Sparta
Last Updated 10/26/2007

Sparta, was built at the bottom of a deep valley, and used the surrounding mountains as a barrier against foreign thought.  The Spartans, on the other hand, never wrote a single line that was considered literature.  They knew how to fight, they liked to fight, and they sacrificed all human emotions to their ideal of military preparedness.   By 500 BC Sparta became the greatest military power in Greece.

Government
First ruled by a king.
800 BC nobles take over government.
Two kings rule jointly.
They led the army and conducted religious services.

Assembly
All citizens over 20 were members of the Assembly.
Assembly passed laws and decided to make war or peace.
Each year Assembly chose 5 ephors.
Ephors were incharge of public affairs and education of young Spartans.
Council of Elders helped Ephors.
Men over 60 chosen for life.
Suggested laws and sered as the high court.

Classes of People
Spartiatites (the elite) who are the full citizens, and there are always exactly 9,000 of them.
Perioeci took care o business
Helots: slaves

Farming
Spartans had little interest in farming.
Slaves, helots, worked the land.
750 BC,  20x the number helots as nobles.
Sixty to eighty thousand slaves
The Helots revolted twice.
Once a year there is a killing of the helots.
To kill a helot was a right of passage.

Food
Spartan Broth--The broth consisted of pork, blood, salt and vinegar.
Varieties of lettuce, cucumber, apples and figs.

Business & Trade
Spartans were not interested in business or trade.
There was a law in Sparta that banned all foreign trade and foreign travelling.
Perioeci took care of it.
Periocei were not slaves nor citizens.
Although they enjoyed freedom, they had no rights.

Spartan Way of Life
Unhealthy babies were allowed to die.

Education
At seven, boys went to military camp.
They learned to read, write, and use weapons.
Schools taught toughness, discipline, endurance of pain, and survival skills.
They also learned military poems, war songs, how to dance and recited Homer.
Girls were educated at age 7 in reading and writing, gymnastics, athletics and survival skills.

Men of Sparta
Spartan men married at 20.
They still lived in a military barracks.
At age of thirty, the Spartan became an "equal."
He was allowed to live in his own house with his own family
Retired from army at age 60.

Women of Sparta
Spartan women had  more freedom than women in other sity-states.
They mixed freely with men.
They enjoyed sports.
Spartan women could own and control their own property.
Women told men to come home with their shield or on it.

Marriage
Marriage for a Spartan woman was an almost non-ceremonial event.
The woman was abducted in the night by her suitor.
Her head was shaved, and she was made to wear men's clothing.
She would lay on a straw pallet in the dark.

Money
Spartans used iron rods for money while other city-states used coins.
It was against the law to have gold or silver.
Wealth was in the land.

Arts
They exported ceramic works to China in return for ivory.
These vessels were deep and decorated with birds.
The people of Sparta loved poetry, music, and dance.

Decline of Sparta
The Spartans did not improve their standard of living.
Remained a poor farming society dependent on slave labor.
371 BC Sparta defeated.

Time Line of Sparta