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Overview
• The Sparta Mirage Helots, Hoplites & Arete • An Anthropological Approach: Structural Thinking Historically with Sparta Func onalism • Context Keys for Understanding Sparta: Helots & Hoplites John Staats, Bowral High School • Cultural Key for Understanding Sparta: Homer NSWHTA Study Day & Areté (Excellence) June 2017 • Broadening our Apprecia on of Spartan Areté
The Spartan Mirage Structural- Func onalism
the distorted image of what both Spartans and non- Spartans for various and o en mutually inconsistent reasons • Structural-func onalism: social ins tu ons (structures) wanted Sparta to be, to stand for and to have accomplished. emerge because they serve func ons necessary for the (Cartledge, 2002:60) stability, cohesion and survival of a society as a whole. • Sparta has le no literary record of their own from the classical period to use to get ‘inside their heads’ • Spartan society, its parts (norms, customs, values, • Tyrtaeus & Alcman religious prac ces, economy and ins tu ons - each of • Spartan Secrecy & misinforma on the dot points in the syllabus, if you like) can be • Paucity of material culture (artefacts) understood from their role in maintain the func oning • Most of our literary sources for classical Sparta are non- of a stable cohesive system. Spartan; outsiders view; inflected with ethnocentric bias • Each aspect of Spartan society serves a purpose or • ‘THE SPARTAN ABNORMALITY’ – Cartledge func on – everything makes sense to the ra onal if • Sparta an ENIGMA and/or ‘ABNORMAL’ even by ancient Greek you have the right keys to unlock its meaning Standards
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Context Keys: Helots & Hoplites Helots & Hoplites Cont’d
• Land hunger; conquest of Messenia; massive problem of subject • Crisis of Second Messenian War – Sparta’s radical popula on of helots, ready to ‘eat them raw’ reforms – becomes a ‘hoplite state’ Only the Spartans lived on top of a poten ally human volcano. In Sparta, therefore, more than any other Greek state we can see a real and bi er class war, with full Spar ates and Helots at its opposite …she underwent a reform of her old ins tu ons. The poles… (de Ste Croix, 2012). army was re-organised… The numbers and composi on of the council were fixed, and the composi on and powers …the militarized way of life of Spar ate men was made both possible of the assembly… It may have been at this me the old and necessary by the mass of helots. (Powell, 1988: 248) ins tu ons of Dorian Sparta were furbished up and
Spartan policy with regard to the helots had always been based almost directed consciously towards military training… they gave en rely on the idea of security (Thucydides II.80) Sparta the first hoplite cons tu on of Greek history… (Andrewes, 1956: 75)
Helot & Hoplite - The Syllabus & HSC The Posi ve Drivers of Spartan Life?
Each, and every feature of Spartan society (every We should be aware of thinking the Spartan way of dot point in the Syllabus) addresses the helot and/ life so horrible that we are obliged to see the Spartans as irra onal in maintaining it…happiness or hoplite impera ves of Spartan society. The of individuals o en depends on whether they think ‘technology’ of hoplite warfare shaped and directed they are good at what they think really ma ers… the culture and social life of Sparta. Spartan culture possessed, to a most unusual extent, a harmony between values and self-image. (Powell, 1998: 99) The hoplite/helot impera ve can be used to EXPLAIN & ANALYSE every aspect of the syllabus Beyond survival, what did the Spartan system allow and applied to every HSC ques on. the Spartans ‘to have’ or ‘to be’?
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Homer & Areté : universal cultural key Areté
• Cultural key to unlock insight into the driving • Areté : ‘personal excellence’ – ‘being the best you can be’ values of the ancient Greeks in general & the and ‘reaching your highest human poten al.’ Spartans in par cular = Homer • Arête wins honour ( mé) and fame (kleos). • Kleos makes you a good & worthy man (agathos). • Single most ar culated and reiterated cultural • and moral value that comes from Homer is For the Spartans in par cular, arête was everything – a currency to measure your value, worth & status. the concept of areté • Greatest fear in Sparta was not to meet society’s expecta ons: the an thesis of arête was shame (adios) • In Sparta, adios = ‘social death’ that was feared more than a physical death.
Spartan Areté : Tyrtaeus Spartan Areté is Just Military Prowess? Rise up, warriors, take your stand at one another’s sides, your feet set wide and rooted like oaks in the ground. • Areté in the form of military excellence was universally
Then bide your me, bi ng your lip, for you were born valued. • Sparta had areté in spades. from the blood of Heracles, unbeatable by mortal men, and the god of gods has never turned his back on you. …the Spartans could believe that they were the best …. in the world at the thing that they [and others] most respected. (Powell, 1988: 99)
Horsehair crest to polished mail, and --- helmet to helmet, Compe on and rivalry extended beyond individuals and eye to eye --- mangle their gear, hack off limbs, lay open encompassed inter-polis rivalry (phthonos) and hatred the organs that warm their chests, then beat them down (echthos) and desire for dominance (hegemony) over others. un l the plain runs red with enemy blood and you s ll stand, breathlessly gripping your wet sword’s hilt.
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Spartan Single-focussed Areté? Spartan Prac ce of Areté Broader?
• Spartans may have inten onally projected a single- • A mistake to defined Spartan areté as focused areté centred on their military prowess for the purposes of achieving the psychological edge over narrowly, and purely, militaris c in nature. their rivals: • A key to unlocking dimensions of Spartan areté is in the gods and cults the Spartan Spartan enemies might be demoralized by the thought honoured. that her military ascendancy as due to the sheer discipline and hardness of her men, since in those respects few non- Spartans could expect their ci es to make the sacrifice of comfort or of peaceful economic ac vity to match Sparta (Powell, 1998: 97).
Areté as Pedigree Areté - Dance & Music – Cult of Apollo
• Sparta played cul vated carefully and purposefully her • Special place in Spartan life – link to village of Homeric connec ons. Amyclae • Pedigree: linking Spartan ancestry to Homer’s epics. • Spartan Kings were Achaeans • Three summer fes vals – Hyacinthia, the • Descendants of Hercales Gymnopaedia and the Carneia - ini a on • The cults of Helen (step daughter of the Spartan King fes vals connected with youth? Tyndareus) and wife to King Menelaus of Sparta, • Music, dance without peer– mar al link – • The Menelaion example of areté • The Dioscuri (twin brothers to Helen, one a son of Zeus). • 6th century BC the Spartans recover the Bones of Orestes (one me King of Sparta and nephew of Menelaus)
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Areté – as physcial perfec on – The Areté – Piety as Excellence Cult of Helen • Deformed children disposed of at birth • Arête of piety • Syssi a & peer comment used to regular diet & • Sparta genuinely pious and a en ve to the gods • Strict observance of the gods saw them miss the Ba le physique (you could be fined for being obese) of Marathon but very much a public display of their • Spartan hair – makes them look “taller… nobler virtue. more fearsome • Kings’ access to Delphi (pythanoi) • Spartan women renown for beauty (Lampito & • Religiosity had military applica ons: rump jumps) It might en ce opponents into failing to guard against the decep on which Sparta had in store for • King Demaratus’ mother at the Menelaion) them … there were many opportuni es to deceive • Nudity – embodied displays of excellence without oath-braking or u ering a direct lie (Powell, 1988: 216)
Areté – Excellence of mind – Fox-like Areté Athena Poliachos • Athena’s aspect as a divine warrior, represen ng the • The Spartans masters of decep on and ruse. They are fox-like. In disciple and strategic side of warfare. the words of Lysander, the Spartan general who decided, at the Ba le of Agespotamai, the fate of the 27 year long Peloponnesian • par cular kind of mar al areté; the cool, calcula ng, War in one a ernoon: disciplined military prowess For where the lion skin will not reach, we will patch it with the • Athena’s dimension of her excellence in mind. Athena fox’s was goddess of strategy and cleverness; the ideal of (Plutarch, Life of Lysander). the ‘canny mind’. In the Odyssey, Athena is likened to Odysseus whom she appears before and says: • Aristophanes - Spartans are alluded to: …us two past masters of these tricks of trade – you the As li le foxes…with treacheous souls and treacherous minds cunningest mortal to weedle or blandish, and me, (Aristophanes, The Peace l.1067) • Story of the Spartan boy who had stolen a fox cub and hid it famed above other Gods for knavish wiles’ beneath his cloak on the approach of Spartan Elders. (The Odyssey Bk 13)
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Areté of Decep on Spartan areté in deceit
• Trickery is a military weapon and history of Sparta is Examples peppered with the examples of Spartan commanders • falsified the past when it suited, seeking to deceive their enemies. • rou nely deceived the helots (one recalls the trick of • the Krypteia – to cul vate excellence of intelligence and announcing freedom for the bravest helots, the selec ng decep on in their youth: from those who came forth 2,000 who were then killed) Periodically the overseers of young men would dispatch • In visual propaganda as decep on. into the countryside in different direc ons the ones who • appeared to be par cularly intelligent; they were equipped In internal poli cs to dethrone kings (Cleomenes I’s with daggers and basic ra ons, but nothing else. By day removal of Demaratus, and his own decep on in being they would disperse to obscure spots in order to hide and lured back to Sparta a er his exile) rest. At night they made their way to roads and murdered • to entrap of conspirators (think Cinadon, or Pausanius) any helot they caught. (Plutarch, Lycurgus 28) • In military opera ons (consider Cleomenes I’s destruc on of the Argives in the Ba le of Sepea in 494 BC)
Laconic Speech: Excellence in mind Spartan Mirage Alive & Well
Laconic speech a form of excellence: • Spartans for their areté of mind – prac ce of
When asked which ci zen was good [ie demonstrated areté ?] or whose secrecy, misinforma on and deceit not only reputa on was low, the boy who proved to be at a loss for an answer was regarded as a sluggard who mind showed no signs of ambi on to excel. was an important part of their success in Answers had to be reasoned, supported by an argument, and at the same me expressed with brevity and conciseness (Plutarch, Lycurgus 18) ancient mes, but con nues to fool and • pithy one-liner is cleverness in the extreme, deceive today. – the 10 second ‘media’ grab, – laconic one liner is hard to retort; • To this day, we are s ll being taken in by – argument winner and debate closer: Spartan ‘spin.’
A wretched character bombarded Demaratus with in opportune ques ons, and in par cular the persistent query: ‘Who is the best of the Spar ates?’ Demaratus’ answer was: ‘The one least like you.’ (Plutarch, Lycurgus 20)
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Conclusion
• Hoplites & helots – context keys to explain the ‘why’ of Spartan ins tu ons and cultural prac ces • Insight in Areté – Spartan pursuit of excellence – not just in military prowess • Athena – combina on of areté as warrior and areté of the mind –opens a new apprecia on of Spartan society.
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