Role Of The Spartan Army

The Role of the Spartazn Army

Sparta, a city in Southern Greece, was a militarist state, whose territory included all Laconia and Messenia, and was the most powerful state in Peloponnesus. Having the army to conquer and then command such a vast range of land must be put down to the high skill and tactical minds of the army. If it were not for their formidable attacking and defensive capabilities, which they had trained for so many years to perfect, Sparta would not have been the power we know it once was. Source 1 depicts a Spartan soldier travelling. It unclear what his purpose is however. The pottery has been dated to around 490bc, which is the time Sparta was becoming a true force in the world.

The Spartans were some of the bravest warriors in the world. As Source 2 states, one on one they were in the elite category of soldiers. However, when they were banded together they were the best force in all the world. Written by Xenophon, himself a warrior, albeit not for Sparta, one would surmise that this is a valid interpretation for it is not written from within the Spartan regime.

One of the biggest problems facing the Spartan army lay in the fact that each soldier was trained so well that the Spartan army practically consisted only of trained men, leaving them without a commanding officer. Yet, the average soldier was so well drilled and trained that he knew as much about warfare as an officer would have. Such an organisation does not always give the best results on the battlefield. An example of this is the Battle of Plataea (479 B.C.) where the Spartan commander refused to follow the order of the Spartan king, Pausanias, to retreat. At the Battle of Mantineia (362 B.C.), the ptolemarchs at the right wing ignored the orders of the king, as they wanted to win the battle in their own way.

Essentially, a normal Spartan was a warrior, trained to obey and endure. At the age of twenty, the Spartan began his military service and his membership in one of the syssitia (dining messes or clubs), of which every citizen was required to be a member. The Spartan exercised the full rights and duties of a citizen at the age of thirty. Only native Spartans were considered full citizens, and needed to undergo the training as prescribed by law, and participation in and contribution to one of the dining-clubs. Those who fulfilled these conditions were considered peers, citizens in the fullest sense of the word, while those who failed were called lesser men, and retained only the civil rights of citizenship.

The Control of the Helots

Helots were basically the slaves of the Spartan community. The did not have freedom or any political rights. Helots were assigned to citizens to carry out domestic work or work an allotted portion of land (kleros). The absence of a formal census prevents us from accurately assessing their number, though some estimates are possible. According to Herodotus, the Helots were seven times as numerous as the Spartans during the Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE. Spartans declared war on the helots each year to justify keeping them in subjection and many, particularly those acting with suspicious independence, were killed, so as to reduce the risk of a revolt and to show just how much control they had over their lesser counterpart.

In Source 3, Thucydides alludes to how the Spartans at one stage massacred approximately two thousand helots. They asked the Helot population to nominate two thousand of themselves who they believe deserved freedom for their work. This was done they paraded around the streets of Sparta. However, soon after this most of them vanished. Again, one could perceive this as being a way of ridding the city of the most influential Helot's as a means of diminishing their rank in society.

Military significance.

Helots could also act as servants to Spartan soldiers during times of war. When necessary the Spartans raised whole armies of Helots who acted as light-armed soldiers. Surprisingly, the Helots did not desert the Spartans in battle and many were some of the Spartans best warriors. Distinguished military service could mean freedom