yo dude heres my notes got me a 94% in one of my Spartan exams
Sparta
Herodotus
Ethnography – is the study of groups of people. Herodotus’ stories contain a lot of myths. Cicero called Herodotus the father of history. JB Bury called Thucydides the father of scientific history.
Most important people to learn from Sparta:
- Herodotus
- Thucydides
- Plato
Spartans were very good at propaganda. There is a myth that Spartans never lost a battle. Another myth was that no one ever ran from a battle. Homosexuality was accepted in Spartan society. Although you would still have the duty to have a wife and kids.
Sparta gradually became the most powerful state in the Peloponnese.
The Peloponnesian league or the “lakedaemonians” and their allies were an alliance of independent states formed in the 6th century BC. Sparta defeated one of the Peloponnesian states and then in an attempt to isolate her enemies, made a network of alliances with all the Peloponnesian states except Argos and Achaea. Each of the allied states had one vote, but Sparta was the leader of the league and held the command in war. Sparta had the right to summon the assembly of allies and to preside over it.
When war was agreed on, each state had to furnish soldiers. Decisions were made in the assembly by the majority vote.
Social Structure
When the Greeks first lived in settled conditions their society was based on the following groups:
The tribe: a large group of families claim descent from a common ancestor.
The clan: A smaller group of families who were part of the tribe (like a Scottish clan)
The phratry: (meaning ‘brotherhood’) another smaller group within the clan, sometimes structured according to religious purposes
The household or oikos: the single-family unit.
By the 5th century there were three distinct social classes in Sparta:
- Spartiates (Homoioi: equals, peers)
- Perioikoi (‘dwellers around’, craftsmen)
- Helots (meaning ‘people’, ‘captured’, ‘from the marshes’)-serfs owned by the Spartan state.
The main criteria for belonging to the citizen class of the Spartiats or the exclusive Homoioi were:
- Ownership of a plot of public land (kleros)
- Birth – a full Spartan peer with all the rights of a citizenship had to be able to prove that he was descended from the earliest sons of Herakles or the conquerors.
- Membership in a military mess and the sharing of common meals (syssitia).
Spartiates and property: the kleros
A Spartan could gain an estate either by being granted an allotment from the state or by receiving an inheritance from his father.
2 Kings – Duarchy
The Spartans had two kings rather than one. They were drawn from two royal, the Agaids and Eurypontids. The dual kinship was one of the most ancient of Spartan institutions and survived through out its history- in stark contrast to other city-states in Greece, where monarchies were overthrown early. Sparta’s militarism required that the kings assert strong generalship.
There was no retiring age for kings and they often led the troops and waged war even as elderly men. In early times both kings led the armies to war but at some point there was a problem that resulted in a change of policy. Herodotus v, 75 tells us that in the time it was decided that only one king would go to war, the other remaining in Sparta to control the helots from a revolt.
Ephors
In the Spartan political system, power was divided among the kings, Ephors, and the Gerousia.
There were five Ephors. The five Ephors were magistrates elected annually from amount the Spartiates, exercising control over every aspect of Spartan life. Although the Ephors could not be re-elected, they possessed enormous power. They:
- Were chief administrators and executives of the state.
- Advised the kings and kept a check on royal power.
- Had charge of the training and education system – the agoge.
- Controlled other Spartan magistrates.
- Were responsible for most criminal and civil cases.
- Could arrest and imprison a king
- Could banish foreigners from the state.
The Gerousia
The council of elders, or Gerousia, consisted of twenty-eight members plus the two kings. The Gerousia formed an aristocratic elite, based on age, within a society that was supposedly equal.
The Apella
The Apella (or
Ekklesia) was the assembly attended by those, over the age of thirty, who held full citizenship. They met monthly, probably at the time of the full moon.
The assembly:
- Elected the Ephors, elders of the Gerousia and the other magistrates
- Was responsible for passing measures put before it, such as appointments of military commanders, decisions about peace and war, resolutions for problems regarding kingship, emancipation of helots
- Voted by acclamation (Yelling to share your vote)
- Was presided over by kings and Gerousia and in the 5th century by the Ephors.
