Shs reviewer (Sparta)

• Sparta


  Also known as Lacedaemon, ancient Greek city-state located primarily in a region of southern Greece called Laconia (Lake daemon), near the river called the Eurotus
• Dual monarchy

  • Agiads
  • Eurypontids
• Population of Sparta


  • Spartans or Spartiates: full citizens
  • Helots: serfs/slaves, originally from Laconia and Messenia, who had been conquered by the Spartans and turned into slaves
  • Perioeci: neither slaves nor citizens, worked as craftsmen and traders, and made weapons for the Spartans
• Spartans, who were outnumbered by the Helots, often treated them brutally and oppressively in an effort to prevent uprisings
• Methods of mistreatment: Spartans were allowed to kill Helots for being too smart or too fit, among other reasons
• Helots


  Captives, handled all the day-to-day tasks and unskilled labor required to keep society functioning, were farmers, domestic servants, nurses and military attendants
• Perioeci


  Neither slaves nor citizens, worked as craftsmen and traders, and made weapons for the Spartans
• Spartan Military


  • Spartan soldier or hoplite
  • Agoge: at age 7 all Spartan boys participated in a compulsory state-sponsored education system that emphasized obedience, endurance, courage and self-control
  • Crypteia: the teenage boys who demonstrated the most leadership potential were selected to act as a secret police force whose primary goal was to terrorize the general Helot population and murder those who were troublemakers
• Unlike such Greek city-states as Athens (a center for the arts, learning and philosophy), Sparta was centered on a warrior culture
• Male Spartan citizens were allowed only one occupation: soldier
• At age 20, Spartan males became full-time soldiers, and remained on active duty until age 60
• Spartan Armor, Shield and Helmet


  • No one soldier was considered superior to another, large bronze helmet, breastplate and ankle guards, round shield made of bronze and wood, long spear and sword, long hair and red cloaks, skilled at the ancient Greek style of fighting in a phalanx formation
• Spartan Women


  • Independent-minded, enjoyed more freedoms and power than their counterparts throughout ancient Greece, received a formal education, engaged in athletic competitions, owned and managed property, unencumbered by domestic responsibilities, marriage was important to Spartans, had their heads shaved in preparation for marriage, kept their hair short after they wed, married couples typically lived apart
• Sparta suffered a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Thebans at the Battle of Leuctra


  371 B.C.
• Theban general Epaminondas led an invasion into Spartan territory and oversaw the liberation of the Messenian Helots, who had been enslaved by the Spartans for several centuries


  Late 371 B.C.
• The Spartans would continue to exist, although as a second-rate power in a long period of decline
• Otto, the king of Greece, ordered the founding of the modern-day town of Sparti on the site of ancient Sparta


  1834