Sparta Flash Card #1: - The Cohen Curricula



Sparta Flash Card #8: Social Structure: Spartiates | |

|Historian |Evidence |Relationship to other |

| | |Syllabus dot points |

|From N.S. Gill, |"Spartiate" | |

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| |Definition: Spartiate is the term used for Spartan citizens who had gone through their military | |

| |training, were eligible for the government, and did not engage in military labor. Spartiates | |

| |could be ephors and were part of the assembly; however, only those of noble birth among the | |

| |Spartiates could become part of the gerousia. T. Rutherford Harley ("The Public School of | |

| |Sparta," Greece & Rome, Vol. 3, No. 9 (May 1934) pp. 129-139.) says there were about 8000 | |

| |Spartiates in the 5th century, 1000 by the time of Aristotle, and only 700 by 244 B.C., but there| |

| |were many more non-Spartiate residents of Sparta and vicinity. | |

| | | |

| |Examples: The Spartiate were at least equalled in number by the Perioikoi, and outnumbered by the| |

| |Helot serfs. | |

|Sparta | | |

| By Michael Whitby | | |

| |Research this source and ascertain facts and evidence relating to the Spartiates and their role | |

| |in Ancient Sparta. | |

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|Hellenica & Respublica |Inquiry into the Decline of Spartan Society until the Battle of Leuktra 371 BC | |

|Lacedaemoniorum by Xenophon |Top of Form | |

|On Sparta and The Life of | | |

|Lycurgos by Plutarch |Just a short introduction on terms and things that will be refered to further on in this essay. | |

|Politics I and II by |The evident social classes of the classical age from top to bottom are as follows. Primarily a | |

|‘rokuron’ |Spartiate, if you want to be pedantic is any Spartan male above the age of 30, making them a | |

|Griffith University |voting individual. Modern sources have refered to all Spartans (including women, despite them not| |

|Online essay |being able to vote) as Spartiates, thus I have continued this widend definition. The Perioikoi | |

|. |were the literal "dwellers around" who were the economic providers for the Spartans apart from | |

|com/user/rokuran |the Helot slaves who farmed their kleros (an alotment of land). Helots are the inhabitants of the| |

| |conquered tribes and city states that are then enslaved by the Spartans. | |

|Aristotle |The other rather confusing structure is the governmental system. Having at the top a diarchy of | |

|Andromache by Euripides |kings, in combination with 28 elders above the age of 70 known as the gerontes made the gerousia,| |

|Lysistrata by Aristophanes |like the upper house of a bicameral level of government. This was followed by 5 Ephors who had | |

|Histories IX by Herodotus |several powers that I list further on in the essay. They were elected by acclamation from the | |

|Sparta by A.H.M. Jones |apella or otherwise known as the ecclesia. This was the assembly of every Spartiate (the pedantic| |

|Greece by Michael Ivanovich |definition), this being every man above the age of 30. | |

|Rostovtzeff |The sources are listed at the end of the essay. I hope it's understandable and enlightens you as | |

|Greek Society by Antony |much as other on this site have done for me. | |

|Andrewes |It is believed by Xenophon, one of the most prominent ancient authorities on Sparta, that Thebes | |

|Sparta by Robin Barrow |defeated the military state of Sparta primarily because of religious reasons. Jason the tyrant of| |

|Individual quotes from |Thessalian Pherai warns them not to grow over confident; "for the god, it seems to me, takes | |

|Thucydides, Fine, Critias and |pleasure in raising up the small and bringing down the great ." Xenophon also states in his | |

|Oswyn Murray cited from |Hellenica that it was because Sparta had occupied the Theban acropolis in the peacetime of 382. | |

|Antiquity 2 by T. Hurley |This was breaking an oath sworn in the name of the gods to leave the other Greek cities | |

| |independent, thus committing grand perjury in religious context. This was one of the examples | |

| |that Xenophon states "could be cited from both Greek and non-Greek history to demonstrate that | |

| |the gods are not indifferent to those who are impious or perpetrate unholy deeds ." | |

| |A well-regarded modern authority, Michael Ivanovich Rostovtzeff gives us a more politically | |

| |secular reason behind Sparta's loss. After the Peloponnesian War had ended, although Sparta was | |

| |the military victor, "that victory was not complete nor decisive ." Sparta had now been issued | |

| |with supremacy of the seas and thus "had to face more trouble and responsibility than other | |

| |states ." | |

| |Sparta needed external support to control her empire, "so large, so scattered, so constantly | |

| |disturbed ." Constant wars involved heavy losses, especially among the Spartiates. This meant the| |

| |balance of Spartiates to Helots and Perioikoi was slowly being even more out weighed. Also | |

| |because of Sparta's traditionally conservative view "governors took no steps to increase their | |

| |number (of Spartiates) and treated every attempt in that direction as revolutionary ." | |

| |Consequently the Spartiates were too few to defend Sparta because they were commanding and | |

| |"defending scattered garrisons of the empire ." | |

| |Although Plutarch tells us that marriage was compulsory. Having children was not a requirement of| |

| |the family unit, "the Spartiate was not held in esteem by his fellow-citizens if he had no | |

| |children ." Therefore this social norm of having children was a small but not entirely successful| |

| |idea employed, that's aim was to rise the population of the Spartiates. | |

| |Meanwhile Athens and other Greek enemies of Sparta were gaining strength. Whilst Athenian trade | |

| |was restoring itself, Rostovzeff continues to say that "the former allies of Athens oppressed the| |

| |Spartan garrisons and the harmosts who commanded them ." Pelopidas and his scared band (a | |

| |specialised military group of Thebes) "had beaten a detachment of the Spartan invincibles ." Most| |

| |probably because the Spartans still inhabited the Cadmea (the Boeotian Acropolis at Thebes.) This| |

| |was then followed in 371 B.C by the Spartan defeat at Leuktra by the "over obstinate Boeotians ."| |

| | | |

| |In Rostovtzeff's book he further explains, "the Thebans owed this victory entirely to the | |

| |military genius of Epaminondas ." Epaminondas' primary reforms to the Theban infantry were to | |

| |change their formation. The Spartans would have been marching into battle all in a straight line,| |

| |uniform and parallel to each other. The Thebans however had an arrow shaped formation that would | |

| |collapse upon the Spartans and flank them, thus obtaining victory. | |

| |Politically, since the apella (much like our senate) "voted only on business submitted to them by| |

| |" their elected council of Ephors, "these individuals (the apella) had no power to initiate | |

| |legislation ." Thus although this socialist type of government seemed generally run and owned by | |

| |the society as a whole, there is certainly aspects of an aristocracy. This is in respect to how | |

| |the two kings were chosen as the diarchy, being the heads of the two leading noble families of | |

| |Europontidae and Agiadae. As well as the Gerousia of elders being above the apella but not as | |

| |powerful, also being drawn from noble families. Therefore although as in a socialist state the | |

| |individual's property and rights are that of the society and no one is above another this is | |

| |somewhat contradicted by the aristocratic ruling by the diarchy and Gerousia. "All social and | |

| |economic relations were based on absolute subordination of the individual to the state ," but it | |

| |depended on which individual you were (noble or common), to how far below the state you were. | |

| |This can further be discussed as being a weakness in Spartan society. That although there was | |

| |social equity between Spartiates, certainly not in regard to the Helots and Perioikoi, this | |

| |equity was worth nothing if the individual could not be represented as an equal against other | |

| |Spartiates such as the nobility. I speak of the apella that represented each Spartiate as an | |

| |equal, but was dominated and directed by 5 Ephors that if they wished could veto any decision | |

| |made by the apella, Gerousia or indeed the king. This dominant group could even arrest the king; | |

| |"it is lawful for the Ephors to do this to the king," (Thucydides). Therefore although certain | |

| |Spartiates were regarded as equals, not everybody was, for the Ephors were far above any | |

| |individual, including the King. | |

| |Spartiates were forbidden to engage in trade and industry. Therefore the Perioikoi monopolized | |

| |all business of the state, making themselves not politically powerful but economically able to | |

| |rule the country in certain aspects. Rostovzeff states, Perioikoi "mined in the iron mines of | |

| |Laconia; they manufactured weapons for the army, implements for agriculture and articles for | |

| |domestic use ." In this sense it is viable to say that the Spartiates were somewhat dependant | |

| |upon the Perioikoi, because the Perioikoi apart from supporting the military with weapons and | |

| |provided the agricultural providers of the helots with "implements" to harvest with, the | |

| |Perioikoi also controlled all passes and waterways. The Perioikoi could have easily isolated | |

| |Sparta. | |

| |However this relationship between the Perioikoi and the Spartiates was symbiotic in that the | |

| |Spartiates protected the Perioikoi. Apart from this the Spartiates controlled the grazing land | |

| |that the Perioikoi used to monopolize Spartan trade. Although Andrewes states "we have no figures| |

| |to show the proportions...there is no doubt that the Perioikoi were the more numerous population | |

| |." It is then conclusive to say that the Spartiates and Perioikoi were dependent upon each other,| |

| |but in regard to the dominant Spartiates, this was a weakness to be dependant upon a subordinate | |

| |class, that could so easily revolt with economic and people power. | |

| |Andrewes continues to say, Sparta feared "that foreign goods would bring with them new demands | |

| |and new ideas ." For this reason the currency of Sparta was known as heavy iron rods. Xenophon | |

| |enlightens us with perhaps a slight hyperbole, "a thousand drachmas would fill a wagon ." These | |

| |iron rods were not recognised by other city-states as currency and thus foreign trade by the use | |

| |of money was impossible. These iron rods however discouraged stealing, by making it quite | |

| |difficult . | |

| |This isolation could have been a benefit for Sparta. An iron curtain if you will, that forbade | |

| |foreign ideas in sacrifice for domestic safety. This although could have also been a burden and a| |

| |failure in that Sparta could not evolve past her borders. Since foreign ideas were not introduced| |

| |no juxtaposition of Sparta's ideas and other states' could take place. Because of this | |

| |impossibility the evaluation of Spartan society was impossible and so therefore the development | |

| |of Spartan society was severely crippled. We will never know if this disability of conservative | |

| |Sparta would have been either a benefit or burden for society, only that depending on the | |

| |circumstances, it could have been either. | |

| |The women of Sparta have been regarded as the most free and with liberty of the age. Robin | |

| |Barrows finds that Sparta would've be the ideal ancient society that "members of Women's | |

| |Liberation movements today would have admired ." Where "women were freed from domestic duties and| |

| |treated like men ." | |

| |In two pieces of art, one an ancient sculpture of a Spartan woman and a more modern | |

| |representation from Degas it can be seen that girls were athletic and equally regarded in | |

| |reference to boys in some aspects of society. Degas' painting portrays the women running in races| |

| |with men. Although this may have conveyed the idea of women having no specific duty in the | |

| |Spartan community, this was not intended. The object of exercising with men was to make the women| |

| |strong and healthy so that they could produce children. | |

| |As Aristotle says, "nearly two fifths of the whole country is held by women ." Aristotle further | |

| |criticises Spartan societies' loss of control to women, saying, "it surely would have been better| |

| |to have given no dowries at all ." Certainly it is clear that Spartan women had more power, more | |

| |equity than women of other city-states. Aristotle's paranoia led him to believe Sparta would | |

| |become a gynaikokratia (government by women,) and it was because of women's power that the | |

| |greatness of Sparta declined . This government of women of course did not occur, however the | |

| |short tale below should explain how and why Spartan Women were so much more powerful that those | |

| |of other city states'. | |

| |Herodotus entails in his Histories how a foreigner once asked the wife of King Leonidas why | |

| |Spartan women were able to influence men more than wives in other cities. "We are the only women | |

| |who can control men," she replied," because we are the only women who give birth to men ." | |

| |Plato criticized Sparta's "legislator" for "he mustn't just regulate the men and allow the women | |

| |to live as they like and wallow in expensive luxury ." Euripides an Athenian playwright in his | |

| |"Andromache", thought that no Spartan girl could "grow up modest ", running around with bare | |

| |thighs and loose clothes. "I call it intolerable ," says the protagonist. Aristophanes would have| |

| |agreed with Plato to a degree and Euripides entirely for Aristophanes also criticized Spartan | |

| |women's masculineand immodest appearance. In his Lysistrata Lampito (a native Spartan woman) was | |

| |found by Lysistrata of Athens so have "such strength that she could strangle a bull ". | |

| |Plutarch tells us "Spartan men were always subject to their wives and allowed them to interfere | |

| |in affairs of state more than themselves did in private ones ." Because of these opinions and | |

| |facts from foreign ancient authorities, it suggests to us that Spartan women could have certainly| |

| |been a bad influence upon Sparta's political affairs or have contributed somehow to the decline | |

| |in society. | |

| |Because most Athenian authorities were found to be highly critical of Spartan society, it could | |

| |be said that Euripides' and Aristophanes' views were not entirely reliable, that some form of | |

| |prejudice was being exercised. Plutarch however living over 500 years after these contemporaries | |

| |of the Spartan age states not as an opinion but as fact in his "On Sparta" that women did exert | |

| |power over men. Plutarch living after the Athenian age of bias gives him more reliability than | |

| |other sources. Therefore women certainly could have contributed to Spartan society's weakening | |

| |during the 4th Century B.C. | |

| |Sparta was such a unique city, that many contemporary sources failed to understand it. The main | |

| |aspect other city-states (primarily Athens) found so baffling was the responsibility to keep such| |

| |a large population under control by a group of smaller size. This "necessity " turned Sparta | |

| |"into a bleak military camp ," or so says Fine. The majority of Athenian sources were critical | |

| |against Sparta. Aristotle finds that "He (Lycurgos) made it dishonourable to buy or sell landed | |

| |property, doing rightly, but allowed gifts or bequests to all who wished ." Aristotle's main | |

| |comment against Sparta "is that the land was concentrated in the hands of a few great owners, | |

| |mostly women ." This leaves modern historians with a rigid and critical view of a society that | |

| |defied contemporary boundaries and attempted to revolutionize the Peloponneese with their | |

| |provocative yet somewhat affective ideas. | |

| |As Fine finds the necessity of keeping the helots under control a burdensome responsibility to | |

| |the Spartiates, the Lycurgan reform's answer to this burden on society so says Plutarch was | |

| |allowing "Every year the Ephors to formally declare war on the Helots ." | |

| |This did not totally destroy the Helot's enthusiasm to rise up and conquer their Spartiate | |

| |dominators as the Messenian Helots according to A.H.M. Jones "rose to a rebellion after the great| |

| |earthquake of 465, and gave substantial assistance to the Athenian landing party which seizes | |

| |Sphacteria in 425 ." But Jones continues to say that there has been no proof of unrest among | |

| |Laconian Helots; "very few deserted the Spartiates even when the Thebans invaded Laconia in 370 | |

| |." | |

| |Another idea employed by the Lycurgan reform to thin, (and I use the verb figuratively) the Helot| |

| |population was the institution called the Crypteia. A body of young Spartiates who according to | |

| |Plutarch "would spend a period of their life hiding by day and roaming the country side by night | |

| |," in order to kill wandering helots. Therefore although other states found this imbalance of | |

| |Helots to Spartiates being almost in Herodotus' view 7:1 , Sparta had reforms to control this | |

| |imbalance and maintain Spartiate dominance. | |

| |The significant strength Spartan society had over all other states was the discipline of their | |

| |people and the bold determination that was imbued in them from a very young age. After a male | |

| |child had been born a council of elders decided whether the baby was fit to live depending on the| |

| |strength or weakness displayed. Until the child was 7 they would be in the care of their mother. | |

| |Plutarch expresses is best, that the next 6 years' education was aimed at developing obedience, | |

| |"perseverance under stress, and victory in battle ." | |

| |Jones in a sympathetic tone states "the boys lived very hard, slept in dormitories on rushes, | |

| |which they had to cut themselves without knives", "received one garment a year, and very meagre | |

| |rations ." Girls also received similar athletic and musical training to boys, in that both sexes | |

| |held competitions and as in Degas' painting, often they competed against each other. Other Greeks| |

| |were "shocked at girls appearing naked in public," as stated in Xenophon's Respublica | |

| |Lacedaemoniorum. | |

| |This system of discipline expanded itself to allow successful achievers to partake in the | |

| |syssitia (famous dining clubs) and fully nourished the individual to become the most disciplined | |

| |and determined citizen of any city-state. To summarise this strength, "the military ethos and | |

| |Spartan educational system provided a society which no longer needed the artist" (Oswyn Murray.) | |

| |This educational system made Sparta's Spartiates superior says Herodotus, with their "moral | |

| |qualities, their respect for discipline, sense of honour, and spirit of sacrifice ." | |

| |Sparta, in its contemporary time was superior beyond compare. Oily Longhaired, red coated, fierce| |

| |phalanx protecting the honour of their state and sacrificing themselves for Sparta. It was not | |

| |the lack of art or poetry that contributed to the decline of Sparta, simply the somewhat corrupt | |

| |hierarchy of the aristocracy and the isolation of a state that with direct competition could have| |

| |developed so much further than just domestically. With open borders and free tourism ideas that | |

| |would come with these travellers from afar would have evolved Spartan society, to perhaps become | |

| |a better, more self-sufficient state. | |

| |In conclusion, the one thing Sparta will always be admired for is its egalitarian way of life | |

| |that not even Athens' Democracy could rival. This was the defining theme that Sparta had from the| |

| |beginning of the Lycurgan reforms to their defeat at Leuktra. "The free were more free, and the | |

| |slaves more equal then elsewhere ." - Critias | |

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| |Bottom of Form | |

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|BOS Notes 1 |Military elite-A Spartiate was granted a Kleros at birth & raised with strict order & | |

| |discipline-every stage of development was dictated by the state. Boys aged 7-taken from mothers | |

| |to live in barracks. After marriage they still lived in barracks until 30yrs old. Military | |

| |service required until 60yrs old. Spartiate had helots to work on their land & the perioikoi so | |

| |they could dedicate their lives to becoming professional soldiers-military elite. “Fighting | |

| |together they are the best soldiers in the world…conquer or die” Herodotus | |

| | | |

|BOS Notes 2 |The Spartiates (men) – peers, equals homoioi: | |

| |Were the original Dorian conquerors of Laconia – never more than 10,000 | |

| |Privileged social class, holding all political power | |

| |All equal under the law and all subjected to same agoge | |

| |There were rich and poor Spartiates – controversy over whether there was a nobility | |

| |Lived by a higher code of honor – courage, loyalty, endurance, obedience and austerity | |

| |Acquired allotment of public land (Kleros) when born | |

| |Were all full time soldiers owing total obedience to the state | |

| |Forbidden to engage in farming, trade and industry – helot and Periokoi jobs | |

| | | |

|BOS Notes 3 |Spartiates | |

| |Male Spartans who had completed the Agoge by age 30 | |

| |Called themselves Homoioi (peers/equals) | |

| |It is thought that there were never more than 10 000 Spartiates | |

| |Lived by a high code of honour that involved courage, loyalty, endurance and obedience | |

| |Gave total loyalty to the state | |

| |Preferred death in battle to defeat and were punished with loss of citizenship for cowardice | |

| | | |

| |Lived without luxuries | |

| |Survived on a healthy but frugal diet | |

| |Did not live with their wives until the age of 30 | |

| |Aristotle says that the Spartan government gave exemptions from military service and taxation for| |

| |those who produced 3 or 4 sons | |

| | | |

| |They could grow beards, were given a red cloak and could live with their wife | |

| |They could vote in the Ecclesia and be officials for the city | |

| |They had to contribute food from their estate to the communal mess | |

| |The traditional view states that all were banned from taking part in trade, as they were full | |

| |time soldiers. This was to ensure their obedience to their leaders and to defend the state | |

| |against attack. Some believe that this was to ensure that greed and earning money did not consume| |

| |them | |

| |Unless they were of royal houses, all males had to pass all stages of the Agoge and pay their | |

| |contributions to the mess or they were demoted from their status of full citizens | |

| | | |

| |Sources on the Spartiates | |

| |According to Xenophon, if a Spartiate had no hunting dogs, he could borrow them from a more | |

| |prosperous neighbour, just as he could borrow his Helots or his weapons | |

| |We interpret from pottery that Spartans would go horse riding. This is thought to be restricted | |

| |to the wealthy as horse riding would have been expensive | |

| |We know that hunting was a popular past time for Spartiates from examining vases of the late 6th | |

| |Century BC | |

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