The Spartan army was the principle ground force of Sparta . It stood at the center of the ancient Greek city-state , consisting of citizens trained in the disciplines and honor of a warrior society . Subjected to military drills since early manhood, the Spartans became one of the most feared and formidable military forces in the Greek world , attaining legendary status in their wars against Persia . At the height of Sparta's power—between the 6th and 4th centuries BC—other Greeks commonly accepted that "one Spartan was worth several men of any other state."
188-470: Tradition states that the semi-mythical Spartan legislator Lycurgus first founded the iconic army. Referring to Sparta as having a "wall of men, instead of bricks," he proposed reforming the Spartan society to develop a military-focused lifestyle following "proper virtues" such as equality for the male citizens, austerity, strength, and fitness. Spartan boys deemed strong enough entered the agoge regime at
376-530: A helot with enough money could purchase their freedom from the state. The Spartan hoplite followed a strict laconic code of honor . No soldier was considered superior to another. Suicidal recklessness, misbehavior, and rage were prohibited in the Spartan army, as those behaviours endangered the phalanx. Recklessness could also lead to dishonor, as in the case of Aristodemus . Spartans regarded those who fight, while still wishing to live, as more valorous than those who don't care if they die. They believed that
564-467: A pentēkostys of 72 men under a pentēkontēr , and two pentēkostyai were grouped into a lochos of 144 men under a lochagos . Four lochoi formed a mora of 576 men under a polemarchos , the Spartan army's largest single tactical unit. Six morai composed the Spartan army on campaign, to which were added the Skiritai and the contingents of allied states. The two kings would typically lead
752-547: A tunic both in summer and in winter. Adulthood was reached at the age of 18, and the young adult ( eiren ) initially served as a trainer for the boys. At the same time, the most promising youths were included in the Krypteia . If they survived the two years in the countryside they would become full blown soldiers. At 20, Spartans became eligible for military service and joined one of the messes ( syssitia ), which included 15 men of various ages. Those who were rejected retained
940-674: A ban also likely emerged in the sixth century, since Spartan citizen sculptors are attested to prior to that time. The inequality of Spartan society also implies that trade must have occurred; the second dinner in the syssitia involved bread, meat, fish, and other produce which were bought or donated by wealthy Spartans. Plutarch, who claims Spartan did not dispute or talk about money, is also internally inconsistent when elsewhere notes Spartan commercial contracts and Sparta's delegation of such matters to expert resolution. Plutarch also claims that Lycurgus imposed sumptuary legislation, prohibiting foreign artisans from residing at Sparta and restricting
1128-505: A brief time by a Catalan corsair. When the population drove him out, they obtained the consent of Thomas to submit to the Pope's protection before the end of 1460. The Mani Peninsula at the south end of the Morea resisted under a loose coalition of the local clans, and that area then came under Venice 's rule. The last holdout was Salmeniko , in the Morea's northwest. Graitzas Palaiologos was
1316-543: A commission at Andravida consisted of Latin bishops, two bannerets and five Greek magnates and chaired by himself, to assess the land and divide it, according to Latin practice, in fiefs . The result was divide the country into twelve baronies , mostly centred around a newly constructed castle—a testament to the fact that the Franks were a military elite amidst a potentially hostile Greek population. The twelve temporal barons were joined by seven ecclesiastic lords, headed by
1504-590: A controlled retreat, or dead, with their body carried upon their shield. Spartan hoplites were often depicted bearing a transverse horsehair crest on their helmet, which was possibly used to identify officers. During the Archaic period, Spartans were armored with flanged bronze cuirasses , leg greaves , and a helmet, often of the Corinthian type. It is often disputed which torso armor the Spartans wore during
1692-543: A grave, also c. 600 BC , containing pottery grave goods. Further claims that Lycurgus required the burial of fallen Spartan soldiers abroad are not compatible with archaeological evidence showing that the first certain mass grave for Spartan battlefield losses was at Plataea . The education of Spartan boys in the agoge , less anachronistically the paideia , was also attributed to an initiative of Lycurgus to equalise Spartan citizens socially, by raising them without outside family and clan loyalties. Though
1880-484: A large degree, in order to keep the vastly more numerous helots subdued, it would require the constant war footing of the Spartan society. One of the major problems of the later Spartan society was the steady decline in its fully enfranchised citizens, which also meant a decline in available military manpower: the number of Spartiates decreased from 6,000 in 640 BC to 1,000 in 330 BC. The Spartans therefore had to use helots as hoplites, and occasionally they freed some of
2068-478: A large number of Spartiates , and resulted in the loss of the fertile Messenia region . The Spartans (the " Lacedaemonians ") divided themselves into three classes: The Spartiates were the Spartan army's core: they participated in the Assembly ( Apella ) and provided the hoplites in the army. Indeed, they were supposed to be soldiers and nothing else, being forbidden to learn and exercise any other trade. To
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#17327651113562256-401: A lesser form of citizenship, as only the soldiers were ranked among the homoioi . However, even after that, and even during marriage and until about the age of 30, they would spend most of their day in the barracks with their unit. Military duty lasted until the 60th year, but there are recorded cases of older people participating in campaigns in times of crisis. Throughout their adult lives,
2444-769: A locus of heroism, physicality, racial purity, and struggle. Such themes complemented fascist and Nazi ideology , painting Sparta as a "proto-National Socialist state". Defeat in the Second World War largely ended such hagiography. Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( / ˌ p ɛ l ə p ə ˈ n iː z , - ˈ n iː s / PEL -ə-pə- NEEZ , - NEESS ), Peloponnesus ( / ˌ p ɛ l ə p ə ˈ n iː s ə s / PEL -ə-pə- NEE -səs ; Greek : Πελοπόννησος , romanized : Pelopónnēsos , IPA: [peloˈponisos] ) or Morea ( Medieval Greek : Μωρέας , romanized : Mōrèas ; Greek: Μωριάς , romanized: Mōriàs )
2632-581: A personal fief of the Villehardouins. The barons retained considerable powers and privileges, so that the Prince was not an absolute sovereign but rather a "first among equals" among them. Thus they had the right to construct a castle without the Prince's permission, or to decree capital punishment . Since Salic Law was not adopted in Achaea, women could also inherit the fiefs. Frankish supremacy in
2820-684: A prisoner of the Ottomans and his younger brother Thomas fled. By the end of the summer the Ottomans had achieved the submission of virtually all cities possessed by the Greeks . Ottoman incursions into the Morea resumed under Turahan Bey after 1423. Despite the reconstruction of the Hexamilion wall at the Isthmus of Corinth, the Ottomans under Murad II breached it in 1446, forcing the Despots of
3008-498: A return to Lycurgus' "true" Spartan traditions, deviations from which explained all problems of latter-day Sparta. Finally, in Plutarch's version, after Lycurgus' recall to Sparta to institute new laws, he has the community swear not to change the laws until he returns from Delphi. Upon reaching Delphi he dies so to enshrine the laws forever. Lycurgus' laws are supposed to have touched the whole of Spartan society. At various times,
3196-562: A shield, leg greaves, bracelets, helmet and a robe. Spartans did start to readopt armour in later periods, but on a much lesser scale than during the Archaic period. Finally, during 227 BC, Cleomenes' reforms introduced updated equipment to Sparta, including the Macedonian sarissa (pike). However, pike-men armed with the sarissa never outnumbered troops equipped in the hoplite style. It was also at that time Sparta adopted its own cavalry and archers. The Spartan public education system,
3384-512: A significant power in Greece led to friction between herself with Sparta and two large-scale conflicts (the First and Second Peloponnesian Wars ), which devastated Greece. Sparta suffered several defeats during these wars, including, for the first time, the surrender of an entire Spartan unit at Sphacteria in 425 BC. Still, it ultimately emerged victorious, primarily through the aid it received from
3572-419: A stable polity dedicated to simplicity, unity, and the communal interest – attributing to the Spartans, not necessarily rightly, universal education and equality among citizens – while also noting the cruelty of the agoge and denigration of autonomy, especially in contrast to democratic Athens . Charles Rollin , a French educator, produced an enduring and admiring conception of Lycurgus as having created
3760-417: A temple to Zeus.. and Athena..., forming phylai and creating obai , and instituting a gerousia of thirty including the kings, then hold an apella from time to time. Thus bring in and set aside [proposals]. The people are to have the right to respond, and power ... but if the people speak crookedly, the elders and kings are to be setters-aside. Plutarch states that the provision that
3948-533: A total of 3,584 men for the main Spartan army. By the end of the Peloponnesian War, the structure of the army had evolved further, to address the shortages in manpower and create a more flexible system which allowed the Spartans to send smaller detachments on campaigns or garrisons outside their homeland. According to Xenophon , the basic Spartan unit remained the enōmotia , with 36 men in three files of twelve under an enōmotarches . Two enōmotiai formed
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#17327651113564136-516: A turning point. Rivalries among the insurgents eventually erupted into civil war in 1824, which enabled the Ottoman Egyptian vassal Ibrahim Pasha to land in the peninsula in 1825. The Peloponnese peninsula was the scene of fierce fighting and extensive devastation following the arrival of Ibrahim's Egyptian troops. Partly as a result of the atrocities committed by Ibrahim, the UK, France, and
4324-442: A warrior must not fight with raging anger but with calm determination. Spartans must walk without any noise and speak only with few words by the laconic way of life. Other ways for Spartans to be dishonored include dropping the shield ( rhipsaspia ), failing to complete the training, and deserting in battles. Dishonored Spartans were labelled as outcasts and would be forced to wear different clothing for public humiliation . In battles,
4512-414: Is "probably mythical". Others have attempted to glean from the myths that survive some kernel of truth. But most historians "would subscribe to the stark judgement of Antony Andrewes: 'if there was a real Lycurgus, we know nothing of him ' ". There is no consensus as to when a historical Lycurgus lived, neither today or in the ancient world (Plutarch, in his Life of Lycurgus , in fact makes this remark in
4700-757: Is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece , and the southernmost region of the Balkans . It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge which separates the Gulf of Corinth from the Saronic Gulf . From the late Middle Ages until the 19th century, the peninsula was known as the Morea , a name still in colloquial use in its demotic form. The peninsula
4888-508: Is a characteristic story, told by Plutarch: "The boys make such a serious matter of their stealing, that one of them, as the story goes, who was carrying concealed under his cloak a young fox which he had stolen, suffered the animal to tear out his bowels with its teeth and claws, and died rather than have his theft detected." The boys were encouraged to compete against one another in games and mock fights and to foster an esprit de corps . In addition, they were taught to read and write and learned
5076-421: Is also said to have banned lamentations and allowed burials near temples. Burials near temples were common in archaic Greece before being prohibited by most cities; Sparta merely retained the practice. The earliest Spartan art and poems also still mention lamenting mourners, implying that such a ban likely postdates Lycurgus and was introduced c. 600 BC ; moreover, any ban on grave goods must postdate
5264-459: Is also said to have instituted a system of wife sharing as a pronatalist and eugenicist policy; if such wife sharing existed, it is likely a product of Spartan population decline in the fifth century BC. Plutarch also credits Lycurgus with sumptuary laws on burials. Archaeological evidence broadly supports the notion that Spartans practiced uniform burial without grave goods, albeit with exceptions for generals and Olympic victors. However, Lycurgus
5452-635: Is also supposed to have instituted the Spartan practice of staged bride capture where the bride, rather than being processed to the groom's home for a wedding ceremony with feast, was instead ritually seized by the groom, and the marriage consummated without feast. The seventh century Spartan poet Alcman makes no mention of such customs, and composed wedding hymns reflecting the more common Greek wedding processions; Spartan wedding customs therefore also postdate Lycurgus, emerging some time before 500 BC. The further claim in Plutarch's Moralia that Lycurgus prohibited dowries altogether has no basis. Lycurgus
5640-545: Is divided among three administrative regions : most belongs to the Peloponnese region, with smaller parts belonging to the West Greece and Attica regions. The Peloponnese is a peninsula located at the southern tip of the mainland, 21,549.6 square kilometres (8,320.3 sq mi) in area, and constitutes the southernmost part of mainland Greece. It is connected to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth , where
5828-511: Is headed by a city. The largest city is Patras (pop. 170,000) in Achaia, followed by Kalamata (pop. 55,000) in Messenia. Peloponnese for the most part enjoys a hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification : Csa ), while the Gulf of Corinth has a hot semi-arid climate ( Köppen climate classification : BSh ). Rainfall is higher in the west coasts, while the east of
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6016-579: Is it clear when the political reforms attributed to him, called the Great Rhetra, occurred. Ancient dates range from – putting aside the implausibly early Xenophonic 11th century BC – the early ninth century ( c. 885 BC ) to as late as early eighth century ( c. 776 BC ). There remains no consensus as to when he lived; some modern scholars deny that he existed at all. The reforms at various times attributed to him touch all aspects of Spartan society. They included
6204-580: Is known of the earlier organization, and much is left open to speculation. The earliest form of social and military organization (during the 7th century BC) seems to have been set in accordance with the three tribes ( phylai : the Pamphyloi , Hylleis and Dymanes ), who appeared in the Second Messenian War (685–668 BC). A further subdivision was the "fraternity" ( phratra ), of which 27, or nine per tribe, are recorded. Eventually, this system
6392-595: Is supposed also to have established the Spartan mess halls called syssitia or phiditia . Such halls were public, where all citizen men were required to eat dinner. Citizens were required to contribute to the mess hall's pantries with a substantial amount of food, wine, and money; failure or inability to do so would entail loss of citizenship. A relatively old tradition, predating the Hellenistic Spartan reformers Agis IV and Cleomenes III as well as likely Herodotus, claimed that Lycurgus' imposition of
6580-450: Is that he undertakes the regency until his ward came of age. The second is that he resigns, to protect his ward, amid rumours that he wishes to supplant the ward as king. Plutarch's version of the story includes the ward's mother seeking Lycurgus' hand in marriage to facilitate his accession. In this version, Lycurgus leaves to prevent himself from being used as a pawn in politics against his nephew. The tradition where Lycurgus continues in
6768-577: Is that of Herodotus, who wrote in the latter half of the fifth century BC. His account is likely based on oral accounts from both Spartans and non-Spartans in Greece. The two royal dynasties of Sparta, the Agiads and Eurypontids , both claimed Lycurgus in their ancestries. However, Lycurgus does not feature in the earliest preserved Spartan source – the poet Tyrtaeus – which has led many historians today to doubt his historicity: for example, Massimo Nafissi in A companion to Sparta writes he
6956-459: Is that this never happened. The seventh century Spartan poet, Tyrtaeus , already opposed land distribution in the poem Eunomia , attesting to land inequality at the earliest times. Lycurgus is also supposed to have ensured the austere lifestyle of the Spartans by banning the use of gold and silver coins, requiring a currency made of iron . Xenophon claimed that this meant acquisition of wealth became too bulky to hide; Plutarch believed that this
7144-522: The Encyclopédie but this was not shared by all authors. Diderot , the main editor of the Encyclopédie , was more pessimistic, saying that Lycurgan laws "created monks bearing arms" while branding the system as a whole "an atrocity" and "incompatible with a large... [or] commercial state". The branding of Lycurguan Sparta as a "dismal monastery" was widely, but not universally, shared among
7332-541: The syssitia ); economic freedom for citizens by their possession of sufficient land and helots to meet their needs; and austere politics for the common good. The republican views of Niccolò Machiavelli trended toward the Lycurgan "mixed constitution" but this was not necessarily a through-line in Renaissance European political thought. Other thinkers of the period hailed Lycurgan politics as building
7520-634: The Chronicle of Monemvasia , in 805 the Byzantine governor of Corinth went to war with the Slavs, exterminated them, and allowed the original inhabitants to claim their lands. They regained control of the city of Patras and the region was re-settled with Greeks. Many Slavs were transported to Asia Minor , and many Asian, Sicilian and Calabrian Greeks were resettled in the Peloponnese. By the turn of
7708-567: The agoge , trained the mind as well as the body. Spartans were not only literate but admired for their intellectual culture and poetry. Socrates said the "most ancient and fertile homes of philosophy among the Greeks are Crete and Sparta, where are found more sophists than anywhere on earth." The state provided public education for girls and boys, and consequently, the literacy rate was higher in Sparta than in other Greek city-states. In education,
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7896-558: The Battle of Naxos in 376 BC. The Spartans periodically maintained a small fleet after that, but its effectiveness was limited. The last revival of the Spartan naval power was under Nabis , who created a fleet to control the Laconian coastline with aid from his Cretan allies. The fleet was commanded by navarchs , who were appointed for a strictly one-year term, and apparently could not be reappointed. The admirals were subordinated to
8084-521: The Corinth Canal was constructed in 1893. However, it is also connected to the mainland by several bridges across the canal, including two submersible bridges at the north and the south end. Near the northern tip of the peninsula, there is another bridge, the Rio–Antirrio bridge (completed 2004). The peninsula has a mountainous interior, although extensive lowlands are also found in the west, in
8272-782: The Evrotas Valley in the south, and in the Argolid Peninsula in the northeast. The Peloponnese possesses four south-pointing peninsulas, the Messenian , the Mani , the Cape Malea (also known as Epidaurus Limera), and the Argolid in the far northeast of the Peloponnese. Mount Taygetus in the south is the highest mountain in the Peloponnese, at 2,407 metres (7,897 ft). Οther important mountains include Cyllene in
8460-487: The Isthmus of Corinth . His attack opened the peninsula to invasion, though Murad died before he could exploit this. His successor Mehmed II "the Conqueror" captured the Byzantine capital Constantinople in 1453. The despots, Demetrios Palaiologos and Thomas Palaiologos , brothers of the last emperor, failed to send him any aid, as Morea was recovering from a recent Ottoman attack. Their own incompetence resulted in
8648-650: The Latin Archbishop of Patras . Each of the latter was granted a number of estates as knightly fiefs, with the Archbishop receiving eight, the other bishops four each, and likewise four granted to each of the military orders : the Templars , Hospitallers and the Teutonic Knights . Shortly after 1260, a thirteenth barony, that of Arcadia (modern Kyparissia ) was established, which was also
8836-642: The Morea revolt of 1453–1454 led by Manuel Kantakouzenos against them, during which they invited in Ottoman troops to help them put down the revolt. At this time, the Greek archons made peace with Mehmed. After more years of incompetent rule by the despots, their failure to pay their annual tribute to the Sultan, and finally their own revolt against Ottoman rule, Mehmed came into the Morea in May 1460. Demetrios ended up
9024-616: The Ottoman Turks on 31 May 1460, Mystras was the residence of a Despot who ruled over the Byzantine Morea, known as the " Despotate of the Morea ". For the larger portion of his reign, Manuel maintained peaceful relations with his Latin neighbors and secured a long period of prosperity for the area. Greco-Latin cooperation included an alliance to contain the raids of the Ottoman Sultan Murad I into Morea in
9212-550: The Peloponnese peninsula. The Spartans forced Arcadia into recognizing their power; Argos lost Cynuria (the South Eastern coast of the Peloponnese) in about 546 and suffered a further crippling blow from Cleomenes I at the Battle of Sepeia in 494. Repeated expeditions against tyrannical regimes during this period throughout Greece also considerably raised the Spartans' prestige. By the early 5th century, Sparta
9400-545: The Peloponnesian War broke out, the Spartans were supreme on land, but the Athenians excelled at sea. The Spartans repeatedly ravaged Attica , but the Athenians who were kept supplied by sea, were able to stage raids of their own around the Peloponnese with their navy. Eventually, it was the creation of a navy that enabled Sparta to overcome Athens . With Persian gold, Lysander , appointed navarch in 407 BC,
9588-472: The Peloponnesian War that battles countenanced indiscriminate slaughter, enslavement and depredations among the Greeks. War chariots were used by the elite, but unlike their counterparts in the Middle East, they appear to have been used for transport, with the warrior dismounting to fight on foot and then remounting to withdraw from combat. However, some accounts show warriors throwing their spear from
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#17327651113569776-648: The Roman period , the peninsula remained prosperous but became a provincial backwater, relatively cut off from the affairs of the wider Roman world . After the partition of the Empire in 395, the Peloponnese became a part of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire . The devastation of Alaric 's raid in 396–397 led to the construction of the Hexamilion wall across the Isthmus of Corinth. Through most of late antiquity ,
9964-560: The Spartiates continued to be subject to a training regime so strict that, as Plutarch says, "... they were the only men in the world with whom war brought a respite in the training for war." Bravery was the ultimate virtue for the Spartans: Spartan mothers would give their sons the shield with the words "[Return] With it or [carried] on it!" ( Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς ), that is to say, either victorious or dead, since in battle,
10152-478: The baggage train in an emergency. The principal source on the Spartan Army's organization is Xenophon , an admirer of the Spartans himself. His Constitution of Sparta offers a detailed overview of the Spartan state and society at the beginning of the 4th century BC. Other authors, notably Thucydides , also provide information, but they are not always as reliable as Xenophon's first-hand accounts. Little
10340-462: The classical era , "Lacedaemonian" or " Laconian " was used for attribution, referring to the region of the city-state instead of one of the decentralized settlements called Sparta . From this derives the already ancient term "Laconic," and is related to expressions such as " Laconic phrase " or " Laconophilia ." The first reference to the Spartans at war is in the Iliad , in which they featured among
10528-522: The klephts ' activities. With the outbreak of the " Great Turkish War " in 1683, the Venetians under Francesco Morosini occupied the entire peninsula by 1687, and received recognition by the Ottomans in the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699). The Venetians established their province as the " Kingdom of the Morea " (It. Regno di Morea ), but their rule proved unpopular, and when the Ottomans invaded
10716-471: The paired lives of Lycurgus and Numa (the early Roman lawgiver and king), for example, judged Lycurgus favourably compared to the Roman by emphasising Lycurgan education and pronatalism. Another argument for Lycurgan superiority was also that Sparta declined as it supposedly deviated from Lycurgus' settlements while Rome flourished as it similarly deviated from Numa's ideals. In the end, for Plutarch, Lycurgus
10904-905: The philosophes . Similar negative views were expressed by the American founder John Adams who saw Lycurgus as having doomed his own people to poverty and futile militarism; however, he also praised the Lycurgan ;– as well as the Polybian – mixed constitution in Defense of the Constitutions as did James Madison in the Federalist Papers (number 63). Nationalist views of Spartan society, which praised Spartan eugenicism and militarism became common in Germany in
11092-636: The syssitia (the mess halls to which each Spartan belonged). In Xenophon's telling, the legend of Lycurgus expanded even further, ascribing to him not only reforms but also the creation of the Lacedaemonian dual monarchy and state as well. The description of Lycurgus as a regent or guardian who establishes the laws characterises him as a selfless figure who places the good of his king and community before his own. To that end there are two main traditions relating to his regency. The first, in Herodotus,
11280-600: The "Spartan mirage", also drove praise of Lycurgus in other Greek states. The tradition of a timeless legislator with his divinely-inspired (or at least sanctioned) laws gave Sparta's constitution greater legitimacy while also making it inflexible. Even attempts to reform Spartan life during the Hellenistic period, by Spartan monarchs Agis IV and Cleomenes III , were viewed in their time as returning to Lycurgan tradition rather than an innovation. The stories of Lycurgus were constantly reinvented for each Spartan generation;
11468-510: The 1360s. The rival Palaiologos dynasty seized the Morea after Manuel's death in 1380, with Theodore I Palaiologos becoming despot in 1383. Theodore I ruled until 1407, consolidating Byzantine rule and coming to terms with his more powerful neighbours—particularly the expansionist Ottoman Empire , whose suzerainty he recognised. Subsequent despots were the sons of the Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos , brother of
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#173276511135611656-403: The 5th century BC Greek historian Thucydides ' Archaeology indicates that the reforms were instituted some four hundred years prior to the end of the Peloponnesian war, placing them to 804 or 821 BC. The 4th century BC Greek general Xenophon, on the other hand, claimed that he was also responsible for the creation of the Lacedaemonian dual monarchy, placing him during the reign of
11844-420: The 9th century, the entire Peloponnese was formed into the new thema of Peloponnesos , with its capital at Corinth. The imposition of Byzantine rule over the Slavic enclaves may have largely been a process of Christianization and accommodation of Slavic chieftains into the Imperial fold, as literary, epigraphic and sigillographic evidence testify to Slavic archontes participating in Imperial affairs. By
12032-428: The Greek cities of Asia Minor appealed to them for help during the Ionian Revolt . During the second Persian invasion of Greece, under Xerxes , Sparta was assigned the overall leadership of Greek forces on both land and sea. The Spartans played a crucial role in the repulsion of the invasion, notably at the battles of Thermopylae and Plataea . However, during the aftermath, because of the plotting of Pausanias with
12220-473: The Hellenization campaign also shows that the Slavs had settled among many Greeks, in contrast to areas further north in what is now Bulgaria and the former Yugoslavia, as those areas could not be Hellenized when they were recovered by the Byzantines in the early 11th century. A human genetics study in 2017 showed that the Peloponnesians have little admixture with populations of the Slavic homeland and are much closer to Sicilians and southern Italians. Apart from
12408-512: The Heraclid kings Eurysthenes and Procles , dated to c. 1003 BC . Modern scholars generally date the Great Rhetra to before the First Messenian War , placing it prior to 736 BC. Little consensus exists for any more specificity. Nor should Lycurgus necessarily be credited with, and therefore dated to, the rhetra: it may have been a charter created some time in the seventh century to justify and ennoble with antiquity Sparta's institutions, especially after Sparta's emergence as
12596-420: The Laconian helots, the neodamōdeis (the "newly enfranchised"), and gave them land to settle, in exchange for military service. The Spartiate population was subdivided into age groups. They considered the youngest, those who were 20 years old, as weaker due to their lack of experience. They would only call the oldest, men who were up to 60 years old; or during a crisis, those who were 65 years old, to defend
12784-513: The Lycurgan agoge as a form of universal education especially in the way it supported the stability of the Spartan state. Into the Roman period, Sparta received privileged treatment from the Romans as in part a means to preserve Greek traditions to display to tourists: while this touristic Sparta at times veered toward the extreme, it also cultivated its Lycurgan inheritance by means of architecture, theatre, and retention of distinctive political institutions. The Plutarchian comparison between
12972-615: The Macedonian sarissa and trained in the phalanx style. During the Hellenistic period , Spartan equipment evolved drastically. Since the early 3rd century BC, the pilos helmet had become almost standard within the Spartan army, being in use by the Spartans until the end of the Classical era. Also, after the "Iphicratean reforms," peltasts became a much more common sight on the Greek battlefield, and themselves became more heavily armed. In response to Iphicrates ' victory over Sparta in 392 BC , Spartan hoplites started abandoning body armour. Eventually, they wore almost no armour apart from
13160-402: The Morea to re-acknowledge Ottoman suzerainty, and again under Turahan in 1452 and 1456. Following the occupation of the Duchy of Athens in 1456, the Ottomans occupied a third of the Peloponnese in 1458, and Sultan Mehmed II extinguished the remnants of the Despotate in 1460. A few holdouts remained for a time. The rocky peninsula of Monemvasia refused to surrender, and it was first ruled for
13348-475: The Peloponnese rose against the Ottomans with Russian aid during the so-called " Orlov Revolt " of 1770, but it was swiftly and brutally suppressed by bands of Muslim Albanian mercenaries hired by the Ottomans. Referred to by the local Greek populace as " Turk-Albanians ", those forces had also destroyed many cities and towns in Epirus during the 1769–70 revolt there. The Peloponnese suffered more than any other Greek inhabited area by irregular Albanian gangs during
13536-662: The Peloponnese to continue their military service under the Republic of Venice or the Kingdom of Naples . At the end of the Ottoman–Venetian wars, a large number of Albanians had fled from the Peloponnese to Sicily. A demographic census by Alfred Philippson , based on fieldwork between 1887 and 1889, found that out of the approximately 730,000 inhabitants of the Peloponnese, and the three neighboring islands of Poros , Hydra and Spetses , Arvanites numbered 90,253, or 12.3% of
13724-538: The Peloponnese was at the heart of the affairs of ancient Greece , possessed some of its most powerful city-states, and was the location of some of its bloodiest battles. The major cities of Sparta , Corinth , Argos and Megalopolis were all located on the Peloponnese, and it was the homeland of the Peloponnesian League . Soldiers from the peninsula fought in the Persian Wars , and it was also
13912-508: The Peloponnesian Greek population. This is especially true in Mani and Tsakonia , where Slavic incursions were minimal, or non-existent. Being agriculturalists, the Slavs probably traded with the Greeks, who remained in the towns, while Greek villages continued to exist in the interior, governing themselves, possibly paying tribute to the Slavs. The first attempt by the Byzantine imperial government to re-assert its control over
14100-528: The Peloponnesian Wars , and its conservative and narrow mentality alienated many of its former allies. At the same time, its military class – the Spartiate caste – was in decline for several reasons: As Sparta's military power waned, Thebes also repeatedly challenged its authority. The ensuing Corinthian War led to the humiliating Peace of Antalcidas that destroyed Sparta's reputation as
14288-485: The Persian Wars . However, it seems likely they either continued to wear bronze cuirasses of a more sculptured type or instead had adopted the linothōrax . During the later 5th century BC, when warfare had become more flexible, and full-scale phalanx confrontations became rarer, the Greeks abandoned most forms of body armor. The Lacedaemonians also adopted a new tunic, the exōmis , which could be arranged to leave
14476-609: The Persians and their unwillingness to campaign too far from home, the Spartans withdrew into relative isolation. The power vacuum resulted in Athens' rise to power, who became the lead in the continued effort against the Persians. This isolationist tendency was further reinforced by some of her allies' revolts and a great earthquake in 464, which was followed by a large scale revolt of the Messenian helots . Athens' parallel rise as
14664-547: The Persians. Under its admiral Lysander , the Persian-funded Peloponnesian fleet captured the Athenian alliance cities, and a decisive naval victory at Aegospotami forced Athens to capitulate. The Athenian defeat established Sparta and its military forces in a dominant position in Greece. Spartan ascendancy did not last long. By the end of the 5th century BC, Sparta had suffered severe casualties in
14852-580: The Principality of Achaea were beaten back in the battles of Prinitsa and Makryplagi , but the Byzantines were firmly ensconced in Laconia. Warfare became endemic, and the Byzantines slowly pushed the Franks back. The insecurity engendered by the raids and counter-raids caused the inhabitants of Lacedaemon to abandon their exposed city and settle at Mystras, in a new town built under the shadow of
15040-533: The Russian Empire decided to intervene in favor of the Greeks. The decisive naval Battle of Navarino was fought in 1827 off Pylos on the west coast of the Peloponnese, where a combined British, French and Russian fleet decisively defeated the Turko-Egyptian fleet. Subsequently, a French expeditionary corps cleared the last Turko-Egyptian forces from the peninsula in 1828. The city of Nafplion, on
15228-586: The Spartan army that while losing a sword and a spear was an exception, to lose a shield was a sign of disgrace. Not only did a shield protect the user, but it also protected the whole phalanx formation. To come home without the shield was the mark of a deserter; rhipsaspia , or "dropping the shield," was a synonym for desertion in the field. Mothers bidding farewell to their sons would encourage them to come back with their shields, often saying goodbyes such as "Son, either with this or on this" (Ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς). This saying implied that they should return only in victory,
15416-569: The Spartan citizens. The economic reforms, which are supposed to have made Spartan citizens equal, never happened and were invented to legitimise redistributive policies in the Hellenistic period. Lycurgus' political reforms were supposedly promulgated in a Great Rhetra that he received from the Pythia . It, however, is not genuine and contains anachronistic contents. Regardless, Plutarch records it as having included provisions related to Sparta's religious and political practices: After dedicating
15604-418: The Spartans attributed every one of their institutions to him, except the institution of the dual monarchy. Because the Spartans attributed all manner of laws and customs to him, it is impossible to determine which laws (if any) are his in actuality. However, it is clear today, from comparisons with other archaic Greek states, that Spartan institutions such as men's dining halls, organisation of age cohorts, and
15792-453: The Spartans did not utilize a cavalry of their own until late into the Peloponnesian War . By then, small units of 60 cavalrymen were attached to each mora . The hippeis belonged to the first mora and were the Spartan army's elite, being deployed on the honorary right side of the battle line. They were selected every year by specially commissioned officials, the hippagretai , drafted from experienced men who already had sons as heirs. This
15980-663: The Spartans gave sports the most emphasis. Self-discipline, not kadavergehorsam (mindless obedience), was the goal of Spartan education. Sparta placed the values of liberty, equality, and fraternity at the center of their ethical system. These values applied to every full Spartan citizen, immigrant, merchant, and even to the helots , but not the dishonored. Helots are unique in the history of slavery in that, unlike traditional slaves, they were allowed to keep and gain wealth. For example, they could keep half of their agricultural produce and presumably could also accumulate wealth by selling them. There are known to have been occasions that
16168-516: The Spartans told stories of valor to inspire the troops and, before a major confrontation, they sang soft songs to calm the nerves. Throughout their history, the Spartans were a land-based force par excellence . During the Persian Wars , they contributed a small navy of 20 triremes and provided the overall fleet commander. Nevertheless, they largely relied on their allies, primarily the Corinthians , for naval power. This fact meant that, when
16356-436: The accounts of the Great Rhetra, Lycurgus is not credited with a radical reorganisation of Spartan life or with the institution of the ephorate . These early oral traditions – contra the written accounts – are "far from uniform". The earliest surviving written account on Lycurgus is in Herodotus, placing him as the guardian and regent of the early Argiad king Leobotes. Later accounts of Lycurgus' activities associate him with
16544-444: The age of seven, undergoing intense and rigorous military training. Their education focused primarily on fostering cunningness, practicing sports and war tactics , and also included learning about poetry , music , academics , and sometimes politics . Those who passed the agoge by the age of 30 achieved full Spartan citizenship. In modern times, the term "Spartan" is frequently an expression that describes simplicity by design. In
16732-489: The age of seven, when boys ( paidia ) were taken from their mothers and grouped together in "packs" ( agelai ) and were sent to what is almost equivalent to present-day military boot camp. This military camp was known as the Agoge. They became inured to hardship, being provided with scant food and clothing; this also encouraged them to steal, and if they were caught, they were punished – not for stealing, but for being caught. There
16920-458: The alleged ban on precious metals to after Lycurgus and to different men. Ancient authors claimed of the Spartans a general aversion to commerce, which was also attributed to Lycurgus, who was supposed to have "forbade free men to touch anything to do with making money". This likely emerged from the fact that Spartan citizens, the spartiates or homoioi , were a leisurely class of land owners who looked down on manual labourers and craftsmen. Such
17108-460: The arrival of Slavs to southern Greece to the late 6th century, according to Florin Curta there is no evidence for a Slavic presence in the Peloponnese until after c. 700 AD , when Slavs may have been allowed to settle in specific areas that had been depopulated. Relations between the Slavs and Greeks were probably peaceful apart from intermittent uprisings. There was also a continuity of
17296-470: The beginning of the 7th century BC, Sparta was, along with Argos , the Peloponnese 's dominant power. Inevitably, Sparta and Argos collided. Initial Argive successes, such as the victory at the Battle of Hysiae in 669 BC, led to the Messenians' uprising . This internal conflict tied down the Spartan army for almost 20 years. However, over the course of the 6th century, Sparta secured her control of
17484-640: The chariot before dismounting. Like much of Greece, Mycenaean Sparta was engulfed in the Dorian invasions , which ended the Mycenaean civilization and ushered in the so-called "Greek Dark Ages." During this time, Sparta (or Lacedaemon ) was merely a Doric village on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia . However, in the early 8th century BC, Spartan society transformed. Later traditions ascribed
17672-420: The classical syssitia after sumptuary restrictions, compulsory contributions from poorer citizens who previously abstained, and intermixture of rich and poor shortly before 500 BC. The silence of the rhetra, a text meant to describe and legitimise the Spartan political system of the seventh century, with regard to Sparta's ephors suggests that the ephorate was a product of a later reform at Sparta and
17860-470: The coast such as Navarino and Coron , which they retained into the 15th century. The Franks popularized the name Morea for the peninsula, which first appears as the name of a small bishopric in Elis during the 10th century. Its etymology is disputed, but it is most commonly held to be derived from the mulberry tree ( morea ), whose leaves are similar in shape to the peninsula. In 1208, William I founded
18048-492: The creation of the Spartan constitution (in most traditions after the dual monarchy), the imposition of the Spartan mess halls called syssitia , the redistribution of land to each citizen by head, Spartan austerity and frugality, and Sparta's unique wedding and funerary customs. None of these reforms can be concretely attributed to Lycurgus. Most of the reforms likely date to the late sixth century BC (shortly before 500 BC), postdating his supposed life by centuries; some of
18236-417: The crush caused by colliding phalanxes formations – it was capable of being thrust through gaps in the enemy's shield wall and armor, where there was no room for the longer weapons. The groin and throat were among the favorite targets. According to Plutarch when a Spartan was asked why his sword was so short he replied, "So that we may get close to the enemy." In another, a Spartan complained to his mother that
18424-712: The decades following. In Patras nearly no one was left alive after the Turkish-Albanian invasion. The city of Mystras was left in ruins and the metropolitan bishop Ananias was executed despite having saved the life of several Turks during the uprising. A great number of local Greeks were killed by the Albanian groups, while children were sold to slavery. It is estimated that 20,000 local Greeks were captured during those nine years of devastation by those Albanian mercenaries and sold to slave markets. Also an additional of 50,000 Greeks left Peloponesse: around one-sixth of
18612-574: The decline of Sparta through to Hellenistic times saw Lycurgus' praise extended to praise him for having creating an ideal Sparta, free from the moral and political decay of the real one. Admiration of the customs of Sparta, supposed to be established by Lycurgus, survived – with a break during the second century when Sparta was part of the Achaean League – continuously into the Sparta of the Roman Empire . Aristotle, for example, praised
18800-549: The despot Theodore: Theodore II, Constantine, Demetrios, and Thomas. As Latin power in the Peloponnese waned during the 15th century, the Despotate of the Morea expanded to incorporate the entire peninsula in 1430 with territory being acquired by dowry settlements, and the conquest of Patras by Constantine. However, in 1446 the Ottoman Sultan Murad II destroyed the Byzantine defences—the Hexamilion wall at
18988-804: The destruction of the Byzantine Empire by the forces of the Fourth Crusade , the Crusaders under William of Champlitte and Geoffrey of Villehardouin marched south through mainland Greece and conquered the Peloponnese against sporadic local Greek resistance . The Franks then founded the Principality of Achaea , nominally a vassal of the Latin Empire , while the Venetians occupied several strategically important ports around
19176-406: The east coast of the peninsula, became the first capital of the independent Greek state . By the conclusion of the war, the entire Muslim population of the newly independent Greek state, including the Peloponnese, had been exterminated or had fled. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the region became relatively poor and economically isolated. A significant part of its population emigrated to
19364-764: The east, and the Ionian to the west. The island of Kythira , off the Epidaurus Limeira peninsula to the south of the Peloponnese, is considered to be part of the Ionian Islands. The island of Elafonisos used to be part of the peninsula but was separated following the major quake of 365 AD . Since antiquity, and continuing to the present day, the Peloponnese has been divided into seven major regions: Achaea (north), Corinthia (northeast), Argolis (east), Arcadia (center), Laconia (southeast), Messenia (southwest), and Elis (west). Each of these regions
19552-475: The elders and kings could set aside decisions of the apella, called the " rider ", was a later addition. However, the grammatical construction of preserved rhetra is consistent with it being part of the original text, a view taken by Massimo Nafissi in Companion to archaic Greece , believing that the idea that the set-aside provision was later inserted was itself a fabrication of the fourth century BC. Lycurgus
19740-512: The end of the 2nd millennium BC. Archeological research has found that many of its cities and palaces show signs of destruction. The subsequent period, known as the Greek Dark Ages , is marked by an absence of written records. In 776 BC, the first Olympic Games were held at Olympia , in the western Peloponnese and this date is sometimes used to denote the beginning of the classical period of Greek antiquity. During classical antiquity ,
19928-537: The end of the 9th century, the Peloponnese was culturally and administratively Greek again, except for a few small Slavic tribes in the mountains such as the Melingoi and Ezeritai . Although they were to remain relatively autonomous until Ottoman times, such tribes were the exception rather than the rule. Even the Melingoi and Ezeritai, however, could speak Greek and appear to have been Christian. The success of
20116-419: The energetic Evrenos Bey took control. Exploiting the quarrels between Byzantines and Franks, he plundered across the peninsula and forced both the Byzantine despots and the remaining Frankish rulers to acknowledge Ottoman suzerainty and pay tribute. This situation lasted until the Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Ankara in 1402, after which Ottoman power was for a time checked. From 1349 until its surrender to
20304-538: The expensive sport of chariot racing at pan-Hellenic games. While most male Spartan citizens affected a generally consistent and relatively inexpensive form of dress at home, Spartans on campaign showed extreme wealth from the expense of their crimson dyes to the polish of their armour. However, while Xenophon claims this austere dress also came from Lycurgus, art from Laconia implies adoption after 500 BC, consistent with Thucydides claim that Spartans wore complex and luxurious clothing until "not long ago". Lycurgus
20492-474: The fertile lands, Muslims remained a distinct minority. Christian communities retained a large measure of self-government, but the entire Ottoman period was marked by a flight of the Christian population from the plains to the mountains. This occasioned the rise of the klepht s, armed brigands and rebels, in the mountains, as well as the corresponding institution of the government-funded armatoloi to check
20680-482: The formation of its eunomia ( ' good order ' ), involving political, economic, and social reforms to produce a military-oriented Spartan society in accordance with the Delphic oracle . The Spartans in the historical period honoured him as god. As a historical figure, almost nothing is known for certain about him, including when he lived and what he did in life. The stories of him place him at multiple times. Nor
20868-535: The fortress. While Mystras served as the provincial capital from this time, it became a royal capital in 1349, when the first despot was appointed to rule over the Morea. The Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos , reorganized the territory in 1349 to establish it as an appanage for his son, the Despot Manuel Kantakouzenos . Around that time, the Ottoman Turks began raiding the Peloponnese, but their raids intensified only after 1387 when
21056-518: The fortresses. The Greek insurgents made rapid progress and the entire peninsula was under Greek control within a few months, except for a few coastal forts and the main Turkish garrison at Tripolitsa . The fighting was fierce and marked by atrocities on both sides; eventually the entire Muslim population was either massacred or fled to the forts. The capture of Tripolitsa in September 1821 marked
21244-470: The full army in battles. Initially, both would go on campaign at the same time, but after the 6th century BC, only one would do so, with the other remaining in Sparta. Unlike other polis , their authority was severely circumscribed; actual power rested with the five elected ephoroi . A select group of 300 men as royal guards, termed hippeis ("cavalrymen"), accompanied the kings. Despite their title, they were infantry hoplites like all Spartiatai . Indeed,
21432-440: The gerousia. Xenophon instead has Lycurgus forging an alliance with the most powerful non-royal citizens and forcing the laws through. Plutarch's narrative presented in his own voice instead consolidates prior disparate stories into a general upsurge of support from the kings, the people, and the aristocracy. In Plutarch's narrative, Lycurgus' laws cause backlash among the wealthy, who attempt to have him stoned. After he flees to
21620-477: The groundwork for the Greek War of Independence . The Peloponnesians played a major role in the Greek War of Independence – the war began in the Peloponnese, when rebels took control of Kalamata on March 23, 1821. After the arrival of Ypsilantis's emissaries, local people rose under the leadership of Mavromichalis . Greek and Albanian insurgents organised in units of armed civilians took control of most of
21808-544: The heavy hoplite shield would be the first thing a fleeing soldier would be tempted to abandon –- rhipsaspia , "dropping the shield", was a synonym for desertion in the field. Like the other Greek city-states' armies, the Spartan army was an infantry-based army that fought using the phalanx formation . The Spartans themselves did not introduce any significant changes or tactical innovations in hoplite warfare, but their constant drill and superb discipline made their phalanx much more cohesive and effective. The Spartans employed
21996-479: The independent Slavic tribes of the Peloponnese occurred in 783, with the logothete Staurakios ' overland campaign from Constantinople into Greece and the Peloponnese, which according to Theophanes the Confessor made many prisoners and forced the Slavs to pay tribute. From the mid-9th century, following a Slavic revolt and attack on Patras , a determined Hellenization process was carried out. According to
22184-483: The invasion by those mercenary groups the local population had to found refuge in the mountains of Peloponnese to avoid persecution. The total population decreased during this time, while the Muslim element in it increased. As such Greek resistance in the peninsula was reinforced and powerful groups of klephts were formed under the clans of Zacharias, Melios, Petmezas and Kolokotronis. Klephtic songs of that era describe
22372-436: The kings were fined in drachma and talents as well as by Spartan state rewards and ransoms. Plutarch's attempted to reconcile the evidence by depicting the Spartans allowing gold and silver for public use but retaining the allegedly Lycurgan restrictions on private use. Such a depiction, however, is not consistent with actions by Spartan generals during the Peloponnesian War . Other ancient authors were more equivocal, dating
22560-595: The larger cities of Greece, especially Athens , and other countries such as the United States and Australia. It was badly affected by the Second World War and Greek Civil War , experiencing some of the worst atrocities committed in Greece during those conflicts. Living standards improved dramatically throughout Greece after the country accedes to the European Union in 1981. The Corinth Canal
22748-580: The larger groups of Albanian settlers, amounting to 10,000, settled the Peloponnese during the reign of Theodore I Palaiologos , first in Arcadia and subsequently in other regions around Messenia , Argolis , Elis and Achaia . Around 1418, a second large group arrived, possibly fleeing Aetolia , Acarnania and Arta , where Albanian political power had been defeated. The settling Albanians lived in tribes spread out into small villages, practicing nomadic lifestyles based on pastoralism and animal husbandry. By
22936-623: The last Venetian possessions on the Greek mainland were lost. Following the Ottoman conquest, the peninsula was made into a province ( sanjak ), with 109 ziamets and 342 timars . During the first period of Ottoman rule (1460–1687), the capital was first in Corinth (Turk. Gördes ), later in Leontari ( Londari ), Mystras ( Misistire ) and finally in Nauplion (Tr. Anaboli ). Sometime in
23124-417: The late seventh or early sixth century. It likely emerged from Spartan success in that period and a desire to explain it. His legend was also constantly reworked and expanded through the course of the classical Greek period by securing for Spartans in their times divine sanction and greater legitimacy for actions which they claimed to be a return to Lycurgus' laws. In the earlier legends of Lycurgus, namely in
23312-528: The later nineteenth century through to the Nazi regime . Such views, however, were not unanimous. The German classicist Karl Julius Beloch , for example, was one of the first to take a highly critical view of Sparta, suggesting that Lycurgus was a fiction and his Great Rhetra was a fabrication. In the aftermath of the First World War German nationalism embraced Sparta and Lycurgus, seeing it as
23500-465: The later-more-influential Eurypontid dynasty instead, specifically as regent of Charilaus ; the disputes indicate that the two royal houses by the historical period attempted to associate themselves by blood with the figure. Herodotus provides two accounts for how the laws which Lycurgus enacted came to him: in the first version, Lycurgus receives those laws from Apollo through the Pythia at Delphi; in
23688-495: The legend of the hero Pelops , who was said to have conquered the entire region. The name Peloponnesos means Island or Peninsula (archaic meaning of the word nesos ) of Pelops. The Mycenaean civilization , mainland Greece's (and Europe's) first major civilization, dominated the Peloponnese in the Bronze Age from the palaces of Mycenae , Pylos and Tiryns ; among others. The Mycenaean civilization collapsed suddenly at
23876-442: The mess halls created a citizen body of some 9,000 men. Each of these mess halls also played a role in military organisation: each likely had 15 men with three mess halls forming a "sworn band"; but after the perioikoi were merged into the Spartan army, each mess hall likely formed its own band. Such messes were likely preceded in the seventh century BC poet Alcman's time with andreia (private men's eating clubs). They became
24064-499: The mid-15th century, they formed a substantial part of the population of the Peloponnesus. Military sources of the era (1425) report about 30,000 Albanian men who could carry arms in the Peloponnese. The Greeks tended to live in large villages and cities, while Albanians in small villages. Following Ottoman conquest, many Albanians fled to Italy, settling primarily in nowadays Arbereshe villages of Calabria and Sicily . On
24252-571: The mid-17th century, the Morea became the centre of a separate eyalet , with Patras ( Ballibadra ) as its capital. Until the death of Suleiman the Magnificent in 1570, the Christian population (counted at some 42,000 families c. 1550 ) managed to retain some privileges and Islamization was slow, mostly among the Albanians or the estate owners who were integrated into the Ottoman feudal system. Although they quickly came to control most of
24440-540: The migration and settlement of Christian Albanians to parts of Central Greece and the Peloponnese, a group that eventually became known as the Arvanites The Albanians settled in successive waves, often invited by the local rulers. They start appearing more frequently in the historical record from during the second part of the 14th century, when they were being offered arable land, pasture and favorable taxation in exchange for military service. One of
24628-461: The military commander there, stationed at Salmeniko Castle . While the town eventually surrendered, Graitzas and his garrison and some town residents held out in the castle until July 1461, when they escaped and reached Venetian territory. Only the Venetian fortresses of Modon , Coron , Navarino , Monemvasia , Argos and Nauplion escaped Ottoman control. The same period was also marked by
24816-516: The military. A Spartan male's involvement with the army began in infancy when the Gerousia first inspected him. Any baby judged weak or deformed was left at Mount Taygetus to die since the Spartan society was no place for those who could not fend for themselves. (The practice of discarding children at birth took place in Athens as well.) Both boys and girls were brought up by the city women until
25004-401: The most powerful state in Greece, Lycurgus was honoured with a hero cult , which may have developed slowly into the Roman imperial period into full godhood. His temple and sanctuary, according to Pausanias , included a grave for his son with the name Eukosmos (referring to good order) with the graves of the Spartan dual monarchy's founders' wives nearby. The idealisation of Sparta, called
25192-568: The most powerful state in Greece. One artefact, the Disc of Iphitos , also allegedly documents Lycurgus' involvement with the formation of the Olympic Games and would therefore place him c. 776 BC , per the philosopher Aristotle . The disc, however, is likely a forgery from the fourth century BC. The ancients had two solutions for this lack of chronological clarity: the historian Timaeus posited two Lycurguses: one who did
25380-412: The northeast (2,376 m or 7,795 ft), Aroania in the north (2,355 m or 7,726 ft), Erymanthos (2,224 m or 7,297 ft) and Panachaikon in the northwest (1,926 m or 6,319 ft), Mainalon in the center (1,981 m or 6,499 ft), and Parnon in the southeast (1,935 m or 6,348 ft). The entire peninsula is earthquake-prone and has been the site of many earthquakes in
25568-446: The officers; if the omens were not favourable, a pious leader might refuse to march or engage with the enemy. The Spartans used the same typical hoplite equipment as their other Greek neighbors; the only distinctive Spartan features were the crimson tunic ( chitōn ) and cloak ( himation ), as well as long hair, which the Spartans retained to a far later date than most Greeks. To the Spartans, long hair kept its older Archaic meaning as
25756-445: The opening paragraph). Most attempts to date his life are based on when the Great Rhetra, which promulgated Lycurgus' reforms, occurred. The most accepted date in the ancient world was that based on the genealogy of Ephorus and the chronology of Eratosthenes, which dated the rhetra to 118 years after the reign of one of Sparta's founding kings, Procles , which corresponds to c. 885 BC . Alternatively, an excursus in
25944-560: The other Greek contingents. Like the rest of the Mycenaean-era armies, it was depicted as composed mainly of infantry , equipped with short swords, spears, and Dipylon-type shields ("8"-shaped simple round bronze shields). This period was the Golden Age of Warfare. In a battle, each opposing army would try to fight through the other line on the right (strong or deep) side and then turn left; wherefore they would be able to attack
26132-602: The other hand, in an effort to control the remaining Albanians, during the second half of the 15th century, the Ottomans adopted favorable tax policies towards them, likely in continuation of similar Byzantine practices. This policy had been discontinued by the early 16th century. Throughout the Ottoman–Venetian wars , many Albanians died or were captured in service to the Venetians; at Nafpaktos , Nafplio , Argos , Methoni , Koroni and Pylos . Furthermore, 8,000 Albanian stratioti , most of them along with their families, left
26320-722: The past. The longest river is the Alfeios in the west (110 km or 68 mi), followed by the Evrotas in the south (82 km or 51 mi), and also the Pineios , also in the west (70 km or 43 mi). The Peloponnese, with its indented coasts, is home to numerous spectacular beaches, which are a major tourist draw. Two groups of islands lie off the Peloponnesian coast: the Argo-Saronic Islands to
26508-528: The peninsula in 1715, most local Greeks welcomed them. The Ottoman reconquest was easy and swift, and was recognized by Venice in the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718. The Peloponnese now became the core of the Morea Eyalet , headed by the Mora valesi , who until 1780 was a pasha of the first rank (with three horsetails ) and held the title of vizier . After 1780 and until the Greek War of Independence ,
26696-582: The peninsula is significantly drier. Average annual temperatures can reach up to 20.3 °C (68.5 °F) while summer highs reach over 36.0 °C (96.8 °F) in Sparta , within the Evrotas Valley . On 27 June 2007, Monemvasia registered a staggering minimum temperature of 35.9°C, which is the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in mainland Greece and Continental Europe . The peninsula has been inhabited since prehistoric times . Its modern name derives from ancient Greek mythology , specifically
26884-513: The peninsula retained its urbanized character: in the 6th century, Hierocles counted 26 cities in his Synecdemus . By the latter part of that century, however, building activity seems to have stopped virtually everywhere except in Constantinople, Thessalonica, Corinth, and Athens. This has traditionally been attributed to calamities such as plague, earthquakes and Slavic invasions. However, more recent analysis suggests that urban decline
27072-506: The peninsula, as evidenced by the abundance of Slavic toponyms , but these toponyms accumulated over centuries rather than as a result of an initial "flood" of Slavic invasions, and many appear to have been mediated by speakers of Greek, or in mixed Slavic-Greek compounds. Fewer Slavic toponyms appear on the eastern coast, which remained in Byzantine hands and was included in the thema of Hellas , established by Justinian II c. 690 . While traditional historiography has dated
27260-461: The peninsula, however, received a critical blow after the Battle of Pelagonia , when William II of Villehardouin was forced to cede the newly constructed fortress and palace at Mystras near ancient Sparta to a resurgent Byzantium. At this point, the emperor concluded an agreement with the captive prince: William and his men would be set free in exchange for an oath of fealty, and for the cession of Monemvasia, Grand Magne, and Mystras. The handover
27448-508: The phalanx in the classical style in a single line, uniformly deep in files of 8 to 12 men. When fighting alongside their allies, the Spartans would normally occupy the honorary right flank. If, as usually happened, the Spartans achieved victory on their side, they would then wheel left and roll up the enemy formation. During the Peloponnesian War , battle engagements became more fluid, light troops became increasingly used, and tactics evolved to meet them. However, in direct confrontations between
27636-403: The poorer citizens were, over time, removed from the citizen rolls, for inability to pay dues to the syssitia . Demands for redistribution, heard by the reformist Spartan monarchs Agis IV and Cleomenes III , led to the creation of a myth that Lycurgus redistributed the land of Laconia and Messenia equally among the homoioi with the helots as bound tenants. The consensus among scholars
27824-407: The population. Nevertheless, attacks by Muslim Albanian mercenaries in the region continued not only against the Greek population but also against Turks. The extensive destruction and lack of control in the Peloponnese forced the central Ottoman government to send a regular Turkish military force to suppress those Albanian troops in 1779, and eventually drive them out from Peloponnese. As a result of
28012-500: The pre-1770 population. The Ottoman government was unable to pay the wages the Albanian mercenaries demanded for their service, causing the latter to ravage the region even after revolt had been put down. 1770-1779 was a prolonged period of devastation and atrocities committed by Albanian irregulars in the Peloponnese. In 1774 the Russo-Turkish War ended with the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca which granted general amnesty to
28200-530: The protector of Greek city-states' independence. At the same time, Spartan military prestige suffered a severe blow when a mora of 600 men was defeated by peltasts (light infantry) under the command of the Athenian general Iphicrates . Spartan authority finally collapsed after their disastrous defeat at the Battle of Leuctra by the Thebans under the leadership of Epaminondas in 371 BC. The battle killed
28388-406: The province was headed by a muhassil . The pasha of the Morea was aided by several subordinate officials, including a Christian translator ( dragoman ), who was the senior Christian official of the province. As during the first Ottoman period, the Morea was divided into 22 districts or beyliks . The capital was first at Nauplion, but after 1786 at Tripolitza (Tr. Trabliçe ). The Greeks of
28576-519: The reformist Spartan monarchs Agis IV and Cleomenes III who sought to redistribute Sparta's land. The reforms attributed to Lycurgus, however, have been praised by ancients and moderns alike, seeing at various times different morals projected on a figure of which so little concrete can be known. A multitude of ancient sources mention Lycurgus; it is, however, troubling inasmuch as those accounts evolved according to then-contemporary political priorities and that they are profoundly inconsistent. The oldest
28764-482: The reforms and a later one with the same name who was present at the first Olympics. Eratosthenes instead posited the disc reflected informal Olympics held before 776 BC. The tradition in Sparta of Lycurgus' existence dates to some time between the archaic age and the fifth century. Inasmuch as no Lycurgus is mentioned in Tyrtaeus, it is likely that the legend dates to shortly after Tyrtaeus' time, and therefore
28952-502: The reforms to the possibly mythical figure of Lycurgus , who created new institutions and established the Spartan state's military nature. This Spartan Constitution remained virtually unchanged for five centuries. From c. 750 BC, Sparta embarked on a steady expansion, first by subduing Amyclae and the other Laconian settlements. Later, during the First Messenian War , they conquered the fertile country of Messenia . By
29140-400: The reforms, such as for the redistribution of land, are fictitious. The extent of the Lycurgan myth emerges from Sparta's self-justification, seeking to endow its customs with timeless and divinely sanctioned antiquity. That antiquity was also malleable, reinvented at various times to justify the new as a return to Lycurgus' ideal society: his land reforms, for example, are attested only after
29328-405: The regency has little difficulty in placing him in a position to promulgate his laws. But the latter tradition where he leaves the city requires him to be recalled. In Aristotle's version, recounted by Plutarch, Lycurgus leads his followers into the city and occupies the agora to impose his laws; backed by Apolline divine approval, he forces the tyrannical Charilaus to accede to them and institutes
29516-632: The region are still unknown. It is thought to be one of the largest environmental disasters in modern Greek history. The principal modern cities of the Peloponnese are (2011 census): The Peloponnese possesses many important archaeological sites dating from the Bronze Age through to the Middle Ages. Among the most notable are: ‡ UNESCO World Heritage Site Specialities of the region: Several notable Peloponnese wines have Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status. The Mantineia region makes
29704-587: The resistance activities. Nevertheless, through the privileges granted with the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji , especially the right for the Christians to trade under the Russian flag, led to a considerable economic flowering of the local Greeks, which, coupled with the increased cultural contacts with Western Europe ( Modern Greek Enlightenment ) and the inspiring ideals of the French Revolution , laid
29892-456: The right arm and shoulder uncovered and free for action in combats. The Spartan's main weapon was the dory spear. For long-range attacks, they carried a javelin . The Spartiates were also always armed with a xiphos as a secondary weapon. Among most Greek warriors, this weapon had an iron blade of about 60 centimeters; however, the Spartan version was typically only 30–45 centimetres in length. The Spartans' shorter weapon proved deadly in
30080-445: The rule of law, the mixed constitution, equality, and universal education. The philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau , who derived most of his knowledge of Lycurgus from Plutarch's biography, viewed the figure positively as standing for an austere civil morality acting for the collective good . This view of Lycurgus and Sparta saw him associate Lycurgus' reforms with the " general will ". Positive views of Sparta pervaded some articles in
30268-558: The scene of the Peloponnesian War of 431–404 BC. The entire Peloponnese with the notable exception of Sparta joined Alexander's expedition against the Persian Empire. Along with the rest of Greece, the Peloponnese fell to the expanding Roman Republic in 146 BC, when the Romans razed the city of Corinth and massacred its inhabitants. The Romans created the province of Achaea comprising the Peloponnese and central Greece. During
30456-448: The second, based on Sparta's own traditions, Lycurgus bases the reforms off of existing laws in Crete. Spartan and Cretan institutions did indeed have common characteristics, but, though some direct borrowing may have occurred, such similarities are in general more likely to be because of the common Dorian inheritance of Sparta and Crete rather than because some individual such as Lycurgus imported Cretan customs to Sparta. Some versions of
30644-434: The songs of Tyrtaios , that celebrated Spartan exploits in the Second Messenian War. They learned to read and write not for cultural reasons, but so they could be able to read military maps. At the age of twelve, a boy was classed as a "youth" ( meirakion ). His physical education was intensified, discipline became much harsher, and the boys were loaded with extra tasks. The youths had to go barefoot, and were dressed only in
30832-463: The story is rejected by Plutarch, Lycurgus is also said to have instituted the crypteia , a select group of young men tasked with clandestinely killing helots in the night. Both the agoge and crypteia likely emerged some time during the seventh century alongside the institution of the ephorate. The education of Spartan women, mainly focusing on physical fitness, or, supposedly, physical fitness to produce healthy children for eugenic purposes,
31020-420: The story say that Lycurgus subsequently traveled as far as Egypt, Spain, and India. In the narrative of Lycurgus' reforms in Herodotus, Lycurgus is supposed to have created much of the Spartan constitution, including the gerousia and the ephorate (respectively, the Spartan council of elders and annually-elected overseeing magistrates). He also is supposed to have reorganised Spartan military life and instituted
31208-427: The sword was short, to which she simply told him to step closer to the enemy. As an alternative to the xiphos , some Spartans selected the kopis as their secondary weapon. Unlike the xiphos , which was a thrusting weapon, the kopis was a hacking weapon in the form of a thick, curved iron sword. The Spartans retained the traditional hoplite phalanx until the reforms of Cleomenes III when they were re-equipped with
31396-579: The symbol of a free man; to the other Greeks, by the 5th century, the hairstyle's peculiar association with the Spartans had come to signify pro-Spartan sympathies. The letter lambda (Λ), standing for Laconia or Lacedaemon , which was painted on the Spartans' shields , was first adopted in 420s BC and quickly became a widely known Spartan symbol. Military families passed on their shields to each generation as family heirlooms. The Spartan shields' technical evolution and design evolved from bashing and shield wall tactics. They were of such great importance in
31584-462: The temple of Athena Chalcioecus and has one of his eyes put out by an adolescent, his opponents back down and he forgives the adolescent. The extent to which this story of revolution and conflict with the wealthy is driven by – or a retrojection from – the experiences of the reformist Spartan kings Agis IV and Cleomenes III is unclear; the two later Spartan kings used the Lycurgan legend to justify their redistributive policies (and violent means) as
31772-448: The tools with which Spartan houses could be built, to encourage simplicity. Archaeological evidence of foreign wares postdates the eighth century, with a decline in imports met by local production by the sixth century. The alleged simplicity of Spartan dwellings evidently did not extend to their interiors; and Spartans were famous across Greece for the jewellery worn by Spartan women, their number of slaves and horses, and their dominance at
31960-438: The total population. The Venetian fortresses were conquered in a series of Ottoman-Venetian Wars : the first war , lasting from 1463 to 1479, saw much fighting in the Peloponnese, resulting in the loss of Argos , while Modon and Coron fell in 1500 during the second war . Coron and Patras were captured in a crusading expedition in 1532, led by the Genoese admiral Andrea Doria , but this provoked another war in which
32148-416: The troubled relations with the Slavs, the coastal regions of the Peloponnese suffered greatly from repeated Arab raids following the Arab capture of Crete in the 820s and the establishment of a corsair emirate there. After the island was recovered by Byzantium in 961 however, the region entered a period of renewed prosperity, where agriculture, commerce, and urban industry flourished. In 1205, following
32336-437: The two opposing phalanxes, stamina and "pushing ability" were what counted. It was only when the Thebans , under Epaminondas , increased the depth of a part of their formation at the Battle of Leuctra that caused the Spartan phalanx formation to break. According to Xenophon , the ephors would first mobilize the army. After a series of religious ceremonies and sacrifices, the army assembled and set out. The army proceeding
32524-589: The use of iron money were not entirely out of the norm and had previously existed in other Greek cities: what made them distinctive was for how long they had been preserved at Sparta. The character of many of the economic and social reforms attributed to Lycurgus was allegedly to ensure that citizens competed with each other only in merit rather than in wealth. However, many of the social reforms which are attributed to Lycurgus postdate him by centuries, occurring between 600–500 BC after various Spartan conquest of Messenia and Cynuria made landholdings available for
32712-418: The vice-admiral, called epistoleus . This position was seemingly independent of the one-year term clause because it was used in 405 BC to give Lysander command of the fleet after he was already an admiral for a couple years. Lycurgus of Sparta Lycurgus ( / l aɪ ˈ k ɜːr ɡ ə s / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Λυκοῦργος Lykourgos ) was the legendary lawgiver of Sparta , credited with
32900-412: The vulnerable flank. When this happened, as a rule, it would cause the army to be routed. The fleeing enemy was put to the sword only as far as the field of the battle extended. The outcome of this one battle would determine the outcome of a particular issue. In the Golden Age of War, defeated armies were not massacred; they fled back to their city and conceded the victors' superiority. It wasn't until after
33088-455: Was able to master a strong navy and successfully challenged and destroyed Athenian predominance in the Aegean Sea . However, the Spartan engagement with the sea would be short-lived, and did not survive the turmoils of the Corinthian War . In the Battle of Cnidus of 394 BC, the Spartan navy was decisively defeated by a joint Athenian-Persian fleet, marking the end of Sparta's brief naval supremacy. The final blow would be given 20 years later, at
33276-462: Was closely linked with the collapse of long-distance and regional commercial networks that underpinned and supported late antique urbanism in Greece, as well as with the generalized withdrawal of imperial troops and administration from the Balkans. The scale of the Slavic invasion and settlement in the 7th and 8th centuries remains a matter of dispute, although it is nowadays considered much smaller than previously thought. The Slavs did occupy most of
33464-415: Was completed in the late 19th century, linking the Aegean Sea with the Gulf of Corinth and the Ionian. In 2001, the Rio-Antirio Bridge was completed, linking the western Peloponnese to western Greece. In late August 2007, large parts of Peloponnese suffered from wildfires , which caused severe damage in villages and forests and the death of 77 people. The impact of the fires to the environment and economy of
33652-440: Was effected in 1262, and henceforth Mystras was the seat of the governor of the Byzantine territories in the Morea. Initially this governor ( kephale ) was changed every year, but after 1308 they started being appointed for longer terms. Almost immediately on his return to the Morea, William of Villehardouin renounced his oath to the emperor, and warfare broke out between Byzantines and Franks. The first Byzantine attempts to subdue
33840-408: Was led by the king, with the skiritai and cavalry detachments acting as an advance guard and scouting parties. The necessary provisions (barley, cheese, onions and salted meat) were carried along with the army, and a helot manservant accompanied each Spartan. Each mora marched and camped separately, with its baggage train. The army gave sacrifice every morning as well as before battle by the king and
34028-401: Was not Lycurgan – pace Herodotus and Plutarch – in origin. In fact, archaeological discoveries at Sparta – showing the decline of Spartan art expressed on vases as well as a sudden expansion of agricultural labour in the mid-sixth century BC – suggest that much of the communitarian reforms attributed to Lycurgus may date to that time. One of the illusions of the Spartan mirage
34216-565: Was replaced by five territorial divisions, the obai ("villages"), which supplied a lochos of about 1,000 men each. This system was still used during the Persian Wars , as Herodotus had made references to the " lochoi " in his Histories . The changes that occurred between the Persian and the Peloponnesian Wars were not documented. Still, according to Thucydides, at Mantinea in 418 BC, there were seven lochoi present, each subdivided into four pentekostyes of 128 men, which were further subdivided into four enōmotiai of 32 men, giving
34404-420: Was seen as a more important political theorist than Plato and as one of the most famous, moral, and effective legislators of the Greek tradition. The main elements of Lycurgus' legacy are through the laws attributed to him. In the modern world this took on a number of aspects: the stability of the Lacedaemonian state from Lycurgus' balanced constitution; universal male citizen conscription and contribution (via
34592-410: Was similarly attributed to Lycurgus. In Spartan society, Lycurgus and his laws were received as the creator of the Spartan way of life. Xenophon's pro-Spartan Spartan Constitution "unreservedly regard[s Lycurgus] as the Spartan legislator par excellence , who arranged the Spartan way of life once and for all". For these achievements, which they viewed as having facilitated the emergence of Sparta as
34780-420: Was the illusion that Spartan citizens were economically equal: that no citizen owned more land than another. There is, however, no evidence of equal land ownership at Sparta, with exception of Cleomenes' five-year regime . Land inequality increased through Spartan history, mediated by conquests abroad which allowed poorer citizens to retain a reasonable standard of living. When conquests ended after 550 BC,
34968-401: Was the unchallenged master in southern Greece, as the leading power ( hegemon ) of the newly established Peloponnesian League (which was more characteristically known to its contemporaries as "the Lacedaemonians and their allies"). By the late 6th century BC, Sparta was recognized as the preeminent Greek polis . King Croesus of Lydia established an alliance with the Spartans, and later,
35156-408: Was to ensure that their line would be able to continue. At first, in the archaic period of 700–600 BC, education for both sexes was, as in most Greek states , centred on the arts, with the male citizen population later receiving military education . However, from the 6th century onwards, the military character of the state became more pronounced, and education was totally subordinated to the needs of
35344-399: Was to make it impossible, or at least difficult, for Spartans to purchase luxury goods. Coinage came to Greece in the 550s BC; it is not possible that any law mentioning coins dates to the eighth century BC (or earlier), when Lycurgus is supposed to have lived. Nor is any ban on gold and silver mentioned in Herodotus. Usage of gold and silver at Sparta is implied by other reports that
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