So, he gathered an army of around 8, men and marched the opposite route that Xerxes and Darius had taken nearly a century before, through Thrace and Macedon, across the Hellespont, and into Asia Minor, and was met with little resistance. Fearing they could not stop the Spartans, the Persian governor in the region, Tissaphernes, first tried, and failed, to bribe Agesilaus II and then proceeded to broker a deal that forced Agesilaus II to stop his advance in exchange for the freedom of some Ionian Greeks.
Agesilaus II took his troops into Phrygia and began planning for an attack. With the rest of the Greek world keenly aware that the Spartans had imperial ambitions, there was an increased desire to antagonize Sparta, and in BCE, Thebes, which had been growing more powerful, decided to support the city of Locris in its desire to collect taxes from nearby Phocis, which was an ally of Sparta. The Spartan army was sent to support Phocis, but the Thebans also sent a force to fight alongside Locris, and war was once again upon the Greek world.
Shortly after this happened, Corinth announced it would stand against Sparta, a surprising move given the two cities longstanding relationship in the Peloponnesian League.
Athens and Argos also decided to join the fight, pitting Sparta up against almost the entire Greek world. Sparta came to the aid of the oligarchic factions seeking to maintain power and the Argives supported the democrats.
At this point, Sparta tried to end the fighting by asking the Persians to broker peace. Their terms were to restore the independence and autonomy of all Greek city states, but this was rejected by Thebes, mainly because it had been building up a base of power on its own through the Boeotian League. So, fighting resumed, and Sparta was forced to take to the sea to defend the Peloponnesian coast from Athenian ships.
However, by BCE, it was clear that no side would be able to gain an advantage, so the Persians were once again called in to help negotiate peace.
The terms they offered were the same — all Greek city states would remain free and independent — but they also suggested that refusing these terms would bring out the wrath of the Persian empire.
Some factions tried to muster up support for an invasion of Persia in response to these demands, but there was little appetite for war at the time, so all parties agreed to peace. However, Sparta was delegated the responsibility of making sure the terms of the peace treaty were honored, and they used this power to immediately break up the Boeotian League.
This greatly angered the Thebans, something that would come to haunt the Spartans later on. The Spartans were left with considerable power after the Corinthian War, and by BCE, just two years after peace had been brokered, they were once again working to expand their influence. Thebes had been forced to allow Sparta to pass through its territory as they marched north towards Macedon, a sign of Thebes subjugation to Sparta. Around the same time, another Spartan commander, Sphodrias, decided to launch an attack on the Athenian port, Piraeus, but he retreated before reaching it and burned the land as he returned towards the Peloponnese.
This act was condemned by Spartan leadership, but it made little difference to the Athenians, who were now motivated to resume fighting with Sparta more than ever before.
They gathered their fleet and Sparta lost several naval battles near the Peloponnesian coast. However, neither Athens nor Thebes really wanted to engage Sparta in a land battle, for their armies were still superior. Furthermore, Athens was now faced with the possibility of being caught in between Sparta and the now-powerful Thebes, so, in BCE, Athens asked for peace.
At the peace conference, however. This is because doing so would have accepted the legitimacy of the Boeotian League, something the Spartans did not want to do. This outraged Thebes and the Theban envoy left the conference, leaving all parties unsure if the war was still on. But the Spartan army clarified the situation by gathering and matching into Boeotia. However, for the first time in nearly a century, the Spartans were soundly beaten.
This proved that the Theban-led Boeotian League had finally surpassed Spartan power and was ready to assume its position as the hegemon of ancient Greece. This loss marked the end of the Spartan empire, and it also marked the true beginning of the end for Sparta. Part of the reason why this was such a significant defeat was that the Spartan army was essentially depleted. To fight as a Spartiate — a highly-trained Spartan soldier — one had to have Spartan blood.
This made it difficult to replace fallen Spartan soldiers, and by the Battle of Leuctra, the Spartan force was smaller than it had ever been. Furthermore, this meant that the Spartans were dramatically outnumbered by helots , who used this to revolt more frequently and upend Spartan society.
As a result, Sparta was in turmoil, and the defeat at the Battle of Leuctra all but relegated Sparta to the annals of history. While the Battle of Leuctra marks the end of classical Sparta, the city remained significant for several more centuries.
However, the Spartans refused to join the Macedons, led first by Philip II and later by his son, Alexander the Great, in an alliance against the Persians, which led to the eventual fall of the Persian empire. Sparta continued to be an important trading center throughout medieval times, and it is now a district in the modern-day nation of Greece.
However, after the Battle of Leuctra, it was a shell of its formerly all-powerful self. The era of classical Sparta had ended.
While the city was founded in the 8th or 9th century B. C, the golden age of Sparta lasted roughly from the end of the 5th century — the first Persian invasion of ancient Greece — until the Battle of Leuctra in BCE.
During this time, Spartan culture flourished. However, unlike their neighbors to the north, Athens, Sparta was hardly a cultural epicenter. Some artisanry did exist, but we see nothing in terms of philosophic or scientific advancements like those that came out of Athens in the final century B. Instead, Spartan society was based around the military.
Power was held onto by an oligarchic faction, and individual freedoms for non-Spartans were severely restricted, although Spartan women may have had much better conditions than women living in other parts of the ancient Greek world.
One of the key features of the social structure in Sparta were the helots. The term has two origins. For all intents and purposes, the helots were slaves. They were needed because Spartan citizens, also known as Spartiates, were forbidden from doing manual labor, meaning they needed forced labor to work the land and produce food. In exchange, the helots were allowed to keep 50 percent of what they produced, were allowed to marry, practice their own religion, and, in some cases, own property.
Yet they were still treated quite poorly by the Spartans. Furthermore, helots were expected to go off to war when commanded to do so by Spartan leadership, the punishment for resisting being death. Typically, helots were Messenians, those who had occupied the region of Messenia before the Spartans conquered during the First and Second Messenian Wars fought in the 7th century B. This history, plus the poor treatment the Spartans gave to the helots , made them a frequent problem in Spartan society.
Revolt was always right around the corner, and by the 4th century B. C, helots outnumbered Spartans, a fact they used to their advantage to win more freedoms and destabilize Sparta until it could no longer support itself as the Greek hegemon.
The armies of Sparta have gone down as some of the most impressive of all time. They achieved this status during the Greco-Persian wars especially the Battle of Thermopylae when a small force of Greeks led by Spartan soldiers managed to fend off Xerxes and his massive armies, which included the then-superior Persian Immortals, for three days, inflicting heavy casualties.
The Spartan soldier, also known as a hoplite , looked the same as any other Greek soldier. He carried a large bronze shield, wore bronze armor, and carried a long, bronze-tipped spear. Furthermore, he fought in a phalanx , which is an array of soldiers designed to create a strong line of defense by having each soldier protect not only himself but the soldier sitting next to him using a shield. Nearly all Greek armies fought using this formation, but the Spartans were the best, mainly because of the training a Spartan soldier had to go through before joining the military.
To become a Spartan soldier, Spartan men had to undergo training at the agoge , a specialized military school designed to train the Spartan army. Training in this school was grueling and intense. In the event that the Spartan boys did not pass the test, they were placed at the base of Mount Taygetus for several days for a test that ended with death by exposure, or survival.
Spartan boys were often sent out into the wild on their own to survive, and they were taught how to fight. However, what set the Spartan soldier apart was his loyalty to his fellow soldier. In the agoge, the Spartan boys were taught to depend on one another for the common defense, and they learned how to move in formation so as to attack without breaking ranks. Spartan boys were also instructed in academics, warfare, stealth, hunting and athletics. This training provided to be effective on the battlefield as the Spartans were virtually unbeatable.
Their only major defeat, the Battle of Thermopylae, occurred not because they were an inferior fighting force but rather because they were hopelessly outnumbered and betrayed by a fellow Greek who told Xerxes of the way around the pass. At the age of 20, Spartan men would become warriors of the state.
This military life would go on until they turned While much of the lives of Spartan men would be ruled by discipline and military, there were also other options over time available to them. For instance as a member of the state at age twenty, Spartan men were allowed to marry, but they would not share a marital home until they were thirty or older.
For now their lives were dedicated to the military. When they clocked thirty, Spartan men became full citizens of the state, and as such they were granted various privileges. The newly granted status meant Spartan men could live at their homes, most of the Spartans were farmers but the helots would work the land for them. If Spartan men would get to the age of sixty they would be considered retired. After sixty the men would not have to perform any military duties, this included all war-time activities.
Spartan men were also said to wear their hair long, often braided into locks. Spartan men were generally well groomed. Citizenship in Sparta was taught to acquire, as one had to prove their blood relation to an original Spartan, and this made it difficult to replace soldiers on a one to one basis.
Over time, particularly after the Peloponnesian War during the period of the Spartan Empire, these put considerable strain on the Spartan army.
They were forced to rely more and more on helots and other hoplites, who not as well-trained and therefore beatable. This finally became apparent during the Battle of Leuctra, which we now see as the beginning of the end for Sparta. While Sparta was technically a monarchy governed by two kings, one each from the Agiad and Eurypontid families, these kings were relegated over time to positions that most closely resembled generals. This is because the city was really governed by the ephors and gerousia.
The gerousia was a council of 28 men over the age of Once elected, they held their post for life. Each soldier bore a long lance and 5 a short iron sword. Despite the uniformity in hoplite dress, the Spartan warrior wore a distinctive scarlet cape to protect him from the cold, although it was always removed before combat.
At daybreak on the morning of the battle, sometimes within sight of the enemy, the Spartan hoplites would polish their bronze-coated shields, prepare their weapons, and carefully arrange their long hair, as part of a symbolically charged ritual. When the battle was imminent, a young goat would be sacrificed to Artemis Agrotera, goddess of the hunt. The sages examined the entrails under the watchful eye of the king, who would only give the order to attack if he could count on divine approval.
The singing was accompanied by the flautists who played from their positions within the ranks. The Spartan phalanx, a tight military formation usually eight men deep, would then begin its advance, lances raised, in time with the music.
One measure of the Spartan reputation for courage and nerve was the pace with which it proceeded: Its army would draw close to enemy lines more slowly than their rivals, always following the steady rhythm set by the flutes.
Hoplite warriors formed phalanxes, which advanced in lockstep. The front row presented a barrier of shields locked together, from which a long line of spears protruded. Unity within the phalanx was crucial, and Spartan phalanxes had a fearsome reputation for holding their formation. During the Peloponnesian War, both the Spartan and Athenian sides made use of an additional class of soldier, the peltasts. This division of light infantry supplemented the heavily armed—and often unwieldy—hoplites.
Enemy commanders justly feared the colossal damage this disciplined mass could inflict. The phalanx was formed of compact columns of hoplites who maintained the formation at the exact width and depth required.
Wielding a greater and more powerful block of fighters than the enemy was one of the keys to victory. The Spartan formation was typically a minimum of eight lines deep. The aim for those in the front row was to injure the arms, throat, or eyes of their opponents. When the first lines clashed, all the soldiers would push forward with their shields.
Every hoplite pressed hard against the back of the man in front, while those in the first three or four lines hurled their lances. The purpose of the phalanx was to smash the enemy line. Until a breach was made, there were few casualties within the tightly packed Spartan lines, and the soldiers behind could immediately cover the gaps left by any men who did fall.
If a phalanx did ever fall apart, the soldiers were left vulnerable, tempted to abandon their shields in order to flee. For the Spartans, such an outcome was almost too shameful to contemplate. Despite their frightening reputation, the Spartan army was very restrained when it defeated a foe.
This practice was, at heart, pragmatic: Having secured the military objective, there was little sense in unnecessarily exposing Spartan forces to further danger, especially if the enemy had men mounted on horseback. Instead, the king would order the trumpeters to sound the retreat, and the army would start to retrieve the dead.
When vanquished enemies wanted to retrieve the bodies of their fallen, they would send a representative to negotiate the handover with the king of Sparta. The bodies of the fallen Spartans were carried on their own shields to a site near the battlefield for burial. From age seven, a Spartan boy was sent to the military academy known as the agoge, where he would be put under the supervision of a teacher and instructor, the paidonomos.
From there, he would then be enlisted in the Spartan army. From age 20 to 29, he was part of the hebontes, an age group regarded by Spartan society as not yet fully adult, since marriage was only encouraged after age In theory, all Spartan males were bound to military service until achieving the status of elder, or geron, at age 60, but many continued to serve on the battlefield.
In a time-honored Spartan tradition, other markers were often erected on the site of the battle. One of the most common was a tree trunk dressed in the helmet, armor, and weapons of the defeated. If the battle was particularly significant, a stone monument might be constructed, such as the statue of the lion in honor of the Spartan leader Leonidas, which was placed on the battlefield of Thermopylae. When the rituals were over, the army began their triumphal return to Sparta.
This was most of the time half of the crop. The helots had a sort of family life independent from their masters. However, the masters knew how to control the helots. A group called krupteia , secret or covert was formed to terrorize the helots. Spartan youths between the ages of 18 and 20 were members of this group and their main job was to commit random acts of violence against the helots.
When the population of Spartan citizens reduced, which was the case from B. But these acts of kindness could not be trusted all the time. Once, the Spartans decided to honor the helots who had performed acts of bravery on their behalf. When they gathered to be honored, the Spartans killed them all because they thought that they were too dangerous, and it was much safer to kill them.
Watch it now, on Wondrium. It is believed that the helots were more in number than their masters in Sparta. This was a major difference between the helots and other Greek slaves. Although there is no indication of the exact numbers of helots, according to some experts, the helot population is estimated to be seven times as much as that of the masters. Naturally, the masters were always afraid that the helots would rebel, and that is why they did not want to involve them in long foreign wars.
By turns charismatic and ruthless, brilliant and power hungry, diplomatic and The two most powerful city-states in ancient Greece, Athens and Sparta, went to war with each other from to B. The Peloponnesian War marked a significant power shift in ancient Greece, favoring Sparta, and also ushered in a period of regional decline that signaled the The so-called golden age of Athenian culture flourished under the leadership of Pericles B.
Pericles transformed his The Battle of Marathon in B. The battle was fought on the Marathon plain of northeastern Attica and marked the first blows of the Greco-Persian War. With the Persians closing in on the Greek capitol, Athenian general The Code of Hammurabi was one of the earliest and most complete written legal codes and was proclaimed by the Babylonian king Hammurabi, who reigned from to B.
Hammurabi expanded the city-state of Babylon along the Euphrates River to unite all of southern The Athenian philosopher Plato c. In his written dialogues he conveyed and expanded on the ideas and techniques of his teacher Socrates. The Academy he Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. The Spartan Military Unlike such Greek city-states as Athens, a center for the arts, learning and philosophy, Sparta was centered on a warrior culture. Recommended for you. Peloponnesian War.
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