what was sparta's focus as a city state

The Spartans would continue to exist, although as a second-rate power in a long period of decline. Just how these different political elements interacted is not known for certain but clearly a degree of consensus was necessary for the state apparatus to function. It made them tougher/stronger, more able to sustain the weight of a heavy basically wooden shield in the summer sun, better at pushing and shoving, better at stamina, Cartledge says. Oligarchy - Sparta always had two kings, the state was ruled by two hereditary kings of the Agiad and Eurypontid . If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media. Thucydides survived an attack of the plague and left a vivid account of its impact on Athenian morale. Aided by a force of Spartans, Syracuse was able to break an Athenian blockade. They had no need to learn to sew or weave because the menial jobs in Sparta were taken care of by the helots. Healthy daughters were also a priority, however, as they would eventually be expected to produce children of their own. Which battle established Sparta as the most powerful state in Greece? The word means "raising" in the sense of raising livestock from youth toward a specific purpose. Both city-states educated their citizens in order to become productive members of society. This regional instability brought about the Peloponnesian League (c. 505 to 365 BCE) which was a grouping of Corinth, Elis, Tegea, and other states (but never Argos), where each member swore to have the same enemies and allies as Sparta. Sparta was a city in Greece in which the form of the kingdom in the form of joint authority was preserved. As Donald G. Kyle notes in his book Sport and Spectacle in the Ancient World, Spartan youth had to present themselves for regular inspections in the nude, and boys who didnt look sufficiently fit were flogged. Although an Athenian, Xenophon was a friend of Sparta and, in fact, served the state as a mercenary. Please note that some of these recommendations are listed under our old name, Ancient History Encyclopedia. When you reach out to him or her, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. Reduced by constant wars in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, the Spartan hoplites (homoioi) became dangerously small in number (8,000 in 490 BCE to 700 in 371 BCE), so much so, that non-Spartiate soldiers had to be enlisted and their loyalty and interest in Sparta's ambitions was questionable. Sign up for our free weekly email newsletter! They attacked the Sicilian city Syracuse and campaigned in western Greece and the Peloponnese itself. Sparta and Athens, the chief city-states, differed profoundly in their culture and politics. World History Encyclopedia. In Greek mythology the founder of the ancient city was Lacedaemon, a son of Zeus, who gave his name to the region and his wife's name to the city. Special interests include art, architecture, and discovering the ideas that all civilizations share. Plutarch writes: The training of the Spartans lasted into the years of full maturity. With your support millions of people learn about history entirely for free, every month. It was the ancient capital of the Laconia district of the southeastern Peloponnese, Greece. However, the treaty only lasted six. These were the landed aristocracy, and following reforms credited to Lycurgus in the 6th century BCE (or even earlier), citizens could not indulge in agricultural activities - this was the lot of the helots - but they had to devote themselves to athletic and military training and politics. Sparta was located in the fertile Eurotas valley of Laconia in the southeast Peloponnese. Sarah Appleton, National Geographic Society. One factor was the agoge, the Greek city-states educational and training system, which used harsh, extreme and sometimes cruel methods to prepare boys to be Spartan citizens and soldiers. Additionally, they were typically unencumbered by domestic responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning and making clothing, tasks which were handled by the Helots. Spartas single-minded dedication to rule by a militarized oligarchy precluded any hope of a political unification of Classical Greece, but it performed a great service in 480 bce by its heroic stand at Thermopylae and its subsequent leadership in the Greco-Persian wars. Cite This Work If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. The Spartan army showed the rest of Greece the way forward towards a greater military professionalism. And even this story gains credence from what their youths now endure, many of whom I have seen expiring under the lash at the altar of Artemis Orthia. At the end of 411 the rebuilt Athenian navy, fresh from several victories, acted to restore democratic rule. In the late 8th century BCE, Sparta subjugated most of neighbouring Messenia and its population was made to serve Spartan interests. Help our mission to provide free history education to the world! Ancient Sparta is one of the most well-known cities in Classical Greece. The Spartan political system was unusual in that it had two hereditary kings from two separate families. Sparta focused on producing good . Cartwright, Mark. Sparta- The Great City-State. For clothing, they were given just one cloak to wear year-round, to make them learn to endure heat and cold, and made their own beds from plants that they had to rip out of the ground with their bare hands from river banks. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. This hilltop not only housed the famous Parthenon, but it also included temples, theaters, and other public buildings that enhanced Athenian culture. The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta: The Persian Challenge, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. The area was first settled in the Neolithic period and an important settlement developed in the Bronze Age. The war featured two periods of combat separated by a six-year truce.. Athens and Sparta had previously quarreled in the . You cannot download interactives. Developing a strong and efficient military. "Sparta." In 371 B.C., Sparta suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Thebans at the Battle of Leuctra. Books Its real focus was to prepare Spartan males to be compliant members of society, who were ready to sacrifice their all for Sparta. At the age of maturity one needed to be elected to a certain mess also known as a "common tent" (a, Wikipedia User: Putinovac (Public Domain). Under Roman control Sparta was permitted to leave the confederacy in 147 BCE which prompted the Achaean War. The agoge was the ancient Spartan education program, which trained male youths in the art of war. Although Spartan women were not active in the military, they were educated and enjoyed more status and freedom than other Greek women. Spartan boys entered a rigorous state-sponsored education, military training and socialization program. You may have read on the web that Sparta had two kings. This body consisted of 28 over-60 years of age males who held the position for life. Spartan initiatives during the plague years were all unsuccessful except for the capture of the strategic city Plataea in 427. Eventually it produced a sort of conceptual lock when Spartans could not imagine any other kind of life, Reiter explains. The agoge was at its height during the Classical Period (5th-4th centuries BCE) and was praised as the ideal form of education by the philosophers Plato (l. 428/427-348/347 BCE) and Aristotle (l. 384-322 BCE) as well as the writer Xenophon (l. 430 - c. 354 BCE). They would not intervene while the punishment was inflicted, but afterwards they would judge whether it was excessive or too lenient. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. The Spartans: The World of the Warrior-Heroes of Ancient Greece, Plutarch's Lives, The Complete 48 Biographies, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Please note that some of these recommendations are listed under our old name, Ancient History Encyclopedia. I know two popular city-states of Ancient Greece: Sparta and Athens. Widely circulating online posts are spreading the false narrative that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are being quietly added to the food supply. License. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Athens and Sparta had previously quarreled in the decades prior to the war. World History Encyclopedia. Plutarch writes: Under [the direction of the paidonomos] the boys, in their several companies, put themselves under the command of the most prudent and warlike of the so-called Eirens. This eventually drew Sparta into the conflict. The relationship was probably sexual, but sex was by no means the only or even always the major object. What is an Oligarchy? Sparta was about fitness, survival, and war while Athens was about public . Part of the reason for this was that the boys upbringing had instilled behaviors that encouraged harmony and cooperation.. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Hostilities resumed between Athens and Sparta with an assault launched by the Athenians at Sicily. Failure to secure election to any mess at all was tantamount to exclusion from the Spartan citizen body and, perhaps, also army. Although a Spartan woman did not have much to do with the day-to-day raising of their sons, boys were still expected to recognize and honor their mothers through displays of courage, skill, and military victory. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Xenophon, however, denies there was any sexual element to the relationships of the boys in the agoge. PUBLISHED 7:07 AM ET Apr. Our latest articles delivered to your inbox, once a week: Our mission is to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. We care about our planet! The Spartans conquered their neighbors and forced them to live as slaves, providing agricultural labor. Spartans, who were outnumbered by the Helots, often treated them brutally and oppressively in an effort to prevent uprisings. Lycurgus may have been a mythological figure (his dates are given as anywhere between the 9th and 6th century BCE), but whether he was history of myth, the program he is credited with establishing became the foundation of Spartan society and military might. Submitted by Joshua J. 1996 - 2023 National Geographic Society. The agreement was made official with the signing of the Peace of Nicias. World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. The women of Sparta also ate communally, just apart from the men. Sparta was a warrior society in ancient Greece that reached the height of its power after defeating rival city-state Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.). https://www.worldhistory.org/sparta/. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Spartan culture was centered on loyalty to the state and military service. At age seven, Spartan boys were turned over by their parents to the state, where they were organized into companies that lived, studied and trained together. Membership of the League did not necessitate the paying of tribute to Sparta but rather the provision of troops. Lazenby writes in his book The Spartan Army. The Spartans way of life would not have been possible without the Helots, who handled all the day-to-day tasks and unskilled labor required to keep society functioning: They were farmers, domestic servants, nurses and military attendants. The World History Encyclopedia logo is a registered trademark. Training in speech continued in the transitional period when one became known as a paidiskoi (bigger boy) around the age of twelve. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. All healthy male Spartan citizens participated in the compulsory state-sponsored education system, the Agoge, which emphasized obedience, endurance, courage and self-control. Reputedly founded in the 9th century bce with a rigid oligarchic constitution, the state of Sparta for centuries retained as lifetime corulers two kings who arbitrated in time of war. The present-day city was built in 1834 on the ancient site. Lycurgus was a Spartan prince whose older brother had died, leaving behind a pregnant wife. Its real focus was to prepare Spartan males to be compliant members of society, who were ready to sacrifice their all for Sparta. Member of a group who settled on the Greek mainland around 2000 B.C. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. All of these freedoms would have been unacceptable in other Greek poleis. World History Encyclopedia. (17.1). In the following years their respective blocs observed an uneasy peace. Last modified June 15, 2021. The ancient Sparta city was one of the most powerful city-states in Ancient Greece. Spartas involvement in Persian civil wars in Asia Minor under Agesilaus II (ruled 399360) and the subsequent Spartan occupation (382) of the Theban citadel, Cadmea, overextended Spartan power and exposed the state to defeat at Leuctra (371) by the Theban Epaminondas, who went on to liberate Messenia. The goal of the agoge was the transformation of boys into Spartan soldiers whose loyalty was to the state and their brothers-in-arms, not their families. Famous episodes where the Spartans put religion above warfare and even national crisis were at Marathon and Thermopylae during the Greco-Persian Wars. To others, the Spartans are a repugnant people brutish, cruel, one-dimensional proto-totalitarians. The epitome of rough and ready virility. National Geographic Headquarters 1145 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20036. 5a. For all Spartan citizens there was a strong emphasis on military training and frugal living in communal mess halls where simple food such as barley meal, cheese, figs and wine were the norm. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Modern Sparta is the capital of the southern Greek region of Laconia and a center for processing citrus and olives. Sparta is best . The boy who excelled in judgement and was most courageous in fighting was made captain of the company, Plutarch wrote. The League would allow Sparta to establish hegemony over and dominate the Peloponnese until the 4th century BCE. Not long after, however, the two cities began fighting each other in the two Peloponnesian Wars (460 to 446 B.C.E. Related Content Sarah Appleton, National Geographic Society. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. Sparta was a warrior society in Ancient Greece that was set during 401 and 434 BC. and 431 to 404 B.C.E.) The elderly men also kept close watch of them, coming more frequently to their places of exercises, and observing their contests of strength and wit, not cursorily, but with the idea that they were all in a sense the fathers and tutors and governors of all the boys. The city lies on the right bank of the Evrtas Potams (river). The fighting engulfed virtually the entire Greek world, and it was properly regarded by Thucydides, whose contemporary account of it is considered to be among the world's finest . What was the focus of Spartan culture? HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Like all Greeks, they would identify themselves as being from their city-state, in this case Sparta. She or he will best know the preferred format. Sparta was a strict military society while Athens was a free democracy. Along with the surrounding area, it forms the perifereiak entita (regional unit) of Laconia (Modern Greek: Lakona) within the Peloponnese (Pelopnnisos) perifreia (region). Unlike other Greek city-states, Sparta was exceptional in its socio-political stability, Hodkinson says. Further, the Athenians were better prepared financially than their enemies, owing to the large war chest they had amassed from the regular tribute they received from their empire. As a Spartan ally, Corinth resumed hostilities toward Athens when Athens threatened Corinths interests in the region surrounding Corcyra. Later historians, such as Plutarch (l. c. 45/50 - c. 120/125 CE) were more critical of the program. Other [Greek] city states had fine armies, explains Kimberly D. Reiter, an associate professor of ancient and medieval history at Stetson University. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/article/342/agoge-the-spartan-education-program/. The planning, design, and construction projects for its water plant will lead to a connection to Decaturville's water system, to be used in the case of emergency. When you reach out to him or her, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. Boys looked forward to the public display of their fortitude.. The word laconic, which means pithy and concise, is derived from the Spartans, who prized brevity of speech. In 428 they tried to aid the island state of Lesbos, a tributary of Athens that was planning to revolt. Sparta is one of the most famous states in the Classical era. These youths pursued rigorous athletic and military training which became even more demanding from the age of 20, when they joined common mess halls (syssition) where they often formed homoerotic relations with older, more experienced citizens. To make life even tougher, Spartan boys were fed a meager diet. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Youths were taught to compress their speech to give maximum meaning and power in as few words as possible. Lycurgus was next in line for the throne but abdicated in favor of his brothers infant son and, to avoid any suspicion that he might harm the child to win back power, left Sparta. Helen was said to have been the most beautiful woman in Greece and Spartan women in general enjoyed a reputation not only for good looks but also spirited independence. Updates? This weekend on In Focus, the conversation turns to financial literacy. Like all Greek societies Sparta was dominated by male citizens and the most powerful of those came from a select group of families. Sparta grew to rival the size of the city-states Athens and Thebes by subjugating its neighboring region of Messenia. Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. But Spartan schoolings emphasis on fitness did help Spartan soldiers on the battlefield. Web. Madden said the city was able to stay below New York's property tax cap, and said his . Indeed, the Spartan king Menelaus instigated the war after the Trojan prince Paris abducted his wife Helen, offered to Paris by the goddess Aphrodite as a prize for choosing her in a beauty contest with fellow goddesses Athena and Hera. . Numerous educational institutions recommend us, including Oxford University. Vocabulary Sparta was a city-state located in the southeastern Peloponnese region of ancient Greece. Leonidas was a Spartan king whose stand against the invading Persian army at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece is one of the enduring tales of Greek heroism, invoked throughout Western history as the epitome of bravery exhibited against overwhelming odds. Sparta was not as known for philosophers and artists as other Greek city-states, though it did have a strong tradition of poetry. Intermediary between the helots and the perioikoi were the liberated helots or neodamdeis. Sparta's history has fascinated intellectuals from Plato until today and inspired great leaders such as Frederick the Great and Napoleon. Sparta was recognized by most as the best.. They were subjected to continual physical, competitions (which could involve violence), given meager rations and expected to become skilled at stealing food, among other survival skills. A Spartan woman saying goodbye to her young son who is going off to war.  Epaminondas' Echelon formation in the Battle of Leuctra. (16.6), Young Spartans Exercising by DegasNational Gallery (Public Domain). The original illustration was made in black and white, and was colorized at a later date. In fact, Spartan women became amongst the richest members of society, as their men were killed in the many wars, and eventually controlled 2/5th of Spartan land. Spartan girls participated in the same physical fitness routines as the boys when young, even training with them at first, and were then educated in reading, writing, and mousike ("music") a term which included singing, dance, playing a musical instrument, and composing poetry. Among his reforms was the creation of formal education and military training that became the agoge. Lycurgus returned with a new concept of law, one that people would learn by living it and would not need a written form, and gradually won the upper class over to his vision. Thinking of ones self and what one wanted was considered not only selfish and weak but treason in that one had put ones own desire above the good of the state. From 480 to 460 BCE regional rivalries and revolts by the helots damaged Sparta and worse were to follow when rivalry with Athens developed into the Peloponnesian Wars from c. 460 to 446 BCE and again from 431 to 404 BCE. It would be another decade of warfare before the Spartan general Lysander defeated the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/sparta/. Please donate to our server cost fundraiser 2023, so that we can produce more history articles, videos and translations. From the 5th century the ruling class of Sparta devoted itself to war and diplomacy, deliberately neglecting the arts, philosophy, and literature, and forged the most powerful army standing in Greece. After the age of twelve, every Spartan teenager was expected to receive a young adult warrior as his lover the technical Spartan term for the active senior partner was 'inspirer', while the junior partner was known as the 'hearer'. (69), Kylix with Men Courting YouthsMetropolitan Museum of Art (Copyright). Each stood at the head of alliances that, between them, included nearly every Greek city-state. The focus of the education was very different in each city-state. At the academy, the boys lived communally with others in their age group. Spartans would humiliate the Helots by doing such things as forcing them to get debilitatingly drunk on wine and then make fools of themselves in public. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. A small commercial and industrial centre of the European plain, the city trades in citrus fruits and olive oil. The Helots, whose name means captives, were fellow Greeks, originally from Laconia and Messenia, who had been conquered by the Spartans and turned into slaves. Methods of mistreatment could be far more extreme: Spartans were allowed to kill Helots for being too smart or too fit, among other reasons. But Sparta was very different from the other Greek city-states. And they steal what they fetch, some of them entering the gardens, and others creeping right slyly and cautiously into the public messes of the men; but if a boy is caught stealing, he is soundly flogged as a careless and unskillful thief. In preparation for marriage, Spartan women had their heads shaved; they kept their hair short after they wed. Married couples typically lived apart, as men under 30 were required to continue residing in communal barracks. Athens believed that power should be used for the individual's benefit. Mostly, this was due to Sparta's overwhelming military skill and style of fighting. World History Encyclopedia, 15 Jun 2021. World History Encyclopedia. They trained young men to become soldiers. He is said to have traveled first to Crete, then through Asia Minor, to Egypt, and many other places studying their laws and reflecting on the best aspects of society. According to some accounts, one test was to drop the baby into a vat of wine and, if it cried, it was considered too weak, but this may be apocryphal. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). Though Sparta absorbed this population, it did not integrate the conquered people into society. The Spartan society was known for its highly-skilled warriors, elitist administrators, and its reverence for stoicism, people today still look to the Spartans as model citizens in an idealist ancient society. Web. Male children were raised primarily by their fathers until the age of seven when they entered the agoge and were known as paides (boys). However, trying to crush Thebes, Sparta lost the crucial battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE against the brilliant Theban general Epaminondas. Spartan boys started their military training at age 7, when they left home and entered the Agoge. They were encouraged to break the exclusive ties with their own natal families and to consider all Spartans of their fathers age to be [their parents]. Thebes then annexed parts of Messenia and Sparta became thereafter only a second-rate power. The boys had to literally make their own beds as in construct them from rough reeds that grew by the river they had to break by hand without using a knife. Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which were supposedly introduced by the semi-mythical legislator Lycurgus. How did the Spartans become so awe-inspiring? Athens and Sparta had fought each other before the outbreak of the Great Peloponnesian War (in what is sometimes called the First Peloponnesian War) but had agreed to a truce, called the Thirty Years Treaty, in 445. Help us and translate this definition into another language! This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms.

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