Sparta

By: Luis OrtizDonald Esposito

Government

• Included two kings and a council of elders who advised the monarchs.

• Major decisions were approved by an assembly made up of all citizens.

• Citizens were male, native-born Spartans over the age of 30.

• The assembly also elected ephors, which were officials who held the real power and ran day-to-day affairs.

Military

• Only healthy newborns were accepted in Sparta and the sickly children were abandoned to die.

• Boys began training for the military at the age of seven and they were placed into barracks.

• Boys were toughened by a coarse diet, hard exercise, and rigid discipline

• To develop cunning and supplement their diet, boys were encouraged to steal food, but they were punished if caught.

Military Requirements

• Boys were not suppose to wear shoes because hardened feet were required.

• Spartans wore only one garment a year, believing they would be better prepared to face changes of heat and cold

Spartan Women

• Women were expected to produce healthy sons for the army.

• Spartan women, unlike other Greek women, were told to exercise and strengthen their bodies.

• Like other Greek women, Spartan women had to obey their fathers or husbands.

• They had the right to inherit property.• Took on responsibilities, such as running the

family’s estates, because men were occupied with war.

Sparta’s Way of Life

• They looked down on trade and wealth.• Forbade their own citizens to travel• Had little use for new ideas or the arts. • Isolated themselves from other Greek city-

states.

Geography

• Located on a narrow plain between two mountain ranges in the southeastern Peloponnese area of Greece.

• The Taygetos Mountains bordered Sparta on the west and the Parnon Mountains bordered Sparta on the east.

• Sparta also was situated on the right bank of the Eurotas River, a bit south of its largest tributary, the Oenus River.