Education, Austerity, money, piety in sparta, economy Flashcards
3 examples of the education of women in Sparta
® Lykourgos gave girls a tough, physical education “so that the products of their wombs should have a really strong start” [Plutarch, Life of Lykourgos, 14]
® “such rippling muscles” [Aristophanes, Lysistrata]
® “There were enough female slaves to produce clothing” [Xenophon, Lac Pol, 1]
4 examples of education used to perpetuate traditional spartan values
® “For it is a noble thing for a man to fall in the front line” [Tyrtaeus 10]
® Girls would watch boys compete and praise or mock them to encourage them to do better [Plutarch, Life of Lykourgos, 14]
® Artemis Orthia ceremony used to instill bravery and athleticism [Xenophon and Plutarch but in the day of Plutarch it is extreme]
® The 3 Hippagretai each pick 100 boys to join their gang and this is a source of competition [Xenophon, Lac Pol, 4]
2 examples of education for obedience
® “running rather than walking in answer to a summons” [Xenophon, Lac. Pol, 8]
® “their education was directed towards the habit of instant obedience, endurance of pain, and military success” [Plutarch, Life of Lykourgos, 16.6]
3 examples of Spartans raising warriors through education
® “gave fathers equal authority over all children” [Xenophon, Lac. Pol, 6]
® All Spartans are like Brasidas because they’re all raised to be warriors: “Brasidas was a good man, but Sparta has many better men than he.” [Plutarch, Moralia, Sayings of Lacedaemonians]
® Lycurgus saw kids “as the common property of the state” [Plutarch, Life of Lykourgos, 15]
Education equality 3 examples
® “The law exempts boys being raised as future kings from this compulsory practice” [Plutarch, Life of Agesilaos, 1]
® Given minimal training in literacy, except maybe the king
® Mothakes have the same education as Lakedaimonians (agoge) [Phylarcos]
3 examples of humbleness taught as a value
® Only allowed to build houses using axes. [Plutarch, Life of Lykourgos, 13]
® No excessive drinking: “men of military age may not even use a torch” [Xenophon, Lac. Pol, 5]
® “decreed that they should habitually wear one garment all the year round” [Xenophon, Lac. Pol, 2]
lack of austerity making spartans corruptible 6 points
® Lykourgos “created a city without money, but individuals with a love of money” [Aristotle, Politics, Book 2]
® Modern Sparta: “leaders of the state are eager to govern foreign cities” [Xenophon, Lac. Pol, 14]
® “with the coming of money, greed and a desire for wealth developed under the influence of Lysander.” [Plutarch, Life of Lysander, 30.1]
® Gylippus tried to steal some of the money that Lysander had entrusted to him but was caught as each bag said how much it should have. [Plutarch, Life of Lysander, 16-17]
® Plutarch and Thucydides imply that Pleistoanax is bribed to retreat from Attica in 446BC.
® Plutarch says that Lysander died a poor man, this being despite his access to money, so he must have remained austere and true to Spartan teachings.
lykourgan decision that money is bad 2 points
® “Lycurgus forbade the free citizens to have anything to do with making money” [Xenophon, Lac. Pol, 7]
® The heavy coins were worthless as a currency. [Plutarch, Life of Lykourgos 9]
moneys importance to spartan values 3 points
® “there was equally no need for them to amass wealth” [Plutarch, Life of Lykourgos 24]
® “the gold and silver previously in Lakedaimon was laid up in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.” [Scholars at Dinner, 6.23-5]
® “there is not in all Greece as much gold and silver as in private hands in Lakedaimon” as although money flows in, it does not flow out [Plato, Alcibiades, 1.122d-1.123b]
2 points on public funds
® “there is no common state fund for the large-scale wars they are forced to fight” [Aristotle, Politics, Book 2]
® “we have no public funds” Archidamus [Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 1.80]
moneys influence on the corruptibility of spartans 5 points
® Lykourgos “created a city without money, but individuals with a love of money” [Aristotle, Book 2]
® Modern Sparta: “leaders of the state are eager to govern foreign cities” [Xenophon, Lac. Pol, 14]
® “with the coming of money, greed and a desire for wealth developed under the influence of Lysander.” [Plutarch, Life of Lysander, 30.1]
® Plutarch and Thucydides imply that Pleistoanax is bribed to retreat from Attica in 446BC.
® Plutarch says that Lysander died a poor man, this being despite his access to money, so he must have remained austere and true to Spartan teachings.
moneys impact on equality
® “there was equally no need for them to amass wealth” [Plutarch, Life of Lykourgos 24]
3 points on kings gaining power from religion
® “two priesthoods, of Zeus Lacedaemon ad of Zeus Uranius” [Herodotus, Histories, 6.56]
® “to them belong the hides of all animals offered in sacrifice” [Herodotus, Histories, 6.57]
® Kings appoint the Pythians who get prophecies from Delphi [Herodotus, Histories, Book 6]
piety as an influence on spartan actions 2 points
® After voting for war in 432, they send to Delphi to ask if the God thinks they ought to go to war, and when they get told yes this is used as justification for the war [Thucydides]
® Herodotus also tells us the Carneia stops them joining in with the Battle of Marathon (although perhaps it was a helot revolt).
influence of religion on political constitution
® Lykourgos went to Delphi to check if his rules and laws would benefit Sparta to make it “not merely illegal but sacrilegious” to disobey these laws. [Xenophon]
importance of perikoi to the economy 3 points
® About Spartans: “banned their involvement in any manual craft” [Plutarch, Life of Lykourgos, 24]
® “Lycurgus forbade the free citizens to have anything to do with making money” [Xenophon, Lac. Pol, 7]
® “only activities that contributed to the freedom of the state were to be regarded as permissible occupations” [Plutarch, Life of Lykourgos, 22]
importance of helots to the economy
® Helots had to give Spartans half of their produce [Tyrtaeus, Fragments] This wasn’t all that bad considering the River Eurotas floods twice per year.
public moneys effect on the economy 2 points
® “there is no common state fund for the large-scale wars they are forced to fight” [Aristotle, Book 2]
® “we have no public funds” [Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, 1.80]
