The area of the southern Peloponnese where the Dorians settled 80 years after the fall of Troy (1104) and founded Sparta was called Lacedaimon. Over time its inhabitants were called Laconians and Lacedaemonians.
Homer describing the arrival of Telemachus in Sparta refers to the palace of Menelaus. No Mycenaean palace has been found in Sparta nor any other Mycenaean findings that allow the identification of Homeric with Doric Sparta. On the contrary, Therapni, which is located near Sparta, has proven to be an important Mycenaean center. In Therapni, Pausanias mentions that he saw the Messida spring that has a Prodorian name. For these reasons, the opinion has been formulated that Therapni and not Sparta was the capital of the Achaean state. According to the findings of the excavations, Therapni seems to have been deserted during 1200 BC, a century before the settlement of the Dorians in Laconia. That Doric Sparta was founded for the first time after the establishment of the Dorians can be seen from the words of Strabo <Enice Procles gathered Sparta> Procles was the founder of the Spartan dynasty of the Eurypontids, and Isocrates calls the Dorian settlers of Sparta .The Dorians led by Heraklide Hyllon attempted to enter the Peloponnese in 1200 BC but were intercepted at the Isthmus by allied Peloponnesian troops led by the king of the Arcadians Ehemus. A new descent took place in 1104 BC and a part of them occupied the Hollow of Lacedaemon when the Eurysthenes twins were kings. and Prokles
sons of Aristodemus and grandsons of Hyllos. After the settlement of the Dorians in the Hollow of Lacedaemon, the country was divided into 6 parts with the main centers being Sparta, Amykles and Phari in the western Parnonas, Aegi, La near Gythio and possibly Voies near cape of Malea. The dual royal authority in Sparta was not continued by the Procleides and the Eurysthenes but by the Eurypontides and the Agiades. first Dorians with non-Dorians. The result of this settlement was the creation of the 4th Spartan county of the Lakes. The excavations in the county of the Lake Sanctuary proved that the first settlement took place in 1000 BC.
A MESSINIAN
Sparta began to turn its attention to the fertile plain of Messinia in the middle of the 8th century BC. Sparta's expansionist mood against Messinia is evidenced by the fact that the Messenian king Fintas commissioned the Corinthian poet Eumelus to compose a prosodium in which there were allusions for Sparta's enmity against his state. Sparta without declaring war invaded Messenia with an army led by Ayadis Alkamenes. Officially declared war led by Eurypontides Theopompos. The war lasted 20 years. The Lacedaemonians based in the Messenian city of Ampheia they raided and plundered Messenia. The Messenians were finally defeated. And then some migrated to Arcadia, others to Argolis and others to Lower Italy where they settled in Rhegium. The rest submitted to Sparta. The main result of this victory of the Lacedaemonians was the increase of possessions their.
B MESSINIAKOS.
The Messinians rebel against Sparta and the Second Messinian War begins. Under Pausanias it broke out 2 generations after the first. The center of the Messinian resistance became the ancient royal city of Andania. At the beginning the Messenians managed to have success, they even won a battle as a result of which the Lacedaemonians partially lost their courage, and the Messenians to ask for help. Then many and powerful opponents joined forces against Sparta. Sparta's worst enemy, however, became internal dissension. The looting and raids by the Messenians resulted in the appearance of wheat farming. During this war, the Messenians had allies Arcadians, Athenians, Argites, Pisates. And the Second Messenian lasted about 20 years. The Messenians, however, were finally defeated, probably mainly due to the adoption of the phalanx by the Lacedaemonians and the satisfaction of the demands of the Spartan municipality, which henceforth fought with strength and self-sacrifice. Also because the war was long, many Messenians fled to Arcadia, others to Kyllini, in Lower Italy and in Rhodes. After the end of the war, the Messenians were definitively relegated to helots. Coastal areas of Messinia were deserted, Pylos fell into complete obscurity.
MEGA EARTHQUAKE-C MESSINAKOS.
In 465 BC a great earthquake occurred in Sparta that shook the Eurotas valley. Chasms opened, rocks fell from the Taygetus, most public and private buildings became ruins. 20,000 Lacedaemonians were killed, most of them Spartans. In addition, the Helots revolted as they saw the event as an opportunity for revenge .But the new king Eurypontides Archidamus immediately after the earthquake armed those citizens who had survived and repelled the Helots.
SOCIAL HISTORY - THE CLERICS.
The first Dorians of Laconia divided the land into equal lots. After the descent of the Dorians to Laconia, a large part of the pro-Dorian population was enslaved and some left, others maintained their autonomy, others accepted the supremacy of the Dorian conquerors. Of these populations, others became slaves and they cultivated the lots of the conquerors. Those who did not accept the Dorians as conquerors were confined to mountainous areas and became peasants. Small and barren lots were distributed among them. Agiadis of King Polydorus. The size of each lot cannot be precisely determined. According to other researchers, the Spartan lot was 35 acres, according to others 50-60 or larger. The Spartan lot usually brought 70 mediums of barley to its Spartan owner and 12 mediums of barley to his wife. It was inalienable and tied to the civil rights of its owner. The owners of lots had the right but not the right to sell and transfer them. In this way the right of lots ensured the survival and political rights of the Spartans and the nationalization of the lots ensured in Sparta a permanent army. The hereditary law of the Spartans was briefly as follows. The heir was the first-born son who was called estiopamon (paomai = estates). The term desposynos (the young master) was also related. The other brothers of the heir remained in the same house and he had the obligation to provide them with the necessary things for their survival. If he also provided them with the necessary food for subsistence, they were also perfect citizens (equal). If not, they were expelled and became citizens with reduced rights (minors). But while the lots remained unchanged, families multiplied and large families had increased maintenance problems. That is why very early on there was a demand for new land reclamation. Some reclamation took place during the reign of Polydorus after the conquest of Messinia. On the other hand, during the great earthquake of 465 BC many were killed and the population decreased enough that the demand weakened. But after the victory of the Spartans at the Aegos Potamis in 404 BC and the end of the Peloponnesian war it reappeared in a more acute form. After the end of this war a class of plutocrats appeared. Shortly after 400 BC the law on the inalienability of lots was overturned. After the battle of Leuctra, Sparta lost the lots of Messinia and in the later era the Spartans were forced to cultivate their own lots. Over time the situation worsened and in the 3rd century BC the political body of the Lacedaemonians turned out to consist of 700 people of which 100 were rich while there were 2,000 Spartans who did not have political rights because they did not have a lot.
THE POPULATION
During the alfalfa wars, Sparta is estimated to have had 40,000-50,000 Spartans 8,000-10,000 fighting men. According to Isocrates, the Dorian conquerors in 1104 BC were no more than 2,000 fighting men, while Plutarch affirms that under Lycurgus there were 9,000 fighting men, i.e. the whole population of 45,000 and of the perioceans 150,000. Because usually the number of elots was more than twice the number of perioceans it would have been 300,000. The total population of Laconia under Lycurgus would have been approximately 500,000. But the population of Sparta decreased mainly during the 5th century wars and the great earthquake so that when the Thebans invaded Laconia in 369 BC the city according to Xenophon was oliganthropotic. There were other factors of this oliganthropy. The Spartan had no right to engage in any other work apart from military work. He did not have the right of a citizen if they were deprived of a lot. This resulted in the limitation of births because if there were many offspring the lot was not sufficient for their nutrition and maintenance and it was not possible to contribute to the sissiti.
Another reason was the deletion from the lists of citizens of all the tresands, that is, those who showed cowardice during the battle. In addition, the naturalization of the periociums to increase the number of citizens was not allowed. The political body of the Spartan state was made up of the Spartans. This body remained stable and permanent since the lots were fixed and permanent and the naturalization of new Spartans was forbidden. This body constituted the ruling class and the fighting force of the state. stay of the members in the country. Classes of nobility that divided the body politic of Sparta did not exist at least after the 6th century. But there were always richer Spartans than others. A real plutocratic class and indeed of large landowners was created after 400 BC and strengthened after the 4th century. members of the political body of Sparta were called Spartans and Lacedaemonians. The local people were called the other Lacedaemonians. But the term Lacedaemonians was used by foreigners and the term Spartans within the state. Spartans were 1) those who had both Spartan parents 2) successfully passed the civil education, i.e. the various stages of education as defined by the legislation of the city. 3) Those who lived as defined by the laws of the city and contributed to the sissites as defined by the law but also participated in them. The Spartans wore these clothes, carried the same weapons, ate the same food and had the same rights and duties. For this reason they were called equals and similar to each other. They were forbidden to travel outside the borders of the state without the permission of the city. There were permanent guards posted on the borders of the country.
THE REGIONAL PEOPLE
After the establishment of the Dorians in the valley of the Eurotas, the pre-Dorian populations who accepted the Dorian suzerainty withdrew to the mountainous areas on both sides of the Eurotas in Parnon and Taygetus. Initially there were 100. But in Messinia there were cities of perioceans. Among the perioceanic cities there are also 7 that were peculiar colonies. One of them was Nea Asini in the Messinian gulf, a refugee settlement of the Argolic Asini. Another was the Methon settlement of Nafplion refugees, another in Thyreati, where the Aeginites settled after being expelled by the Athenians. On the lower reaches of the Pamisos, two cities, Thuria and Phares, had Doric and non-Doric populations who had friendly relations with Sparta. the arts and trade. They produced ceramics, textiles and carpentry products, they made tools and weapons. They were known for the Laconian embades (slippers) and Laconian cloths as well as Laconian tables. They were also shipbuilders and builders. The products of their work were sold themselves having the ability to trade outside the borders of the state. They were basically divided into 2 classes) Those who were engaged in agriculture and animal husbandryb) Those who were engaged in trade. On the one hand, the cities of the periociums were subordinate to the public of Sparta. Each of them had autonomous law, independence in the exercise of worship and its own festivals. But they were all under the authority of the public of Sparta and not of the kings. conscription. In the battle of Plataea, 5,000 Spartans and 10,000 perioceans fought. The periocean landowners usually enlisted in the oplite corps by providing their armament. When in 424 BC cavalry was created from Sparta, the perioceans were obliged to provide a horse with a rider. They were also used as eretes , i.e. crews of the Spartan fleet. It seems that they did not pay taxes. So they lacked civil rights but they had trade in their hands and could go outside the city. Their women were famous as educators. landowners.
THE ELOTES.
They came from the ancient Dorians of Messinia after the Messenian wars. The word seems to come rather from the subject of the verb aliskomai-ealoun Falonai-Felotes, elotes helotes which means to dominate. The Helotes were not characterized as Lacedaemonians, they came from the Achaeans. integral part of the Spartan clergy and permanently settled in it.
In each Spartan lot there were 2-3 families of elots up to 15 people. The master of the lot did not have absolute authority over them, he could neither sell them nor set them free. Only the state had this right. To their master they were giving 70 aeginetas of barley and 12 to his wife. Probably these 82 medimni were the bulk of the barley-producing lot, and it has been suggested that the Helots used pulses for their diet. The income that they paid to their lord was called apophora. Pigs were raised on the lots. In periods of wheat production the helots suffered but in a normal period, the period of euphoria, it was possible to increase their incomes. Of course, their personal security was non-existent and this because the city was in danger, the ephors had the right to arrest and kill acrites, i.e. without trial, those helots who they considered dangerous. The helots harbored a strong hatred against the Spartans, so the Spartans made sure that the helots did not move around with spears and generally did not have weapons. for the same reason, the invaders in Laconia knew that they would have the support of the slaves. When the Helots were in the army, they were used as gunmen or as disorderly squires, so the weapons were provided by the city. They also fought as hoplites, as in the Peloponnesian war. When the campaign was large and distant because there was a fear of a revolution by the helots if there were many left in the country, the Spartans would take many. That is why in the battle of Plataea 5,000 Spartans fought, each of them accompanied by 7 helots, 35,000 in total. The helots were fed at the expense of the areas through which they passed. They also served in the navy as eretes-rowers. The most important measure against the helots was concealment.
According to this institution, whenever it was thought that there was a mood of revolution among the helots, a detachment of armed young Spartans between 18-20 years of age returned to the country and any helots they met at night were killed on the spot, believing that they were secretly plotting for a revolution. In this way, they were freed from the most violent and excellent of the helots. And because murder was considered an innocent act without proof of the victim's guilt, the regents, when they assumed their duties, declared war against the helots and in this way there was an official war between Sparta and the helots every year. The murder therefore of elots was not considered a single act, i.e. it did not require purification like common murder. There is the opinion that the institution of the crypt was established in 464 BC. After the great earthquake and the revolution of the helots. However, it seems that this is an old tradition. And this is because with the concealment they sought to suppress any tendency of the helots for revolution and with the murder of the most Roman and intelligent, the limitation of their possibilities for revolution. Many sometimes the helots were freed from the state. Usually when they distinguished themselves in the war. Those who were freed in this way were called by various names, freedmen, strays, gravediggers, despots and neodamites. They and their children lived henceforth free, but deprived of their political rights. The helots freed in the campaign against Amphipolis were called Brasidians. Many were also freed during the siege of Sphakteria because they crossed the sea to supply the besieged Spartans. Cleomenes III passed a law by which helots could be freed in exchange for 5 mno o each and 5,000 helots were then freed. The helots could marry daughters or widows of Spartans, but their children were deprived of political rights and inheritances and their children were called epenacti. This happened mainly during the Messinian wars which lasted a long time. But the Spartans could also to have children with iliotides who were denied political rights and were called mothones or mothakes. Lysander and Gylippos were included in this category.
CIVIL AND MILITARY EDUCATION.,,
The Spartans did not live for themselves nor for their homes. They lived for the state, for the public and within the public. They were alike. When a baby was born, the elders of the tribes examined it. If it was healthy, they gave it to its parents. The unfit and sick were thrown into the abyssal chasms of the Taygetus called apothetai. The returned infants were raised by their mothers until they were 7 years old. From 1-8 the Spartan was called a propaedion and from 8-13 a child. After 8 years the they were given to the pedagogues who took charge of their education for 6 years. The boys were brought up with the main aim of acquiring political virtue, like brothers. They acquired physical strength, learned the handling of weapons, practiced discipline, prowess and cunning to deceive the enemies. At 7 in the years they were enrolled in the bua, a group made up of kasios, peers, then in the herd made up of peers and non-peers and in the ili, a military group made up of various ages. In the herd there were children of various ages, the inspinalai, older children and the hey, younger guys.
They performed under the supervision of a vaago or vaagoros, i.e. by a peer who was supervised by the pedonomo who was flanked by teenage whip-bearers. According to his age, each Spartan was called a rovides-8 years old, a novice-9 years old, propais-10 years old, protopapais-11 years old, pais and atropabais-12 years old. After 12 they were called mellirin. After 13 to 14 the natural puberty began until the age of 20. During this period the teenagers were called irenes or irenes and were in charge of the herds. And the ages of the irenes were divided into different years, while those who belonged to the last class were called ballers because they boxed with a ball, boxing glove in a team competition. After the 20th year of peace they became men and enlisted, and those of age or guards were called until the 60th year, making up the fighting force until then of the city. During their treatment they had short hair, they wore very light clothes and no shoes, they practiced and played naked, they slept on reeds that they cut themselves from Eurotas without a knife, they bathed during the winter in its icy waters river. They were co-responsible for maintaining cleanliness, ate very little and underwent whipping
at the altar of Standing Artemis in their attempt to grab pieces of cheese on the altar. The winners of this attempt were called altar girls. They were taught reading and writing, music and dance, practicing mainly in epic and choral poetry and musical instruments such as the flute and lyre. From the age of 10 they took part in musical competitions called keloya or moa-musa as well as in athletic competitions called keteratoria which included animal fights and hunting. They were also systematically taught history. They danced in armor and naked. well-known dances were the pyrrhos with the accompaniment of the flute or the lyre. There were also a number of religious dances. landing that required skill and practice so that the soles after vertical small jumps touch the buttocks. The Spartans practiced hardiness, determination, obedience, respect for elders, impassiveness, curtness, modesty, decorum, benevolence, sobriety. This education began to imposed after the Second Messinian War and was definitively imposed when Sparta began in the 6th century BC to create a network of alliances. This ideal was the highest patriotic and military ideal.
After the 20th year the Spartans were in the army and after the 30th they were citizens, but not by right. They were elected after a unanimous election by the senate by demygdalia with a piece of breadcrumbs thrown in the form of a vote in a small bucket. And with 1 negative vote he could be demoted in rank of the sub-minorities. As individual citizens, the Spartans did not have the power that the citizens of other cities had. They went to the Church of the Municipality. They did not buy anything except with the permission of the tax authorities. After 20 years they had long hair and beards, they wore an iron ring, they held bacteria, decorated their heads with a wreath.
SPARTAN LIFE.
There was a perception that long hair made the good look more decent and the ugly look more fearsome.
They all lived together and ate together.
Married people had the right to spend part of the day alone and to sleep at home after the age of 30. The sissitia were also called phiditia, Xenophon calls them syskenia. groups. Each sissytia consisted of 15 men who ate at the same table and slept in the same tent. These 15 sissytia were part of a military unit, 2 sissytia formed a triad. The smallest military unit was the enomotia. The sissytia were headed by the warlord , the highest leader of the army after the kings. In each sissitio, the Creodaitis, the highest palace official, is mentioned. The daily meals were 3 a) the akratisma, breakfast consisting of bread and wine b) the aristo - lunch and c) the aiklon - dinner. Main food of the meals was the honey broth that was also called vaffa and hematia from pork and vinegar. The Spartans had to contribute every month the necessary, 1 Aeginean medimno of barley, 75 liters per month, 8 hoes of wine, 36.5 liters, 5 months of cheese- 3 kilograms, 2.5 months of figs and 10 Aeginean obolus. The life of the Spartans was austere and hard.
FAMILY LAW.
In Sparta, only 1 marriage was enforced and polygamy was forbidden. Trials of celibacy, polygamy, and adultery are mentioned. That is, trials for those who did not marry, for those who married late and for those who had an incompatible marriage. The link between men and women in ancient Sparta was loose because all during the day the men were with their friends from the age of 8. They did not share a table with their wives and the women were more dominant than in any other part of Greece because they managed their homes alone economically and administratively with complete freedom.
ΕΘΙΜΑ ΤΑΦΗΣ.
The deceased was wrapped in a red shroud with laurel leaves and buried or burned on a shield. No offerings were placed or an inscription on the grave unless he had fallen on the battlefield. No lamentation was allowed in his utterance unless he was a king. Mourning it lasted 10 days and ended with a sacrifice to Demeter.
ΝΟΜΙΣΜΑΤΑ
Instead of a coin, Sparta used Taugetos iron, which circulated as an exchange item in the form of oboles (iron skewers) or in the form of pelans (loaves). The Lacedaemonians acquired coins around 300 BC.
ΓΡΑΦΗ
The laconic alphabet was simple, resembling that of the Phoenicians.
ARMY.
They consisted of Spartans and perioceans. They were hoplites lined up in a phalanx, marching slowly forward in battle. All the conscripts aged 20-60 who belonged to a county were called oves. The oves were originally 5. But the fighting force was divided into 5 companies or mores of hoplites. Each company had 1,000 men. These companies were Sinis, Sorinas, Ploas, Mesoatis and Edolos or Aidolios. Herodotus also mentions a company called Pitanatis. During the 6th century BC it seems that the Lacedaemonians also had a few horses .In fact, 300 horsemen are mentioned as an elite body. But these horsemen discarded the horses very early and kept only the name. However, because the Athenians during the Peloponnesian war sent their fleet and landed on the shores of Laconia in 424BC, a Laconian cavalry was formed from 400 horsemen and archers. Later they became 600 and were divided into 6 mores with 2 opulams. Other divisions of the Spartan army were the 8 pentecostias and 12 enomotias. A special company was the Scyrites. The Spartans wore a phoenix uniform to keep up their morale when they were stained by bleeding of wounds, bronze shield and long hair while marching into battle accompanied by a phalanx flute. The Lacedaemonian navy was not remarkable. During the naval battle of Salamis it had only 16 warships. Only during the Peloponnesian War did they acquire a remarkable navy and a naval station in Gytheio in which there was a fortress to guard the ships.
RHETRA AND LYCURGOS.
The state legislation of Sparta was attributed to Lycurgus and was included in the clause, i.e. in a divine, above law that had been given as an oracle by Pythia. The oracle contained the diagram of the political legislation of Sparta and constituted its charter, its constitutional law. But for the physiognomy of Lycurgus, the testimonies were many and different. The connection of Lycurgus with the Delphic sanctuary was probably due to the attempt of the Spartan authorities to extract the sanctuary's approval for the implementation of the clause around the middle of the 7th century BC. It was attributed then the clause in Lycurgus in whose honor a sanctuary was founded for the unimpeded implementation of the clause. Lycurgus was an extra-Spartan personality, probably Prodorian, of Arcadian origin because there is mention of a king of Tegea, Lycurgus, who was deified after his death and identified with Lyceum Zeus. This personality was adopted by Sparta perhaps through the oracle of Delphi.
THE FEES ARE BEGINNING.
The first authority of Sparta was the kingship, then the senate and third the ephors. There was therefore in Sparta a mixture of oligarchic, democratic and monarchical polity.
DOUBLE KINGDOM
In Sparta there were 2 kings who belonged to the houses of one genus of the first of the Doric tribes, the Hylleans. The 2 royal houses were rivals and did not maintain any intermarriage. They were called Eurysthenes and Procleides, but mainly they were called Agiadae and Eurypontidae. The king of Sparta he was succeeded by his eldest son. He had to be able-bodied since he also had priestly duties. If he was a minor, Prodikos was appointed commissioner. If the kingship was claimed by 2 people, the issue was resolved by the church of the municipality or the senate. Both kings had annuities, honors and duties. They also had extraordinary entrances, they took the skin from every public victim, at every pig birth they took a piglet the delphaca. On the 1st and 7th of every month they took from the public an animal that they sacrificed to Apollo. They took a large part of his spoils They were allowed to own gold and silver coins. They were buried at public expense, they performed every sacrifice to the gods in the name of the municipality. Sparta as well as the adjudication of 3 types of lawsuits 1) Cases on public roads 2) Cases of parents or guardians 3) Cases of adoption and serious criminal trials.
SENATE-HOUSE OF ELDERS
The senate had 30 members. This number included both kings. Its members were elected and not under 60 years of age. Xenophon also calls it Gerodian. Lakonisti was also called Gerochia. Only the elite had the right to vote. Initially, this right they were limited to the members of the old powerful families who were the heads of the 27 factions'. Over time it was extended to those who were excellent, had an excellent life. The senate therefore represented the old aristocratic-oligarchic element. It was equivalent to the Roman senate. The candidates they were presented in the church of the municipality and they decided by acclamation. There was a committee that was closed in a room without seeing the candidates together with one of the prefects. After hearing the acclamation of the church, he drew up a table according to the degree of success and from this the candidate who was considered stood out that he would come first. After his election, the new member of the senate was honored by his relatives. Senators were not drafted because of age. The senate was a judicial body, the most important court of the state because its criminal jurisdiction referred to crimes even of kings for which the penalty was flight-exile, dishonor or death. When the power of the tax authorities increased, these crimes were reported and brought to the senate for trial by the tax authorities. Therefore, in the case of a king's trial, the composition of the court was 34 members. The vote it was obvious and the presiding officer voted last. As a political body, he recommended the cases that would be brought to the municipal church for a vote.
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