Sparta Flash Card #1:
Sparta Flash Card #24: technology: weapons and armour | |
|Historian |Evidence |Relationship to other |
| | |Syllabus dot points |
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| |Sparta – Military and the Culture of War | |
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| |Welch (p.184) briefly outlines how and when Spartans “became the best”. List the significant points made | |
| |here. | |
| |More than any other aspect of culture, Spartans were known for excellence in war. | |
| |Their tactics, esp. in mastery of the hoplite phalanx were legendary by the beginning of the 5th century.| |
| |When the Athenians did overcome them at Sphacteria in 425 BC, they defeated them by using light-armed | |
| |mercenaries to harass them on uneven ground, not as hoplite against hoplite. | |
| |It is hard to know when and how Sparta gained this reputation. | |
| |Part of the answer must lie in the final victory over Messene in the mid 7th century BC. | |
| |Once victorious, Sparta was able to divide the rich Messenian land into extra allotments to be farmed by | |
| |Helots. | |
| |The newly acquired wealth of Messene allowed the privileged class in Sparta to become a full-time army, | |
| |unlike the farmer-soldiers of other | |
| |city-states in Greece. | |
| |This wealth also allowed the state to institute a system of providing equal weaponry of high quality for | |
| |all the members of the phalanx. | |
| |Cartledge uses this institution to explain what he thinks ‘Equals’ really meant in Sparta: the fact all | |
| |Spartans carried the same weapons. | |
| |Pericles in Thucydides’ Funeral Oration overtly criticizes the aspect of Spartan life (men eating | |
| |together and acting under military law at all times), but many admired it. | |
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| |Using HSC Online and the information below, sketch and label a diagram of Spartan army Organisation. | |
| |Organized according to age divisions specified in the agoge. | |
| |Originally 5 divisions called ‘Morai’ drawn from 5 tribal regions or Obai of Sparta. | |
| |Later this was increased to six Morai. | |
| |Sources differ on exactly how many men comprised a Mora (between 500-900). | |
| |The Mora was divided into of basic unit composing of groups of eight men. | |
| |Another group within the Spartan army was composed of Hippies (knights) – picked group of 30 men whose | |
| |main purpose seems to have been to guard the kings (references include: Thucydides V, 72.4 and Herodotus | |
| |VIII, 124.3). (Believed to have been chosen annually on the basis of the age classes). | |
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| |Why did the Spartans lose the battle of Leuctra in 371 BC? | |
| |The Thebans were alarmingly growing their strength in Greece. | |
| |Jason of Thessaly became allies with Thebes. | |
| |Most part of the Spartans was relying on size, battle experience, and a reputation for winning. | |
| |The Spartans were perhaps overconfident by their reputation and so therefore foolish in the | |
| |implementation of their attack. | |
| |Their battle plans evolved into one simple plan – to show up with a large enough forces, to begin | |
| |fighting, and to wait. Inevitably, enemy soldiers lost heart, their lines broke, and they ran. | |
| |The Spartans expected to take casualties at the start of a battle, but early losses were not enough to | |
| |shake the confidence which came from repeated victories. | |
| |The Spartans were believed to have been around 11,000 against 6,000 Thebans. | |
| |Thebes did not rely on the same military tactics as Sparta had come to expect from her other components. | |
| |And therefore the Thebans in this battle followed a different tactic (due to change in society) and | |
| |marched against the Spartans (unchanged military tactics). | |
| |The Spartans at the site of the Theban army got shocked but thought it was just a wishful thinking from | |
| |the Thebans. | |
| |The Thebans had reorganized their whole society and government structure, including changes in the | |
| |military formation of the hoplite phalanx. Conventionally Spartans set at 12 rows deep, the Thebans made | |
| |their lines 50 rows in depths. | |
| |The Thebans were also convinced by their leader that they can defeat the Spartans. | |
| |An immediate tactical problem for the Spartans was the superiority of the Thebans cavalry. Before the | |
| |Spartans could reorganize their attack, the Thebans had driven the Spartan cavalry to its own lines. | |
| |In the moments of confusion of this failure, the Thebans ordered the Sacred Band to advance. At this the | |
| |Spartan officers were confused and didn’t know what to reply. Was this the main attack or just a feint? | |
| |The Spartans were savagely attacked and Spartans were falling numbers as quickly as never seen before. | |
| |The Thebans at this stage could hold their ground till they won the battle. | |
| |The Spartan king and his 300 body guards were wiped out. | |
| |The realization finally came to Spartans that to continue, with the same battle plan, was to risk even | |
| |more of their army. The Spartans felt compelled to ask for a truce to bury their dead. Some 400 Spartans | |
| |and 600 allied soldiers had been killed. | |
| |After the Spartans had asked for truce, they publicly acknowledged a battlefield reversal and sent a | |
| |message to Sparta for extra backup soldiers. | |
| |The Thebans sent for Jason and were in no hurry of finishing Spartans off. | |
| |When there was no sign of any additional backup troops from Sparta and they were faced by two armies, so | |
| |the Spartans asked for a second truce and by Jason persuasion to Thebans, they were allowed to go back to| |
| |Sparta. | |
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| |How can the loss be seen as a reflection on Sparta as a society? | |
| |The Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC saw the Spartans lose their military supremacy – the sort of supremacy | |
| |evidenced at Thermopylae and Plataea. | |
| |The loss at the battle of Leuctra represented through Spartan society by demonstrating how the act of an | |
| |unchanging or stable society can bring to the downfall of its society as a well as its rise. | |
| |Also, the Spartans created all Greeks as their enemies and so therefore they lost all their allies and | |
| |friends. | |
| |In conclusion, we can say that the Spartan society brought her own end by its government system. | |
| |The loss/defeat served as a signal to her enemies that Sparta was weak and her administration was thrown | |
| |out. | |
| |The unchanging and stable society of Spartans imprisoned the Spartans to their own downfall in the end. | |
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| |Notes on Hoplite Warfare – (e.g. their dress, armor, philosophy, bonding, battle | |
| |drill/information/tactics, communications [and its problems] and etc). | |
| |The classical hoplite phalanx (battle formation) was a massed formation made up of ranks or lines | |
| |(usually 8-12 deep) of heavy armed infantry soldiers. | |
| |They held a large round bronze shield (hoplon) on their left arm and a 2.5 metres thrusting spear in | |
| |their right. | |
| |The formation advanced with shields interlocked and pushed together against a similarly armed opponent. | |
| |Whoever could push hardest and most cohesively would break the opponent’s line. | |
| |Their culture of a warrior community also reinforced the spirit of maintaining the line against all | |
| |comers and standing together with totally trusted companions. | |
| |The Spartans relied upon hoplite armies. | |
| |Their shields were made of wood in inside and bronze outside. It weighed 7 kg. | |
| |The classical hoplite wore: a cloth tunic covered by a bronze breastplate; a Distinctive red cape; a | |
| |helmet made of thin bronze, often decorated with a crest of horsehair – though it protected the face, the| |
| |helmet had no ear holes so the hoplite must have been virtually deaf on the battlefield (not hearing | |
| |orders or attacks?); bronze greaves for protection of the lower leg. | |
| |Apart from the hoplon, the hoplite carried a long spear (almost 3 metres) used for thrusting not | |
| |throwing, and an iron sword. | |
| |They bonded with each other with dancing or otherwise known as marching tactics on the battlefield. | |
| |The success of the Spartan army depended largely on the discipline of the troops in the massed hoplite | |
| |formation with the aim of breaking the opponents’ line by developing a group-and-shove technique. | |
| |Another group within the Spartan army was composed of Hippies (knights) – picked group of 30 men whose | |
| |main purpose seems to have been to guard the kings (references include: Thucydides V, 72.4 and Herodotus | |
| |VIII, 124.3). (Believed to have been chosen annually on the basis of the age classes). | |
| |Welch – There were other contingents in the army besides these professional warriors. The Perioikoi | |
| |provided up to half the hoplites at Plataea and there were many units of light-armed Helots. Sparta had | |
| |no cavalry until the 4th century BC. | |
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| |Evidence – Using “Sparta and Culture of War part 2 sheet + the Xenophon handout and Plutarch’ Lives | |
| |(Lycurgus) complete the following: | |
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| |Bury – The Messenian Wars – Section 2. | |
| |Why did Messenia “excite the covetousness” of Sparta? | |
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| |Outline what is known of the First Messenian War c. 736-716 BC. | |
| |What caused the Second Messenian War? (650 BC) | |
| |Explain Tyrtaeus’ role in the war and Sparta’s eventual success. | |
| |What was the result of the war for Messenia? For Sparta? How did the war affect Spartan warfare and | |
| |politics? | |
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| |Bury – Section 3. | |
| |What picture is given of early C7th Sparta? (prior to the 2nd Messenian War). | |
| |As you have seen this war caused a re-organization of Spartan warfare. How was a similar transformation | |
| |seen in Spartan society? | |
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