What was forbidden in Sparta?

Except during wars, the people were not permitted to travel. Trade was discouraged. Money was made of iron bars to make economic transactions difficult. Free expression was discouraged and the arts and philosophy that flourished in nearby city-states did not occur in Sparta.

What were Spartans forbidden from doing?

They were forbidden to possess gold and silver, and their money consisted only of iron bars. War songs were their only music, and their literary education was slight. No luxury was allowed, even in the use of words.

What was illegal in Sparta?

The Spartans had no historical records, literature, or written laws, which were, according to tradition, expressly prohibited by an ordinance of Lycurgus, excluding the Great Rhetra. Issuance of coinage was forbidden.

What was Sparta afraid of?

Owing to their own numerical inferiority, the Spartans were always preoccupied with the fear of a helot revolt.

What rules did Sparta have?

Sparta had a highly unusual system of government. Two kings ruled the city, but a 28-member 'council of elders' limited their powers. These men were recruited from the highest social class, the aristocratic Spartiates.

Why did Sparta Have Two Kings? (Short Animated Documentary)

How did Spartans treat their wives?

Women could inherit property, own land, make business transactions, and were better educated than women in ancient Greece in general. Unlike Athens, where women were considered second-class citizens, Spartan women were said to rule their men.

Was slavery allowed in Sparta?

Sparta was a powerful state in ancient Greece. As with the rest of the country, slavery was an accepted norm here.

Were there black Spartans?

By the mid-19th century, the Black Spartans numbered between 1,000 and 6,000 women, about a third of the entire Dahomey army. Under King Gezo's rule, female troops lived in his compound and were kept well supplied with tobacco, alcohol and slaves–as many as 50 to each warrior.

What was Sparta obsessed with?

Why were the Spartans so obsessed with fighting? One important reason for this obsession with fighting was the constant possibility they would need these skills at home, in Sparta itself. Sparta had once conquered and captured an entire group of people living nearby.

How cruel were the Spartans?

Spartan youths were ritualistically beaten and flogged.

One of Sparta's most brutal practices involved a so-called “contest of endurance” in which adolescents were flogged—sometimes to the death—in front of an altar at the sanctuary of Artemis Orthia.

Was homosexuality law in Sparta?

To put it bluntly, homosexuality was illegal in Sparta, but not for the reasons you'd think. The Spartans didn't have religious or cultural objections to same-sex relationships. They did not have the same negative attitudes toward homosexuality that some people in the modern world do.

Did Sparta have harsh laws?

A Spartan, Lycurgus, drafted a harsh set of laws that required total dedication to the state from its people. The laws' goal was to train citizens to become hardened soldiers so that they could fight off potential enemies or slave revolts. The result was a rigid lifestyle unlike any seen in Greece at the time.

Did Sparta betray someone?

The historical Ephialtes of Trachis, whose name is synonymous in Greek with "nightmare," was a Malian Greek who betrayed the Spartans for Persian gold, showing them a secret path in the mountains through which a contingent of archers were able to flank and ultimately destroy the Spartans.

What did girls do in Sparta?

Bearing and raising children was considered the most important role for women in Spartan society; equal to male warriors in the Spartan army. Spartan women were encouraged to produce many children, preferably male, to increase Sparta's military population. They took pride in having borne and raised brave warriors.

What did Spartans do with weak babies?

“Fit and strong” babies survived, but those found to be “lowborn or deformed” were left outside to die, Plutarch wrote, “on the grounds that it is neither better for themselves nor for the city to live [their] natural life poorly equipped.”

What was considered the biggest disgrace to a Spartan soldier?

They were of such great importance in the Spartan army that while losing a sword and a spear was an exception, to lose a shield was a sign of disgrace.

Why were Spartans so feared?

Spartan warriors known for their professionalism were the best and most feared soldiers of Greece in the fifth century B.C. Their formidable military strength and commitment to guard their land helped Sparta dominate Greece in the fifth century.

What God did Sparta believe in?

Spartan Gods

Those who held particular esteem were Apollo and Artemis Orthia. Apollo: Apollo was the god of light, music, and archery, among other things. He was beloved by Spartans because he was skilled in war. The Spartans deemed religion as such a core value that it was held above military duties.

Who finally defeated the Spartans?

Battle of Leuctra, (6 July 371 bce). Fought in Boeotia, Greece, the Battle of Leuctra made Thebes the leading military power among the Greek city-states, ending the long dominance of Sparta.

What did Spartans call their slaves?

The helots were the slaves of the Spartans. Distributed in family groups across the landholdings of Spartan citizens in Laconia and Messenia, helots performed the labour that was the bedrock on which Spartiate leisure and wealth rested.

Are there still any Spartans left?

In fact, Sparta—or at least Spartans—have continued to endure until the present day, inhabiting the wild, mountainous province of Laconia in the southern Peloponnese.

What are some dark facts about Spartans?

The Spartans enslaved an entire population, the Helots

The darkest aspect of Sparta's success was that, ultimately, it was enabled by the dehumanisation, subjugation, and enslavement of an entire people, the Helots, a population of Greeks who lived in Messenia. The Helots were, in effect, agricultural slaves.

Why did Sparta fall?

Although the Spartans were often held up as an example of military prowess and strength, they were not invincible. In fact, the Spartan state was eventually brought down by a number of factors, including internal strife, economic decline, and foreign invasion.

How did Spartans execute people?

In ancient Greece people condemned to death by the court were executed either by taking hemlock or by being thrown over a precipice or, finally, by death “on the board'. Poisoning of the condemned with hemlock was first practiced towards the end of the 5th century BC.

What were Greek slaves called?

The helots were an enslaved group living in the Spartan regions of Laconia and Messenia. Being collectively owned by the state rather than the possessions of individual masters, to what extent helots were subjugated rather than enslaved is disputed.