Location Of Ancient Sparta
Graphic Source: Public Domain Wikipedia

There have now been at least two movies made about the Spartan stand at Thermopile, the original one, with Richard Egan, being on the more realistic side and the newer one, being a little more fantastic. It is amazing what can be done today with computer graphics, isn't it? After watching the movie, either one, you begin to wonder what the Spartans were really like. The movies seem to indicate that they were just interested in being the best warriors possible and dying in battle. History shows that the Spartans were a feared race, there is no doubt about that. No one wanted to tangle with these guys because they were professional soldiers not soldier citizens and because of that, had received the most intense training of any soldiers in the ancient world up to that time. But was that all there was to the Spartans?

Sparta came into being as a city about 1,000 BC. It was located in Southern Greece near where the town of Sparti is located today. It is believed that in ancient times the Spartans had migrated from Northern Greece and were part of the Dorian tribe. In their personal life, the Spartans were said to not care much for luxuries and that is where the term spartan comes from that refers to living a very simple life, as in, his home was very spartan, meaning it had only the basic items in it. Spartan has also come to mean one who is very disciplined and possesses great courage. The spartans conquered the area of Laconia and that is what became their kingdom. The Spartans were the supreme warriors of Greece until the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BC in which the Thebans defeated them. It only took a few years after that for Sparta to became relatively weak and that is one of the reasons that Alexander in 336 BC was able to take over Greece. The Spartans actually sided with the Romans in the Punic Wars, which were fought between Rome and Cartage. In 146 BC Rome conquered the whole of Greece and absorbed Sparta.

Spartan Soldier Known As A Hoplite
Graphic Source: Public Domain Wikipedia

Sparta was the very first democracy. Their constitution allowed the citizens some freedoms that were not available anywhere else at that time. Each male Spartan had to perform military training. The training was almost life long and was known as Lycurgus' training. It was only for Spartans and helots and the perioeci were excluded. A helot was the slave of a Spartan and a perioeci was a foreigner living in Sparta. If you were a male child, you were taken from your mother at 7 years old and subject to this training until, at least the age of 30. If you were Spartan, you would have been dedicated to your training and your state. This was not all you learned as a child however. You would have received one of the best educations in the ancient world. The Spartan schools were the envy of all the other countries of the time. The children were given the same rights under the constitution as the adults. In schools they learned how to read and write and even learned dance. When they were ready, they performed the krypteia. This was where they were given a knife, no clothes or food and sent out into the mountainside individually. If they survived they were given a high stature in the army, they were then expected to marry. A Spartan soldier lived in the barracks with the men and only met with his wife for procreation. The wedding ceremony consisted of the woman shaving her head and being abducted by the male. The soldier would have been allowed several wives if he wanted.

In the spirit of equality, Sparta introduced a land reform bill aimed at wealth sharing among all Spartans. They actually worried about fairness and the equal treatment of their citizens. Sparta had its famous personalities, just like Athens and some of them were Chilon the famous philosopher, Lycurgus the lawgiver and Tyralos the poet. We tend to think of Sparta as a nation of soldiers, but they were admired by others not only for their prowess with weapons, but for their music and dance. Yes can you believe that, music and dance? The oldest recorded love poem, for the love between a men and women, was written in Sparta. It was a praise of Spartan women. Spartans were also famous for their sayings. Their use of speech used a minimum amount of words and was concise and to the point. It was studied by many other nations who admired it. Sparta believed in democracy and had mutual defense treaties with many other city states and nations, unlike most of the other countries. As a matter of fact, it was the only Greek state to do so in its time. If it felt that it had to defend democracy it would intervene in a war.

Another all time first for the ancient Greek states was the fact that Sparta give many rights to its women, rights that existed nowhere else in the ancient world. They could inherit, get a good education and even own property. They must have been the envy of women everywhere at that time. One of the things about Sparta that goes relatively unnoticed is the fact that they built hundreds of great buildings and even elaborate tombs. Everyone in those days wanted Spartan bronze art, it was highly coveted. If one was to receive a present of such a gift, it would have been highly prized and possibly quite valuable.

Sparta had remained unconquered until relatively late in its development. When the Spartans built monuments, they lasted for hundreds of years because of this, so they usually weren't replaced. Two of the most admired Spartan structures were Menelaion and the Amyklaion. The Menelaion was built around 700 BC and was a temple to Menelaos and Helen. The Amyklaion. was a temple that was built in the 6th century BC. Spartan artisans sculptured in Bronze, Ivory and Terra cotta among other materials. Their golden age ran from about 650 BC to 550 BC. They were world famous for their art which was highly desired.

There came a time for Sparta where its democracy was not as forgiving and had hardened into a concrete block as it were. At that time Athens was advancing in democracy while Sparta stood static. The great city state of Sparta no longer was the world leader in this area, they had finally been overtaken by Athens.

When we think of the Spartans, we should not only think of a war like race of incredible warriors, but of a people who were well versed in all the arts of the time, who granted democracy to their citizens and gave them one of the best educations available at that time. A people who treated women with honor and granted them unheard of rights in a time when women had almost none in other lands. A people that created artistic objects that were the most valued in the world and who had built great buildings. A people who would go to war to defend democracy.