Culture & Politics of an Atypical Polis: Lycurgan Sparta

I. Introductory Notes

II. Rise of Sparta

III. Messenian Wars

IV. A Brief Note on Lycurgus

V. The Spartan Code

VI. The Spartan Caste System

VII. Structures and Functions of Spartan Constitution

VIII. Overview of Spartan Foreign Policy

IX. Conclusions

Sparta and the Peloponnesus

Sparta

Ruins of Ancient Spartan Theater

Ancient Walls of Sparta

Introductory Notes on Sparta/Lycaedaemon

• Spartans were admired by all Greeks• Sparta is exceptional in numerous ways, both good and bad.• Sparta was a slaveholding state like no other. Spartans

stopped working. They only fought and prepared to fight. • Sparta lived in constant fear of helot revolts (and of

neighbors who might try to rile the helots).• Sparta was a model for Plato, Aristotle, and thus, Western

Civilization.• Sparta, like all states, was a process as much as it was a

thing.

Sparta = “the scattered”. 5 villages. 70,000 at its peak Roots in Dorian Invasions. Emerged as a political entity around

the 10th century BCE, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population.

Incorporation of Sparta town and surrounding villages by c. 700 From c. 650 it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece.

Focused on military training and excellence Colonization on Peloponnese Trading Networks “Tyranny” Sparta as “Abnormal State”: “Internal Colonization” with

Brutal Institutional Controls against Political/Social Revolution

Introductory Notes on Sparta

Rise of Sparta: Messenian Wars First MW 743-724

Causes Honor: Messenians accused of raping Spartan

virgins praying at a temple (Messians argue that these virgins were spies and/or coup plotters) and of killing King Telekos of the Agiad line

Population Rise in Laconia > Expansion.

Sparta won. Enslaved Messenians.

Rise of Sparta: Messenian Wars Second MW 685 to 668 Cause: Messenian helots revolt induced by Argos and Arcadia. Spartans

supported by Corinth and Lepreos. An “international” war. Results of Second MW

Rise of Spartan nationalism. Tyraetus the commander and elegiac poet. Sparta evolves into militaristic, communistic state (disappearance of

luxury, imports, poetry, arts) Several thousand full Spartan citizens become full-time hoplites

Complete subjugation of the Messenians Hero Aristomenes (Messenian revolutionary). Tomb at Rhodes.

Pelop. League and Spartan Hegemony est. Fear of Helot revolts Inspires new Const.

Tyrtaeus: Nationalist Spartan Poet(Seventh Century BCE)

[The enslaved Messenians were] like donkeys suffering under heavy loads,By painful force compelled to bring their masters halfOf all the produce that the soil brought forth.…making a wailing funeral chorus, they and their wives,When one of their masters met his destiny.

Mount Taygetus

Lycurgus Father of the Lycurgean/Spartan Code Did he exist? Herodotus, Xenophon, Plato,

Polybius, Plutarch and Epictetus say so. If he did it was between 900 and 600. Draco certainly codified laws at this time. Higher Naiveté.

Laws in accordance with 3 Spartan virtues: equality (among citizens), military fitness, and austerity

When he completed his laws, he went to Delphi, asked that his laws not be overturned and then starved himself to death in “service to the state”.

His first reform was the est. of the Senate. The Ephors came 130 years after his death (?)

He is 1 of 23 lawgivers enshrined in marble in the US House. He is also on the frieze of the US Supreme Court.

The Spartan Code: Overview of Values1. Discipline

2. Unity

3. Uniformity

4. Loyalty

5. Obedience

6. Endurance

7. Courage

8. Competition

9. Honor

10. Reverence for Elders

The Spartan Code: Ruthless Eugenics Fathers’ right to exposure Council of inspectors Husbands expected to lend their wives to “exceptional” men Lycurgus argues that it is “absurd that people should be so

solicitous for their dogs and horses as to exert interest and pay money to procure for fine breeding, and yet keep their wives shut up to be made mothers only by themselves, who might be foolish, infirmed, or diseased.” (Plutarch)

The Spartan Code: Education At 7, boy taken from family by state. There until 30. Paidonomous: Boy managers Games played in the nude Older men provoke quarrels among boys Sleep under stars Minimal reading and writing Flogging for dissent and stealing Plutarch’s tale of the boy with the ferret At 30, becomes citizen and can dine with elders

The Spartan Code: Women Different than other Greek women Raised at home Vigorous games: running, wrestling, shot put, javelin Naked at dances (not normal Greek tradition) A man with a barren wife might be lent a woman by a friend Excluded from political life Better off than many Greek women

Could inherit property. Had 50% of property by 5th C. Spoke openly

The Spartan Code: Sexuality & Marriage “Nearly every lad had a lover among the older men” (Durant) Friendship, education, affection, obedience (and/or part of hazing ritual?) On Prostitution… Foolish to marry for love. Subordination of love to war Marriage ceremony: woman had her head shaved, then left in a dark room

to be “seized” by the man. State encourages women to marry at 20, men at 30 Celibacy was a crime. Bachelors barred from citizenship Parents arrogance marriage, no financial exchange “No adultery”. Plenty of freedom before marriage Divorce was rare. Lysander left his wife for a hotter one and was

admonished. Highest honor for a woman was to have son die in battle. “Come back with

your shield or on it.”

The Spartan Code: Manners Spartans ate at public mess (sissyton) each night. Common

fund for dinner. Spartan meals Obesity was admonished. Obese often banished. Simple dress Xenophon was “astonished by the power and the prestige of

the community” Plato glorified Spartan law, order, and community

The Spartan Code: Xenophobia

→Foreigners unwelcome & citizens barred from travel“This was the reason Lycurgus did not grant them freedom to leave home, if they wanted to, and wander around picking up alien habits and imitating the lives of uneducated peoples who lived under different political systems. On the contrary he actually drove away the multitudes who had streamed into the polis for no useful purpose. This he did not, as Thucydides [2.39.1] asserts, out of apprehension that they might wish to copy his constitution and learn something advantageous about the pursuit of excellence (arete), but in order to prevent their becoming teachers of any sort of evil. For the inevitable fact is that alien people bring in with them alien principles; and from novelty in principles follows novelty in decisions, something which is bound to give rise to many experiences and policies destructive to the harmony, as it were, of the established constitution. So he thought it more necessary to protect the polis from being filled with bad habits than to keep out infectious diseases.” (Plutarch, Lycurgus 27)

Spartan Code: Tyraetus on Arête"Mankind's finest possession, here is the noblest prize that a youngman can endeavor to win. It is a good thing his city and all the peopleshare with him, when a man plants his feet and stands firm among theforemost spears relentlessly. All thought of foul flight completely forgotten and as well trained his heart to be steadfast and endure, and with words encourages the man who is stationed besides him. Here is a man who proves himself valiant in war. With a sudden rush he turns to fight the rugged battalions of the enemy and sustains the beating wave of assault."

Spartan Code: Tyraetus on Arête“He who so falls among the champions and loses his sweet life so blessing with honor, his polis, his father, and all his people with wounds in his chest where the spear that he was facing has transfixed the massive guard of his shield and gone through his breastplate as well. Why such a man is lamented alike by the young and the elders, and all his city goes into mourning and grieves for his loss. His tomb is pointed to with pride and so are his children, and his children's children, and afterward all the race that is his. His shining glory is never forgotten. His name is remembered, and he becomes an immortal though he lies under the ground, when one who was a brave man has been killed by the furious war god, standing his ground, and fighting hard for his children and his land."

Spartan Code: Tyraetus on Arête

…if he survives battle

"But if he escapes the doom of that death, the destroyerof bodies and wins his battle, and bright renown for the work of hisspear, all men give place to him alike. The youth and the elders, andmuch joy comes his way before he goes down to the dead. Aging, he hasreputation among his citizens. No one tries to interfere with his honorsor all he deserves. All men withdraw before his presence and yield theirseats to him, the youth and the men his age, and even those older thanhe. Thus, a man should endeavor to reach this place of courage with allhis heart, and so trying never be backward in war."

Spartan Code: Xenophon on Arête

In other states when a man proves a coward, the only consequence is that he is called a coward. He goes to the same market as the brave man and sits beside him. He attends the same gymnasium if he chooses. But in Sparta everyone would be ashamed to have a coward with him at the mess or to be matched with him in a wrestling bout. Often when sides are picked for a game of ball he is the odd man left out. In a chorus he is banished to the ignominious place. In the streets he is bound to make way when he occupies a seat; he must give it up even to a younger man. He must support his spinster relatives at home and he must explain to them why they are old maids.

Athletics in Ancient Sparta

Spartan Caste System Four Classes of Spartans

1. Spartiates (Spartan citizens, who enjoyed full rights)2. Mothakes (non-Spartan free men raised as Spartans)3. Perioikoi (freedmen)4. Helots (state-owned serfs/slaves, non-Spartan)

Spartiates were a minority of the Lakonian population 7:1, Helots:Spartans. Only Spartiates receive agoge. Thus, Sparta could not

readily replace citizens lost in battle. The number of citizens became greatly outnumbered by the non-citizens and, even more dangerously, the helots.

Spartiates "peers" or "men of equal status " could trace ancestry to the original inhabitants of the city.

Thus aristocracy underwent agoge- loyalty, military training, pain tolerance,

hunting, dancing, singing, and social preparation exempt from manual labor control of government constant military preparation. Fearless warriors about 8000 Spartiates during Spartan zenith

Mothax "stepbrothers" either offspring of Spartan fathers and helot

mothers, or children of impoverished Spartans Did not contribute to sissyton Could fight in war Though free, they were not Spartan citizens but

were brought up alongside Spartan boys as their foster brothers.

Least understood of the 4 classes

Perioeci Unclear concerning the precise nature of their subject status Free but non-citizen inhabitants of Sparta Traders and manufacturers (unlike Spartiates) Allowed to travel to other cities, Spartans weren’t Masters of helots Their regions acted as a buffer around Sparta, shielding it from outside

influence Had right to own land, and belonged to the civic army: they were hoplites

in the army and epibastes in the navy. Could not marry Spartan men or women. Taxed, not directly represented Could not participate in any political decisions

Helots Each year when the Ephors took office they ritually declared

war on the helots, thereby allowing Spartans to kill them without the risk of ritual pollution

Belonged to the state/land, not to an individual Spartan Can’t be sold Subject to martial law Secret Police Krypteia Spartiates outnumbered by Helots 7:1. Culture of Fear. “Most institutions among the Spartans have always been

established with regard to security against the helots.” (Thucydides, 4.80.3)

The Helots According to Myron of Priene of the middle 3rd century BC,

"They assign to the Helots every shameful task leading to disgrace. For they ordained that each one of them must wear a dogskin cap and wrap himself in skins and receive a stipulated number of beatings every year regardless of any wrongdoing, so that they would never forget they were slaves. Moreover, if any exceeded the vigour proper to a slave's condition, they made death the penalty; and they allotted a punishment to those controlling them if they failed to rebuke those who were growing fat".

Plutarch also states that Spartans treated the Helots "harshly and cruelly". They compelled them to get drunk, “and to lead them in that condition into their public halls, that the children might see what a sight a drunken man is; they made them to dance low dances, and sing ridiculous songs..." during public banquets

The Helots Around 424 BCE, the Spartans murdered two thousand helots in

a carefully staged event. Thucydides states: "The helots were invited by a proclamation to pick out those

of their number who claimed to have most distinguished themselves against the enemy, in order that they might receive their freedom; the object being to test them, as it was thought that the first to claim their freedom would be the most high spirited and the most apt to rebel. As many as two thousand were selected accordingly, who crowned themselves and went round the temples, rejoicing in their new freedom. The Spartans, however, soon afterwards did away with them, and no one ever knew how each of them perished."

The Spartan Constitution: Intro & Overview

• Most Spartan laws were passed down orally• Hybrid: Monarchy, Aristocracy, Democracy• “Checks and Balances”• Admired by Plato and later political theorists• Inspiration for the British Constitutional Monarchy and the American

“Founding Fathers”• Overview of Structures and Functions

• Kings (2) (Agids and Eurypontids). War Generals; Religious Functions

• Ephors (5) - annually-elected; executive, judicial, and disciplinary powers; Daily Administration

• Gerousia, (30) body of elders (28 + 2 kings). Advisors & Supreme Court

• Apella, (~8000) assembly of Spartiates: Army and Assembly

Executive I: 2 Kings

• 2 hereditary kings of Agiad and Eurypontid families, both descendants of Heracles• equal in authority • similar to dual consuls of Rome

• Functions• Religious - chief priests of the state, performed certain sacrifices,

consulted Oracle at Delphi • Judicial• Military. Aristotle describes the kingship at Sparta as "a kind of

unlimited and perpetual generalship" (Pol. iii. I285a), while Isocrates refers to the Spartans as "subject to an oligarchy at home, to a kingship on campaign" (iii. 24)

• Could originate legislation• Lost power over time.

Kings and Lycurgan Sparta

“I should like also to give an account of the compact established by Lycurgus between king and polis: for this is of course the only government which continues exactly as it was initially set up; other states, it will be found, have undergone and are still undergoing changes. He laid down that the king, by virtue of his descent from the god [Zeus, father of Herakles], should offer all the public sacrifices on behalf of the polis, and that he should lead the army to wherever the polis might send it. He also gave the kings the privilege of receiving portions from the sacrificial beasts, and allotted them choice lands in many of the surrounding poleis, enough to ensure them a moderate supply of everything but not riches in excess.”

~Xenophon, Constitution of the Spartans 15

Executive II: 5 Ephors

• “Those who oversee”. Administrators. • Prevented tyranny of Kings• Shared power with Kings. By mid-6th Century, they were at

least equal to power of Kings• First line of foreign policy decision makers. First to receive

ambassadors.• May have arisen from the need for governors while the kings

were leading armies in battle • Elected annually. No Re-election. Power limit here. • Elected by the popular assembly, and all citizens were

eligible for election. No reelection• Compare to Roman Tribunes

Legislative I: Gerousia

• Senate or Council of Elders• 30 members elected for life

• According to Aristotle, elections were shady. • 28 60+ year old Spartan males + 2 Kings• All members had undergone agoge• Vote by shouting• Functions

• Prepared motions (rhetrai) for the Apella to vote on• Veto motions passed by the Apella• Consulted by Ephors• Received foreign ambassadors• Supreme Court for Capital Crimes: power to condemn, fine, or banish• Could try the Kings• In effect, it was the supreme institution in the Spartan constitution, and

could override any decision by any other organ in the Spartan political system

The Gerousia

Among the many innovations made by Lycurgus the first, and the greatest, was the establishment of the gerousia. This, as Plato says, when mixed with the ‘feverish’ rule of the kings and possessing voting equality with them in matters of the greatest importance, created a government secure and sensible. Previously the state had been wayward, inclining at some times in the direction of the kings, towards tyranny, and at others in the direction of the masses, towards democracy. Now, however, it had the office of the gerontes set at its center, creating equilibrium just as a ship’s ballast does, and thus securing the safest and most orderly arrangement: when a stand needed to be made against democracy the 28 gerontes invariably sided with the kings, yet they also added strength to the people in preventing the establishment of a tyranny.

~Plutarch, Lycurgus 5

Legislative II: Apella

• Lower house. Assembly and Army. • All 30 yo male citizens could attend. About 8,000.• Attended in uniform• Meetings held on full moon • Meetings presided over by Kings, later Ephors• Shouting vote• Functions

• Accept or reject legislation drafted by Gerousia. NO Debate. • Voted on peace and war, treaties and foreign policy in general• Decided which of the kings should conduct a campaign• Settled questions of disputed succession to the throne• Emancipated helots• Elected Gerousia for life• Elected the five Ephors annually• Elected eldersother magistrates

• Gerousia could override any “crooked” decision• Did Apellians speak? Or only 5 Ephors?

Apella vs. Ephors: Check and Balance?

“When the populace was assembled, Lycurgus permitted no one else except the Elders and kings to make a proposal, although the authority to decide upon what the latter put forward did belong to the people. Later, however, when the people distorted the proposals and mauled them by their deletions and additions, the kings Polydorus and Theopompus supplemented the laws as follows:

‘If the people should make a crooked choice, the Elders and the founder-leaders are to set it aside’

-Plutarch, Lycurgus 6

Overview of Spartan Foreign Policy • Messenian Wars inspired tamed hawkishness• Sparta was not a colonial power. Only held Taras (Taranto) and Milos• Mid 6th century, Sparta came into conflict with its northern neighbor Tegea and suffered

a humiliating defeat, Sparta made the – at the time astonishing – decision to seek not a temporary but a permanent peace.

• Permanent enemy of Argos • Spartan hegemony induced many foreign powers to seek Spartan support for their own

objectives• Sparta feared Persian “barbarians” and Athenians (esp. after Delian league defeated

Persia and Athens expanded)• Out of fear of Helots, Spartans prefer:

• Peace to war• Close, short wars

• Had no navy. Later, Corinth did. • Spartans demonstrated an acute appreciation of the limits of their power and of their

vulnerability, which in turn gave rise to a cautious foreign policy that relied heavily on effective diplomacy.

Overview of Spartan Foreign Policy • Peloponnesian League est. 570. A “Permanent Coalition”• Spartan Hegemony• PL as NATO• Not every Pelop polis was in PL and not all in the PL were Pelop.• Membership in PL offered to losers in lieu of subjugation• PL poleis traded total independence for

• Ability to keep their land an men• FP coordination• Protection

• All PL required to send men in time of battle. • TWE did Spartans need approval of PL allies to go to war?

• No all PL states were equal• Smaller, closer, poorer poleis were more dependent on Sparta• Ideally a coalition of the willing. Ideally.

• The record of the PL is vague.

Spartan Expansion (8th-5th centuries)

On Spartan Military Discipline

And so it is with the Spartans: in single combat they are as good as any, but when they fight together they are the best soldiers in the world. And the reason for this? Well, they are free men, certainly, but their freedom is not absolute: they have a master set over them, Law (nomos), whom they fear much more than your subjects fear you. At any rate, whatever this master orders, they do; and what he orders is always the same thing—never flee from the battlefield, no matter how large the opposing forces, but stay in the line, to conquer or to die.”

-Exiled Spartan King Demaratus to Persian Monarch Xerxes I (Herodotus 7.104)

Spartan Hoplite and Phalanx

Conclusions…

• Questions?• Your assessment of Sparta?• Lessons from Sparta?• Legacy of Sparta?