2. 8th Century: Spartans conquer surrounding
lands, enslave the people they conquer
(helots)
Spartan state weakened
Following other military conflicts, by 650, it
was decided to develop into a ‘city like no
other’ in order to ensure stability
EARLY BACKGROUND
3. "The women did not bathe the babies with water, but
with wine, making it a sort of test of their strength.
For they say that the epileptic and sickly ones lose
control and go into convulsions, but the healthy
ones are rather toughened like steel and
strengthened in their physique. The nurses
displayed care and skill: they did not use swaddling-
bands, making the babies free in their limbs and
bodies. They also made them sensible and not fussy
about their food, not afraid of the dark or
frightened of being left alone, not inclined to
unpleasant awkwardness or whining. So even some
foreigners acquired Spartan nurses for their
children."
ACCORDING TO PLUTARCH…
4. "They learned reading and writing for basic needs, but all the
rest of their education was to make them well-disciplined
and steadfast in hardship and victorious in battle. For this
reason, as boys grew older, the Spartans intensified their
training, cutting their hair short and making them used to
walking barefoot and for the most part playing naked. When
the boys reached the age of twelve, they no longer had
tunics to wear, but got one cloak a year. Their bodies were
tough and unused to baths and lotions. They enjoyed such
luxury only a few special days a year. They slept, in packs,
on beds which they got together on their own, made from the
tops of the rushes to be found by the river Eurotas. These
they broke off with their bare hands, not using knives."
(Plutarch)
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM: AGOGE
5. Age 7: under control of the state
Educated in ‘packs’, led by a paidonomos
Age 20: eirene
Expected to marry
Training more severe and military in nature
Krypteia: period of hiding
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM: AGOGUE
6. This is as follows: The magistrates from time to time
sent out into the countryside at large the most
discreet of the young men, equipped only with
daggers and necessary supplies. During the day
they scattered into obscure and out of the way
places, where they hid themselves and lay quiet.
But in the night, they came down to the roads and
killed every Helot whom they caught.
Often, too, they actually made their way across
fields where the Helots were working and killed the
sturdiest and best of them (Plutarch)
KRYPTEIA
7. "Their training continued right into manhood, for nobody was
free to live as he wished, but the city was like a military
camp, and they had a set way of life and routine in the
public service. They were fully convinced that they were the
property not of themselves but of the state. If they had no
other duty assigned to them, they used to watch the
boys, either teaching them something useful, or learning
themselves from seniors. For indeed one of the fine and
enviable things which Lykourgos achieved for his citizens
was a great deal of leisure. He forbade them to practise any
manual trade at all. There was no need for the troublesome
business and efforts of making money, since wealth had
become completely without envy and prestige. The helots
worked their land for them, supplying the fixed amount of
produce." (Plutarch)
ADULT LIFE
8. Membership of syssition
"The commander should outclass his troops not
in fastidiousness and high living, but in
stamina and courage"
Agesilaus (Eurypontid king of Sparta, 400-360
B.C.)
ADULT LIFE
9. Age 30: granted citizenship
Expected to be married
Age 60: retired
Became a military advisor
Eligible for election to Gerousia
ADULT LIFE
11. ‘the aim of Spartan legislation is directed to a
single aspect of virtue – the Military virtue
which is a source of power. So long as the
Spartans were at war they continued to
flourish; but as soon as they had won an
empire they collapsed, for they knew not how
to employ their leisure, having never engaged
in any engagement higher than war’ (Aristotle)
GOVERNMENT
12. Two Kings
Commanded the army
Religious duties
Gerousia (council of elders)
Over 60 only
court of justice
Could veto Assembly
GOVERNMENT
13. Five ephors
Morals and discipline
Education of youth
Dealt with foreign ambassadors
Had power over all citizens, including kings
Held for one year, once in a lifetime
Elected (any citizen over 30)
Assembly
Met monthly
Voted on issues
Decisions could be overridden by Gerousia
GOVERNMENT
14. "In times of battles the officers relaxed the harshest aspects of
their discipline and did not stop the men from beautifying their
hair and their armour and their clothing, glad to see them like
horses prancing and neighing before races. For this reason they
took care over their hair from the time when they were
youths, especially seeing to it in times of trouble so that it
appeared sleek and well-combed, remembering a saying of
Lykourgos about the care of hair, that it makes the handsome
better-looking and the ugly more frightening. They also had less
rigorous exercises, and they allowed the young men a regime in
other respects less restricted and supervised, so that for them
alone war was a rest from the preparation for war... It was an
impressive and frightening sight to see them advancing in time to
the flute and leaving no space in the battle line, with no
nervousness in their minds, but calmly and cheerful. For men in
this frame of mind are unlikely to suffer from fear or excessive
excitement, but rather to be steady in their purpose and confident
and brave as if their god were there with them. The king, when he
marched against the enemy, always had with him someone who
had been crowned victor in the Olympic Games"
IN BATTLE
