The Development of Sparta up to the Classical Era

Origins of Sparta

Political System

Spartan Citizenship

Spartan Military Power

Socioeconomic System

The story of the Ancient Greeks has fascinated people for thousands of years, but above all others, one people stand above the rest in the popular imagination of the world: Sparta. Here we'll examine the origins of the Spartan people and their state, as well as their unique social, economic, military, and political systems, while at the same time discovering how they developed the fearsome reputation they have bequeathed to posterity.

While the Peloponnese had been settled for millennia, the Spartans with which we are familiar were the descendents of the Dorian migrant/invaders that precipitated the Greek Dark Age. While the original Dorians had consisted of vast tribal confederations, these degraded to the point where most lived in semi-isolated villages under their own direction.

Sparta as such was not a traditional City-State, but a collection of 4 (later 5)

villages that banded together into a single unit. Indeed, it was said that future generations would scarcely believe the stories of Sparta’s power based on the paltry remains they had left behind.

Beginning around the year 800 B.C. these 'Spartans' began their conquest of the rest of their region (Laconia), and brought those other independent Dorian villages under their control. Then, in a great war lasting some twenty years (c.740-720 B.C.) the Spartans conquered the neighbouring region of Messenia.

So it was that by the late 8th century B.C. that Sparta had moved from being a microstate like so many other Greek powers, to a vast imperium controlling almost half the Peloponnese.

The Spartans gave credit for their unique way of life to a semi-mythical lawgiver named Lycurgus. Whether he existed or not is unknown, but the institutions he allegedly created were real enough.

The post-Lycurgan system consisted of a mixture of pre-existing institutions that had been reformed, and new ones created expressly as a result. At the top remained the two kings, but their ruling circle was reformed into a council known as the Gerousia (consisting of 30 men: the 2 kings and 28 others elected by the Assembly).

The Assembly itself consisted of all male Spartan citizens,

and unlike some other such bodies, they did not debate issues or set the agenda of meetings, but merely voted on options presented to them by the Gerousia. However, the Assembly likewise elected 5 officials known as Ephors, who initially looked after such issues as the education and legal systems, but in later history would assume greater powers, allowing them to act as foils to the power of the kings.

In this way the Spartans developed a pseudo-democratic system: While still a kingship, the kings were merely 2 of the 30 council members, and while the council set the agenda of the state, it was up to the Assembly of citizens to elect the council and to actually decide what course of action was to be taken. As such, without regard for wealth or lineage, Lycurgus had made all citizens as equal as possible, allowing for the rise of this tightly knit, highly organized state.

While there were plenty of inhabitants in the Spartan state who didn't qualify for citizenship, what made a Spartan? Lycurgus eliminated the old class and racial distinctions left over from the Dark Age by instituting probably the single most important element of Spartan society: the Agoge.

This was a system of education dedicated to creating citizens who were highly developed both morally and physically. At birth infants were inspected, and those with some form of disability were left to die of exposure. When the crop of healthy boys reached the age of 7, they entered into the Agoge, where they learned to endure harsh conditions & hunger while mastering stealth and cunning, in addition to more traditional educational pursuits.

At age 20 they became members of the Spartan army, and were allowed to apply for membership in one of the collective 'Mess' organizations. The Mess was a group that ate together daily, with attendance absolutely mandatory except for the most important of events (such as sacrifices). This was designed to build up a sense of comradeship, and to inculcate a sense of fealty to the institution.

Above all else Spartans were expected to hold loyalty to the state as the most important of all virtues. In this way Sparta was able to build a body of mentally and physically powerful citizens to rule the state and to man the most important of Sparta's institutions: the army.

Like all the armies of Archaic Greece, Sparta's army consisted of citizen-soldiers, but unlike the others, the Spartans were professional soldiers to a man. Each citizen was forbidden to pursue any profession outside of military training, and as a result the Spartans produced the best individual soldiers in the world.

Each of the five constituent villages of Sparta contributed a regiment (Lochoi) to the overall army, each consisting of approximately 1,000 soldiers (albeit the citizen population varied over time).

While this may seem like a small number for such a powerful nation, keep in mind the relatively small size of the City-States meant that armies of a few thousand were common.

As well, the nature of Greek warfare as it was evolving (with the Hoplite and Phalanx at the centre) prized discipline and training over reckless courage and bravado. While the Spartans certainly had no shortage of courage, they were more able and inclined than other Greeks to hold the phalanx's formation, giving them a massive advantage.

While the Spartans had built up a great system of producing, training, and ruling citizens, how was it that they supported themselves?

With the conquest of Laconia the other Dorian villages had been assigned the status of Perioikoi (dwellers-around). They were the 'middle class' of Spartan society, craftsmen and merchants who, though lacking the rights of Spartan citizenship, were still subject to military service and Spartan law, but were otherwise allowed to run the affairs of their villages themselves.

The other, much larger portion of the population of the Spartan state was the Helots. Consisting of the remaining non-Spartan or Perioikoi population of Laconia and almost all of Messenia, the Helots had been reduced to a state of abject slavery. They enjoyed no rights and were utilized almost exclusively as agricultural labour

While slavery was common in all Greek states (and indeed in virtually all ancient human societies), the Helots were not owned by individual Spartans. Rather, they were owned to the state, and assigned to specific plots of land to farm, much like serfs in the middle ages of Europe. Each plot was in turn assigned to a Spartan citizen who would collect a percentage of the Helots produce, which he then in turn donated to his communal Mess.

As the Spartan way of life depended on military prowess, membership in these Mess organizations was required for citizenship, and if a Spartan could not provide the required allotment of food to the mess, he was expelled. Thus, to preserve the Spartan state and its citizens, the Helots were absolutely essential.

However, the sheer number of Helots meant that the threat of an uprising was constantly in the Spartans minds (as a rule of thumb, to feed 10 people with preindustrial agriculture, 9 have to be farmers: thus 5,000 Spartans needed at least 45,000 Helots, and combined with the non-farming Perioikoi this number would have ballooned into the hundreds of thousands).

So while the Spartans were constantly alert for Helot treachery and kept a tight, brutal control over them, they were in some ways themselves limited by this way of life (i.e. wary of sending too much of the army abroad for too long).

Overall though, Helot revolts were relatively few, and the Spartan system was renowned by fellow Greeks for its effectiveness and stability, while managing to last for centuries.