Sparta - Chapter 3

Sparta - Chapter 3

Learning Objective 1: Understand the Spartan emphasis on military training, bravery, and warrior culture.

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​Learning Objective 2: Explain the Spartan system of government

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Learning Objective 3: Recognize some of the important differences between Athens and Sparta.

REMINDER:

You cannot take your modern, western beliefs and impose them on a different society, especially one that existed thousands of years ago.

You are allowed to disagree with how they did things, but do not let that cloud your ability to understand the reason behind why they did it.

Multiple Choice

Review:

What was the name of the group that voted to determine government policy in ancient Athens?

• Agora

• Assembly

• Symposium

• Senate

Multiple Choice

Review:

Who could be a citizen of Athens

• Any adult who was not enslaved and who had two Athenian parents

• Any male adult

• Anyone who was born in Athens

• Any male adult who was not enslaved

• None of these are correct

Chapter 3 Vocab

• Barracks: buildings where soldiers live

• "Aristocratic Council": a group of people from the upper class or nobility who helped govern Sparta

• Landlocked: cut off from the seacoast; surrounded by land

• Phalanx: a group of soldiers who attack in close formation with their shields overlapping and spears pointed forward

Multiple Choice

Which definition best fits the term phalanx?

• Cut off from the sea

• Group of soldiers who attack in close formation with their shields overlapping and spears pointed forward

• Group of people from the upper class or nobility who helped govern Sparta

• Buildings where soldiers live

Multiple Choice

Which definition best fits the term landlocked?

• A group of people from the upper class or nobility who helped govern Sparta

• Buildings where soldiers lived

• Cut off from the sea

• Group of soldiers who attack in close formation with their shields overlapping and spears pointed forward

Multiple Choice

Which definition best fits the phrase aristocratic council?

• A group of people from the upper class or nobility who helped govern Sparta

• Cut off from the sea

• Group of soldiers who attack in close formation with their shields overlapping and spears pointed forward

• Buildings where soldiers lived

The Big Question

Why were Spartan children, especially boys, treated so harshly?

Sparta vs. Athens

• Athens = biggest rival

• About 100 miles southwest of Athens

• Had different ideas about the purpose of education

• No interest in developing "well-rounded individuals"

• Or individuals or any sort

Multiple Choice

What city-state was the main rival of Sparta?

• Athens

• Corinth

• Olympia

• Megara

Military Emphasis

• Emphasis on military training from cradle to grave

• Required 23 years of military training

• Weak and/or unhealthy babies were abandoned on Mt. Taygetos

• Only wanted babies that could grow up to be a strong warrior

• 
  

Military Emphasis

• Children needed to be tough

• Crying children were not comforted

• Believed soothing children made them soft

• Boys were not allowed to wear shoes (even in winter)

• Believed shoes gave boys soft feet and soldiers needed tough feet

Boys' Education

• Boys taught to endure great pain and never accept defeat

• Focus on physical fitness

• Age 7 - boys sent to the agoge and lived in barracks

• Agoge: state sponsored training to turn boys into soldiers

• Taught to obey without question

• 
  

Boys' Education

• Any questioning of authority brought severe punishment (whipping)

• Teen years - food rations cut so they would learn how to find their own food

• Encouraged to steal and scavenge

• Beaten if caught

Girls' Education

• Began schooling around age 7

• Only city-state that allowed girls to go to school

• Learned poetry, history, reading, writing, music, art, fighting, wrestling, and gymnastics

• Expected to be physically fit

• Needed to be able to defend Sparta and themselves

Girls' Education

• Practiced sports

• Running, Wrestling, Discus, and Javelin Throwing (they could even compete in the Olympics!)

• At 18, girls took citizenship test, mix of physical and mental testing

• If she failed, she would not become a citizen and would be a Períoikoi (non-citizen, middle class)

• 
  

Open Ended

What did Spartans consider to be the purpose of education?

Family & Military Service

• Sparta > Family

• Men could marry at 20, had to live in barracks until 30

• Had to sneak away to see their wives, punished if caught

• After age 30, still had to eat with their army unit instead of family

• Military service lasted until age 60

Multiple Choice

At what age were Spartan men allowed to retire from the military?

• 20

• 40

• 60

• 80

Multiple Choice

The ideal Spartan believed that ________.

• family came before Sparta
• Sparta came before family
• business came before Sparta
• none of these

Women in Sparta

• Did not fight in the military but had more political rights than Athenian women

• Could own land

• Encouraged to take part in footraces and other sports

• Believed strong, healthy women are more likely to give birth to strong, healthy babies

• Expected to raise their sons to become warriors

Multiple Choice

Spartan women __________________

• had more freedoms than other Greek women.
• could own property
•  were healthy and strong
• all of these

Why the emphasis on military?

• Protection against foreign enemies

• Believed a "wall of men" would protect Sparta better than a wall of bricks

• Helots outnumbered Spartans 20:1

• Helots = enslaved people

• First helots were captured during war

Life of Helots

• Tied to the land, could not be bought and sold

• Life in Sparta was much worse than life of an enslaved person in Athens

• Spartans treated Helots roughly

• Helots sometimes revolted

• Some accounts exist of Helots owning property and fighting alongside Spartans in battle

Multiple Choice

Who were the helots?

• nobles who ran the country

• slaves who worked the land

• merchants or artisans who lived in the villages

• soldiers who protected the city-state

Benefit of Spartan Training

• Citizens were patriotic, disciplined, and tough

• Valued equality between Spartan citizens

• Men taught to care more about the well-being of the state than about their own person well-being

• Willing to defend their polis to the death

• 
  

Government

• Oligarchy with a mix of monarchy, aristocracy, and very limited democracy

• Two Kings - supposed to prevent each other from becoming corrupt tyrants

• Kings in charge of the military

• Shared power with Ephors - 5 men who served Sparta for 1 year

• Aristocratic Council of Elders and an Assembly helped govern Sparta

Multiple Choice

Sparta had a/an

• democracy
• monarchy
• oligarchy
• tyrant

Spartan Assembly

• Citizens in the Assembly could not debate, just approve or disapprove a proposal

• Voting down by a mixture of a show of hands (approve) and shouting (disapprove)

• Assembly could vote in elections; would shout for who they wanted to elect. Loudest shouts won.

• 
  

• 
  

Spartan Assembly

• Citizens could not debate, just approve or disapprove a proposal

• Spartans did not trust Athenian democracy and believed Spartan way of life was superior

• 
  

• 
  

• 
  

Open Ended

How was Sparta's Assembly different from the one in Athens?

Let's compare Sparta to Athens

• Impact of location

• Fighting style

• Culture

• 
  

Impact of Location

• Sparta is landlocked, which made it isolated (Athens is 4 miles from the sea)

• Did not want visitors - preserve their traditional way & highly ordered society

• Used iron bars instead of silver and gold coins to avoid attracting foreign merchants

• Very small navy but their army was the best in Greece

• 
  

Military

• Spartan army is known for the phalanx

• Success of the phalanx relies on constant drilling, discipline, courage, patriotism, and the idea of equality

• Athens had both a strong army and a strong navy but the navy is where they excelled

• 
  

Spartan Culture

• Less extravagant than Athenians and believed in keeping life simple

• According to Athenian writers, Spartan cooks were told not to make the food too tasty

• Only "fun" activity that the elders allowed was dancing because it helped improve a soldier's footwork

• Athens focused on rhetoric and public speaking; Spartans were known for avoiding long speeches and being very concise

• Athens focused on producing literature and art; Spartans believed that too much attention to "things of the mind" might make them soft

Open Ended

Chapter 3 Big Question:

Why were Spartan children, especially boys, treated so harshly?