1. The Spartans: as extreme religious fanatics as warriors
Spartan soldiers, ready for battle.
http :// tinyurl . com / cnyglyj
A statue of Apollo, one of
the main Spartan gods.
http :// tinyurl . com / d552frq

2. Who were these Greek gods?
• Major Greek gods included
Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus.
• All Greeks- Athenians, Spartans, etc.-
worshipped the same gods, but some gods
were more important for certain polises.
• For example, the Spartans especially
worshipped Ares, the god of war and Zeus, the
king of all gods and the sky.

3. Would they sacrifice animals or
people?
• The Spartans often made animal sacrifices.
• They would rarely, but sometimes use people
for their sacrifices.
• Sacrificing people continued through the
classical era, which humanitiesweb.org says is
from around 1750-1820.
Info on this slide comes from Bestia Bortale at widdershins.org

4. The religious festival of Carneia
• Carneia was a religious celebration where
skilled runners ran a marathon.
• This was celebrated in August, and was a wine
festival.
• It could have been dedicated to the success of
the harvest, but later was about military
success.
The info on this slide and the next 2 come from schools.nsw.edu.au

5. Gymnopaedia
• This festival was in the hottest part of the
year, July.
• Art performances and athletics were done at
this festival.
• In this festival, soldiers were initiated.
• This was involved with thanking Apollo for
military success.

6. Hyakinthia
• This is the most important festival, I assume it
was practically Christmas for them.
• This was held at Amycla, I assume that that’s
a city within the polis.
• It originated when Apollo threw a discus at
Hykinthos (the vegetation god), and felt sorry
so he made this holiday.

7. More facts
Religion dominated all aspects of Spartan society.
According to schools.nsw.edu.au:
• All kings were priests, and they, along with other
priests, were the descendents of Hercules. There
was no separation of church and state.
• Even when they were conquered in 146 BC, their
beliefs were fused with Roman gods, like
Poseidon with Neptune and other gods fused
with other gods.

8. Why were the Spartans so religious?
• Even though the Spartans were warlike, they
had a lot of free time. They used
helots, (slaves), for their farming and chores.
• At the same time, they had little use for art or
music. The English word ‘’Spartan’’ means
very simple or strict, with no luxuries.
• The Spartans needed an outlet, meaning a
way to express themselves. For them, religion
and war were their outlets.

9. Archeological evidence
According to The
Spartan Project
online, pottery
showed the
Spartans used their
free time for
religion in addition
to athletics and
hunting.

10. sources
• http://0.tqn.com/d/atheism/1/0/R/R/Sacrifice
-l.jpg
• http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-
cobuild/spartan
• http://spartanproject.wikispaces.com/Daily+Li
fe+and+Leisure
• http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/dictionary/dict/a
sp/dictionarybody.asp?name=dioskouroi