The Spartans had created "the first racialist state".[123]

In the modern times, the adjective "spartan" is used to imply simplicity, frugality, or avoidance of luxuryand comfort.[124] The term laconic phrase describes a very terse and concise way of speaking that wascharacteristic of the Spartans.

Sparta also features prominently in modern popular culture (see Sparta in popular culture), particularlythe Battle of Thermopylae (see Battle of Thermopylae in popular culture).

Notable ancient Spartans

Agis I – king


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Agis II – kingAgesilaus II – kingCleomenes I – kingLeonidas I (c. 520-480 BC) – king, famous for his actions at the Battle of ThermopylaeCleomenes III – king and reformerLysander (5th–4th century BC) – generalLycurgus (10th century BC) – lawgiverChionis (7th century BC) – athleteCynisca (4th century BC) – princess and athleteChilon – philosopherGorgo – queen and politicianHelen – of the Trojan War, Queen of SpartaMenelaus – King of Sparta during the Trojan War

See also

List of Kings of Sparta

Notes and referencesNotes

^ For the nature of this development, see the article on Laconophilia.1. ^ According to Thucydides, the Athenian citizens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War (5th centuryBC) numbered 40,000, making with their families a total of 140,000 people in all. The metics, i.e. those whodid not have citizen rights and paid for the right to reside in Athens, numbered a further 70,000, whilst slaveswere estimated at between 150,000 to 400,000.[6]

2.

^ Found on the following tablets: TH Fq 229, TH Fq 258, TH Fq 275, TH Fq 253, TH Fq 284, TH Fq 325,TH Fq 339, TH Fq 382.[8] There are also words like , ra-ke-da-mo-ni-jo-u-jo - foundon the TH Gp 227 tablet[8] - that could perhaps mean "son of the Spartan".[9] Moreover, the attested words

, ra-ke-da-no and , ra-ke-da-no-re could possibly be Linear B forms ofLacedaemon itself; the latter, found on the MY Ge 604 tablet, is considered to be the dative case form of theformer which is found on the MY Ge 603 tablet. It is considered much more probable though thatra-ke-da-no and ra-ke-da-no-re correspond to the anthroponym Λακεδάνωρ, Lakedanor, though the latter isthought to be related etymologically to Lacedaemon.[8][10][11]

3.

^ Especially the Diamastigosis at the Sanctury of Artemis Orthia, Limnai outside Sparta. There anamphitheatre was built in the 3rd century CE to observe the ritual whipping of Spartan youths.[43][44]

4.


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References

^ Cartledge 2002, p. 911. ^ Cartledge 2002, p. 1742. ^ Cartledge 2002, p. 1923. ^ Morris, Ian (December 2005), The growth ofGreek cities in the first millennium BC. v.1(http://www.princeton.edu/~pswpc/pdfs/morris/120509.pdf), Princeton/Stanford Working Papersin Classics

4.

^ http://books.google.dk/books?id=oafCBYBbMRgC&pg=PA22&dq=ancient+sparta+population+of+50,000&hl=da&sa=X&ei=CiiCU_j0L8avOd2HgcgL&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=ancient%20sparta%20population%20of%2050%2C000&f=false

5.

^ Wilson, Nigel Guy, ed. (2006). EncyclopediaOf Ancient Greece. Routledge (UK).pp. 214–215. ISBN 0-415-97334-1.

6.

^ "The Linear B word ra-ke-da-mi-ni-jo"(http://www.palaeolexicon.com/ShowWord.aspx?Id=16881). Palaeolexicon.Word study tool of Ancient languages.

7.

^ a b c "TH 229 Fq (305)"(https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5239). "TH Fq 258 (305)"(https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5254). "TH 275 Fq (305)"(https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5260). "TH 253 Fq (305)"(https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5251). "TH 284 Fq (305)"(https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5265). "TH 325 Fq (305)"(https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5282). "TH 339 Fq (305)"(https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5285). "TH 382 Fq (305)"(https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5314). "TH 227 Gp (306)"(https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5410). "MY 603 Ge + frr.(58a)" (https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5573). "MY 604 Ge (58a)"(https://www2.hf.uio.no/damos/Index/item/chosen_item_id/5574). DĀMOS Databaseof Mycenaean at Oslo. University of Oslo.

8.

^ Thompson, Rupert (2010). "Mycenaean Greek"(http://books.google.com/books?id=oa42E3DP3icC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA195#v=onepage&q&f=false). In Bakker,Egbert J. A Companion to the Ancient GreekLanguage. Blackwell Companions to the AncientWorld. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 223.ISBN 978-1-4051-5326-3.

9.

^ Raymoure, K.A. "ra-ke-da-no"(http://minoan.deaditerranean.com/resources/linear-b-sign-groups/ra/ra-ke-da-no/). MinoanLinear A & Mycenaean Linear B. Deaditerranean.

10.


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^ Jasanoff, Jay H.; Nussbaum, Alan (1996).Lefkowitz, Mary R.; Rogers Maclean, Guy, eds.Black Athena Revisited (http://books.google.com/books?id=AClFWV6PE8wC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA193#v=onepage&q&f=false). TheUniversity of North Carolina Press. p. 193.ISBN 0807845558.

11.

^ LIddell & Scott 1940, Λακεδαιμόνιος, s.v.Λακεδαίμων (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=*lakedai/mwn).

12.

^ Lacedaemonius, s.v. Lacedaemon(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=Lacedaemon). Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. ALatin Dictionary on Perseus Project.

13.

^ LIddell & Scott 1940, Σπάρτη(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=*spa/rth).

14.

^ Liddell & Scott 1940, Λακεδαίμων(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=*lakedai/mwn).

15.

^ MacBean, Alexander; Johnson, Samuel (1773)."Lacedaemon" (http://books.google.com/books?id=EqwBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=A+dictionary+of+ancient+geography&hl=en&ei=RpRDTpD_MI6SgQf2vYi_CQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC4Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Lacedaemon&f=false). A Dictionary ofAncient Geography [etc.] London: G. Robinson[etc.].

16.

^ Autenrieth 1891, Λακεδαίμων(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0073%3Aalphabetic+letter%3Dl%3Aentry+group%3D1%3Aentry%3D*lakedai%2Fmwn).

17.

^ Schmidt, Maurice, ed. (1863). "s.v. Ἀγιάδαι"(https://archive.org/stream/hesychiialexand00schmgoog#page/n24/mode/1up). Hesychii Alexandrini Lexicon (in Greek).Jena: Frederick Mauk.. At the Internet Archive

18.

^ Wiener, Leo (1920). Contributions toward aHistory of Arabico-Gothic Culture. V. III: Tacitus'Germania & Other Forgeries. Philadelphia: Innes& Sones. p. 20.

19.

^ Diodorus Sicilus, Library, 19.70.2(http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/19D*.html#note24).

20.

^ Cartledge 2002, p. 421. ^ a b Pausanias 1918, Description of Greece,ΙΙΙ.1.2 (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D3%3Achapter%3D1%3Asection%3D2).

22.

^ Thucydides, i. 1023. ^ a b Herodot, Book I, 56.324. ^ Cartledge 2002, p. 2825. ^ a b Ehrenberg 2004, p. 3126. ^ Ehrenberg 2004, p. 3627. ^ Ehrenberg 2004, p. 3328. ^ "A Historical Commentary on Thucydides"—David Cartwright, p. 176

29.

^ Green 1998, p. 1030. ^ Britannica ed. 2006, "Sparta"31. ^ "Dictionary of Ancient&Medieval Warfare"—Matthew Bennett, p. 86

32.

^ a b "The Oxford Illustrated History of Greeceand the Hellenistic World" p. 141, JohnBoardman, Jasper Griffin, Oswyn Murray

33.


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^ Fine, The Ancient Greeks, 556-934. ^ Agis III (http://www.livius.org/ag-ai/agis/agis_iii.html)

35.

^ Agis III, by E. Badian © 1967 - Jstor(http://www.jstor.org/pss/4475455)

36.

^ Diodorus, World History37. ^ Diodorus, World History, 17.62.1-63.4;tr. C.B.Welles

38.

^ Alexander the Great and his time By AgnesSavill Page 44 ISBN 0-88029-591-0

39.

^ Davies 1998, pp. 133 (http://books.google.com/books?id=vD7SWb5lXBAC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA133#v=onepage&q&f=false).

40.

^ Plutarch 1874, De garrulitate, 17(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0288%3Asection%3D17).

41.

^ Plutarch 1891, De garrulitate, 17(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0286%3Asection%3D17); in Greek.

42.

^ Cicero (1918). "II.34"(http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2007.01.0044%3Abook%3D2%3Asection%3D34). In Pohlenz, M.Tusculanae Disputationes (in Latin). Leipzig:Teubner. At the Perseus Project.

43.

^ Michell, Humfrey (1964). Sparta. CambridgeUniversity Press. p. 175.

44.

^ Cartledge 2002, p. 8945. ^ The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary ofArts, Sciences, Literature and ... - Page 611.primary and secondary source

46.

^ The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary ofArts, Sciences, Literature and ... - Page 611.primary secondary source

47.

^ The Greeks at War By Philip De Souza,Waldemar Heckel, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, VictorDavis Hanson

48.

^ The Politics By Aristotle, Thomas AlanSinclair, Trevor J. Saunders

49.

^ A companion to Greek studies By LeonardWhibley

50.

^ σύντροφος (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=su/ntrofos) in Liddell and Scott.

51.

^ The Greek World By Anton Powell52. ^ Ancient Greece By Sarah B. Pomeroy, StanleyM. Burstein, Walter Donlan, Jennifer TolbertRoberts

53.

^ Herodotus (IX, 28–29)54. ^ Xenophon, Hellenica, III, 3, 555. ^ West 1999, p. 2456. ^ Cartledge 2002, p. 14157. ^ Cartledge 2002, p. 14058. ^ Ehrenberg 2004, p. 15959. ^ Thucydides (IV, 80); the Greek is ambiguous60. ^ Cartledge 2002, p. 21161. ^ Thucydides (VII, 27)62. ^ Talbert, p.26.63. ^ Apud Athenaeus, 14, 647d = FGH 106 F 2.Trans. by Cartledge, p.305.

64.

^ Life of Lycurgus 28, 8-10. See also, Life ofDemetrios, 1, 5; Constitution of theLacedemonians 30; De Cohibenda Ira 6; DeCommmunibus Notitiis 19.

65.

^ (Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus 28, 7)66. ^ Powell 2001, p. 25467. ^ Thucydides (Book IV 80.4).68. ^ Classical historian Anton Powell has recorded asimilar story from 1980s El Salvador. Cf. Powell,2001, p. 256

69.

^ Cartledge 2002, pp. 153–15570.


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^ Cartledge 2002, p. 158,17871. ^ "Population Patterns in Late Archaic andClassical Sparta" by Thomas Figueira,Transactions of the American PhilologicalAssociation 116 (1986), p.165-213

72.

^ Paul Cartledge, "Sparta and Lakonia,"Routledge, London, 1979, pp.154-159

73.

^ Conrad Stibbe, "Das Andere Sparta," VerlagPhilipp von Zabern, Mainz, 1996, pp. 111-127

74.

^ Excel HSC Ancient History By Peter Roberts,ISBN 1-74125-178-8, ISBN 978-1-74125-178-4

75.

^ Greene, Robert (2000), The 48 Laws of Power,Penguin Books, p. 420, ISBN 0-14-028019-7

76.

^ Conrad Stibbe, Das Andere Sparta, VerlagPhilipp von Zabern, Mainz, 1996

77.

^ A.H.M. Jones, "Sparta," Basel Blackwell andMott Ltd.,1967,pp.40-43

78.

^ Stephen Hodkinson, Property and Wealth inClassical Sparta, The Classical Press of Wales,Swansea, 2000. See also Paul Cartledge'sdiscussion of property in Sparta in "Sparta andLakonia," pp. 142-144.

79.

^ Social Conflict in Ancient Greece ByAlexander Fuks, ISBN 965-223-466-4, ISBN978-965-223-466-7

80.

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^ Plutarch, Lycurgus 27.2-3. However this maybe conflating later practice with that of theclassical period. See Not the Classical Ideal:Athens and the Construction of the Other inGreek Art ed. Beth Cohen, p.263, note 33, 2000,Brill.

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^ a b c Xenophon, Spartan Society, 286. ^ Cartledge 2001, p. 8587. ^ Cartledge 2001, pp. 91–10588. ^ Cartledge 2001, p. 8889. ^ Cartledge 2001, pp. 83–8490. ^ E. David (1984). Aristophanes and AthenianSociety of the Early Fourth Century B.C. BrillArchive. ISBN 9004070621.

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^ Thomas F. Scanlon "The Dispersion ofPederasty and the Athletic Revolution in Sixth-Century BC Greece (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16338890)", Same-Sex Desire and Lovein Greco-Roman Antiquity and in the ClassicalTradition of the West, pp. 64-70. PMID 16338890

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^ Erich Bethe,Die Dorische Knabenliebe: ihreEthik und ihre Ideen (The Doric pederasty: theirethics and their ideas), Sauerländer, 1907, 441,444. ISBN 978-3921495773

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^ Plutarch, The Life of Lycurgus, 1894. ^ Athenaeus of Naucratis, The Deipnosophists,XIII: Concerning Women

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^ Adcock 1957, pp. 8–997. ^ Plutarch 2004, p. 46598. ^ a b Helena P. Schrader (2011). "Sons andMothers"(http://www.sparta.markoulakispublications.org.uk/index.php?id=316). ΣPARTA: Journal ofAncient Spartan and Greek History (MarkoulakisPublications) 7 (4). ISSN 1751-0007(https://www.worldcat.org/issn/1751-0007).Retrieved September 14, 2013. (subscription

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Wikimedia Commons hasmedia related to Sparta.

West, M.L. (1999), Greek Lyric Poetry, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-954039-6

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

Sparta (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nvz72) onIn Our Time at the BBC. (listen now(http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00nvz72/In_Our_Time_Sparta))GTP—Sparta (http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=9773)GTP—Ancient Sparta (http://www.gtp.gr/LocPage.asp?id=61562)Schrader, Helena P. (2001–2010). "Sparta Reconsidered: An Introduction"(http://elysiumgates.com/~helena). The Spartans: Warrior Philosophers of the Ancient World.Elysium Gates.Halsall, Paul (January 1999). "11th Britannica: Sparta" (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/eb11-sparta.html). Ancient History Sourcebook. Fordham University.Papakyriakou-Anagnostou, Ellen (2000–2011). "History of Sparta" (http://www.sikyon.com/sparta/history_eg.html). Ancient Greek Cities.

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