This Is Sparta

The Geographical Setting

• End of a small but very fertile river plain about 14km long
• River Eurotas – fresh water supply
• Spartan territory ran to the sea at Gytheon, 46km away on the Lakonian gulf
• Impressive mountain ranges to the east (Mt. Parnon) and west (Mt. Taygetos), providing
Sparta with a natural defensive barrier
• Various natural resources including limestone, marble, wood, iron, barley, olive trees,
grapes, cheese from goats, wool from sheep, meat from pigs, honey from bees, leather items
from animal hides, horses, wild animals such as boars, seafood, murex mollusc gave purple-
red dye
• Three tribes
• Four villages (komai): Limnai, Pitana, Kynosoura, Mesoa – joined together into one city
state in 9th Century BC
• Polis grew over a number of small hills, one ridge developed as akropolis
• No fortifications until 4th Century BC... completed in 2nd Century BC
• Temples, shrines, theatre, agora

Social Structure and Political Organisation

• Plato could not decide if the Spartan government was a democracy or a tyranny, Aristotle
described it as a happy mix of democracy and oligarchy, while Cicero called it a mixed
constitition
• Lykourgos and the Great Rhetra
◦ Lykourgos traditionally seen as the one who introduced the constitution – Plutarch
◦ Historians such as H. Michel and A, Andrewes strongly doubt his exitance
◦ Travelled to Apollo's shrine at Delphi and received a prose poem known as the Great
Rhetra which gave abstract advice on what the constitution should be – Plutarch
◦ Mentions Kings and gerousia but not ephors – Xenophon, Plato, Aristotle suggest they
were put into place later to curb the unfettered power of the kings and the gerousia
◦ Plutarch quotes the Rider, and additional clause to be added to the Great Rhetra which
limits the power of the ekklesia so that they cannot propose new motions or change the
wording of others
◦ Historian David Ogden suggests that the Rider is actually the first document and the
Great Rhetra is a more developed form of that
• The two Kings (Herodotus lists their rights and privileges)
◦ One came from the Agiad family
◦ One came from the Eurypontid fanily
◦ They were the chief priests of the state and kept oracles from Delphi
◦ They were war leaders but only one at a time led the army on campaign
◦ They were given special meats from the sacrifices and double rations in mess
◦ They had limited judicial powers
◦ They were members of the gerousia
◦ They had a voice in foreign affairs debates
◦ They were supervised by the ephors
◦ They swore an oath to the ephors that they would uphold the law
◦ They could be put on trial and deposed
◦ Their political power appears limited
• The gerousia (Council of Elders)
 ◦ Comprised the twenty-eight gerontes and the two Kings
◦ The gerontes had to be “the best and most deserving men past 60 years old” – Plutarch
◦ Elected for life by the ekklesia via acclamation – Plutarch
◦ Aristotle says the method of election is childish and also that it is unwise to have senile
old men in such positions of power
◦ Wide judicial power in serious criminal cases involving death, exile or disgrace
◦ They could put the kings on trial
◦ They proposed laws and framed the wording of legislation to be approved or rejected by
the ekklesia
◦ Oligarchic element in constitution
◦ Lykourgos' attempt to limit power of Kings – Plutarch
• The five ephors – Aristotle
◦ Democratically elected by the citizens in the ekklesia
◦ Supervised the kings on campaign during war and often appear to have been more
powerful than the king
◦ Chief officials of the state
◦ Influential in deciding foreign policy and met foreign envoys
◦ Wide-ranging police powers over the daily lives of citizens and helots
◦ Presided over meetings of the ekklesia
◦ Worked closely with the gerousia and attended court cases
◦ Swore an oath each month to uphold the powers of the Kings provided the Kings acted
lawfully
◦ Seen as effectively a tyranny by Aristotle and Xenophon because of their near unlimited
power
• The ekklesia
◦ Comprised all males over 30 years old who were citizens
◦ Met once a month, outdoors
◦ Usually voted by acclamation but could also physically divide into different groups
according to Thucydides
◦ Could not debate issues, change the wording of motions, start consideration of new
issues or propose new laws or policies
◦ Elected 5 ephors each year and elected men to fill vacancies in the gerousia
◦ Appointed generals and admirals
◦ If the ephors disapproved of a motion passed by the ekklesia they could refuse to
proclaim it
• Spartiates
◦ Males over the age of 30 years who had completed their education and training and
enjoyed citizenship of the polis of Sparta
◦ They had to have legitimate membership of one of the three Spartan tribes
◦ Citizenship was only achieved after successful completion of a training regime, and it
was conditional on acceptance as a member of a military mess
◦ Citizenship could be lost because of cowardice or dishonourable actions
• Perioikoi
◦ Were neither Spartan citizens nor slaves
◦ “men who live in houses around”
◦ Generally assumed to be a remnant of the pre-Dorian population that was not enslaved at
the time of the Spartan conquest of the land.
◦ Described as 'half-citizens' because they served as hoplites and were considered to be
part of the Lakedaimonian army but did not have the same level of training
 ◦ They were subject to taxation and were supervised by the ephors
◦ Were presumably the only ones involved in craftwork by the 5th Century BC due to the
laws of Lykourgos
• Inferiors
◦ A number of different terms to indicate inferiors
◦ Mothakes were playmate of Spartan children in the agoge who did not go on to become
citizens
◦ Parthenai means children of maidens and it has been speculated that they may be the
offspring of illegitimate unions between Spartan women and helots
◦ Xenophon uses the term hypomeiones but does not define it
◦ Tresentes were soldiers who had shown cowardice in battle
◦ Neodamodeis were former helots whose military service had been rewarded with
freedom but not citizenship
• Helots
◦ Generally thought to be serfs, descendants of the original enslaved populations of
Lakonia and Messenia
◦ Paul Cartledge describes them as “an unfree people not a random collection of
individually owned slaves”
◦ Clear distinction between helots which were owned by the State and douloi who could
be bought and sold on the market
◦ Sparta was based on a state-run serfdom — helots worked the agricultural land
◦ It is unknown how many there were, but they outnumbered the Spartans to a degree that
caused Sparta considerable concern and anxiety and that they took active measures to
terrorise them
◦ Were required to perform army service as servants and combatants
◦ Could be given freedom as a reward for military service (see Inferiors)
◦ Fear of helot revolt kept the Spartans in a high state of preparedness and meant the army
could not be away for long for fear of a revolt in their absence
◦ Were terrorised by the krypteia, the secret police, and new ephors would often arbitrarily
declare war against them as a display of power
• Role of the Spartan Army
◦ Made up of hoplites — heavily armed infantry who fought as a phalanx
◦ The phalanx was vulnerable from the rear and along its flanks so needed skirmishers or
cavalry for protection
◦ According to Thucydides in the 5th Century BC, phalanxes were made up of 8 rows
▪ 4 rows to a platoon, 4 platoons to a company, 4 companies to a battalion
▪ Army comprised of 5 or 7 battalions
◦ According to Xenophon in the 4th Century BC, phalanxes were made up of 12 rows
▪ 2 rows to a platoon, 2 platoons to a company, 2 companies to a battalion, 4 battalions
to a regiment
▪ Army comprised of 6 regiments
◦ King in battle had an elite force of 300 men – Thucydides and Herodotos
◦ Also special detachments such as cavalry, light-armed troops, peltasts who would pelt
the enemy with missiles
◦ Strengths
▪ Hoplite phalanx – strength and reliability
▪ High level of preparedness – discipline and training
▪ Ability to raise other forces from perioikoi and helots
◦ Weaknesses
 ▪ Lacked sufficient cavalry to protect hoplites
▪ Training and tactics were inflexible
▪ Vulnerable to archers, slingers and javelin throwers
▪ Displayed a lack of skill in attacking fortified positions and cities
▪ Manpower shortages, esp. by 4th Century BC
◦ Idealised view of Spartan army presented by Herodotos who also reports that not every
Spartan soldier lived up to such high ideals
◦ Once of the 300 Spartans in the Battle of Thermopylai ran away to avoid battle and was
shunned by society – he did, however, regain his honour by fighting and dying bravely
in the Battle of Plataia
◦ An officer in the Spartan army during the Battle of Plataia refused to stage a strategic
withdrawal as commanded by Pausanias – he was forced to move or be left behind
◦ Herodotos also records the Spartans as not being able to take a Persian defensive
position when Athens could and also shows them as unable to mount an attack on the
walls of Athens
◦ During the Peloponnesian War, a group of Spartiates surrendered to Athenian forces,
dealing a huge blow to Spartan pride and morale
◦ Poetry of Tyrtaios from the 7th Century BC intended to inspire soldiers and has given us
a good picture of the fighting methods of the Spartan army
• Syssitia
◦ Syssition was the mess – designed to give daily expression to the concept of Spartan
equality and encouraged fellowship and unity
◦ All Spartiates were required to be members of a syssition
◦ All mess members had to agree to the admission of a new member and failure to gain
admission would mean social exclusion and disgrace
◦ Daily attendance at the evening meal was obligatory – only a hunting expedition or
pressing religious duties were considered to be acceptable excuses
◦ Food was provided out of the monthly contributions of mess members
▪ 77 litres of barley, olive oil and about 39 litres of wine, 3 kilos of cheese, 1.5 kilos of
figs, the produce coming from their own estates worked by the helots
▪ A small money contribution, in the currency of the island of Aigina, to buy fish or
meat
▪ Bounty from the hunt
◦ Drunkenness was considered shameful and the older men had to ensure that the meals
didn't degenerate into drinking parties
◦ Occasionally, helots were brought in and made drunk in order to demonstrate how
shameful it was to be unable to stand because of the effects of wine.
◦ When drunk, helots were humiliated by being forced to sing bawdy songs and dance
obscene dances
• Krypteia
◦ Spartan secret police
◦ Plutarch states that every year, the krypteia would choose the most sensible and well
regarded of the young men to go out into the country, armed with daggers and supplies,
in order to hide until nightfall when they would ambush and kill any helots on the roads
◦ Paul Cartledge argues that the principal aim of these raids “was to murder selected
troublemaking helots and spread terror among the rest”
• Agoge
◦ Agoge means 'bringing up' – education system of Sparta
◦ Through education, the young boys of Sparta were socialised an inculcated with the
values of their society
 ◦ Children who were weak or sickly looking at birth were left in a chasm to die
◦ When boys turned 7 they were brought to the barracks, organised into unit and
subdivided into packs of six, each led by the most capable boy
◦ From the age of twelve, the adolescent Spartan male took an older male lover, chosen
from the young men aged 20-30 years – Pederasty
◦ The adolescent would try to win and maintain the attention of his lover by excelling at
sport, or by displays of courage and endurance
◦ The older man would seek to be a role model of the perfect Spartan
◦ Young boys 7-12 wore a tunic, had their hair cut short, and walked around barefoot
◦ Between 12 and 20 boys were permitted to wear a cloak – hiding their hands underneath
it while walking in public
◦ At age 20, a boy became a man — playing a violent ball game symbolic of their
graduation according to Plutarch — and began to grow their hair
◦ Lykourgos believed that long hair was a sign of manhood which made men “look taller,
more dignified and more terrifying” according to Xenophon
◦ Many critic believed that Spartans were not capable of literacy, however Plutarch tells us
that of reading and writing Spartans “learned only enough to serve their needs”.
◦ Music was an important part of Spartan education – character forming
◦ It was believed that listening to music in the Dorian mode would make a Spartan manly
and brave and that certain stamping rhythms would encourage and develop a martial
attitude in would-be soldiers
◦ Spartan boys would have to learn the works of Tyrtaios by heart
◦ Flautists accompanied the hoplites to war in order to intimidate the enemy with their
shrill music
◦ Dancing was incredibly important in Spartan education – one of the most celebrated
dances being the Pyrrhic dance which was extremely athletic and included footwork
useful to a fighter.
◦ Apart from running at the dromos, Spartan youths were trained in boxing, wrestling,
throwing the discus and hurling the javelin
◦ On occasion, Spartan boys were sent out trekking into the forests to fend for themselves
by hunting in order to develop stamina and self-reliance
◦ Through the agoge, boys learned what it was to be a Spartan – Plutarch comented that all
of their education “was calculated to make them obey commands well, endure hardships
and be victorious in battle”
◦ Thucydides spoke of the Spartan system as producing a 'state-induced courage”
◦ Boys were encouraged to steal but were flogged if they were caught – Plutarch tells a
famous story about a Spartan boy and a fox
• Role and Status of Women
◦ Women were not citizens, could not participate in the ekklesia, hold political or
administrative office or serve in the military
◦ There was no conspicuous role for female members of the royal families
◦ A woman's place was in the home and her most important role was to bear children
◦ The social life of women was also severely restricted by tradition and custom
◦ They were subject to their fathers, husbands, and grown-up sons
◦ Spartan women had a reputation for being promiscuous – sleeping with men other than
their husbands in order to produce healthy children
◦ Spartan wife-lending is mentioned by Xenophon, Polybius and Plutarch
◦ Although infanticide was practised by parents in various parts of Greece, Spartan
mothers had no say in the matter – totally state controlled
◦ Girls did not take part in the agoge – staying at home to be educated in those things that
 were considered to be important for women in Spartan society
◦ Females practised athletics either naked or very scantily clad in public
◦ Xenophon tells us that it was believed that Lykourgos had established the custom for
women's training and Plutarch even suggests that they participated in foot races,
wrestling, discus throwing and javelin hurling
◦ The purpose of such intense physical training was to prepare women to bear children
◦ When an Athenian woman asked Queen Gorgo, wife of Leonidas I, why it was that
Spartan women were the only ones that could control men, she is said to have replied
“Because Spartan women are the only ones that give birth to men.”
◦ It is assumed that Spartan women had considerable control over the household –
particularly in the absence of men who ate at the syssitia
◦ There is abundant archaeological evidence for female adornment, despite the claims that
Lykourgos forbade it
◦ Throughout the Greek world, the wealth of Spartan women was legendary
◦ In the 4th Century BC, Aristotle notes that heiresses were numerous at Sparta and that
two-fifths of land there was in the hands of women
◦ Dowries were supposedly forbidden by Lykourgos but were a common practice anyway
◦ Keeping the property within a family through the marriage of heiresses to uncles or first
cousins was a common practice
◦ Herodotus says that the Kings had the right to give an orphaned heiress in marriage in
her father had not done so while alive
◦ Horse ownership and equestrian sport was an elite activity of wealthy women as well as
men and the poet Akman believed that it was flattering to women to compare them to
horses and that they, in turn, would know and appreciate the different breeds of horse
referred to in his horsey compliments
◦ Spartan women were seen to be the most reliable keepers of the Spartan spirit
◦ Women would be inclined to select males who conformed to the ideal of courage and
obedience that was endorsed by the state when considering marriage
◦ Wives were supposed to support their brave men but spurn a husband who was a
'trembler' in battle.
◦ Mothers were expected to shun their own sons if they brought the disgrace of cowardice
upon the family

The Economy
• Land Ownership
◦ Plutarch writes that each newborn boy and future citizen was given an equal plot of land
by the state known as a kleros
◦ It is thought that the kleros may have been given to a young man once he had completed
the agoge
◦ There were supposedly 9000 equal kleroi distributed among the citizens
◦ Lykourgos is credited with seeking to avoid social and economic inequalities that might
lead to social unrest
◦ The ideal, clearly admired by Plutarch, is of an equality of land and goods where the
only competition between citizens is in striving for virtue
◦ For many years this neat picture of kleroi was accepted by scholars but historians now
suspect that the kleros is merely part of the myth of equality in Sparta
◦ Nowadays many scholars believe a significant land re-distribution occurred in the 3rd
Century BC in the time of the kings Agis IV and Kleomenes III.
◦ The measures of Agis and Kleomenes were indeed revolutionary and short-lived,
however this land re-distribution may have been attributed to Lykourgos to make it seem
 legitimate.
◦ The kleros is a late invention and should not be accepted as factual due to little reliable
evidence on the subject
◦ The many instances of inequality in Spartan society call into question the very existence
of kleroi as the basis for material equality – it would seem that some people had more
land and that there were rich and poor Spartiates.
◦ Altogether, there is sufficient reason to doubt the existence of kleroi as it is mentioned
only by Plutarch who is a late and often unreliable source.
◦ Neither Herodotos nor Xenophon nor Aristotle mention the kleroi and no ancient writer
claims that they existed in his own day
◦ Thomas J. Figueira, on the other hand, argues for a modified kleros model stating that
“for the majority of Spartiates c.500, the kleros represented the main component of their
assets”
◦ The baseline of the Spartan economy was the exploitation of the land in an intensive
agriculture
◦ It can be assumed that the Spartan agricultural economy produced a surplus that could be
traded outside Sparta by boat
• Technology
◦ Corinthian style helmet provided protection for head but made it difficult to see and hear
◦ Upper body protected by a padded corselet worn over a cloth tunic
◦ Red Spartan cape
◦ Bronze greaves protected the shins, the lower leg, knee to ankle
◦ Three metre long thrusting spear
◦ Round shield emblazoned with the greek letter lambda for Lakedaimon
◦ Short iron stabbing sword tied to waist
◦ Spartan metalworkers employed the ancient technology of smelting and casting metals
◦ Forging technology was hit and miss as the scientific basis of the process was not
understood
◦ Sometimes a smith would produce a sword with a strength and character that was almost
magical – the carbon and carbon monoxide from the charcoal fire was coming into
contact with the iron and 'steeling' the sword – only two survive in archaeological record
◦ The Spartans had come to dominate the original inhabitants of Lakonia and Messenia
through their possession of iron weapons, which were stronger than those of bronze
◦ The clay that potters used came from within the area of the city of Sparta itself and is
still found along the banks of the river Eurotas
◦ In ancient Sparta we have evidence of potteries in the Kynosoura and Mesoa quarters of
the town
◦ Lakonian pottery was painted with a redish clay 'slip' rich in iron which turned black in
the firing process and made a kind of glaze
◦ Details within the outline would be incised to created lines that cut through the area to be
black glazed and revealed the clay below
◦ Fired using a simple up-draught wood kiln
◦ From mistakes and successes, together with a knowledge of the clay and the kiln,
remarkable pottery was made in Lakonia
◦ A kiln was discovered by the Greek archaeologist Chr. Christou in the Mesoa quarter of
the city of Sparta in 1964 and dated to around 600 BC
◦ Christou suggested that the large relief amphora found at the site was made there by a
group of potters who may have been Spartan citizens
• Economic roles of the perioikoi and helots
◦ Under the laws of Lykourgos, Spartiates were forbidden from engaging in craftwork,
 trade and commerce
◦ By the 5th Century BC, presumably only the perioikoi were involved in such activities
◦ The helots worked the land and produced agricultural goods for use in trade and to be
provided in the syssitia
• Economic exchange
◦ According to Plutarch, Lykourgos actively discouraged the Spartans from trading
amongst themselves or with other peoples by forbidding the use of all gold or silver
coinage
◦ Plutarch would have us believe that iron bars were used as a substitute for coinage
◦ In early Sparta, coinage was not essential for trade as goods were exchanged in a barter
economy
◦ The so-called Lykourgan ban on precious metals and the introduction of iron bars is
most probably to be dated to the late 6th Century BC
◦ The iron bars were heated red hot and then quenched in vinegar making them brittle and
useless for refashioning into something of value – this was intended to isolate the
Spartan economy
◦ It is worth noting that we have not one reference, in any source, of any person using an
iron bar in a transaction. On the other hand, we have many instances where Spartans are
either using gold or silver coinage or speaking in terms that suggest their use
◦ We might doubt that foreign coinage was completely eradicated from Sparta
◦ They had diplomatic relations with the Lydian King Kroisos so Lydian gold coins would
have been known, but the Spartans most probably used the currency of Aigina
◦ The evidence for this is strangely Plutarch for while he claims that Sparta only had
Lykourgos' iron currency, he incidentally tells us that mess contributions in Sparta
included a small monthly payment in coin for fish or meat
◦ Dikaiarkos gives the value as 10 Aiginetan bronze obols
◦ Figueira argues that Spartans held secret stocks of precious metals in their homes and as
late as the 5th Century BC commonly evaluated goods in terms of the monetary units of
Aigina and that these were standard among their allies
◦ There are many examples gathered by Figueira from the ancient sources to show that
coinage was used
◦ Bribes to Spartans were paid in coins and that corrupt officials might hide coins at home
◦ Figueira suggests that there were two Spartan economies — the ideal 'white' one and the
real 'black' one

Religion, Death and Burial

• Gods and goddesses
◦ Zeus was the ruler of Mount Olympus, associated with the sky, the clouds and thunder,
symbolised by the eagle and oak tree, the Olympic games, founded in 776 BC were held
in his honour
◦ The Spartans claimed descent from Herakles, the favourite son of Zeus and the stories of
the great man stress his strength, courage and sexual prowess
◦ The sun-god Apollo was greatly honoured in Sparta – he had an oracle at Delphi which
allegedly provided Sparta with its constitution
◦ Artemis, the sister of Apollo, was a birth goddess associated with wild animals and
untamed places – she was worshipped as Artemis Orthia in Sparta, probably because her
cult was joined with that of an ancient local goddess called Orthia
◦ Athena was a 'Guardian of the City' and her temple was decorated with sheets of bronze,
giving her the name Athena Chalkioikos – her temple was a place of refuge for those
who sought sanctuary from their pursuers
 ◦ Poseidon was the god of the sea, the god of horses, and the god of earthquakes –
Thucydides tells us that the Spartans believed the great earthquake of 465 BC was the
god's punishment of them for their seizure and killing of helots who had sought refuge at
the altar of Poseidon
• Myths and Legends
◦ Lykourgos was the ancestral hero of Sparta and Herodotos tells us that the oracle at
Delphi recognised Lykourgos' divinity after his death, prompting a temple to be built
◦ Plutarch reports that Lykourgos was esteemed for his wisdom and virtue and that after
his death he enjoyed the highest honours in Sparta
◦ Pausanias mentions that the Lakonians made a 'god's sanctuary' for Lykourgos, an 'altar'
of Lykourgos, and that behind the 'temple' Lykourgos' son, Eukosmos, was buried
◦ Menelaos was believed to have been a Mycenaean king in this area of the Peloponnese
long before the arrival of the Spartans – his wife was known as Helen of Troy
◦ There is a shrine upon a hill called the Menelaion where a great number of votive
offerings have been discovered and where it is believed that Menelaos and Helen were
buried.
◦ British archaeologist Hector Catling discovered a Bronze Age mansion in 1973 that is
believed to have been the palace of Menelaos and Helen
◦ It has been suggested that the cult of Helen developed around the Menelaos cult, but it is
possible that the original cult may have been of a vegetation goddess named Helen
which got teken over and obscured by the development of the Menelao cult
◦ Herodotos tells a story of the beautiful third wife of King Ariston who was ugly as a
baby but received the gift of beauty from a divine Helen due to the prayers of her nurse
◦ Apart from being associated with beauty, Helen was the patroness of unmarried women
◦ The Dioskouroi, Castor and Pollux, were the legendary divine twins who were
supposedly brothers of Helen, sons of Zeus
◦ They were believed to be the special protectors of the two kings and legend has it that
they took turns in protecting Sparta
◦ Castor and Pollux were credited with the ability to help those who fell unexpectedly into
peril in battle on either land or sea
◦ They were hailed as tamers of horses, were associated with athletic contests and were
hailed as the starters of races – this comes from sources such as Pindar and also marble
reliefs where they are depicted as nude, signifying both their heroic stature and their
association with athletics
• Festivals
◦ Pausanias describes a prophet living in early Sparta called Karnos who was killed by the
early Spartans and as a consequence Apollo rained down a pestilence on the Dorians, the
killer had to go into exile because his blood guilt was polluting the city and the cult of
Karneia was established to make up for the crime against Apollo
◦ This cult of Apollo Karneios is possibly a combination of an earlier god of the herds
together with Apollo
◦ The cult of Karneios was particularly concerned with divination and the festival was
held over nine days during the Dorian month Karneios (August)
◦ The key features of the Karneia were:
▪ Nine men lived for nine days in bowers of wood and twigs near the temple of Apollo
▪ The groups made rafts perhaps in memory of a water crossing in the journey of the
Dorians
▪ there was a sacrifice of a ram 'Karnos'
▪ there was a musical contest in honour of Apollo, god of music
▪ there was a 'catch the runner' race which was a form of divination that revealed
 whether the omens for the coming year were favourable or not
◦ The man considered the best runner was decorated with fillets or headbands that were
used to decorate priest's staves and sacrificial animals – if the other youths caught him it
was considered a good omen for the year; if not, a bad omen
◦ The festival of Karneia, having its origins in the arrival of the 'sons of Herakles' in
Lakonia, appears to reflect a memory of the arrival of the once nomadic Dorian people
◦ It endorses living in the field, military life, athletic training and hunting
◦ Legend tells of a youth called Hyakinthos who was throwing the discus with Apollo, his
lover, when a freak accident occurs and the discus strikes Hyakinthos on the head,
causing purple blood to flow out of the wound eventually leading to his death
◦ The god cannot save Hyakinthos who is cut down in the flower of youth, but using his
divine powers Apollo metamorphoses Hyakinthos into a purple flower that will return
each spring, so that he will never fully die
◦ Hyakinthos may have been a pre-Dorian divinity whose cult was later blended with that
of Apollo, thus the cult of Apollo may have symbolically killed Hyakinthos but allowed
him to live in a new mythic form
◦ In July each year, Sparta was emptied as all its people travelled to Amyklai to honour
Hyakinthos and Apollo – the festival of Hyakinthia had a two stages, a sorrowful stage
and then a joyful stage
◦ During the sorrowful stage of the festival
▪ there was a ban on the wearing of festive wreaths and the singing of the joyful hymn
to Apollo
▪ there was a procession to Amyklai and offerings were placed at the 'tomb' of
Hyakinthos
▪ there was a ban on the eating of bread and cakes
▪ a special funeral meal was consumed
▪ there was a day of ritual grief and defilement
◦ During the joyful stage of the festival
▪ there was a wearing of festive wreaths and Apollo's hymn could now be sung
▪ there was a procession to Amyklai and a sacrifice to Apollo
▪ there was a special festive meal at which masters served slaves
▪ there was a choral song and dance
▪ there was an offering to Apollo of a tunic woven for his statue by Spartan women
◦ The festival is one of incorporation which stresses unity and social cohesion
◦ Central to the festival is a celebration of youth and beauty
◦ The Gymnopaidia took place in July, the height of summer, and young boys not of
military age would dance naked, as in sport, under the fierce sun in what was quite a
testing ordeal
◦ The dances were very athletic war dances, accompanied by flute and lyre, and they
apparently required a high level of fitness
◦ The festival was instituted after the Battle of Hysiai 669 BC in which Sparta lost to
Argos and it aimed to develop martial skills and spirit – it also served to commemorate
those Spartans who died in the Battle of Thyrea, fought and won against Argos in 550
BC
• Religious role of the Kings
◦ Regarded as intermediaries between the gods and men
◦ Ruled as long as the gods pleased – if things went wrong it was the King's fault
◦ Every 9th year the ephors looked into the slies for a sign of the gods' approval or not
◦ Priests of Zeus Lacedaemonios and Zeus Uranios – gods of respective families
◦ Every month they offered solemn sacrifices to Apollo for the city – Herodotos
 ◦ Before leaving on a campaign, the King sacrificed to Zeus and if the omens were
favourable the army could proceed to the frontier where more sacrifices were made to
Zeus and Athena – they carried fire from these sacrifices throughout the entire campaign
◦ The Kings were responsible for the safe keeping of all the oracles
• Funerary customs and rituals
◦ Plutarch tells us that regulations about Spartan funerary practices were instituted by
Lykourgos himself
◦ The bodies were buried in the city so that people would grow accustomed to death and
not fear it nor be disturbed by dead bodies
◦ Nothing was to be buried with a Spartan however archaeological evidence from graves
excavated during the period 1991-95 shows that Spartans were occasionally buried with
weapons and funerary pottery
◦ It was not permitted to inscribe the name of a dead person on their tomb unless it was a
man who had died in war or a woman who had died in sacred office
◦ Prior to 900 BC, bodies had been buried in a contracted position with a stone for a
pillow with other stones carefully placed following the curve of the spine
◦ Around 750 BC, bodies were buried in jars – 1906 British archaeologists
◦ About 600 BC, burials took the form of cist-graves, lined cavities in the ground and
covered by an earth mound – 1964 Chr. Christou
◦ From the early 6th Century BC to 2nd Century BC, however, many bodies were buried in
monumental two storey tombs
◦ On the death of a king – Herodotos
▪ Horse riders took the news of a king's death all over Lakonia
▪ Women beat cauldrons as a signal for one man and one woman from each household
to put on special mourning clothes
▪ there were heavy fines for non-compliance
▪ people from all over Lakonia were compelled to attend the funeral
▪ the crowd of mourners at the funeral included the Spartiates and the perioikoi
▪ the men and women being present together
▪ there were communal displays of public grief – men and women struck their
foreheads – there was wailing and praise of the deceased king as 'the best ever'
▪ if the king was killed in war there was a statue made of him and it was carried to the
burial on a bier
▪ there was a ten day period of mourning during which there were no public meetings
or elections
◦ Pausanias tells us that a tomb was a soldier's reward for valour in battle and that by the
2nd Century AD Sparta was packed with tombs and cenotaphs of the polis' heroes

Cultural Life
• Art
◦ Spartan cultural life can be clearly traced through the sequence of Lakonian painted
pottery vessels
◦ Painted vessels from the 7th Century BC are characterised by geometric decoration –
occasionally animal or human figures are depicted but they are always part of a larger
decorative scheme
◦ Painted vessels from the early 6th Century BC are characterised by the predominance of
friezes, decorative bands, made up of animals or birds, or a decorative patterning made
up of fish and dolphins
◦ Painted vessels from the late 6th Century BC are characterised by a scene or narrative
story taken from life or mythology – these decorations are valuable to the historian
 because they are archaeological sources that record banquets and scenes showing riding,
hunting and fighting
◦ The carving of ivory and bone was highly developed in Sparta and objects of great
beauty were produced in the 7th Century BC
◦ The ivory for these objects had to be imported and it was sourced from traders in Syria
◦ Archaeologists examining the style of Spartan ivory carvings have commented on what
often appears to be a strong artistic influence from the East
◦ Used as brooches or pieces of decoration on furniture or boxes
◦ Spartans were excellent bronze workers as can be shown from the Grächwil hydria, the
Pesaro hydria, the Vix krater and a vast number of smaller works
◦ There are many reliefs in limestone and in the marble of Lakonia that have been
discovered such as a pyramidal stone with depictions of Menelaos and Helen as well as
reliefs of the Dioskouroi – stone sculpture in the round is less common
• Architecture
◦ Two temples to Artemis Orthia
▪ First, 700 BC, was a small structure, long and only 4.5m wide – bricks and wood on
a stone foundation with a gabled roof structure
▪ Second, 580BC, sited over the earlier one with built up land to protect against
flooding – R.M. Dawkins concluded that the second temple had Doric columns and a
gabled roof with a painted stone lion on top of the pediment
◦ Menelaion shrine was a rather small but still monumental building – the earliest of its
kind in Lakonia – with a pedimental roof which was tiled with terracottas
◦ Early in the 5th Century BC this building was demolished and was rebuilt to a height of
8m with a parapet faced with blue limestone and white marble
◦ The Ionian architect Bathykles, who came from Asian Minor, is credited by Pausanias
with a massive reconstruction of the already existing shrine of Apollo at Amyklai
◦ Pausanias provides a detailed but confusing description of the building, stating that its
primary function was to serve as a throne for an ancient cult statue of Apollo
◦ Pausanias also mentions various other statues such as two Graces, two Seasons, Echidna,
Typhon and a number of Tritons
◦ Pausanias notes that the base of the statue of Apollo was shaped like an altar, suggesting
a block, in which Hyakinthos was believed to be buried
◦ There is not enough surviving material to indicate what the building as a whole actually
looked like and while there have been a number of attempts at theoretically
reconstructing what the building looked like based on Pausanias' description, these are
all merely hypotheses
• Writing and Literature
◦ Music was a socialising influence because through blending their voices and playing set
parts the singers learned to co-operate and fit in with others
◦ Music and dancing were important occupations for Spartan soldiers for they were related
to hoplite drill and to psychological preparation for battle
◦ Tyrtaios, most probably a native Spartan, lived in the second half of the 7th Century BC
and wrote poetry that was sung by the men of Sparta in the army
◦ His purpose was to teach the young men and boys the correct attitudes as they were
endorsed by the state
◦ The key virtues that he stresses for the young are courage, discipline and manliness
◦ Tyrtaios' poetry has not come down to us complete – it is mostly pieced together from
quotations of his lines by other ancient writers
◦ Alkman, who lived in the middle of the 7th Century BC, was the first Greek choral poet
whose works have come down to us – one tradition says he came from Sardis while
 others state that he was a Spartan born in Lakonia
◦ His lines beautifully evoke the towering mountains of Sparta, the seasons of the year and
the twittering of the bloggers... oh I mean birds
◦ Alkman was a choir-master who wrote works for girls to sing in their maiden chorus as
he accompanied them on the lyre
◦ He playfully refers to the choir girls by name and creates a persona for himself within
the poem and in this way we are able to see a Spartan poet as he would like to be seen by
his audience