Spartan society. Its History and Downfall

Essay , 2016 , 7 Pages

History - Miscellaneous

This text depicts the Spartan Society and discusses its social classes, military upbringing and its eventual downfall.

Spartan society refers to a community of warriors that lived during primordial Greece. The society was militaristic and is remembered for its military prowess, specifically after conquering the Athens during the Peloponnesian battle. The Spartan way of life revolved around state loyalty as well as serving in the military. The society was divided into social classes, which depended on individual’s status. Unfortunately, the Spartans were eventually conquered by Thebes, resulting in the decline of the empire.

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Outline

1

Introduction ... 3

2

Spartan Society and Social Classes ... 3

2.1

Upbringing ... 3

2.2

Social Classes ... 4

3

Spartan Military ... 4

3.1

War with Persia ... 5

3.2

War with Athens ... 5

4

The Downfall of Spartans ... 6

5

References ... 7

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1 Introduction

Spartan society refers to a community of warriors that lived during primordial Greece.

The society was militaristic and is remembered for its military prowess, specifically after

conquering the Athens during the Peloponnesian battle. The Spartan way of life revolved

around state loyalty as well as serving in the military. As early as seven years, the boys were

enrolled in a thorough military training along with joining a socialization program. The

training was referred to as "Agoge", and the boys were mainly taught about endurance,

serving and discipline. The women did not serve in the military; hence, they had more

freedom than the men. The society was divided into social classes, which depended on

individual's status. Unfortunately, the Spartans were eventually conquered by Thebes,

resulting in the decline of the empire.

2 Spartan Society and Social Classes

2.1

Upbringing

The Spartans brought up their children as a community. The early years of a child's

life were spent with peers. While girls enjoyed freedom, the boys' lives were not totally free.

This is because, from a young age, the boys were taken away from their parent's care and

enrolled into "Agoge" or military training (Garland, 1998). The objective of the training was

to ensure that Spartan Society continued to have a strong military. Also, the education the

boys received emphasized on high levels of discipline, submission and endurance. Unlike

normal education, which concentrates on teaching children how to write and read, Spartans

taught their children how to follow orders and how to fight.

The training would continue up to the age of sixteen. The young adults would graduate

to become a secret police force for their society. They lived in the wild. The education was

finalized once the young adults became twenty years and became liable to take part in military

service. The young men were required to spend all their time in the army barracks, as they had

not yet attained full citizenship (Garland, 1998). However, at the age of thirty they were

awarded full citizenship to become Spartan. At this age, the men could now live with their

families, although they were still expected to spend more time with peers (Garland, 1998).

The girls were also enrolled in a training program, which entailed rigorous physical

education. They were taught how to wrestle, discus and throw javelin. The objective of the

training was to guarantee the girls, once women, would be capable of breeding healthy

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Spartan babies (Garland, 1998). Child rearing was a very significant part of a woman's life in

Spartan community. Women would be given away to other men, following the husbands'

consent, with the objective of enhancing child birth, specifically in cases where the husband

was old or infertile (Garland, 1998).

2.2

Social Classes

The society was separated by three classes. These were the Spartans/Spartiate, helots

and perioeci. The Spartans were individuals who enjoyed full citizenship. They were relatives

of the first residents of the city, and comprised of individuals who had qualified to serve in the

military, and demonstrated high levels of military prowess. The Spartans were the only

members of the community allowed to take part in political affairs. In addition, they could

own land and were not required to pay taxes (Garland, 1998).

The perioeci were the second class of Spartan society. They were allowed to own land

and also enjoyed some freedoms. However, they were required to pay taxes, but were not

treated differently from the first class citizens (Garland, 1998). The perioeci had the freedom

to join training programs, or even serve as military men. However, most of them worked as

traders as well as craftsmen (History, 2016). They controlled trading between Sparta and its

neighbors, and created the weapons used by Spartans in war.

The lowest social class comprised of the helots. When Spartans conquered other cities,

they captured slaves, who became helots (Manfredi & Fedderson, 2007). These slaves were

important to the society, because the Spartan men were not expected to perform any other

duties apart from military work. Hence, the slaves would till land and divide their produce

with their masters. Helots did not have any rights and were simply treated as their master's

property. They made up a large percent of the entire Spartan society, something that instilled

fear in the Spartans. As a result, helots were easily killed and subjugated, a move that was

aimed at ensuring they did not revolt against the society.

3 Spartan Military

The Spartan military is remembered for its prowess in battle. Military men would

serve entirely in the army, and as a result had ample time to train and become the best

soldiers. The ability as well as courageousness of these soldiers continues to inspire many

people, even in this century. For instance, they have been included in movies such as "300"

and the video game "Halo", where soldiers are referred to as Spartans (Jarus, 2013).

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3.1

War with Persia

One of the main battle's resulting in Sparta's recognition as militaristic was its ability

to conquer Messenia, and the conversion of Messenia's subjects to slaves, or helots. Their

prowess also became evident during the war with Persia. Following Persians invasion of

Greek cities, the Greeks sought assistance from Sparta to fight Persians. At first, Sparta was

reluctant to engage in battle with Persia, and only responded by threatening their King.

However, the Persians continued with their pursuit of conquering Greek, a move that angered

Sparta and resulted in Sparta's anti-Persian war.

During this battle, Spartan's military tactics would become evident. For instance, they

would turn "their backs, and making as though they were flying away, on which the

barbarians would rush after them with much noise and shouting, the Spartans at their

approach would wheel round and face their pursuers, in this way destroying vast numbers of

the enemy" (Jarus, 2013). The tactic ensured that even when Spartans were outnumbered by

their enemies, they still managed to kill large numbers of their adversaries, in the process

weakening the Persian army.

Following the victory over Persia, Greeks were able to resume back to their cities. At

the same time, Sparta rose into power becoming one of the most authoritative city states,

together with Athens. By now, Sparta had managed to conquer many helots, capable of

forming a revolt. When the city was hit by an earthquake in 465/464 B.C., the helots used the

opportunity to rebel (Jarus, 2013). As a result, Sparta was compelled to seek aid from its allies

in controlling the revolt. But when Athens responded to their need for help, Sparta rejected

their assistance, a move that angered Athenians, and later escalated into the Peloponnesian

war.

3.2

War with Athens

The war commenced in 457 B.C. and lasted for a period of 50 years. At some point,

Athens appeared to have conquered Sparta, specifically in 425 B.C. at Sphacteria, where

hundreds of Spartans surrendered (Jarus, 2013). However, in 430 B.C., Sparta attacked

Athenians managing to block them. "The Athenians, who were packed behind their city walls

during a Spartan attack, suffered a plague that killed many people including their leader,

Pericles" (Jarus, 2013). Eventually, the disagreement between both cities escalated into sea,

compelling Sparta to seek monetary assistance from Persia.

With financial help from Persia, Sparta was able to strengthen its army. The city used

the money to build a navy as well as train sailors, under the leadership of King Lysander. The

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king also planned surprise attacks into Athens. This was another military prowess of the

Spartans, whereby they had learnt how to attack their enemies when they least expected.

Through these attacks, the Spartans managed to attack Athenians by surprise and

overpowered their soldiers. The Athenians were compelled to surrender, resulting in Sparta's

victory.

4 The Downfall of Spartans

Despite the military capability exhibited by Sparta, the society was eventually

defeated in war by the Thebans (History, 2016). After conquering the Athenians, Sparta

differed with the Persians, which meant that they did not have allies to back them up in war.

As a result, when the Spartans went into war with the Thebans they were defeated. Also, the

large number of helots they had captured from Messenia became liberated in 418 B.C. This

meant that the society no longer had slaves to work for them as they continued to improve

their military skills. Also, some of the helots had been recruited to serve in the army, but

following their liberation the army declined in size. The military became weakened and

Spartan society continued to exist as a second-rate power.

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5 References

Garland, R. (1998).

Daily life of the ancient Greeks. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.

History. (2016). Sparta. Retrieved from: http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/sparta

Jarus, O. (2013). History of Ancient Sparta. Live Science. Retrieved from:

http://www.livescience.com/32035-sparta.html

Manfredi, V. M & Fedderson, M. C. (2007). Spartan: A Novel. New York: Simon and

Schuster.

• Author: Selina Kolls (Author)
• Publication Year: 2016
• Pages: 7
• Catalog Number: V339000
• ISBN (eBook): 9783668287891
• Language: English
• Tags: Sparta, Spartan society, primordial Greece