Ancient Sparta – Always Ready for War

Plutarch reported that as Spartan soldiers prepared for battle, their mothers would point to their shields and say, “With this, or upon this.” A soldier was expected to return victorious with his shield or be carried home dead upon it. Returning without his shield would brand him a coward and disgrace his family. The soldier was not surprised. He had been living apart from his family and training for battle since he was seven.

Training For War

Sparta was an ancient Greek polis surrounded by enemies, so Spartan citizens began preparing for war at birth. Spartan fathers presented their newborns to the elders, who decided whether the child was healthy and strong enough to be of value to Sparta. Babies who passed were returned to their families. Sickly or malformed infants were taken to a chasm at the foot of Mount Taygetus and left to die.

At age seven, boys left their homes to begin training as warriors. They lived in communal quarters, where they faced rigorous training and discipline. Spartan trainers deliberately underfed them. A boy caught stealing food was beaten, not for stealing, but for getting caught.

Spartan men lived with their military units until they were thirty. They were expected to marry and spend some time with their wives, but their primary responsibility was to Sparta. At thirty, men gained full political rights and could live at home, though they remained soldiers and could be called to fight until they were sixty.

Spartan Women

Both men and women in Sparta competed in athletic contests to remain physically fit. Spartan girls trained because Spartans believed that strong women would bear strong children. With men constantly training for war, Spartan women managed households, farms, and estates. By the fourth century BCE, women owned more than a third of Spartan land.

The Greek letter lambda on a Spartan shield stood for Lacedaemon, another name for Sparta. A hoplite’s large round shield protected both the soldier and the man beside him, making it a symbol of Sparta’s disciplined approach to war.

A common story described a Spartan mother who killed her son for running away from his military duties. Whether the story was true or not, Spartan women were remembered for being stoic. A stoic person can endure pain or hardship without showing feelings or complaining.

The Dorians

Sparta is located on the Peloponnesus, a large peninsula in southern Greece. The polis was founded sometime during the Greek Dark Age by the Dorians, a Greek-speaking people from the rugged Pindus Mountains to the north. Spartan warriors later expanded their territory across the Peloponnesus by capturing neighboring lands.

The Helots

The Spartans called the people they captured helots. They forced the helots to farm land they once owned and surrender half of every harvest to their Spartan masters. A Spartan police force spied on the helots and killed anyone suspected of being a threat. Every year, Sparta declared war on the helots, allowing Spartan warriors to kill them as part of their training.

A Closed Society

Spartan laws discouraged anything that would distract citizens from their disciplined military life. Spartan officials frequently expelled visitors from other cities, and few Spartans were allowed to travel. Spartan leaders were not interested in different ways of life and did not want to bring new ideas to their polis. Today, we use spartan as an adjective to describe someone who leads a rigorously disciplined life with few comforts or luxuries.

Sparta and Athens: Rivalry and War

Sparta vied for control of Greece with Athens. Sparta commanded the strongest army, while Athens developed the strongest navy. In 431 BCE, their rivalry erupted into the twenty-seven-year Peloponnesian War. Sparta defeated Athens, but its supremacy did not last. By the time Rome conquered Greece in 146 BCE, Sparta had long since ceased to be a great power.