Sparta

The details

Discovering Ancient Greece Part 2

Spartan Government• Two kings who were more like unlimited

generals• Law said one king had to stay behind while the

other went to war after King Demeratus abandoned the Spartans before an attack on Athens and joined Persian King Xerxes

• Real power belonged to judges called ephors who were elected by citizens

• Citizens were military men with Spartan blood

• Policy set by a council of 28 men over 65 elected for life

• Helots were serfs who belonged to the state

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta

Life in the Spartan Army

• Considered using arrows cowardly• Spartan Hoplite fighting was fierce hand-to-hand

battle that would terrify anyone not trained like a Spartan

• Formed a Phalanx 8 ranks deep• Used a long wooden spear with a iron tip, plus a

back-up short sword of iron• Signals given by hand and with trumpets

– Flutes played during marches– Once used “dinner” signal to confuse enemy– Bronze shield flashed in the sun means “surprise

attack”

Spartan Battle• Used a two-handled shield fixed to the left arm

– Depended on the shield of the soldier on their side to protect their right side

– Requires large numbers, drilling, tight coordination, discipline, and high morale

– May have many spearing at you at once

• Armor– Bronze helmet : good protection, but hard to hear– Protection for chest, abdomen, and maybe ankles and

arms– Bronze, leather, or linen

• Long hair and a red cloak

http://www.hellenic-art.com/armour/sword.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Greek_Phalanx.jpgStrategy

Growing up Spartan

• Tribal elders, not the father, decide if the boy should be raised

• Live with family for the first seven years, then removed from home for good

• Organized in packs from age 7 to 18• “Adopted” by an older warrior from age 12

to 18 who will be punished if the boy shows weakness

• Elite warriors singled out starting at 18

Election to Messes

• Starting around age 20 warriors were elected to messes or common tents

• Some like the royal mess were more important, and to be elected to no mess was to be excluded from society

• Main meal in a mess was at night – No torches allowed to teach Spartans to be stealthy in

the dark

• Hunting was very important for training and food– Hunting a wild boar with a spear and net was a good

way to prove manhood

Sparta: Great Location

• Guarded on three sides by mountains

• 27 miles from the sea = difficult to blockade

• On River Evrotas

• controlling the routes of invading armies over the Langhda Pass on Mt Taygetus

• Olives, grapevines, and forests of citrus trees

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta

Sparta

Athens

Sparta

• Patron Goddess was Athena

• Most Spartan religious festivals really worshipped Apollo more

• Not really a city, but four villages together

• Not many great buildings

• Thought city walls were for sissies

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo

Mount Taygetus

• The Spartans built a temple to Apollo at the peak of Mount Taygetus, and went there to abandon unfit newborns, probably throwing them off the mountain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taygetus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ancient_tayg.jpgGoogle Earth

Mount Taygetus

River Evrotas near Sparta

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evrotas

Viros Gorge in the Taygetus

Mountains

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viros_gorge

Spartan MythologyQueen Leda

Zeus : seduced Ledapretending to be a swan

Married King Tyndareus

Leda laid an egg. Castor and Pollux

hatched.

Helen: daughter of Leda and Zeus

Clytemnestra : daughter of

Leda and Tyndareus

Agamemnon, king of Mycenae,

married Clytemnestra

Orestes: son of Clytemnestra, killed her to avenge

the death of Agamemnon

Agamemnon was Killed by Clytemnestra

While bathing Partly because he Sacrificed Iphigenia

Carried away by Theseus

Married Menelaus, king of Sparta,

and had a daughter, Hermione

Carried to Troy by Paris and rescued in

the Trojan War

Affair with Aegisthus

Children with Clytemnestra:

Orestes, Electra, and Iphigenia.

Took Cassandra, daughter of King Priam,home with him from Troy

Orestes’s Bones• Orestes was troubled by

killing Clytemenstra even though Apollo told him to do it

• Spartans found the bones of Orestes in Tegea and “returned” them to Sparta– Used this as an excuse to claim

the land of Tegea because his mother was Queen Clytemenstra

– Later found the bones of his son, Tisamenus, from Achaea and returned them too

– The large bones were probably a prehistoric dinosaur

Sparta

Tegea

AchaeaAthens

Helots

• Helot labor was the base of the Spartan economy

• Spartans were always afraid of Helot revolt, especially from Messians who came from west of Mount Taygetus

• Male Spartan citizens could have no other profession than war, partly to control Helots

Training for Men

• Fear and paranoia

• Best teenage boys recruited for secret police to murder troublemaking Helots and spread fear

• First loyalty is to the state

• Sent to the army at age 7 to begin a lifetime in the military

• Expected to steal to get food and clothing

Women in Sparta

• Could get an education, unlike Athenian girls• Similar education as boys, but separate• Threw javelin and discus, and wrestled to

attract boys• Could own property including land• Had no official voice in government, but they

could make their wishes known• Didn’t have to do the housework that

Athenian women did because they had Helots to do it

Sparta versus Athens

SPARTA• Only males were

citizens• Slaves are allowed• No foreigners tolerated• Deformed babies killed,

children are property of the government

• Boys and girls are separated and taught athletics and morals

ATHENS• Only males were

citizens• Slaves were allowed• Foreigners OK• Infanticide illegal, but

unwanted female babies killed

• Boys are educated, most girls illiterate

Sparta versus Athens

SPARTA• Young men must join the

army, women marry• Men have rights and are

respected, only mothers of boys are respected

• Oligarchy – ruled by a few, Aristocracy – ruled by the rich and powerful

• Land owned by state• Head of Peloponnesian

League• Powerful land army

ATHENS• Young men go to college,

young women marry• Males are considered

citizens and have rights, women have no rights

• Democracy – ruled by the many people

• Land owned privately• Head of Delian League• Powerful naval fleet

Athens

• Named after Athena

• 3000 years of recorded history

• Birthplace of democracy

• Center of learning– Plato’s Academy– Aristotle’s Lyceum

• Hosted Olympics 1896 and 2004

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens

Plato

Aristotle

Athena

Mythology

• Athena– Favorite daughter of Zeus– Goddess of wisdom,

weaving, and the noble side of war

– Owls and olive trees are sacred to her

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena

Athenian Army• Ten generals elected by a show of hands in the

assembly– Could be re-elected, unlike other officials– Infantry and cavalry led by officers, but in hoplite battle

there was little time for commands or organization• Not a professional army like the Spartans• Called up for two years of military service at age 18

– Trained in arms, tactics, and fortifications– Remained on the register for service until age 60

• Hoplites got a sword and shield from the army, and bought the rest

• Javelins, slings, and bows were main weapons of light-armed fighters– Sword was only for emergencies

Naval Power

• Silver from Attica plain mines paid for naval arms• Four miles of double walls connected the city to

the port to that supplies could come in from the sea during a siege

• Naval bases through the Aegean Sea• Ships were light and fragile

– Had to hug coasts in storms

• 150 rowers per trireme had to be paid a daily wage– Upper deck rowers pulled longer oars and got paid more

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Trireme.jpgPeloponnesian War

http://en.wikipedia.org/w

iki/Im

age:Map_athenian_em

pire_431_BC

-fr.svg

Athens – Great Place

• Fills the entire plain of Attica

• Surrounded by – Mount Aegaleo in the west– Mount Parnitha in the north– Mount Penteli in the northeast– Mount Hymettus in the east– Saronic Gulf in the southwest.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athens

Mount Egaleo

Mount Parnitha

Mount PenteliM

ount Hym

ettus

• Mount Hymettus from the east

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hymettus.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Parthenon_from_West_with_deep_blue_sky.jpg

Built with marble from Mount Pentelli. Google Earth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ac.parthenon5.jpg

Video

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Parthenon_from_SW_%28finished_438_BC%29.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:ParthenonNight.jpg•Athenian Squares

Mount Olympus

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Olympus_Litochoro.JPG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mytikas_summit_PJS.JPG

Zeus

• Google Earth• Video• Olympian Squares• Athenian Squares• Religion• Venn Diagram• Things you didn’t know about Zeus!• And his kids too!• His story