Western Lit. 1-25: Spartan Polity

    When most westerners envision the warrior archetype, they see a young spartan man clad in bronze with a corinthian style helmet. To most, this is what a noble warrior looks like, but what they do not know is that the reality of Sparta is less honorable. Far from Zach Snider's 300 Sparta was not a state of freedom-loving warrior-nobles. In reality, Sparta was a small agricultural community in the south of the Greek Pelloponisia. It was a backwater in the largest backwater in the Mediterranean. Beyond this, the inhabitants weren't as noble as you might think. The social structure of Sparta was highly classist and depended on an authoritarian police state. The picture that history paints is very different indeed from our romanticized view of Thermopylae. 

    The city which came to be known as Sparta emerged from a series of agricultural communities at the south end of pelloponisia. This began when a tribe of Dorians migrated into the area between 800-1000 BC and began rapidly subjugating the local Ionians. The area was fertile for crops but lacked natural harbors. In order to control the larger population of Ionian serfs the Dorian nobility conceived of an authoritarian police state supported by slave labor. This policy can hardly be criticized by a modern audience considering the hypocrisy of such an accusation. In any case, only a tenth of the population were Spartiares and thus citizens. this led to a social structure which may seem strange to us at face value, but less so when examined historically. 

    Spartiari men became recruits at seven, soldiers at 20, married citizens at 30, and returned at 60 to be attended by a personal slave on a plot of land allotted by the state. They would have been at the top of their social hierarchy, with political divisions among them determined by wealth and age. Spartan men lived to serve the state as the arm of the military, but women were considered no less important, albeit inferiors. They also underwent physical training to become physically fit and to bear strong sons, but their value also lay in overseeing affairs of estate. With men always gone at war or policing the slaves it was important for the outnumbered Spartiares to leverage every advantage possible, thus, women commanded a great deal more respect than they did elsewhere In Greece. 

    

    Below the citizen Spartiares, there were two major social classes. The higher of the two was Perioeci or middle class. They conducted all trade and industry, for a time it was illegal for Spartans to participate in the trades so the economy was entirely dependent on them. They were free to travel, trade own land, marry, serve in the military, and more importantly, pay taxes. They did not have the full rights of citizens but could become one by serving well in battle. They lived in their own cities and were self-governing, as long as they remained part of Sparta. Like in most of the ancient world only a small number of people belonged to this class, another group altogether had the privilege of actually populating Sparta

    When the Dorian invaders subjugated the local Ionians they almost bit off more than they could chew. This subject class, which would come to be known as Helots outnumbered their rulers eight to one. The honor of performing all the less... desirable work fell on them, this included farming, cleaning, construction, and housework. Nearly every Spartan family had at least one slave, and many wealthy families had entire bloodlines under their thumbs. The unfortunate masses were subjugated to exactly the treatment you might expect from a bad movie trope. Slaves endured all kinds of cruelty and frequent massacres designed to keep them in check. the most prominent of these was the annual Crypteia.  During this period every new soldier would be encouraged to murder as many slaves as possible, especially the fit young men. Despite these realities, according to Myron of Priene, emancipation was 'common. The most typical reason was for dutifully completing a tour of service as a hoplite in the military. Slaves also bought their freedom at prices which were, even for the upper classes, considered exorbitant. Yes, despite forming the backbone, arms, legs, and skeleton of Sparta, the Helots were not appreciated as anything but property. The upside to all of this was that the spartan elite did not have to work and could focus on their main pursuit, training to subjugate their slaves, How counter-intuitive of them.

    

    Even Barbaric civilizations make their best efforts to raise strong children, and the Spartans were no different. Of course, citizens were just a fraction of the population, and only the upper class could be educated if they expected to maintain their system of domination. Spartan education is better described as a system of refinement, and despite the common belief, it is unlikely this 'refinement' began at birth. Unwanted children would have been left in a public area to be adopted, or not, by couples who could not bear children. Then, starting at seven, young boys were taken away to live in communal barracks. for the next 13 years, they would train to be servants of the state as soldiers and citizens. This training was absolutely brutal and consisted of intense exercise and hardship including starvation and freezing cold. meanwhile, their sisters remained at home to be educated by their mothers. Girls were also expected to exercise for similar reasons. It was believed that a strong woman would bear strong sons for the state. When their training was complete Spartans were ready to live a life dedicated to preserving their slave state. It was not quite America but no soviet union either. Sparta was a strange country.

    The coming of age is something of a human universal. Nothing is more exciting than the manifest flourishing of your offspring who carry your genetic material out into the world. Jews have their Bar Mitzvahs, The Tutsi had tribal sports, Americans have the 'sweet 16' and the Spartans have the Crypteia, a somewhat... unique ritual. Of course, a man who was old enough to slaughter innocents wasn't quite a real man yet, no spartan was permitted to visit his wife, except by seeking out of the barracks, until he was thirty. At that time men were free to live on their own land, participate in the assembly, and inherit the full rights of Spartan citizenship. Of course, he was still a tool to the state, a tool to be exploited until it was useless. Spartan retirement was almost rewarding considering the lives they led. besides the aforementioned benefits, a man in his 60s was ellaegeble to fill one of 28 not-so-lifelong positions on the council of the old, the Chief Judicial, legislative and Administrative branches. Of course, a popular assembly of men over 30 was able to approve the legislation. Presiding over these bodies were the two kings, who acted as the arms, or more aptly, fists, of the state. Over time an elected body of five Euphors became the most prominent body, probably because election permits demagoguery. this proved to be one downfall of Sparta, as in later years the Euphors became extremely corrupt. Of course, the entire state, like any criminal organization, was really supported by the soldiers of the military. 

       You wouldn't know it from the myths of its former inhabitants, but the land in the south of the Peloponnese is surprisingly fruitful. Despite its jagged cliffs and high mountains, the rolling hills and valleys of the coastal landscape provide fertile land for agriculture and timbering. Even the harsher features are somewhat of a blessing in disguise. The mountains are rich in iron and yield good terracotta for pottery. These were, of course, natural exports from Sparta, even though their trade was limited by a lack of natural harbors. But the tiny city-state shared more with its neighbors than natural resources.  Like all Greeks, they had their fair share of fairs, festivals, dancing, and music. Of course, you could hardly consider them greek if they didn't share a love of Homer, and of course, they did. despite all their differences, the Spartans were quite similar to other greeks in terms of economics. They exported their natural resources, had a small and skilled artisan class, and shared a common cultural tradition. 

    This flourishing culture wouldn't last long though. In fact, by the 6th-century cultural life ceased to innovate and began to atrophy, something had changed. To understand this phenomenon it is important to look back to the founding of the budding state. With the conquest of neighboring Messenia in the 8th century, BC Sparta was faced with the decision to integrate or rule the inhabitants, they chose the latter. Little did they know this would be their downfall. Faced with the prospect of ruling as a minority, the Spartans decided to make a few lifestyle changes. Beginning before the 6th century cultural activities were restricted by the state, this ensured tough citizens who were not occupied with frivolous things like singing or acting. But following Lycurgus, this trend reached a whole new level. Following a sweeping set of cultural and political forms, spartan society would never be the same. The goal of these reforms was to enforce equality among citizens, military fitness, and austerity. These virtues ensured the survival of the spartan way of life against the constant threat of revolts or usurpations by rival powers. 

    The history of Sparta was as interesting as it was cruel and bloody, perhaps because of it. Despite all of their military prowess the small empire never performed as well as you might guess. The slave state only began to rise as a dominant power in the 5th century, peaking in the 4th century after the Peloponnesian war. Unfortunately, the glorious victory of that war was not enough to stop its decline. Whether you chalk it up to geography or politics or something else altogether Sparta never developed a navy large enough to expand off their tiny peninsula. Further, all their military campaigns were limited by the constant threat of Helot revolts and other forms of social unrest. Today many greeks look back on the Peloponnesian war with righteous disdain, and perhaps spartan citizens did as well. It was the peak of their power, their triumph over all of Greece but at the same time, it marked the height of their corruption and the death of their imperial lifestyle

    So what do we make of Sparta? Certainly, we can never view them as heroes, or even as noble warriors again. To us, their morality is beyond redemption. Their Government did not exist to support individual rights, it existed to preserve the rights of the mighty, even if it meant reducing themselves to cogs in a machine. That idea would be bad enough, even if most Americans didn't believe in the same things themselves. No, far worse, they perpetuated a system of tyrannical slavery and genocide. They didn't even build cool monuments like obelisks or collimated temples such as the Washington monument and white house. If you are going to enslave entire races you have to at least leave one cool monument, geez. I Cannot think of a more perfect way to summarize Spartan society than with their greatest achievement in winning the Peloponnesian war. Despite previous vetoes from their allies, Sparta did go to war with Athens in 311 BC. Sparta does what it wants. During the war, Spata portrayed itself as the liberator of the greeks from tyranny, spartan men were treated as little more than tools for war such as spears and swords. Finally, Sparta ended the war by capturing hundreds of people in slave raids and seizing Athens into a backwater, to bring civilization of course. This overview of their society gives us a better idea of what they stood for and will give us a clearer picture of what distinguished Athens in the ancient world. With that Adieu.