Ancient Sparta was the main economic and military rival of Athens. The city-state and its surrounding territory were located on the Peloponnese peninsula, southwest of Athens. Administratively, Sparta (also called Lacedaemon) was the capital of the province of Laconia.
The adjective "Spartan" in modern world came from energetic warriors with an iron heart and steely endurance. The inhabitants of Sparta were famous not for their arts, science or architecture, but for their brave warriors, for whom the concepts of honor, courage and strength were placed above all else. Athens at that time, with its beautiful statues and temples, was a stronghold of poetry, philosophy and politics, and thereby dominated the intellectual life of Greece. However, such dominance had to end someday.
Raising children in Sparta
One of the principles that guided the inhabitants of Sparta was that the life of every person, from birth to death, belongs entirely to the state. The elders of the city were given the right to decide the fate of newborns - healthy and strong were left in the city, and weak or sick children were thrown into the nearest abyss. This is how the Spartans tried to secure physical superiority over their enemies. Children who went through “natural selection” were brought up under conditions of severe discipline. At the age of 7, boys were taken from their parents and raised separately, in small groups. The strongest and bravest young men eventually became captains. The boys slept in common rooms on hard and uncomfortable beds made of reeds. The young Spartans ate simple food - soup made from pork blood, meat and vinegar, lentils and other roughage.
One day, a rich guest who came to Sparta from Sybaris decided to try the “black soup”, after which he said that now he understands why Spartan warriors give up their lives so easily. Boys were often left hungry for several days, thereby inciting them to petty theft in the market. This was not done with the intention of making the young man a skilled thief, but only to develop ingenuity and dexterity - if he was caught stealing, he was severely punished. There are legends about one young Spartan who stole a young fox from the market, and when it was time for lunch, he hid it under his clothes. To prevent the boy from being caught stealing, he endured the pain of the fox gnawing his stomach and died without making a single sound. Over time, discipline only became stricter. All adult men, between the ages of 20 and 60, were required to serve in the Spartan army. They were allowed to marry, but even after that, the Spartans continued to sleep in barracks and eat in common canteens. Warriors were not allowed to own any property, especially gold and silver. Their money looked like iron rods of different sizes. Restraint extended not only to everyday life, food and clothing, but also to the speech of the Spartans. In conversation they were very laconic, limiting themselves to extremely concise and specific answers. This manner of communication in Ancient Greece was called “laconicism” after the area in which Sparta was located.
Life of the Spartans
In general, as in any other culture, issues of everyday life and nutrition shed light on interesting little things in people’s lives. The Spartans, unlike residents of other Greek cities, did not attach much importance to food. In their opinion, food should not be used to satisfy, but only to saturate a warrior before battle. The Spartans dined at a common table, and everyone handed over food for lunch in the same quantity - this is how the equality of all citizens was maintained. The neighbors at the table kept a watchful eye on each other, and if someone did not like the food, he was ridiculed and compared to the spoiled inhabitants of Athens. But when the time came for battle, the Spartans changed radically: they put on their best outfits, and marched towards death with songs and music. From birth, they were taught to perceive each day as their last, not to be afraid and not to retreat. Death in battle was desired and equated to the ideal end to the life of a real man. There were 3 classes of inhabitants in Laconia. The first, most revered, included residents of Sparta who had military training and participating in political life cities. Second class - perieki, or residents of surrounding small towns and villages. They were free, although they did not have any political rights. Engaged in trade and handicrafts, the perieki were a kind of “service personnel” for the Spartan army. Lower class – helots, were serfs, and not much different from slaves. Due to the fact that their marriages were not controlled by the state, the helots were the most numerous category of inhabitants, and were restrained from revolt only by the iron grip of their masters.
Political life of Sparta
One of the peculiarities of Sparta was that the state was headed by two kings at the same time. They ruled together, serving as high priests and military leaders. Each of the kings controlled the activities of the other, which ensured the openness and fairness of government decisions. Subordinate to the kings was a "cabinet of ministers", consisting of five ethers or observers, who exercised general custody of laws and customs. The legislative branch consisted of a council of elders, which was headed by two kings. The most respected people were elected to the council people of Sparta who have overcome the 60-year age barrier. Army of Sparta, despite its relatively modest numbers, was well trained and disciplined. Each warrior was filled with determination to win or die - returning with a loss was unacceptable, and was an indelible shame for the rest of his life. Wives and mothers, sending their husbands and sons to war, solemnly presented them with a shield with the words: “Come back with a shield or on it.” Over time, the militant Spartans captured most of the Peloponnese, significantly expanding the boundaries of their possessions. A clash with Athens was inevitable. The rivalry reached its climax during the Peloponnesian War, and led to the fall of Athens. But the tyranny of the Spartans caused hatred among the inhabitants and mass uprisings, which led to the gradual liberalization of power. The number of specially trained warriors decreased, which allowed the inhabitants of Thebes, after about 30 years of Spartan oppression, to overthrow the rule of the invaders.
History of Sparta interesting not only from the point of view of military achievements, but also factors of political and life structure. The courage, dedication and desire for victory of the Spartan warriors were the qualities that made it possible not only to restrain the constant attacks of enemies, but also to expand the boundaries of influence. The warriors of this small state easily defeated armies of thousands and were a clear threat to their enemies. Sparta and its inhabitants, brought up on the principles of restraint and the rule of force, were the antipode of the educated and pampered Athens, which in the end led to a clash between these two civilizations.
Corinth is a famous city in Greece.
Olive oil for female beauty.
Which islands to visit in Greece first.
Summer in Greece means, first of all, the sea and excursions to significant places. Also, Greece is famous for its islands, which are associated with many myths and probably everyone has heard them. So, which Greek islands should you visit first? Each of the islands of this country is unique in its own way - not only with its relief, but also with its flora, climate, and, of course, its history. Each of them has a well-developed infrastructure, and hotel service meets international standards. Everything is done so that tourists can simply enjoy their vacation. Thousands of tourists come here every year, and there are a number of reasons for this.
Argos.Sanctuary of Hera
The Sanctuary of Hera can be reached either from Mycenae along the new national highway, or from Argos via Neo Ireo or Chonika. In the center of the village there is a Byzantine temple dedicated to the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, built in 1144. It is considered one of the best preserved temples of the Komnenos dynasty. It belonged to the monastery complex, which was located on the site of the modern village.
Halkidiki
The islands of Greece are small beads scattered across the heavenly mother-of-pearl surface of the Aegean Sea. Each of them has many mysteries, to solve which tourists from all over the world come to this region. Today we’ll talk about the coast of the Kassandra Peninsula, a place that attracts tourists with its pristine nature and sandy beaches. The small villages scattered along the coast of Halkidiki, the peninsula to which Kassandra itself belongs, are characterized by a peaceful flow of life among attractions of historical, cultural and religious significance for Christians around the world. This is another important plus to the benefits of traveling to this part of Greece.
We all know about the rivalry between the two great Greek cities - Athens and Sparta, we know about the feat of the 300 Spartans, but have you heard about the modern city of Sparta? Athens is the capital. And the Acropolis is in the center of it. Where are the ruins of Sparta and what remains of them? Now I will show them to you.
Sparta still exists today; it is a small, completely unpopular city with tourists in the south of the Peloponnese with the same name. You can only get here by car. However, if you look at a map of a modern city, it will be very difficult to find remnants of its former greatness there.
Remains of Roman fortifications
The ruins of Ancient Sparta are located in the north outside the city limits in the area of the local stadium. The excavation site itself is a huge olive grove. Here are the main objects of antiquity.
In ancient times, the name “Sparta” did not exist; the city-polis known to us was called Lacedaemon. If Athens was famous for its democracy - the power of the people, then Sparta (we will call the city as it is more familiar to us) was a militarized aristocratic state with a large layer of slaves. He easily managed to subjugate his neighbors on the peninsula to his will.
Layout of the ruins of Sparta
But in the 4th century BC, a series of defeats weakened the power of Sparta, and then came the Macedonians, whose strength of arms exceeded that of the Spartans. In the 2nd century BC, the Greek city-states became dependent on Rome and could no longer make grandiose plans against each other. From this time on, little is known about Sparta, the city lost its importance, and by the Middle Ages it virtually did not exist. Modern city appeared only in 1834.
Entrance to the excavation site of Ancient Sparta at this moment free, which is very rare for Greece. The fact is that the ruins do not look like a tourist attraction; everything is quite abandoned and is not of particular interest. There is simply nothing to pay for here. But in parallel, work is underway to reconstruct and restore the remaining ruins so that they get their outlines, and then they will take money.
Road to the ruins
The main attraction is the theater, as always, with a wonderful view of the mountains and the entire valley. It is not very well preserved, but has not lost its outlines; you can wander around here and take a look. The theater was built in the 5th century BC, during the heyday of the polis, and accommodated 17 thousand spectators.
Scene
The walls of the stands praise the heroes
On the hill above the theater the foundations of a number of buildings have been preserved - a sanctuary, a basilica and an unknown building
Sanctuary of Athena Halkikos
Remains of a house with two niches, its purpose unknown
Remains of the basilica
Mountain View
To the east of these places you can find the remains of Roman fortifications, as well as the center of the Roman city, even further east, through a residential neighborhood you can find the foundation of the Temple of Artemis.
Round building. It is a three-stage base around a hill
Remains of the Roman Stoa
Agora of the 3rd-4th century BC
Sanctuary
In the west, adjacent to Sparta is the complex of Byzantine monasteries of Mystras, as well as a very beautiful nature reserve V mountainous area. In the southeast the road leads to the fortified city
King Agesilaus, full of imperial ambitions, wanting conquer Greece, to have governments everywhere consisting of his friends, manages to alienate all the Greeks, and above all.
Thebes was a long-time and reliable ally of Sparta. Located in an area called , Thebes was an important strategic point during the Peloponnesian War. And Sparta used Thebes to conquer Athens.
But the war helped Thebes become much stronger and richer. Any wealth in the area somehow ends up in Thebes. Moreover, during the war, Thebes begins to feel like a military power, and is now not averse to subjugate all of Boeotia.
During the war, Thebes also manages to create new things, stronger government. While the Peloponnesian War is going on, something like a revolution is happening in Thebes: more than conservative farmers suddenly create democratic society which involves the entire population.
Democratic Thebes so close to Athens is an extremely unpleasant prospect for Sparta. When they learn what kind of winds their ally is blowing, the Spartans undertake what was probably their only head start. foreign policy. The Spartans, instead of somehow calming down Thebes and sharing power with them, make an attempt suppress the democracy of Thebes and undermine their independence.
Sparta launches extremely brutal attacks in an attempt to overthrow the government of Thebes. This causes a response, and it does not boil down to anti-Spartanism. Democracy in Thebes is gaining strength, being created National Army of Thebes of 10 thousand hoplites, superbly prepared both physically and strategically - no less effective than the Spartan army. And they are very angry with Sparta.
The Theban army was commanded by a man who was far superior to his predecessors and had an exceptional influence on the future of Sparta. He was a great commander who resorted to tactics that were unknown before him.
At the beginning, the Spartan king Agesilaus is undaunted, the oligarchy remains inviolable. But with each victory of Agesilaus, Sparta loses something very important: Spartan resources are melting, people are dying in battles, while the Thebans are learning a new character of combat that will prevail in the new era. Agesilaus is talented, and as a military man he is extremely insightful. He is a gifted politician, but forgets one of the basic Spartan principles: don't face the same enemy too often, don't let him learn your secrets.
Epaminondas not only learned the secrets of Sparta, he figured out how to fight back and won. They had met the Thebans on the battlefield too many times and this time they were dealing with a rising military power that, in addition to being strong, was adopting new and very effective military tactics.
Epaminondas had at his disposal powerful weapon- Athens. After overthrow of the Thirty Tyrants in 403 BC The Athenians slowly but surely restored their fleet and raised a new generation of citizen-soldiers. And they got more stronger democracy. Oddly enough, but defeat in the Peloponnesian War it turned out for Athens almost the best outcome, if you look at it from the point of view of democracy. After the bloody oligarchy of Sparta, democracy in Athens seemed to have found a second wind.
During the first bloody decade of the 4th century BC. Athens was one of Thebes's main allies. also entered into a strong alliance with Corinth, thus creating united front against Sparta.
Corinth was the most important member of the Peloponnesian League. The fact that he joined the axis of Athens - Boeotia - Thebes - Argos was for real for Sparta a serious blow.
In 379 BC. successful uprising marked end of the Spartan oligarchy in Thebes. The Thebans were not alone in hating the regime: there were many other states that could not stand Sparta for other reasons, and therefore were ready to help the Thebans.
Battle of Leuctra
The list of Sparta's enemies grew. A city-state could hate Sparta not only because it was cruel and arrogant, but there was always some other reason. Among Sparta's few remaining allies there was a feeling that the Spartiates were winning wars because sacrificed allies, but not yourself.
When they were not alone in the war, they made it clear that they would fight on the right wing. This meant that the enemy, who would also put his elite troops on the right wing, would not meet the Spartans. Therefore, in many battles the Spartans met weaker units of the enemy. Often we see that the allies are strangely under more pressure than the Spartans. If you want to get rid of distrustful allies, send them to the left wing - the Spartans will deal with them.
Oddly enough, but the city-state, which always tried to isolate itself, which always entered into battle out of extreme necessity, now fought everything known world to maintain their dominion. And all this happened in Boeotia.
If you have a growing population, if your women give birth at 15-18 years old, which is necessary regardless of childhood diseases, a low survival rate is a guarantee that you will not face a disaster.
The number of elite warriors was sharply decreasing, but the ranks of the Spartan system itself were inexorably decreasing. It was easy to fall, almost impossible to get up. You could be expelled from your circle for failing to arrange a dinner for your friends, for faltering in battle, for some other social sins, and this meant the end for you.
A very dangerous one has appeared kind of extra people, who were Spartans by birth and upbringing, but at the same time deprived of Spartan citizenship. They were considered dishonest in a society in which honor was paramount. They brought trouble with them. However, Sparta was forced to condone them, it refrained from any ideological friction, it was even ready to make them new members of the elite. This fact suggests that it is the state has lost contact with reality.
For the first time in its long history, a weakened Sparta will be forced to defend itself on its own soil. Extremely weak Sparta had to withstand the most difficult test. U Epaminondas, a brilliant Theban commander, was born new plan : redraw the map of the Peloponnese and finally bleed Sparta.
He was interested in not just destroying the power of Sparta, but destroy the myth of Spartan omnipotence, i.e. in other words, drive the last nail into the coffin. He understood that Sparta could not exist as before if free the helots.
The Spartans were completely dependent on labor; their entire system depended on this. Without it, Sparta simply would not have the resources to be a significant power.
With the support of the alliance - - Argos Epaminondas began to the first stage of the destruction of Sparta. At the beginning of 369 BC. he arrives in Messinia and announces that Messenians are no longer helots that they are free and independent Greeks. This is a very significant event.
Epaminondas and his troops remained in Messenia for almost 4 months while the liberated helots built a huge wall around the new city-state.
These Messenians were the descendants of many generations of helots who, at the cost of their independence and lives, ensured the prosperity of Sparta. And now they were witnessing the death of the great Spartan polis. The Spartans tried for centuries to prevent the restoration of Messenian independence. This is exactly what happened.
While the helots were building walls, Epaminondas carried out second stage of your fee. Allied forces erected fortifications in one of the key strategic centers - which in Greek means “big city”.
It was another strong, powerful city, owned by people who had every reason to fear the revival of Sparta. They isolated Sparta. Now Sparta is deprived of the opportunity to regain the power it once had. From that moment on, Sparta became a dinosaur.
The decline of the great polis
Now Epaminondas is ready to invade. He has cornered the Spartans and has 70,000 men at his disposal.
He was a brilliant politician. With the help of authority alone, he created an army of retribution - the first foreign army appeared in the valley Laconia for 600 years. Eat famous saying: In 600 years, not a single Spartan woman had ever seen an enemy fire burn out.
Sparta did something it had never done before: it retreated, thereby making itself second-rate state in the Greek world. The very course of history was against Sparta, demography was against Sparta, geography. And luck itself turned away from her when a man like Epaminondas appeared.
After the liberation of Messenia in 370 BC. will never rise to the level of the power it once was in the Greek world. They were ruined by their own success. They lived in something like a greenhouse - a hermetic environment, feeding on their virtues, but they could not resist the corruption and temptations that accompanied luck.
Unlike other city-states, Sparta was shadow of the former power, it has become something of a living museum. During Roman times, Sparta became a kind of thematic museum where you could go and look at the local people and marvel at their strange way of life.
The great historian said that when future generations looked at Athens, they decided that Athens was 10 times larger than it really was, and Sparta was 10 times smaller than it really was.
The Spartans had very little to show the world; their houses and temples were simple. When Sparta lost power, it left behind very little worth noting. While Athens not only survived, it is still admired by the whole world.
Legacy of Sparta
However, the Spartans left heritage. Even before the smoke cleared from the ashes, Athenian thinkers were reviving the more noble aspects of Spartan society in their city-states.
This first appeared in Sparta constitutional government, other Greeks followed their example.
In many Greek cities there were civil wars , in Sparta - no. What was the matter? The ancients couldn't figure out why, just like we can't today. Something allowed Sparta to exist for a very long time, moreover, to create a certain political tradition associated with stability.
They were considered a kind of ideal of the Greek civilization of virtue. That's what they thought Socrates , . Republic concept largely based on the policies of the Spartans. But sometimes they saw in them what they wanted to see. Over the next 20 centuries, philosophers and politicians returned again and again to the glorious past that was once Sparta.
Sparta was idealized during the period of the Italian and its oligarchic government. Political stability of Sparta was presented as a kind of ideal.
In 18th century France, people were simply in love with Sparta. Rousseau declared that it was not a republic of people, but of demigods. During the time many wanted die nobly like the Spartans.
During American Revolution Sparta was the banner for those who wanted to create a stable democratic country. said that he learned more from the history of Thucydides than from local newspapers.
Thucydides tells how a radical democracy, Athens, lost the Peloponnesian War. This is probably why Jefferson and the other framers of the American Constitution preferred Sparta to Athens. pointed to Athenian democracy as a terrible example of what not to have in . Those. true democracy cannot be combined with an aristocratic element, and the good thing about Sparta is that everyone there lives in society, and everyone is first and foremost a citizen.
However, in the 20th century, Sparta attracted the attention not so much of democratic societies, but of leaders who adopted the worst aspects of Spartan society. I saw an ideal in Sparta, so the history of Sparta was included in the curriculum.
And his associates spoke very warmly about Sparta. He said that other countries could become helots of the German military caste. It is legitimate to see origins of totalitarianism in Spartan society.
The lessons of Sparta are still felt even in today's society. The Spartans were the creators, the founders of what we call Western military discipline, and it became a colossal advantage in, in, during the Renaissance and remains to this day.
Western armies have a completely different idea of what discipline is. Take a Western army and put it against the Iraqi army, against the army of some tribe, and it will almost always win, even if it is significantly outnumbered. Those. We owe Western discipline to Sparta. We learn from them that honor is one of the important components human life. A person can live without honor if the surrounding circumstances make this possible. But a person cannot die without honor, because when we die, we seem to account for our lives.
But speaking of greatness, we must not forget that many people paid a terrible price for what she achieved. They had to suppress the human qualities necessary for the full development of the individual. At the same time, they doomed themselves to cruelty and narrow-mindedness. What they believed in supremacy and honor at the cost of losing freedom, even their own, is caricature on the true meaning of human life.
In conclusion, it should be said that Sparta got what I deserved. U modern society there is one advantage: by studying history, it can take the best of Sparta and discard the worst.
In the next, classical period of Hellenic history, the regions of Balkan Greece became the main leading centers of the Greek world. -Sparta And Athens. Sparta and Athens represent two unique types of Greek states, in many ways opposite to each other and at the same time different from colonial-island Greece. The history of classical Greece mainly focuses on the history of Sparta and Athens, especially since this history is most fully represented in the tradition that has reached us. For this reason, in general courses the history of these societies is given more attention than other countries of the Hellenic world. Their socio-political and cultural characteristics will become clear from the further presentation. Let's start with Sparta.
Sparta owes to a large extent the uniqueness of its social system and way of life natural conditions. Sparta was located in the southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, in the Peloponnese. The south of the Peloponnese, where ancient Sparta was located, is occupied by two plains - Laconian and Messenian, separated by a high mountain range Taygetus. Eastern, Lakonian, valley irrigated by the river Eurotom, in fact, it was the main territory of Sparta. From the north, the Laconian Valley was closed by high mountains, and in the south it was lost in the space of malarial swamps that stretched all the way to the sea. In the center there was a valley 30 kilometers long and 10 kilometers wide - this is the territory of ancient Sparta - the area is fertile, rich in pastures and convenient for crops. The slopes of Taygetus are covered with forests, wild fruit trees and vineyards. However, the Laconian Valley is small in size and does not have convenient harbors. Isolation from the sea predisposed the Spartans to isolation, on the one hand, and aggressive impulses towards their neighbors, especially the fertile western Messenpi valley, on the other.
The ancient history of Sparta, or Lacedaemon, is little known. Excavations carried out at the site of Sparta by English archaeologists indicate a closer connection between Sparta and Mycenae than previously thought. Pre-Dorian Sparta is a city of the Mycenaean era. In Sparta, according to legend, lived the basil Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, husband of Helen. How did the settlement of the Dorians proceed in Laconia, which they conquered, and what were their initial relations with the native population, when current state question, it is impossible to say. Only a vague story has been preserved about the campaign of the Heraclides (descendants of the hero Hercules) in the Peloponnese and their conquest of Argos, Messenia and Laconia, as the inheritance of their great ancestor Hercules. This is how, according to legend, the Dorians established themselves in the Peloponnese.
As in other communities of Greece, so in Sparta, the growth of productive forces, frequent clashes with neighbors and internal struggle led to the disintegration of clan relations and the formation of a slave state. The state in Sparta arose very
Eurotas Valley. In the distance are the snowy peaks of Taygetos.
early, it was formed as a result of conquest and it retained much more ancestral remnants than in any other polis. The combination of strong statehood with tribal institutions lies main feature Spartan, and partly the Dorian system in general.
Many Spartan institutions and customs are associated with the name of the semi-legendary Spartan legislator-sage Lycurgus, in whose image the features of man and the god of light Lycurgus, whose cult was celebrated in Sparta and in historical times, merged. Only in the 5th century. Lycurgus, whose activities date back approximately to the 8th century, began to be considered the creator of the Spartan political system and was therefore placed in one of the Spartan royal families. From the thick fog that shrouds the activities of Lycurgus, some real features of the legislator nevertheless shine through. With the weakening of clan alliances and the liberation of the individual from blood, local, tribal and other constraints, the appearance on the historical arena of such personalities as Lycurgus is quite plausible. This is proven throughout Greek history. The legend represents Lycurgus as the uncle and educator of the young Spartan king, who actually ruled the entire state. On the advice of the Delphic oracle, Lycurgus, as the executor of the divine will, promulgated retro Retras were short sayings in the form of formulas that contained any important regulations and laws.
Expressed in archaic lapidary language Lycurgova retra laid the foundation of the Spartan state.
In addition, Lycurgus was credited with a major land reform that ended hitherto existing land inequality and the predominance of the aristocracy. According to legend, Lycurgus divided the entire territory occupied by Sparta into nine or ten thousand equal sections (kleri) according to the number of male Spartiates who made up the militia.
After this, the legend says, Lycurgus, considering his reform completed and the goal of his life fulfilled, left Sparta, having previously obligated the citizens with an oath not to violate the constitution they had adopted.
After the death of Lycurgus, a temple was built for him in Sparta, and he himself was declared a hero and god. Subsequently, the name of Lycurgus for the Spartans became a symbol of justice and an ideal leader who loved his people and his homeland.
Throughout its history, Sparta remained an agricultural, agrarian country. The seizure of neighboring lands was driving force Spartan politics. In the half of the 8th century. this led to a long war with neighboring Messenia ( First Messenian War) ending with the conquest of Messinia and the enslavement of its population. In the 7th century followed by a new one, second Messenian war, caused by the plight of the conquered helot population, also ending in the victory of Sparta. The Spartans owed their victory to the new political system that emerged during the Messenian wars.
The order that developed in Sparta during the Messenian wars lasted for three hundred years (VII-IV centuries). The Spartan constitution, as noted above, represented a combination of tribal remnants with a strong statehood. All Spartans capable of bearing arms and arming themselves at their own expense, members of the fighting phalanx, constituted “ equal community In relation to the Spartiate citizens, the Spartan constitution was a democracy, and in relation to the mass of the dependent population, it was an oligarchy. i.e. e. domination of a few. The number of equal Spartiates was estimated at nine or ten thousand people. The community of equals represented a military community with collective property and a collective workforce. All community members were considered equal. The material basis of the community of equals was the land cultivated by the conquered helot population.
The structure of ancient Sparta is mainly presented in this form. Since ancient times, the Spartans were divided into three Dorian (tribal) phyla. Each Spartiate belonged to a particular phylum. But the further, the more and more the clan system was supplanted by the state system and clan divisions were replaced by territorial ones. Sparta was divided into five about. Each both was a village, and the whole of Sparta, according to ancient authors, was not a city in the proper sense, but was a combination of five villages.
It also retained many archaic features. royal power in Sparta. The Spartan kings came from two influential families - the Agiads and the Eurypontids. The kings (archagetes) commanded the militia (and one of the kings went on a campaign), tried cases related mainly to family law and performed some priestly functions. The highest political body in Sparta was Council of Elders, or gerusia. Gerusia consisted of 30 people - 2 kings and 28 geronts, elected by a popular assembly from influential Spartan families. The People's Assembly itself ( appella) met once a month, made decisions on all matters relating to war and peace, and elected members of the gerousia and ephors. The institution of ephors (observers) is very ancient, dating back to the “Dolpkurgov Sparta”. Initially ephorate was a democratic institution. The ephors, numbering five people, were elected by the people's assembly and were representatives of the entire Spartan people. Subsequently (V-IV centuries) they degenerated into an oligarchic body that protected the interests of the upper layer of Spartan citizenship.
The functions of the Spartan ephors were extremely extensive and varied. The recruitment of the militia depended on them. They accompanied the kings on the campaign and controlled their actions. The entire highest politics of Sparta was in their hands. In addition, the ephors had judiciary and could even bring to justice kings who sought to expand their powers and escape the control of the community. Every step of the kings was under the control of the ephors, who performed a unique role as royal guardians.
The Spartan organization has many similarities with men's houses modern backward peoples. The whole system and all life in Sparta had a peculiar military character. The peacetime life of the Spartans was not much different from the wartime life. The Spartan warriors spent most of their time together in a fortified camp on the mountain.
The marching organization was maintained in peacetime. Both during the campaign and during the peace, the Spartans were divided into enomotives- camps, engaged in military exercises, gymnastics, fencing, wrestling, running exercises, etc., and only at night) returned home to their families.
Each Spartan brought from his home a certain amount of food for common friendly dinners, called sissity, or fidity. Only wives and children dined at home. The rest of the life of the Spartans was also entirely subordinated to the interests of the entire community. In order to complicate the possibility of enriching some and ruining other free citizens, exchange was difficult in Sparta. Only bulky and inconvenient iron money was in use. From birth to the end
Gymnastic exercises. Image on a vase from Noli. In the center are two fist fighters. Gives them instructions, holding a long rod in his hands, supervisor. On the left is a young man holding a rope, serving to measure
jump.
In life, the Spartan did not belong to himself. The father of a newborn child could not raise him without the prior permission of the geronts. The father brought his child to the geronts, who, after examining the child, either left him alive or sent him to the “apophetes”, to the cemetery in the Taygetus crevice. Only the strong and strong were left alive, from whom good soldiers could emerge.
The military imprint lay on the entire education of the Spartan. This education was based on the principle: win in battle and obey. Young Spartans all year round walked without shoes and wore rough clothes. They spent most of their time in schools (gymnasiums), where they studied physical exercise, sports and learned to read and write. The Spartan had to speak simply, briefly, in Lakonian (laconic).
Spartan gymnasiasts drank, ate and slept together. They slept on hard reed beds, prepared with their own hands without a knife. To test the physical endurance of teenagers, real flagellations were organized in the Temple of Artemis under a religious pretext. *3 and the execution was observed by a priestess holding a figurine of the god in her hands, now tilting it, now raising it, thereby indicating the need to strengthen or weaken the blows.
Special attention was paid to the education of youth in Sparta. They were looked upon as the main force of the Spartan system both in the present and in the future. In order to accustom youth to endurance, teenagers and young men were assigned difficult work, which they had to do without any objection or grumbling. Not only the authorities, but also private individuals were required to monitor the behavior of the young men under the threat of fines and dishonor for negligence.
“As for youth, the legislator paid special attention to it, considering that it is very important for the state’s well-being if youth are educated properly.”
Such attention to military training was undoubtedly facilitated by the fact that Sparta was, as it were, a military camp among the enslaved and always ready to rebel population of the surrounding regions, mainly Messenia.
At the same time, the physically strong and well-disciplined Spartans were well armed. Military equipment Sparta was considered exemplary throughout Hellas. The large reserves of iron available in Taygetos made it possible to widely expand the production of iron weapons. The Spartan army was divided into detachments (suckers, later moras) of five hundred people. The small fighting unit was the enomotia, consisting of approximately forty men. Heavily armed infantrymen (hoplites) formed the main military force Sparta.
The Spartan army set out on a campaign in an orderly march accompanied by the sounds of flutes and choral songs. Spartan choral singing enjoyed great fame throughout Hellas. “There was something in these songs that ignited courage, aroused enthusiasm and called for exploits. Their words were simple and artless, but their content was serious and instructive.”
The songs glorified the Spartans who fell in battle and condemned “pathetic and dishonest cowards.” Spartan songs in poetic treatment enjoyed great popularity throughout Greece. An example of Spartan war songs can be the elegies and marches (embateria) of the poet Tyrtea(VII century), who arrived in Sparta from Attica and enthusiastically praised the Spartan system.
“Don’t be afraid of huge enemy hordes, don’t be afraid!
Let everyone hold his shield directly between the first fighters.
Life is hateful, considering the gloomy harbingers of death as sweet as the rays of the sun are dear to us...”
“It’s glorious to lose your life, among the valiant warriors who fell, - to a brave man in battle for the sake of his fatherland...”
“Young men, fight, standing in rows, do not be an example of shameful flight or pathetic cowardice to others!
Do not leave the elders, whose knees are already weak,
And do not run away, betraying the elders to your enemies.
A terrible shame on you when among the warriors the first fallen Elder lies in front young in years fighters..."
“Let him, taking a wide step and placing his feet on the ground,
Everyone stands in place, lips pressed with teeth,
Hips and legs from below and your chest along with your shoulders Covered with a convex circle of a shield, strong with copper;
With his right hand let him shake the mighty lance,
Putting your foot together and leaning your shield on the shield,
Grozny Sultan-o-Sultan, helmet-o comrade helmet,
Having tightly closed chest to chest, let everyone fight with enemies, clasping the hilt of a spear or sword with his hand. " 1 .
Until the very end of the Greco-Persian wars Spartan phalanx The hoplites were considered an exemplary and invincible army.
The armament of all Spartans was the same, which further emphasized the equality of all Spartans before the community. The Spartiates wore crimson cloaks; their weapons consisted of a spear, shield and helmet.
Considerable attention in Sparta was also paid to the education of women, who occupied a very unique position in the Spartan system. Before marriage, young Spartan women engaged in the same physical exercises as men - running, wrestling, throwing discus, fighting in fist fights, etc. The education of women was considered as the most important government function, because their responsibility was to give birth to healthy children, future defenders of the homeland. “The Spartan girls had to run, fight, throw discus, throw spears to strengthen their bodies, so that their future children would be strong in body in the very womb of their healthy mother, so that their development would be correct and so that the mothers themselves could be delivered from pregnancy successfully and easily, “thanks to the strength of my body.”
After getting married, the Spartan woman devoted herself entirely to family responsibilities - giving birth and raising children. The form of marriage in Sparta was the monogamous family. But at the same time, as Engels notes, many remnants of ancient group marriage remained in Sparta. “In Sparta there is pair marriage, modified by the state in accordance with local views and in many respects still reminiscent of group marriage. Childless marriages are dissolved: King Anaxandrid (650 BC), who had a childless wife, took a second one and kept two households; around the same time the king
Ariston, who had two barren wives, took the third, but released one of the first. On the other hand, several brothers could have a common wife; a man who liked his friend’s wife could share her with him... A real violation of marital fidelity, the infidelity of wives behind the husband’s back, was therefore unheard of. On the other hand, Sparta, at least
Young woman, running race. Rome. Vatican.
At least in its best era, it did not know domestic slaves, serf helots lived separately on estates, so the Spartiates were less tempted to use their women. It is natural, therefore, that due to all these conditions, women in Sparta occupied a much more honorable position than among the rest of the Greeks.”
The Spartan community was created not only as a result of a long and persistent struggle with its neighbors, but also as a result of the peculiar position of Sparta among a large enslaved and allied population. The mass of the enslaved population was helots, farmers, painted according to the clerks of the Spartiates in groups of ten to fifteen people. Helots paid rent in kind (apophora) and bore various duties in relation to their masters. The quitrent included barley, spelt, pork, wine and butter. Each Spartan received 70 medimni (measures), barley, Spartan 12 medimni with the corresponding amount of fruits and wine. Helots were not exempt from carrying military service. Battles usually began with the appearance of helots, who were supposed to disrupt the ranks and rear of the enemy.
The origin of the term "helot" is unclear. According to some scholars, “helot” means conquered, captured, and according to others, “helot” comes from the city of Gelos, whose inhabitants were in unequal, but allied relations with Sparta, obliging them to pay tribute. But whatever the origin of the helots and no matter what formal category - slaves or serfs - they are classified into, the sources leave no doubt that the actual position of the helots was no different from the position of slaves.
Both land and helots were considered communal property; individual property was not developed in Sparta. Each full-fledged Spartiate, a member of a community of equals and a member of the fighting phalanx of hoplites received from the community by lot a certain allotment (kler) with the helots sitting on it. Neither the clairs nor the rafts could be alienated. The Spartiate, of his own free will, could neither sell nor release the helot, nor change his contributions. The helots were for the use of the Spartan and his family as long as he remained in the community. The total number of clerks according to the number of full-fledged Spartiates was equal to ten thousand.
The second group of the dependent population consisted of perieki,(or perioikoi) - “living around” - residents of the regions allied with Sparta. Among the perieks were farmers, artisans and merchants. Compared to the absolutely powerless helots, the perieci were in a better position, but they did not have political rights and were not part of a community of equals, but served in the militia and could have land ownership.
The “Community of Equals” lived on a real volcano, the crater of which constantly threatened to open up and swallow everyone living on it. In no other Greek state did the antagonism between the dependent and the dominant population manifest itself in such a sharp form as in Sparta. “Everyone,” notes Plutarch, “who believes that in Sparta the free enjoys the highest freedom, and the slaves are slaves in the full sense of the word, define the situation absolutely correctly.”
This is the reason for the proverbial conservatism of the Spartan order and the exceptionally cruel attitude of the ruling class towards the disenfranchised population. The Spartans' treatment of the helots was always harsh and cruel. By the way, the helots were forced to get drunk, and after that the Spartans showed the youth how disgusting drunkenness can lead to. In no other Greek city did the antagonism between the dependent population and the masters manifest itself as sharply as in Sparta. The unity of the helots and their organization was greatly facilitated by the very nature of their settlements. The helots lived in continuous settlements on the plain, along the banks of the Eurotas, heavily overgrown with reeds, where they could take refuge if necessary.
In order to prevent carnal uprisings, the Spartans from time to time organized crypts, i.e. punitive expeditions against the helots, destroying the strongest and strongest of them. The essence of the cryptia was as follows. The ephors declared " holy war"helots, during which detachments of Spartan youth, armed short swords, went out of town. During the day, these detachments hid in remote places, but at night they emerged from ambush and suddenly attacked the helot settlements, created panic, killed the strongest and most dangerous of them, and disappeared again. Other methods of dealing with helots are also known. Thucydides says that during the Peloponnesian War, the Spartiates gathered helots who wanted to receive liberation for their merits, put wreaths on their heads as a sign of imminent liberation, led them to the temple, and after that these helots disappeared to God knows where. Thus, two thousand helots immediately disappeared.
The cruelty of the Spartans, however, did not protect them from helot uprisings. The history of Sparta is full of large and small uprisings of helots. Most often, uprisings occurred during the war, when the Spartans were distracted by military operations and could not monitor the helots with their usual vigilance. The uprising of the helots was especially strong during the second Meseen war, as discussed above. The uprising threatened to sweep away the very “community of equals.” Since the time of the Messenian wars, cryptia arose.
“It seems to me that the Spartans have become so inhuman since then. since a terrible earthquake occurred in Sparta, during which the helots rebelled.”
The Spartans invented all sorts of measures and means to keep the historically established social order in balance. This is where their fear of everything new, unknown and outside the framework of the usual, the structure of life, a suspicious attitude towards foreigners, etc. came from. And yet, life still took its toll. The Spartan order, for all its indestructibility, was destroyed both from the outside and from the inside.
After the Messenian wars, Sparta tried to subjugate other regions of the Peloponnese, primarily Arcadia, but the resistance of the Arcadian mountain tribes forced Sparta to abandon this plan. After this, Sparta seeks to ensure its power through alliances. In the VI century. through wars and peace treaties the Spartans managed to achieve organization Peloponnesian League, which covered all the regions of the Peloponnese, except Argos, Achaia and the northern districts of Arcadia. Subsequently, the trading city of Corinth, a rival of Athens, also joined this union.
Before the Greco-Persian Wars, the Peloponnesian League was the largest and most powerful of all Greek alliances. “Lacedaemon itself, after it was settled by the Dorians, who now live in this area, for a very long time, as far as we know, suffered from internal unrest. However, for a long time it was governed by good laws and was never under the rule of tyrants. IN During the little over four hundred years that elapsed before the end of this [Peloponnesian] war, the Lacedaemonians had the same state structure. Thanks to this, “they became powerful and organized affairs in other states.”
Spartan hegemony continued until the Battle of Salamis, i.e. until the first major sea battle, which brought Athens to the forefront and moved the economic center of Greece from the mainland to the sea. From this time on, the internal crisis of Sparta began, which ultimately led to the disintegration of all the above-described institutions of the ancient Spartan system.
Orders similar to those observed in Sparta also existed in some other Greek states. This concerned primarily the areas conquered by the Dorians, especially the cities of. Krita. According to ancient authors, Lycurgus borrowed a lot from the Cretans. And indeed, in the Cretan system, which developed after the Dorian conquest, known to us from the inscription from Gortyna, there are many common features with Sparta. Three Dorian phyla are preserved, and there are public dinners, which, unlike Sparta, are organized at the expense of the state. Free citizens use the labor of unfree farmers ( Clarots), who in many ways resemble the Spartan helots, but have more rights than the latter. They have their own property; the estate, for example, was considered their property. They even had the right to the master's property if he did not have a relative. Along with the clarota, there were also “purchased slaves” in Crete, who served in city houses and did not differ from the slaves in developed Greek policies.
In Thessaly, a position similar to the Spartan helots and Cretan clarotes was occupied penestae, who paid rent to the Thessalians. One source says that “the Penestes handed themselves over to the power of the Thessalians on the basis of a mutual oath, according to which they would not tolerate anything bad while working and would not leave the country.” About the position of the penests - and the same can be attributed to the helots and clarots - Engels wrote the following: “Undoubtedly, serfdom is not a specific medieval-feudal form, we meet it everywhere where the conquerors force the old inhabitants to cultivate the land - this was the case, for example, in Thessaly at a very early time. This fact has clouded my and many others' view of medieval serfdom. It was very tempting to justify it with a simple conquest, so everything turned out unusually smoothly” 2.
Thucydides, I, 18. ! Marx and Engels, Letters, Sotsekgiz, 1931, p. 346.
The glory of Sparta, a Peloponnesian city in Laconia, is very loud in historical chronicles and in the world. It was one of the most famous policies of Ancient Greece, which did not know unrest and civil upheaval, and its army never retreated before its enemies.
Sparta was founded by Lacedaemon, who reigned in Laconia one and a half thousand years before the birth of Christ and named the city after his wife. In the first centuries of the city’s existence, there were no walls around it: they were erected only under the tyrant Naviz. True, they were later destroyed, but Appius Claudius soon erected new ones.
The ancient Greeks considered the creator of the Spartan state to be the legislator Lycurgus, whose life spanned approximately the first half of the 7th century BC. e. The population of ancient Sparta in its composition was divided at that time into three groups: Spartans, Perieki and Helots. The Spartans lived in Sparta itself and enjoyed all the rights of citizenship of their city-state: they had to fulfill all the requirements of the law and they were admitted to all honorary public positions. The occupation of agriculture and crafts, although it was not prohibited to this class, did not correspond to the way of education of the Spartans and was therefore despised by them.
Most of the land of Laconia was at their disposal; it was cultivated for them by the helots. To own a plot of land, a Spartan had to fulfill two requirements: strictly follow all the rules of discipline and provide a certain part of the income for the sissitia - the public table: barley flour, wine, cheese, etc.
Game was obtained by hunting in state forests; Moreover, everyone who made a sacrifice to the gods sent part of the carcass of the sacrificial animal to the sissitium. Violation or failure to comply with these rules (for any reason) resulted in loss of citizenship rights. All full-fledged citizens of ancient Sparta, young and old, had to participate in these dinners, while no one had any advantages or privileges.
The circle of perieki also included free people, but they were not full citizens of Sparta. The Perieci inhabited all the cities of Laconia, except Sparta, which belonged exclusively to the Spartans. They did not politically constitute an entire city-state, since they received control in their cities only from Sparta. The perieki of various cities were independent of each other, and at the same time, each of them was dependent on Sparta.
Helots made up the rural population of Laconia: they were slaves of those lands that they cultivated for the benefit of the Spartans and Perieci. Helots also lived in cities, but city life was not typical for helots. They were allowed to have a house, a wife and a family; it was forbidden to sell helots outside their estates. Some scholars believe that the sale of helots was generally impossible, since they were the property of the state, and not individuals. Some information has reached our times about the cruel treatment of the helots by the Spartans, although again some of the scientists believe that in this attitude there was more contempt.
Plutarch reports that every year (by virtue of the decrees of Lycurgus) the ephors solemnly declared war against the helots. Young Spartans, armed with daggers, walked throughout Laconia and exterminated the unfortunate helots. But over time, scientists found that this method of exterminating helots was legalized not during the time of Lycurgus, but only after the First Messenian War, when the helots became dangerous to the state.
Plutarch, the author of biographies of prominent Greeks and Romans, began his story about the life and laws of Lycurgus, warning the reader that nothing reliable could be reported about them. And yet he had no doubt that this politician was a historical figure.
Most modern scientists consider Lycurgus to be a legendary figure: the famous German historian of antiquity K.O. Muller was one of the first to doubt his historical existence back in the 1820s. He suggested that the so-called “laws of Lycurgus” are much older than their legislator, since they are not so much laws as ancient folk customs, rooted in the distant past of the Dorians and all other Hellenes.
Many scientists (U. Vilamowitz, E. Meyer and others) consider the biography of the Spartan legislator, preserved in several versions, as a late reworking of the myth of the ancient Laconian deity Lycurgus. Adherents of this trend questioned the very existence of “legislation” in ancient Sparta. E. Meyer classified the customs and rules that regulated the daily life of the Spartans as the “lifestyle of the Dorian tribal community,” from which classical Sparta grew almost without any changes.
But the results of archaeological excavations, which were carried out in 1906-1910 by an English archaeological expedition in Sparta, served as the reason for the partial rehabilitation of the ancient legend about the legislation of Lycurgus. The British explored the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia - one of the most ancient temples of Sparta - and discovered many works of art of local production: wonderful examples of painted ceramics, unique terracotta masks (not found anywhere else), objects made of bronze, gold, amber and ivory.
These finds, for the most part, somehow did not fit with the ideas about the harsh and ascetic life of the Spartans, about the almost complete isolation of their city from the rest of the world. And then scientists suggested that the laws of Lycurgus in the 7th century BC. e. were not yet put into action and the economic and cultural development of Sparta proceeded in the same way as the development of other Greek states. Only towards the end of the 6th century BC. e. Sparta closes in on itself and turns into the city-state as ancient writers knew it.
Due to the threat of a revolt of the helots, the situation was then restless, and therefore the “initiators of reforms” could resort (as often happened in ancient times) to the authority of some hero or deity. In Sparta, Lycurgus was chosen for this role, who little by little began to turn from a deity into a historical legislator, although ideas about his divine origin persisted until the time of Herodotus.
Lycurgus had the opportunity to bring order to a cruel and outrageous people, therefore it was necessary to teach them to resist the onslaught of other states, and for this to make everyone skilled warriors. One of the first reforms of Lycurgus was the organization of governance of the Spartan community. Ancient writers claimed that he created a Council of Elders (gerusia) of 28 people. The elders (geronts) were elected by the apella - the people's assembly; The gerousia also included two kings, one of whose main duties was command of the army during the war.
From the descriptions of Pausanias we know that the period of the most intensive construction activity in the history of Sparta was the 6th century BC. e. At this time, the temple of Athena Copperhouse on the acropolis, the portico of Skiada, the so-called “throne of Apollo” and other buildings were erected in the city. But Thucydides, who saw Sparta in the last quarter of the 5th century BC. e., the city made the most bleak impression.
Against the background of the luxury and grandeur of Athenian architecture from the time of Pericles, Sparta already seemed like a nondescript provincial town. The Spartans themselves, not afraid of being considered old-fashioned, did not stop worshiping archaic stone and wooden idols at a time when Phidias, Myron, Praxiteles and other outstanding sculptors of Ancient Greece were creating their masterpieces in other Hellenic cities.
In the second half of the 6th century BC. e. There was a noticeable cooling of the Spartans towards the Olympic Games. Before that, they took the most active part in them and accounted for more than half of the winners, in all major types of competitions. Subsequently, for the entire time from 548 to 480 BC. e., only one representative of Sparta, King Demaratus, won a victory and only in one type of competition - horse racing at the hippodrome.
To achieve harmony and peace in Sparta, Lycurgus decided to forever eradicate wealth and poverty in his state. He banned the use of gold and silver coins, which were used throughout Greece, and instead introduced iron money in the form of obols. They bought only what was produced in Sparta itself; In addition, they were so heavy that even a small amount had to be transported on a cart.
Lycurgus also prescribed a way of home life: all Spartans, from the common citizen to the king, had to live in exactly the same conditions. A special order indicated what kind of houses could be built, what clothes to wear: they had to be so simple that there was no room for any luxury. Even the food had to be the same for everyone.
Thus, in Sparta, wealth gradually lost all meaning, since it was impossible to use it: citizens began to think less about their own good, and more about the state. Nowhere in Sparta did poverty coexist with wealth; as a result, there was no envy, rivalry and other selfish passions that exhaust a person. There was no greed, which pits private benefit against public good and arms one citizen against another.
One of the Spartan youths, who purchased land for next to nothing, was put on trial. The accusation said that he was still very young, but was already seduced by profit, while self-interest is the enemy of every resident of Sparta.
Raising children was considered one of the main duties of a citizen in Sparta. The Spartan, who had three sons, was exempted from guard duty, and the father of five was exempted from all existing duties.
From the age of 7, the Spartan no longer belonged to his family: children were separated from their parents and began social life. From that moment on, they were brought up in special detachments (angels), where they were supervised not only by their fellow citizens, but also by specially assigned censors. Children were taught to read and write, taught to remain silent for a long time, and to speak laconically - briefly and clearly.
Gymnastic and sports exercises were supposed to develop dexterity and strength in them; in order for there to be harmony in the movements, young men were obliged to participate in choral dances; hunting in the forests of Laconia developed patience for difficult trials. The children were fed rather poorly, so they made up for the lack of food not only by hunting, but also by stealing, since they were also accustomed to theft; however, if anyone was caught, they beat him mercilessly - not for theft, but for awkwardness.
Young men who reached the age of 16 were subjected to a very severe test at the altar of the goddess Artemis: they were severely flogged, but they had to remain silent. Even the smallest cry or groan contributed to the continuation of the punishment: some could not stand the test and died.
In Sparta there was a law according to which no one should be fatter than necessary. According to this law, all young men who had not yet achieved civil rights were shown to the ephors - members of the election commission. If the young men were strong and strong, then they were praised; young men whose bodies were considered too flabby and loose were beaten with sticks, since their appearance disgraced Sparta and its laws.
Plutarch and Xenophon wrote that Lycurgus legitimized that women should perform the same exercises as men, and thereby become strong and be able to give birth to strong and healthy offspring. Thus, Spartan women were worthy of their husbands, since they too were subject to a harsh upbringing.
The women of ancient Sparta, whose sons died, went to the battlefield and looked where they were wounded. If it was in the chest, then the women looked at those around them with pride and buried their children with honor in their father’s tombs. If they saw wounds on the back, then, sobbing with shame, they hurried to hide, leaving others to bury the dead.
Marriage in Sparta was also subject to the law: personal feelings had no meaning, because it was all a matter of state. Boys and girls whose physiological development corresponded to each other and from whom healthy children could be expected could enter into marriage: marriage between persons of unequal build was not allowed.
But Aristotle speaks quite differently about the position of Spartan women: while the Spartans led a strict, almost ascetic life, their wives indulged in extraordinary luxury in their home. This circumstance forced men to get money often through dishonest means, because direct means were prohibited to them. Aristotle wrote that Lycurgus tried to subject Spartan women to the same strict discipline, but was met with decisive rebuff from them.
Left to their own devices, women became self-willed, indulged in luxury and licentiousness, they even began to interfere in state affairs, which ultimately led to a real gynecocracy in Sparta. “And what difference does it make,” Aristotle asks bitterly, “whether the women themselves rule or whether the leaders are under their authority?” The Spartans were blamed for the fact that they behaved boldly and impudently and allowed themselves to indulge in luxury, thereby challenging the strict norms of state discipline and morality.
To protect his legislation from foreign influence, Lycurgus limited Sparta's connections with foreigners. Without permission, which was given only in cases of special importance, the Spartan could not leave the city and go abroad. Foreigners were also prohibited from entering Sparta. The inhospitality of Sparta was the most famous phenomenon in ancient world.
The citizens of ancient Sparta were something like a military garrison, constantly training and always ready for war either with the helots or with an external enemy. The legislation of Lycurgus took on an exclusively military character also because those were times when there was no public and personal security, and generally all the principles on which state tranquility is based were absent. In addition, the Dorians, in very small numbers, settled in the country of the helots they had conquered and were surrounded by half-conquered or not at all conquered Achaeans, therefore they could only hold out through battles and victories.
Such a harsh upbringing, at first glance, could make the life of ancient Sparta very boring, and the people themselves unhappy. But from the writings of ancient Greek authors it is clear that such unusual laws made the Spartans the most prosperous people in the ancient world, because everywhere only competition in the acquisition of virtues reigned.
There was a prediction according to which Sparta would remain a strong and powerful state as long as it followed the laws of Lycurgus and remained indifferent to gold and silver. After the war with Athens, the Spartans brought money to their city, which seduced the inhabitants of Sparta and forced them to deviate from the laws of Lycurgus. And from that moment on, their valor began to gradually fade away...
Aristotle believes that it was the abnormal position of women in Spartan society that led to the fact that Sparta in the second half of the 4th century BC. e. terribly depopulated and lost its former military power.
