What was the spartan lifestyle like?
The Spartan people believed that military strength and self-discipline were necessary to maintain order and control in society. The Spartan lifestyle was unlike any other in Greece. All focus was on military service to the state. The lifestyle was very basic, with only necessities provided.
What was Sparta known for?
Sparta was a warrior society in ancient Greece that reached the height of its power after defeating rival city-state Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.).
What were Spartan males allowed to do?
Male Spartan citizens were allowed only one occupation: soldier. Indoctrination into this lifestyle began early. Spartan boys started their military training at age 7, when they left home and entered the Agoge. The boys lived communally under austere conditions.
How did the Spartans fight in ancient Greece?
The Spartans’ constant military drilling and discipline made them skilled at the ancient Greek style of fighting in a phalanx formation. In the phalanx, the army worked as a unit in a close, deep formation, and made coordinated mass maneuvers. No one soldier was considered superior to another.
What did the Spartans focus on?
Spartan culture was centered on loyalty to the state and military service. Spartan boys entered a rigorous state-sponsored education, military training and socialization program. Known as the Agoge, the system emphasized duty, discipline and endurance.
What did Spartans value most?
The Spartans valued discipline, obedience, and courage above all else. Spartan men learned these values at an early age, when they were trained to be soldiers.
What made Sparta so successful?
Sparta's entire culture centered on war. A lifelong dedication to military discipline, service, and precision gave this kingdom a strong advantage over other Greek civilizations, allowing Sparta to dominate Greece in the fifth century B.C.
What are 5 facts about Sparta?
10 Things You Didn't Know About SpartaThe first female Olympic victor was Spartan. ... 298, rather than 300, Spartans, died at Thermopylae. ... The Spartans enslaved an entire population, the Helots. ... Spartan hoplites probably didn't have lambdas on their shields. ... They used iron rods, rather than coins, as currency.More items...
What was Spartan culture centered on?
Spartan culture was centered on loyalty to the state and military service.
What did the Spartans say before they went to war?
The military, definitely. The Spartans lived to fight. Before the sons go off to war, the mothers would say: "Come back with your shield or on it." Meaning, "come back to me either dead or alive- but don't stay." Once the boys are old enough, the parents would send them to a special school to train for the army... that was age seven. :)
Life as a Male Spartan
Spartans looked like other people in this area of the Mediterranean coast with olive skin and dark hair. The average Spartan man was approximately 5'9" tall, taller than other Greeks of the time. He was in excellent shape physically due to a lifetime of athletic and military training.
Life as a Female Spartan
Because Spartan men were totally devoted to military matters, Spartan women were expected to oversee all other aspects of life. Life as a female Spartan meant a life devoted to producing and raising children (to the age of seven), running households and managing business affairs. Only strong children were raised.
Life as a Helot
By far the largest group of people in Sparta in terms of numbers were the helots. Helots were slaves, usually non-Spartan Greeks who were captured in battle or otherwise subdued by Sparta. They served as unskilled laborers, and their responsibilities ranged from domestic service in the home to farming to serving as nursemaids.
What was Sparta's focus?
Athens focused on citizenship, while Sparta focused on the military.
What were Athens and Sparta unbeatable?
Athens and Sparta were unbeatable when the two were united. Persia's distance from Greece worked to its disadvantage. Persia's leadership did not match the well-trained Greeks' leadership. Athens and Sparta were unbeatable when the two were united.
What was Persia's next target?
Athens and Sparta were Persia's next target in growing its empire.
How many Athenians fought to the death?
Three hundred Athenians famously fought to the death.
Who defeated the Persians?
The Persians defeated the Athenians and took over all of ancient Greece. The Persians conquered the Athenians but were soon stopped by the Spartans. The Athenians conquered the Persians and overthrew King Darius I. The Athenians defeated the Persians and halted an invasion by King Darius I.
Who was allowed to become a citizen?
Only men were allowed to become citizens.
What was the Spartan society divided into?
Spartan society was separated into social classes , and conquered people were not given political rights or citizenship. Even lower than the conquered population was a group called the helots. Helots were responsible for agricultural duties and other day-to-day tasks that supported the Spartans.
Why did Sparta and Athens fight?
However, in 480 B.C.E., Sparta allied with Athens, to prevent the Persian king Xerxes from invading Greece. Not long after, however, the two cities began fighting each other in the two Peloponnesian Wars (460 to 446 B.C.E. and 431 to 404 B.C.E.) and the Corinthian War (396 to 387 B.C.E.).
How did Sparta rival Athens?
Sparta grew to rival the size of the city-states Athens and Thebes by subjugating its neighboring region of Messenia. Though Sparta absorbed this population, it did not integrate the conquered people into society.
What was Sparta's military training called?
Military activity was essential to Sparta. At the age of seven, boys left home to begin training at a military academy called an agoge (a-go-je). At the academy, the boys lived communally with others in their age group. This was meant to prepare them for life in the army. Soldiers were trained as hoplites, or heavily armed foot soldiers. The Spartan army was known for its skill in on-land combat.
Why did Sparta need to be ruled by two kings?
Two kings from two different families ruled Sparta. This ensured that when one king ventured out on a military campaign the other could continue to rule the city.
When was the Peloponnese civilization founded?
loosely united civilization founded on and around the Peloponnese peninsula, lasting from about the 8th century BCE to about 200 BCE.
