CC - Sparta

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What happened to Sparta in the 7th century BC?
it chose a different path for itself isolating itself from the outside world and turned itself into a military state.
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How did the spartans treat the population that lived around them?
the spartan system survived on mass enslavement and brutalisation of the much larger population that surrounded them.
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what does totalitarianism mean?
it describes the new type of political system that emerged at the time. where the government had control over it's citizens in private and public.
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what resources were freely available to the spartans?
river eurotas, fertile farmland, olives and fish. forests wild animals, hunting was centeral.
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who is spartas most famous woman and why?
helen of troy was originally helen of sparta. wife of menelous.
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What is the peloponnese?
a region of greece that was invaded by people from the north of greece.
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what is the name of the civilisation that existed in the 16th century?
mycenean civilisation
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Mycenaeans?
great civilisation in greece and built fortresses which survive today.
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Dorians?
invaders from the north who settled in the peloponnese.
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Achaeans?
original inhabitants of greece, who lived there before the invaders arrived.
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perioeci?
dorians who settled outside sparta. given some rights and experienced better lives then the achaeans.
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helots?
original achaeans who are enslaved and forced to work on the land.
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1600-1100 BC in sparta?
mycenaeans. time for heros and places, impressive. e.g.. agamenmon.
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1100-1000 in sparta?
dorian from the north, moving down south and settled in the peloponnese.
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1200-900 BC in sparta?
dark ages, civilisation was basically unpicked.
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800 BC in sparta?
dorians expanded in sparta - controlled 5 villages. invaded the land of messeria to increase their fertile land. first messenian war.
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670 - 650 BC in sparta?
Messenians helots revolted - 2nd messenian war. lasted for 17 years.
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650 BC sparta?
Lycurgus brings in the reforms we call the spartan system.
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550 in sparta?
spartans formed league of allies 'peloponnesian league'
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social structure of sparta? high to low
spartan men and women > inferiors > helots.
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who was tyrtaeaus? when did her write?
spartas national poet. during the last messenian war.
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what did tyrtaeaus urge in his poetry?
that war was couragous, you had to be brave to face the enemy and fight. dying in war brings glory to state and country.
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where was tytaeaus' poetry sung?
by later generations at the common messes and round the campfire.
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Why is Lycurgus described as a figure of mystery?
he wrote nothing, there are no statues of him. its not certain when or if he existed. He survives in peoples memories.
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A shield, sword and spear appear in Lycurgus' picture, why is this?
because Lycurgus established a military state, they were symbolic of his achievements.
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why is a scroll appearing in Lycurgus' picture wrong?
they didnt have scrolls, and he never wrote anything. symbolises rhetrai.
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how did the rhetrai come about and what do we know of them?
come from delphi oracle and were memorised, never written down and they covered many areas of life e.g. calculation.
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what does plutarch say motivated lycurgus to change the lives of spartan citizens?
plutchard says lycurgus saw there was a great inequality of wealth among spartans and wanted to create a society in which all the spartans enjoyed equality.
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what happened in 670 BC?
The messenian helots rose up against their spartan masters.
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what innovation was introduced in the second messenian war? how did it differ from old attitudes to fighting?
the phatanx. all spartans fighting together in mass rants. the concept of fighting for individual glory dissapered, replaced with the idea of sacrificing ones life for the common good.
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how long did the second messenian war last?
17 years.
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what did the spartans realise at the end of the second messenian war?
that helots could only be controlled by brutal and sustained repression
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who introduced the spartan system?
lycurgus, the reformer.
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what was the idea at the start of the spartan system?
every spartan citizen should be a highly trained, proffesional soldier.
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who were the enemy within?
the helots.
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how did isolationism affect life in sparta?
by shutting off the outside world, foreign imports slowly ceased, quality of spartan arts and crafts declined dramatically.
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what does isolationism mean?
no trading, wish to be separate, rrejecting others. cutting themselves off from the rest of greece.
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who were the three spartan writers?
tyrataeus, alcman, terpander.
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why is it difficult to trust athenian writers who mention sparta?
athenian writers would be bias against sparta. athens and sparta were at war. (the peloponnesian war)
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describe aristophanes writing
athenian playwrite of comedies. wrote during peloponisian war (athens v sparta, sparta won). BIAS
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describe xenophon writing
athenian historian, liked sparta admired their system. bias in favour of sparta. dissaproved of athenian democracy.
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describe plutarch writing.
wrote biography about lycurgus, collected book of famous spartan sayings, wrote 100s years after spartan system ended so was relying on evidence that might not be true. from centural greece.
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why is our knowledge of spartan society so limited?
didnt value grand buildings or art. buildings made out of wood, so burned down easily.
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what did myron say about the helots? (ritural where they were treated like animals)
that they were each assign a task and had to wear a dogskin cap and wrap himself in skins and recieve a stipulated number of beatings regardless if they did anything wrong, so they'd never forgett that they're slaves.
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how would the spartens prevent the helots from rebelling?
spreading a sense of terror among them.
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why didnt the spartans allow the helots to leave the city?
because most greeks didnt like the idea of greeks being enslaved by other greeks and so helot meeting other greeks would show them that them being enslved was wrong and encourage them to rebel
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helots were state owned slaves who had no politcal or legal rights, what did they consist of?
messenians and original inhabitants of laconia
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what were the main duties of the helots?
farming on the spartan estates, produced enough food for entire population. household slaves in the house of the spartiates, helot woman and nursing skills. helot men used a baggage handelers in war and skirmishes,
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how were helots treated?
brutally, forbidden to leave a defined area without government permission and were always under supervision.
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what happened at the beginning of each year to the helots?
the ephors declared war on helots so they could be attacked or killed with impunity, whilst being humiliated.
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how (according to plutarch) were helots humiliated?
forced to drink unmixed wine then brought into the common messes to show the young men what drunkenness was like, they'd be ordered to dance and sing.
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why was being owned by the government a good thing for the helots?
their treatment did not depend on individual masters, only the state could decide to kill helots - house hold masters had limitted powers. lived away from masters and enjoyed family life. free to worship and follow any religion
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what are inferiors?
not slaves, nor citizens, just a small group in sparta made up of: partheniai, mathacan, neodamodien and tresantes.
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who are parthenai?
part of inferiors, illegitimate children of spartan fathers and helot mothers.
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who are mathacens?
part of inferiors, sons of helots often adopted as playmates for spartan boys, who also took part in education
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who are neodamodeins?
part of inferiors, helots who won freedom by their courage in the battle. courage could also be a short cut extermination.
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who are the tresantes?
part of the inferiors, spariates who have been deprived of their citizen ships for acts of cowardice.
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whats the purpose of the spartan education?
to produce outstanding and loyal soldiers. to produce obedient killing machines of state, to make spartans courageous, to make spartans conform by crushing their individuality, eliminate weak.
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what happens to spartans at birth?
taken by father for inspection by a committee of elders, weak or deformed babies taken to die on slops of Mt targets (place of rejection). babies were abandoned for being weak.
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what happens to spartans in their early years?
babies were bathed in wine to see if it would kill or tougen them. denied swaddling clothes, left on their own in dark with crying ignored, not allowed to be fussy about food, not allowed to have temper tantrums or to cry.
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what happens to spartans to the age of 7 to 14?
at 7 boys left home and lived in barracks. went to agoge school(means to rear cattle-tells us about harsh treatment), paidnomos(headmaster) was great warrior. eirens are staff who could sip pupils.
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describe the education in the agoge
be encouraged to fight one another to see how they'd cope in war. they learned only basic reading and writing, enough to communicate. no literature or philoserphy becuase they didnt want them to think for themselves.
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describe what happened do boys in sparta aged 14-18
barefoot so they could run faster and climb. given one cloak to last the year, cut hair short, played naked only allowed baths and soaps on certain days. sleep on beds hand made by them from river plants. food was rationed so they'd steal.
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what happened to boys age 18 to 19 in sparta?
people thought that was the age of rebelling, so they had to understand repect of their elders, when walking in street keep hands off cloaks and eyes fixed on ground.
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what is the krypteia?
the secret police, the strongest young men of the agoge served in police force, they killed helots.
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what does plutcharch say about the kryteia?
they were equipped with daggers and rations. rested during day. came out at night and killed helots on road. looked to kill strong helots in fields and made sure they were killed.
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what are the advantages of the kryteia?
spartan men became used to murdering people (experience for war), helots kept in a state of terror.
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what was the most important rule for spartan citizens?
'all spartan citizens should be full time professional soldiers.' they also couldnt go to the markey place or shopping.
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what did the pericoeci do?
allowed local citizenship and limited form of self government, but had to obey sparten elders and couldnt form own policy, on war and foregin relations
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what did the perioeci do in war?
they were called up as a ansutory force.
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how did the perioeci contribute to sparta?
as trades and crafts, some would fish and be shipbuilders. allowed to farm less fertile laconia.
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what did spartates do in spar ten society?
they were the slaves.
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what did helots do in spartan society?
toiled on estates.
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what did the women do in spartan society?
manage finances
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what did perioeci do in spartan society?
tarde and craft
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describe the 20-30 eirens.
lived in barracks, even after marriage. produce offspring and fight for state.
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advantages of eirens marrying?
if had 3 sons were exempt from military service. if had four sons, didnt have to pay taxes.
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disadvantages of eirens not marrying?
married woman would sing songs mocking them, banned from festivals, in winter they had to parade naked.
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describe the kings bodyguard.
300 younge soldiers, individuals could be replaced at any time. other people watched them and looked for faults.
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when not at war what did spartans do all day?
choral dances, festivals, feasts, hunting expiditions (war skills), physical exercise (stamina) conversation. most for cmradeship
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what is the syssition?
the communal eating place, 15 members, in war they shared a tent.
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describe the election to the session.
ballot held, every member of sysstion would vote by placing a dough ball into erm, flatterned dough ball meant rejection.
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if a spartan man did not belong to a sysstion what was he considered?
a social outcast.
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what are the advantages ti the sysstion?
well fed, everything said was confidential, everyone contributed to fair share of food. equality to all citizens. no generation gap, all ages mixed freely.
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where did the food come from? in systion
every member had a kleros (plot of land) and he donated a monthly ration of food and money for fish and meat.
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what does laconic mean?
talking briefly/ bluntly.
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what did helot women do and sparten women not do?
weaving, cooking, housework.
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what did spartan women do?
manager of farming land, produce food for fam and husband, made decisions about crops to grow.
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how did spartan women support the spartan system?
give up sons at 7, surrender weak babies, mock unmarried men, send sons to war saying 'come back with your sheild or on it'
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what were greek opinions of spartan women?
disturbed by freedom, unattractive, negligent mothers, over opinionated, shocked by exercise in public, horrified by their little economic power, 'thigh flashers' applauded by adultery of spartan woman.
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why did some greeks admire spartan women?
healthy, strong, naturally beautiful
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describe the phalanx
rectangular formation of soldiers, 8 rows deep, 50 men wide, when 1 man fell bach another took his place, best soldiers at front, controlled by trumpets.
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what was the importance of discipline in the phallanx
men had to react quickly, to orders and keep the formation tight. training made phallanx work, understand the right musical signals.
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whats the importance of religion on military success?
king would sacrifice before army set out and at border and before battle. sacrifice muses to remind everyone that sucess will be remembered in song.
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why (other then training) were spartans successful in war?
command structure, fear factor(only went ahead if sure of victory), mystique - wouldn't fight the same side twice so they didnt give their tactics away.
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describe the command structure.
divided into regiments each with their own commander.
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describe the spartan attitude to death?
spartans believed death was desirable as long as it was for the good of the city. brought up to face death in battle and not to fear it. woman at funerals showed no emotion apart from pride. relatives of dead cheerful, visa versa.
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how are spartans buried?
close to city and temples, in red cloaks and not with any treasures, only two people were allowed tombstones = war heroes, women who died at birth.
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who was leonidas?
a spartan king who controlled the greek forces of 7000 at thermopylae.
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what did the oracle say about leonidas?
that sparta would be conquered at thermopylae or the spartans would mourn the death of a king, so leo thought he'd has to die for sparta to win.
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what happened to leoidas?
lead spartans, left home knowing he'd die, sent away greeks when realised persians were going to kill the greek, fought to death with small number of greeks, persians took his body and decapitated it.
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who is in the spartan government?
2 kings, 5 ehpors, 30 gerousia (28 people, 2 kings, council of elders), all spartan male citizens in ecclesia (assembly).
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where were the royal families descended from?
from heracles, agiads and eurypontids.
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why did the spartans have two kings?
so one could be the commander in chief in war whilst the other stayed in sparta. also meant that one didnt become more powerful.
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what are the responsibilities of the king?
commander of army, religious leaders (called chief preists), make desisions about: marriage of wealthy heiress, adoption of kids, maintenance of public roads.
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what happened when a king died?
the spartan people were expected to attend funeral and to show grief in the 10 days of mourning.
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what privileges were given to the king?
heirs didnt have to go to agoge, were trained seperatly, didnt take orders. wealthy landowners. first to be given food in sysstion and double portions. seats of honour at festivals.
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who was in the gerousia and what was it?
30 members - including two kings. all members (apart from kings) were over 60.
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what powers did the gerousia have?
prepared descusions for ecclesia, could with draw proposals, acted as judges in criminal court cases.
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what does the gerousia show about sparta and why?
that they respected their elders because being part of it was the highest honour.
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how did the election to the gerousia work?
if there was a vacancy, candidates were brought to ecclesia, ecclesia shouted if aproved of candidate. gerousia say next door and listened
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how was not allowed in the ecclesia?
women, helots and periodic.
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when did the ecclesia meet and what did they do?
once a month, they listened to ephors/kings, had no discussion.
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cons of having two kings?
could disagree. competative with power
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pros of ephors?
only met for one year so wouldnt become too powerful, kept an eye on kings - went to war with him.
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cons of ephors?
very powerful, dangerous if bad people.
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pros of gerousia?
old and wise, respected.
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cons of gerousia?
not experienced, very powerful, controlling, could be exposed to bribery.
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who was spartas greatest rival?
athens
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why was sparta critsed by other greeks?
agoge was felt to be cruel, helots - enslaving fellow greeks, decline of military power was believed to be down to disliking change.
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decribe spartan xenophobia and how they put it into practice?
syspicious of outside world, banned foreigners from entering and spartans from leaving, believed other greeks were spoiled by luxeries and didnt want spartans to be mislead by this.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

How did the spartans treat the population that lived around them?

Back

the spartan system survived on mass enslavement and brutalisation of the much larger population that surrounded them.

Card 3

Front

what does totalitarianism mean?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

what resources were freely available to the spartans?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

who is spartas most famous woman and why?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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