Daily Life in Ancient Sparta

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Daily Life in Ancient Sparta

Sparta, also called Lacedaemon, was a city in ancient Greece, and one of the most famous ancient Greek cities of the Peloponnesus. Found in the hills of Mount Taygetus many would consider was a brutal group of militaristic people. Although, this to some extent may be true most of the written information was derived from the ancient city-state of Athens, who were great enemies of the Spartan society.

After the Messenian war the Spartan people moved into the Taygetus mountains and there they would set up what would eventually become the military government of Sparta. Almost defeated, but maintaining the control of the territory the Spartans invented a new political system by turning their state into a military state. By making this dramatic change it in essence changed the everyday living styles of each individual living in the Spartan society.

There were three classes of people in Sparta. Spartan citizens or Spartiate, or Native Spartan, who could trace is ancestry back to the original inhabitants of the city. Who lived in the city-state itself and, who alone had full political and legal rights and also having a voice in government, devoted their entire time to the military training.

The peroikoi, or "dwellers-round," who lived in the surrounding village, were free but had no political rights. These were foreign people who served as a kind of buffer population between the Spartans and the helots. They were tradesmen and mechanics because occupations of the Spartans were forbidden. Because of their vital function in society, they were allotted a great deal of freedom. Most of the trade and commerce carried out in Sparta were preformed by the Perioeci.

At the bottom was the low...

... middle of paper ...

...tions that the Spartan government imposed upon its society eventually became its greatest downfall.

Bibliography:

References

1. Hamilton, Charles, Sparta's Bitter Victory, Cornwell Univ Press, 1979

2. Humfrey, Mitchell, Sparta, Cambridge Univ Press. 1952

3. Jones, A.H.M, Sparta, Harvard Univ. Press. 1967: 56-58

4. McClees, Helen, The Daily Life of the Greeks and Romans, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1933

5. Powell, Anton, Classical Sparta, Univ of OK Press. 1989: 110-112

6. Quennell, Marjorie and CHB, Ancient Greece, London and Norwich Publ., 1962

7. Vernant, Jean-Pierre, Myths and Society of Ancient Greece, Humanities Press, NY 1974

8. Http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/Sparta-c.html

9. Http://home.freeuk.net/elloughton13/greece.htm

10. Http://historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/index.htm

11. Http://members.aol.com/Donnclass/Greeklife.html

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