ANCIENT HISTORY
The Decline of Sparta
The decline of Sparta in 371BC was the conclusion of numerous characteristics of the ancient Spartan civilisation. Though the Spartan people where seen as particularly laconic their history certainly speaks to many, the story of the famous unstoppable Spartan army, particularly Leonidas and his 300 at the battle Thermopylae. Sparta occupied the central most finger in the area of Peloponnesus but was isolated due to the location within a valley of the Taygetus Mountains. Due to this isolation Sparta governed its society as it wished, with no intervention from any outsider, however no power dared to challenge Sparta due to the merciless army produced by Sparta after the first Messenian war in 640BC. This Army, as well as the entirety of Spartan society was based upon a number of systems that all revolved around the Spartans new but eventual first love, battle. Systems; such as the Agogae, Syssitia, Government as well as social values were created to promote Sparta and to maintain and safeguard values at all cost. Change was as abhorrent as military weakness.
The birth of Sparta varies between sources however the Spartan role in warfare is definite. Sparta participated in the first Messenian wars and this was what ultimately created the Sparta known throughout the world. During this war the Spartans fought for conquest and enslaved the Messenian people that were then known as Helots. Spartans became dependant on her slaves as they allowed the foot soldiers (hoplites) to train as they performed all the menial tasks and they kept Sparta economically sound. Although slaves helped Sparta prosper as a fighting force, they were also a cloud hanging over the Spartan head that was always watched in case of an uprising. After the remainder of the Messenian wars the Spartans fought for glory and alliance. From 550-600BC Sparta battled with Argos and Tegea but she only asked them for an alliance, which eventuated in the founding of the Peloponnesian league, a fighting force which was ultimately joined by Megara and Corinth. After the Peloponnesian wars the hegemony of Sparta was ill received by the Greeks, particularly Athens and Thebes as they viewed Sparta as ill-equipped and lacking in foresight, motivation and judgement, particularly as their governmental system differed greatly from their own. Between the approximate dates of 431 and 400BC Sparta became a first power city-state with the best fighting force in Greece. She maintained her hold until 371BC at the battle of Leuctra. Sparta’s decline was quick following the Battle of Leuctra, but the weaknesses in her social political and economic sections became evident prior to the date. Sparta’s personality in battle is unequalled by any other ancient nation and their style of government and citizenship were equally eccentric.
The Spartan government was extremely unique as it utilised elements of democracy, oligarchy and diarchy, not that those who founded the system designed it so at the time. If you look at the governmental arrangement the system was mainly oligarchic as the system greatly underestimated the masses and relied on an elite few, the five members of the Ephorate and the thirty members of the Georusia, two of which were Kings. The Georusia deliberated all bills sent through the government and acted as a court of justice but all the power lied with the Ephorate as they could summon the Kings to court, declare war on helots and foreign threats and were in charge of the entire training system forming the children of Sparta. The Ephorate checked on every aspect of Spartan society and the Spartan citizens in the Apella judged the Ephorate after their one-year term but they could be held accountable at the end of their term. Here in the government we see the first weakness of Spartan society, the need for numbers. The only citizens (Homoioi) who were recognised were pure born Spartan males who had completed the Agogae but at the height of Spartan rule there were approximately 10,000 Homoioi compared to 50,000-60,000 Perieoki and another 100,000 helot slaves, and the government could only survive with enough citizens to fill the Ephorate, Georusia, Apella and the dual kingship. The Spartan system relied on control, the homoioi controlled the helots and the state controlled the homoioi. Therefore due to the limited of actual citizens Sparta struggled to maintain their hold with such few numbers and had to adjust their lifestyle to do so as they had to fill the roles in the government and maintain control of the helots.
Every year the Spartans would declare war on the helots to keep their numbers under control and outside this war any helot who seemed to have some intelligence was secretly put to death, in fear of an uprising. This weakness of lack of numbers transferred onto the battlefield and plays a particularly large role in Sparta’s decline after the Peloponnesian war.
As formerly mentioned Sparta was extremely isolated, the closest settlement being a sea town, which was inhabited by Spartan perieoki or ‘dwellers around’. Spartans were therefore very wary of any outsiders that dared to enter their city. Barry Strauss of Cornwell University comments that the Spartans felt they were a ‘state constantly under siege’ and that ‘security was paramount’. This xenophobia transpired into many aspects of Spartan life particularly as the Spartan army was founded from the fear of losing to an imposing city-state. The education system for the Spartan army was called the Agogae and started at age seven til thirty, arrival upon this age men became full foot soldiers, hoplites and full citizens, homoioi. In the Agogae the children were trained to never respond to pain and that to die in battle was ultimate glory. The Agogae was based on brutality not only in terms of warfare but also of childhood as older children were employed to inflict punishment on the younger students, however upon reaching full homoioi status the army functioned on the principal of brotherhood and unity, which seems a great contradiction within the system. In terms of an education system the Agogae was a great strength of Sparta as it created equality and unity between all Spartan men, which enabled them to fight as an impenetrable unit. The Spartans favourite battle formation, the phalanx relied on strength and trust, which was developed through the Syssitia and Agogae. This unit utilised perieoki villagers in dire situations to support their ranks filled with hoplites. In many battles this style of unification brought the Spartans to victory even if not it the oppositions terms, even if it was just to die in battle. The untrained soldiers were positioned of the left side of the Spartan phalanx as this paired the most experienced soldiers in the enemy’s ranks, killing the ‘inferiors’ and tiring the experienced men of the opposition. The phalanx relied not only on careful matching of opponents but as a man fell in the front row his spot had to be filled or the phalanx would fall. This worked well when the Spartans were fighting with their own but when they worked in the Peloponnesian league with less trained men from other city-states the holes from men lost were not filled as rapidly, allowing the enemy to penetrate the phalanx. As the Spartans believed they were superior to all who were not Spartan born as they were descendents form Heracles or modern day Hercules they were reluctant to recognise any others. Spartans also had cult followings towards Leonidas, the king who led the 300. The Spartans felt they were superior and right in all ways. The Spartans idea of superiority was a catalyst for their inability to accept change to tactics and to accept other fighting forces was a major liability for the Spartans.
After losing 300 at Thermopylae Sparta continued to fight and in 371BC joined forces with the Boeotians to fight the Thebans at the battle of Leuctra. At this battle we witness many of the Spartan weaknesses compiling to create extremely bad odds for the Spartan campaign. The Spartans were so few in numbers and refused to integrate with the inferior soldiers. This resulted in the segregation in the configuration of the phalanx; the Spartans were on the right side of the phalanx (strong side), the Thebans on the left side (weak side) and the perieoki and smaller forces in the centre. The segregation made for three small armies fighting separately instead of one force. Ultimately the Spartan-Boeotian force lost and they suffered heavy casualties but depending on which source is used the number ranges from 400 to over 4000.
After the battle of Leuctra the Spartans still had citizens left so it was not the death of all Spartans that ended her reign. After the battle the numbers of hoplites were to few to retain the old social structure and this led to helot revolts and their eventual freedom after 100 years of enslavement. Sparta was therefore reduced to a second-hand power as they had too small a number to retain their governmental system and their armed forces. They also had no slaves to perform everyday tasks for them so they were not free to maintain their elite physical fitness. Here we see the weakness in the Spartan society create its collapse. The Spartan reliance on numbers, slaves and their armed forces left them with no support to fall upon when they lost their first full scale land battle. Despite this Sparta still existed for two centuries until under the rule of King Agis III the Spartans stood against a Macedonian force led by General Antipater in 331BC. At this battle around 5,300 Spartans were killed, including the King. Sparta was eventually forced into the Achaean
league but when Rome conquered Greece she became a tourist attraction for Romans because of her exotic history. Today Sparta remains a tourist attraction as a reminder to all of bravery, honour and warfare.