Transcript Sparta - Hale

Overview: Sparta
CHW3M
Social Structure
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Majority in Sparta are helots (slaves)
Never more than 10,000 official citizens
(adult males from citizen families)
Government
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Because of the inequality of Sparta and the
fact that helots outnumbered citizens by a
wide margin, Sparta was not the democracy
that Athens was
Emphasis on order and keeping the helots
under control
Government
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Two kings
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Ephors
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one in charge of military, one in charge of gov’t
5 overseers elected each year by the citizens
Decree punishments on citizens and can even
arrest and prosecute kings
Council of Elders (Gerousia)
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28 aristocrats 60 and older
Advised kings
Government
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Assembly of Citizens
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All males over 30
Met monthly to debate legislation and vote on
proposals
No real voice in policy (can’t propose laws,
decisions can be set aside)
Helots
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Conquered people forced to work as slaves
Most of the population (outnumbered citizens
20:1)
Did all the work
No rights
Constant threat of revolt?
Perioikoi
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Free non-citizens
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i.e. foreigners
Tradesmen, craftsmen
No political rights
Taxed heavily and subject to military service
Citizens
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Adult males (women and children have no
political rights)
Don’t work or trade
Discouraged from amassing wealth
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Distracts from dedication to Sparta
Citizens
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Boys removed from Spartan society at an
early age to train to be warriors
Adult males reside outside Sparta in
Common Messes
As a result, women dominate society in
Sparta
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Can own property, participated in sports
Conflict with Athens
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After cooperating to oust the Persians,
relations between Athens and Sparta
disintegrate
Increasing tensions (based on Athenian
attempts to dominate Greek trade and
Spartan paranoia about Athens supporting a
helot uprising) result in Peloponnesian War
(431-404 BCE)
The Peloponnesian War
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Athens is a naval superpower and is very
wealthy
Sparta has a highly effective land army of
professional soldiers
Athens, under Pericles, has built massive
walls to defend itself, and figures they can
hide behind their walls, surviving a prolonged
siege by Sparta through supplies from their
navy
The Peloponnesian War
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Conditions behind Athens’ walls are cramped
and unsanitary
Less than a year into the war, a plague
strikes the city, killing 1/3 of the population
Nevertheless the war drags on
Athens makes enemies by attacking other
islands and colonies (Sicily in particular)
Sparta allies themselves with Sicily and
Persia
The Peloponnesian War
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Thanks to their alliances, Sparta can now
compete with Athens at sea
Spartan/Persian fleet defeats Athenian navy
in 405 BCE
Sparta then blockades Athens
Athens is defeated, their navy disbanded,
their walls torn down
More conflict
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But conflict between Greek city-states
continues
Spartan system begins to weaken
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Other city-states rise in prominence and resent
Spartan domination of Greece
The Decline of Sparta
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Fewer and fewer citizens
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Elite standards for babies
Result of conflicts
As few as 1,000 citizens now (early 4th
century)
Most of fighting now done by helots
The Decline of Sparta
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With the defeat of Athens and the decline of Sparta,
Thebes rises in prominence
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Becomes the dominant Greek city-state by the late
Classical period
War breaks out between Sparta and Thebes in 371
BCE
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Spartan army (mostly helots now) is outnumbered 3:1
Sparta is crushed
Half their warriors are dead, their slaves are freed
Sparta is done