1. Sparta: A Social Experiment
If you could live in a society where everyone was socially and economically equal, would you want to?

2. Where does this history begin?
Lycurgus
Dates : Archaic Greece c BCE

3. Values of the Spartan Citizen
Unquestioning Obedience
Courage
Indifference to pain, cold or heat
Contempt for other civilizations

4. How did they live? As invincible warriors.
From cradle to deathbed
Military caste
Never risked a battle they thought they could not win
Only distinction is military honor in battle

5. What is Spartan Culture?
Imagine a world where everything is subordinate to war . . .

6. Spartan society 3 social groups
Equals: descended from the invaders, controlled Sparta
Half-citizens: free, paid taxes and served in the army but had no political power, some farmed but others worked in the city as traders or artisans
Helots: slaves, greatly outnumbered the other groups so Spartans used force to control them, in large part this is why Sparta became a military city-state
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7. Sparta’s Military Society (cont’d)
Spartan women
Received strict physical training
Taught to be devoted to the city-state
Their best value was seen as producing Spartan soldiers
Results of military society:
Strong government
Almost unbeatable army
No individual freedom
Created almost no art or literature and made almost no advances in science
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8. Spartan Government Two kings led Sparta A council of Elders
1 king handled military
1 king took care of domestic matters
A council of Elders
Made up of 28 male citizens over the age of 60
Proposed laws and served as a criminal court
An assembly
Included all male citizens over 30
Elected 5 ephors
Made sure the kings stayed within the law
Elected for a 1 year term
Controlled the education of Spartans
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9. Sparta’s Military Society
Goal was to make every male citizen a part of the military machine
Military worked to expand Sparta and control the helots
A group of officials examined new born babies and those deemed unhealthy were left to die
At 7 boys left home to join the barracks
Mainly military training but they also learned how to read and write
From age they learned specifically about warfare
At 20 they could marry but could not live at home until age 30
Were available for military service until the age of 60
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10. What is Spartan art? Poetry incites warriors to fight
Music was for war and religion
Even art depicts the gods in chains

11. Spartan vs. Non Spartan Poetry
Is anything worth dying for? If so, what?
“Shove your shield in the face of the enemy, hating life and embracing death’s dark spirits like the sun’s rays . . .” Tyrtaeus
“Some Thracian is flaunting the shield I left thoughtlessly by the brush, an flawless piece. So what? I saved myself.” Archilochus

12. Spartan “Childhood”
Only necessary schooling
Provoked to fight
Taken from home at seven
Put in herds
Only necessary food and clothes
“To bring these things they steal, some going into gardens and others insinuating themselves dangerously and cautiously into the men’s messes. If anyone is caught, he is given many lashes with the whip”

13. The Ancient Greeks did not have exercise machines to improve their physical fitness, so they had to use whatever was available. They used body weight exercises such as pushups or pullups. The Ancient Greeks would use resistance in their strength training methods by using stones, logs, animals or each other to help increase their strength.

14. They were drilled in gymnastics, running, jumping, throwing of spear and discus, and also taught to endure pain and hardship, hunger, thirst, cold, fatigue and lack of sleep. They were walking without shoes, bathed at the cold waters of the river Eurotas and were dressed winter and summer, with the same piece of cloth, which the state gave them once a year.

15. Helots – Sparta’s Problem
Constantly feared uprising
Spartan boys spied on them
Attacked them regularly
Had to keep standing army to maintain them

16. The Krypteia Secret warfare tactics
“this is another form of training for war: they sent each one out naked and ordered him to wander outside in the mountains for a year, maintaining himself by theft and avoiding detection

17. Spartan Lore
Philip of Macedon: “If I enter Laconia, I will level Sparta to the ground.”
Spartan reply: “If.”