SPARTA 



5483 



SPARTACUS 



birth, according to the laws of Lycurgus. 

 When a boy was born his father was obliged 

 to bring him before the elders to be examined. 

 They decided whether the child should be 

 reared or left to die. If it was robust and well 

 proportioned they issued orders for its educa- 

 tion, and assigned to it a certain share of land, 

 as the Spartans were forbidden by law to en- 

 gage in manufacture or trade. If, however, the 

 child was weakly or deformed, its life was con- 

 sidered worthless and it was cast into a deep 

 cavern in the mountains and left to perish. 



A boy was left to the care of his parents 

 until seven years of age, when he was enroled 

 in a company consisting of fifteen members, all 

 of whom were kept under the strictest disci- 

 pline. From the age of seven every Spartan 

 was compelled to take all his meals with his 

 particular company in 'a public dining hall. 

 The bravest boy in a company was made cap- 

 tain, and the others obeyed his commands and 

 bore such punishments as he meted out to 

 them. 



When the boys were twelve, their undergar- 

 ments were taken away, and only one outer 

 garment a year was allowed them. Their beds 

 consisted of the tops of reeds which were gath- 

 ered with their own hands without knives. The 

 arts of reading and writing were not considered 

 essential, but leaping, running, wrestling and 

 wielding a weapon with grace and accuracy 

 were accomplishments which must be culti- 

 vated. At about the age of thirty the Spartan 

 attained full maturity and enjoyed the rights 

 and duties of citizenship. The sixtieth year 

 closed the military career, and thereafter a 

 citizen was employed either in public affairs or 

 in the training of the young. 



As a result of this system the Spartans be- 

 came distinguished for the wonderful perse- 

 verance and patience with which they endured 

 every conceivable hardship and * suffering. 

 From childhood, life was one continued trial of 

 patience, and on certain religious occasions a 

 boy would voluntarily ascend the altar and 

 submit himself to the most cruel lashings. 

 These sometimes lasted a whole day, and from 

 them victims would frequently expire without 

 a groan. 



The Rise to Supremacy. After the organiza- 

 tion of the state under Lycurgus Sparta gradu- 

 ally conquered all of Laconia. The territory 

 known as Helos was utterly subjugated and its 

 people were made state slaves. Another class 

 also developed the Perioeci ("Dwellers 

 Around"). These were conquered people who 



were allowed to retain their lands and till them, 

 but were compelled to pay tribute to the Spar- 

 tans. In time of war they were forced to fight 

 for their overlords. It is noteworthy that the 

 Spartans, though absolute masters of Laconia, 

 represented only a small proportion of the total 

 population. Other conquests followed. Mes- 

 senia, the most fertile district in the Pelopon- 

 nesus, was subjugated between 740 and 630 B. c., 

 and the Messenians were made serfs. By the 

 middle of the sixth century the supremacy of 

 Sparta was recognized throughout the Pelopon- 

 nesus, and the city states in the north had be- 

 gun to herald it as the leader of all Greece. 



The Decline. Meantime a state beyond the 

 Peloponnesus was rising to power Athens a 

 state in which art, literature and philosophy 

 were supreme. The Athenians joined with the 

 Spartans in repelling the invading Persians, 

 and Athens emerged from the struggle with en- 

 hanced prestige, eventually becoming the 

 dominating power in Greece (see GREECE, sub- 

 head The Persian Wars}. Athens, however, 

 was conquered by its rival in the hard-fought 

 Peloponnesian War, and in 404 B. c. was forced 

 to accept a humiliating peace treaty. But the 

 leadership claimed by Sparta was short lived. 

 So cruelly did the Spartans rule over the other 

 Greek states that they revolted and threw off 

 the yoke. At the Battle of Leuctra, in 371 B. c., 

 Sparta lost forever its claim to supremacy in 

 Greece, and in 146 B. c. it passed with the rest 

 of the country under the rule of Rome. 



There is a modern town of Sparta near the 

 site of the ancient city. It was laid out in 1834 

 and made the capital of the modern political 

 division of Laconia. Excavations have been 

 made on the old site, but no such interesting 

 ruins as may be seen in Athens have been 

 found. B.M.W. 



Consult Botsford-Sihler's Hellenic Civilisation. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 



Athens 

 Dorians 

 Greece, subtitle 

 History of Greece 



Helots 

 Lycurgrus 



Peloponnesian War 

 Peloponnesus 



SPARTACUS, spar'takus, a Roman gladia- 

 tor, the most famous of all time, although his 

 glory was not achieved in the arena. He was 

 the leader of a formidable slave rising, which 

 nearly succeeded. Spartacus was born in 

 Thrace, but was made prisoner by the Romans, 

 sold as a slave, and taken for training to a 

 gladiatorial school in Capua. With seventy 

 comrades he escaped from the school, and de- 



