“Here is courage, mankind's finest possession, here is the noblest prize that a young man can endeavor to win.” -Tytaerus, a Spartan poet.
In present Greece sits a place known as Sparti. It is all agriculture towns well known for their olives and citrus processing. Beautiful tree lined boulevards and ancient ruins set the attraction for this beautiful country. Ages back, this country was famous for something quite opposite than the peaceful orchards. These people definitely did not care about olives and citrus.
Centuries ago Sparti was known as Sparta, and the people made their country into a legend. Spartans were known for one thing and one thing only, war. They had the best warriors around and fought battles that base movies made today! How could a country become so dedicated to war? Spartans ate, slept, and lived war. Their way of life was strict and harsh. Their ruthlessness did not hesitate for anyone, not even their own babies. Everything and everyone had to be perfect and fit for war. How could humans, with need to love and have morality, become possessed with a war craze?
Let us start at the beginning. The Greek are big on mythology. Their whole history is based on their gods. They had a “god of the gods” known as Zeus. He was the most powerful of all the gods; everyone feared him and whatever offspring he bore. He allegedly had an affair with a human who bore him a son known as Hercules. Hercules was known to have the power of strength. He was powerful and could win just about every battle he fought. He was the direct descendant of the mighty Zeus himself.
Now Sparta is Greek nation, so they too believed their origin was from one of these gods. Naturally a country, who based their whole life on war, would pick Hercul...
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...464 BCE, Sparta experienced an Earthquake. It left Sparta in despair. It was at this time that the helots chose to revolt. It was an equal match. The helots were able to hold the Spartans off Mount Ithome. Even at their weakest time, the Spartans were able to fight back. The war ended in a truce. The helots’ revolts were a serious matter. So much so that Sparta eagerly signed peace treaties with its enemies to deal with the internal conflict.
In conclusion, the Spartans became obsessed with warfare because they were surrounded by it. Also they wanted to protect themselves from the helots that outnumbered them. The people of Sparta was strong and healthy. Sparta was their home and they gave their life for it. Their harsh lifestyle led to a strong country, a united people, and a powerful army. But like many other great civilization, Ancient Sparta came to an end.
Tyrtaeus poetry was designed to inspire the warriors as they went to fight for their beloved country. This work was a testament to the glory that awaited all either in life or death when they fought valiantly through the battles. He could be compared to the modern day motivational speaker. The goal was to get the guys rallied up and ready to defend their heritage. Based on the text, there is an understanding that ancient Sparta valued the heroic qualities of war. To be killed in battle was an honor. “His shining glory is never forgotten” claimed Tyrtaeus. To come home valiantly meant that all would behol...
Spartan Women prove the old saying, behind every great man is a great women, to be true. Everyone has heard of the Spartan warrior men and their courageous battles. What about the women that stood behind those men, the ones who birthed those men, married those men? Spartan women helped to shape, protect, and form the society that they lived in.
Hellenic culture in the Spartan community was that of a humble elite. True Spartan culture is well captured in Xenophon’s work, Spartan Society, as he wrote of how this elitist society viewed not only themselves, but the other countries around them. This work shines light into the three-part worldview of the ancient, Hellenic Spartans of: humanism, idealism, and rationalism. As Xenophon begins to write over the whole of the Spartan society it can be seen how the Spartans lived out the worldview of this Hellenistic society. This living out of the worldview recorded in Xenophon’s, Spartan Society, illustrates their worldview through the noting of Lycurgus’ accomplishments and the contrast of the “other.”
Religious and Funerary Practices were thought of as extremely important by the citizens of the city-state of Sparta, in fact, their beliefs reached such an extreme that the other city-states mocked the Spartans. The three principal sub-elements that affected religious and funerary practices in Sparta are, the Gods/Goddesses worshipped, the festivals celebrated and solemnized, and the myths and legends passed through the generations.
Spartan culture is a great example of how a society’s infrastructure will directly affect both, its social structure and superstructure. It also serves as a warning that any society that becomes too rigid in its structure and too static in its values will not last long when confronted with more agile and adaptable cultures. This paper will explore why Sparta became the Hellenic army par excellence, how this worked to create a very specific social structure founded on martial values, and, finally, how that social structure would ultimately be the undoing of the culture.
Sparta was a key city state which was located on the Peloponnesian Peninsula in southern Greek, which today is referred to as Laconia. Sparta is historically known for their strong military training, warfare tactics, and numerous victories. This city state included full citizens known as the Spartans, the helots, and the Perioeci. The men of Sparta had a main obligation to become strong warriors, fight with their brothers, and protect against any invasions or attacks. The helots where owned by city state of Sparta. They came from Messenia and were forced into slavery after being invaded by the Spartans in c.735. The helot’s responsibilities included farming, being of help if needed during battles, used as nurses, and for any other task that need to be accomplished. Unlike many traditional slaves, the Messenia’s were given certain leeway. They had
In the Ancient Greek polis of Sparta, the entire culture was built around war. The Character of a Man was based on how his performance and bravery in battle, and many Spartan laws were put in place to better educate, toughen, and train the Spartans for war. Young Spartans were only fed enough to survive with terrible food that was only eaten out of necessity, not out of desire to have the enjoyment of eating. “Those who underwent this training would be better able to continue working on an empty stomach” (Xen. Lac. Pol. 2.5) This reform helped create...
Sparta was a strict military city-state. The people were Dorians who conquered Laconia. This region lies in the Peloponnesus, which lied in southern Greece. The invaders turned the conquered people into state owned slaves, called helots. Since the helots greatly outnumbered their rulers, Spartans established a strict and brutal system of control. The Spartan government had two kings and a council of elders who advised the monarchs. An assembly made up of all citizens approved all major decisions. From child-hood, a Spartan prepared to be part of the military. All newborn were examined and the healthy lived and the sickly were left to die. Spartans wanted future soldiers or mothers of soldiers to be healthy. At the age of seven, boys trained for a lifetime in the Spartan military. They moved to the barracks and endured brutal and extensive training.
When examining the causes for the Peloponnesian War, which was between 431-404 B.C., there are a number of causes that factored into the cause of this war. However, one of the most important causes to this war was largely due to the fact that the Spartans feared the growing power and success of Athens. The Spartans were “particularly alarmed at the growing power of Athens” (Cartwright, “Peloponnesian War”). During the Persian war in 479 BC, Athens grew fiercely strong with power with help of its many allies and continued with their no mercy attacks on Persian territories. When the Persians left Greece, Athens further enraged Sparta when they built large and tall walls around its empire in the event of an attack, which was mostly thought to be from Sparta if it happened.
The life of a Spartan male was a life of discipline, self-denial, and simplicity as the Spartans viewed themselves as the true inheritors of the Greek tradition. This key to understanding the Spartans. The ideology of Sparta was oriented around the state as the individual lived (and died) for the state. Their lives were designed to serve the state from their beginning to the age of sixty. The combination of this ideology, the education of Spartan males, and the disciplined maintenance of a standing army gave the Spartans the stability that had been threatened so dramatically in the Messenean revolt.
Dating back to 449 B.C., Sparta and Athens always had an alliance, but as time grew that balance slowly began to fall as one felt threatened by another. Before any sight of unsteadiness the Spartans and Athenians had a bound partnership. Beginning after their domination of the Persian war, the two states slowly became aware of one another’s growing power. More time went by, and the Spartans began to grow conscious of the other states, feeling wary and paranoid around them (Fox, 170). No state was particularly to blame for the strain on their peace treaty, nor for the war, it came as the two states developed. Eventually the two states had clashed enough and declared war. Although the Spartans gave the Athenians a chance to back down and temporarily stall war, the two states would never be equal, their allies resented one another far too much. The growing urge for power was bound to take over sooner or later. Finally, after 7 years of uneasy tension, Sparta could wait no longer and declared war against Athens (Fox, 167). Although the Athenians and Spartans lived together in peace for so long, they existed in a fragile balance that was bound to eventually lead to war.
Farris, Dale. "Shutt, Timothy B.: A History of Ancient Sparta." Library Journal 15 May 2009: 45.
Reason, moderation, balance, harmony: the key ingredients to a Greek society . Greeks were known for upholding strict social virtues and values. As many people can assume from mythology, the Greeks were very invested in religion, having polytheistic roots. From these roots the Greeks seemed to adapt to other religions very well and were much more open-minded than other civilizations. Despite being open-minded regarding religion, the culture was quite restricted when it came to war. From a young age, men were expected to begin preparation for the war. If a husband or son returned from war with a loss, the family would often weep in disappointment. Men’s entire purpose was to be glorious, men dominated the Ancient Greek society. Of course being brought up with these values, men loved war and loved fighting. Conflict eventually arose between the two main cities of Greece known as Athens and Sparta, during the Peloponnesian Wars. Greek writer, Aristophanes, had a very strong critique regarding the war . Through
Because of the tranquil times, the civilization’s society had more time to focus on writing, math, astronomy, and artistic fields, as well as trade and metallurgy. Out of all the city-states of Greece, two excelled over all the rest, Sparta and Athens. Even though they were the most advanced and strong civilizations, they were bitter enemies. While Athens focused mainly on the people’s democracy and citizen rights, Sparta were ferocious and enslaved its original inhabitants, making them unable to leave and kept under a close eye to prevent insurgence (History of Greece:The Golden Age of Greece). Additionally, Sparta had strict and trained soldiers that underwent intense physical exercising and instruction.
It would be a misconception to believe that education was the same all over ancient Greece. Although most Greek cities had an education system that was somewhat similar there were a few that did not. The two cities that had the most extreme differences in education systems would be Athens and Sparta. Although Athens did not force mandatory schooling and the education of children in the same way that Sparta forced military training, the state still took some interest in the prevailing educational conditions. Without offering state run schools they still provided elementary, musical, and physical instruction which Sparta did not. Considering this, the Athenians had a more diverse and overall better education than the Spartans.