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CLST 2100 Ancient Greece and Rome > Sparta > Flashcards

Sparta Flashcards

1
Q

A young man of 18-20 years undergoing military training

A

Ephebe

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2
Q
  • Magistrates called “overseers”
  • Supervised kings and shared some of the kings’ powers
  • A council of 5 Spartan men elected annually
  • Total control over education of the young and enforced the iron discipline of Sparta
  • In charge of krypteia
A

Ephor

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3
Q
  • The Council of Gerontes (Elders)
  • Composed of 28 men over the age of 60
  • Highest honor to which a Spartan could aspire
  • Served as a criminal court for cases of homicide, treason, and other serious offences that carried the penalty of disenfranchisment, exile, or death
A

Gerousia

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4
Q
  • When a Spartan boy was given their share of land, they also came with ____
  • Bound to the land and obliged to work for their Spartan masters
  • Belonged to the state, not individuals like other parts of Greece
  • Lived in stable family groups on a farm assigned to them and couldn’t be sold abroad
  • Crucial part of the Spartan system
A

Helots

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5
Q
  • Peers or men of equal status
  • What Spartans referred to themselves as
A

Homoioi

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6
Q

A plot of agricultural land granted to a male citizen in ancient Greece

A

kleros

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7
Q

Secret police force designed to control helots

A

krypteia

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8
Q

Refers to both the city-state of Sparta and its surrounding territory (Laconia)

A

Lacedaemon

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9
Q

The geographical region in the southeastern Peloponnese peninsula, Greece
Encompasses the territory that includes the city of Sparta as well as other towns and villages

A

Laconia

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10
Q
  • A shadowy figure who may or may not really have lived
  • The lawgiver who founded most of the institutions of ancient Sparta
  • Helped the Spartans become well-governed people
  • Spartans of his day claimed that his reforms were inspired by the institutions of Crete
    -Writers point out that the Greeks tended to discuss the origins of political and social institutions in terms of the personal intentions of a single founder
A

Lycurgus

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11
Q
  • A region in southwestern Peloponnese, Greece
  • Spartans also greatly desired its fertile lowlands and invaded in
  • Started a war that lasted about 20 years
A

Messenia

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12
Q
  • A policy of alliance in which Sparta was the leader
  • The League consisted of all the states in the Peloponnesus except Argos and Achaea, as well as Thebes
  • Purpose was mutual protection
  • Each state pledged to contribute forces in case of war and swore an oath “to have the same friends and enemies, and to follow the Spartans wherever they lead.”
  • No tribute was paid except in wartime
A

Peloponnesian League

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13
Q
  • “Those who dwell around Sparta” or “neighbours”
  • Free but effectively controlled non-Spartan peoples of Laconia
  • Obligated to serve the army but not permitted to participate in government
  • Enjoyed some local autonomy, but in many ways lived like the majority of Greeks who weren’t Spartans, working as homemakers, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants
  • An essential part of the Spartan economic system
A

periocei

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14
Q

A member of the dominant race of ancient Laconia: a spartan

A

Spartiate

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15
Q
  • Dining groups or mess
  • Essential stage in becoming an adult
  • Spartan men at their meals with 15 members of their army group, this helped foster loyalty and cooperativeness essential to successful hoplite warfare
A

Syssition

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16
Q
  • A greek poet and musician of Lesbos
  • Famous as a singer and used a kithara
  • Credited with important developments in music for kithara
A

Terpander

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17
Q
  • A Greek historian and philosopher whose numerous surviving works are valuable for their depiction of late Classical Greece
A

Xenophon

18
Q

A city-state (polis) located within Laconia
Known for its military-oriented society and unique social structure
Famous for its disciplined army, rigorous education and training regimen for male citizens, and its dual kingship system

A

Sparta

19
Q
  • Drinking parties
  • Spartans had something similar but were taught to drink in moderation
  • Helots were forced to drink undiluted wine and ridiculed at these parties to show young Spartans the consequences of lack of control
A

Symposia

20
Q

Harsh education system

A

Agoge

21
Q

Describe what Spartan society was like

A
  • Sparta was the most powerful city in the Greek world
  • Similarities with other Greeks: their society was patriarchal and polytheistic, resting in large part on servile labour; their economy was based on agriculture, and revered both law and marital valor
  • Spartan regime touched on almost every aspect of life: how to wear one’s hair, the choice of whether and when to marry, the conditions of conjugal intercourse, and the decision of whether to rear a child
22
Q

What was Spartan education like for young boys?

A
  • All children recieved the same education under state supervision
  • Emphasis in boys’ education was not reading or writing but rather on providing them skills to endure hardships and fend for themselves
  • For example: to toughen boys up, they would make them walk around barefoot and wore one tunic all year round
    > Spartans were at war with helots all the time, so they needed to be ready
23
Q

How was it decided that a baby boy was to be raised or abandoned?

A
  • Making invincible warriors started at birth, the state examined newborns to determine their viability, this could determined whether they were raised or abandoned
24
Q

What were the conseqences for boys who were considered “cowards” and could not handle the Spartan military regime?

A
  • Because marital valor offered the sole path to honor and respect from one’s peers, life was wretched for boys who were unable to cope with rigors of military life
  • Cowards called “tremblers” that were publicly humiliated and hated by their own kinsmen
    → couldn’t hold public office, no one would marry them or their sisters (consequence = their family would die out)
25
Q

What was life like for girls and women in Sparta?

A
  • Girls raised to bear loyal, reliable, soldiers-to-be
  • The only Greek women whose upbringing prescribed by the state and who were educated at state expense
  • Exercised outside, well nourished and drank wine a lot
  • Only social obligation was childbearing
  • Knew how to weave like all Greek women but were free from any other form of domestic behaviour
26
Q

Why was exercise encouraged for Spartan women?

A
  • So they would give birth to strong boys and the women themselves have the strength to bear pregnancies
  • To strengthen them for childbirth
  • Women would also run, wrestle, and throw the discus and javelin
27
Q

Benefits of a Spartan couple having a lot of distance

A
  • An exercise in self-control and moderation
  • Ensured partners were fertile physically, always fresh for love, and ready for intercourse
  • Lingering spark of desire and affection remained in both
28
Q

“They used to marry by capture, not when the women were small or immature, but when they were in their prime and fully ripe for it…”
- Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus

A
  • Describes how Spartans waited till girls were a little older to bear children
  • Compared to the Greeks who had their young girls married off super early
29
Q

What was homosexuality like in Sparta?

A
  • Origins of same-sex relationships lay in the education system
  • Evident in life as a whole, not just education (normal part of life)
  • It was considered educational for both men and women as long as physical attraction wasn’t the main reason for the relationship
  • Believed that the teacher would work harder to educate their student (teenager) and was a role model for them
  • Ulitmately provided companionship, sexual pleasure, and sense of spiritual well-being
30
Q

Unlike other Greek states, Sparat was limited in its population growth from the very beginning by its lack of ____ and _______.

A

Trade and colonization

31
Q

What were some of the factors that decreased Sparta’s population?

A
  • Institutionalized infanticide
  • Soldiers had to give up their life instead of surrendering (looked down upon)
  • Opportunities for conjugal (marital) intercourse were limited
    → husbands were always absent while off at war or sleeping with their army groups when wives were in their peak childbearing years
    → both sexes engaged in homosexual, non procreative sex
    → some women did not want children (maternity came with a lot of risks and were considered equal to those soldiers faced on the battlefield)
  • Natural disasters and economic problems
32
Q

Describe what the Spartan economic system was like

A
  • Economic system was designed to enable citizens to devote all their time and energy to the defense and welfare of the polis
  • State measured everything they needed by a standard of austerity, not luxury
  • Only the Spartans used iron money which had no value beyond the boundaries of
  • The idea of economic status (men called themselves “Men of Equal Status”)
  • Differential wealth in determining status and power was way smaller in Sparta than in other Greek poleis
33
Q

What was Spartan government like?

A
  • Government consisted of monarchial, oligarchical, and democratic elements (Aristotle called this a mixed constitution)
  • Did not want to let go of traditional institutions like monarchy and the council of elders, while other Greek poleis had either gotten rid of or changed the responsibilities of these institutions and had decreased the importance of hereditary power in government
34
Q

Dual kingship in Sparta

A
  • Executive office in Sparta was divided between 2 families, with 2 hereditary kings (basileis) serving as the head of government
  • Cooperative and competitive with one another and were equal in authority
  • One served as commander-in-chief of armed forces
  • The other supervised domestic matters at home and took charge if his co-king was killed in action
35
Q

Assembly in Sparta

A
  • The assembly was the most democratic organ of Spartan government, because it included all male citizens
  • Unlike Athenian assembly, Spartans didn’t debate
  • Citizens listened to a proposal made by the gerousia and simply voted to accept it or reject it, without discussion
  • Spartans were trained to obey and conform, no taking sides in public debate
36
Q

How did Spartan women achieve financial independence?

A
  • Women were probably excluded from distribution of kleroi, but they owned a larger portion of the state’s private land than did women in any other Greek city
  • Land came into women’s possession through dowry and inheritance
  • A woman could inherit all her father’s land, and many women became extremely wealthy because of this
  • Women owned two-fifths of the land if Sparta (Aristotle’s statement)
37
Q

Spartans always had a lack of men due to …

A
  • war
  • mercenary service
  • failed to meet the census requirements for full citizenship
  • Male infanticide was systematically practiced
38
Q
  • Admiration writers felt for Spartan society led them to exaggerate its monolithic nature, minimizing departures from ideals of equality and obscuring patterns of historical change
  • Critics of Western capitalist society idealized Spartans as a highly virtuous, patriotic people produced by a stable non capitalistic society
A

The Spartan mirage

39
Q

What was one of the biggest changes in Sparta?

A
  • Old system: after a man died, his kleros was given back to the state and allocated to another Spartan baby
  • New system: a man could give his kleros and his house to anyone he wished or left them by testament (like in a will)
40
Q

What was the result of the new changes in land tenure?

A
  • Less economic equality
  • Great wealth in the hands of minority
  • Creation of the poorer class
41
Q

A soldier-citizen

A

Hoplite

CLST 2100 Ancient Greece and Rome (5 decks)

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