What do we know about Sparta? As a rule, our knowledge about this ancient Greek state is limited to two or three paragraphs of the school history textbook, the content of the film "300 Spartans" and some definitions of the poverty of life ("Spartan setting") and strength of character ("brave as a Spartan").
Who is who
Getting acquainted with the history of Sparta (another name is Lacedaemon), its way of life and morals are somewhat closer, we inevitably come across such definitions as "soulless", "soldaphone" and "thoroughly militarized." Not to mention the opposition of Sparta to other city-states of Ancient Greece - primarily, of course, Athens.
Oh, Athens - the city of Socrates and Plato, Pericles and Phidias, golden-domed and white marble, a miracle of art and architecture! A city where all important decisions are made by voting of citizens on the Areopagus, and in the squares, in the shade of palm trees and sycamore trees, gray-bearded sages in snow-white tunics teach the philosophy of youngsters who have frozen with enthusiastic attention …
However, not all so simple. And the Athenian democracy, which executed Socrates for disrespect to the gods, was not so "white and fluffy", and "soulless" Sparta, it turns out, had certain advantages.
Community of equals
The uniqueness of Sparta as a state was primarily in the fact that there were no civil strife and strife. Absolutely.
In Sparta, there were neither rich nor poor. The Spartans generally called themselves a community of equals. It must be that in order for the spirit of equality not to be perniciously influenced from outside, citizens were not allowed to leave the country, and foreigners, with rare exceptions, were not allowed to come and live in Sparta. Even foreign merchants were not allowed into Lacedaemon. The Spartans produced everything necessary for life themselves.
The laws of the community of equals were drawn up by Lycurgus in the 9th century BC. The structure of the community was extremely simple: full citizens who were engaged almost exclusively in military affairs, slaves - peasants (helots) and free, but not having civil rights - artisans - perieks.
Lycurgus began by dividing the entire land into roughly equal sections.
Each free Spartan family received its own piece of fertile land, but without the right to sell or donate it. The helots were engaged in the cultivation of this land, and the perieks were engaged in the manufacture of the necessary products. These classes were not only not recommended for full-fledged citizens, but downright prohibited.
Lycurgus banned the circulation of gold and silver coins, which were used by the inhabitants of other Greek states, and introduced iron money into circulation. They were so heavy that even a small purchase required a wagon. Of course, you could only pay for what was produced in Sparta itself.
Edgar Degas. & quot; Young Spartans. & quot; 1861 year.
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The Perieks had the right to make only the simplest clothes, dishes, weapons and household items. Everyone in Sparta - from the kings (there were usually two of them: one fought, the other stayed in the capital) to an ordinary citizen - had to live in the same living conditions. The laws prescribed the cut, style and color of clothing for men and women, even the purchase of food, their composition, quantity and quality were regulated.
Naturally, in such conditions, the pursuit of profit, so popular in other countries, lost all meaning.
Something about parenting
The full citizens of Sparta were free, but at the same time they did not believe that they belonged to themselves. Their main occupation was the art of war, in which they achieved excellence, as well as the fulfillment of public duties. And if they did not train with weapons in their hands and did not carry out state orders, then they either raised and taught their children, or learned themselves from the venerable old men covered with battle scars.
Raising children was considered one of the main social duties of a citizen in Sparta. The Spartan, who had three children, was exempt from guard duty, and the father of five was exempted from all government duties.
By the way, the well-known story that the Spartans threw physically weak newborn babies off a cliff into the abyss is nothing more than a myth. Archaeological excavations in the vicinity of the Apofeta cleft (which in Greek means "place of refusal") indicate that people were sometimes thrown off the cliff, but adult men (criminals and prisoners of war), and never children.
But in the stories about the harsh Spartan upbringing of boys and young men, there really is a lot of truth. Spartan girls and girls were also taught to "healthy lifestyles", but it all came down to sports. The young Spartans learned the art of weaponry and combat only of their own free will.
Obedient, hardy, patient, laconic …
Such was the image of the ideal soldier in those days. And Sparta achieved the most outstanding successes on this path.
From the age of seven, boys were taken from their parents and brought up in special detachments (agelah). They were taught to read, count and write, accustomed to prolonged silence; and if it was necessary to speak, it was short and to the point, that is, laconic (from Laconia - the area in which Sparta was). Of course, most of the time was devoted to physical exercise and the use of various weapons.
Luigi Mussini. A Spartan Boy Observes the Consequences of Excessive Alcohol Use. 1850
The boys slept on straw mats, washed with warm water only a few times a year. Since they were given only one short tunic for a year, they often went naked. They fed the future soldiers meagerly, encouraging the production of food by theft. But if one of the children was caught, they beat them mercilessly - not for theft, but for being caught.
Educators often encouraged quarrels and fights between boys, observing which helped them identify the strongest, dexterous and cunning. As a reward, the winners were allowed crypts - raids on the villages of helots with robberies and even the murder of the latter.
Before returning home at the age of 16, the young men faced the last, most severe test. At the altar of the goddess Artemis (the goddess of the moon and the hunt, a very warlike, not to say cruel, person), the priests tied the young man over the sacrificial bowl and beat him with whips made of cowhide. The future warrior had to endure this torture in silence until his blood began to drip into the sacrificial bowl. Only after going through this test, the young man became a full-fledged member of the Spartan society and acquired all the rights of a free citizen.
Beginning of the End
According to the prophecy of the Delphic oracle, Sparta could maintain its state integrity and remain invincible in wars as long as the laws of Lycurgus were strictly observed in it. This was the case for several hundred years: the Spartan soldiers were considered the best in the entire ancient world, and the Greek city-states surrounding Sparta looked in her direction with respectful fear. But after the victory over Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), the Spartan soldiers returned to their homeland with rich trophies. The modest and unpretentious Spartans in their purses rang silver and gold, they got bored of eating coarse food from simple pottery, and their wives - to walk in linen peplos without any decorations.
Hoplite marble statue. 5th century BC Archaeological Museum of Sparta, Greece.
Thus, the laws of Lycurgus were violated. Sparta gradually fell into decay, disappeared into nowhere, its inimitable warlike spirit dissolved. And if, according to old memory, both Philip the Macedonian and his son Alexander still bypassed Sparta, then the Romans in the II century BC no longer began to stand on ceremony, but took it together with the rest of Greece under their protectorate.
Thus ended the history of this amazing country, which at one time was a symbol of military skill, stern valor and courage. At the same time, according to the unanimous opinion of historians, Sparta did not make any contribution to the development of world culture - and this is in the ancient world, where, according to figurative expression, every second person we met on the street turned out to be either a poet or a philosopher.
And this is the "ideal state system", in the words of Lycurgus, so respected by Plutarch? “A state degenerated into a soulless tyranny of its subjects,” according to Aristotle? In general, modern researchers of Sparta still have work to do.
Source: "Secrets of the XX century"