SPARTA

To some, it is a land of history.

To others, it is a land of battles.

But to the true Spartan, it is the home of heroes.

For a long time now, I have been obsessed with Sparta. I am not just Greek, I am a Spartiatisa, a child of Lucouryios and a daughter of Leonidas. Like many Spartans of today, I take great pride in being a descendant of one of the greatest warrior races of Greece, and I honour two of the most important men in Sparta's history.

Laying on the right side of the Evrotas River, Sparti, known as Lacedemon in the ancient times, has been the capital of the Laconia district of pelloponisos since the ancient times.

It was founded in the 9th century under a rigid oligarich constitution that had severe principles, many of which were formed by Lycourgos. The Spartans believed that every individual belonged to the state from the moment of birth.

Spartan elders inspected the newborn infants and demanded that the weak and sick babies to be taken to a nearby valley called Kaiadas to be left to die, ensuring that the citizens of Sparta would evolve into the fittest and physically strongest race within Greece.

At the age of 7, boys were removed from the care of their parents and were placed into small bands. As they grew older, the strongest and most courageous of the boys became captains.

The boys slept on beds made of hard rushes and survived on a diet of black broth and other coarse food. Clad in the scantiest clothing, the spartan boys' education was unlike that of the Athenian boys.

Instead of learning about music and literature, the young Spartans' education was restricted to gymnastics and military exercises. They were taught that when in battle, they had to either win or die. Spartan mothers used to tell their sons to bring their shields home or to be on them.

Spartan boys were made to feel hunger and they were encouraged to steal food for themselves. This wasn't to teach them to become dishonest - it was to promote enterprise and shrewdness. If they were caught, they were whipped for their awkwardness.

It has been recorded that a Spartan boy who had stolen a young fox had allowed the animal to gnaw at his vitals rather than to cry out in pain and betray his theft.

All male Spartan citizens from the ages of 20 to 60 were in the army. Although they were allowed to marry, they had to live in the army barracks. They belonged to a men's dining club and eat in the public mess with them.

They were forbidden to possess gold or silver. Their only form of currency was in iron bars. The only music that the Spartans heard was war songs. No luxury was allowed - not even in words. Spartans spoke brief and to the point.

The founder of many of these principles was Lycourgos. His first change was the establishment of the 30 person senate. His second change was the divisions of land, and the change of the monetary system. Taking all land ownership away from the people, he divided it up into around 39 thousand equal shares. Giving each master of a family one share. Each share was enough to produce 70 bushels of grain for the master and 12 for the wife, and a suitable portion of oil and wine. These rations Lycurgus thought were enough to keep good health and strength. Any excess was a luxury that could be done without.

He ordered all the silver and gold in the land brought to him. He replaced it with an iron coin that had been quenched in vinegar while the iron coins were still red hot. This iron coin could not be worked into swords or plows and was worthless to any region but Sparta.

In creating this coin, Lycurgus ensured that no foreigners would enter Sparta trying to sell their wares. Merchants ceased to send shiploads into Laconian ports. No goldsmiths, silversmiths, engravers, and jewellers, entered Sparta. Thus,the little luxuries that Spartans had wasted to nothing and died away of itself. The rich had no power over the poor, as their wealth and abundance had no road to come abroad by but were shut up at home doing nothing.

By forcing the men to eat in a public mess, it meant that everyone ate the same foods and could not engage in gluttony in their own home.

When Lycurgus first came to Sparta, not everyone was impressed with his new laws. A lynch mob had formed, and upon seeing Lycurgus, they began to chase him and threw stones at him. A good runner, Lycurgus outran them all except an young man by the name of Alcander. When Lycurgus turned to see who was still behind him, Alcander threw a stone and struck him in the head putting out his eye. When this happened Lycurgus stopped and turned his mutilated face to the men. Seeing what they had done, the men were ashamed, and delivered Alcander up to Lycurgus for punishment. Lycurgus took the youth home with him and having dismissed his servants gave the job to Alcander. Alcander spending so much time with the lawgiver, and seeing his "gentleness and calmness of temper, and extraordinary sobriety and an tireless industry" became one of his biggest supporter.

Lycurgus created other laws which were called Rhetras. Some of the Rhetras included that rhetras were not to be written down, that the ceiling, gates and doors of their houses should have no ornaments and were to be smoothed only by the axe or saw. He also demanded that Spartans were not make war often or long with the same enemy. Afraid that if they did, they might instruct their enemy in the art of war.

As Lycurgus grew older, he had completed his perfect society. He decided to go to an oracle, to ask if all he had done was good and just. But before he went, he brought all the men of Sparta to him and asked them to swear that they would keep all his laws until he returned. The men having then swore they would, Lycurgus left them.

At the oracle of Delphi, Lycurgus was told that the laws were excellent, and that the people, while it observed them, should live in the height of renown. Lycurgus took the oracle in writing, and sent it over to Sparta; and he resolved that the Spartans should not be release from the oath they had taken, and that he would, of his own act, close his life where he was.

Thinking it a statesman's duty to make his very death, if possible, an act of service to the state, he starved himself to death. Even after Lycurgus' death, the Spartans remained true to their word and obeyed his laws for over 500 years, where the city of Lacedaemon continued to be the chief city of all Greece.

Lycurgus was a hero in his own right. He transformed Sparta into the most successful city state of Greece. However, my real hero is King Leonidas, the brave and fearless warrior whose actions saved an entire army.

In 480 BC, Xerxes led the Persians (Medes) and invaded Greece. The Spartan king Leonidas, had agreed to help stop the invading Persians, and took 300 hand picked troops plus 1000 helots (citizen soldiers) and marched to Thermopylae on the North coast of Greece. Leonidas would have taken far more soldiers except for a religious holiday that was apparently more important. On the way to Thermopylae he picked-up about 7000 more troops as had been preplaned.

It was during this battle that King Leonidas was quoted shouting "Molon Lave" to his enemies.

Leonidas' task was to cut the advance of the Persian army at Thermopylae (in central Greece), a narrow strip of land between the sea and impassable mountains. The Persian army, 250,000 strong, attacked twice and was forced to retreat, due to the fact that the passage was so narrow that they could not fully deploy their force. However, a selfish local farmer, Ephialtes, led a force of Persian infantry through a mountain passage and next morning they appeared behind the Greek lines.

Leonidas ordered that the rest of the army withdraw, and held the passage with his 300 Spartans. As a true Spartan, he chose death over retreat; all 300 Spartans, including Leonidas, died, but held the Persians long enough to ensure the safe withdrawal of the rest of the Greek army.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

A Spartan Story Lycurgus the Lawgiver of Sparta by Dave Evans http://www.terraworld.net/devans/Lycurgu.htm

http://195.167.45.40/peloponese/asparti.htm

http://users.hol.gr/~barbanis/cavafy/thermopylae.html

Battle At Thermopylae http://www-adm.pdx.edu/user/sinq/greekciv2/war/perwar2/thermop.htm

Statue of Leonidas http://members.xoom.com/Litsa/sparti.htm

Sparta at War http://members.home.net/georgefrank/War/Sparta.html

TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL LYKEIO OF SPARTA http://www.hvf.bs.ni.schule.de/greek/english.htm

http://www.oocities.org/CapitolHill/Senate/1529/wars.htm

Leonidas (5th century B.C.)http://www.murrayco.com/eleganza/155Leoni.html

http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Parthenon/4149/original/freewrite.html

http://www.laconia.org/grkversion/spartigr_Leonidaion.htm

http://www.oocities.org/Tokyo/5457/diction/leonidas.html

Leonidas by Si Bass http://www.cigarlabelgazette.com/leonidas.htm

XENOPHON on the SPARTANS: http://www.csun.edu/~hcfll004/sparta-a.html