Ancient Sparta: what is important to know. Sparta of ancient greece

But where did the philosophers come from? If we try to describe the society of “archaic Greece” in one phrase, then we can say that it was imbued with a “military” consciousness, and its best representatives were “noble warriors”. Chiron, who took over from the Phoenix upbringing

Where did you come from, "real people"? The Europeans who encountered the Ainu in the 17th century were amazed at their appearance.In contrast to the usual appearance of the Mongoloid people with yellow skin, Mongolian fold of the century, thin facial hair, the Ainu had unusually thick

Where did the Westerners come from? the Austro-Hungarian Empire included the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria with its capital in Lemberg (Lvov), which, in addition to ethnic Polish territories, included Northern Bukovina (modern Chernivtsi region) and

- time and place that forever concentrated the essence in one event, which future generations will refer to again and again as to a turning point in history.

What happened at Thermopylae is a blazing torch in the history of Western civilization. Thermopylae was a myth that came true. I wouldn't have thought of a more classic story myself.

The seven thousandth phalanx of Greek warriors opposed from several hundred thousand. Greeks are monstrous outnumbered but they attacked, confident that the 300 men at the forefront would lead them to victory. Just because they are from Sparta.

The Spartan warrior himself is akin to any other warrior, but if you put them together, you get an army better than any army in the world.

Often, the mere sight of a Spartan sign on a shield wall was enough to ensure victory. The world did not know anything like it, it was the highest military culture in a civilized society.

Within two days, a negligible number of Greeks in comparison with the advancing Persians gave them a rebuff. Finally, the Spartan king realized that defeat is inevitable... He ordered the surviving Greek soldiers to flee. But all 300 Spartans stayed in place and fought to the end, because they were Spartans.

It began when a sharp increase in population forced Sparta to look for new lands and sources of food. They solved this problem, annexing an entire country, in population and territory exceeding Sparta. This twist of fate will change the course of Sparta's history for the next 300 years.

The land they took possession was. That was the name of one of the. Before the capture of Messenia, there was nothing in Sparta that made it something unusual and exceptional.

Messinia had fertile fields, their agriculture flourished. Today the famous olives grow there. There were the rich around Messenia iron deposits- what was required primarily for military equipment.

Sparta needed Messenia, but the Messenians resisted... The war was long and hard, the Spartans did not manage to cope with the Messenians easily and quickly. The main difficulty was of a purely topographic nature: it was necessary to overcome a mountain 3 thousand meters high. Of course, the summit could be rounded, but this meant a roundabout, very long way.

The people of Messenia were on their way to create their own polis, they tried to remain independent, but the Spartans prevailed over them. It took Sparta almost 100 years to finally conquer Messinia.

But by the 7th century BC. Sparta owned 8 thousand square kilometers, and she was largest city-state Greek Empire.

The Messinians were forced to cultivate the land as so-called. Helots are kind of farmers... The helot has a plot, a certain part of the production from which he must give to his master, the Spartan, who looks after him and his household, but at the same time he is not the owner of this helot, i.e. he cannot buy and sell him like a slave. In fact, helots were a cross between and.

Not a single Greek polis tried to turn the Greek people into slaves. The population of Messenia was about 250 thousand people, and in the Spartan society there were only about 10 thousand soldiers.

We can say that Sparta was under siege... This suggests an analogy with the modern. Of course, there are many differences, but the Spartans and Israelis have in common that they are forced to constantly think about their safety.

The situation forced the Spartans to take reorganization of society... They have developed a new code covering all aspects of the life of the townspeople.

Only they among the Greeks fully devote themselves to the art of war. As the Greek historian writes, the creator of the new military city-state was a Spartan legislator by name.

Lycurgus traveled around, collecting all the best in the field of military knowledge in, in and Egypt. He also received divine instruction from the oracles c. They said that he himself heard the advice. Unsurprisingly, in the end, Sparta turned into great paramilitary society.

The army at that time was, in essence, a militia: these were farmers who simply took a spear and went to fight. Lycurgus, founder of Sparta as such, he probably said something like, "We need professionals." And then the whole society was transformed according to this principle.

His laws prevailed because the Delphic oracle was behind them, and he said that these laws should be obeyed because they are divine.

Perhaps all this was nothing more than a legend. But be that as it may, the Spartans believed that the future structure of Sparta should correspond to the precepts of Apollo.

Pyramid of power and control from cradle to grave

At the heart of their society was a power pyramid. Upstairs was spartan elite- about 10 thousand people, they were called in Greek gomei which means "Equal"... In theory, none of them was richer than the other and all were equal in government.

The goal was to make society of equals- an army that would fight, I do not know internal strife. It was about a single state: something homogeneous, similar - this is one of the components of the Spartan system - stability, order, obedience.

Below equals were approximately 50-60 thousand free people throughout Laconia, mainly on the outskirts of the capital of Sparta. They were called - "living around". They were personally free, but had no political rights. They were obliged to follow the Spartans wherever they were taken.

Periyeki were deprived of the right to vote middle class, which ensured combat readiness. Trade relations, production, handicrafts - everything that the Spartan society needed, someone else had to make weapons - all this lay on the shoulders of the Perieks. They were the engine that propelled everything. Thanks to them, the Spartan nobility had time for athletic pursuits and other things necessary for the war.

All activities incompatible with the new Spartan mechanism were consigned to oblivion. It is quite obvious that the payment of the Spartans for solving their problem was partly loss of culture because being creative requires a degree of freedom that probably made them nervous.

At the very bottom, in numbers exceeding all other strata of society, they were.

The wives and daughters of the Spartan elite ran the household.

This system made equals responsible only for the policy - the city-state.

They were ready to take any, sometimes extreme, measures to create a state that no one had seen before, and no one had seen since.

In the following decades, Sparta will introduce a new management system that will control every citizen from cradle to grave.

In the 7th century BC. Sparta occupied a special place among several hundred city-states around. In any Greek city state, the state played a greater role in people's lives than in our today's society. But in no city-state did the government invade the lives of people like in Sparta. It was a treaty from cradle to grave.

The first test awaited the future Spartan equal already in the cradle. Government officials examined each elite newborn to decide will he live... A child, somewhat imperfect, according to the laws of Sparta was doomed to death in a mountain abyss.

It seems unheard of cruelty, but Sparta needed warriors... It was the warrior who looked out for the newborns. They needed strong people, they kind of brought out the breed of the best, the strongest.

The officials studied the girls and also decided whether to live by them or to be thrown off a cliff.

The surviving girls were raised as mothers, and the boys, the Spartan equals, were the warriors who controlled the government.

In Sparta, the government was from the people and for the people, if you were one of the equals. All the rest, perieks and helots, were considered non-citizens.

The Spartans managed to come up with a unique system that lasted for many years. and others took it as a model.

Over the Spartan government was hereditary monarchy unusual character. The most important point, and apparently the most ancient part of their constitution, is what they had. Most Greek cities remembered the time when they had a king, in many Greek cities something like a religious person was preserved, sometimes called a king. And the Spartans had two, and both had real power. They could lead the army, they had religious authority. They are as they were balanced each other, preventing each of them from becoming too powerful.

Double Monarchy and 28 Spartiats over 60 years old were on the council of elders known as. Gerousia was the highest state body as well as the supreme court. Sparta was in a sense gerontocratic society: old people ruled and some posts were held only by old people. The reason was this: if you lived to old age in Sparta, then you are a very strong person.

Below gerusia was Assembly(), which were Spartan equals for over 30 years. It was the least significant part of the Spartan government, also called the people's assembly. The Spartan Assembly Decided Nothing... Rather, she followed the orders of those who had already decided which way to go for society. The Assembly simply approved the decisions taken by the higher authorities.

Was above everyone collegium of 5 people called. They ran the military, were in charge of the education system. They had the right to veto any decision, even of kings. But their power had a limitation: they were elected only for a year, and at the end of their term they reported to the assembly.

Those who have been privileged to be ephors will automatically at the end of their term passed the test... It is as if each president, at the end of his 4 or 8 year term, responded to the accusations against him.

The purpose of the constitution was obvious: to prevent an individual or any organ of the state from becoming omnipotent. And apparently, the Spartans succeeded: how can you do something if you have so many people on your way? The whole system was aimed at preventing something from being done, prevent any change... Sparta was great at it.

For nearly 400 years, Sparta has had most stable government throughout the history of Greece. And yet it was anything but not a democracy... Freedom of citizens, the main element of democracy, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of speech were not inherent in Spartan society. The Spartans didn't think freedom was a good idea. Freedom was not even included in the list of virtues that the Spartans were taught to respect.

The main concern of the Spartan government was the administration of the helots. They knew the helots hated them. And as one Athenian who knew the Spartans well said, the helots would gladly eat the Spartans alive.

Therefore, each year, the first item on the government's agenda was declaration of war on the helots... This was a formal way of declaring that any noble Spartan had the right to kill an helot if he wanted to.

The Spartan kings considered themselves Heraclids - the descendants of the hero Hercules. Their belligerence became a household name, and for good reason: the combat formation of the Spartans was the direct predecessor of the phalanx of Alexander the Great.

The Spartans were very sensitive to signs and prophecies, and listened carefully to the opinion of the Delphic oracle. The cultural heritage of Sparta has not been assessed in the same detail as the Athenian, largely due to the warlike people’s wariness of writing: for example, their laws were passed orally, and it was forbidden to write the names of the dead on non-military tombstones.

However, if it were not for Sparta, the culture of Greece could have been assimilated by foreigners who incessantly invaded the territory of Hellas. The fact is that Sparta was actually the only polis in which there was not only a combat-ready army, but whose whole life was subject to the strictest daily routine, designed to discipline the soldiers. The Spartans owed the emergence of such a militarized society to unique historical circumstances.

During the occupation, they did not subject the local population to death, but decided to subjugate it and make them slaves, who are known as helots - literally "prisoners". The creation of a colossal slave complex led to inevitable uprisings - already in the 7th century, the Helots fought the oppressors for several years, and this became a lesson for Sparta.

Their laws, created according to legend by the king-legislator named Lycurgus (translated as "wolf-worker") back in the 9th century, served to strengthen the further internal political situation after the conquest of Messenia. The Spartans distributed the lands of the helots among all citizens, and all full-fledged citizens had hoplite weapons and constituted the backbone of the army (about 9000 people in the 7th century - 10 times more than in any other Greek city-state). The strengthening of the army, provoked, perhaps, by fear of the subsequent uprisings of slaves, contributed to an extraordinary rise in the influence of the Spartans in the region and the formation of a special order of life, characteristic only for Sparta.

For optimal training, boy warriors from the age of seven were sent to centralized state structures for education, and until the age of eighteen they spent time in intensive training. This was also a kind of initiation stage: to become a full citizen, one had to not only successfully complete all the years of training, but also to kill the helot with a dagger as a proof of his fearlessness. It is not surprising that the helots constantly had reasons for the next uprisings. The widespread legend about the execution of handicapped Spartan boys or even babies, most likely, has no real historical basis: there was even a certain social stratum of "hypomeyons" in the polis, that is, physically or mentally handicapped "citizens".

Around the ancient Greek Sparta, to this day, there are many disputes and myths born of mass culture. Were the Spartans really unsurpassed warriors and did not like mental labor, did they really get rid of their own children, and were the customs of the Spartans so severe that they were forbidden to eat in their own homes? Let's try to figure it out.

Starting the conversation about Sparta, it should be noted that the self-name of this ancient Greek state was "Lacedaemon", and its inhabitants called themselves "Lacedaemonians". The emergence of the name "Sparta" humanity owes not to the Hellenes, but to the Romans.

Sparta, like many ancient states, had a complex, but logical, system of social structure. In fact, society was divided into full-fledged citizens, incomplete citizens and dependent. In turn, each of the categories was divided into estates. Although the helots were considered slaves, they were not in the usual sense of the modern man. However, the "ancient" and "classical" slavery deserves a separate consideration. It is also worth mentioning the special class of "hypomeyons", which included physically and mentally disabled children of Sparta citizens. They were considered unequal citizens, but still were above a number of other social categories. The existence of such an estate in Sparta significantly reduces the viability of the theory of the killing of inferior children in Sparta.

This myth took root, thanks to the description of the Spartan society created by Plutarch. So, in one of his works, he described that weak children by the decision of the elders were thrown into a gorge in the Taygeta mountains. Today, scientists on this issue have not come to a consensus, however, most of them are inclined to believe that such an unusual tradition had no place in Sparta. Do not discount the fact that the Greek chronicles sin with exaggerations and embellishments of facts. Evidence of which was found by historians after comparing the same facts and their descriptions in the Greek and Roman chronicles.

Of course, in Sparta, throughout its described history, there was a very strict system of raising children, in particular boys. The system of education was called agoge, which in translation from Greek means “withdrawal”. In Spartan society, the children of citizens were considered the public domain. Since the agoge itself was a rather cruel upbringing system, it is possible that the mortality rate was indeed high. Thus, killing weak children immediately after birth is unlikely.

Another popular myth is the invincibility of the Spartan army. The Spartan army was certainly strong enough to influence its neighbors, however, and it is known to have known defeat. In addition, the Spartan army largely lost on many issues to the armies of other powers, including the armies of the neighbors of the Greeks. The warriors were distinguished by excellent training and personal combat skills. They had excellent physical fitness. Moreover, the very concept of discipline in the army was adopted by neighboring peoples from the Spartans. Even the Romans admired the strength of the Spartan army, although it ultimately lost to them. At the same time, the Spartans did not know engineering, which did not allow them to effectively besiege enemy cities.

According to historians, discipline, courage and valor on the battlefield were highly valued in Spartan society, honesty and devotion, modesty and moderation were revered (however, one can doubt the latter, knowing about their feasts and orgies). And although at times the leaders of the Spartans in matters of politics were distinguished by treachery and treachery, this people was one of the greatest representatives of the Hellenic group.

There was democracy in Sparta. In any case, all the most important issues were decided by a general meeting of citizens, at which they simply shouted over each other. Of course, not only citizens lived in Sparta, and the power, even of the people, did not belong to the entire demos.

The household of the Spartans was not much different from that of most other Greek city-states. The same products were grown in Lacedaemon's fields. The Spartans were engaged in cattle breeding, raising mainly sheep. For the most part, labor on the land was the lot of helots - slaves, as well as unequal citizens.

In Sparta, mental labor was really not held in high esteem, but this does not mean at all that Sparta did not give history a single poet or writer. Among the most famous of them are Alkman and Terpandr. However, even they were distinguished by good physical fitness. And the Spartan priest-diviner Tisamen of Elea was even more famous for being an unsurpassed athlete. The stereotype of the cultural ignorance of the Spartans was born, probably because both Alkman and Terpandr were not natives of this city.

Social connections and foundations played a very important role in the daily life of the Spartans. There is even a theory among historians that the Spartans were forbidden to eat at their homes, regardless of their status and position in society. Instead, the Spartans were supposed to eat only in public places, a kind of cafeteria of the time.

The image of the Spartans, like the image of the Vikings, whom many represent as, of course, did not escape romanticization. Nevertheless, in the Lacedaemonians there is much that will not be superfluous to learn from both modern man and what has entered our daily life. In particular, the word "laconic" has exactly Greek roots and means a restrained, moderate and not verbose person. It was with this, the word in the Peloponnese and beyond, that the Spartans were identified.

The statue of Leonidas was erected in 1968 in Sparta, Greece.

Ancient Sparta is a city in Laconia, in the Peloponnese in Greece. In ancient times, it was a powerful city-state with a famous military tradition. Ancient writers sometimes referred to him as Lacedaemon and his people as Lacedaemonians.

Sparta reached the height of its power in 404 BC. after the victory over Athens in the Second Peloponnesian War. When it was in its prime, Sparta did not have city walls; its inhabitants seem to have preferred to defend it by hand rather than with a mortar. However, for several decades after the defeat against Thebans at the Battle of Leuctra, the city was reduced to "second-rate", a status from which it never recovered.

The valor and fearlessness of Sparta's warriors have inspired the Western world for millennia, and even into the 21st century it has been included in Hollywood films like 300 and the futuristic Halo video game series (where a group of super soldiers called the Spartans).

But the real history of the city is more complex than popular mythology makes. The task of figuring out what really refers to the Spartans from what is myth has become more difficult because many of the ancient stories were not written by Spartans. As such, they must be received with a corresponding skepticism.

Early Sparta

Although Sparta was not built until the first millennium BC, recent archaeological discoveries show that early Sparta was an important site at least 3500 years ago. In 2015, a 10-room palace complex containing ancient records written from a script that archaeologists call "Linear B" was discovered just 7.5 kilometers (12 kilometers) from where early Sparta was built. Frescoes, a goblet with a bull's head, and bronze swords were also found in the palace.

The palace burned down in the 14th century. Supposedly, there was an older Spartan city located somewhere around a 3,500 year old palace. Sparta was later built. Future excavations may reveal where this older city is located.

It is unclear how many people continued to live in the area after the palace was burned. Recent research suggests that a three-century drought warmed Greece around the time the Spartan palace burned down.

Archaeologists know that sometime in the early Iron Age, after 1000 BC, four villages - Limna, Pitana, Mesoa and Chinosura, which are located near what would be the Spartan acropolis, came together to form a new Sparta ...

Historian Nigel Kennell writes in his book The Spartans: A New History (John Wiley & Sons, 2010) that the city's location in the fertile Eurotas Valley gave its inhabitants access to an abundance of food that its local rivals did not. Even the name Sparta is a verb meaning "I sow" or "sow."

Early Sparta culture

While early Sparta made efforts to fortify its territory in Laconia, we also know that at this early stage, the inhabitants of the city seemed to pride themselves on their artistic ability. Sparta was famous for its poetry, culture and it was ceramics, its products were found in places that are so far from Kirina (in Libya) and the island of Samos, near the coast of modern Turkey. Researcher Konstantinos Kopanias notes in his 2009 journal article that before the sixth century BC. Sparta appears to have held an ivory workshop. The surviving elephants from the sanctuary of Artemis Ortia in Sparta depict birds, male and female figures, and even the "tree of life" or "sacred tree."

Poetry was another key early Spartan achievement. “In fact, we have more evidence of poetic activity in Sparta in the seventh century than for any other Greek state, including Athens,” writes historian Chester Starr in the chapter of his book Sparta (Edinburgh University Press, 2002).

While much of this poetry survives in fragmented form, and some of it, from Tirtai, for example, reflects the development of the martial values ​​that Sparta has become famous for, there is also work that appears to reflect a society engaging in art and not just war. ...

This fragment from the poet Alkman, which he composed for the Spartan festival, stands out. This refers to a chorus girl named "Agido". Alcman was a Spartan poet who lived in the seventh century BC.

There is such a thing as retribution from the gods.
Happy is he who, the sound of the mind,
weaves throughout the day
unwept. I sing
light of Agido. I see
like the sun to which
Agido encourages to speak and
witness for us. But the glorious choirmaster
forbids me to praise
or blame her. For she seems to
outstanding as if
one placed in a pasture
perfect horse, winner with loud hooves,
one of the dreams that live below the cliff ...

War of Sparta with Messenia

A key event on Sparta's path to becoming a more militaristic society was the conquest of the land of Messinia, located west of Sparta, and its transformation into slavery.

Kennell points out that this conquest appears to have begun in the eighth century BC, with archaeological evidence from the city of Messene showing that the last evidence of habitation was during the eighth and seventh centuries BC. before the desertion began.

The inclusion of the people of Messenia in the slave population of Sparta was important because it provided Sparta with "the means to maintain the closest standing army in Greece," Kennell writes, freeing all of its adult male citizens from manual labor.

Keeping this group of slaves under control was a problem that the Spartans could have exploited for centuries using some brutal methods. The writer Plutarch argued that the Spartans used what we might think of as death squads.

“The magistrates from time to time sent into the country most of the most reserved young warriors, equipped only with daggers and such accessories as were necessary. In the daytime they dispersed to obscure and well-groomed places, where they hid and were silent, but at night they went down the highway and killed every Ilot they caught. "

Spartan training system

The presence of large numbers of slaves made it easier for the Spartans from manual labor and allowed Sparta to build a system of education for citizens that prepared the children of the city for the brutality of war.

“At seven years old, a Spartan boy was taken from his mother and raised in barracks under the eyes of the older boys,” writes University of Virginia professor J.E. Landon in his book Soldiers and Ghosts: A History of Battle in Classical Antiquity (Yale University Press, 2005 ). "The boys were rebellious to instill respect and obedience, they were poorly dressed to make them tough, and they were hungry to make them resistant to hunger ..."

If they were too hungry, the boys were encouraged to try to steal (as a way to improve their stealth), but were punished if caught.

The Spartans trained rigorously and developed through this training system until the age of 20, when they were allowed to enter the communal order and therefore become a full-fledged citizen of the community. Each member is expected to provide a certain amount of food and exercise rigorously.

The Spartans mocked those who could not fight because of their disability. “Because of their extreme norms of masculinity, the Spartans were cruel to those who were not capable, rewarding those who were capable despite their violations,” wrote Walter Penrose Jr., professor of history at the University of San Diego, in the newspaper published in 2015 in the Classic World magazine.

Women of Sparta

Girls who are not militarily trained are expected to exercise physically. Physical fitness was considered just as important for women as it was for men, and girls took part in races and tests of strength, ”writes Sue Blundell in her book Women in Ancient Greece. This included running, wrestling, discus throwing, and javelin throws. They also knew how to drive horses, they raced in two-wheeled chariots. "

According to ancient writers, the Spartan woman even competed in the Olympics, at least in chariot competitions. In the 5th century BC, a Spartan princess named Tsinitsa (also written by Kiniska) became the first woman to win the Olympic Games.

“She was extremely ambitious to excel in the Olympics and was the first woman to breed horses and the first to win an Olympic victory. After Siniska, other women, especially Lacedaemon women, won Olympic victories, but none of them was more distinguished for their victories than she, ”wrote the ancient writer Pausanias, who lived in the second century AD.

Kings of Sparta

Sparta in time developed a system of a double kingdom (two kings at once). Their power was counterbalanced by an elected council of ffs (which can only serve one year). There was also a Council of Elders (Gerousia), each of whom was over 60 years old and could serve for life. The general assembly, consisting of each citizen, also had the opportunity to vote on legislation.

The legendary legislator Lycurgus is frequently mentioned in ancient sources, providing the basis for Spartan law. However, Kennell notes that he probably never existed and was in fact a mythical character.

War of Sparta with Persia

Initially, Sparta did not dare to deal with Persia. When the Persians threatened Greek cities in Ionia, on the western coast of what is now Turkey, the Greeks who lived in those areas sent an emissary to Sparta to seek help. The Spartans refused, but threatened King Cyrus, telling him to leave the Greek cities alone. "He was not supposed to harm any city on Greek territory, otherwise the Lacedaemonians would not attack him," Herodotus wrote in the fifth century BC.

The Persians did not listen. The first invasion of Darius I took place in 492 BC. and was repulsed mainly by an Athenian force at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC. A second invasion was launched by the Xerxes in 480 BC, the Persians crossing the Hellespont (the narrow strait between the Aegean and Black Seas) and moving south, recruiting allies along the way.

Sparta and one of their kings, Leonidas, became the head of the anti-Persian coalition that eventually made an ill-fated position in Thermopylae. Located off the coast, Thermopylae contained a narrow passage that the Greeks blocked off and used to stop the advance of Xerxes. Ancient sources indicate that Leonidas began the battle with several thousand soldiers (including 300 Spartans). He faced a Persian force many times greater than them.

Lacedaemonians

The Lacedaemonians fought in such a way that they deserve attention, and proved themselves to be far more skillful in battle than their opponents, often turning their backs and making them all fly away, on which the barbarians hurry after them with great noise and shouting when the Spartans at their approach will cost and appear before their pursuers, thereby destroying a huge number of enemies.

In the end, the Greek man showed Xerxes a passage that allowed parts of the Persian army to outwit the Greeks and attack them on both flanks. Leonidas was doomed. Many of the troops that were with Leonidas left. According to Herodotus, the Thespians chose to stay with the 300 Spartans of their own accord. Leonidas made his fateful position and “fought bravely alongside many other famous Spartans,” Herodotus writes.

Ultimately, the Persians killed almost all of the Spartans. The helots, taken down with the Spartans, were also killed. The Persian army marched south, sacking Athens and threatening to infiltrate the Peloponnese. The Greek naval victory at the Battle of Salamis halted this approach, the Persian king Xerxes went home and left an army behind, which would later be destroyed. The Greeks, led by the now dead Leonidas, won.

Peloponnesian war

When the threat from the Persians receded, the Greeks renewed their intercity rivalry. Two of the most powerful city states were Athens and Sparta, and tensions between the two escalated in the decades after the victory over Persia.

In 465/464 BC. powerful earthquakes hit Sparta, and the helots took advantage of the situation to revolt. The situation was serious enough that Sparta called on the allied cities to help end it. However, when the Athenians arrived, the Spartans refused their help. This was taken as an insult in Athens and reinforced anti-Spartan views.

The Battle of Tanagra, which fought in 457 BC, heralded a period of conflict between the two cities that lasted and continued for over 50 years. At times, Athens appeared to have an advantage, such as the Battle of Sfakteria in 425 BC. when, disgustingly, 120 Spartans surrendered.

Nothing that happened in the war surprised the Hellenes as much as this. It was believed that no force or hunger could force the Lacedaemonians to abandon their weapons, but they would fight as best they could and die with them in their hands, wrote Thucydides (460-395 BC).

There were times when Athens was in trouble, such as in 430 BC, when the Athenians, who were packed outside the city walls during the Spartan assault, suffered a plague that killed many people, including their leader Pericles. There have been speculations that the plague was actually an ancient form of the Ebola virus.

Conflict between Sparta and Athens

Ultimately, the conflict between Sparta and Athens was resolved at sea. While the Athenians enjoyed naval advantage for most of the war, the situation changed when a man named Lysander was named commander of the Spartan fleet. He sought Persian financial support to help the Spartans build their fleet.

He convinced the Persian king Cyrus to provide him with money. The king brought with him, he said, five hundred talents, if this amount is not enough, he will use his own money, which his father gave him, and if this also turns out to be inadequate, he will go as far as to break the throne on which he sat on silver and gold, - wrote Xenophon (430-355 BC).

With financial support from Persians, Lysander built his fleet and trained his sailors. In 405 BC. he was in charge of the Athenian fleet at Egospopati, on the Hellespona. He managed to catch them by surprise, winning a decisive victory and cutting off Athens from grain supplies from the Crimea.

Now Athens was forced to make peace under the terms of Sparta.

“The Peloponnesians began to tear down the walls of [Athens] with great enthusiasm with the music of the flute girls, thinking that this day was the beginning of freedom for Greece,” wrote Xenophon.

Fall of Sparta

The fall of Sparta began with a series of events and mistakes.

Soon after the victory, the Spartans turned against their Persian supporters and launched an unconvincing campaign in Turkey. Then, in the following decades, the Spartans were forced to campaign on multiple fronts.

In 385 BC. the Spartans clashed with the Mantles and used the floods to tear their city apart. “The lower bricks became impregnated and could not support those above them, the wall first began to crack and then give way,” Xenophon wrote. The city was forced to abandon this unorthodox onslaught.

Spartan hegemony was more problematic. In 378 BC. Athens formed a second naval confederation, a group that challenged Spartan control of the seas. Ultimately, however, the fall of Sparta did not come from Athens, but from a city named Thebes.

Thebes and Sparta

Under the influence of the Spartan king Agesilaus II, relations between the two cities of Thebes and Sparta became increasingly hostile, and in 371 BC. a key battle took place in Leuktra.

The Lacedaemonian force was defeated by Thebes in the field of Leuktra. Although Sparta's ally during the long Peloponnesian War, Thebes became a conduit of resistance, when the victorious Sparta became an evil tyrant, in turn, Landon writes. He notes that after peace was reconciled with Athens in 371 BC, Sparta turned its attention to Thebes.

At Leuktra, for reasons unclear, the Spartans sent their cavalry in front of their phalanx. The Lacedaemonian cavalry was poor because the good Spartan warriors still insisted on serving as hoplites [foot soldiers]. The Thebans, on the other hand, had an old cavalry tradition, and their fine horses, exercised a lot in recent wars, quickly defeated the Spartan cavalry and returned them to the phalanx, confusing its order.

With confusion in the Spartan lines, the carnage continued.

Clembrutus, fighting in the phalanx like Spartan kings, was overwhelmed and pulled out of the battle, Landon writes. Other leading Spartans were soon killed in the battle. The Theban general Epaminondaz is said to have said: Give me one step and we will have victory!

Of the seven hundred full Spartan citizens, four hundred died in the battle ...

Late history of Sparta

In the following centuries, Sparta, in its reduced state, was influenced by various powers, including Macedonia (eventually led by Alexander the Great), the Achaean League (a confederation of Greek cities) and later Rome. During this period of recession, the Spartans were forced to build the city wall for the first time.

There have been attempts to restore Sparta to its former military power. The Spartan kings Agis IV (244-241 BC) and later Cleomenes III (235-221 BC) introduced reforms that canceled debt, redistributed land, allowed foreigners and non-citizens to become Spartans, and eventually expanded the civilian corps to 4,000. Although the reforms led to some renewal, Cleomenes III was forced to cede the city to the control of the Achaeans. The Ageevskaya League, in turn, along with all of Greece, eventually fell to Rome.

But while Rome controlled the region, the people of Sparta never forgot their history. In the second century AD, the Greek writer Pausanias visited Sparta and noted the presence of a large market.

“The most striking feature on the market is the portico, which they call Persian because it was made from trophies taken in the Persian wars. Over time, they changed it until it was as big and beautiful as it is now. the pillars are white marble figures of the Persians ... ”, he wrote.

He also describes a tomb dedicated to Leonidas, who by this time had died 600 years ago in Thermopylae.

“Opposite the theater there are two tombs, the first is Pausanias, the general in Plataea, the second is Leonidas. Every year they give speeches over them and hold a competition in which no one can compete except the Spartans, "he wrote," A plate has been created with the names and names of their fathers, from those who survived the struggle with Thermopylae against the Persians. "

Ruins of Sparta

Sparta continued into the Middle Ages and, indeed, was never lost. Today, the modern city of Sparta stands near the ancient ruins, with a population of over 35,000.

The historian Cannell writes that today only three objects can be identified with certainty: the sanctuary of Artemis Orphius next to the Eurotas [river], the temple of Athena Halciokus (Bronze House) on the acropolis, and the early Roman theater just below.

Indeed, even the ancient writer Thucydides predicted that the ruins of Sparta would not stand out.

Suppose, for example, that the city of Sparta was to become deserted and that only temples and foundations of buildings remained, I think that future generations would eventually find it very difficult to believe that this place was really as powerful as it was presented.

But Thucydides was only half right. While the ruins of Sparta may not be as impressive as Athens, Olympia, or a number of other Greek cities, the tales and legends of the Spartans live on. And modern people, watching movies, playing video games or studying ancient history, know something about what this legend means.