‘The Spartans preserved little about the man Lycurgus beyond what is questionable or even incredible’-J.T. Hooker
For his efforts were to persuade the citizens, not to take off their breast-plates and lay aside their swords, but to cast away gold and silver, and abandon costly couches and tables; not to cease from wars and hold festivals and sacrifices, but to give up feasting and drinking and practise laboriously as soldiers and athletes.
"In Lacedaimon [Sparta] are to be found those who are most enslaved and those who are the most free." -Critias of Athens
PERIOKOI
Dwellers around - the non-Spartan inhabitants of villages of Laconia & Messenia. They lived in self-governing communities however they were subject to Spartan magistrates for major crimes. As industry essentially did not exist among Spartan citizens, perioikoi became the main craftspeople, tradesmen & manufacturers for the Spartans. They could take part in Spartan religious festivals & were expected to be a part of military efforts if needed. They served in the Spartan army as heavy infantry, forming perhaps as much as half of the army. |
HYPERMEIONES
Inferiors - Failure to meet the expectations of citizenship resulted in being stripped of citizenship and made into inferiors. Some of the causes of being stripped of citizenship included not contributing to the common Syssitia/ mess and cowardice in battle. There were a number of types of inferiors including:
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HELOTS
Slaves - developed after the Second Messenian war 600BCE. The Spartan captured & enslaved the Messenian peoples from the neighbouring towns. They were more serfs than slaves as they were attached to the land. About 70% of the populations of Laconia were helots. They had no political rights, were assigned to individual Spartiate masters but were unable to be bought or sold. They were responsible for working the land for the Homoioi and lived with their families on the land. They provided all resources and food for the Spartans. |
'Just like donkeys oppressed with great burdens,
Bringing to their masters of grievous necessity
Half of all the produce their land bears.'
- Spartan Poet Tyrtaeus, 7th Century BCE
‘Some, indeed, say that the best constitution is a combination of all existing forms, and they praise the Lacedaemonian because it is made up of oligarchy, monarchy, and democracy, the king forming the monarchy, and the council of elders the oligarchy while the democratic element is represented by the Ephors’ -Aristotle
2 Kings
The state was ruled by two Spartan kings who came from the Agiad and Eurypontid families who both supposedly descendants of Heracles and equal in authority, so that one could not act against the veto of his colleague. The duties of the kings were primarily religious, judicial, and militaristic. They were the chief priests of the state and also maintained communication with the Delphian sanctuary, which always exercised great authority in Spartan politics. Aristotle describes the kingship at Sparta as "a kind of unlimited and perpetual generalship" while Isocrates refers to the Spartans as "subject to an oligarchy at home, to a kingship on campaign" |
Gerousia
The Gerousia was the Spartan senate and a product of Lycurgus' reforms. 30 members in total, 28 elders and the two kings. Members had to be over the age of 60 and were elected for life. The Gerousia prepared motions or rhetrai for the wider citizen assembly, the Apella, to vote on. It had the power of veto motions passed by the Apella and was consulted by the ephors in matters of interpretation of the law. it also acted as Supreme Court and had the power to condemn, fine, or banish, even the ability to try the kings. It was the supreme institution in the Spartan constitution, and could override any decision by any other organ in the Spartan political system. |
Ephors
The Ephors were elected by the popular assembly, and all citizens were eligible for election but forbidden to be re-elected. They provided a balance for the two kings, who rarely cooperated with each other. The ephors presided over meetings of the Gerousia and were in charge of civil trials, taxation, the calendar, foreign policy, and military training for young men. The year was named after one of them. Two ephors accompanied the army in battle, and they could arrest and imprison the kings. The ephors were also considered to be personally at war with the helots, so that they could imprison or execute any of them for any reason at any time. |
‘The Lacedaemonian constitution is defective in another point; I mean the Ephoralty. This magistracy has authority in the highest matters, but the Ephors are chosen from the whole people, and so the office is apt to fall into the hands of very poor men, who, being badly off, are open to bribes.’
- Aristotle
‘Again, the council of elders is not free from defects. It may be said that the elders are good men and well trained in manly virtue; and that; therefore, there is an advantage to the state in having them. But that judges of important causes should hold office for life is a disputable thing, for the mind grows old as well as the body.
-Aristotle
“The distinctiveness of the Spartan way of life was fundamentally a reaction to their living in the midst of people whom they had conquered in war and enslaved to exploit economically but who outnumbered them greatly. To maintain their superiority over their conquered Laconian neighbours, from whom they derived their subsistence, Spartan men had to turn themselves into a society of soldiers constantly on guard. They accomplished this transformation by a radical restructuring of traditional family life enforced by strict adherence to the laws and customs governing practically all aspects of behaviour. Through constant, daily reinforcement of their strict code of values, the Spartans ensured their survival against the enemies they had created by subjugating their neighbours.”- Thomas R. Martin, Ancient Greece
‘From the moment of his birth to the day he was too old to be of any further active use in the field, the Spartan was subject to discipline' -H Mitchell, Sparta Cambridge university press (London, 1964) p 165
"They learned to read and write for purely practical reasons; but all other forms of education they banned from the country, books and treatises being included in this quite as much as men. All their education was directed toward prompt obedience to authority, stout endurance of hardship, and victory or death in battle." - Plutarch
"each man in the company took a little ball of soft bread, which they were to throw into a deep basin, which a waiter carried round upon his head; those that liked the person to be chosen dropped their ball into the basin without altering its figure, and those who disliked him pressed it between their fingers, and made it flat; and this signified as much as a negative voice. And if there were but one of these pieces in the basin, the suitor was rejected, so desirous were they that all the members of the company should be agreeable to each other. The basin was called caddichus, and the rejected candidate had a name thence derived". - Plutarch in his Life of Lycurgus (ch 12)
"Why are you Spartan women the only ones who can rule men?"
"Because we are also the only ones who give birth to men."
-Gorgo, wife of Leonidas, Plutarch, Lycurgus
Outline their various roles:
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Describe their status:
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‘In Lycurgus view slave women could produce clothing quite adequately, whereas in his opinion the production of children was the most important duty of free women. So in the first place he required the female sex to take physical exercise just as much as males, next he arranged for women also, just like men, to have contests of speed and strength, in the belief that when both parents are strong their children will be born sturdier.’
Plutarch: Lives of Lycurgus
‘Within Spartan society women played a role that was completely secondary to men. They did not enjoy citizenship. They could not participate in the assembly, hold political office or administrative roles or serve in the military. There was no conspicuous role for female members of the royal families. There appears to have been no special public role for a Spartan queen and the throne could not be inherited by a woman. A woman’s place was in the oikos (home) her most important role was to bear children. The social life of women was also severely restricted by tradition and custom. They were subject to the authority of first their father and then their husband who was the kyrios (lord). Whatever social standing they enjoyed came mainly from their association with their father, husband or now grown up son. One area where women in Sparta were particularly visible was at religious festivals. There women had a defined public role, singing and dancing in choruses. The cult of Artemis Orthia the protectress of women in childbirth was entrusted to a priestess of the goddess.’
Appropriated from - Brian Brennan Spartan Society: Interpreting the Evidence (Sydney, 2007) Ancient History Seminars pg 56
‘For our excess of purple garments is not what protects us, nor the intricate snake shaped bangle all of solid gold, nor the Lydian headband the ornament of soft-eyed girls, nor Nanno’s hair, nor the divine Areta, nor Thualakis, nor Klesithera.’
- Alkman, Partheneia (maiden songs) 7th century Spartan poet
‘No Spartan girl, Could grow up modest, even if she wanted to…they go out, With bare thighs and loose clothes, to wrestle and run races, Along with the young men.I call it intolerable’.
-Euripides. Andromache