The Spartan Warriors Essay

The spartan military was one of the most feared militaries in the greek society. They trained their citizens in discipline and honor. Their entire culture was based on war. The spartans began in the mycenaean age(1600 Bce to 1100 Bce).

“The City of Sparta lies in the valley of the River Eurotas. Along with having a river close by; the Spartans were also enclosed by the mountains of Taygetos to the West and Parnon to the East.” Their society was a slave based culture, which allowed the Spartans to become the only full time fighting force in Ancient Greece. Their society was manned by two kings; one of which took the reins of the army in times of conflict or war, while the other king remained in Sparta and maintained society. However, the kings did not have complete power in ancient Sparta. They took two of the 30 seats of the gerousia, or the council of elders; this council of elders prepared possible legislation such as declaring war for a citizen assembly to reject or accept.

Spartans military was a hard core and well rounded out military in its time. Part of the reason why they were so successful is because of their rigorous training each boy had to go through. Why I said boy is because the Spartan military training would start at age 7 for a chosen boy. The boy gets chosen to live in spartan society at birth. If the Spartans did not believe that the boy would be rounded out for their society they would leave the boy to die. During the boys training hazing and fighting was encouraged to help improve strength among the boys. During spartan training each boy was mainly taught mathematics, music, and how to fight. Also during their training, they would learn how to steal but without getting caught. If they were caught they would not be punished for stealing but only for getting caught. This type of training continues until the boys would become men. Which is at the age of 20 for the Spartan's. At age 20 Spartan men would have to pass a series of demanding

The government in Sparta followed a very different coarse than that of the Athenians. It was controlled by an oligarchy in which the power was held by a group of five men called ephors. Working below the ephors was the Council of Elders and an Assembly. Male citizens over age sixty could serve on the Council while anyone, male or female, over the age of twenty could be a member of the Assembly. Though the citizens had little say in the decisions made by the government, the system worked effectively. Over the years, the Spartan's brutal reputation in war grew so great that other nations and city-states were too frightened to attack Sparta even though the Spartan army was no larger then eight thousand men. The Spartan Constitution called for all men to begin their military education at the age of seven, where they were trained to be tough and self-sufficient. Every man in the army fought with a great deal of passion for his country. Life in Sparta may have been rough, but the rest of the Greeks envied the Spartans for their simplicity, straight forwardness, and fanatical dedication. The beliefs of Sparta were oriented around the state. The individual lived and died for the state. The combination of this philosophy, the education of Spartan males, and the discipline of their army gave the Spartans the stability needed to survive in Ancient Greece.

Sparta was ruled by a king or at some point two kings. These two kings were from two separate families of royalty and neither of them had absolute power. The king or kings had to be consulted by the Ephors. The Ephors had a lot of power and authority in the Spartan government. They were a group of five elders, men over the age of 30 who would serve in this position for a year. They had the power to bring up charges against anyone in Sparta, including the king. Unlike Athens who was set on trying to establish a peaceful democratic atmosphere; Sparta was a lot more militaristic and strict. One of the Spartan government’s main priorities was the strength of the Spartan army. They believed that strength, endurance and numbers were a key part in a successful and powerful army. Therefore every Spartan boy at the age of seven would be taken away from their mothers and put into training for the next 13 years.

Think about being forced to join the military and suffer intense training, only because you were a boy born in Sparta: no one would like that idea. However, this was true in the 5th century BCE, in Sparta. Sparta was famous for its army standing up against opposing armies of more than a hundred times greater. They were especially known for the phalanx, a battle formation consisting of a group of soldiers tightly packed, each holding a shield which interlaced with others’. You may have seen this kind of battle formations in many movies, such as The Lord of the Rings and Black Panther.

This distinctive reputation came about through many different ways. A defeat in battle in Tegea 7th C BC may have initiated their fixated focus on the army. Spartans are famous for the agoge; their ‘education system’. Nearly every healthy male child was selected after strict evaluation through the “ test” put in the wild. These young boys then endured years of systematic rigorous brutality and training until they became men, soldiers that were able to fight in the Spartan wars.

     After experiencing the effects of a rising population and shortage of arable land, the Spartans moved through their mountainous western frontier in hope of seeking a new spacious land to live upon. Their decision to change their home grounds put the Spartans in great danger as they found themselves entering into the fertile plain of Messenia. Fearing that they may be overthrown by power by the Messenian resistance and the helot status, the

Historically the city state of Sparta had a social hierarchy that was different from many of its neighbours, it was unique in ancient Greece for its social system and constitution, which completely focused on military training for the male citizens. Its citizen inhabitants were classified as Spartiates (citizens, who enjoyed full rights), Mothakes (non-Spartan free men raised as Spartans), Perioikoi or Perioeci (freedmen), and Helots (state-owned serfs, enslaved non-Spartan local population). Spartan society was ruled by two kings originating from the two ruling families, whose powers were checked by a council of elected Ephors or elders. These Ephors/elders were chosen from the ‘Spartiates’. Below this class was a middle class which was called the Perioeci. The lowest class, which was also the largest, was a group known as the Helots. The Helots were the subjugated population group that formed the main population of Laconia and Messenia, basically Sparta. They were tied to the land and primarily worked in agriculture to support the Spartan society and its citizens. According to a number of sources the Helots outnumbered the Spartiates quite considerably. Figueira in his article in ‘Helots, Chapter 8’, gathers all the potential ratios of

The following year, faced with the arduous effects of war, both Sparta and Athens consented to a peace treaty. In 418 B.C.E., the new Athenian general, Alcibiades, convinced the assembly to break off the peace treaty and instead strike Spartan’s allies. In 416-415 B.C.E., the small island of Melos was taken over because of its refusal to sever ties with Sparta. Later in 415 B.C.E., in the hopes of conquering the wealthy Sicilian city of Syracuse, Alcibiades swayed the assembly to move forward with the invasion. Well, things did not go as planned. Alcibiades’ political opponents removed him from command and Syracuse defeated the invaders. In anger, Alcibiades joined Sparta, and in 413 B.C.E., convinced them to take over a military station located in the Athenian countryside. From there Sparta conducted annual raids. Because of repeated raids and not being able to defend themselves, Athenian farming was destroyed and silver mining was discontinued as slave laborers (twenty thousand) defected to the other

There is another side to consider when discussing the impact of Sparta’s culture upon modern U.S. culture. This is the side of gratitude, for when considering the development of Western, and specifically American culture, ancient Sparta provides a strong background to some of the very foundational parts of American culture. This paper will also discuss the overall value of Spartan military tradition to the preservation of U.S. cultural antecedents as well as the contributions that Spartan culture has made to modern U.S. culture.

The ancient Greeks made city states that functioned as their society. These were small, usually consisting of a population of around eight to ten thousand people. Some of the famous city states are Sparta and Athens. Sparta imposed many tensions on the individual. Sparta was a highly militarized state and would pull the boys away from the family usually around age seven and put them into a state sponsored training regimen that would make them highly skilled warriors. If the boy was unable to complete the training for any reason they were seen as unable to be a Spartan and were usually seen as an outcast and removed from society. The Spartans, just like most other societies in ancient times, valued boys over girls. “Spartan parents often exposed female babies to the elements and leave them to die they also made decisions on male infants testing them and seeing if they would develop into a mature warrior and if not they would face the same fate as females.”1 This

Sparta was, above all, a military state, and emphasis on military fitness began at birth, imprinted through society and the political system. The education of the Spartan male children prove that the military and war was constantly a huge part of Spartan society, and the laws and systems that Sparta was governed by, only enforced the militaristic attitude into the society of Sparta. That the Spartans needed to be ready for war is proved by the discord between the Spartiate and the helots, who outnumbered and under ranked the Spartans.

The Spartiate was considered a fierce and brutal warrior, excellent in physique, un-yielding in dedication, unmatched in combat, and constantly wiling to die for Sparta. This ideal warrior was created almost forcefully through the "physical, social and moral education" system, the agoge.

Citizenship in Athens and Sparta had their similarities however, were in-fact quite different. Citizenship in Sparta was generally only for males but not all men living in the city state could be citizens. In order to be accepted as a full Spartan citizen one had to; show that both parents were descended from the original Dorian's, completed all six stages of the 'agoge', which was the Spartan military and educational system and be a member of the 'syssitia' a military club. Spartan citizens were called 'homoioi' meaning peers or equal and were full-time soldiers, forbidden to do any other work. Total loyalty was expected to the state and authority. Other requirements included: being physical fit and prepared for war, they were expected to attend the assembly to vote on issues and any man would much rather prefer death that defeat in war. In Athens, to prove citizen eligibility, an