Questions tagged [sparta]
Sparta was a prominent city-state located in the south-eastern Peloponnese in ancient Greece. It was known as Lacedaemon in antiquity.
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When did Athenian archers pepper Spartan hoplites with arrows for days on an island?
The heading is basically all I remember from school. The hoplites lacked mobility and were thus harassed for day by the lightly armored Athenian archers. Athenian victory.
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Why did Sparta turn on its ally Elis during the First Macedonian War?
According to Book 28, Chapter 7 of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita Libri, in 207 BC, Machanidas, the Tyrant of Sparta, suddenly moved to attack Elis while its people (the Eleans) were preparing for the Olympic ...
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Where is it recorded that Spartan common meals were followed by a recounting of noble deeds?
I'm having trouble finding a particular historical reference.
In On Manly Courage: A Study of Plato's Laches, on page 57, the author implies that Spartan common meals were followed by the recounting ...
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Did Sparta give citizenship to the helots who participated on its side in the Battle of Plataea?
What happened to the 35,000 helots that fought at Plataea?
Were they made Spartan citizens?
I just felt this might have been disruptive to Spartan society.
I've checked Wikipedia, Google.. ...
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Why did Athenian philosophers praise Spartan culture and laws, which would preclude philosophers like themselves?
Laconophilia was near universal among the important Athenian philosophers: Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and his followers - all praised Spartan culture and its laws, even after Sparta fell from glory ...
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How would a Spartan have held his shield?
I am astonished at the weight of a Spartan shield, which I have read would have weighed 30 lbs (13.5 kg). This is, of course, extremely heavy for most people.
Ergo, it raised the question for me: ...
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Did the Spartans really taunt Philip II of Macedon with a single word?
I came across this excerpt that was put up as a "joke" in an issue of the Reader's Digest:
After invading Greece, Philip II of Macedon sent a threatening message to the Spartans: "You are advised ...
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Why did the Spartans learn to read and write if they weren't allowed to keep records?
I recently watched a TED-Ed video about Spartan society in Ancient Greece. The video discusses how Spartans were forbidden to keep records. Then it goes on to describe how the Spartans learned to read ...
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Did the Persian Empire really finance both sides of the Peloponnesian war?
I thought that the Persian empire was an enemy of these states and I've read somewhere that the Spartans indeed won the Peloponnesian war with the help of the Persian empire but in an answer here it's ...
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What percent of Sparta's population were citizens in various centuries?
I've found sources saying that Sparta's population was about 3% citizens, but obviously that number fluxed over time, and given that at one point the Spartan Empire was about 80% helots, it makes me ...
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Did unmarried Spartan women have longer hair than men?
I understand that in ancient Sparta, men wore their hair long whereas married women cut theirs short. However, in the brief mentions I've read about this (such as in one answer to "When and why did ...
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Why did Helots fight alongside Spartans?
Unlike many slaves, the Helots were Greeks who outnumbered the Spartans who held mastery over them. They several times rebelled against the Spartan rulers, at last successfully.
Yet it seems that ...
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How many Spartan boys survived army training?
Spartan combat training was very rough and dangerous. What percentage of boys survived their training?
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Did anything come from Sparta, besides fitness and war?
I am telling my daughter nighttime stories, mostly from History, and recently talked about Athens and Sparta. In my tales Athenian turned out to be well-rounded people, great at many things, ranging ...
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How was the Spartan "300" battle recorded?
The famous battle of Thermopylae, when the 300 strong Spartan army lead by King Leonidas and his Athenian allies fought King Xerxes and his massive Persian army, was all recorded by a Greek scribe.
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