The History of Ancient Sparta and the Spartans (History of Ancient Greece) VIỆT

In this episode, we're going to take a quick look at one of the most famous of all Greek city-states of mainland Greece, namely Sparta. The Spartans were well known for being some of the bravest and most disciplined warriors in ancient history. Their reputation for living a stoic life is remembered even to this day, and in the English language, the word Spartan is used to describe someone or something that's indifferent to comfort or luxury. In this program, I want to examine Spartan history a bit further, beyond the tales of great warriors such as Leonidas, and more into the history of who the Spartans were and why their society was a bit of an anomaly in the ancient Greek-speaking world. Sparta was located in the area once called Laconia, also known as Lacedaemon, in the southeastern region of the Greek peninsula known as the Peloponnese. Situated between lofty mountain ranges on both sides at the northern tip of the Laconian plain, the city of Sparta was located just east of a river known as the Eurotas. However, long before the city came into existence, the land that it would one day occupy had been settled since at least the 4th millennium BC. About a millennium later, there were Mycenaean Greeks living in the area. According to legend, this land was ruled by King Menelaus, the younger brother of King Agamemnon of Mycenae, who led the Greek coalition against the Trojans in Homer's Iliad. However, based on archaeological findings, it appears that Sparta, or the land just south of Sparta, was the site of a town called Amiklei. This part of the Peloponnese was relatively rich in rainfall and fertile land, something that was rare in other parts of ancient Greece. This may have attracted groups of Dorian Greeks between the years 1100-1000 BC to the area shortly after the collapse of Mycenaean power on the mainland. By around 950 BC, four of these Dorian settlements merged together to form what would become the town of Sparta. The bringing together of these different groups may explain the Spartan tradition of a dual monarchy, for throughout most of its ancient history, Sparta would always have two kings from two royal families, the Aegeids and the Europontids. It's believed that this system of government ruled over Sparta for at least 700 years. The power of these kings, though, was curtailed by other power brokers within Spartan society, such as the Euphori, or overseers, as well as a special council of influential Spartan leaders. Unlike many of the other city-states of the Greek-speaking world, Sparta remained a relatively simple kingdom that was mostly devoid of ostentatious displays of wealth. At least, that's how they portrayed themselves. Thucydides often contrasted the simplicity of Sparta with the grandeur and pomp of Athens, once writing that if Sparta were to become deserted with only its buildings remaining, then future generations would never believe that the city-state had once been a great military and political power. However, Plato, who was an Athenian, had a markedly different view. He wrote, In the whole of Greece there is not as much gold and silver as is held in private hands in Sparta, because for many generations now it has gone into this country from all over Greece, and often also from the barbarians, yet nothing at all comes out again. Simply put, what the fox said to the lion in Aesop's fable also applies to the coinage entering Sparta. The tracks pointing in are clear, but no one can see them come out anywhere. Archaeologists, though, seem to agree that throughout most of its history, Sparta was little more than a sprawling village made up of relatively simple wooden houses with only a few public stone buildings. In fact, until 318 BC and due to Macedonian aggression, Sparta never had a defensive wall lining its perimeter. Instead, the Spartans used the surrounding mountains as a deterrent to invasion. Natural citadels that were manned by the tough and famous Spartan hoplites, known to many in the ancient world as being the fiercest and bravest of all such warriors. Around the mid-650s BC, Sparta went through a sort of internal revolution and adopted the reforms of a man named Lycurgus. Many scholars today doubt the existence of Lycurgus, since no remains of him have ever been found, and he's surprisingly absent from most of the accounts of the later classical Greek writers that we've all come to love. Whoever he may have really been, Lycurgus was remembered by the ancient Spartans as being the lawgiver who created their society and social institutions. Though the two kings were still technically at the head of the government, Lycurgus' reforms reorganized Sparta into a military state that replaced the old aristocracy with an oligarchy comprising of more members of This brought the citizen body to approximately 9,000, who once a month gathered at the apella, or assembly, and voted on proposals that were conceived by a 30-man council known as the Gerousia, which also included Sparta's two kings. The apella's job was solely to vote on policy, not to formulate it. However, what they voted on was extremely important, for example the declaring of war or making peace, confirming the appointment of military leaders, and electing council members. Overseeing all of this was the ephorai, whose five members were called ephors. They acted as a sort of legal body that monitored the conduct of high officials, including the two kings, though in theory any Spartan could hold these positions, in practice most were held by members of elite families. At the core of the system was an army made up of hoplites. These full-time, professional soldiers were in charge of both holding the Spartan state together as well as defending it at all costs. They were barred from taking up any other professions or activities other than being soldiers. As compensation, they were entitled to plots of land that were overseen by state officials and farmed by serfs, known as helots. This setup allowed Spartan armies to campaign freely during the planting and harvest seasons, times of the year when citizen-soldiers of other city-states were generally required to return home and tend to their farms. The Spartans called the system that guided their way of life eunomia, which roughly translates to good law or good order. The tenets of the eunomia basically became the Spartan constitution. According to legend, Lycurgus forbade it from being written down, and so it was transmitted orally to future generations. Thus, it was also called the Retra. Historians are not exactly sure when Lycurgus lived. There are some who say he lived as far back as 800 BC, while others believe that he may have arisen as a leader of Spartan society in the 660s BC after a disastrous war against the city-state of Argos. This defeat was so great that it discredited the old aristocracy and caused the Spartans to do a great deal of soul-searching. By around 700 BC, the Spartans had conquered the region known as Laconia, which included the surrounding land and the seaport of Githium, just 40 kilometers south of the city. This began a make Sparta quite different than the other Greek-speaking city-states of the mainland, and further divided Spartan society into a hierarchical one consisting of three distinct social levels or classes. At the top was the ruling class made up of the original Spartan citizens, called Spartiati, or more commonly, Spartiates. A Spartiate became a full citizen of Sparta by meeting three requirements, legitimate birth to a Spartiate father, the completion of a 13-year-long training program called the agoge, and being elected at the age of 20 to one of the syscytias, a sort of fraternity made up of communal dining groups that were the center of life for Spartan males. Both Plutarch and Xenophon describe the agoge process as such. Basically, young boys and sometimes girls were examined at birth to see if they met certain health requirements. If they met these requirements, then they would be accepted into the agoge. If not, then they'd be killed. Yep, you heard that right. They'd be killed. Later, at the age of 7, the boys were taken from their mothers to be brought up in groups, or packs, under the supervision of older boys, who themselves ultimately reported to a Spartan state officer. By the age of 12, the boys lived in barracks and slept on mattresses made of dried river or wetland grasses. They were allowed to wear only one cloak, and had to go barefoot. For their food, boys of the agoge mostly ate a type of pork-boiled porridge, which they could supplement by stealing from local farms and warehouses. Anything that they stole could be kept, but if they got caught, then they were beaten. For a Spartan, death was preferable to disgrace. There's a story that Plutarch tells of a Spartan boy who stole a fox cub and hid it under his cloak. The animal started biting him and eating into his flesh, but rather than cry out in pain, which would reveal his theft, the boy collapsed and died, without a sound. Whether the story was true or not can't be determined, but its emphasis is clear. Young Spartan boys were taught to obey orders and endure any hardship without complaint. Only then would they become disciplined soldiers and be worthy of being called a Spartiate. Below the Spartiates were the Perioikoi, or surrounding peoples of Laconia whose ancestors had been conquered by the Spartans. They generally lived in the villages and towns that orbited the city of Sparta. Perioikoi were obligated to pay taxes and serve in the army, but they could also own property and were given the same legal protections as Spartiates. The only real difference between Spartiates and Perioikoi were that the latter were denied participation in the political process. Together, the Spartiates and the Perioikoi were known as Lacedaemonians. Far below and socially inferior to the Lacedaemonians were the Helotai, or helots. These were basically serfs with little to no rights. As the Spartans began to conquer more of the surrounding villages, all new conquered peoples became helots. Over time, the helot population began to greatly exceed that of the Lacedaemonian population, especially after the conquest of the fertile region of Messenia in the southwestern Peloponnese. Crossing the high Tegitus mountain range that borders Sparta to the west, the Spartans descended into the rich farmlands of Messenia and fought a 20-year war there, which most scholars put between the years 690-670 BC. The famous Spartan poet, Tartaeus, wrote the following of the conquest of Messenia. Under our king Theopompus, beloved of the gods, through whom we took wide Messene. Messene good to plow, good to plant, for it they fought for nineteen years, ceaselessly with ever valiant hearts, the spearmen-fathers of our fathers. But in the twentieth year, our foes left their rich fields, and fled from the great mountains of Ethome. Tartaeus wrote these lines probably in reference to what became known as the First Messenian War. There was a second war, which most scholars have dated to between 630-600 BC. Both of these resulted in Spartan victories and allowed them to control nearly two-fifths of the Peloponnese. Such conquests in ancient Greece at the time were not common. Sure, armies went to war with neighboring regions quite frequently, but there were no known instances at the time of a city-state outright conquering an entire population and annexing their territory as their own. The Spartans had done this and more. By incorporating Messenia into their territory, the Spartans made themselves masters of a vastly larger and agriculturally rich piece of real estate that also happened to come with a new helot population to farm it. The problem, though, was that with such a large helot population, the Spartans became extremely paranoid of a massive helot revolt. By the mid-400s BC, it's believed that the helot population may have outnumbered that of the Lacedaemonians seven to one. There were just too many of them, and with the right leader and organization, the helots could pose a threat to the internal stability of Spartan society that was much greater than that of any foreign army. To put it bluntly, helots were extremely mistreated. Actually, that's an understatement. For example, every year, the Spartan government legitimized the killing of helots to both terrorize the population into submission as well as to control their numbers. Certain Spartan male youths were also enrolled in an institution known as the cryptaea, whose job it was to murder any helots suspected of causing trouble for the state. Spartan society also had many other unique characteristics. Spartan women were well known throughout ancient Greece for their skills in choral singing, dancing, and gymnastics. Greeks from other city-states, though, deemed them to a bit scandalous because they exercised in public and often were scantily clad or even completely naked. Though Sparta once had a rich poetic and artistic tradition, by the 500s BC, this had greatly declined, unlike in other cities such as Athens and Corinth where the arts thrived. In the 500s BC, Sparta became the dominant military power in the Greek-speaking world. However, this didn't mean that it was invincible. Resistance to Spartan aggression was fierce because their rivals knew that if they were conquered, they'd eventually be helotized like the population of Mycenae. After a stunning defeat to Tygea in Arcadia, the Spartans changed their foreign policy, at least towards their neighbors. Instead of seeking to subjugate them, Sparta offered them a place in a Spartan-led alliance that we today call the Peloponnesian League. Most scholars agree that Sparta reached its peak under one of its most capable kings, Cleomenes I, who reigned between 520 to 490 BC. Using both diplomacy and the threat of the Achaemenid Persian Empire to the east, Cleomenes tried to unify the Peloponnese and other parts of the Greek world under the Spartan banner. His brother was the King Leonidas, who led the legendary group of 300 Spartan hoplites against the Persian king, Xerxes, at the Battle of Thermopylae. Such campaigns brought Sparta much prestige in the Greek world. However, unfortunately for them, the Spartans would soon be overshadowed by another city-state, Athens, which would go on to become its greatest rival. Though the two had fought together against the Persians in 480 BC, and also at the Battle of Plataea the following year, relations between the two fell off a cliff shortly afterward. Athens had the most powerful and prestigious navy in the Aegean. And, to counter the influence of the Peloponnesian League, the Athenians had formed their own great alliance, which they called the Delian League. Sparta's greatest fear, though, was not Athens' military or naval power, but the export of Athenian democracy to Spartan-controlled areas. Remember, Sparta was a dual monarchy that controlled a large territory filled with helots. However, due perhaps to a low birth rate and more of its men being killed off in wars, the Spartiate population was on the decline. By the mid-400s BC, it may have only numbered 3,000 men. All of this led to it becoming increasingly reliant on its allies in its growing conflict with Athens, which culminated in the nearly three decades-long conflict known as the Peloponnesian War, which lasted between 431 to 404 BC. Though it faced many challenges, Sparta had two things which would ultimately help it to win the war. A strong navy that rivaled that of Athens, and, in 412 BC, an alliance with Achaemenid Persia. Initially, these two things proved to be very successful because they enabled the Spartans and their allies to conclusively defeat Athens and the rest of the Delian League in the Peloponnesian War. However, Sparta had also overextended itself. As the now-dominant power in the Greek-speaking world, it began to coerce its neighbors, both friend and foe alike, into doing its bidding. Once hailed as a liberator for its role in the Greco-Persian Wars a few generations earlier, Sparta, through its harsh rule on the Greek peninsula, was now seen as an oppressor. And so, its former allies, such as Corinth, as well as its arch-rivals Athens and Argos, formed an alliance against it. The Spartans had even managed to tick off the Persian king, Artaxerxes II, who sent funds and support to aid the anti-Spartan alliance. What eventually became known as the Corinthian War, raged on between the years 395 to 386 BC. For the most part, neither side made any substantial gains until 486 BC, when Artaxerxes II concluded a separate peace with Sparta, which Thucydides called the King's Peace, or the Peace of the King. The terms were basically as follows. Sparta was to cede the Ionian Greek cities of Asia Minor and Cyprus back to Persian rule. In exchange, the Persians would cease to support Sparta's enemies. As expected, the King's Peace made Sparta even more unpopular with those on the Greek mainland because it made the Spartans look like sellouts. Thus, other Greek city-states, many of them now having some form of democratic government, further isolated Sparta, which honestly, given what we've discussed before, was probably just fine with many of the more conservative Spartiate elites. In 371 BC, the Theban general and statesman Epaminondas decisively defeated the army of the Spartan king, Agesilaus, at the Battle of Leuctra. This not only shattered Spartan power in Greece, but also forever put them on the defensive. Not only this, but Epaminondas took the battle deep into Spartan territory by invading Laconia, though he didn't attack the city of Sparta itself. However, he freed Mycenae and Arcadia from Spartan rule, as well as the helots. In addition, the farms in Mycenae that had become Sparta's main source of food were now gone. Thus ended both Sparta's power and the Peloponnesian League. Epaminondas granted Mycenae independence, which it was able to maintain until the Kingdom of Macedon more or less subjugated it a few centuries later. Knowing that the Spartiates wouldn't give up their city without a fierce fight, Epaminondas left Sparta alone. For now, it was enough that Mycenae and Arcadia, along with Thebes, could together contain Sparta. This status quo remained until 338 BC, when Philip II of Macedon defeated Thebes and its allies at the Battle of Chaeronea. In 335 BC, Thebes revolted against his son, Alexander, who would go on to become Alexander the Great. As punishment, he destroyed the city and sold its population into slavery. With regard to Sparta, Philip had demanded its surrender and is said to have written the following to its leaders. You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city. The Spartans' laconic reply was simply, IF. A few years later while Alexander was out campaigning against the Achaemenid Persian Empire, the Spartan king, Aegis III, led a few nearby Peloponnesian states in revolt. After all, Alexander was young and quite far away, so what better time than in 333 BC to try to resurrect Sparta's influence and glory on the Greek mainland. Unfortunately for him, he was defeated two years later at the Battle of Megalopolis by Alexander's regent in Macedon, Antipater. By the mid-200s BC, Sparta's isolation had devolved it into a relatively poor state, with perhaps no more than 700 Spartiates, who were vastly outnumbered by both Perioikoi and Helots. It was also overshadowed by the Achaean League, which was now the dominant power in the Peloponnese. Hoping to save Sparta, the young king, Aegis IV, tried to abolish debts, redistribute land, and grant the Perioikoi full Spartan citizenship. However, the more conservative Spartiates denounced him as a traitor to Sparta's age-old traditions and way of life, and eventually he was imprisoned and executed by strangulation in 241 BC. However, Aegis IV was quite popular amongst the less conservative Spartiates, who recognized that change was needed, and he was also loved by the Perioikoi and others who had benefited from his revolutionary policies. A few years later, one of Sparta's kings, Cleomenes III, tried to revitalize his reforms. In fact, he was even more revolutionary since he discarded Sparta's centuries-old tradition of dual monarchy and seized absolute power in 226 BC. He also abolished the institution of the Euphori, made major redistributions of land to the Perioikoi, and reformed the Spartan army, just in time actually to start a war with the Achaean League. However, the Achaean League's leader, Aratus, didn't want to take on Sparta alone. Instead, he invited the powerful Macedonian king, Antigonus III, to intervene on his behalf, which all but doomed whatever little power Sparta may have held. At the Battle of Salacia in 222 BC, just north of the city of Sparta itself, Antigonus III destroyed the main Spartan army. Cleomenes fled to Egypt, where he's believed to have committed suicide. His reforms also died once Antigonus captured the city of Sparta and abolished them, which was probably to win over the support of whatever conservative Spartiates were still left. Shortly after 150 BC, Sparta, along with all of Greece, was fully incorporated into the Roman Empire. Sparta remained famous in Roman times and even became something of a tourist attraction for centuries to come. Though there are no more Spartiates, modern Sparta is a relatively small city of about 35,000 people. Though we'll no doubt talk about Sparta in the future, I hope that this program gave you a general idea with regard to its history and the Spartan people. As always, thanks so much for stopping by, I really appreciate it. I'd also really like to thank GrandKek69, Yap de Graaf, Pasta Frola, Michael Lewis, Daniel Allen, Danny Veneca, YNXTV, Robert Morgan, Faridun Dadachanji, Cher Kam, Farhad Kama, and all of the channel's Patrons on Patreon for helping to support this and all future content. Check out the benefits to being a Patreon member, and if you'd like to join, feel free to click the link in the video description. You can also follow History with Sai on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as listen to audio programs on the History with Sai podcast. Thanks again, and stay safe.