For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. 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.
City-States of Ancient Greece - Exploros The word means "raising" in the sense of raising livestock from youth toward a specific purpose. 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. When you reach out to him or her, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource. To others, the Spartans are a repugnant people brutish, cruel, one-dimensional proto-totalitarians. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Sparta was also an important member of the Greek force which participated in the Trojan War. The word laconic, which means pithy and concise, is derived from the Spartans, who prized brevity of speech. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. World History Encyclopedia, 15 Jun 2021. If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. A Spartan was taught that loyalty to the state came before everything else, including ones family. Athens believed that power should be used for the individual's benefit. Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service. However, trying to crush Thebes, Sparta lost the crucial battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE against the brilliant Theban general Epaminondas. Sparta fought both foreign and neighboring adversaries. 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. Cartwright, M. (2013, May 28). Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), https://www.history.com/news/sparta-warriors-training, How Ancient Spartas Harsh Military System Trained Boys Into Fierce Warriors. All rights reserved. In order to see their wives during this time, husbands had to sneak away at night. This eiren then, a youth of twenty years, commands his subordinates in their mock battles, and indoors makes them serve him at his meals. To keep them in control, Sparta developed an austere culture based on maintaining an elite military force, with a ruling council of 28 elders. The Spartans spoke Greek. Sparta was known as possibly the strongest city-state in all of Greece, and are still one of the most feared military squads in history. Learning from its past experiences with the Athenian navy, they established a fleet of warships. He has taught history, writing, literature, and philosophy at the college level. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Spartans, who were outnumbered by the Helots, often treated them brutally and oppressively in an effort to prevent uprisings. 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.). Once married, they could start a family but still were expected to eat with their mess.
The historical name of Sparta is Lacedaemon. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Spartan boys entered a rigorous state-sponsored education, military training and socialization program. Member of a group of people who migrated into the Greek mainland Homer Greek poet who composed the Iliad and the Odyssey epic Sparta. The teenage boys who demonstrated the most leadership potential were selected for participation in the Crypteia, which acted as a secret police force whose primary goal was to terrorize the general Helot population and murder those who were troublemakers. Such harsh punishment was a prominent part of the Spartan training system. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/article/342/agoge-the-spartan-education-program/. Though Sparta absorbed this population, it did not integrate the conquered people into society.
After a long wait, Penn State's Joey Porter Jr. can focus on what he 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. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia. City of Scott's Hill - $2,230,909. Soon afterward the navy was also beaten, and the Athenians were utterly destroyed as they tried to retreat.
In What Way Was Spartan Government Like An Oligarchy 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. 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. The walls helped protect Athens from direct assault, and its leader, Pericles, urged Athens not to engage in direct land battles with the Spartans. The prior financial year she was awarded a salary of roughly $1 million, in addition to about $4 million from mostly stocks and options, an annual incentive plan, and covered expenses, like access . Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-greece/sparta. The war featured two periods of combat separated by a six-year truce.. Athens and Sparta had previously quarreled in the . Along with the surrounding area, it forms the perifereiak entita (regional unit) of Laconia (Modern Greek: Lakona) within the Peloponnese (Pelopnnisos) perifreia (region). Help our mission to provide free history education to the world! Military activity was essential to Sparta. Also known as: Lacedaemon, Na Spart, Spart. Member of a group who settled on the Greek mainland around 2000 B.C. Hoplite Warrior, DodonaO.Mustafin (Public Domain). The present-day city was built in 1834 on the ancient site. They had no need to learn to sew or weave because the menial jobs in Sparta were taken care of by the helots. That ended Spartas military dominance, though their fearsome reputation lived on through history. Sparta was one of the most important city-states in ancient Greece and was famous for its military prowess. After years of open warfare, Sparta offered peace and Athens accepted. 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. Spartan government What was characteristic of Spartan society? Patrick J. Kiger has written for GQ, the Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, PBS NewsHour and Military History Quarterly. Sparta believed that a good citizen was someone who could protect the city-state, so education focused on military training. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. Scholar Paul Cartledge describes the agoge as a "system of education, training, and socialization [that] turned boys into fighting men whose reputation for discipline, courage, and skill was unsurpassed" (32). MillerKnoll CEO Andi Owen told employees to "leave pity city" and stop asking about whether they'd get bonuses. (24.1). The Ephors were among the older men who oversaw punishments given to the younger boys by their elders. They trained young men to become soldiers. (69). 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. The years of fighting that followed can be divided into two periods, separated by a truce of six years. If you have questions about licensing content on this page, please contact ngimagecollection@natgeo.com for more information and to obtain a license. Not long after, however, the two cities began fighting each other in the two Peloponnesian Wars (460 to 446 B.C.E. Continued Spartan ambitions in central and northern Greece, Asia Minor, and Sicily once again dragged the city into another protracted conflict, the Corinthian Wars with Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and Persia from 396 to 387 BCE. With your support millions of people learn about history entirely for free, every month. The assembly (Ekklsia) met once a month and was open to all citizens who voted by the simple method of shouting. Last modified May 28, 2013. The Spartan army began by raiding lands within an Athenian allied territory, particularly a region near Athens called Attica. Training in speech continued in the transitional period when one became known as a paidiskoi (bigger boy) around the age of twelve. Did you know? Sparta and its allies accused Athens of aggression and threatened war. 1996 - 2023 National Geographic Society. At the age of seven, boys left home to begin training at a military academy called an agoge (a-go-je). The long wars were damaging to both sides but Sparta, with some Persian help, finally won the conflict when Lysander destroyed the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami in 405 BCE. Our publication has been reviewed for educational use by Common Sense Education, Internet Scout (University of Wisconsin), Merlot (California State University), OER Commons and the School Library Journal. Sparta was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which were supposedly introduced by the semi-mythical legislator Lycurgus. (This practice was also intended to demonstrate to young people how an adult Spartan should never act, as self-control was a prized trait.) If they were successful, even if the theft was detected afterward and the culprit clearly suspected, no punishment was given; if they were caught, they were severely beaten. As in antiquity, it is served by the small port of Githion (Ythion), 28 miles (45 km) southeast, to which it is linked by a paved road. The Grand Strategy of Classical Sparta: The Persian Challenge, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. 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. https://www.worldhistory.org/sparta/. World History Encyclopedia. Eventually it produced a sort of conceptual lock when Spartans could not imagine any other kind of life, Reiter explains. He holds an MA in Political Philosophy and is the WHE Publishing Director. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included.