Sparta and the House of Hercules

Other pages dealing with the history of Sparta
Spartan Sayings.
Sparta's and Athens' population
Sparta and the way of the wolf

A brief history:

By about 2000 B.C. people from mainland Greece had spread into the Peloponnese, with Mycenae occupying a particularly powerful position, controlling the land route to central Greece through the Isthmus of Corinth. Homer confirms its importance, when in his poem he says that Mycenae is the stronghold of the High Kings of all the Greeks, and the site has in fact yielded the richest finds to the archaeologist; as a result, the entire early Greek culture from about 1600 B.C. has been labeled 'Mycenaean'.

Ultimately, the Dorians (who were allowed to migrate to Greece being accepted as being people of the offspring of the son of Hercules - thus Spartans connection with Hercules) of mainland Greece invaded and are credited with orchestrating the downfall of the Mycenaean Empire, they invaded in waves at about 1100 B.C. A branch pushed south down the Eurotas valley to found their capital, thus was Sparta born.

How the Polis of Lakedaimon came to be, and how it had two basileus or in English, kings.
Originally the Dorians who came from the north settled mostly in the Vale of Sparta, near the former Mycenaean site of Therapne. These newcomers settled in two sets of villages consisting of Pitana and Mesoa, who are thought to have settled here first. Later, some other Dorians settled nearby at Limnai & Kynosoura. The first group of two villages seem to have been ruled by a clan called the Agiadai and the later two by a clan called the Eurypontidai. After an early period of internal conflicts these four villages united or synoecised into one of the earliest Polis, each of the two groups retaining their own archagetai or king. This occurred c800 B.C. After some time, Amyklai, a village some 7 kilometers south was incorporated into the 5th constituent village of the Polis of Lakedaimonia. It appears that at first there was a clan called the Aegiadai from the Amyklai area who was attempting to be recognized as a third king, but it never came about, and so Sparta remained 5 villages/komai/obai with 2 kings till almost the end of her history.

Thus after an expansion, ultimately the whole of Lakonic was taken. This brought them into conflict with the city of Argos, whose territory had included the whole of the eastern coast of the Peloponnese.

Sparta had been described as "the very worst governed people in Greece" . Both internally and in foreigner matters, to which they kept entirely aloof. A Spartan named Lycurgus (not the Athenian one) made his way to the Oracle of Delphi, as he was looking for holy approval to the plan being regarded about how Sparta should be governed.

The favorable response that the oracle gave him {O06} would put in place harsh new laws and remodel the power struggle of the region and Greece itself.

Illustration : The 'Lamda' on the Spartan's shield stands for the state that Sparta is in; not Leonidas, as some have tried to convince us. It was probably popularly used during the second half of the Peloponnesian War.

Sparta was in the grips of constant war with Tegea to the East, which had ravaged their countryside, and Messenia to the West, who outnumbered them many times over (15:1 per G.B. Grundy), but being predominately farmers never threatened them at home.

 

Lycurgus had the foresight, the divine right and being the guardian of his nephew King Labotas, the means to put in place radical new plans to make Sparta a threat to Greek supremacy against those arrogant Athenians.

See..Who was Lycurgus

It didn't take long for an expanding Sparta to come to a head with Messina to the west. After a grueling campaign( see The First Messenian war) a truce was called; but before long another war broke out (see The Second Messenian War); before ultimately Sparta turned all the Messenians into helots; whose sole purpose was to work the land so that they could feed Sparta, and they in turn could concentrate on issues of war.

Artifact: Pottery finds from Sparta are rare, this drinking bowl is one of the few found well preserved. It shows a column of Spartans carrying their dead home. Notice how long their hair is, though not falling in front of their face. Notice the prominent eyes, the gaze look we think is a show of the 'expectations' of the city-state, what the citizens expected from their army and what the army expected from them (as an example think of your father giving you a 'stare' and you understand exactly what he means or wants). It has been dated to the mid-6 Century B.C. and now resides in the Altes Museum in Berlin Germany.

 

The City  

The layout of the ancient city of Sparta is not known, and historians have placed a few congections as to its make up, using what is known of it.

Sparta was made by a synoceism of smaller villages to create a polis that would eventually be known as Sparta. Pausanias has a description of Sparta of Roman times after it had been walled and many buildings had been added, but we can use this as a guide to try to understand what Sparta might have looked like in earlier times.

Originally, four villages, Pitana, Mesoa, Limnai and Kynosoura were grouped together in order to form the original polis of Lakedaimon. Amyklai, a fifth village about 7 kilometers south of the other four was later incorporated into the polis. Sparta had an acropolis, not as high as Corinth, Argos or Athens, but upon it there was a temple to Athena called of the Bronze House because of the Bronze plaques of mythological scenes used to line the interior in the 6th C. There was a large building called the Skias, possibly of it's resemblance to a circular tent, they had an agora just south of the acropolis with offices for the Ephors and
other government officials. East of the acropolis near the Eurotas River was the compound of Artemis Orthia with a temple and altar since the 8th C. Across the river and slightly south of the main city upon the bluffs overlooking the city was the Menelaion with a pyramid shaped temple to Helen and Menelaos. Sparta was like any other Greek city, excepting Athens, with stone temples and public buildings, an acropolis and agora, her private family dwellings were most probably of dried mud-brick with red tile roofs, and more sprawled out than would have been the case in other cities. The streets would have meandered without planning, although three large avenues are known by name, one of which the Hyakinthine Way led south from the main part of Sparta town south towards Amyklai, and along which lay the syssitia, or public messes, each of which would have had facilities for its unmarried members to sleep, the so-called dormitories or barracks.

The Government

The government in Sparta was like no other in ancient Greece, it had two kings, 28 council members who with the 2 kings were responsible for interpretations of the law. And 5 ephors who's main responsibility was to judge the rule of the 2 kings. The Spartan assembly consisted simply of all Spartinites who were adult male, full-blooded Spartans.

The Government - Gerousia

Lykourgos chose the original twenty-eight elders of the Gerousia including the 2 kings made up the 'Council of Elders'. Each subsequent elder of the Gerousia had to be aged over 60 and was "elected" for life. The choice of possible elders, however, remained quite limited. Only men coming from a select few noble families qualified. The Gerousia was primarily a lawcourt for "important cases," but it could also reject "crooked decisions" of the assembly. The assembly had the authority to make proposals in the Gerousia and to decide matters brought before it. The major decisions it could render, however, remained scant and few (the Spartans also appear to have had a "small assembly" that could meet for crises). On the other hand, it (not the Kings) decided war or peace (perhaps the most important decision of all), and it could appoint field commanders if an army was called-up by the Ephors.

The Government - Kings

The Kings of Sparta ran hereditary and were limited to being commanders of the army and religious "heads of state" (lit. priests of Zeus). They could, however, assemble and march an army on their own authority. Each line of kings had their own hereditary line these were the Agiads and the Eurypontids.

The Government - Ephors

The Ephors appear to have been chosen by lot, not elected by vote. The Ephors convened the Gerousia and could call an assembly. They also possessed judicial powers: they could bring a King to trial and had considerable authority to direct punishments. They also oversaw the agoge, the schooling of Spartan from the age of 7.

The Kings of Sparta

						Herakles Hyllos Kleodaios Aristomachos
						Eurysthenes 1st, ? -930bc		Prokles 1st, ?-930bc
				Agiads		Agis I 2nd, 930bc-900bc Echostratos 3rd, 900bc-870bc Labotas 4th,870bc-840bc Doryssos 5th, 840bc-820bc Agesilaos I 6th, 820bc-790bc Archelaos 7th, 790bc-760bc Teleklos 8th, 760bc-740bc Alkamenes 9th, 740bc-700bc Polydoros 10th, 700bc-665bc		Soos, 2nd, ?-890bc Euryphon 3rd, 890bc-860bc Prytanis 4th, 860bc-830bc Polydektes 5th, 830bc-800bc Eunomos 6th, 800bc-780bc Charillos 7th, 780bc-750bc Nikandros 8th, 750bc-720bc Theopompos 9th, 720bc-675bc Anaxandridas I 10th, 675bc-645bc Archidamos		Eurypontids
						Eurykrates 11th, 665bc-640bc Anaxandros 12th, 640bc-615bc Eurykratides 13th, 615bc-590bc Leo or Lindius 14th, 590bc-560bc		Zeuxidamos 11th, 645bc-625bc Anaxidamos 12th,625bc-600bc Archidamos 13th, 600bc-575bc Agasikles 14th, 575bc-550bc		Anaxilas Leotychides Hippocratides Agesilaos
						Anaxandridas II 15th, 560bc-520bc		Ariston 15th, 550bc-515bc		Menares
Kleomenes I 16th, 520bc-489bc		Dorieus		Leonidas I 17th, 490bc - 480bc Killed in the Battle of Thermopylae		Kleombrotos		Demaratos 16th, 515bc-491bc (deposed)		Leotichydas 17th, 491bc-469bc
				Pleistarchos 18th, 480bc-458bc		Pausanias Regent for Pleistrachos				Zeuxidamos
						Pleistoanax 19th, 458bc-444bc				Archidamos II 18th, 469bc-427bc
						Pausanias 20th, 444bc-394bc		Agis II 19th, 427bc-398bc		Agesilaos II 20th, 398bc-361bc
		Agesipolis I 21st, 394bc-380bc		Kleombrotos I 22nd, 380bc-371bc						Archidamos III 21st,361bc-338bc
		Agesipolis II 23rd, 371bc-369bc		Kleomenes II 24th, 369bc-309bc				Agis III 22nd, 338bc-331bc		Eudamidas I 23rd, 331bc-300bc
Akrotatos		Kleonymos								Archidamos IV 24th, 300bc-275bc
Areus I 25th 309bc-264bc		Leonidas II 28th, 254bc-235bc								Eudamidas II 25th 275bc-245bc
Akrotatos 26th, 264bc-262bc		Kleomenes III 29th, 235bc-221bc		Eukleidas 29th, Eurypontid King 227bc-221bc		Chilonis m. Kleombrotos II (242-1)		Agis IV 26th 245bc-241bc		Archidamos V 28th, 228bc-227bc
Areus II 27th, 262bc-254bc								Eudamidas III 27th 241bc-228bc

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