THE WAY OF THE SPARTAN

There’s something incredibly enigmatic about the Spartans. Despite sharing their defining era with the world’s first democracy and some of the earliest superpowers, these precocious devils have made their name synonymous with being built like an outhouse and prepared to take on all comers. But this impression only scratches the surface of who the Spartans really were. Sure they were every bit the terrifying war machine they’ve been branded by history and Hollywood, but painting them as guys who never leave the gym would be really harsh, as the Spartan way of life was built on something far more complex. Of course to really understand Spartan culture, means establishing just how they kicked things off in their early years, which as it turns out was just like everyone else in the region. As any 3000 year old man will tell you, tribal monarchies were all the rage in the 8th and 7th Century - and Greece had them in spades. Over time many of these tribes would grow to become powerful city states like Athens or Corinth but not without undergoing some kind of drastic reform in their own way. In this Sparta was also no different, although they might have gotten a bit carried away when writing the new ‘how to govern’ handbook. This all came about following the conquest of neighbouring Messenia, a land that the Spartans envied for its agricultural potential and marked out as a target for expansion. Significantly, this phase introduced the notorious ‘phalanx’ formation to the battlefield, a tactic that effectively made a kebab out of anyone stood in front of it. Yet in spite of victory, the average citizen was not the one benefitting from these escapades and the society’s elite were still the only ones with power, control and wealth. It was about this time that a man named Lycurgus stepped up to the plate, enforcing the idea that all citizens were equal and that conformity amongst their ranks was paramount (except for the slaves, that was obviously too much). What resulted from these reforms would change the Greek world forever. Spartan farmers were now elevated to a new full time warrior class, the power of the elite was stripped back to promote equality and even women were given a social status beyond what any culture would dare to emulate for centuries. Such a great levelling of the social hierarchy all served to make the protection of the state its citizen’s ultimate priority – something that would be indoctrinated by the Spartan’s pioneering (and universal) education system.

This unusual hybrid of nationalism and communism gave the Spartans an identity unique to any culture of the time, a militaristic juggernaut among their many great neighbours now buoyed by a sense of their own importance. How stupid they must have felt then when the ancient city of Argos wiped the floor with them in 669BC. Now this could’ve been considered as an embarrassing as a one off, but there were several occasions when a proactive Sparta got egg on their faces in this fashion, forcing them to rethink their strategy for regional domination. The eventual approach turned out to be rather ingenious, when the Spartans realised that the most effective way to broadcast their power wasn’t through conquest at all, but rather through force of intimidation. A few military failures were not enough to convince other Greek cities that these guys were pushovers and their mere reputation was enough to send a shiver down their spines. Honestly, if they were prepared to train their own kids from the age of 7 in the ways of war and to kill slaves as ‘rites of passage’, chances are you’re going to avoid them wherever possible. Now secure in their reputation of fearsome warriors, the Spartans were able to project themselves as a key player on the Greek peninsula, so much so that other cities would come around seeking their valuable brand of protection. So it makes sense that following a rebellion against the Persians in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), the Lydian King Croesus knew exactly who to call for help. Here was an opportunity for Sparta to really hit the big leagues and take on the biggest empire of the age - but instead they decided to get some petty revenge on the city of Argos (like heroes!). This was just one example of Spartans beginning to pull strings with their contemporaries, a strategy which would even assist the reformation of their great nemesis Athens into a ‘democratic’ state (albeit unintentionally). At their zenith the Spartans were masters of Greece, universally acknowledged as the finest warriors of their age. They successfully led the defence of Greece against Persian invasion (with a lot of help from other states it must be noted), bested their Athenian foes in the Peloponnesian War and even remained independent when the rest of Greece fell to Alexander’s father. But none of this could have been achieved without the Spartan mastery of self promotion. Everything about their society was intended to reinforce discipline and loyalty in their citizens whilst projecting fear and dread into their enemies. So successful was this regime that it seeped into the heart of each Spartan, allowing them to bounce back from defeat and stubbornly get right back into the ring.