Sparta: Why the May Fly Only Lives for One Day

Sparta; Why the May Fly Only Lives for One Day

Greece, a land of culture and philosophy, separated at its birth into two classes; Athens awoke to the cultural, intellectual side of life while its brother Sparta focused on mainly building up military power. Sparta was the brawn of Greece, while Athens was the brain. In an analogy, it would be comparing Rich Nastro (The Brawn, not to say that he has no brain, but he is the most muscle-built teacher at Saint Paul’s, and I needed an example that you, the teacher could relate with, and I know you could relate to yourself,) to Jim Buckler (The Brain, and even though he may know how to build nuclear weapons, he is not war-like enough to use them. In addition, he is not grading this, so I do not have to explain myself to him.) Sparta was located on the southern tip of the Peloponessus, and had little trade with other city-states. It also never set up any colonies, so financial wealth came from conquering other city-states. (Farah 115)

Sparta focused so much on the military, they forgot about other important aspects of daily life, such as flossing, developing an artistic community, or creating a stable government. Poorly managed priorities in Sparta were prevalent and would have caused economic recession if they had not pillaged neighboring countries and city-states. However, Sparta was cruel to the people they conquered, and forced their victims into slavery, a.k.a. Helots. The Helots had to farm the land and honor the Spartans even though, much like the American south during slavery, the Helots outnumbered the Spartans. Despite slaves outnumbering the Spartans, the military ruled with absolute power, and crushed every rebellion the Helots attempted. The rebellion, attempted by the Helots, lasted for thirty years before the Spartans crushed it, and even with the Helots’ superior numbers (200,000 Helots to 10,000 Spartans), they still did not manage to overthrow the Spartan military because Sparta had developed the Phalanx. (Farah 115)

Despite its initial success, the Phalanx was the ultimate boiling pot for the lobster of Sparta. The Iron Age came about when Sparta was establishing itself, iron weapons and armor were cheaper to produce than their predecessor of bronze, so weapons became readily available for any one who wanted one (just like now!) This meant that everybody and their brother was buying weapons and armor to arm themselves’ to become part of the Phalanx legions that were the pride and joy of Sparta.